Finance, in brief

France's ten-year borrowing rate rose as much as 0.16 percentage points on Monday, to 4.94%, close to its highest in almost 24 years. [2]

The extra rate France pays over Germany for ten-year loans widened by about 0.1 points, to 1.47 points. [9]

That gap is at its widest since the euro debt crisis of the early 2010s, when Greece, Portugal and Ireland had to make deep budget cuts. [1][3]

By Monday afternoon France's ten-year rate was 4.89%, above Italy's 4.57%, while Germany's stayed at 3.41%. [3]

France now pays more to borrow than Italy or Greece, which lenders long treated as riskier. [1]

Paris's main share index, the CAC 40, closed 1.1% lower after falling as much as 1.5% during the day. [4][3]

Big French banks fell hardest: Societe Generale lost 2.5% and BNP Paribas 2.2%. [3]

Insurers such as AXA and Generali fell too, because they are expected to pay much of the riot damage. [4]

France's government counted at least 3,000 damaged shops on Monday, twice the figure given a day earlier. [4]

The euro fell to a 17-month low against the British pound. [2]

Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu leads a minority government that wants 54 billion euros of savings to cut the 2027 deficit to 5% of the economy. [1][3]

France expects to pay 91 billion euros of interest on its debt in 2027, up from 79.2 billion this year. [10]

Why it matters. The next tests are Tuesday's vote on the budget's tax half and Moody's review on Friday; one economist says any budget that leaves next year's deficit above about 5% could cost France more of investors' trust. [9][3][10]

Saudi Arabia has put off the Future Investment Initiative, its biggest yearly meeting with global investors, from 26 October to 2027. [13] The summit was due to host the bosses of JPMorgan, Goldman Sachs, BlackRock and Blackstone. [15] The Public Investment Fund, Saudi Arabia's state wealth fund, started it in 2017 to win foreign money for its plan to rely less on oil. [15][13] Banks and private equity firms had privately told the fund's governor, Yasir Al-Rumayyan, that they feared for their staff's safety. [16]

Why it matters. The summit is where the kingdom pitches its building plans to the people who could pay for them, and last year it drew more than 8,000 people. [14] Some guests had planned to fly to Bahrain and drive about five hours to Riyadh rather than land there. [17]

Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund is having its own companies pay off 800 million riyals, about $213 million, of debt at Al Nassr, the football club where Cristiano Ronaldo plays, Semafor reported. [18] The aim is to make the club easier to sell to a group led by RedBird Capital, the US firm that owns AC Milan. [18] RedBird has discussed buying 70% for about $267 million, but nothing is agreed. [18] The kingdom spent about $900 million on star players in 2023. [18]

Why it matters. Saudi Arabia has begun cutting its own spending and now wants foreign investors to take over loss-making sports bets it once paid for alone. [18] That makes it lean harder on the outside money its postponed summit was meant to court.

The Nasdaq, a US share index full of tech firms, rose about 1% on Monday after falling 4.5% the week before. [22][20] Lenders did not follow. [19] CoreWeave, which borrows to buy AI chips and rents them out, still paid about 14.9% a year on a bond that promised 9.625%, and its shares closed 0.4% lower. [19][20] The cost of insuring against Oracle failing to repay its debt was about four times its level a year ago. [19][20]

Why it matters. More and more AI building is paid for with borrowed money, so what lenders charge decides how fast it can go on. [21] Oracle, Alphabet, Amazon and Meta have sold more than $228 billion of bonds this year. [19] CoreWeave alone owed more than $35 billion at its last quarterly report. [21]

OpenAI, the maker of ChatGPT, is trying to raise about $30 billion faster than usual, at a value that could pass $1.4 trillion, Reuters reported, citing two people. [23] It wants the money in hand before Anthropic, its main rival, lists its shares in mid-November, because both are asking the same funds. [23] Existing backers SoftBank and MGX, an Abu Dhabi fund, are in talks to join. [23] OpenAI is telling investors its yearly sales are running at $50 billion. [24]

