Is the global stock market about to crash?

@font-face {
font-family: Guardian Headline Full;
src: url(https:This CSS defines several web fonts from the Guardian’s asset server. It sets up multiple styles and weights for two font families: Guardian Headline Full and Guardian Titlepiece.

For Guardian Headline Full, it defines bold (700), black (900), light (300), and regular (400) weights, each with normal and italic versions. Each font face provides the font in three formats: WOFF2, WOFF, and TTF.

For Guardian Titlepiece, it defines only the bold (700) weight in normal style, also in WOFF2, WOFF, and TTF formats.

The text cuts off in the middle of the last font-face rule for Guardian Headline Full Regular Italic.@font-face { font-family: Guardian Headline Full; src: url(https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-headline/noalts-not-hinted/GHGuardianHeadline-RegularItalic.woff2) format(“woff2”), url(https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-headline/noalts-not-hinted/GHGuardianHeadline-RegularItalic.woff) format(“woff”), url(https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-headline/noalts-not-hinted/GHGuardianHeadline-RegularItalic.ttf) format(“truetype”); font-weight: 400; font-style: italic; }

@font-face { font-family: Guardian Headline Full; src: url(https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-headline/noalts-not-hinted/GHGuardianHeadline-BlackItalic.woff2) format(“woff2”), url(https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fo@font-face{font-family:Guardian Headline;src:url(https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-headline/noalts-not-hinted/GHGuardianHeadline-BlackItalic.woff) format(“woff”),url(https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-headline/noalts-not-hinted/GHGuardianHeadline-BlackItalic.ttf) format(“truetype”);font-weight:900;font-style:italic}@font-face{font-family:Guardian Titlepiece;src:url(https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-titlepiece/noalts-not-hinted/GTGuardianTitlepiece-Bold.woff2) format(“woff2”),url(https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-titlepiece/noalts-not-hinted/GTGuardianTitlepiece-Bold.woff) format(“woff”),url(https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-titlepiece/noalts-not-hinted/GTGuardianTitlepiece-Bold.ttf) format(“truetype”);font-weight:700;font-style:normal}#article-body>div .content–interactive-grid,.content–interactive>div .content–interactive-grid,#comment-body .content–interactive-grid,[data-gu-name=body] .content–interactive-grid,#feature-body .content–interactive-grid{grid-column-gap:0px;grid-template-columns:100%;grid-template-areas:”media” “title” “headline” “standfirst” “lines” “meta” “body”}@media (min-width: 30em){#article-body>div .content–interactive-grid figure.element–immersive figcaption,.content–interactive>div .content–interactive-grid figure.element–immersive figcaption,#comment-body .content–interactive-grid figure.element–immersive figcaption,[data-gu-name=body] .content–interactive-grid figure.element–immersive figcaption,#feature-body .content–interactive-grid figure.element–immersive figcaption{padding:0 20px;max-width:620px}}@media (min-width: 46.25em){#article-body>div .content–interactive-grid,.content–interactive>div .content–interactive-grid,#comment-body .content–interactive-grid,[data-gu-name=body] .content–interactive-grid,#feature-body .content–interactive-grid{grid-template-columns:100%;grid-column-gap:10px;grid-template-areas:”title” “headline” “standfirst” “media” “lines” “meta” “body”}#article-body>div .content–interactive-grid #maincontent,.content–interactive>div .content–interactive-grid #maincontent,#comment-body .content–interactive-grid #maincontent,[data-gu-name=body] .content–interactive-grid #maincontent,#feature-body .content–interactive-grid #maincontent{padding-right:80px}}@media (min-width: 61.25em){#article-body>div .content–interactive-grid,.content–interactive>div .content–interactive-grid,#comment-body .content–interactive-grid,[data-gu-name=body] .content–interactive-grid,#feature-body .content–interactive-grid{grid-template-columns:620px 300px;grid-template-areas:”title right-column” “headline right-column” “standfirst right-column” “media right-column” “lines right-column” “meta right-column” “body right-column” “. right-column”}#article-body>div .content–interactive-grid #maincontent,.content–interactive>div .content–interactive-grid #maincontent,#comment-body .content–interactive-grid #maincontent,[data-gu-name=body] .content–interactive-grid #maincontent,#feature-body .content–interactive-grid #maincontent{padding-right:unset}}@media (min-width: 71.25em){#article-body>div .content–interactive-grid,.content–interactive>div .content–interactive-grid,#comment-body .content–interactive-grid,[data-gu-name=body] .content–interactive-grid,#feature-body .content–interactive-grid{grid-template-columns:140px 1px 620px 300px;grid-template-areas:”title border headline right-column” “. border standfirst right-column” “. border media right-column” “. border body right-column” “. border . right-column”}#article-body>div .content–interactive-grid .content__standfirst,.content–interactive>div .content–interactive-grid .content__standfirst,#comment-body .content–interactive-grid .content__standfirst,[data-gu-name=body] .content–interactive-grid .content__standfirst,#feature-body .content–interactive-grid .content__standfirst{padding-bottom:0}#article-body>div .content–interactive-grid figure.element–immersive figcaption,.content–interactive>div .content–interactive-grid figure.element–immersive figcaption,#comment-body .contFor interactive-grid figures with immersive captions, add 4px of top padding. In interactive-grid layouts, place the lines and meta elements in grid area 2/1/5/2. The lines element should have a height of max-content and a top margin of 5px, while the meta element should have a top margin of 18px. On screens at least 81.25em wide, use a grid with columns of 219px, 1px, 620px, 80px, and 300px. On iOS and Android, the standfirst text uses Guardian Headline with a weight of 500. The article kicker section displays as a block, with its first letter capitalized. The keyline-4 element gets 12px of top padding. The byline author uses Guardian Headline with a weight of 700, and links inside it also use a weight of 700. Image figure inner elements should have automatic height, and paragraphs following atom figures should have no top margin. The Guardian Headline Full font is loaded from Guardian asset URLs in woff2, woff, and ttf formats, with a light weight and normal style, plus a light italic variant.@font-face {
font-family: ‘Guardian Headline Full’;
src: url(‘https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-headline/noalts-not-hinted/GHGuardianHeadline-Regular.woff2’) format(‘woff2’),
url(‘https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-headline/noalts-not-hinted/GHGuardianHeadline-Regular.woff’) format(‘woff’),
url(‘https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-headline/noalts-not-hinted/GHGuardianHeadline-Regular.ttf’) format(‘truetype’);
font-weight: 400;
font-style: normal;
}

