Finance, in brief

Brent oil, the price most of the world's crude is sold at, rose 3.1% on Friday to $116.72 a barrel. [1] That is its highest close since 29 April. [1]

Brent rose 6.2% over the week, its third weekly rise in a row. [1][2] West Texas Intermediate, the main US oil price, closed at $103.27. [1]

Brent cost about $72 a barrel in February, before the US and Israel attacked Iran on 28 February. [3] It is now up about 60% since that attack. [4]

Traders increasingly expect the US to strike Iran again in the coming weeks. [2] The New York Times reported that the US and Israel have plans for strikes after the vote. [4]

A spokeswoman for President Trump said the US will not attack Iran at any time before the election. [5] President Trump said on Thursday that Iran would be finished 'very soon'. [5]

Iran warned that if bombing resumes it will hit pipelines, airports and other targets across the Gulf states. [1][6] It also named data centres and undersea internet cables. [3]

The Houthis, an armed group in Yemen backed by Iran, have kept attacking Saudi Arabia. [7] Saudi Aramco, the kingdom's state oil company, told staff to leave its Dhahran headquarters on Thursday. [7]

More oil is leaving the Gulf than before the war: over 24 million barrels a day through Hormuz and other routes, against 23.3 million before. [1] Through the Strait of Hormuz itself, flows are still 26% lower. [1]

ING, a Dutch bank, says the price now rests more on the risk of future disruption than on today's supply. [1] It called its old forecast of $80 a barrel for the last three months of the year 'unattainable'. [8]

JPMorgan, a big US bank, says lower oil use in China is a key reason supply has held up. [9] It sees that keeping oil nearer $90 than the $120 to $140 some fear. [9]

Contracts for future delivery show Brent staying above $100 a barrel until April. [4] In the US, a gallon of petrol cost $4.29 on Friday and a gallon of diesel $6.31. [4]

The Dow Jones index of 30 big US companies fell 653 points, or 1.23%, on Friday. [10] It had been down as much as 800 points during the day. [11] Energy shares closed at a record high. [10]

Over the week the S&P 500, an index of 500 big US firms, fell 0.5%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq fell 0.7%. [10] Europe's STOXX 600 index was on track for a weekly fall of more than 1%. [12]

Germany's oil stockpiling agency offered to sell diesel, heating oil and crude from its emergency stores, its first sale since the G7 agreed to release reserves in early October. [7] In Libya, a shut pipeline valve cut output at two oil fields. [7][8]

Why it matters. The next tests are the US central bank's decision on 28 October, with traders putting a December rate rise near 80%, and the US vote on 3 November. [6][5]

Moody's, one of the big firms that grade how safe a government's debts are, kept France at Aa3 late on Friday. [21] Most analysts had expected a cut. [22] It kept a 'negative' warning on that grade, citing a split parliament that cannot pass a budget. [21] This week France's ten-year borrowing rate passed 5% for the first time since 2002. [21] The cost of insuring French debt against default rose to its highest since 2012. [15]

Why it matters. A cut would have matched the lower grades from S&P and Fitch. [22] One fund manager said further cuts down to BBB could force funds with rating limits to sell French bonds. [22] The gap between French and German borrowing rates is the widest since the early 2010s. [23]

A monthly survey of purchasing managers, the people who buy supplies for firms, showed French business shrinking in October. [24] France's reading fell to 48.4 from 51.1, where anything under 50 means shrinking. [24] French firms' hopes for the next year fell to their lowest since April 2020. [24] The euro area's reading fell to 51.9, its weakest in four months. [24] Germany's fell to 52.8, still growing. [25]

Why it matters. French firms cut staff for a sixth month, mostly by leaving jobs unfilled. [24] The European Central Bank meets next Thursday and is expected to leave rates alone. [15]

President Trump on Friday took some Canadian goods off a list that pays a 50% US tariff, a tax on imports. [20] He added others, including carpets, some valves and waste products. [26][27] The changes start on 30 October. [20] Senator Susan Collins of Maine, in a close re-election race, said she asked for the removals. [28] Canada's trade minister said it is still studying the change. [26]

