India's central bank raises its main interest rate to 5.5%, its first rise since February 2023, as oil above $100 pushes up prices

The rest of the day

29 more stories on this beat.

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

1. 02

   US trade gap widest since early 2025

   The US bought $105.6bn more from other countries than it sold to them in August, the Commerce Department said on Tuesday. [19] That gap, the trade deficit, grew 13.7% in a month. [19] It is the widest since March 2025, just before Trump's big tariffs began. [19][14] Imports reached a record $420.8bn, while exports rose only 1.4% to $315.2bn. [14][20] Chips for AI data centres, oil and gold drove much of the rise, and imports are 28.4% higher than a year ago. [14][21]

   Why it matters — Tariffs were meant to shrink this gap. It is growing because American companies are spending heavily on computer chips, most of them made in Asia. [14] Goldman Sachs cut its estimate of US growth this quarter to 3.1%, because imports count against it. [19]

2. 03

   Wall Street closes at a record

   The S&P 500, an index of 500 big US companies, closed at a record 7,819 on Tuesday. [22] It was its first record close since August and its 28th this year. [22] The Nasdaq, an index full of tech companies, also closed at a record. [21] The rise came a day after the US ten-year borrowing rate passed 5.3%, its highest since 2002. [11] Six of the seven giant AI-linked companies rose, and Amazon gained the most, 1.95%. [21][23] Smaller companies lagged behind. [21]

   Why it matters — The climb rests on a handful of very large tech firms. [11] JJ Kinahan of Cboe, which runs share and options exchanges, said those few stocks now decide which way both indexes move each day. [11]

3. 04

   Dearer loans start to bite in the US

   US government borrowing rates stayed near their highest in almost 25 years on Tuesday, after a long sell-off of Treasury bonds. [24] Several big commercial property deals are now in doubt because buyers want better terms. [24] Weaker companies are paying much more to borrow. [24] Shares that pay steady dividends, such as power and property companies, have fallen, because a safe bond now pays more. [25] The average 30-year fixed mortgage rate is above 7.5%, against 5.99% just before the Iran war. [26]

   5.99%Before the Iran war

   vsvs

   over 7.5%Now

   Why it matters — On a median-priced home of about $450,000, that adds roughly $300 to the monthly payment since early this year. [26] Goldman Sachs economists warned the high rates could cut US growth by 0.2 percentage points next year. [24]

4. 05

   Oil rises on a storm and airport strikes

   Brent crude, the world's main oil price, rose 0.9% to $101.51 a barrel early on Wednesday. [9] On Tuesday it dipped to $98.48 as more Gulf oil reached the sea, then climbed back to about $100. [27][28] US forecasters say a storm in the Gulf of Mexico will become the year's first Atlantic hurricane within two days. [9] The sea area in its path pumps 15% of US crude, and refineries in the US Gulf states make about half the country's fuel. [9] Houthi fighters from Yemen also attacked two Saudi airports, at Jazan and Najran. [29][30]

   Why it matters — Mukesh Sahdev, an oil analyst at X Analysts, said prices will stay near $100 unless the fighting calms. [9] US crude stocks fell by 2.09m barrels last week, industry figures showed. [9]

5. 06

   More attacks on tankers at Hormuz

   Nearly 20 commercial ships, most of them oil tankers, were attacked in the past month in or near the Strait of Hormuz, a group of US-allied navies says. [18] Hormuz is the narrow sea lane between the Persian Gulf and the Arabian Sea. [31] Iran hit about two of every 100 ships that crossed it last quarter, said Windward, a ship-tracking firm. [18] At least nine sailors have died there since July, says the UN's shipping agency. [18] On Tuesday drones also struck two tankers in the Black Sea, the first attack on shipping in Bulgaria's own sea zone. [32]

   Before the war13.5 m barrels a day

   Last week10.3 m barrels a day

   Why it matters — Crude through Hormuz averaged about 10.3m barrels a day last week, 23% below its pre-war level, the data firm Kpler says. [18] That flow now depends on US warships guarding a route along Oman's coast, and shipping and insurance costs have risen. [18]

6. 07

   Paramount completes its Warner takeover

   Paramount completed its purchase of Warner Bros Discovery on Tuesday, a deal worth about $110bn. [33][34] The new company is called Skydance and is run by David Ellison, son of the Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison. [33][35] It joins two of Hollywood's last five big old film studios, with HBO Max, CBS News and CNN. [35] To settle a lawsuit by 12 US states, it must release at least 30 films a year and keep independent editorial boards at CBS News and CNN. [35]

   Why it matters — Joining HBO Max and Paramount+ into one service or bundle could cost subscribers more, the BBC reports. [34] A trustee will check the promises, and California's attorney general said he will go to court if they are broken. [35]