@font-face {
font-family: ‘Guardian Headline Full’;
src: url(‘https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-headline/noalts-not-hinted/GHGuardianHeadline-BoldItalic.woff2’) format(‘woff2’),
url(‘https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-headline/noalts-not-hinted/GHGuardianHeadline-BoldItalic.woff’) format(‘woff’),
url(‘https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-headline/noalts-not-hinted/GHGuardianHeadline-BoldItalic.ttf’) format(‘truetype’);
font-weight: 700;
font-style: italic;
}@font-face{font-family:Guardian Headline Full;src:url(https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-headline/noalts-not-hinted/GHGuardianHeadline-Black.woff2) format(“woff2”),url(https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-headline/noalts-not-hinted/GHGuardianHeadline-Black.woff) format(“woff”),url(https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-headline/noalts-not-hinted/GHGuardianHeadline-Black.ttf) format(“truetype”);font-weight:900;font-style:normal}@font-face{font-family:Guardian Headline Full;src:url(https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-headline/noalts-not-hinted/GHGuardianHeadline-BlackItalic.woff2) format(“woff2”),url(https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-headline/noalts-not-hinted/GHGuardianHeadline-BlackItalic.woff) format(“woff”),url(https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-headline/noalts-not-hinted/GHGuardianHeadline-BlackItalic.ttf) format(“truetype”);font-weight:900;font-style:italic}@font-face{font-family:Guardian Titlepiece;src:url(https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-titlepiece/noalts-not-hinted/GTGuardianTitlepiece-Bold.woff2) format(“woff2”),url(https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-titlepiece/noalts-not-hinted/GTGuardianTitlepiece-Bold.woff) format(“woff”),url(https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-titlepiece/noalts-not-hinted/GTGuardianTitlepiece-Bold.ttf) format(“truetype”);font-weight:700;font-style:normal}@media (min-width: 71.25em){.content__main-column–interactive{margin-left:160px}}@media (min-width: 81.25em){.content__main-column–interactive{margin-left:240px}}.content__main-column–interactive .element-atom{max-width:620px}@media (max-width: 46.24em){.content__main-column–interactive .element-atom{max-width:100%}}.content__main-column–interactive .element-showcase{margin-left:0}@media (min-width: 46.25em){.content__main-column–interactive .element-showcase{max-width:620px}}@media (min-width: 71.25em){.content__main-column–interactive .element-showcase{max-width:860px}}.content__main-column–interactive .element-immersive{max-width:1100px}@media (max-width: 46.24em){.content__main-column–interactive .element-immersive{width:calc(100vw – var(–scrollbar-width, 0px));position:relative;left:50%;right:50%;margin-left:calc(-50vw + var(–half-scrollbar-width, 0px))!important;margin-right:calc(-50vw + var(–half-scrollbar-width, 0px))!important}}@media (min-width: 46.25em){.content__main-column–interactive .element-immersive{transform:translate(-20px);width:calc(100% + 60px)}}@media (max-width: 71.24em){.content__main-column–interactive .element-immersive{margin-left:0;margin-right:0}}@media (min-width: 71.25em){.content__main-column–interactive .element-immersive{transform:translate(0);width:auto}}@media (min-width: 81.25em){.content__main-column–interactive .element-immersive{max-width:1260px}}.content__main-column–interactive p,.content__main-column–interactive ul{max-width:620px}.content__main-column–interactive:before{position:absolute;top:0;height:calc(100% + 15px);min-height:100px;content:””}@media (min-width: 71.25em){.content__main-column–interactive:before{border-left:1px solid #dcdcdc;z-index:-1;left:-10px}}@media (min-width: 81.25em){.content__main-column–interactive:before{border-left:1px solid #dcdcdc;left:-11px}}.content__main-column–interactive .element-atom{margin-top:0;margin-bottom:0;padding-bottom:12px;padding-top:12px}.content__main-column–interactive p+.element-atom{padding-top:0;padding-bottom:0;margin-top:12px;margin-bottom:12px}.content__main-column–interactive .element-inline{max-width:620px}@media (min-width: 61.25em){figure[data-spacefinder-role=inline].element{max-width:620px}}[data-gu-name=media]:has(figure.loop) figure.loop figcaption:not(.hidden){z-index:6}[data-gu-name=media]:has(figure.loop) figure.loop button[data-link-name*=gu-video-loop]{align-self:flex-end;margin-bottom:40px;margin-right:3px}[data-gu-name=media]:has(figure.loop) figure.loop .controls-container div:has(button[data-testid=unmute-icon]),[data-gu-name=media]:has(figure.loop) figure.loop .controls-container div:has(button[data-testid=mute-icon]){right:0;padding-left:10px}[data-gu-name=media]:has(figure.loop) #caption-button{z-index:100}@media (min-width: 61.25em){[data-gu-name=media]:has(figure.loop) #caption-button{bottom:20px}}@media (min-width: 46.25em){[data-gu-name=media]:has(figure.cinemagraph) .cinemagraph>div{max-height:unset}}[data-gu-name=body] gu-island[name=SelfHostedVideo]{width:100%;max-width:620px;display:block;margin-top:12px;margin-bottom:12px}[data-gu-name=body] gu-island[name=SelfHostedVideo] figure.loop,[data-gu-name=body] gu-island[name=SelfHostedVideo] figure.loop video{width:100%;height:auto;max-width:620px;margin:0 auto}[data-gu-name=body] gu-island[name=SelfHostedVideo]:has(figure.loop.element-video-immersive){max-width:unset;margin:12px 0}[data-gu-name=body] gu-island[name=SelfHostedVideo]:has(figure.loop.element-video-immersive) figure.loop,[data-gu-name=body] gu-island[name=SelfHostedVideo]:has(figure.loop.element-video-immersive) figure.loop video{max-width:unset;margin:0}@media (min-width: 71.25em){[data-gu-name=body] gu-island[name=SelfHostedVideo]:has(figure.loop.element-video-immersive){width:1140px;margin-left:-180px}[data-gu-name=body] gu-island[name=SelfHostedVideo]:has(figure.loop.element-video-immersive) figure figcaption{margin-left:20px}}@media (min-width: 81.25em){[data-gu-name=body] gu-island[name=SelfHostedVideo]:has(figure.loop.element-video-immersive){width:1300px;margin-left:-260px}}:root{–dateline: #606060;–headerBorder: #dcdcdc;–captionText: #999;–captionBackground: hsla(0, 0%, 7%, .72);–feature: #c70000;–new-pillar-colour: var(–primary-pillar, var(–feature))}:root:root{–subheading-text: var(–secondary-pillar);–pullquote-text: var(–secondary-pillar);–pullquote-icon: var(–secondary-pillar);–block-quote-text: var(–article-text)}:root:root blockquote{–block-quote-fill: var(–secondary-pillar)}@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark){:root:root:not([data-color-scheme=light]){–subheading-text: var(–darkmode-pillar);–pullquote-text: var(–darkmode-pillar);–pullquote-icon: var(–darkmode-pillar)}:root:root:not([data-color-scheme=light]) blockquote{–block-quote-fill: var(–darkmode-pillar)}}.content__main-column–interactive .element.element-atom,.element.element-atom{padding:0}#article-body>div .element-atom:first-of-type+p:first-of-type,#article-body>div .element-atom:first-of-type+.sign-in-gate+p:first-of-type,#article-body>div .element-atom:first-of-type+#sign-in-gate+p:first-of-type,#article-body>div hr:not(.last-horizontal-rule)+p,.content–interactive>div .element-atom:first-of-type+p:first-of-type,.content–interactive>div .element-atom:first-of-type+.sign-in-gate+p:first-of-type,.content–interactive>div .element-atom:first-of-type+#sign-in-gate+p:first-of-type,.content–interactive>div hr:not(.last-horizontal-rule)+p,#comment-body .element-atom:first-of-type+p:first-of-type,#comment-body .element-atom:first-of-type+.sign-in-gate+p:first-of-type,#comment-body .element-atom:first-of-type+#sign-in-gate+p:first-of-type,#comment-body hr:not(.last-horizontal-rule)+p,[data-gu-name=body] .element-atom:first-of-type+p:first-of-type,[data-gu-name=body] .element-atom:first-of-type+.sign-in-gate+p:first-of-type,[data-gu-name=body] .element-atom:first-of-type+#sign-in-gate+p:first-of-type,[data-gu-name=body] hr:not(.last-horizontal-rule)+p,#feature-body .element-atom:first-of-type+p:first-of-type,#feature-body .element-atom:first-of-type+.sign-in-gate+p:first-of-type,#feature-body .element-atom:first-of-type+#sign-in-gate+p:first-of-type,#feature-body hr:not(.last-horizontal-rule)+p{padding-top:14px}#article-body>div .element-atom:first-of-type+p:first-of-type:first-letter,#article-body>div .element-atom:first-of-type+.sign-in-gate+p:first-of-type:first-letter,#article-body>div .element-atom:first-of-type+#sign-in-gate+p:first-of-type:first-letter,#article-body>div hr:not(.last-horizontal-rule)+p:first-letter,.content–interactive>div .element-atom:first-of-type+p:first-of-type:first-letter,.content–interactive>div .element-atom:first-of-type+.The first letter of the first paragraph following a sign-in gate, an element atom, or a horizontal rule (excluding the last one) in various content areas—such as interactive content, comment bodies, the main body, and feature bodies—is styled with the Guardian Headline font (or Guardian Egyptian Web, Guardian Headline Full, Georgia, serif as fallbacks), bold weight, 111px font size, 92px line height, floated left, uppercase, with box-sizing set to border-box, an 8px right margin, vertical-align set to text-top, and colored using the drop-cap or new pillar colour variable.

