The euro falls to its lowest in 17 months as worry about France's debts spreads and Spain calls an early election for 29 November

The rest of the day

27 more stories on this beat.

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

1. 02

   Nasdaq hits a record as US loans get dearer

   The Nasdaq, an index of mostly technology shares, closed at a record on Monday, up about 1%. [25] The S&P 500, an index of 500 big US companies, ended 0.3% below its own record. [25] On the same day the US government's ten-year borrowing rate closed at 5.31%, its highest since April 2002. [15][26] Nvidia, Microsoft and Meta led the gains, and Nvidia closed at a record for the first time since May. [25] The US Treasury sells more bonds at auctions later this week. [26]

   Why it matters — Higher rates usually weigh on share prices, and shares of steady payers such as power companies were weak on Monday. [25] Nvidia, Microsoft and Meta made up nearly 17% of the S&P 500 going into the week, so they can lift the index while many other shares lag. [25]

2. 03

   British fixed mortgages pass 6%

   The average five-year fixed mortgage in Britain reached 6.00% on Monday, its highest since September 2023, by the count of Moneyfacts, a data firm. [16] The two-year average is 5.98%. [16] Only nine fixed deals now cost less than 5%, against 1,494 at the start of September. [16] The Bank of England has not changed its main rate since December. [16] Lenders raised prices because the market rates they borrow at jumped with the global bond sell-off. [16]

   Start of September1,494

   Monday9

   Why it matters — A £250,000 five-year loan at 6% costs £158 a month more than one fixed at February's average of 4.94%. [16] Families whose old fixed deals end now face the higher rate, and Nationwide, a big lender, said house prices rose half as fast in September. [16]

3. 04

   Schneider agrees to buy PTC for $22.6bn

   Schneider Electric, a French company that makes power and cooling equipment for data centres, agreed on Monday to buy PTC, a US software company, for about $22.6 billion. [27] It will pay $205 in cash for each PTC share, 42.3% more than the shares last traded at. [28] PTC makes software used to design, build and service products. [27] Schneider plans to borrow up to 17 billion euros and sell up to 6 billion euros of new shares to pay for it. [28]

   Why it matters — Schneider's shares fell nearly 10% in Paris, wiping about 15 billion euros off its value, while PTC's rose about a third. [27][26] Jefferies, an investment bank, said fears that AI will undercut software firms let Schneider buy PTC more cheaply than at any time in ten years. [27]

4. 05

   C.H. Robinson buys rival RXO for $5.8bn

   C.H. Robinson, a big US firm that arranges trucks and shipping for other companies, agreed on Monday to buy RXO, a truck broker, for about $5.8 billion in cash and shares. [29] RXO's owners get $17.25 in cash and part of a C.H. Robinson share for each RXO share, 29% more than RXO's shares closed at on Friday. [29] The combined company would be worth more than $25 billion including debt. [30] The deal needs regulators' approval and should close in the first half of 2027. [30]

   Why it matters — RXO's shares jumped about 20% before trading opened, while C.H. Robinson's fell almost 12%. [29] The buyer expects $300 million a year in cost savings within two years. [29]

5. 06

   BT buys TalkTalk out of administration

   BT, Britain's biggest broadband provider, agreed to buy TalkTalk, the fourth-biggest, out of administration in a £400m rescue that saves 900 jobs. [19] Administration is the British process in which outside managers run a company that cannot pay its debts. TalkTalk took on about £1.5bn of debt when it left the stock market in 2021, and its lenders had in effect controlled it since. [19][31] Its home customers fell from 4 million in 2019 to about 1.5 million. [19]

   Why it matters — About 250,000 TalkTalk customers are vulnerable, and many rely on alarm pendants that call for help in an emergency. [19] Virgin Media O2, a rival, called the deal a stitch-up that strengthens BT's grip, and the British government has ordered a public-interest review. [19]

6. 07

   Sainsbury's and Morrisons held merger talks

   Sainsbury's, Britain's second-biggest supermarket, held early talks this year about merging with Morrisons, the Financial Times and Sky reported. [21] The two are no longer in talks, by those reports. [21] Morrisons was bought by Clayton Dubilier & Rice, a US private equity firm, in 2021, and has carried more than £7bn of debt since. [21] Together they would hold 23.6% of the market, against 27.8% for Tesco, the biggest. [21]

   Why it matters — Britain's competition regulator blocked a Sainsbury's and Asda deal in 2019 because it expected higher prices for shoppers. [21] Lidl, a German discount chain, overtook Morrisons this year and reported a 10% rise in British sales on Monday. [21]

