Finance, in brief

US employers added 29,000 jobs in September, the US Labor Department said on Friday, and the unemployment rate rose to 4.2% from 4.1%. [1][2]

Economists had expected far more: about 84,000 in a Dow Jones survey and 90,000 in a Reuters poll. [1][3]

Earlier months were revised down by 60,000 in total. August is now 133,000 jobs, not 162,000, and July became a loss of 10,000. [1][4]

Health care added about 17,000 jobs, more than half the total. Government lost 17,000, and information, finance and professional services also lost jobs. [5][4]

Construction added 11,000 jobs, led by electricians and other trades building data centres, the huge buildings full of computers that AI runs on. Home-building trades lost nearly 8,000. [6][5]

Unemployment rose partly because 485,000 more people joined the workforce, meaning they were working or looking for work. The share of adults doing so rose to 61.8%, the highest since May. [1][2]

Average pay rose 3.0% over the year, the slowest since May 2021. Prices have risen faster than pay for months. [1][7]

Unemployment among Black Americans rose a full point to 7%, double the rate for white Americans. [4]

Fewer jobs are needed than before, because baby boomers are retiring and the Trump administration has cut immigration. Economists say the hiring needed to keep unemployment steady could be as low as zero a month, down from perhaps 150,000 a year ago. [8]

Traders put the chance of a rate rise at the US central bank's meeting on 27-28 October at 17%, down from about 36% a week earlier. They still see a rise in December as likely. [9][1]

Shares rose. The Nasdaq, an index full of tech companies, gained 1.2% after an all-time high during the day, and Nvidia, which makes the chips AI runs on, hit a record. [10][3]

But the yearly interest on ten-year US government loans closed up at 5.281%, after falling to 5.157% just after the report. It rose about 0.10 points over the week, its fifth weekly rise, while the two-year rate fell 0.03 points and the thirty-year rose 0.13. [11][12] US home-loan rates follow the ten-year rate. [4]

Why it matters. Watch the US inflation count on 14 October: if prices keep rising faster than pay, a December rate rise stays likely even with hiring this slow. [6][9]

Lenders charged France about 1.4 to 1.6 percentage points a year more than Germany to borrow for ten years on Friday, depending on the source and the hour. [22][13][23] That is the widest gap since the euro area's debt crisis of 2011 and 2012. [13][23] France's ten-year rate touched 4.989%, its highest since 2002, while Germany's fell as investors bought its bonds as the safest in Europe. [13][22] Germany's two-year rate fell nearly a quarter point over the week. [3] France's government has just proposed a 2027 budget with large cuts, and investors doubt parliament will pass it. [24]

Why it matters. France spends about 5.4% of its economy more than it collects. [13] Its debt is expected to reach 122% of a year's output next year, so each rise in its rate adds to a growing bill. [13] Europe's main share index was heading for its worst week since April. [25]

Prices in the countries that use the euro rose 3.8% in the year to September, Eurostat, the EU's statistics office, said in its first estimate. [15] That was up from 3.2% in August and above the 3.6% economists expected. [15] Energy prices were 18.8% higher than a year before. [15] Spain's prices rose 5.0%, Italy's 4.1%, France's 3.4% and Germany's 3.3%. [15]

Why it matters. The European Central Bank raised its rate in September, and traders now give a December rise a near 70% chance, but October only 11.7%. [15] Christine Lagarde, its president, said higher bond rates would slow growth on their own and limit how far dearer energy spreads into other prices. [15]

Tesla delivered 486,532 cars from July to September, well above the roughly 457,000 to 462,000 that analysts expected. [26][19] That was about 2% fewer than a year earlier, which was Tesla's record quarter, just before a US tax credit of up to $7,500 for electric cars ended. [19][26] Sales in Europe recovered after last year's slump. [26] Its shares rose more than 5% in early trading. [26]

Why it matters. Tesla is now on course to end two straight years of falling sales, and analysts expect 1.82 million deliveries this year, up from 1.65 million in June. [26] Rivian, a smaller US maker of electric cars, also beat forecasts, while older carmakers sold less. [26][18]

Volvo Cars, the Swedish carmaker, sold 141,609 cars from July to September, 10.7% fewer than a year before. [17] Its sales in China fell 40.6% as Chinese carmakers cut prices, and its sales in North and South America fell 14%. [17] It scrapped its forecast for the whole year. [27][28] Its shares fell as much as 6.8% on Friday. [17]

Why it matters. Europe was the one bright spot: Volvo's sales there rose 2%, and sales of its fully electric cars in Europe jumped 51%. [17] In China, local carmakers are competing harder and cutting prices in a weak economy. [17]

Ford sold 507,395 cars and light trucks in the US from July to September, 6.6% fewer than a year before. [18] The South Korean group that owns Hyundai, Kia and Genesis sold 506,200, up 5.4%. [18] Cox Automotive, a forecaster, had expected Hyundai's group to pass Ford for the first time. [18] Ford is still about 89,700 vehicles ahead for the year so far. [18]