Horizontal rules followed by paragraphs in the article body, interactive content, comment body, main body, and feature body have no top padding.

Pullquotes in the article body, interactive content, comment body, main body, and feature body have a maximum width of 620px.

Figcaptions inside showcase figures in the main content, feature article container, standard article container, and comment article container are statically positioned with full width and a maximum width of 620px. At viewports 71.25em and wider, they become absolutely positioned with a maximum width of 140px. At 81.25em and wider, the maximum width increases to 220px.

Immersive elements have a width calculated as the viewport width minus the scrollbar width. Below 71.24em, they have a maximum width of 978px, and their figcaptions have 10px inline padding. Between 30em and 71.24em, the figcaption inline padding increases to 20px. Between 46.25em and 61.24em, the maximum width is 738px. Below 46.24em, they are forced to the left edge with a -10px left margin and no right margin. Between 30em and 46.24em, the left margin becomes -20px and figcaptions get 20px inline padding.

At viewports 71.25em and wider, showcase figures inside the main body and interactive main column are shifted left by 160px. At 81.25em and wider, the rule continues but is cut off.figure.element.element–showcase.element-showcase,[data-gu-name=body] .content__main-column–interactive figure.element.element–showcase.element-showcase{margin-left:-240px!important}}@media (min-width: 61.25em){.furniture-wrapper{display:grid;grid-column-gap:20px;grid-row-gap:0px;grid-template-columns:[title-start headline-start meta-start standfirst-start] repeat(5,1fr) [title-end headline-end meta-end standfirst-end portrait-start] repeat(5,1fr) [portrait-end];grid-template-rows:[title-start portrait-start] .25fr [title-end headline-start] 1fr [headline-end standfirst-start] .75fr [standfirst-end meta-start] auto [meta-end portrait-end]}.furniture-wrapper #headline>div:first-child,.furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=headline]>div:first-child,.furniture-wrapper .headline>div:first-child{border-top:1px solid var(–headerBorder)}.furniture-wrapper #meta,.furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=meta]{position:relative;padding-top:2px;margin-right:0}.furniture-wrapper .standfirst .content__standfirst,.furniture-wrapper #standfirst .content__standfirst,.furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=standfirst] .content__standfirst{margin-bottom:4px}.furniture-wrapper .standfirst ul li,.furniture-wrapper #standfirst ul li,.furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=standfirst] ul li{font-size:20px}.furniture-wrapper .standfirst li a,.furniture-wrapper .standfirst a,.furniture-wrapper #standfirst li a,.furniture-wrapper #standfirst a,.furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=standfirst] li a,.furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=standfirst] a{border-bottom:none;background-image:none!important;text-decoration:underline;text-underline-offset:6px;text-decoration-color:var(–headerBorder, #dcdcdc)}.furniture-wrapper .standfirst li a:hover,.furniture-wrapper .standfirst a:hover,.furniture-wrapper #standfirst li a:hover,.furniture-wrapper #standfirst a:hover,.furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=standfirst] li a:hover,.furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=standfirst] a:hover{text-decoration-color:var(–new-pillar-colour)}.furniture-wrapper .standfirst p:first-of-type,.furniture-wrapper #standfirst p:first-of-type,.furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=standfirst] p:first-of-type{border-top:1px solid var(–headerBorder);padding-bottom:0}}@media (min-width: 61.25em) and (min-width: 71.25em){.furniture-wrapper .standfirst p:first-of-type,.furniture-wrapper #standfirst p:first-of-type,.furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=standfirst] p:first-of-type{border-top:unset}}@media (min-width: 61.25em){.furniture-wrapper figure{margin:0 0 0 -10px}.furniture-wrapper figure[data-spacefinder-role=inline].element{max-width:630px}}@media (min-width: 71.25em){.furniture-wrapper{grid-template-columns:[title-start headline-start meta-start] repeat(2,1fr) [meta-end standfirst-start] repeat(5,1fr) [title-end headline-end standfirst-end portrait-start] repeat(7,1fr) [portrait-end];grid-template-rows:[title-start portrait-start] 80px [title-end headline-start] auto [headline-end standfirst-start meta-start] auto [standfirst-end meta-end portrait-end]}.furniture-wrapper #meta:before,.furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=meta]:before{content:””;width:540px;position:absolute;top:0;background-color:var(–headerBorder);height:1px}.furniture-wrapper .standfirst p,.furniture-wrapper #standfirst p,.furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=standfirst] p{border-top:unset}.furniture-wrapper .standfirst:before,.furniture-wrapper #standfirst:before,.furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=standfirst]:before{content:””;width:1px;background-color:var(–headerBorder);height:100%;position:absolute;top:0;left:.5px}}@media (min-width: 81.25em){.furniture-wrapper{grid-template-columns:[title-start headline-start meta-start] repeat(3,1fr) [meta-end standfirst-start] repeat(5,1fr) [title-end headline-end standfirst-end portrait-start] repeat(8,1fr) [portrait-end];grid-template-rows:[title-start portrait-start] .25fr [title-end headline-start] 1fr [headline-end standfirst-start meta-start] .75fr [standfirst-end meta-end portrait-end]}.furniture-wrapper #meta:before,.furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=meta]:before{width:620px}.furniture-wrapper .standfirst:before,.furniturThis CSS code styles article headers, including the headline, standfirst, metadata, media, and captions. It adjusts font sizes and widths for different screen sizes, hides certain elements on larger screens, and positions captions and caption buttons over images. It also includes dark mode colour variables for iOS and Android.For iOS and Android devices, the first letter of the first paragraph in feature, standard, and comment article containers—whether or not it follows a sign-in gate—will be colored using the secondary pillar color, defaulting to black.

On iOS and Android, the article header in feature, standard, and comment containers will have zero height.

On iOS and Android, the furniture wrapper in feature, standard, and comment containers will have padding of 4px top, 10px left and right, and 0 bottom.

On iOS and Android, the content labels inside the furniture wrapper in feature, standard, and comment containers will use bold weight, the Guardian Headline font family with Georgia and serif fallbacks, the new pillar colour, and capitalized text.

On iOS and Android, the main headline inside the furniture wrapper in feature, standard, and comment containers will be 32px, bold, with 12px bottom padding, and colored #121212 with important priority.

