Gold prices climbed to a more than three-week high on Monday as uncertainty stoked by the US Supreme Court’s decision to strike down a vast swathe of President Donald Trump’s tariffs pressured the dollar and pushed investors to the safety of bullion.

Spot gold climbed 1.1 per cent to $5,161.64 per ounce by 0419 GMT, earlier hitting its highest since January 30. US gold futures for April delivery were up 2 per cent at $5,183

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“The court’s tariff ruling has, aside from earning the ire of the US president, added another layer of uncertainty to global markets with traders again turning to gold as a defensive play,” said Tim Waterer, KCM chief analyst.

The US Supreme Court struck down Donald Trump’s sweeping tariffs that he pursued under a law meant for use in national emergencies, handing the Republican president a stinging defeat in a landmark ruling on Friday with major implications for the global economy.

After the court ruling, Trump said he would raise a temporary tariff from 10 per cent to 15 per cent on US imports from all countries.

Wall Street futures and the dollar slid in Asia on Monday as murkiness around US tariffs revived the “sell America” trade.

Meanwhile, data on Friday showed underlying US inflation increased more than expected in December, and signs are pointing to a further acceleration in January, which would strengthen expectations that the Federal Reserve won’t cut interest rates before June.

Dubai-based aircraft lessor DAE Capital is closing in on a deal to buy control of leasing platform Macquarie AirFinance, two industry sources said.

The two firms did not immediately respond to a request for comment. In January, Reuters reported that DAE was among the final contenders for the Macquarie aircraft leasing assets, alongside Saudi Arabia’s AviLease and Qatar’s Lesha Bank.

A sale follows a competitive round of bidding as demand for aircraft soars with commercial planesmakers Boeing and Airbus unable to produce enough jets to keep up with demand from airlines. That has created an opportunity for owners of lessors to sell at premium multiples.

In 2017, Dubai Aerospace Enterprise (DAE) acquired Dublin-based AWAS, the world’s tenth biggest aircraft lessor.

Dubai’s infrastructure expansion drive gathered fresh momentum after the Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) awarded the contract for Phase II of the Hessa Street Development, a flagship road project designed to support the emirate’s rapid urban growth and rising population.

The move comes in implementation of the directives of Dubai’s leadership to advance the road infrastructure network in line with sustained development across residential and commercial corridors. The 3-kilometre Phase II project stretches between Al Khail Road and Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Road and is positioned as a transformative upgrade to one of the city’s busiest arterial routes.

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According to an RTA media report, the project includes upgrading three major intersections through the construction of bridges extending 8,835 metres in total and a 480-metre tunnel. Improvements to entry and exit points along several connecting roads are also part of the scope.

Once complete, Hessa Street’s capacity will increase by 100 per cent, from 4,000 vehicles per hour to 8,000 vehicles per hour, while reducing journey times from 24 minutes to just five minutes. The development will serve 10 residential and key development areas and benefit an estimated 650,000 residents.

RTA confirmed that Phase I of the Hessa Street Development will open in April, featuring completed bridges, upgraded intersections, and dedicated cycling infrastructure.

Phase II: Complex engineering to unlock capacity

Mattar Al Tayer, director general and chairman of the Board of Executive Directors of the Roads and Transport Authority, said Phase II builds directly on the progress of the first stage.

“Phase II of Hessa Street Development complements Phase I, which will be fully completed in the first quarter of 2026,” he said.

Al Tayer explained that Phase II extends from Al Khail Road to Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Road and includes a major upgrade of the Al Khail Road–Hessa Street interchange. The project will expand Hessa Street from two lanes to four lanes in each direction.

The scope includes the construction of grade-separated collector roads to accommodate loop movements, a two-lane second-level direct ramp serving traffic from Hessa Street to Al Khail Road towards Abu Dhabi, and a third-level two-lane flyover facilitating traffic from Al Khail Road to Hessa Street towards Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Road.

“The total length of bridges reaches 2,215 metres, with the upgraded interchange expected to accommodate 18,200 vehicles per hour,” Al Tayer said.

He added that the project will also deliver a 525-metre, two-lane braided ramp designed to eliminate traffic overlap between Al Khail Road and Al Khamila Street. The ramp is expected to accommodate approximately 2,800 vehicles per hour.

Major junction upgrades across key corridors

Further enhancements will target the Al Khamila Street junction with Al Khail Road and Al Asayel Street.

“Works comprise a 1,650-metre second-level directional ramp serving traffic from Al Khamila Street to Al Khail Road towards Sharjah, with a two-lane capacity,” Al Tayer said.