Why it matters. Ford's big F-Series pickups recovered after supplier fires last year, and their sales fell only 1.9%. [18] Its electric car sales fell about 80% in the quarter, against a record a year earlier, when buyers rushed before a US tax credit ended. [18]

The US dollar fell against the euro and the yen on Friday after the jobs report, as traders cut their bets on a US rate rise. [3] Late in the day the euro was up 0.16% at $1.1259, and the dollar was down 0.18% at 157.79 yen. [3] On Thursday the euro had dropped to $1.1215, its lowest since May 2025, as money left French bonds. [29][24] The Swiss franc, another place nervous money goes, also rose. [24]

Why it matters. Earlier in the week the dollar reached a 17-month high as money fled the bond troubles in Europe, even while the odds of a US rate rise fell, an Investing.com analysis said. [24] Futures still price a 39% chance that US rates rise a full point within a year. [24]

Brent crude closed 6 cents lower at $102.25 a barrel on Friday, and WTI, the main US oil price, fell $1.76 to $91.11. [30] The Group of Seven rich democracies agreed to release 100 million barrels from emergency stores over four months, with diesel first. [30] Fatih Birol, head of the International Energy Agency, said prices had fallen about $5 since the release was announced. [31] Saudi Arabia is planning an attack on Houthi fighters in Yemen, officials told Reuters. [30]

Why it matters. The US supplied about half of the diesel the EU bought abroad in August, so Europe is exposed to the US export ban Trump has threatened. [30] Brent turning higher again during the day was one reason lenders kept worrying about inflation. [23]

Vietnam's economy grew 9.95% from July to September compared with a year earlier, its statistics office said on Saturday. [32] That is the fastest pace in four years, up from 8.81% from April to June. [32] Industry and construction led the growth. [33] Imports have grown faster than exports, leaving a trade deficit of $19.4 billion over the first nine months of the year. [33]

Why it matters. Vietnam's factories also grew in September, a survey of factory buyers showed. [16] Foreign firms keep adding plants there: the Danish jeweller Pandora has just opened one in Ho Chi Minh City. [34]

Pandora, the Danish jewellery company, has opened a $150 million factory in Ho Chi Minh City, its first outside Thailand. [34] It can make up to 60 million pieces a year and will employ about 7,000 people when fully running. [34] It raises Pandora's production capacity by about half. [34] Its boss, Berta de Pablos-Barbier, said sales in Asia grew 10% in the second quarter. [34]

Why it matters. Pandora is moving part of its production beyond Thailand, its longtime base. [34] Its sales in Japan have about doubled in three years, while China has seen three years of declines. [34]

Factories in Japan, South Korea and Taiwan grew in September on strong orders for chips and AI equipment, surveys of factory buyers showed on Thursday. [16] In these surveys a reading above 50 means business is growing. [16] South Korea's reading rose to 53.9, its highest since May, and its export orders grew at the fastest pace in 15 and a half years. [16] Taiwan's rose to 56.7. [16]

Why it matters. Japan's reading slipped to 54.1, and its factories kept raising prices at one of the sharpest rates since late 2022. [16] Factories in the Philippines and Malaysia shrank. [16]

A 'handful' of trade ministers from the G20, a club of 20 big economies, rejected a US call to curb 'excess industrial capacity', the US trade office said on Friday. [35] The US means factories backed by governments, such as China's, that make more than markets want and export the rest. [35] Only Mexico and Argentina signed a separate US statement on removing goods made with forced labour from supply chains. [35] The US is also investigating 16 trading partners for excess capacity. [35]

Why it matters. That investigation is widely expected to bring new US tariffs in the coming months. [35] China rejects the charge and says the West uses it as an excuse to protect its own industries. [35]

The US Justice Department will not reopen its criminal investigation into Jerome Powell, former head of the US central bank, over the overspending on its headquarters, Attorney General Todd Blanche said on Friday. [36] The US central bank's own watchdog found no grounds for a criminal referral, though it found major failures of oversight. [36] Blanche said an independent audit could still lead to action. [36]

Why it matters. Powell stepped down as chair in May but stays on the bank's board until January 2028. [36] President Trump says he should be 'forced to resign' from the board at a minimum. [36]

The US Treasury and the IRS, the US tax agency, warned this week that some wealthy investors are misusing a tax rule to avoid tax on gains from shares. [37] The rule, called Section 351, lets an investor swap shares into a new fund for the fund's own shares without paying tax at the time. [37] The IRS said deals where the fund soon hands back a different set of shares 'don't work under existing law'. [37]

Why it matters. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the US government is serious about cracking down on deals designed to dodge tax. [37] Ordinary swaps still work if no single holding is more than 25% of the portfolio and the top five are no more than 50%. [37]

Lyft, the ride-hailing company, agreed to pay California $272.5 million to settle claims that it took drivers' wages by treating them as independent contractors instead of employees. [38] California's attorney general, Rob Bonta, called it the largest wage-theft settlement in the state's history. [38] More than $237 million will go to thousands of drivers once a court approves it. [38] Lyft says its drivers were always classed correctly. [38]