Why it matters. Canada answered the summer's 50% tariffs with its own, of 15% to 50% on $20 billion of US goods. [28] Canada's prime minister says its car exports to the US are down 10%. [28]

QatarEnergy, the Gulf state's gas company, agreed to buy 4 million tonnes a year of liquefied natural gas from Cheniere, a US exporter, until 2054. [29] Liquefied gas is gas cooled into a liquid so ships can carry it. [29] Before the war Qatar was the second-biggest seller of it after the US. [29] An Iranian strike in March took out about 17% of its export capacity. [29] Repairs will take about three years. [29]

Why it matters. Deliveries start in the 2030s, and one analyst says the deal shows Qatar fears ships may never pass Hormuz freely again. [29] Cheniere's shares are up 26% since the war began. [29]

The International Monetary Fund, which lends to countries in trouble, expects Gulf economies together to shrink 4.8% this year. [16] That is nearly as deep as the fall in the Covid year. [16] An IMF director said the war has hurt oil output, shipping, tourism and trade. [16] Bahrain is hit hardest: its debts are over 150% of its yearly output, and its foreign reserves are down 50% since March. [16]

Why it matters. The IMF expects non-oil business to grow 4.5% next year only if the conflict ends. [16] Bahrain is reported to be talking with the UAE about a cash rescue. [16]

Eni, Italy's biggest oil and gas company, made €2.8 billion of adjusted profit from July to September, more than double a year earlier. [30] It raised this year's share buybacks by 12% to €3.8 billion. [30] It will also pay a one-off dividend of €1.3 billion in December. [31] It pumped 7% more oil and gas, and refining earned more. [30][31] In the US, shares in SLB, which sells drilling services to oil companies, rose 7% after its profit beat forecasts. [10]

Why it matters. Higher prices and record refining margins gave Eni more cash than it expected, so it is handing more to shareholders. [31] Its forecasts assume Brent at $95, well under Friday's $116.72. [30]

American Express, the US card company, is cutting 5% of its workers worldwide. [18] It had almost 77,000 staff at the end of 2025. [18] It will book a $336 million cost for the change. [18] Its finance chief said the cuts are to prepare for AI doing more of its office work. [18] It also raised its profit forecast, and its shares fell 3.7% on Friday. [10]

Why it matters. Barclays, a British bank, said on Thursday it will cut 5,000 jobs, also about 5% of its staff. [18] Both are cutting while their industry earns strong profits. [18]

A University of Michigan survey of US households showed their mood dipped in October, close to a record low. [10][6] Rising prices from the Middle East war soured their view of the economy. [10] The same survey showed people expect prices to rise a little faster. [6] Inflation expectations stay well above the US central bank's 2% goal. [32]

Why it matters. The US central bank raised its rate in September, its first rise in three years. [33] It meets again next week. [6] Traders put the chance of another rise in December near 80%. [6]

US government bonds took in $5.4 billion of new money in the week, Bank of America counted. [32] The ten-year rate had fallen 0.19 points on Thursday, a very large move for one day. [32] It hovered near 5% on Friday as oil rose. [32] Michael Hartnett, a Bank of America strategist, said bonds look cheap after their worst long-run returns in 100 years. [32]

Why it matters. On Friday bonds and shares fell together, because fears of dearer oil hit both. [32] Usually the two move in opposite directions. [32]

Shares in Kering, the French owner of Gucci, fell 11.2% on Friday. [12] Gucci's sales fell, hit by the war and a tax crackdown on rich buyers in China. [12] Holcim, a Swiss cement maker, rose 5.5% after raising its profit forecast. [12] Sodexo, a French catering firm, also rose 5.5%. [12] Europe's STOXX 600 index of 600 big firms was set for a weekly fall of over 1%. [12]

Why it matters. European firms' profits are still expected to grow about 22% this quarter, mostly at energy companies. [12] Dear oil, falling AI shares and unrest in France held shares back anyway. [12]

