Finance, in brief

A missile hit the domestic terminals of King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia's capital, on Saturday afternoon. [1][2] Saudi aviation officials said early Sunday that 12 people were killed and more than 300 injured. [1]

It was the deadliest attack on any Gulf Arab country since the Iran war began on 28 February. [1] The dead were from eight countries, including four Saudis and one American. [1][3]

It was the third strike on the airport in a week. [7] Two days earlier, an attack killed three Saudis, including a pilot. [10] Attacks on Thursday damaged three planes, two officials said. [9]

A Saudi-led military coalition blamed the Houthis, an armed group in Yemen backed by Iran. [2] The Houthis had declared Saudi airspace a war zone after a Saudi-backed offensive against them began this month. [4]

All flights to Riyadh were diverted or cancelled on Saturday. [4] FlightAware, a flight-tracking site, counted at least 225 cancellations at the airport over 24 hours. [6] Germany's Lufthansa has stopped flying there until 16 October, and Air India until 15 October. [5][6]

The World Petroleum Congress, a meeting of the world's top oil bosses and ministers, opens in Riyadh on Sunday and runs to Thursday. [5] Its organisers emailed delegates that it will go ahead, and pointed them to a four-hour drive from Dammam, a city on the coast. [5]

The Future Investment Initiative, Saudi Arabia's flagship summit for investors, will also go ahead on 26 to 29 October, its organisers said. [5] Jamie Dimon of JPMorgan and Jane Fraser of Citi, who run two of the biggest US banks, were on its guest list. [5]

Italy's energy minister said he would not fly to Riyadh and would join an energy ministers' meeting there by video. [5] Britain, France and Germany have told their citizens to avoid the city. [5]

Some firms in Riyadh told staff to work from home on Sunday, Semafor, a news site, reported. [7] Schools in the city are moving lessons online for a week. [2]

A projectile also fell near the airport in Dammam, which travellers had been using instead of Riyadh's. [2]

President Trump said the US 'may' join Saudi strikes on the Houthis, and that it would decide quickly. [1][8]

Saudi Arabia is running low on missile interceptors and has asked France, Britain, Pakistan and Egypt for air-defence help, regional officials told the Associated Press, a news agency. [3][8]

Why it matters. The next test is who actually turns up at the World Petroleum Congress this week, and whether the US joins the strikes on the Houthis, which Trump said he would decide quickly. [5][8]

Tanker captains who sail through the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow sea route out of the Gulf, can earn $100,000 a month plus $50,000 a trip, sources told the Financial Times. [11] Their normal pay is about $15,000 a month. [11] Iran has stepped up drone and missile attacks on ships there. [11] At least 93 ships have been hit and 24 sailors killed since February, the UN's shipping agency says. [11]

Why it matters. Shipowners pay this to keep crews on board, and war insurance now costs 6% to 10% of a ship's value. [11] A day's hire for a tanker crossing Hormuz hit a record $1.3 million, against $20,000 to $50,000 last year. [11]

A US fighter jet struck and disabled a cargo ship in the Gulf of Oman on Saturday, said US Central Command, the US military's command for the Middle East. [3] The ship, the Panama-flagged Ocean Molica, had left an Iranian port and ignored repeated warnings, it said. [3] The US says it is keeping up a naval blockade of Iran's ports. [3] The crew was not hurt. [3]

Why it matters. The Gulf of Oman is where many tankers swap cargoes after shuttle runs out of Hormuz. [11] Crews there are already paid double for the danger. [11]

Energy experts told Fortune, a business magazine, that Trump's deal to buy Russian diesel will barely move US prices. [12] Russia's old customers will simply buy elsewhere, so the price stays where it is, said Michael Lynch of the Energy Policy Research Foundation. [12] Diesel cost about $6.28 a gallon in the US on Friday, against $3.68 a year ago. [12] On Saturday Trump blamed Ukraine's president for high diesel prices and said Ukraine should get a new leader. [13]

Why it matters. Ukraine's president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, says the extra money Russia earns will pay for weapons. [13] Sweden's prime minister said the European Union will adopt its biggest package of sanctions on Russia yet on Monday, with 1,600 listings. [13]

Russia's President Vladimir Putin passed Iran's view of how the war could end to Trump, his spokesman Dmitry Peskov told Russian media on Saturday. [14] Putin did so with the agreement of Iran's president, Masoud Pezeshkian, after they met at a summit in Turkmenistan. [14] No details were given, and Trump's office did not immediately respond to a request to confirm the call. [14] The war began on 28 February with US and Israeli air strikes on Iran. [14]

Why it matters. Iran now attacks tankers in and around Hormuz almost every day. [14] Oil has been back above $100 a barrel since the fighting in the Middle East started again. [16]

About 69% of oil output and 57% of gas output in the US Gulf of Mexico was still shut on Saturday, after Hurricane Isaias hit Florida. [15] The US Energy Department approved an emergency release of up to 4 million barrels from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, the US government's own oil stockpile. [15] Shell and Chevron began sending crews back to their platforms. [15] The storm killed four people and left about 670,000 homes and businesses without power. [15]