On iOS and Android, the figure element image inside the furniture wrapper in feature, standard, and comment containers will be styled as follows:figure.element-image{position:relative;margin:14px 0 0 -10px;width:calc(100vw – var(–scrollbar-width, 0px));height:auto}body.ios #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper figure.element-image .figure__inner,body.ios #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper figure.element-image img,body.ios #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper figure.element-image a,body.ios #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper figure.element-image .figure__inner,body.ios #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper figure.element-image img,body.ios #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper figure.element-image a,body.ios #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper figure.element-image .figure__inner,body.ios #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper figure.element-image img,body.ios #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper figure.element-image a,body.android #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper figure.element-image .figure__inner,body.android #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper figure.element-image img,body.android #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper figure.element-image a,body.android #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper figure.element-image .figure__inner,body.android #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper figure.element-image img,body.android #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper figure.element-image a,body.android #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper figure.element-image .figure__inner,body.android #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper figure.element-image img,body.android #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper figure.element-image a{background-color:transparent;width:calc(100vw – var(–scrollbar-width, 0px));height:auto!important}body.ios #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper .standfirst,body.ios #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper .standfirst,body.ios #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper .standfirst,body.android #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper .standfirst,body.android #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper .standfirst,body.android #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper .standfirst{padding-top:4px;padding-bottom:24px;margin-right:-10px}body.ios #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper .standfirst__inner p,body.ios #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper .standfirst__inner p,body.ios #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper .standfirst__inner p,body.android #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper .standfirst__inner p,body.android #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper .standfirst__inner p,body.android #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper .standfirst__inner p{font-family:Guardian Headline,Guardian Egyptian Web,Guardian Headline Full,Georgia,serif}body.ios #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper .standfirst__inner li a,body.ios #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper .standfirst__inner a,body.ios #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper .standfirst__inner li a,body.ios #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper .standfirst__inner a,body.ios #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper .standfirst__inner li a,body.ios #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper .standfirst__inner a,body.android #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper .standfirst__inner li a,body.android #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper .standfirst__inner a,body.android #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper .standfirst__inner li a,body.android #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper .standfirst__inner a,body.android #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper .standfirst__inner li a,body.android #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper .standfirst__inner a{color:var(–new-pillar-colour)!important;background-image:none!important;text-decoration:underline;text-underline-offset:6px;text-decoration-color:var(–headerBorder, #dcdcdc);border-bottom:none}body.ios #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper .standfirst__inner li a:hover,body.ios #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper .standfirst__inneOn iOS and Android, when you hover over a link inside the standfirst of a feature, standard, or comment article container, the underline color changes to the new pillar colour. On both platforms, the meta section in these article containers has no margin. The byline, byline author, author link, and meta byline text all use the new pillar colour. The meta misc section has no padding, and its SVG icons are also affected.For `.meta__misc svg`, set the stroke to `var(–new-pillar-colour)`.

On iOS and Android, for the feature, standard, and comment article containers, style the caption button inside the showcase element in the furniture wrapper to use flexbox, with 5px padding, centered content, a width and height of 28px, and positioned 14px from the right.

Also on iOS and Android, for the article body in those same containers, set the padding to `0 12px`.

For image figures in the article body that are not thumbnails or immersive, set the margin to 0, the width to `calc(100vw – 24px – var(–scrollbar-width, 0px))`, and the height to auto. Their figcaptions should have no padding.

For immersive image figures, set the width to `calc(100vw – var(–scrollbar-width, 0px))`.

For quoted blockquotes in the prose, set the color to `var(–new-pillar-colour)`.

For links in the prose, apply the same styles on iOS and Android.In the article body of the feature, standard, and comment article containers on iOS and Android, links are colored with the primary pillar color, have no background image, are underlined, and the underline is offset by 6px with the header border color. On iOS and Android, when you hover over links in the article body of the feature, standard, and comment article containers, the underline color changes to the new pillar color. In dark mode, on iOS and Android, the furniture wrapper in the feature, standard, and comment article containers has a background color of #1a1a1a. The content labels inside the furniture wrapper use the new pillar color. The main headline inside the furniture wrapper has no background color and uses the header border color with important priority. The standfirst paragraphs inside the furniture wrapper use the header border color. Links in the standfirst, as well as the byline author and byline author links in the meta section inside the furniture wrapper, use the new pillar color. The miscellaneous meta SVGs inside the furniture wrapper on iOS and Android are also affected.When the body has the class “ios” or “android”, the SVG icons inside the meta section of the furniture wrapper in the feature, standard, and comment article containers are stroked with the new pillar colour. Also on iOS and Android, the captions inside showcase image figures in those same containers use the dateline colour. Quoted blockquotes in the article body prose use the new pillar colour. The main content areas—article body, interactive content, feature body, body data attribute, and comment body—have the dark background colour applied with !important. Additionally, the first letter of the first paragraph following an atom element, sign-in gate, or sign-in gate with an ID inside those content areas is styled.This CSS selector targets the first letter of paragraphs that follow specific elements (like `.element-atom`, `.sign-in-gate`, or `#sign-in-gate`) within various article and comment containers, applying different styles depending on whether the device is iOS or Android.On Android devices, the first letter of paragraphs following certain elements—such as `.element-atom`, `.sign-in-gate`, or `#sign-in-gate`—within various article containers (including feature, standard, and comment article containers, and their body sections) is styled with the color defined by `–new-pillar-colour`, defaulting to white.

For comment-type articles on both iOS and Android, the standfirst inside the furniture wrapper has 24px top padding and no top margin.

In prose content, h2 headings are set to 24px font size.

On iOS devices, the caption button within feature, standard, and comment article containers has padding of 6px top, 5px left and right, and 0 bottom.The caption button in feature, standard, and comment article containers on Android has 4px padding on the sides and no bottom padding. In dark mode, when the color scheme isn’t set to light, several variables change: the follow text becomes light gray, the follow icon fill uses the dark mode pillar color, the standfirst text becomes light gray, and the standfirst link text and border use the dark mode pillar color, as does the byline.

On iOS and Android, the content labels and headline in the furniture wrapper of feature, standard, and comment article containers use a font weight of 500. The same applies to the headline and standfirst paragraphs in the furniture wrapper.

The page background uses a light pink color, with the article section and sub-meta backgrounds matching it.

The lines element is hidden. The furniture wrapper is positioned relatively. On wider screens, it uses a grid layout with specific row sizes for the title, headline, standfirst, and meta sections.