Why it matters. Raising first lets OpenAI lock in money before Anthropic's published accounts invite comparisons. [24] On Kalshi, a betting market, traders gave Anthropic a 75% chance of announcing its share sale this year. [25]

Elon Musk said on Monday he will give one of his SpaceX shares to every child in the US next year. [26] There are about 72 million children under 18, so at Friday's price of $146.03 the shares would be worth about $10.5 billion. [26] President Trump said they will go into Trump Accounts, savings accounts the US government opened for children; more than 70 million have been created. [27] SpaceX shares rose 1.6% to $148.38 on Monday. [6]

Why it matters. Musk gave no details of how the gift would work. [26] He is also the biggest known donor of the 2026 US midterm elections, having given more than $276 million to Republican groups since July. [26]

Tradeweb, which runs electronic markets handling more than $3 trillion of trades a day, agreed to buy Trumid for about $1.97 billion. [28] Trumid runs a trading screen for company bonds, from the safest to those of firms in trouble. [28] Tradeweb will pay about $1.89 billion from cash it holds and $82 million in its own shares. [28] Its shares first fell as much as 11%, then ended 3.7% higher in late trading. [29] Trumid's backers have included George Soros and Peter Thiel. [30]

Why it matters. It joins two of the screens where big investors buy and sell company bonds, and Tradeweb's boss says it will make that market easier to trade in. [28] Regulators must approve it, and it should close in the first half of 2027. [28]

China's main lending rates stayed unchanged for a 17th month on Tuesday: 3.0% for one year and 3.5% for five. [32] The rates are set each month from what 20 big banks propose, and all 22 traders in a Reuters survey expected no change. [34][32] On Monday Pan Gongsheng, governor of the People's Bank of China, said it is studying making the overnight rate at which banks lend to each other its main policy rate. [31] Bigger companies may be allowed to tie loans to that rate, while small firms and households stay on the old one. [33]

Why it matters. The overnight rate is the one banks actually trade at, so steering it lets China's central bank set borrowing costs more precisely, Pan said. [31] With growth of 4.5% last quarter, there is no rush to cut rates. [32] China's yuan reached a four-year high against the dollar on Monday. [8]

Indonesia's stock exchange will take shares owned mostly by a few holders out of its main index, the Jakarta Composite, its chief executive Jeffrey Hendrik said after meeting MSCI on Monday. [35] Such shares make up about 18% of the index. [35] MSCI, which runs share lists that global funds copy, warned on Friday that it may move Indonesia out of its emerging-markets list. [36] The index rose about 3% on Tuesday, but the rupiah fell to 18,030 to the dollar, near a record low. [36]

Why it matters. Bank Indonesia, Indonesia's central bank, decides on Wednesday whether to raise its 5.75% rate to defend the rupiah, and Citi expects a rise to 6.25%. [36] MSCI makes its final decision in June. [37]

Jio Platforms, India's largest phone and internet company, sold $854 million of shares to big investors before its public share sale opens on Wednesday. [38][56] Those investors bid $26.3 billion, more than 30 times what was on offer, a source told CNBC. [38] BlackRock, Singapore's GIC, Norway's oil fund and India's state insurer LIC were among the buyers, at 1,119 rupees a share, the top of the range. [56][38] The whole sale aims to raise up to $3.2 billion, India's largest ever in rupees. [38]

Why it matters. The price values Jio, owned by Reliance Industries, at about $108 billion, below the more than $130 billion talked about a year ago. [38] Members of the public can bid from Wednesday to Friday. [38]

The US ten-year borrowing rate stood near 5.1% on Monday, after touching 5.31% earlier this month, its highest in 24 years. [39] Many investors had hoped Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent would signal that he will sell fewer 20- and 30-year bonds. [39] A survey he sent to the big banks that bid at government bond sales on Friday left that unclear. [39] Hedge funds, which trade with borrowed money, now hold about a third of US government debt, one analyst estimates. [41]

Why it matters. The ten-year rate guides what Americans pay on mortgages, car loans and credit cards. [40] The US Treasury publishes its borrowing plan on 4 November. [39]

