Finance, in brief

South Korea's exports nearly doubled in October, up 93.7% on a year earlier. [1]

That is the fastest rise since January 1974, government figures showed on Sunday. [1]

Exports reached $115.28 billion in the month. [1]

The chip boom has not spread evenly across Korea's economy. [4]

In July to September, firms' spending on equipment rose 4.1% but household spending fell 0.2%. [4]

Prices rose 2.9% in September, above the Bank of Korea's 2% target. [4]

Statisticians split a sales total into price and amount sold; Korea's chips rose on both. [2]

The gains reach chipmakers first; household spending fell 0.2% last quarter. [4]

SK Hynix expects demand to beat supply for the time being, with no end date. [6]

The Bank of Korea, South Korea's central bank, decides its interest rate on 26 November. [4]

Why a country's exports can almost double without it shipping twice as much

Money from sales equals the price of each thing times how many were sold

When prices jump, the total jumps, even if no more was shipped

A yearly growth rate compares with the same month a year before

If that month had fewer working days, or buyers were waiting, the rise looks bigger

Statisticians split the change into price, amount and calendar to see what really grew

South Korea's 93.7% mixes three things: higher chip prices, more chips sold, and more working days than last October. Take out the extra days and the rise is 76.1%.

The same October, counted two ways. The gap is the extra working days; the rest still mixes price and amount.

Imports rose partly because crude oil cost more, so the bill grew with the price, not only with the barrels bought.

The company named both halves: its 25.53% rise came from higher prices and from larger volumes.

September's 31.8% rise was partly a low base, because a year earlier buyers waited for a tax cut.

A tax on sales rises with prices and with buying, so the 22.9% alone cannot say which grew.

The split needs a good price index, and a new kind of chip has no last year to compare with.

The same 93.7% reaches a chip-factory worker in Korea, a fund manager in London and a voter hearing it in a speech.

South Korea is selling memory chips to companies building AI data centres, at high prices, and that drove its exports up 93.7% in October, the most since 1974. [1][2][3]

Part of that jump is the calendar: counted per working day, the rise was 76.1%. [4]

A record with a date on it, the fastest since 1974, is easy to repeat, and repeating it skips the question of what the number is made of.

Memory chips are in short supply, and Samsung's chip profits rose 15-fold. [5]

How much of Korea's chip boom is higher prices and how much is more chips.

South Korea's trade ministry said prices and the amount shipped both stayed high, but it gave no split between them. [2]

How long memory chips stay scarce.

SK Hynix expects demand to beat supply only for the time being, and Samsung says its top chips are sold out for 2027. [5][6]

Whether the Bank of Korea raises its rate on 26 November.

Strong exports and 2.9% inflation argue for a rise, but household spending fell 0.2% last quarter. [4]

South Korea sold $930 billion of goods abroad in the first ten months of the year, and its trade minister says the yearly total will pass $1 trillion in November.

OPEC+ members agreed in principle to keep December oil output targets unchanged, sources told Reuters. [7]

OPEC+ is OPEC, the club of oil-exporting countries, plus allies such as Russia. [7]

Its 7 core members, including Saudi Arabia and Russia, were due to meet online on Sunday. [7]

In September the group finished undoing a 2023 cut of 1.65 million barrels a day. [7]

The war with Iran keeps most Gulf members pumping well below their targets anyway. [7]

Brent, the world's main oil price, closed Friday at $117.64 a barrel, up 2.4%. [8]

That was its highest close since the end of April. [8]

A higher target changes little while the war stops Gulf members reaching the old one. [7]

Economists call sellers who agree how much to supply a cartel; OPEC+ sets shared targets. [7]

The group must review each member's capacity before it sets 2027 quotas. [7]

Brent closed Friday at $117.64 a barrel, its highest since April, so each barrel sold earns more. [8]

What each OPEC+ member will be allowed to pump in 2027.

The group must first finish a review of each member's capacity. [7]

India collected Rs 2.31 lakh crore in GST in October, 22.9% more than a year earlier. [9]

GST, the goods and services tax, is India's tax on goods and services. [11]

A lakh crore is a trillion rupees, so October brought in about 2.31 trillion rupees. [9]

From April to October, collections reached Rs 14.78 lakh crore, up 13.2%. [9]

The state of Maharashtra paid the most in October: Rs 35,150 crore. [9]

Karnataka and Gujarat came next. [9]

Some places, including Sikkim and Ladakh, collected much less than a year before. [9]

October's 22.9% ran well above the 13.2% pace of the year so far. [9]

A sales tax grows when prices rise as well as when people buy more. [9]

The figures do not say how much of the rise came from higher prices. [9]

A tax on sales rises with prices and with buying, so the 22.9% alone cannot say which grew.

Its GST collections rose 22.9% in October, to Rs 2.31 lakh crore. [9]

Why India's sales tax take jumped 22.9% in October.