The project also includes a 780-metre bridge providing entry and exit between Al Khamila Street and Jumeirah Village Circle (JVC), featuring three lanes in each direction. Elevated link ramps extending 1,050 metres will serve traffic movements from Al Khamila Street to Al Khail Road towards Abu Dhabi. The upgraded junction is expected to accommodate approximately 16,800 vehicles per hour.

In addition, an 885-metre direct elevated ramp with two lanes will serve traffic from Hessa Street to Al Barsha South 1. A 1,050-metre second-level direct directional ramp will facilitate traffic from JVC towards Al Barsha South.

“The upgraded intersection will accommodate approximately 11,200 vehicles per hour,” Al Tayer added. “A 680-metre directional two-lane ramp from JVC to Hessa Street in the direction of Al Khail Road will generate a capacity of 16,800 vehicles per hour.”

The works also include constructing a 480-metre, two-lane tunnel serving traffic from JVC towards Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Road.

Al Tayer noted that Al Hadaeq Street will be widened from its intersection with Hessa Street to its junction at the entrance of Dubai Science Park, extending 2.5 kilometres. The corridor will be upgraded to a dual carriageway with three lanes in each direction, and all existing roundabouts will be converted into signalised intersections with an estimated capacity of 4,400 vehicles per hour.

Cycling network to link key communities

Beyond road widening, the project incorporates sustainable mobility components. Phase II includes a 10.4-kilometre cycling and e-scooter track linking Dubai Hills and Dubai Motor City. The route will serve several residential and development areas, including Al Barsha South, Arjan, Dubai Science Park, and Motor City.

Al Tayer highlighted the broader benefits of the scheme.

“The roads covered under Phase II of Hessa Street Development currently accommodate approximately half a million trips per day,” he said.

“The upgrade works increase road capacity by 100 per cent, from 4,000 vehicles per hour in each direction to 8,000 vehicles per hour in each direction, while reducing journey time from 24 minutes to five minutes.”

He added that the project serves 10 key residential and development areas, including JVC, Arjan, Dubai Science Park, Al Barsha South, Jumeirah Lakes Towers, Jumeirah Islands, Barsha Heights, The Greens, and Emirates Hills. The total number of beneficiaries is estimated at approximately 650,000 residents.

Phase I nears completion

Phase I of the Hessa Street Development focused on upgrading four major intersections at Sheikh Zayed Road, First Al Khail Street, Al Asayel Street, and Al Khail Road.

Hessa Street was expanded from two lanes to four lanes in each direction, doubling capacity to 8,000 vehicles per hour. The phase also includes a 13.5-kilometre cycling track.

In December 2024, RTA opened a key two-lane bridge extending 1,000 metres as part of Phase I. The structure facilitates traffic from Hessa Street to Al Khail Road, offering free-flow connectivity towards the city centre and Dubai International Airport and reducing travel time between the two corridors from 15 minutes to three minutes.

Works remain underway at the Hessa Street–First Al Khail Street intersection, where the existing bridge is being widened from three lanes to four lanes in each direction. Traffic enhancements are also being implemented at the signalised at-grade junction.

Simultaneously, works continue at the Hessa Street–Al Asayel Street intersection. The existing bridge is being expanded from two lanes in each direction to four lanes along Hessa Street, alongside upgrades to the signal-controlled at-grade junction.

Strengthening first- and last-mile connectivity

Phase I also delivers a 13.5-kilometre dedicated cycling and e-scooter track along Hessa Street, linking Al Sufouh and Dubai Hills. The corridor enhances connectivity for residential districts including Al Barsha and Barsha Heights.

The track integrates with Dubai Internet City Metro Station and nearby commercial and service destinations, strengthening first- and last-mile connectivity.

Two architecturally distinctive cycling and pedestrian bridges form part of the corridor, one spanning Sheikh Zayed Road and the other crossing Al Khail Road. Each bridge measures five metres in width, allocating three metres for cycling and e-scooter use and two metres for pedestrians.

The track has an estimated capacity of approximately 5,200 users per hour, reinforcing Dubai’s broader strategy to promote multimodal mobility and reduce reliance on private vehicles.

The UAE has earned its reputation as one of the most strategically engineered economies of the 21st century.

In just a few decades, it built a global logistics powerhouse out of desert geography, a tourism magnet out of vision-led storytelling, and a financial hub that competes confidently with the world’s most established capital centres. Dubai, Abu Dhabi and the Northern Emirates became gateways for goods, capital and experiences — connected to the world, open for business and optimised for velocity.

But the world has changed its definition of infrastructure.