The Bank of England's banking supervisor is looking at how Barclays recorded deals tied to its loans to private credit funds, which lend straight to companies, the Financial Times reported. [42] A Barclays insider said the contracts were filed as less risky than they were, which could mean the bank kept too little money aside for losses. [42] Barclays said it followed the rules, and that the contracts are 300 million pounds of its 15 billion pounds of lending linked to private credit. [42] Its shares fell 3.5% on Monday. [42]

Why it matters. The supervisor's new head, Katharine Braddick, worked at Barclays for six years and has stepped back from all Barclays matters until the end of 2026. [42] Barclays reports its results on Thursday. [42]

UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham told officials to scrap their plans for Thames Water, a cash-strapped water company, and bring him more radical ones, The Guardian reported. [43] One idea would turn about 100 million pounds of unpaid fines into a government stake. [43] Thames recently asked its lenders for 2.4 billion pounds more. [43] Burnham has said he would bring it under public control, but has not found a way without spending billions or a long court fight. [43]

Why it matters. A fines-for-stake swap would save Thames's lenders money and give ministers a say in how it is run. [43] A water bill being written could make it easier for the state to take over failing water firms. [43]

JPMorgan Chase, the biggest US bank, has put $5 billion into start-ups in the first year of a plan it calls its security and resiliency initiative. [44] That is half the $10 billion it planned over ten years, and co-president Doug Petno said it may go further. [44] Its stakes include Hadrian, which builds automated factories for arms makers, and Castelion, which is developing cheap hypersonic missiles. [44] It has also arranged more than $230 billion of deals under the plan. [44]

Why it matters. Its boss, Jamie Dimon, set up the plan because wars in Ukraine and the Middle East and trade fights with China threatened supplies of energy and parts for US industry. [44] The plan aims to back $1.5 trillion of deals over a decade. [44]

Cleveland-Cliffs, a large US steelmaker, earned 28 cents a share in its third quarter, after one-off items, against the 21 cents analysts expected. [45] Its boss, Lourenco Goncalves, called it the company's strongest quarter in three years. [6] He said the outlook for 2027 profits has improved a lot since July. [6] Its shares were up about 16% by midday on Monday. [45]

Why it matters. Last week Canada's government threatened legal action, possibly a forced sale of Stelco, Cliffs' business there, over plans to cut hundreds of jobs in Canada. [45]

South Korea's main share index, the Kospi, fell 3.5% when it opened on Tuesday, led by memory chipmaker SK Hynix, down 4%. [46] Japan's Nikkei fell 1.2%, and SoftBank, a big investor in OpenAI, lost 4.5%. [46] The Kospi had risen 1.8% on Monday but is down more than 17% over the past month. [7] India's markets were shut for Dussehra, a Hindu festival. [46]

Why it matters. Korea's index has given back most of this year's rise: it was up nearly 116% at its June peak and about 31% now. [46] The fall undoes Monday's bounce in Asia's AI-linked shares, which had followed Wall Street higher. [22][46]

Brent crude, the main world oil price, settled at $109.30 a barrel on Monday, down 0.5%, and held near a five-month high on Tuesday. [48][47] Iran's first vice-president said his country has no choice but to control the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow sea lane for much of the Gulf's oil. [47] US Energy Secretary Chris Wright said flows through it are back to about 80% of pre-war levels. [47] He said sanctioned 'dark fleet' tankers may be bought, refitted and used to carry legal oil. [48]

Why it matters. Brent is up nearly 80% this year, which feeds into fuel and shipping costs everywhere. [47] Kpler, a shipping data firm, says only 24 of 160 sanctioned tankers could qualify, so freight costs will barely change. [48]

Roche, the Swiss drug company, has put all future investment decisions in Germany on hold, the head of its German arm, Daniel Steiners, told the newspaper Die Welt. [49] He blamed a law passed in July that makes drug makers give a 15.5% rebate on most branded medicines from next year, up from 7%. [49] The news came as Germany's government held a two-day summit in Berlin to attract business investment. [49] Siemens chief Roland Busch called it a signal. [49]