Meta, the owner of Facebook and Instagram, paid an effective tax rate of 2% for the first nine months of 2026. [34] The usual US company tax rate is 21%. [34] Most of the gap came from a US Treasury notice in February that gave Meta an $8.03 billion tax benefit. [34] Without it, Meta's rate would have been about 17%. [34] US senators have given Meta a week to answer questions on data-centre tax credits. [34]

Why it matters. Meta made $53.5 billion before tax in nine months and booked about $1 billion of tax. [34] Meta expects its rate to rise to 15-17% in the last three months of the year. [34]

Jio Platforms, India's biggest phone company, closed its first sale of shares to the public on Friday. [35] Investors bid about $77 billion for $3.2 billion of shares. [36] It drew more than 10 million applications, the most for any share sale in India. [35] Big funds asked for 67 times the shares set aside for them. [36] Jio's owner is Reliance Industries, run by the Ambani family. [35]

Why it matters. The sale values Jio at up to $108 billion, and trading starts on Wednesday. [36] Foreign funds bid ₹1.39 trillion, though they have sold ₹96,612 crore of Indian shares since September began. [35]

Shares in India's mid-sized and smaller companies fell hard on Friday. [37] The BSE index of 150 mid-sized firms fell 3.2%, and the index of 250 small firms fell 3.6%. [37] The main Sensex and Nifty 50 indexes fell up to 1.4%. [37] Food delivery firm Swiggy and online shop Meesho were among the biggest losers. [37] One strategist said those shares had become too dear. [37]

Why it matters. Analysts blamed high prices for those shares, dear oil and rising bond rates. [37] The strategist pointed to new savers who poured money into small-company funds in September. [37]

Infosys, India's second-biggest IT services firm, now expects sales to grow 1% to 2% this year, down from 1.5% to 3%. [19] Its US-listed shares fell as much as 7.5% before trading opened on Friday. [19] Its profit for July to September rose 6.2% to ₹7,823 crore. [19][38] It will pay a dividend of ₹26 a share. [38]

Why it matters. Firms like Infosys are paid to do office and computer work for big companies abroad. [19] AI tools from Anthropic and OpenAI now do some of that work. [19]

Sebi, India's markets regulator, ordered Avadhut Sathe's trading academy to refund ₹546.17 crore to people who paid for its services. [39] It also fined the academy and two directors ₹11.5 crore in total. [39] Sebi found the academy gave buy and sell tips without being registered to give advice. [39] Sathe and the academy are barred from markets for two years or until they repay. [39]

Why it matters. Sebi said its live sessions and WhatsApp messages gave price targets and stop-loss levels, which is advice, not teaching. [39] It must publish refund notices in newspapers within 30 days. [39]

UBS, the big Swiss bank, now owns 4.8% of 360 ONE WAM, an Indian firm that manages money for rich families. [40] It turned rights it bought in July 2025 into shares. [40] Last year UBS agreed to sell its own Indian wealth business to 360 ONE for about $32 million. [40] 360 ONE manages more than $94 billion for over 9,000 families and firms. [40]

Why it matters. India has nearly a million millionaires, and foreign private banks face growing competition there from Indian firms. [40] 360 ONE's new chief executive, from Jefferies India, starts in February. [40]

Four companies started trading in India on Friday. [41] Tonbo Imaging India opened at ₹1,160, 66% above its sale price of ₹700. [41] Sahajanand Medical Technologies opened 8% higher. [41] Zetwerk, a manufacturing company, opened about 5% up. [41] Bonfiglioli Transmissions opened flat, with no gain for buyers. [41]

Why it matters. The debuts came on a day India's smaller shares fell over 3%. [37] Bonfiglioli's flat start shows not every new listing is in demand. [41]

Welspun Corp, an Indian pipe maker, won an order worth about ₹5,500 crore to supply pipe for a natural gas pipeline in the Permian, a big US oil and gas region. [42] The pipeline will feed a data centre run by one of the biggest cloud companies. [42] Its US factory will make the pipe in the 2028-29 business year. [42] Welspun's order book is now a record $5.25 billion. [42]