7. 08

   Trump lets trucks use farm diesel

   Trump signed an order on Monday letting truckers use red-dyed diesel, a fuel kept for farms and building sites that carries no highway tax. [36] He also put off collecting the federal diesel tax of 24.4 cents a gallon until the end of 2026. [36] He signed it at a rally in Nebraska, four weeks before the US midterm elections. [37][26] US diesel passed $6 a gallon for the first time in September. [36] The Trump administration says a trucker can save more than $100 a fill-up. [36]

   Why it matters — Goldman Sachs says diesel will stay dear through 2027, because the world's refineries cannot make enough. [10] It expects diesel to cost more than $40 a barrel above crude in 2027, about twice the usual gap. [10]

8. 09

   France's school protests spread

   Police have arrested 5,060 people in France since school protests began late last month, 87% of them under 18, the justice ministry said. [13] Students are protesting about teacher shortages and run-down school buildings. [13] The French government has little money to give. [13] Its 2027 budget aims to save EUR54bn, partly by freezing the pay of teachers and other public workers. [13] On Tuesday Marine Le Pen, who leads the polls for next year's presidential election, promised to bring the deficit under 3% within 18 months. [13][38]

   Why it matters — France's ten-year borrowing rate has risen 1.29 percentage points this year, and the euro is at a 17-month low against the dollar. [13] Le Pen also promises higher pensions, and critics doubt her savings add up. [38][13]

9. 10

   France and Germany push back at China

   France and Germany sent a joint paper on Monday asking the EU to be able to cut off countries that harm its industry from its shops and companies. [39][40] They did not name China, but the EU's trade deficit with China has reached a record EUR1bn a day. [40] The paper names car, chemical, medicine, aircraft and machine-tool makers as the industries being hit. [40] The EU's trade chief, Maros Sefcovic, holds talks in Beijing on Thursday and Friday, and EU leaders meet next week. [40]

   Why it matters — Big European companies are cutting jobs, and Volkswagen alone plans to cut 100,000. [39] The European Commission set October as its deadline for clear results from China on the trade gap. [40]

10. 11

    Chinese banks lend QatarEnergy $3bn

    QatarEnergy, Qatar's state energy company, has borrowed $3bn for five years from four Chinese banks, people who know of the deal told Bloomberg. [41][42] The lenders include Bank of China and ICBC, two of the country's biggest state banks. [42] The loan costs 0.5 percentage points over SOFR, a US rate for overnight borrowing. [41] Chinese banks lent a record $11.5bn to Gulf borrowers last year through shared bank loans, more than five times the year before. [41]

    Why it matters — Qatar's economy is among the worst hit by the war: the World Bank expects it to shrink by 20.9% this year. [16] Chinese banks keep lending to some Gulf borrowers while the war goes on, about $2.3bn so far this year. [41]

11. 12

    World Bank cuts the Middle East forecast

    The World Bank now expects the Middle East and North Africa to shrink by 2.1% this year because of the Iran war. [16] In April it had expected growth of 2.1%. [16] Gulf oil output fell from 26m barrels a day before the war to about 16m in March. [16] It expects the six Gulf states to shrink by 4.3% on average, Kuwait by 14.6% and Qatar by 20.9%, Qatar's worst year in five decades. [16] Qatar's gas output fell about 67% between March and July because its sites were damaged. [16]

    Region, April forecast2.1%

    Region, now−2.1%

    Kuwait, now−14.6%

    Qatar, now−20.9%

    Why it matters — Countries that buy oil, such as Egypt and Morocco, now have better forecasts than their oil-selling neighbours, the bank said. [16] Its chief economist for the region, Roberta Gatti, said the war's losses are landing there while other regions' forecasts go up. [16]

12. 13

    Britain plans help with energy bills

    Britain's chancellor, John Healey, who runs the country's public money, plans to spend more than GBP1bn in this month's budget on lowering poorer households' energy bills, the Guardian reports. [43] The likely way is an extra GBP100 on top of the GBP150 Warm Home Discount for people on certain benefits. [43] Forecasts show the cap on energy prices could rise by as much as GBP442 in January because of the Iran war. [43] On Tuesday Healey told the bosses of Britain's big banks he had not decided whether to tax them more. [44]

    Why it matters — He wants GBP4.7bn more for defence, and higher interest on government debt has used up the money he had set aside. [43] So taxes are likely to rise, and banks are one target, the Guardian reports. [43]

13. 14

    Australians gloomiest since the 1990s

    Australian consumer confidence fell 4.7% to 80.4 points in October, the Westpac-Melbourne Institute survey found. [12] Among people asked after Australia's central bank raised rates on 29 September, it was 67.2, the lowest since the late 1990s. [12] It was the Reserve Bank of Australia's fourth rise this year, and its rate is now the highest since 2011. [12] My Bui, an economist at AMP, said a typical household's weekly petrol bill is up A$20 since January. [12]