The article header and title elements are 70px tall and positioned relatively. The content labels inside them inherit this height. A book icon is added as a background image in the bottom right corner, sized 70px by 70px, or 110px by 110px on wider screens. A horizontal line is drawn below the content labels, spanning the viewport width, but it’s hidden on medium screens and above. The header height increases to 80px on larger screens and 125px on the largest screens. On the largest screens, the headline gets a slight negative top margin..furniture-wrapper .headline > div > div { padding-bottom: 0; }

.furniture-wrapper #headline .portrait-mainmedia__headline-wrapper,
.furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=”headline”] .portrait-mainmedia__headline-wrapper,
.furniture-wrapper .headline .portrait-mainmedia__headline-wrapper {
height: 100%;
position: relative;
overflow: hidden;
padding-bottom: 24px;
}

.furniture-wrapper #headline .portrait-mainmedia__headline-wrapper h1:hover,
.furniture-wrapper #headline .portrait-mainmedia__headline-wrapper a:hover,
.furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=”headline”] .portrait-mainmedia__headline-wrapper h1:hover,
.furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=”headline”] .portrait-mainmedia__headline-wrapper a:hover,
.furniture-wrapper .headline .portrait-mainmedia__headline-wrapper h1:hover,
.furniture-wrapper .headline .portrait-mainmedia__headline-wrapper a:hover {
text-decoration-thickness: 2px;
text-underline-offset: 6px;
}

.furniture-wrapper #headline .portrait-mainmedia__headline-wrapper h1,
.furniture-wrapper #headline .portrait-mainmedia__headline-wrapper a,
.furniture-wrapper #headline .portrait-mainmedia__headline-wrapper .byline span,
.furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=”headline”] .portrait-mainmedia__headline-wrapper h1,
.furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=”headline”] .portrait-mainmedia__headline-wrapper a,
.furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=”headline”] .portrait-mainmedia__headline-wrapper .byline span,
.furniture-wrapper .headline .portrait-mainmedia__headline-wrapper h1,
.furniture-wrapper .headline .portrait-mainmedia__headline-wrapper a,
.furniture-wrapper .headline .portrait-mainmedia__headline-wrapper .byline span {
line-height: 115%;
font-weight: 500;
font-size: 36px;
}

@media (min-width: 71.25em) {
.furniture-wrapper #headline .portrait-mainmedia__headline-wrapper h1,
.furniture-wrapper #headline .portrait-mainmedia__headline-wrapper a,
.furniture-wrapper #headline .portrait-mainmedia__headline-wrapper .byline span,
.furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=”headline”] .portrait-mainmedia__headline-wrapper h1,
.furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=”headline”] .portrait-mainmedia__headline-wrapper a,
.furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=”headline”] .portrait-mainmedia__headline-wrapper .byline span,
.furniture-wrapper .headline .portrait-mainmedia__headline-wrapper h1,
.furniture-wrapper .headline .portrait-mainmedia__headline-wrapper a,
.furniture-wrapper .headline .portrait-mainmedia__headline-wrapper .byline span {
font-size: 50px;
}
}

.furniture-wrapper .standfirst,
.furniture-wrapper #standfirst,
.furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=”standfirst”] {
position: relative;
padding-top: 4px;
}

@media (min-width: 61.25em) {
.furniture-wrapper .standfirst,
.furniture-wrapper #standfirst,
.furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=”standfirst”] {
padding-top: 0;
}
}

@media (min-width: 71.25em) {
.furniture-wrapper .standfirst,
.furniture-wrapper #standfirst,
.furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=”standfirst”] {
padding-top: 2px;
}
}

.furniture-wrapper #meta .content__meta-container_dcr gu-island[name=”Branding”],
.furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=”meta”] .content__meta-container_dcr gu-island[name=”Branding”] {
display: block;
}

.furniture-wrapper #main-media,
.furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=”media”] {
position: relative;
}

@media (min-width: 61.25em) {
.furniture-wrapper #main-media,
.furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=”media”] {
grid-area: portrait;
}
}

.furniture-wrapper #main-media > div,
.furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=”media”] > div {
position: relative;
}

.furniture-wrapper #main-media div + span,
.furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=”media”] div + span {
display: block;
}

.furniture-wrapper #main-media figure,
.furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=”media”] figure {
height: 100%;
margin-left: 10px;
}

.furniture-wrapper #main-media figure picture img,
.furniture-wrapper #main-media figure figcaption,
.furniture-The media wrapper and furniture wrapper styles define how figures, images, and captions are displayed. For figures inside these wrappers, the image and caption are set to a width based on the viewport minus 40px and any scrollbar width, with automatic height, a 10px left margin, and 10px top and bottom padding. Captions inside the main media figure or media wrapper have a 10px bottom margin and 10px padding. Each figure also has a decorative frame added through a `:before` pseudo-element, which spans the viewport width minus 20px and any scrollbar width, uses a background image centered and scaled to fit, and is positioned absolutely at the top with a 10px left offset and inherited height.

For cinemagraph figures, the first inner div has a transparent background. The video is set to 92% width with a 16px top margin and 8px side margins, while the caption is 93% wide with a 2px left margin and a 12px bottom margin.

At viewport widths of 23.4375em and above, the cinemagraph video becomes 94% wide, and the caption becomes 91% wide with a 9px left margin and a 12px bottom margin.

At 46.25em and above, figures lose their left margin. Images become 670px wide with automatic height, a 5px left margin, and 15px top and bottom padding with 10px side padding. The decorative frame becomes 700px wide and shifts 10px to the left. Captions become 650px wide with a 15px left margin, 15px bottom margin, and 15px top and bottom padding with 10px side padding. Cinemagraph videos become 96% wide with an 18px top margin and 6px side margins, and their captions become 96% wide with a 6px left margin and a 17px bottom margin.

At 61.25em and above, the decorative frame becomes 470px wide. Images and captions become 450px wide with no left margin. Images have 10px top and bottom padding with no side padding. Captions have a 10px bottom margin. Cinemagraph videos have a 10px top margin and 6px side margins, and their captions have a 6px left margin and a 12px bottom margin.

At 71.25em and above, the decorative frame becomes 550px wide. Images become 520px wide with a 5px left margin and 10px top and bottom padding with 5px side padding. Captions become 510px wide with a 10px left margin and a 10px bottom margin. Cinemagraph videos have a 12px top margin and 6px side margins.The caption for the furniture wrapper’s media figure has a left margin of 6px and a bottom margin of 15px. On screens at least 81.25em wide, the main media figure and the media figure get a width of 630px. Their images are 600px wide with 15px of vertical padding. Their captions are 600px wide with a 5px left margin and a 15px bottom margin. For cinemagraph videos, the margin is 16px 8px 0, and the caption has an 8px left margin.

The caption button in the main media sits 15px from the right and 20px from the bottom. At 46.25em and up, it moves to 45px from the right and 30px from the bottom. At 61.25em and up, it goes back to 15px from the right and 20px from the bottom. At 71.25em and up, it sits 20px from the right. At 81.25em and up, it sits 30px from the bottom.

When a cinemagraph is present, the caption button sits 20px from the right. At 46.25em and up, it moves to 35px from the right and 25px from the bottom. At 61.25em and up, it moves to 25px from the right and 20px from the bottom. At 71.25em and up, it sits 25px from the bottom.

The no-media div is centered with flexbox and takes full width. Its paragraph text is 24px, weight 500, line height 115%, colored with the byline anchor variable, weight 700, underlined, and displayed as a block.

At 71.25em and up, the interactive main column has no left margin, and its before pseudo-element is hidden. A supporting aside containing a blockquote gets a background color of #fff4f2. The first paragraph’s first letter has a font weight of 300. The first letter after an hr, after a progress bar wrapper, or in a drop-cap paragraph uses Guardian Headline or similar serif fonts, weight 300, size 111px, line height 92px, uppercase, floated left, with an 8px right margin, aligned to the top, and colored with the drop-cap or new pillar colour variable.

