Twelve US states sued to stop the $110bn Warner Bros deal. On Monday all twelve settled, and Paramount kept every channel it owns

The rest of the day

32 more stories on this beat.

Each with its own sources. None of these is a link to the story above.

1. 02

   Oil falls for a fourth day

   Brent crude, the oil price most of the world uses, fell for a fourth session on Monday. [15] Early in the day the Wall Street Journal had it down 1.9% at $101.94 a barrel; by the close Reuters put Brent down 4% and US crude down 5%. [15][10] Two things eased the fear of shortage: more oil moving through the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow sea lane at the mouth of the Gulf, and the chance of fresh talks between the United States and Iran. [15] Over four sessions oil has lost more than 9%. [16]

   Why it matters — Fuel is inside the price of almost everything, so a falling barrel lowers the inflation figure central banks are chasing. This one move pulled government borrowing costs down and share prices up across the rest of the day.

2. 03

   Borrowing costs fall around the world

   The yield on a ten-year US government bond, which is what the US government pays to borrow for ten years, fell to 4.972% on Monday. [13] A week ago it touched 5.041%, its highest since 2007. [13] Germany's ten-year rate fell to 3.48%. [14] Ten-year British gilts fell by about 0.05 points as well. [13] Traders gave the same reason each time: cheaper oil means less inflation to price in. [14] Japan's market was closed for a holiday. [13]

   Why it matters — These yields sit underneath mortgage rates and company loans, so a fall reaches households months later. It also hands back part of the rise that followed last week's US rate increase.

3. 04

   Nasdaq closes at a record

   The Nasdaq Composite, the US share index full of technology companies, rose 2.26% to 27,122.09 on Monday, its first record close since 2 June. [12] The S&P 500 gained 1.49% and the Dow Jones Industrial Average 0.71%. [12] Meta Platforms, which owns Facebook and Instagram, rose 11%, its biggest one-day gain in more than a year, and chip shares rose 4% as a group. [11][10] Energy shares fell 2.6% as the oil price slid. [10]

   Dow Jones0.71%

   S&P 5001.49%

   Nasdaq2.26%

   Why it matters — A week earlier the same shares fell hard when bosses at top AI companies warned about the pace of the technology. [23] Nothing about that was settled in between; the oil price moved instead.

4. 05

   AMD passes $1 trillion

   AMD, an American company that makes chips for artificial intelligence, passed $1 trillion in stock market value for the first time on Monday. [21] Its shares have gained about 24% in five days and more than 180% this year. [21] In the second quarter it sold $11.54 billion, half as much again as a year earlier, and its data-centre business more than doubled to $6.7 billion. [21] Its chief executive, Lisa Su, said last month that she expects data-centre sales to double again in 2027. [21]

   AMD$1tn

   Nvidia$5.40tn

   Why it matters — Nvidia, which leads the same market, is worth about $5.4 trillion, so the gap between first and second place is still more than four times AMD's whole value. [21] Both are being priced on how much more computing the world will buy.

5. 06

   Bitcoin at an eight-month high

   Bitcoin rose 4.7% to $85,117 on Monday, its highest in eight months, after gaining almost 6% the week before. [22] By early Tuesday in Asia it was above $87,000. [19] It climbed past two things that usually push it down: the US central bank raised interest rates last week, and the Clarity Act, a bill that would have written rules for the crypto industry, failed to progress. [22] Shares in Coinbase, a crypto exchange, rose 4.6%. [23]

   Why it matters — Bitcoin pays no interest, so it normally suffers when safe bonds pay more. Rising anyway puts it in the same column as the AI shares: money looking for a return it cannot get from a deposit.

6. 07

   The yen slips towards intervention talk

   The yen fell to 157.33 per dollar early on Tuesday. [19] Japan's central bank raised its rate on Friday, but two of its members voted against, and traders read that as a sign the rises will soon stop. [19] Moves stayed small because Japan was closed for a holiday, and because the Nikkei newspaper reported that Japanese officials had checked dollar-yen prices with banks on Friday. [19][20] Such a check often comes shortly before a government buys its own currency. [19]

   Why it matters — A weaker yen makes everything Japan imports, starting with fuel, dearer for people living there. It is also the clearest measure of how far Japan's interest rate now sits below everyone else's.