    Why it matters — When confidence falls, spending per person tends to fall with it, Bui said. [12] People with mortgages were the gloomiest group, while renters' mood did not change. [12]

14. 15

    Saudi Arabia employs fewer foreigners

    The number of foreigners working in Saudi Arabia fell by 16,000 in the three months to June, government figures show. [17] It is the first fall in more than two years, and it came mostly in building jobs. [17] State-controlled companies have cut staff or let contracts end as project budgets were cut. [17] NEOM, a giant planned city, has been scaled back. [17] Health insurance policies for foreigners did not grow at all in the first half of 2026. [17]

    Why it matters — Unemployment among Saudi citizens has not changed, and surveys of company buyers point to hiring picking up again. [17] The war has also hurt the Gulf's name as a safe place to work. [17]

15. 16

    Informa buys Clarion for GBP2.24bn

    Informa, a London company that runs trade fairs and conferences, agreed to buy the events firm Clarion from the private-equity group Blackstone for GBP2.24bn. [45] Clarion runs more than 100 events, from the DSEI arms fair in London to Awesome Con, a comic-book show in Washington. [45] Informa will raise GBP940m by selling new shares to help pay for it. [45] It also plans to split off Taylor & Francis, its academic publisher, which made about $1bn last year. [45]

    Why it matters — Informa makes more than a third of its sales in India, the Middle East and Asia, and the war forced it to move several Middle East events. [45] Its shares have not risen this year. [45]

16. 17

    Betting sites and how they count

    Kalshi, a US website where people bet on future events, is adding three features to its election markets, a month before the midterms. [46] It will mark markets with less than $10,000 traded as low-volume, show trades live and publish a score of how accurate its odds were. [46] Separately, 'combo' bets, which pay only if several outcomes all happen, were more than half of Kalshi's counted trading in September. [47] Under the regulator's counting rules, a combo bet of a few cents can count as thousands of dollars of trading. [47]

    Why it matters — Chris Park, a researcher who studies these markets, said combos let the sites claim a higher number with less real money behind it. [47] The sites count volume the way the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, their US regulator, tells them to. [47]

17. 18

    A memecoin rush fades on Robinhood's network

    Daily trading in memecoins and stock tokens on Robinhood Chain jumped from almost nothing in July to $443m in early September, CryptoQuant data shows. [48] Robinhood Chain is a blockchain the trading app Robinhood launched this summer. [48] Memecoins are joke crypto tokens with no business behind them. [48] Trading has since fallen 96%. [48] About 26,000 new tokens were launched on the chain each day in September, and most are now worth almost nothing. [48]

    Why it matters — A similar rush hit Arc, a new network from the stablecoin company Circle, on its first day of public trading. [48] Julio Moreno of CryptoQuant said such rushes pull money in, but most of the tokens will trend to zero. [48]

18. 19

    Ex-CIA official admits a $194m fraud

    David Rush, a former senior CIA official, pleaded guilty on Tuesday to cheating the US government of about $194m. [49] He invented secret programmes and spent the money on 298 gold bars, four South Florida properties, watches and two BMWs. [49] About $145m went through a fake consulting company to buy homes and land in South Florida. [49][50] He also admitted sharing the identity of a secret source with a foreign government. [50]

    Why it matters — His job let him approve the spending he himself had asked for, the court papers say. [49] He owes at least $195.4m back. [49]

19. 20

    Finland halts work on Google data centres

    Finland's environmental regulator ordered Google to stop preparing two data-centre sites, at Muhos and Kajaani, by 23 October. [15] They are part of a EUR13bn project in northern Finland. [15] A company working for Google cleared 330 hectares of forest at Muhos before the required environmental study was finished. [15] Google said it had fallen short of its own standards and will follow the regulator's guidance. [15]

    Why it matters — Google has until next Wednesday to explain itself in writing, and the regulator may fine it if it does not comply. [15] A Finnish nature group blamed an overheated rush to build data centres. [15]

20. 21

    The Emmys move to Prime Video

    Amazon's Prime Video will be the only home of the Emmy Awards, the top US television prizes, for six years from 2027. [51] It will stream the show free in more than 240 countries, with no subscription needed. [51] The deal ends a system, in place since at least 1994, where the US networks ABC, CBS, Fox and NBC took turns to show it. [51] The price was not disclosed. [51]

    Why it matters — Live events are moving from TV networks to streaming services as viewers cancel cable. [51] The Oscars move from ABC to YouTube in 2029. [51]

21. 22

    Iberdrola passes NextEra in value

    Iberdrola, a Spanish power company, overtook Florida's NextEra Energy on Tuesday as the world's most valuable power company, worth more than EUR141bn on the stock market. [52] Both have built large wind and solar farms. [52] Both want to sell power to data centres. [52] Iberdrola owns power businesses in Europe, North and South America, and Australia. [52]