The interactive main column’s h2 is colored #8d2700, size 28px, normal style, weight 300, normal line height, with an 8px bottom margin. At 71.25em and up, the h2 is 32px. An h2 containing strong text has a weight of 500. A figure containing an iframe gets a background color of #fff4f2. At 71.25em and up, the figcaption in an element-showcase figure is absolutely positioned.[data-rendering-target=apps] .meta__byline gu-island[name=FollowWrapper], [data-rendering-target=apps] [data-component=meta-byline] gu-island[name=FollowWrapper], [data-app-os=ios] .meta__byline gu-island[name=FollowWrapper], [data-app-os=ios] [data-component=meta-byline] gu-island[name=FollowWrapper], [data-app-os=android] .meta__byline gu-island[name=FollowWrapper], [data-app-os=android] [data-component=meta-byline] gu-island[name=FollowWrapper] { display: block; margin-top: 10px; }

[data-rendering-target=apps] .meta__byline gu-island[name=FollowWrapper] span, [data-rendering-target=apps] [data-component=meta-byline] gu-island[name=FollowWrapper] span, [data-app-os=ios] .meta__byline gu-island[name=FollowWrapper] span, [data-app-os=ios] [data-component=meta-byline] gu-island[name=FollowWrapper] span, [data-app-os=android] .meta__byline gu-island[name=FollowWrapper] span, [data-app-os=android] [data-component=meta-byline] gu-island[name=FollowWrapper] span { font-size: 14px !important; }

[data-rendering-target=apps] #main-media div, [data-rendering-target=apps] #main-media figure, [data-rendering-target=apps] #main-media picture, [data-rendering-target=apps] [data-gu-name=media] div, [data-rendering-target=apps] [data-gu-name=media] figure, [data-rendering-target=apps] [data-gu-name=media] picture, [data-app-os=ios] #main-media div, [data-app-os=ios] #main-media figure, [data-app-os=ios] #main-media picture, [data-app-os=ios] [data-gu-name=media] div, [data-app-os=ios] [data-gu-name=media] figure, [data-app-os=ios] [data-gu-name=media] picture, [data-app-os=android] #main-media div, [data-app-os=android] #main-media figure, [data-app-os=android] #main-media picture, [data-app-os=android] [data-gu-name=media] div, [data-app-os=android] [data-gu-name=media] figure, [data-app-os=android] [data-gu-name=media] picture { width: -moz-fit-content; width: fit-content; }

@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
[data-rendering-target=apps] body, [data-app-os=ios] body, [data-app-os=android] body {
–article-section-background: #1a1a1a;
–weekend-essay-bg: #1a1a1a;
}
[data-rendering-target=apps] .furniture-wrapper .article-header:after, [data-rendering-target=apps] .furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=title] .content__labels:after, [data-app-os=ios] .furniture-wrapper .article-header:after, [data-app-os=ios] .furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=title] .content__labels:after, [data-app-os=android] .furniture-wrapper .article-header:after, [data-app-os=android] .furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=title] .content__labels:after {
background-image: url(https://interactive.guim.co.uk/atoms/2025/04/2025-weekend-essay-test/assets/v/1784045269/book-white.gif);
}
[data-rendering-target=apps] .furniture-wrapper .meta__byline gu-island[name=FollowWrapper] svg path, [data-rendering-target=apps] .furniture-wrapper [data-component=meta-byline] gu-island[name=FollowWrapper] svg path, [data-app-os=ios] .furniture-wrapper .meta__byline gu-island[name=FollowWrapper] svg path, [data-app-os=ios] .furniture-wrapper [data-component=meta-byline] gu-island[name=FollowWrapper] svg path, [data-app-os=android] .furniture-wrapper .meta__byline gu-island[name=FollowWrapper] svg path, [data-app-os=android] .furniture-wrapper [data-component=meta-byline] gu-island[name=FollowWrapper] svg path {
fill: var(–byline-anchor, #ffffff) !important;
}
[data-rendering-target=apps] .furniture-wrapper #main-media figure:before, [data-rendering-target=apps] .furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=media] figure:before, [data-app-os=ios] .furniture-wrapper #main-media figure:before, [data-app-os=ios] .furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=media] figure:before, [data-app-os=android] .furniture-wrapper #main-media figure:before, [data-app-os=android] .furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=media] figure:before {
background-image: url(https://interactive.guim.co.uk/atoms/2025/04/2025-weekend-essay-test/assets/v/1784045269/frame-white.png) !important;
}
}

body.ios, body.android {
background-color: #fff;
}

body.ios #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper .content__labels, body.ios #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper .content__labels, body.ios #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper .content__labels, body.andOn iOS and Android, the labels and headlines in the feature, standard, and comment article containers use a font weight of 500.

In light mode, the background color for iOS and Android devices is set to a soft peach tone, with the opinion section using a burnt orange color for primary elements and bylines.

In dark mode, the background switches to a dark gray, and the opinion primary color changes to a bright orange. The article body and tags in opinion pieces lose their background color.

The article containers on iOS and Android share the same soft peach background.

On wider screens, the furniture wrapper inside these containers uses a grid layout with defined columns and rows for the title, headline, standfirst, meta information, and portrait image.

The title and GIF wrapper is a flex container that arranges its children in a row, spaced apart, and positioned relatively. The content labels inside it use a font size of 17 pixels, bold weight, and 115% line height. Links within these labels inherit the same styling.For iOS and Android devices, links in the content labels of feature, standard, and comment article containers use the new pillar color (default #c74600) and are not capitalized. GIF containers and their images in these article types are sized at 70 by 70 pixels. White book GIFs are hidden on both platforms. When dark mode is enabled, the regular book GIFs are shown instead.On iOS and Android devices, hide the book GIF in the title and GIF wrapper of the furniture wrapper within the feature, standard, and comment article containers. On iOS and Android devices, show the white book GIF in the title and GIF wrapper of the furniture wrapper within the feature, standard, and comment article containers. On iOS and Android devices, add a horizontal line after the title and GIF wrapper of the furniture wrapper within the feature, standard, and comment article containers. This line should be 100vw wide, 1px tall, colored #dcdcdc, positioned absolutely at the bottom and 10px to the left. On screens at least 61.25em wide, on iOS and Android devices, set the title and GIF wrapper of the furniture wrapper within the feature, standard, and comment article containers to the title grid area, and make the horizontal line 50vw wide. In dark mode, on iOS and Android devices, change the horizontal line after the title and GIF wrapper of the furniture wrapper within the feature, standard, and comment article containers to #606060. On screens at least 61.25em wide, on iOS and Android devices, apply styles to the portrait main media headline wrapper of the furniture wrapper within the feature, standard, and comment article containers.On Android devices, the headline area for the portrait main media in the feature, standard, and comment article containers is set to the headline grid area.

On iOS devices, the headline, byline, and byline links in the feature, standard, and comment article containers use a font size of 36px, normal style, medium weight, and 115% line height.

On iOS and Android devices, the byline and byline links in the feature, standard, and comment article containers use the color defined by the new pillar color variable, defaulting to #c70000.

In dark mode, the byline and byline links in the feature, standard, and comment article containers on iOS devices follow the same styling.On iOS and Android devices, the byline text in the feature, standard, and comment article containers is now colored with the new pillar color, defaulting to #c74600, and this is applied with priority. On these devices, the avatar in the byline is hidden. The main headline in these article containers has no bottom margin or padding. The byline is italicized, but the author name within it is not. The main media area has an auto height with a 4:5 aspect ratio and a transparent background. Any figure element inside the main media is set to full height with no left margin.The inner figure element inside the main media section of the furniture wrapper within the feature, standard, and comment article containers is positioned relatively at the top-left corner on iOS and Android devices. On these devices, the inner element has a transparent background, visible overflow, and no padding. Images inside the figure element or its inner element span the full viewport width minus 40 pixels, with a 20-pixel left margin and a 25-pixel top margin. On iOS and Android, images inside the inner element have a 13-pixel top margin. Figure captions have automatic height. Caption paragraphs and spans are also styled.On iOS, within the comment article container’s furniture wrapper, the main media figure element’s figcaption paragraph span, as well as the figcaption span itself, should be displayed as a block with no maximum height, positioned relatively, and colored using the caption text variable, defaulting to #999. On Android, the same styling applies to the feature, standard, and comment article containers’ furniture wrappers, targeting the main media figure element’s figcaption paragraph, its span, and the figcaption span.