7. 08

   France's gap over Germany stays at a 2012 high

   The extra France pays over Germany to borrow for ten years held above one percentage point on Monday, after reaching 1.04 points on Friday. [10] That is the widest gap since July 2012, in the middle of the euro-zone debt crisis. [10] The cost of insuring French government bonds against default is the highest since 2020. [10] German yields fell anyway because oil was sliding; without that they would probably have risen. [10]

   Why it matters — France pays more than Germany for the same ten years because lenders are less certain about its budget. A weekend state election in Germany spread that doubt across the euro zone. [10]

8. 09

   Diesel sets a record as crude falls

   The average price of diesel in the United States nudged up to a record $6.51 a gallon on Monday, the same day Brent crude fell 4%. [10] Diesel moves lorries, trains and farm machinery, so its price ends up inside the cost of food and delivery. [10] A Reuters/Ipsos poll the same day put President Donald Trump's approval rating at a career low of 32%, with the cost of living and the seven-month Iran war given as the reasons. [10] US midterm elections are on 3 November. [10]

   Why it matters — Crude oil is the raw material, but diesel is made from it in refineries and priced separately. That is how a pump price sets a record on a day the barrel gets cheaper.

9. 10

   US and China finish talks before Thursday's summit

   US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng finished talks in New York on Sunday. [23][11] Bessent proposed a system for the two countries to tell each other about artificial intelligence incidents that could affect national security. [11][23] A China-US summit follows on Thursday, during a visit to the United States by China's leader, Xi Jinping. [23][11] It is expected to cover an extension of the trade truce between the two countries, the Iran war and the regulation of AI. [23]

   Why it matters — A truce that lapses is a tariff that returns, and a tariff is paid by the importers in the country that sets it. What was actually agreed at the weekend is much narrower: a way to tell each other when an AI system goes wrong. [11]

10. 11

    Greenland deal lifts small mining shares

    Shares in small companies with Greenland mining projects jumped on Monday after the United States and Denmark agreed a security arrangement over the island at the weekend. [23] Critical Metals rose 30% and Greenland Mines 70%; Greenland Energy more than doubled, and one report had it up 153% before the market opened. [23][24] Greenland is a self-governing territory of Denmark. The row over it had been a live risk to trade between the two countries. [23]

    Why it matters — Investors were pricing the end of an argument, not any new rock coming out of the ground. These companies are tiny, which is why the percentage moves are so large.

11. 12

    Sazerac bids 68% above the market for Berentzen

    Sazerac, the American family firm behind Fireball and Buffalo Trace whiskey, said on Monday it will offer EUR 5.55 a share in cash for Berentzen-Gruppe, a German drinks maker listed in Frankfurt. [25] That is about 68% more than Berentzen's average share price over the three months to 16 September. [25] Both of Berentzen's boards support the offer and will recommend that shareholders accept. [25] The bid needs holders of 50% plus one share to say yes, needs no competition clearance, and is expected to close this quarter. [25]

    Why it matters — A premium that large is what a buyer pays to make the decision easy for everyone holding the shares. Sazerac says it will keep Berentzen's sites and spend more on them. [25]

12. 13

    Silver Lake asks a judge to call it collusion

    Silver Lake, a private equity firm, has asked a judge to declare that Carl Icahn and other investors illegally worked together to fight its $13 billion takeover of Endeavor, the sports and entertainment group. [26] Icahn is an activist investor: he buys stakes in companies and then presses them publicly for more money. Silver Lake's claim reaches past him to merger arbitrage as a whole - the trade of buying a target's shares and then pushing the buyer to pay more. [26]

    Why it matters — A buyer's real risk is that scattered shareholders start acting as one bloc. Silver Lake is asking a judge to call that coordination illegal.

13. 14

    Payments firm taken private at $1.6bn

    Priority Technology Holdings, an American payments company, agreed to be taken private by a group of investors led by Thomas Priore, its chairman and chief executive. [28] The deal values the business at about $1.6 billion including its debts. [28] Its shares fell 2% on the day. [28] Taking a company private means buying out its public shareholders, so the shares stop trading and the quarterly accounts stop being published. [28]

    Why it matters — The buyer is the boss, which means the person judging what the company is worth is also the person selling it. Its outside shareholders now decide whether that price is enough.

14. 15

    Qatar's fund and JPMorgan agree a $20bn tie-up

    The Qatar Investment Authority, the state fund that invests Qatar's gas earnings, announced a $20 billion partnership with JPMorgan. [26] JPMorgan Asset Management will run a portfolio built for the fund, with $15 billion of it invested in listed company shares. [26] A sovereign wealth fund is a government-owned pool of savings, usually built out of selling natural resources.

    Why it matters — Money from gas is being converted into ownership of listed companies, managed by a bank in another country. It is how a resource that runs out becomes an income that does not.

15. 16

    Societe Generale raises its profit target

    Shares in Societe Generale, one of France's biggest banks, rose 4% on Monday after it raised the profitability target it gives shareholders. [27] The bank said it will cut costs and grow revenue through to the end of the decade, partly by making wider use of artificial intelligence. [27] The move takes its shares up nearly 10% for the year so far. [27]

    Why it matters — A profitability target is a promise about how much of each euro of revenue ends up as profit. Raising one while interest rates are high is a claim that the bank can keep more of what those rates bring in.