Ports, warehouses, highways, airports and skyscrapers are no longer the apex assets of national competitiveness. They are now the baseline. Every ambitious economy today is trying to replicate what the UAE has already mastered: frictionless global connectivity, investment-friendly regulation, tourism-driven GDP growth and capital-market sophistication.

The future battleground is not the movement of goods or capital — it is the movement and retention of human talent. Governments celebrate when 30% of their graduates stay in the country after university. The UAE does not have that problem today — its talent import rate is world-class. But the global economy is no longer impressed by attraction. It rewards retention.

If 70% of a country’s educated youth feels their future lies elsewhere, that is not an outbound trend — it is a broken infrastructure metric. Economists would treat 30% retention the same way port authorities treat container loss: unacceptable. Yet, in human capital, it is normalised. That normalisation is the problem.

We are entering a world where the most valuable natural resource a country can own is not beneath the soil, but walking on it. And the UAE is better positioned than almost any other nation to win this next wave — not by imitation, but by evolution.

The shift from goods economy to talent economy

Historically, free zones were built for warehouses — special jurisdictions where global companies could store goods, bypass friction, avoid tax complexity and move inventory faster than competitors operating onshore. This model worked perfectly in an industrial world driven by trade in physical assets: crude, commodities, manufactured products, shipping containers and retail supply chains.

And it still works — the UAE has one of the highest logistics-to-GDP contributions in the world, with Jebel Ali ranked among the top 10 container ports globally, and the UAE aviation network among the top five for global air connectivity. The nation did not just build ports; it built ecosystems around them: DMCC for trade, JAFZA-KIZAD for logistics, DSO for technology infrastructure, ADGM and DIFC for finance, DIEZ-RAKEEZ-MASDAR licensing for business agility. Each zone had a purpose. Each purpose was strategic. And each strategy was infrastructure-led.

But infrastructure is no longer physical. It is cognitive.

The new high-growth companies that dominate global market capitalisation — OpenAI, Anthropic, Infinite Reality, Napster AI, Stripe, SpaceX, and even sovereign-aligned startups emerging from the MENA region — are not built on supply chains. They are built on talent chains. The equivalent of port infrastructure today is not where goods are stored — it is where talent is licensed, retained and economically activated.

Consider this: the world’s top 10 most valuable companies employ less than 1% of the workforce of the world’s largest industrial firms in 1990, yet command 100 times the market capitalisation. That delta is not technology alone — it is the value of human capital in leverage mode.

And leverage mode needs legal mode.

Micro-enterprise licensing = founder infrastructure

If a 30-year-old founder is the new equivalent of a shipping vessel carrying national economic potential, then micro-enterprise licensing for youth is the port authority that anchors them to the economy.

The UAE is already the number-one destination globally for talent relocation (on a net-migration-per-capita basis). Yet the next strategic question is not how to attract more international entrepreneurs — it is how to retain domestic ones. Specifically: youth, freelancers, solopreneurs, early-stage founders and future knowledge workers who today operate in legal grey zones or delay their entrepreneurial ambitions due to licensing friction, cost barriers or ecosystem opacity.

What the UAE needs next is not another free zone — but a Human Capital Zone.

A jurisdiction built not to store inventory, but to unlock and retain founders.

Imagine a world where:

• A 16-year-old can legally register a business idea

• A 21-year-old can invoice a client from day one

• A 25-year-old can launch a venture without needing an employer sponsor

• A 28-year-old founder does not have to choose between a visa and a startup runway

• Youth licensing becomes the equivalent of sovereign GDP participation

This is not just business enablement. This is sovereign talent anchoring.

Just as ports did not merely enable trade — they anchored shipping routes — youth licensing will anchor entrepreneurial routes. The UAE has proven it can build world-class infrastructure. The next proof point will be that it can build world-class founders out of its own population.

The economics of youth licensing

Let us break down the model from a purely economic lens. Participation from both private and government bodies as partners would be a smart design for such a hub, because infrastructure economies are not built on retail margins. They are built on participation margins. Government involvement and allocation also ensure the ecosystem scales without dependency on external venture capital alone.

And this is only the direct licensing economy.

The real compounding effect lies in:

• The businesses these founders will build

• The employment they will generate

• The contracts they will issue

• The taxes they will eventually pay onshore

• The knowledge-economy GDP they will contribute without leaving the region

In effect, this model converts youth from being future job seekers into present-value creators.

Human Capital Zones = national security strategy

Talent retention is not an HR strategy. It is a national security strategy.

The US, China, the UK, Singapore, India and Saudi Arabia are all aggressively competing for founder retention through startup visas, incubation subsidies, innovation grants, AI infrastructure investments, freelancer enablement and university-to-enterprise fast tracks. But most economies are reacting to the problem.

