Five charts to start your day

The West moves to protecting its global supply chains

The Red Sea attacks by the Houthis are intriguing. These attacks don't seem to garner much support from the pro-Palestine camp on major social media channels, nor are they heavily condemned by the pro-Israeli camp. I'm not entirely convinced that this is solely a Middle East story; it appears to be more related to protecting global supply chains.

The strategy seems to be effective. Even though the supply routes have little to do with North America, the effects of shipping through the Suez Canal are being felt and will eventually have some ripple effects. This chart from Baloise illustrates this trend quite well. The last time a drop in traffic was experienced like this was when the Ever Given got stuck in the canal in 2021.

Source: Baloise

Coming up:

• Companies rush to the bond market in a record $150 billion debt splurge

• Who are the world’s largest importers?

• India is set to overtake Hong Kong in market cap

• Russian oil exports to China surge

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