Why it matters. Independent contractors in the US get no sick pay, no overtime and no minimum wage under federal and state rules, which is why the label matters. [38] The case covers 2016 to 2020. [38]

David Ellison said the company formed when Paramount completes its purchase of Warner Bros Discovery next week will be called Skydance, and its shares will trade as SKYD. [39] The deal is worth about $111 billion, and a US judge cleared its last legal obstacle on 30 September. [40] Mattel's chief executive, Ynon Kreiz, joins as co-chief executive on 5 October. [40]

Why it matters. The Paramount and Warner Bros film studios will keep their own names, and plan 35 films between them next year. [39] The actor Mark Ruffalo said the merger will cost jobs and weaken free speech, and vowed to keep fighting it. [40]

Shares in Cerebras, which makes large AI chips and rents out their computing power, fell nearly 20% this week to their lowest since it listed in May. [41] SemiAnalysis, a research firm, said OpenAI would use Nvidia chips instead of Cerebras for a fast mode of its newest model. [41] Insiders were also allowed to start selling shares this week. [41] The stock closed at $166.43 on Friday. [41]

Why it matters. Cerebras was worth $95 billion at the end of its first day of trading, and its shares are now down more than half from that first jump. [41] Sam Altman, OpenAI's boss, called Cerebras 'a close partner', and the shares rose almost 3% after hours. [41]

Anthropic, the AI company that makes Claude, warned in its share-sale papers that how the US government sees it could hurt its ties with business customers, Reuters reported. [42] It said the US president ordered federal agencies in February to stop using its models, and the Defense Department called it a supply-chain risk. [42] In June the Commerce Department put worldwide export limits on two of its models, which Anthropic switched off for all customers until the limits were lifted. [42]

Why it matters. Government contracts bring in less than 1% of Anthropic's revenue, but the papers say losing official favour can harm its name with everyone else. [42] The share sale could value Anthropic at $2 trillion, Reuters reported. [42]

Investors are demanding more to lend for AI data centres, The Information reported, with wider gaps on tech giants' bonds and bigger price cuts on riskier data-centre bonds. [14] At least 20 high-interest bond deals paid for data-centre projects in the past year. [14] Many lead back to the biggest AI firms, such as buildings leased to CoreWeave, whose customers include Microsoft, Meta and OpenAI. [14]

Why it matters. Some of these bonds are already among the top holdings of high-interest bond funds run by State Street and Charles Schwab, though each is under 1% of those funds. [14] Nvidia has also signed $45 billion of future data-centre leases, $20 billion of which it plans to pass to other firms. [14]

Argentina will offer citizenship to wealthy foreigners who give $350,000 to its treasury or put $800,000 into a new government bond for seven years, its economy minister, Luis Caputo, said on Friday in Paris. [20] A family of four would pay about $500,000. [20] Applications should open before the end of the year. [20] Advisers to Argentina's government estimate it could raise up to $2.5 billion. [20]

Why it matters. Argentina must pay nearly $25 billion of debt in foreign currency in 2027. [20] President Javier Milei has not yet returned to borrowing on international bond markets, so his government is looking for dollars elsewhere. [20]

Brazil chooses a president on Sunday, and polls show President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and Flavio Bolsonaro, son of former president Jair Bolsonaro, neck and neck. [43] A runoff on 25 October is likely. [43] Investors' main worry is government spending, and only a small part of the budget can be cut easily. [43] Capital Economics, a research firm, says a Flavio win could lift Brazilian shares by 10% to 20%. [43]

Why it matters. The same firm says a Lula win could leave Brazilian shares lagging. [43] It is one of about 40 national elections this year that can move markets, with Israel voting on 27 October and the US on 3 November. [43]

Japan's finance minister, Satsuki Katayama, said on Saturday that Japan's government has begun changing how it explains its policies, to reassure markets that Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi is not trying to push prices up. [44] She said Scott Bessent, the US Treasury secretary, had questioned whether Japan was explaining itself clearly enough to investors. [44] Prices in Tokyo rose 2.7% in the year to September, up from 1.8%. [24]

Why it matters. The Bank of Japan has raised its rate twice this year, in June and September, and the Tokyo figure makes an October rise more likely, an Investing.com analysis said. [24] Japan's government owes well over twice its yearly economic output, more than France or the US. [13]

Britain's government, led by Prime Minister Andy Burnham, will pass a law in this parliament to change the 'triple lock' on the state pension. [21] The lock raises the pension each year by whichever is highest of 2.5%, inflation or pay growth. [21] In future the pay part will be adjusted, so the pension does not jump in years when pay spikes. [21] The lock stays as it is until 2030. [21]

Why it matters. Britain's government says the change would cut pension spending by £15 billion a year by the late 2030s and £50 billion a year by 2050, and use savings for a free care service in England. [21] The Resolution Foundation, a think tank, says the saving could be anything from nothing to about £24 billion a year. [21]