A while ago, in a different medium and format, I wondered how El Vendrell could be the way it is. I don't know exactly what it's like either; it's simply El Vendrell. But it's the birthplace of people like Pau Casals, Àngel Guimerà, the brothers Ramon Ramon i Vidales and Joan Ramon i Vidales, the Andreu Nin brothers, and the Lax'n'Busto family. Something like Reus or Sarral, but in the Penedès region.

Oil prices continued to rise Tuesday afternoon due to the Gulf War, fueled by uncertainty surrounding the conflict, the closure of the Strait of Hormuz to shipping, and Iranian attacks on energy infrastructure in the region. Brent crude, the European benchmark, rose more than 4% Tuesday morning compared to the previous day, reaching $104.23 per barrel. However, by early afternoon, the price increase had moderated to 1.30%. Similarly, West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude, the US benchmark, was up nearly 1.5% at the same time Tuesday afternoon, reaching $93.99 per barrel, while natural gas rose 1.40% to €51.60 per megawatt.

The US Treasury Department announced Thursday that it will temporarily authorize the purchase of Russian oil in transit. The measure aims to curb the surge in crude oil prices, which jumped more than 9% on Thursday after several days of increases and, despite moderating the pace of the climb, continued to rise on Friday. On Friday, the price of Brent crude—the European benchmark—surfaced at over $100 a barrel. Conversely, the price of natural gas moved in the opposite direction, falling by approximately 0.60% to €50.54 per megawatt-hour (MWh) on the Dutch TTF market, which sets prices across the continent. These declines were relatively small, and gas prices rose for much of the day. With the lifting of restrictions on Russian crude, thousands of barrels will enter the market, which should contribute to a decrease—or at least a moderation of the escalating price—of oil. When it announced the embargo, President Donald Trump's administration asserted that the ban on Russian oil purchases was key to pressuring Moscow in the war in Ukraine. However, it now indicates that this temporary exemption from the restriction, which will last until April 11, will not represent a significant benefit for Russia.

Oil and natural gas prices continue to rise as the conflict in the Middle East escalates, negatively impacting stock markets. On Thursday, Brent crude oil neared $100 a barrel again, representing an increase of more than 8% compared to the previous day. The price surge accelerated after Iran's new Supreme Leader, Mukhta Khamenei, warned that he would maintain the closure of the Strait of Hormuz. Natural gas also rose on Thursday, reaching €50.27 per megawatt-hour (MWh) on the Dutch TTF market, around 0.56% higher than Wednesday's levels. This increase in energy costs has impacted the markets, which, for yet another day since the start of the US and Israeli attacks on Iran, experienced losses. The Ibex 35 closed the session with a loss of 1.22% and will start tomorrow at 17,139.90 points. Among the stocks in Spain's main index, banks were the hardest hit: Unicaja fell 4.56%; Sabadell, 4.16%; and BBVA, 3.53%. Conversely, energy companies experienced a rebound, led by Repsol, which posted a gain of 2.63%. The other European stock exchanges followed the same trend: London and Paris fell 0.47% and 0.71%, respectively. Milan also closed lower, down 0.71%, and the best-performing European exchange was Frankfurt, with a drop of 0.29%.

On Monday the blow seemed less severe, although the trading session ended with losses, but this Tuesday the stock markets plummeted. The Ibex 35, the main benchmark of the Spanish stock market, fell 4.55% despite holding above the 17,000-point level, after reaching record highs well above 18,000. The only stock to gain ground was Repsol, with an advance of over 3%. The rest of the Ibex stocks accumulated declines; Acciona (-11.77%), Solaria (-10.46%), and Acerinox (-9.46%) were the hardest hit. The messages coming from the White House regarding the conflict with Iran, far from calming the situation, have made investors more nervous, who anticipate a longer conflict than expected.

Lately, we've been witnessing a military operation every month. This time in Iran. Coincidentally, they almost always happen on weekends, with the financial markets closed. But then Monday comes and the stock exchanges reopen. Should we be alarmed?

The Ebro River has been, is, and will be one of the most important axes not only of Catalonia but of all of southern Europe. Perhaps even more so in the past, considering it as a road network, but as a communication, cultural, and commercial axis… it is unbeatable! This relationship extends not only from the Delta to Reinosa, but also from one bank to the other. In Tortosa, this is almost physically visible. The river is not a backdrop: it is a constant presence, an active memory, and a shared horizon. For centuries, the Ebro has shaped the city and determined its open, commercial, and diverse character. Here, the river doesn't separate; it connects. In this context, the Municipal Market is not just any facility. Located by the water, it is a direct heir to this culture of exchange. If the Ebro has been a means of communication, the market has been its public square; if the river has transported goods and people, the market has transformed them into relationships, conversations, and everyday life.

Historiography has traditionally argued that guilds were an exclusively male institution. Only men could be members. But new research refutes this. The shopkeepers' and resellers' guild was mixed for 145 years, between 1624 and 1768. There were master resellers, but what prompted the guild to accept them was not ideas we now consider modern or feminist, but rather the need to balance its books. Years later, women were once again barred from membership.

The nomination of a new candidate to chair the Federal Reserve (the Fed, the US central bank) has reignited volatility and turned many markets upside down, especially the US stock market and the dollar, while, on the other hand, the price of gold and other precious metals continued to fall on Monday after plummeting.