16. 17

    Polymarket's fraud problem reaches the regulator

    Polymarket, a website where people bet on real-world events, was hit in February by thieves who linked stolen debit cards to accounts and tried to take at least $10 million, the Wall Street Journal reported on Monday. [29] At one point its payment processor was rejecting more than 80% of deposits as fraudulent, against an industry norm of about 1%. [29] Staff say the chief executive, Shayne Coplan, told them to keep growing and pay a fine if regulators ever found out. [29] The US derivatives regulator is now investigating. [29]

    Why it matters — Polymarket is raising $1 billion at a $21 billion valuation, about $300 million of it from 1789 Capital, an investment fund run by Donald Trump Jr. [29] The investigation arrives while that money is being raised.

17. 18

    Italy lines up a twelve-year green bond

    Italy's treasury hired six banks to sell a new government bond maturing in October 2038 and labelled green, meaning the money raised is earmarked for environmental spending. [30] Barclays, BNP Paribas, Deutsche Bank, Intesa Sanpaolo, JPMorgan and Societe Generale will run the sale. [30] It will be launched when market conditions allow. [30]

    Why it matters — Governments choose their moment to sell long debt, and euro-zone borrowing costs fell on Monday as oil slid. [14] That is the kind of window a treasury waits for.

18. 19

    New Zealand raises, and is told to watch the real rate

    New Zealand's central bank raised its main cash rate by a quarter point to 2.75% at its September meeting, and mapped out a slower path of increases than markets had expected. [31] Its governor said this week that there are risks to both the economy and inflation. [31] Separately, an independent review of the bank said it should give more weight to the real interest rate - the rate left after inflation is subtracted - when setting policy. [32]

    Why it matters — A 2.75% rate with inflation near 3% costs a borrower almost nothing in real terms. The review is arguing that the number the bank announces is not the number that acts on the economy.

19. 20

    Brazil's forecasters see a lower rate by year end

    Economists surveyed by Brazil's central bank now expect the Selic, the country's main interest rate, to end 2026 at 13.50%, down from 13.75% in the previous survey. [33] Brazil cut the rate by a quarter point last week, its fifth cut in a row. [33] The Focus survey of Brazilian forecasters was published on Monday. [33]

    Why it matters — Brazil is cutting while the United States, Japan and New Zealand are raising. It got its inflation under control earlier, and is now unwinding the highest rates it has had in years.

20. 21

    Canada's governor names his two problems

    Tiff Macklem, governor of the Bank of Canada, said his next rate decisions will turn on how firms and households respond to two things at once: high energy prices and a return of uncertainty about trade. [34] The Bank of Canada is the country's central bank, and the rate it sets is what Canadian mortgages and business loans are priced off.

    Why it matters — Those two forces pull in opposite directions. Dearer fuel argues for a higher rate, weaker trade for a lower one, and there is only one rate to answer both with.

21. 22

    South Africa waits on inflation and a rate call

    The South African rand held steady in early trade on Monday as investors waited for this week's inflation figures and the Reserve Bank's interest rate decision. [35] South Africa is the most industrialised economy in Africa, and those two releases are the clearest guide to where its interest rates go next. [35]

    Why it matters — A currency that sits still before a data release is a market with no strong view. The decision later this week is what will move it.

22. 23

    A development bank plans its return to Venezuela

    The Inter-American Development Bank, the largest development lender in Latin America and the Caribbean, is drawing up a two-year plan for working with Venezuela again. [36] Its president, Ilan Goldfajn, said missions have gone to the country to look at the economy and the data, and that the bank is writing a document setting out what it plans to do. [36] It stopped new lending to Venezuela in May 2018 after the country fell behind on payments, and is still owed about $2 billion. [36] Goldfajn would not say how those unpaid loans will be handled. [36]

    Why it matters — No money has moved. A planning document is the step that comes before any decision about the $2 billion already owed, and before any new lending at all. [36]

23. 24

    Why Britain pays so much to borrow

    A report published on Monday by Morningstar DBRS, a credit rating agency, set out why British government borrowing costs are so high. [37] The ten-year gilt yield has risen from about 1.5% in early 2022 to about 5.4% in mid-September 2026. [37] The Bank of England puts about 2 percentage points of that 3.5-point rise down to the term premium - the extra return lenders demand for tying money up for years. [37] Pension funds that once bought long gilts steadily are buying less as their schemes close to new members. [37]

    Why it matters — Pension funds used to buy whatever Britain's treasury issued. The investors replacing them argue over what they will pay, which is why a British budget now moves borrowing costs faster than it once did.

