Stock Market
The VN-Index lost over 100 points on March 9 — the biggest single-day drop in Vietnamese stock market history. Oil at USD 118 and margin calls turned a bad week into a historic crash.
Real Estate
Vietnam has started assigning electronic ID codes to every property in the country, tackling one of Southeast Asia's most opaque real estate markets. The rules are in place — the system isn't.
Vietnam Economy
The Strait of Hormuz blockade reaches Vietnam's gas stations — fuel prices jumped twice in two days, with diesel breaking VND 30,000 per liter.
Vietnamese Culture
Vietnam celebrates Women's Day twice a year. Flower prices triple, tens of thousands join an ao dai flash mob, and the scale of celebration is hard to find anywhere else.
Vietnam
Ho Chi Minh City's Independence Palace has a new act — VietCharm, a 90-minute dining show pairing 9 traditional performances with 8 Vietnamese fusion courses. Its first three days sold out completely.
Vietnam
Four Vietnamese passengers hid 31 suspected gold bars in their bras and underwear on a flight from Taiwan. Hanoi customs caught them using X-rays and risk profiling. Bringing gold bars into Vietnam is illegal — the maximum sentence is 10 years.
Vietnam
Born in 1938 in colonial Hanoi, Vovinam has grown from an underground resistance art to a global sport practiced in over 70 countries — complete with a signature flying scissor kick, an inverted belt ranking, and a UN partnership.
Technology
Qualcomm's Vietnam GM calls 2026 the golden moment for tech. Foreign money is flowing in, local players are breaking ground, and FTSE is upgrading Vietnam. The data is moving — but the talent gap and production timeline are the biggest unknowns.
Guest Column
Vietnam expat roles sound appealing, but over 60% of postings are in manufacturing. Career coach Sunny shares four risk checks to think through before you go.
Vietnam
With the Strait of Hormuz blocked, Vietnam's crude oil imports, aviation routes, and shipping costs are taking simultaneous hits.
Vietnam
In January 2026, Starbucks opened its 150th store in Vietnam. Sounds like a milestone — until you compare it to Highlands Coffee's 928 stores and the country's 500,000 coffee shops. The world's biggest coffee chain is still a bit player in the world's second-largest coffee-producing nation.
Vietnam
Ho Chi Minh City has proposed a 99-story tower for its Thủ Thiêm district — taller than Landmark 81 and the centerpiece of Vietnam's new International Financial Center. But Thủ Thiêm's track record tells a more complicated story.