    Why it matters — NextEra could take back the top place if US regulators approve its $67bn merger with Dominion, another US power company. [52]

22. 23

    Putin lets UniCredit sell its Russian bank

    Russia's President Vladimir Putin signed a decree on Monday letting UniCredit, an Italian bank, sell its Russian bank. [53] UniCredit has worked in Russia since 1989 and stayed after Russia's full invasion of Ukraine in 2022. [53] It will keep a small new bank for euro and dollar payments, and sell the rest to an investor based in the UAE. [53] Kommersant, a Russian newspaper, reported that the buyer represents Alfa Group, a business group on good terms with Russia's government. [53]

    Why it matters — UniCredit expects the sale to cost it EUR3bn to EUR3.3bn, and hopes to finish it in the first half of 2027. [53] The European Central Bank has pressed UniCredit and Austria's Raiffeisen to shrink their Russian businesses. [53]

23. 24

    Abu Dhabi helps build a Jordan railway

    Abu Dhabi's crown prince and Jordan's King Abdullah broke ground on Monday on a railway to Jordan's Red Sea port of Aqaba. [54][55] The 403km line will carry 16m tonnes a year of phosphate and potash, minerals used in fertiliser, from the mines to the port. [54] It replaces truck convoys and an old freight line, and should cut transport costs by $40m a year. [54] Semafor puts the cost at $2.3bn and The National, a UAE newspaper, at $2.5bn. [54][55]

    Why it matters — The UAE is building railways across the region. [54] Some are part of a planned trade route from India through the Middle East to Europe that would cross Jordan. [54]

24. 25

    UAE firms raise prices fastest since 2011

    Companies outside the oil industry in the United Arab Emirates raised their prices in September at the fastest pace since May 2011, S&P Global's monthly survey found. [8] 13% of firms raised prices, against 5% that cut them. [8] David Owen, an economist at S&P Global, said this points to consumer prices rising sharply at the end of the third quarter. [8] Petrol in the UAE costs about 80% more than in February, before the Iran war began. [8]

    Why it matters — Firms are passing on dearer materials, wages and energy now that business has picked up again. [8] The official inflation figures for the quarter are not out yet. [8]

25. 26

    Bank bosses warn about AI hacking

    Jamie Dimon, head of JPMorgan, the biggest US bank, said cyber risks 'went up 10-fold' after Anthropic's Mythos AI model. [56] He said AI had found weak spots that banks did not know about. [56] Last Saturday India's central bank governor, Sanjay Malhotra, said the next financial crisis could start with a cyberattack. [57] He said AI had made those risks worse. [57]

    Why it matters — In August the Financial Stability Board, which watches over the world's financial system, called AI-driven cyberattacks its top risk. [57] Dimon said JPMorgan was working to fix the problem rather than panicking. [56]

26. 27

    Ikea will buy back used furniture online

    Ikea, the world's biggest furniture seller, will test an online service that pays shoppers in vouchers for their unwanted Ikea furniture. [58] The test starts in Spain and Portugal before the end of December, and Britain gets it if it works. [58] Ikea already buys back furniture in its shops. [58] This week it also opens its own online market for second-hand furniture in Britain. [58]

    Why it matters — That puts Ikea up against Vinted and eBay. [58] Ikea expects used goods to make up 16% of Britain's homewares market by next year. [58]

27. 28

    Euro-area shop sales edge up

    Shop sales in the 21 countries that use the euro rose 0.1% in August, after falling 0.6% in July, Eurostat, the EU's statistics office, said. [59] Economists polled by the Wall Street Journal had expected 0.3%. [59] Sales of fuel for cars slipped as oil prices rose again. [59]

    Why it matters — Sales grew again, but by a third of what economists had expected. [59]

28. 29

    Fire shuts a big Venezuelan refinery

    An explosion and fire shut Cardon, Venezuela's second-biggest oil refinery, in Punto Fijo in Falcon state. [60] The fire started in a gas line, Reuters reported. [60] When it runs, Cardon can process 300,000 barrels of oil a day. [60]

    Why it matters — Goldman Sachs says the world's refineries already cannot make enough diesel. [10]

29. 30

    UK watchdog reviews a whistleblower case

    Britain's Financial Conduct Authority, which polices banks and markets, has asked a new board member, Lea Paterson, to review how it treated a whistleblower who died last month. [61] Simon Andriesz, 57, was a former managing director at BGC Group, a financial broker. [61] He had raised concerns about the firm since 2016 and accused the FCA of failing to act. [61] The FCA had wrongly told him he did not qualify for whistleblower protection. [61]

    Why it matters — He had also alleged ties between Jeffrey Epstein and Howard Lutnick, BGC's former boss and now the US commerce secretary. [61] A group of MPs led by John McDonnell says the FCA is being allowed to mark its own homework, and wants an independent review. [61]