Why it matters. The US Energy Department said the release is meant to cover supply lost to the storm. [15] Chevron said its crews would keep returning to the platforms through Sunday. [15] Pensacola's airport, Florida's tenth-biggest, stays closed to passenger flights for now. [15]

The UN Development Programme, the UN's agency for poorer countries, warned on Sunday of a triple shock: dear energy, El Nino and high borrowing costs. [16] El Nino is a Pacific weather pattern, and this one may be the worst in 1,000 years. [16] Since the Iran war began, emergency government help has shielded up to 130 million of the world's poorest people from the full rise in prices, its report says. [16] Its head, Alexander De Croo, said many governments have run out of money and now let price rises through. [16]

Why it matters. He said developing countries pay about 9% to borrow on bond markets. [16] Debt Justice, a campaign group, found that poor countries in or near debt trouble have cut education budgets by 8% on average since 2019. [16]

The IMF and the World Bank, which lend to governments, hold their yearly meetings in Bangkok from 12 to 18 October. [18] More than 15,000 people from 191 countries are expected. [18] The IMF publishes its new forecast for world growth on Tuesday, after the Iran war forced two cuts to it this year. [17] Senegal's plan to rework its debts is expected to draw attention. [17]

Why it matters. Thailand has told government workers in Bangkok to work from home on three days to ease traffic. [18] About 50mm of rain a day is forecast for the opening days, two weeks after floods shut roads and factories in the city. [19][18]

Phillip Swagel, who heads the Congressional Budget Office, the US Congress's budget referee, said on Thursday that faster growth alone probably cannot steady US debt. [20] US debt held by the public equals the size of the whole economy, and his office expects it to reach 120% by 2036. [20] He estimated growth would need to be 5% to 6% a year after inflation, against 2.2% in the second quarter. [20] Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said last month that 3% would do it. [20]

Why it matters. Swagel said that leaves tax and spending changes, which he called 'inherently political choices'. [20] He warned that a jump in interest rates raises the deficit, which then pushes rates up again. [20]

Italy's government approved 28 billion euros of extra borrowing over two years for defence and energy on 2 October, and presents its budget next week. [21] That raises its 2027 deficit target to 3.4% of GDP, the size of the economy, from 2.8% in April. [21] Goldman Sachs, a US bank, expects Italy's debt to reach about 137% of GDP, the highest in Europe. [21] Italy's ten-year borrowing rate was 4.55% on Friday. [21]

Why it matters. Investors' attention is turning from France's debt to Italy's, and a strategist at UBS, a Swiss bank, has bet that Italian bonds will fall. [21] Konstantin Veit of Pimco, a big bond investor, said most Italian debt is held by Italians, which steadies it. [21]

JPMorgan, Goldman Sachs, Citigroup and Wells Fargo report quarterly results on Tuesday, and Morgan Stanley and Bank of America on Wednesday. [23] A fund holding big US bank shares has fallen 12% since mid-August, while the wider market hit records. [22] In the past month Bank of America lost 16%, Goldman 15% and JPMorgan 7%. [22] Investors fear higher interest rates will slow lending and raise what banks must pay savers. [22]

Why it matters. What the banks say about their borrowers will be read as a check on how families and firms are coping with dear oil and high rates. [23] The AP says analysts expect JPMorgan's profit to rise 47% and Citigroup's 61%. [24]

The US publishes September's consumer prices on Wednesday, one of the last big figures before the US central bank meets on 27 and 28 October. [25] A Reuters poll expects prices 3.6% higher than a year earlier. [25] The US central bank raised its rate in September for the first time since 2023. [25] China reports its September trade the same day, and its exports are forecast to be 25.3% higher than a year ago. [17]

Why it matters. A hot price figure could revive bets on another rate rise, which would make loans dearer for homes and firms. [17][25] China's exports have grown by more than 10% for four months on demand for AI goods, electric cars and solar panels. [17]

Analysts expect profits at the S&P 500, the 500 biggest US listed companies, to be about 31% higher than a year ago in the third quarter, according to LSEG, a financial data company. [27] Two-thirds of that rise comes from tech firms and from Alphabet, Amazon and Meta. [27] Chipmakers' profits are expected to be up about 136%. [27] Energy firms' profits are expected up 115%, because US oil prices rose about 30% in the quarter. [27]

Why it matters. Away from the biggest firms, many shares are falling: nearly 38% of S&P 500 stocks are 20% or more below their 12-month high. [28] Firms that sell everyday goods and property firms show some of the weakest profit growth. [27]

SemiAnalysis, a research firm, counted 323 companies renting out Nvidia's AI chips in September, up from 209 less than 11 months earlier. [29] Nvidia, which makes the chips AI runs on, is worth close to $6 trillion after its shares hit another record this week. [29] It expects $108 billion of sales in the quarter to October, 89% more than a year before. [29] Five customers each owed it at least a tenth of its unpaid bills in the quarter to July, up from three in January. [29]

Why it matters. Amazon, Microsoft and Google have long been Nvidia's top customers, and its sales are now spreading to many more buyers. [29] Firms that need AI computing now have more places to buy it, and more choices to sort through. [29]