Why it matters. The company says the order ties it to two building booms, gas pipelines and AI data centres. [42] Its shares still ended lower on Friday. [42]

Silver fell another ₹6,800 a kilo in India on Friday, to ₹1,92,800. [33] That is its lowest since December 2025. [33] It had reached a record ₹4,20,048 a kilo earlier this year. [43] Gold slipped too, near a three-month low. [33] Both metals are heading for a second monthly fall. [33]

Why it matters. Dear oil keeps US prices rising, which keeps rate rises likely. [33] Gold and silver pay no interest, so they lose appeal when rates go up. [33]

US air fares in September were more than 22% higher than a year earlier. [44] Since April about 9.3 million fewer people went through US airport security than a year before. [44] That is a fall of less than 2%. [44] Jet fuel costs more than twice as much as a year ago. [44] Airlines say they would rather charge more than fill every seat. [44]

Why it matters. Southwest's average fare rose close to $50, to $231.69. [44] Passenger numbers fell far less than fares rose, so airlines are choosing higher fares over fuller planes. [44]

The US transport department fined Air France and KLM $425,000 in total. [45] Both flew Delta-coded flights over Iraq below 32,000 feet, the height the US sets for safety there. [45] Air France made more than 30 such flights and KLM more than 100, from 2022 to 2025. [45] The airlines say air traffic controllers told their pilots to fly lower. [45]

Why it matters. They must pay $265,000 within 60 days, and the rest only if they break the rule again within a year. [45] The US has barred such flights over Iraq below 32,000 feet for more than six years. [45]

Britain is expected to pay some of the highest energy costs in Europe this winter, its grid operators said. [46] It has enough gas and power partly because it pays more than neighbours to import them. [46] A late deal to keep a Belgian gas pipeline running will add about 10p a month to the average gas bill. [46] Gas shipped by sea costs three times what it did before the war. [46]

Why it matters. Europe's gas stores were at a 13-year low at the end of August, partly because Qatar's exports collapsed. [46] Britain paid a record £4 billion for imported power in the year to August. [46]

TG Jones, the British shop chain that used to be WH Smith, is closing more than a third of the post offices in its stores. [47] Thirty-six have closed this year and 34 more will by early 2027. [47] Up to 150 of its 450 shops are expected to close. [47] Modella, a private equity firm, bought the chain last year. [47]

Why it matters. Towns such as Stevenage, Bracknell and Hull are losing two post offices in months. [47] Telford's last one closes in January. [47]

South Africa's finance minister, Enoch Godongwana, proposed a law to protect the public finances from future governments. [48] It sets no fixed debt limit. [48] Instead, each government would set its own goals, and a parliamentary body would check them. [48] Government debt has stopped rising at about 78% of the economy, up from 24% in 2009. [48]

Why it matters. Citi, a US bank, sees a better credit grade for South Africa as probable in the first half of 2027. [48] Its debt is set to fall as a share of the economy for the first time in nearly two decades. [48]

Trade between South Africa and China reached almost $15 billion from May to August, up nearly 24% on a year earlier. [49] China dropped its tariffs on many African goods in May. [49] South Africa's exports to China rose nearly 25% to $5.3 billion. [49] Its farm exports to China rose more than 35%, to nearly $500 million. [49]

Why it matters. South Africa risks being left out of a US scheme that lets African goods in without tariffs. [49] Its trade minister urged firms to use China's duty-free access while talks seek a lasting deal. [49]

Namibia now expects its economy to grow 2.3% this year, down from the 3.1% it forecast in February. [50] Its main industries did worse than expected in the first half. [50] Demand for its diamonds is softer as lab-grown gems spread. [50] Its finance minister also named high fuel prices and a cattle disease outbreak as risks. [50]

Why it matters. Large oil finds offshore have drawn Chevron and QatarEnergy, which could lift growth later. [50] Namibia's government expects growth of 3.3% by 2029. [50]