7. 08

   Brazil's shares jump 8% after Bolsonaro's lead

   Brazil's main share index rose 8% on Monday. [17][32] On Sunday Flavio Bolsonaro, a right-wing senator and son of the former president Jair Bolsonaro, won 47% in the first round of the presidential election. [17] President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva won about 45%, and the two meet in a runoff on 25 October. [17] The real, Brazil's currency, strengthened from 5.22 to 4.98 to the US dollar. [17] Shares in Banco Bradesco, a big bank, jumped 19%. [32]

   Why it matters — Investors expect Bolsonaro to cut spending, which could let Brazil lower some of the highest interest rates in the world. [33] Brazil's government deficit was almost 10% of its economy in June. [32]

8. 09

   Iran's oil minister resigns

   Iran's oil minister, Mohsen Paknejad, resigned on Monday, giving personal reasons. [24][34] Days earlier a newspaper reported that a trust set up under him to collect money from oil sold abroad owed the state oil company nearly $2bn. [24] A US naval blockade has stopped most of Iran's oil sales. [24] The US Treasury Secretary, Scott Bessent, said Iran loaded no crude onto tankers in September. [34] A US dollar now costs a record 270,000 tomans on Iran's street market, double what it cost in January. [34]

   135,000Start of 2026

   vsvs

   270,000This week

   Why it matters — Prices in Iran are rising 85% a year, and food prices 130%. [24] The monthly minimum wage is worth about $66, and nurses and teachers are quitting because their pay cannot keep up. [24]

9. 10

   Aramco says oil stocks need two years

   Amin Nasser, chief executive of Saudi Aramco, Saudi Arabia's state oil company, said on Monday that rebuilding the world's oil stocks could take up to two years. [22] He said nearly 3 billion barrels of supply have been lost since the war with Iran began in late February. [22] About 1 billion barrels have been drawn from stocks, mostly from companies' own tanks. [22] Brent crude, the world's main oil price, was near $102 a barrel on Monday morning. [22]

   Why it matters — Nasser said the oil system is already straining, and the pressure will last until the Strait of Hormuz fully reopens. [22] Governments in the G7 group of rich democracies agreed on Friday to release 100 million barrels of diesel and crude. [22]

10. 11

    The US central bank checks banks' private-credit loans

    Officials from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, part of the US central bank, have visited four big banks since spring, Semafor reported. [35] They reviewed what JPMorgan, Wells Fargo, Barclays and Morgan Stanley have lent to private-credit firms. [35] Private-credit firms are funds that lend straight to companies instead of through banks. Bank loans to such lenders rose from $300 billion in 2016 to more than $1.5 trillion, 11% of all bank loans. [35] The review followed JPMorgan marking down loans to software companies threatened by AI in March. [35]

    Why it matters — The banks and the US central bank declined to comment, so what the visits found is not public. [35] The World Bank said on Tuesday that $800 billion of planned AI building is expected to be paid for with private credit. [36]

11. 12

    Central bankers' bank warns about debt

    Pablo Hernandez de Cos said in Vienna on Monday that high government debt will make the next financial crisis harder to handle. [37] He runs the Bank for International Settlements, a bank for the world's central banks. [37] Public debt is near its highest since the Second World War in many countries. [37] He said that when governments borrow a lot, a central bank buying bonds to calm a market can look like it is paying that government's bills. [37] He is one of the favourites to lead the European Central Bank next year. [37]

    Why it matters — His warning came as lenders charged France far more than Germany. [37] He named the Bank of England's short, limited bond-buying in 2022 as a model for how to step in. [37]

12. 13

    World Bank raises East Asia's growth forecast

    The World Bank raised its growth forecast for East Asia and the Pacific this year to 4.5%, from 4.2% in April. [36] Goods linked to AI, such as chips and servers, drove more than half of export growth in most of the region's economies. [36] Vietnam got the biggest upgrade, to 7.4%. [36] South Korea's exports grew 83.5% in September to a record $120.9 billion, and half of them were chips. [36]

    Why it matters — The bank warned that trade outside AI goods is weak or shrinking, so a pullback in AI spending would hit the region hard. [36] Two chipmakers, Samsung and SK Hynix, made up 43% of the value of South Korea's main share index in April. [36]