The UAE can design ahead of it.

The UAE has already proven that when it builds infrastructure, the world comes. Human Capital Zones flip the equation: infrastructure is built so its residents do not have to go anywhere at all.

This is how sovereign economies scale in the 21st century:

• Logistics zones anchored trade

• Finance zones anchored capital

• Tourism zones anchored experiences

• Human Capital Zones will anchor people

And the winner of this wave will not be the nation with the best tax incentives, the biggest airport or the largest sovereign fund — it will be the nation that makes its youth feel their best economic future can be built without leaving home.

From employment visa → entrepreneur visa → youth licensing visa

The progression is clear:

• 1990s: employer-sponsored visas

• 2010s: entrepreneur visas

• 2020s: freelancer visas

• 2030s: youth micro-enterprise licensing visas

Not for multinational firms. For micro-multinational humans.

The founder is the new container

A founder who stays, builds and scales in the economy is equivalent to:

• a vessel that docks permanently

• a supply chain that does not reroute

• a GDP engine that compounds locally

• a human that becomes infrastructure

The UAE’s next S-curve is obvious:

License the talent. Anchor the founder. Retain the economy.

• Shailesh K Dash is a serial entrepreneur and financier based in Dubai. Dash Venture Labs is a business incubator created by a group of experienced venture builders. He has founded one of the largest and most successful private equity firms that managed over $1bn across various private equity funds that have invested in more than 100 companies. It has also funded 25 startups which, in turn, has provided employment opportunities to more than 4000 people across the MENASEA region. Over two decades, Dash has executed more than 150 transactions of over $1.7bn, raised over $2.5bn from investors, managed a cumulative of $6 billion of AUMs, and served on more than 15 boards of prominent private companies. He has been the main source for identifying business opportunities, turnaround strategies, and securing lucrative investments to boost various entrepreneurial ventures.

President Donald Trump’s administration reversed course on Sunday on the program that lets millions of airline travellers get expedited security screening, announcing it will remain operational after earlier saying it would be suspended amid a shutdown of much of the Homeland Security Department.

The department said the Transportation Security Administration’s (TSA) PreCheck programme will remain operational, though the administration apparently has suspended a second programme called Global Entry that expedites US customs and immigration clearance for pre-approved, low-risk international travellers entering the US.

The initial announcement that the PreCheck programme would be halted effective at 6 am EST (1100 GMT) on Sunday raised alarm among travel groups and airlines as a busy travel season involving students on spring break starts in the US.

More than 20 million people are enrolled in PreCheck, which allows approved passengers to go through a dedicated, faster security lane at US. airports and is designed to reduce wait times and streamline screening.

The Homeland Security Department is in the midst of a partial shutdown due to a lapse in funding by Congress as Republicans and Democrats differ on immigration enforcement policies.

The department late on Saturday announced a suspension of both the PreCheck and Global Entry programmes, citing the shutdown. The department did not suspend either programme during a 43-day government shutdown last year.

TSA to evaluate and adjust operations

About four hours after the suspension was to have begun, a TSA spokesperson told Reuters that PreCheck “remains operational with no change for the travelling public. As staffing constraints arise, TSA will evaluate on a case-by-case basis and adjust operations accordingly.”

The department did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the status of Global Entry.

“Everyone knows Donald Trump and DHS use bullying tactics – this is another one of them,” Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer said of suspending Global Entry.

“The Trump administration is choosing to inflict pain on the public instead of adopting commonsense ICE reforms,” Schumer added, referring to the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency that has played a key role in carrying out the Republican president’s hardline immigration enforcement policies.

US Travel Association CEO Geoff Freeman praised the decision to keep PreCheck operational.

“We are glad that DHS has decided to keep PreCheck operational and avoid a crisis of its own making,” Freeman said, adding that “they are funded by user fees, and there is no reason at this time for them to be suspended.”

TSA said it was suspending courtesy escorts, such as those for members of Congress.

Chris Sununu, CEO of the industry group Airlines for America, had expressed concern after the earlier announcement of the suspension of the PreCheck and Global Entry programmes.

“The announcement was issued with extremely short notice to travellers, giving them little time to plan accordingly, which is especially troubling at this time of record air travel,” Sununu said.

Sununu’s group represents American Airlines, Delta Air Lines, United Airlines, Southwest Airlines and other major carriers.

On Thursday, the Trump administration ordered the Federal Emergency Management Agency, a part of the DHS, to suspend the deployment of hundreds of aid workers to disaster-affected areas of the US, due to the DHS shutdown.