When we set off to travel the world, what's now called "traveling," everyone recommends visiting the markets wherever we end up. These markets, some distorted, like some in Cap-Casualty, and others more famous and popular, like the Sunday markets in certain parts of the world, are portraits, snapshots, and samples of their surroundings. In the stalls, in the order—or disorder—of the products, in the voices that resonate, and in the mingling aromas, one can discern a way of life, of producing, and of relating to food.

Another day with red panels on the stock markets due to geopolitical tensions and the risk of a trade war between Europe and the United States. The Ibex fell 1.34% in a session marked by selling, and the other European markets also declined, with drops ranging from 0.61% to 1.03% for the Frankfurt DAX. The Eurostoxx-50, which groups the main European stocks, closed at 5,892.08 points, down 0.57%. In this context, the dollar weakened further, while the euro strengthened to $1.17. Wall Street, which was closed on Monday, also began the day in the red. The nervousness, already noticeable on Monday although the Ibex ended the session limiting its losses, prevails because US President Donald Trump has made it clear that tariffs are one of the main instruments he intends to use to achieve his objectives. Aside from announcing additional tariffs for countries that send troops to Greenland, he warned that he would impose a 200% tariff on French wine and champagne if the country's president, Emmanuel Macron, refuses to join his "peace council" for Gaza. This opens up two simultaneous fronts affecting the markets: geopolitical tensions and a potential trade war. These variables increase uncertainty and complicate matters for investors. Given his capacity to surprise, everyone is waiting to see what Trump will say in his address at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, where the global political and economic elite gathers. Also scheduled to speak are the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen; the Chinese vice premier, He Lifeng; and the president of France, Emmanuel Macron.

The price of cocoa fell by more than 45% in 2025 after a 2024 marked by a sharp increase due to poor harvests in the main producing country, Ivory Coast, and the entry of speculative funds into wholesale markets. However, for the moment, the cost of chocolate for consumers has not yet adjusted to the decrease in the price of cocoa and remains above the levels of a few years ago.

Both Sabadell and CaixaBank were the two Catalan (or Catalan-origin) companies on the Ibex 35 that grew the most in 2025. The year was marked by strong growth in the Spanish stock market and, from a Catalan perspective, by the recovery of Grifols and the notable declines of Puig.

2025 is a record-breaking year for the Spanish stock market. For the first time, five listed companies have surpassed a valuation of €100 billion. These include four companies from the Ibex 35, the country's main stock market index: Inditex (€175.218 billion), Banco Santander (€148.347 billion), Iberdrola (€122.466 billion), and BBVA (€114.055 billion). Airbus (€155.430 billion) joins them on the continuous market, a market that is setting all-time records and is one of the most profitable in the world, according to the latest report from Bolsas y Mercados (BME), the Spanish stock exchange operator. Together, these five companies represent almost half the total value of the 130 companies on the continuous market, three-quarters of which are concentrated in the Ibex 35.

Major US artificial intelligence (AI) companies closed down on Thursday as a result of the growing fears of a bubble in this industry. Paradoxically, the losses occurred on the same day as Nvidia, the world's largest AI chip manufacturer. published some extraordinary results for the third quarter of this year, which exceeded analysts' expectations and set a new record for both sales and profits.

The US economy would have barely grown in the first half of 2025 were it not for the investment in data centers made by major artificial intelligence (AI) companies, according to a study by Jason Furman, a professor of economics at Harvard. This data, corroborated by other economists, lends further weight to the argument that the AI industry is affected by a bubble that is causing its companies to become oversized. Specifically, Furman's calculations estimate that although investment in software and equipment represents only 4% of total US gross domestic product (GDP, the indicator that measures the size of an economy), it contributed 92% of all growth recorded in the country between January and June. In other words, without the large investments in AI, the annualized growth rate of US GDP would have been only 0.1%, practically zero.

The Ibex 35, the benchmark index for the Spanish stock market, surpassed its all-time highs recorded in November 2007 on Monday, as well as the symbolic barrier of 16,000 points. The index, which groups the 35 largest listed companies in the Spanish state, is experiencing another day of gains, as are most other global markets, driven upward by the recent trade rapprochement between the United States and China.

On Wednesday, US President Donald Trump He denied in a press conference that he planned to fire Jerome Powell., the chairman of the Federal Reserve (the Fed, the US central bank). That same morning, several media outlets such as Bloomberg and The New York Times They had published that Trump had a draft letter to send to Congress to oust Powell, which led to an immediate drop in the dollar on the foreign exchange market and put the US stock market in the red. Only with the president's denial, a few minutes after its publication, did the situation in the markets normalize.

Maria Rosa López is one of the most punctual customers at the Verges market. Before eight in the morning, she's already waiting for the doors of El Café de la Plaza to open so she can take a sandwich to one of the stallholders. "The trust between vendor and customer is one of the markets' strengths; here we all know each other, we greet each other, and we catch up," López acknowledges. Verges is an example of the continued existence of small-town markets, with five or six stalls where one day a week you can find fruit, vegetables, clothing, or shoes. These types of markets are threatened by a lack of generational relevance, counterfeit products, government regulations, and a lifestyle that prevents younger generations from going shopping in the morning.

The companies that make up the Ibex 35, the benchmark index of the Spanish stock market, have lost almost 80 billion euros in market value in the first nine days of April due to the sharp falls experienced in stock markets around the world following the announcement of a new wave of tariffs by the President of the United States, Donald. Specifically, the Spanish index fell 10.1% in these first nine days of the month.