13. 14

    Russian gold pours into Hong Kong

    Hong Kong imported a record 112.7 tonnes of Russian gold in the first seven months of 2026, by the count of BullionVault, a gold trading firm. [38] That is more than the 92.1 tonnes in all of 2025, and far above 3.3 tonnes in 2021. [38] Western countries shut Russian gold out of London's market after Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022. [38] Most of the gold goes on to mainland China, which has no sanctions on it. [38]

    20213.3 t

    All of 202592.1 t

    Jan-Jul 2026112.7 t

    Why it matters — Russia still sells its gold, now through Hong Kong to China instead of London. [38] China's central bank added more than 40 tonnes to its own gold in the first half of 2026, more than double a year earlier. [38]

14. 15

    SpaceX shares make Musk a trillionaire again

    SpaceX shares rose almost 8% on Monday to $171.09, their highest since mid-June. [39] SpaceX, Elon Musk's rocket and satellite company, first sold shares to the public on 12 June. [39] Analysts at Morgan Stanley, a US bank, called the shares cheap in a note on Sunday. [39] Forbes now values Musk at about $1.05 trillion, mostly from his SpaceX and Tesla shares. [40]

    Why it matters — Musk's wealth peaked at $1.32 trillion on 16 June, by Bloomberg's count, so it rises and falls with those shares. [40] The next two richest people, Jeff Bezos and Larry Page, are worth $371 billion and $284 billion. [40]

15. 16

    Glasgow and a union agree a pay deal

    Glasgow City Council reached a pay deal with Unison, a trade union, on Monday. [41] Last month the council had told all 23,000 of its non-teaching staff that they could be dismissed and rehired on new terms. [41] The first offer would have cut pay for 11% of staff, and the council has now agreed to protect their pay for three years. [41] Unison will put the deal to a four-week vote of its members. [41]

    Why it matters — The new pay system is meant to end years of unequal pay at the council. [41] Two other unions, GMB and Unite, are also putting it to their members. [41]

16. 17

    British coach firms warn over diesel

    Coach operators in Britain warned on Monday that record diesel prices could force cuts to services, including school transport. [23] Diesel at British fuel stations passed £2 a litre last week, a record. [23] Hauliers, the firms that run lorries, say each truck now costs an extra £350 a week in fuel compared with before the Iran war. [23] Local buses in England get help with fuel from the British government, but coaches do not. [23]

    Why it matters — Haulage firms usually make about 2% profit on their sales, so most cannot carry a rise this big, and hundreds have gone bust this year, the Road Haulage Association said. [23]

17. 18

    Britain weighs tariffs on Chinese cars

    Britain's government is reviewing whether to put import taxes on Chinese cars to match the European Union, which charges up to 45%. [42] The EU raised the question in talks on its Made in Europe law, which Britain wants to join. [42] Chinese brands such as BYD, Leapmotor and Jaecoo have more than tripled their share of new car sales in Britain this year, to 12%. [42] BYD alone took 5.75% of the market in September. [42]

    Why it matters — Tariffs would make Chinese cars dearer for British buyers and could bring a hostile response from China. [42] Being left out of the EU law could hurt an 80 billion euro car trade with Europe, the British carmakers' trade body warned. [42]

18. 19

    True Food Kitchen files for bankruptcy

    True Food Kitchen, a US restaurant chain that sells health-focused food, filed for bankruptcy protection in a Texas court on Sunday. [20] It owes about $42 million and closed 12 restaurants the same day, leaving 34 in 14 states. [20] The talk-show host Oprah Winfrey has been an investor since 2018. [20] The company blamed frequent changes of managers and spending on new ideas outside its main menu. [20]

    Why it matters — It is seeking a sale under a court's watch, and its remaining restaurants stay open. [20]

19. 20

    Lucid delivers fewer cars after cutting output

    Lucid Group, a US maker of electric cars backed by Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund, delivered 3,806 cars from July to September, 6.7% fewer than a year earlier. [43] It built 2,954, after cutting its Arizona plant from two shifts to one. [43] Its new chief executive, Silvio Napoli, started in June. [43] Its shares are down more than 60% this year, at $4.17. [43]

    Why it matters — Lucid cut production to match slower demand for electric cars. [43] General Motors said on Monday it will bring hybrid cars to the US, as sales of hybrids grow with petrol dear and fully electric cars losing buyers. [44]

20. 21

    Zillow must face its investors in court

    The US Supreme Court declined on Monday to hear Zillow's appeal against a class action, a lawsuit brought on behalf of a whole group of investors. [45] The investors say Zillow, a US property website, misled them about its home-flipping arm before closing it in November 2021. [45] Zillow wrote down $300 million in losses then and cut 25% of its staff. [45] The case can now go to trial. [45]