For screens at least 46.25em wide, on both iOS and Android, the main media figure element inside the feature, standard, and comment article containers’ furniture wrappers should have no maximum width. Its before pseudo-element should be positioned 10px from the left with a width calculated as the viewport width minus 20px. The inner image should be sized to the viewport width minus 60px, with a left margin of 30px and a top margin of 40px.

For screens at least 61.25em wide, on both iOS and Android, the before pseudo-element of the main media figure element in the feature, standard, and comment article containers’ furniture wrappers should have a width calculated as half the viewport width minus 20px minus any scrollbar width. The inner image styling continues similarly.The text you provided is CSS code, not prose, so there is no natural English to rewrite. If you meant to paste a different passage, please share it and I’ll be glad to help.On iOS and Android devices, the first image in the main media section of feature, standard, and comment article containers is styled as follows:

– On smaller screens, the image width is set to the viewport width minus 20px and any scrollbar width, with no left margin and 10px padding.
– On screens at least 61.25em wide, the image width becomes half the viewport minus 30px and any scrollbar width, with a 5px left margin, automatic height, and 21px top padding.
– On screens at least 81.25em wide, the image width becomes half the viewport minus 70px and any scrollbar width, with a 5px left margin, automatic height, -10px top margin, and 21px top padding.

Also on screens at least 61.25em wide, the image container is set to full height with a maximum width of 620px. Its pseudo-element before it has a width of half the viewport minus 20px and any scrollbar width, positioned at the left with full height. On screens at least 81.25em wide, this pseudo-element shifts 20px to the left.

On screens at least 46.25em wide, the caption button inside the main media section is styled for iOS and Android devices.On iOS and Android devices, the caption button inside the main media section of article containers is positioned 45px from the bottom. On screens at least 61.25em wide, the main media area in these containers is placed in the portrait grid area, with a maximum width of 620px and automatic height. Figure elements within these containers are relatively positioned with no top margin. Their inner content is absolutely positioned 15px from the top and 20px from the left, with a width equal to the viewport minus 40px and automatic height. Images inside fill their container completely using object-fit: cover. The caption button sits 24px from the right and 20px from the bottom. On screens at least 46.25em wide, the inner content becomes 680px wide with automatic height, positioned 10px from the top and left.Here is the text rewritten in fluent, natural English:

On iOS and Android devices, for the feature, standard, and comment article containers, the furniture wrapper’s figure element is set to a width of 50vw minus 20px minus the scrollbar width (defaulting to 0px) when the viewport is at least 61.25em wide. The standfirst within the furniture wrapper has no top margin, 8px top padding, and 10px right padding, with its before pseudo-element hidden. Text inside the standfirst—paragraphs, links, and list items—uses a font size of 20px, normal style, weight 500, line height 115%, and no bottom padding. At viewports of 61.25em or wider, the standfirst is placed in the standfirst grid area. The meta section has no top padding, and its published meta element is styled accordingly.For iOS and Android devices, the published metadata within the furniture wrapper of the feature, standard, and comment article containers is set to a relative position. On iOS devices, a pseudo-element is added after the published metadata, which displays as a block element with a width of 100 viewport units, a height of 1 pixel, a background color of #dcdcdc, and is positioned absolutely at the bottom and 10 pixels to the left. On screens at least 61.25em wide, the metadata within the furniture wrapper for these article containers is assigned to the meta grid area and displayed as a block, and the pseudo-element after the published metadata is set to a width of 50 viewport units. On screens at least 81.25em wide, the miscellaneous metadata within the furniture wrapper has no left margin. In dark mode, the pseudo-element after the published metadata has a background color of #606060. Additionally, on iOS and Android devices, the before pseudo-elements for the metadata and keyline within the furniture wrapper of these article containers are hidden.On iOS and Android, hide the furniture-wrapper aside element-rich-link in the feature, standard, and comment article containers. Also hide the comment-header cutout-container in those same containers.

On iOS and Android, give the article-body and feature-body a background color of var(–weekend-essay-bg, #fff4f2) and a top margin of 6px.

On iOS and Android, style horizontal rules in the article-body and feature-body with a height of 1px, no border, a bottom margin of 3px, a background color of #dcdcdc, a width of 150px, no left margin, and a top margin of 48px.

On iOS and Android, style the first letter of the first paragraph without a span, or the first paragraph after a horizontal rule, in the article-body and feature-body with the Guardian Headline font family, a font weight of 300, a font size of 111px, a line height of 92px, floated left, uppercase, box-sizing border-box, an 8px right margin, vertical-align text-top, and a color of var(–drop-cap, var(–secondary-pillar)).

On iOS and Android, set h2 elements containing strong tags, and strong or bold text inside h2 elements in the prose class, within the article-body and feature-body, to a font weight of 500.

In dark mode, on iOS and Android, set horizontal rules in the article-body and feature-body to a background color of #606060. Set the first letter of the first paragraph after a horizontal rule in those sections to a color of var(–new-pillar-colour, #ff5943). Remove text decoration from links inside paragraphs in the article-body and feature-body.

On iOS and Android, set the first letter of the first paragraph after the first element-atom inside a div in the article-body and feature-body to a font weight of 500.

On iOS and Android, set the first letter of the first paragraph after an element-atom, or after an element-atom plus a sign-in-gate, in the comment-body or [data-gu-name=body] to a font weight of 500.In the middle of summer, the mood in the world’s financial centers was upbeat. Driven by the AI boom, the US stock market had reached a new record high, as investors bet that a multitrillion-dollar spending spree would outweigh the damage from the Iran war.

Now warning signs are flashing red. As fighting in the Middle East escalates with no clear end in sight, financial markets have been thrown into fresh turmoil. A slowdown is looming in the AI arms race, and volatile conditions in the government debt market are raising alarms.

Over the past week, the US government’s borrowing costs rose to their highest level since 2007, with knock-on effects for household, business, and government finances around the world. The fear is that Donald Trump’s war is driving inflation higher. The president’s tax and spending plans—pushing Washington’s debt above $40tn (£29.9tn)—have also worried investors.

But as soaring global oil prices above $100 a barrel fuel heavy selling in the bond market, could stocks be next in line for a crash?

Brent crude chart

With the S&P 500 index of leading US companies 3% below its all-time high, and the combined value of the “magnificent seven” tech stocks—Nvidia, Apple, Google, Microsoft, Meta, Amazon, and Tesla—exceeding $20tn, the concern is that markets are overstretched just as storm clouds gather for the world economy.

“These are febrile times,” Albert Edwards, a senior analyst at French investment bank Société Générale, wrote in a note to clients. “The key worry for investors and policymakers alike is how far the current oil price ‘shock’ will ripple through the global economy and whether it will force sharply higher, recession-inducing interest rates.”

Known for his gloomy forecasts, Edwards believes the ingredients for a financial crisis may be coming together.

The worry that the Iran war will stoke inflation is so great that the US Federal Reserve defied Trump this week with its first interest rate rise since 2023. As households and businesses face pressure from rising energy bills and surging fuel prices, central banks elsewhere are also taking action.