Avenue Supermarts, which runs India's DMart supermarket chain, said on Saturday its profit rose 8.5% to 7.43 billion rupees in the July to September quarter. [33] Sales rose 17.8%, faster than profit, because costs climbed. [32][33] Pay for entry-level staff went up, and its staff costs rose 18.7%. [30] It opened 15 stores, for 518 in all, and sales at stores open two years or more grew 9.5%. [31]

Why it matters. Its profit margin, the share of each rupee of sales kept as profit, fell to 3.8% from 4.1%. [30] DMart's shares have lost 18% in a year and hit a 52-week low on 9 October. [31]

India's Sensex share index ended 8 October at a 32-month low, and the Nifty 50 at an 18-month low. [34] Chris Wood of the bank Jefferies wrote that India's 20 biggest companies now make up 27% of its stock market's value, down from 44% in 2020. [34] Smaller firms have done better: an index of mid-sized companies is down 1.9% this year, while the Nifty is down 13.4%. [34]

Why it matters. Indian savers put about $4.1 billion a month into share funds, Wood wrote, but new share sales reached $9.5 billion in August and soak much of it up. [34] That leaves less new money to lift the biggest shares. [34]

The US Supreme Court heard a case on 6 October brought by a former Intel worker over the company's retirement plan, a 401(k). [35] He says its managers broke their duty by putting money into hedge funds and private equity, investments not traded on a stock market, which returned less. [35] Lower courts said poor returns prove nothing without a fair comparison. [35] Several justices seemed to agree, and Justice Neil Gorsuch asked for 'apples, not oranges'. [35]

Why it matters. A win for Intel could make employers more willing to put private funds into workers' retirement plans. [35] The US Labor Department is also writing rules on such funds, and many employers are waiting for both. [35]

Vice President JD Vance said Microsoft replaced the 6,000 workers it laid off in 2025 with foreign hires on H-1B visas, which are temporary US work permits. [36] The US had just barred Microsoft, the software maker Adobe and six IT service firms from sponsoring workers for green cards, which give the right to live in the US for good. [36] Government data show Microsoft won 6,258 H-1B approvals in the 2025 fiscal year, and two in three went to people already working there. [36]

Why it matters. Amazon, the biggest sponsor with 19,178 approvals, and Meta were not barred. [36] A Labor Department watchdog also opened an inquiry into alleged visa fraud at nine big US universities. [36]

Axel Springer, the German publisher that bought Britain's Telegraph newspapers for 575 million pounds this year, is weighing cutting 50 to 100 journalists, the Guardian, a British newspaper, reported. [37] It had promised to invest to grow the titles. [37] The Telegraph Media Group lost 4 million pounds last year, after legal fees and lower asset values, on revenue of 273.2 million pounds. [37] No job cuts have been announced to staff. [37]

Why it matters. Staff had hoped new owners would end three years without investment or pay rises, a source told the Guardian. [37] Axel Springer wants to grow the paper in the US, which would still need new hires. [37]

Shawn Fain won re-election as president of the United Auto Workers, a big US union for car and factory workers, with over 68% of the vote. [38] His closest rival, Rich Boyer, got just over 13%. [38] The US Justice Department said in July that it was investigating claims against Fain, which he denies. [38] He led a six-week strike at GM, Ford and Stellantis in 2023. [38]

Why it matters. Fain will lead the union's talks with John Deere, Volvo and General Dynamics in 2027. [38] Its contracts with the three big US carmakers end in May 2028. [38]

Several US retailers are cutting how many different products they sell, CNBC, a US business channel, reported. [39] Dollar General, a discount chain, cut 1,500 product lines in March, and BJ's Wholesale Club plans to drop about 20%. [39] Lululemon cut 15% in North America, and Under Armour has cut a quarter and plans to cut another quarter. [39] Shoppers are spending less as fuel and food cost more, and goods that do not sell end up discounted. [39]

Why it matters. Shoppers get less choice. [39] Analysts said brands may then raise prices to grow again. [39]

Scam victims lost $442 billion across 42 countries last year, the Global Anti-Scam Alliance estimates, more than some estimates of the world's cocaine trade. [40] Scam gangs now buy stolen data, fake websites and AI deepfake tools online, some for under $100, Bloomberg News reported. [40] Interpol, the international police body, has found people of 89 nationalities in scam centres, five times more than in early 2023. [40] In July, police raided one in a flat in Nairobi, Kenya. [40]

Why it matters. Banks carry part of the cost: fraud now costs HSBC, a big British bank, about $1 billion a year. [40] Victims often approve the payments themselves, which makes them hard to stop. [40]

Lebanon welcomed Trump's decision to let US airlines fly direct to Lebanon again, which was made public on Saturday. [9] Flights between the two countries were banned in 1985, after the hijacking of TWA Flight 847. [9] Trump ordered the change nearly two weeks ago. [9] Lebanon's president, Joseph Aoun, called it a sign of US confidence in Lebanon's work on air safety. [9]

Why it matters. The move comes after Hezbollah, the armed group backed by Iran, was badly weakened by two wars with Israel, the AP said. [9]