    Why it matters — Business groups such as the US Chamber of Commerce had argued that the lower court's ruling exposes companies to costly lawsuits from investors. [45]

21. 22

    Google moves closer to buying Spirit's old data

    A court-appointed privacy official recommended on Monday that a judge approve Google's $10 million purchase of data from Spirit Airlines, a US budget airline that shut down in May. [46] Google won an auction for the data and says it will use it to improve its products and AI models. [46] The companies removed passenger databases from the sale and hired an outside firm to strip out personal details. [46] A court hearing is set for 14 October. [46]

    Why it matters — Spirit's pilots and flight attendants object to the sale. [46] The data came from 97 million customers who gave it to book flights. [46]

22. 23

    Starbucks opens in Xinjiang

    Starbucks has opened two shops in Urumqi, in China's Xinjiang region. [47] Western governments accuse China of serious rights abuses in Xinjiang, and the US limits imports from there over forced labour. [47] Starbucks sold 60% of its China business to Boyu Capital, a Hong Kong private-equity firm, in April. [47] Boyu wants to grow from about 8,000 shops to as many as 20,000. [47]

    Why it matters — A US congressional committee on China demanded that the shops close, and China's foreign ministry rejected the criticism. [47] One analyst told CNBC that Boyu weighed the anger in the US and decided growth in China mattered more. [47]

23. 24

    OKX launches an app for digital dollars

    OKX, a cryptocurrency exchange, launched an app on Tuesday that turns more than 50 local currencies into stablecoins, digital tokens meant to stay worth one US dollar. [48] It is aimed at Latin America, Africa, South Asia and the Middle East. [48] OKX offers up to 10% a year on one of the coins, USDG. [48] About 97% of all stablecoin value is tied to the US dollar. [48]

    Why it matters — OKX says currency swings and exchange fees make it hard for people in those regions to protect their savings. [48] Crypto platforms have lost about $2.7 billion to hacks this year, by the count of CertiK, a security firm. [48]

24. 25

    Crypto group backs 32 members of Congress

    Fairshake, the crypto industry's biggest political spending group, said on Monday it will back 32 members of the US House of Representatives in November's elections. [18] They are 19 Republicans and 13 Democrats, and all voted for the CLARITY Act, a bill setting rules for crypto. [18] The bill passed the House in July 2025 but stalled in the US Senate. [18] Fairshake and two partner groups had about $120.4 million in cash in September. [18]

    Why it matters — Its backers include Coinbase, a crypto exchange, and Andreessen Horowitz, a venture capital firm. [18] The next Congress will decide how crypto is regulated in the US. [18]

25. 26

    A bill to stop candidates betting on their own races

    Don Davis, a Democratic member of the US House from North Carolina, introduced a bill on Monday. [49] It would ban federal candidates from betting on their own elections on prediction markets, websites where people bet on future events. [49] The fine would be at least $10,000, or three times the profit. [49] His Republican opponent, Laurie Buckhout, paid Kalshi, one of those websites, a penalty of just under $2,600 in August for betting on her own race. [49]

    Why it matters — Congress does not meet again until after the elections, so the bill cannot pass in time for this vote. [49]

26. 27

    Gulf funds head for their second-busiest year

    The state investment funds of Gulf countries are on course to invest $136 billion this year, by the count of Global SWF, a consultancy. [50] That would be their second-busiest year on record. [50] Mubadala, an Abu Dhabi fund, leads with $26.2 billion so far. [50] Nearly half of all the money has gone to the US. [50]

    Why it matters — Kuwait's and Qatar's funds may have to send money to their own governments, whose oil exports through the Strait of Hormuz have fallen. [50] Gulf funds are major backers of the $110 billion takeover of Warner Bros. [50]

27. 28

    British student flats go bust

    Several companies that run upmarket student flats in Britain have gone bust, leaving students to find new homes as term began. [51] In Dundee, nearly 70 students had to move in late July after the owner of a 116-room block collapsed. [51] The owners face fewer international students, higher borrowing and building costs, and the squeeze on living costs. [51] Rent in such blocks outside London averages £191 a week including bills. [51]

    Why it matters — Rents in these blocks have risen much faster than British students' maintenance loans, the money they borrow to live on. [51] Some cities, such as Coventry, Leeds and Nottingham, now have more of these flats than students to fill them. [51]