Financial markets suggest the Bank of England will raise interest rates four times before the end of next year, even after it kept borrowing costs on hold this week. The European Central Bank raised rates last week, highlighting the blow to the eurozone from theThe conflict is escalating, and the Bank of Japan raised its policy rate to a 31-year high on Friday. There are fears that AI has fueled a bubble in the US stock market. The idea is that higher borrowing costs will weigh on the economy, limiting the chance that short-term inflation becomes entrenched. But it will hit households and businesses already struggling with a cost of living crisis. Job losses will probably rise, adding to the challenges facing governments drowning in debt. Historically, a US recession has followed about three to 3.5 years after the first rate rise, on average, according to Deutsche Bank’s Jim Reid. Markets tend to fall, or even crash, before a recession begins, and often start to recover before the economy does. However, the big concern among investors is that the main hope of economic redemption – AI – could also turn out to be a dud, amid fears it has fueled a huge bubble in the US stock market. One popular measure used by investors to assess whether a market is overvalued – the CAPE ratio, or cyclically adjusted price-to-earnings ratio – has risen to its highest level since 2000, showing that the US stock market is unusually highly valued compared with its profits. The CAPE ratio for the S&P 500 share index is almost 41 points, more than double its long-term average of about 17 points, and approaching the record high of 44.19 points in December 1999, just before the dotcom crash. Highlighting the challenge, research by Fathom Consulting shows that for the multitrillion-dollar AI boom to turn a profit, it would need the AI-related sales of the tech companies involved to rise by between $600 and $800bn within two years. Against a febrile backdrop as investor patience is increasingly tested, the consultancy gives a 30% chance that the AI bubble pops next year. Brian Davidson, an economist at the consultancy, said: “For all the impressive advances in AI technologies in recent years, the economics behind the current capex boom do not work. Yes, recent AI advances could yet unlock huge productivity gains; but sales of AI models need to increase by hundreds of billions of dollars per year over the next two years to justify the current spend. Such growth appears unlikely.” Investors are clearly worried. More than 1,000 investors registered for an analyst call conducted by Jefferies this week into “AI Extinction Warnings”, after the bosses of the world’s top tech companies called for a slowdown in “reckless” development. The situation has parallels with the dotcom crash of the year 2000, when many internet companies that had been billed as the next big thing dramatically tumbled in value. That was a reminder that even if a technology is going to be revolutionary, investors can still lose their money if they finance too much infrastructure too early. “It took a decade or more for demand to catch up with the infrastructure laid down in the British canal and railway and US telecoms and fibre booms – and many investors never recovered their capital,” points out Adrian Cox of the Deutsche Bank research team. There are also sobering comparisons with the buildup to the great crash of 1929. A hundred years ago, many small US investors were buying stocks “on margin” – acquiring them with borrowed money. They blew up in the market turmoil that preceded the Great Depression. This year, South Korea’s army of traders have been buying shares in AI-linked chip makers on margin – doubling the value of the blue-chip Kospi index. But once the market started to fall, they were hit by a massive wave of margin calls – when investors are told to stump up more cash to keep borrowing. Many were forced to sell their shares. According to Goldman Sachs, 1.2 million South KKorean retail investors were hit by margin calls – the equivalent of one in 30 adults getting an unpleasant call from their broker asking for more money.

The huge spending plans announced by AI companies are raising concerns that they may simply borrow too much.

One firm with ambitious AI plans is Oracle, the database software vendor. Oracle’s shares surged a year ago after it announced a cloud computing deal with OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT.

However, they have halved since, as investors have worried that Oracle could be borrowing too much to fund data centres.

There are other signs of rising stress in the credit markets. The Bank of England reported this summer that the gap between the riskiest and safest high-yielding debt has widened since the Iran war began, showing that investors are more wary of holding risky debt.

Government bonds have been sold off in recent weeks, and that fall in prices pushes up the yield (or rate of return) on sovereign debt. Those higher bond yields make owning shares less attractive – an investor has less incentive to buy equities (which are riskier) than bonds, which are seen as safer.

For the US this week, the rise in borrowing costs involved the yield – or interest rate – on 10-year bonds, known as Treasuries, climbing above the psychologically key threshold of 5%.

That level is “seen by some as a threshold above which financial markets might go into meltdown,” said John Higgins, the chief economic adviser at Capital Economics.

“While we aren’t convinced that 5% is that ‘magic’ number, higher Treasury yields would certainly pose a risk to the sustainability of US public finances as well as threaten equities,” Higgins told clients.

Bloomberg macro strategist Simon White argues that trouble would really start if the US 10-year Treasury yield rose above 5.25%. He has calculated that this is the “inflection point” where, historically, stocks and bonds have reinforced losses in one another.

Despite the turbulence, there are still hopes that a crash can be avoided, including optimism that markets are overestimating the inflation risk from the Iran war.

“A major downturn would need a trigger. Further geopolitical instability could be the catalyst, but we’ve long argued that the impact of geopolitical shocks on economic activity is overstated,” analysts at Oxford Economics wrote in a note to clients.

“Resurgent inflation and policy rate hikes by the Fed and other central banks are another candidate. However, our view on inflation is less alarmist – we think market expectations overstate the risk of further policy tightening.”

For many investors, a slowdown in feverish AI investment will guard against the danger of a bubble.

There are signs that AI is beginning to power economic growth. The US economy has recorded a rise in productivity growth, while AI is also among the reasons the UK economy has beaten expectations to grow at the fastest rate in the G7 in the first half of this year.

Such a turnaround in productivity could help companies with sky-high share prices begin to justify their valuations. However, it is a high-stakes play at a time of intense global volatility.

“Do I think there’s a significant dose of reality though in that productivity miracle in AI? Yes,” Andy Haldane, the former Bank of England chief economist, told LBC this week. Still, he warned the situation is fragile.

“I don’t think outright collapse in a dotcom bubble type fashion. But could I see a slow release of air that doesn’t collapse the world economy, but slows it down? Yes, I could.”

Frequently Asked Questions
FAQs Is the Global Stock Market About to Crash

1 What does a stock market crash actually mean
A crash is a sudden steep drop in stock pricesusually 10 or morehappening over days or weeks not years Its fast and scary but its different from a slow decline

2 Why is everyone talking about a crash right now
Usually because of a mix of worries high interest rates inflation geopolitical tensions or stock prices that look expensive Media headlines amplify the fear but talk isnt the same as a crash

3 Can anyone actually predict a market crash
No Even experts cant reliably predict crashes They can point out risks but timing the market is nearly impossiblemost who try get it wrong

4 What are the warning signs people watch for
Things like an inverted yield curve rising unemployment falling corporate profits or extreme investor greed These are risk indicators not guaranteesa crash may not follow

5 Does a crash mean a recession is coming
Not always Crashes and recessions often overlap but you can have one without the other A crash is about prices a recession is about the broader economy shrinking

6 Should I sell all my stocks to be safe
Selling locks in losses and usually means missing the recovery Historically markets have recovered from every crash though it can take time Panicselling is often the biggest mistake investors make

7 How much of my portfolio should I keep in stocks
It depends on your age goals and risk tolerance A common rule of thumb is holding a percentage in stocks roughly equal to 100 minus your agebut a financial advisor can tailor this to you

8 Whats the difference between a correction and a crash
A correction is a drop of 10 or more from a recent high A crash is a much faster sharper declineoften 20 in a short period

9 How long do crashes usually last
The sharpest drops often last weeks to months Full recoveries can take anywhere from a few months to several years depending on the cause

10 What should I do if the market drops sharply
Stay calm avoid checking your portfolio constantly and stick to your longterm

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