Why it matters. Germany's economy has barely grown since late 2022. [49] Economy minister Katherina Reiche said the rebates are needed to hold down what workers and employers pay into health insurance. [49]

China Merchants Port Holdings, a Chinese state-owned port company, has pulled out of a $392 million joint venture to build a logistics hub at Colombo port, Sri Lanka's port authority said on Monday. [50] China Merchants was to own 70% of it. [50] When it was agreed in 2023, it was hailed as the first big foreign investment since Sri Lanka stopped paying its foreign debts in 2022. [50] The port authority will now seek builders through open bidding. [50]

Why it matters. It is the second big foreign investor to leave an agreed project in Sri Lanka. [50] India's Adani Green quit a $442 million renewable power project there in February 2025. [50]

Pakistan's government cut its estimate of economic growth for the year to June 2026 to 3.65%, from 3.7% in May and an earlier 4%. [51] It blamed a slight slowdown in industry and services. [51] The economy grew to $450.4 billion, from $411 billion the year before. [51] Income per person rose to $1,896, the lowest in the region. [51]

Why it matters. Dawn, a Pakistani newspaper, says high inflation means living standards slipped for almost everyone despite the rise. [51] The IMF had forecast 3.6% growth for the year. [51]

South Africa's President Cyril Ramaphosa told the country on Monday to prepare to be dropped from AGOA, a US scheme that lets African countries sell goods to the US without import taxes. [57] Congress has renewed the scheme to the end of 2028, and South Africa is its largest user. [57] President Trump must now decide whether South Africa stays in. [57] To take effect on 1 January, a removal must be announced by 2 November. [57]

Why it matters. Losing duty-free access would make South African goods dearer in the US. [57] Ties have worsened since Trump took office, with US aid cut and South Africa's ambassador expelled. [57]

A Los Angeles restaurant group with 25 bars, several near the Dodgers' stadium, bet $60,000 on Kalshi, a prediction market, that the baseball team would not reach the World Series. [52] The Dodgers lost, and the bet paid almost double. [52] That made up for the playoff-night sales the bars missed. [52] Trading on prediction markets doubled between May and July, and a Columbia law professor called the trade a tailor-made kind of insurance. [52]

Why it matters. Prediction markets are regulated as financial exchanges, not as gambling, which gives them looser rules than betting shops. [52]

Nigeria's presidential candidates are split on whether to bring back the fuel subsidy that President Bola Tinubu scrapped in 2023 to save money for roads and power. [53] Fuel prices have risen five-fold in three years, driving up living costs. [53] This month Tinubu's government brought in a short-term petrol discount because of the Iran war, and his main rivals say they would restore some support. [53] A September survey found more than two-thirds of voters want a subsidy back. [53]

Why it matters. A subsidy lowers pump prices for households but uses money Nigeria's government planned to spend on roads and power. [53] Nigerians vote in January. [53]

Dan Lin, who has run Netflix's films since 2024, is leaving, days after the company cut about 1,000 jobs, 6% of its staff. [54] Its chief content officer, Bela Bajaria, also left in recent days and was replaced by Peter Rice, a former Disney and Fox executive. [54] Netflix's share price has fallen more than 40% over the past year as free video on YouTube competes for viewers. [54] It reports its quarterly results after US markets close on Tuesday. [54]

Why it matters. The changes put a former Disney and Fox executive in charge of everything Netflix makes, just before investors see its numbers. [54]

Jenny Lee of Granite Asia, an investment firm, says Asian start-ups are now preparing to list their shares when they are four or five years old. [55] Firms used to wait eight to ten years. [55] She said early-stage funding is picking up and later-stage firms are turning profitable faster. [55] In the US, the number of share sales priced this year is down 33% on 2025. [25]

Why it matters. Younger and riskier companies will reach Asia's stock markets, where ordinary savers can buy them, while the US list of new companies thins. [55][25]