Breakingviews

Labels like Gucci and Hermes tend to suffer after incidents like the Paris shootings because they rely on confidence and tourism. But years of runaway growth may leave luxury better positioned than before. Companies are now less exposed to any single region.

Deadly assaults across the French capital have sparked the sort of international solidarity which could help Europe surmount recent acrimony over issues such as migration. But the fears they generate may shape debates about security and cultural integration in ways that divide.

The Paris-based International Energy Agency says the world’s reliance on low-cost Middle East oil could return to 1970s levels. By cutting capex, oil majors are bolstering that dependence. Supply squeezes could feed through to higher crude sooner rather than later.

The hope is that the 100-page agreement will help keep oil cheap, spur rapid growth in the Iranian economy and lead to less fighting in the Middle East. But sanctions can be revived quickly if things don’t go to plan. Mistrust remains endemic. Optimists will have to be patient.

The soccer federation’s corruption shows how much harm abundant money can do to weak institutions. The problem goes well beyond sport. Modern affluence spreads lucre’s poison to everything from drug crime to the perfectly legal but socially destructive spiral of executive pay.

Petro-economics are painfully simple for producers. Lower prices hardly push up demand. And it will take a price below $30 a barrel before supply falls enough to balance the market. Unless producers can regroup into an effective cartel, their suffering will continue.

Cheap oil may now be the biggest worry for Middle Eastern economies, but the struggle against the radical group also has the potential to undermine growth. Even if IS has peaked, its ideology remains a problem, especially for Iraq and Turkey. Iran could end up gaining ground.

The sale of shares in the kingdom’s top bank will be the largest this year after Alibaba. A few foreign investors may share some of the upside. For most, it’s a reminder of the opportunities on offer when the $584 bln market opens more fully to outsiders next year.

Fears that war and foreign policy chaos will disrupt the global economy have insidiously crept into the minds of investors, Barclays discovered. In reality, despite deterioration in the Middle East, the global balance is broadly positive. There are bigger things to worry about.

The continued violence looks like a harbinger of a sharp cutback from one of the world’s major oil producers. But the bulk of Iraq’s production is still secure. The Middle East is clearly becoming less stable, but it would take a cascade of problems to create a big price shock.