24. 25

    Ipsen loses its drug's monopoly early

    Shares in Ipsen, a French drugmaker, fell 6.6% to a seven-month low of EUR 145.60 after the US Food and Drug Administration approved a generic copy of its main hormone drug earlier than expected. [38] A generic is the same medicine sold without the brand name, and it usually costs a fraction as much. [38]

    Why it matters — The date matters more than the decision: drug companies plan years of revenue around when a copy is allowed to appear. Moving that date forward removes the money before the plan can change.

25. 26

    Malaysia plans for an airline it is watching

    Malaysia's government has asked Malaysia Airlines and Batik Air whether they could absorb AirAsia's domestic routes, two people told Reuters, as officials watch the finances of South East Asia's largest low-cost airline. [39] AirAsia owes the airport operator MAHB at least 500 million ringgit and has said it is seeking more than $1 billion of new money. [39] Its shares fell as much as 21% in one session this month, to their lowest since December 2022. [39] The airline says it is focused on keeping its operations stable. [39]

    Why it matters — A government asking rivals to cover the routes is contingency planning, not a prediction. AirAsia carries much of the region's cheap domestic traffic, so the question reaches passengers before it reaches shareholders.

26. 27

    Fast traders step back from India's derivatives

    High-speed trading firms are pulling back from India's huge derivatives market. [40] Their share of turnover fell to 54.7% in August, the lowest since December, in a market doing 193 trillion rupees - about $2 trillion - of notional trades a day. [40] A derivative is a contract whose value follows something else, here mostly share indexes. [40]

    Why it matters — These firms supply much of the day-to-day trading. When they step back, the market gets thinner and each order moves the price further.

27. 28

    A record share of Brazilians owe money

    A record 82% of Brazilian households are in debt and about a third of them are behind on payments, according to the National Confederation of Commerce. [41] The International Monetary Fund said in July that most of the build-up came from credit cards and unsecured personal loans, with fintech firms and digital banks leading the lending. [41] Lauro Gonzalez, a professor at Fundacao Getulio Vargas in Sao Paulo, called it a predatory lending model. [41] Brazil holds a general election in October. [41]

    82 of 100

    Brazilian households in debt

    Why it matters — Both leading presidential candidates have proposed tighter rules on credit offers. [41] Household debt has become a campaign issue in a country whose job market is solid and whose inflation is easing.

28. 29

    Profit forecasts keep being raised

    Wall Street analysts began this year expecting profits at S&P 500 companies to grow about 15%. [43] By the end of the second quarter they had raised that to roughly 24%, and lifted their 2027 and 2028 estimates behind it. [43] Reported second-quarter growth was near 38%, but strip out a single one-off gain at Alphabet, Google's owner, and it was about 26%. [43]

    Why it matters — Forecasts that keep rising while companies keep beating them is what a good year looks like from the inside. It is also what record share prices are resting on.

29. 30

    Swedish inflation comes in below forecast

    Inflation in Sweden slowed by more than forecast in August, after three months in which it came in higher than expected. [42] The Riksbank, Sweden's central bank, is expected to leave its policy rate at 1.75% on Thursday. [42] Its banks disagree about what comes next: Nordea and Swedbank expect a rise in November, Handelsbanken in December, and SEB nothing before March 2027. [42]

    Why it matters — Sweden is one of the few rich countries still arguing about when to start raising rates rather than how much further to go. One inflation reading has pushed that argument months into the future.

30. 31

    A stablecoin firm gets a US bank licence

    Bastion, which issues stablecoins for large companies including Sony, has been given conditional approval by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency to become a trust bank. [27] A stablecoin is a digital token meant to hold a fixed value in dollars. [27] The OCC is the US regulator that licenses national banks, so the approval places a crypto company inside the banking rulebook rather than beside it.

    Why it matters — The companies using these tokens want a regulated name on them before they move real money. A licence is what turns a crypto product into something a corporate treasurer can sign off.

31. 32

    Forty people want to start a US bank

    Forty would-be bankers have applied to the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency for a national bank charter over the past eighteen months, and 21 have already been approved. [27] A charter is the licence that lets a firm call itself a bank and take deposits. [27]

    Why it matters — New banks open when the gap between what deposits cost and what loans earn is wide, which is exactly what high interest rates create.

32. 33

    New SVB report blames the Fed's own supervisors

    A new report on the 2023 collapse of Silicon Valley Bank blames the US central bank's own bank-supervision staff, a Fed official said. [27] The report was commissioned by Michelle Bowman, a Federal Reserve official described as an ally of President Donald Trump, and it points at supervision staff from the Biden years. [27] Silicon Valley Bank failed when depositors pulled their money faster than it could sell the bonds it held. [27]

    Why it matters — Who gets blamed decides what gets changed. A report pointing at supervisors rather than at the rules is an argument for different people, not different rules.