The figures do not separate higher prices from more buying. [9]

New GST rules for small sellers on shopping websites took effect in India on 1 November. [10]

Sellers can now use a shopping site's warehouse in a state as their base there. [10]

Before, a seller needed its own office in every state where its goods were stored. [10]

About 9.5 lakh small sellers, around 950,000, could use the new route, The Economic Times reports. [10]

Refund claims for extra tax already paid will now be approved automatically. [10]

India's GST Council approved the changes at its meeting on 8 October. [10]

A small seller can now reach buyers across India without renting space in every state. [10]

Tax experts call this cutting compliance costs: the cost of following the tax rules. [10]

Sellers need the shopping site's consent to register this way, which gives the site a say. [10]

From 1 November, small online sellers in India can register in another state using a shopping site's warehouse there, without opening premises of their own.

Fada, India's car dealers' group, releases October vehicle sales this week, Mint reports. [11]

September's vehicle sales jumped 31.8% on a year earlier. [11]

Mint says the jump was partly because sales a year earlier had been low. [11]

Last September, buyers held off before a cut in GST, India's sales tax. [11]

Early figures for 11-20 October, the Navratri festival, showed sales 6.5% lower than a year before. [11]

An early survey of firms put India's factory index at 54.9 in October, from 55.1. [11]

The final factory figure is due on 2 November. [11]

Nomura, a Japanese bank, expects food and drink prices to rise 8.5-9% a year. [11]

That could slow buying once the festivals end, Mint says. [11]

Statisticians call a weak year-earlier month a low base: it makes this year's rise look bigger. [11]

Over 75% of dealers expect growth, but early Navratri sales were 6.5% lower. [11]

September's 31.8% rise was partly a low base, because a year earlier buyers waited for a tax cut.

US voters choose all 435 House members and 35 of the 100 senators on Tuesday. [11]

Republicans now control both chambers of the US Congress. [12]

The US jobs report for October comes out on Friday. [12]

Investors will read it for hints on whether the US central bank raises rates again. [12]

Apple reports its results on Monday; its shares are up about 27% this year. [12]

AMD, Qualcomm and Palantir, three US tech firms, also report this week. [12]

On Friday the S&P 500, an index of 500 big US firms, fell 1.8% to 7,580.07. [12]

The Nasdaq, an index heavy with tech shares, fell 2.9%. [12]

A change in who controls the US Congress could shift the Trump administration's plans, Mint says. [12]

Democrats are widely expected to win the House, but the Senate race is uncertain, Mint says. [12]

Berkshire Hathaway, the company Warren Buffett built, ended October up 8.9%. [13]

The S&P 500 fell 0.9% in October, and the Nasdaq fell 5.3%. [13]

Its class A shares closed at a record $821,931 on Monday. [13]

Berkshire also owns big stakes in other firms, including Alphabet and Coca-Cola. [13]

Its Alphabet stake was worth $40 billion in early August. [13]

By Friday it was worth $29.6 billion, after Alphabet's AI spending worried investors. [13]

Its Coca-Cola stake rose to $37.6 billion, now bigger than the Alphabet one. [13]

CNBC says Berkshire appears to be gaining as money moves from AI shares to steadier firms. [13]

Barron's thinks Berkshire paid over $300 a share for Alphabet, so that bet is losing. [13]

Money leaving AI shares moved toward steadier firms, and Berkshire's shares rose 8.9% in October. [13]

Santander, a big Spanish bank, says AI produced 194 million euros of value this year. [14]

Its finance chief says AI now cuts costs and raises income. [14]

Novartis, a Swiss drug maker, says AI is starting to lift its profit. [14]

Its core operating profit rose 10% to $6.04 billion in the third quarter. [14]

Standard Chartered, a UK-based bank, says AI helps its income grow faster than its costs. [14]

Companies spent $581.7 billion on AI in 2025, up 130%, Stanford University counted. [14]

Investors want proof that the huge AI spending pays for itself. [14]

Novartis did not say how much of its profit came from AI. [14]

Carlyle, KKR and Oaktree, three big US investment firms, are weighing buying cheap company loans. [15]

These are leveraged loans: loans to companies that already carry a lot of debt. [15]

More than 90% of them traded below face value early this week, JPMorgan strategists said. [15]

That was the highest share in almost 18 months. [15]

The firms would bundle the loans into bonds called CLOs and sell them to investors. [15]

Fund managers have about 286 credit lines open to buy loans for CLOs, near a record. [15]

CLO sales this year are $139.2 billion, down more than 16% on last year. [15]

Lenders fear higher rates and inflation will push the weakest companies to default. [15]

A loan bought at 97 cents pays back 100, so a cheap loan earns extra. [15]

They can buy company loans below face value and collect the full value if the loans are repaid. [15]

Whether cheap company loans are a bargain or a warning.

Buyers such as Carlyle and KKR see a discount, while lenders fear higher rates will push weak companies to default. [15]

Partners Group, a Swiss private-equity firm, limited withdrawals from an $8.6 billion fund on Wednesday. [16]

Private equity funds buy companies that are not listed on a stock market. [16]

This fund is sold to rich people, who may take money out at set times. [16]

Requests came in for nearly 10% of its money, but it pays out at most 5%. [16]

Partners Group's shares fell more than 17% that day. [16]

Rivals EQT and CVC each fell more than 6%. [16]

Its boss, David Layton, said pressure to cash out has spread from private lending funds. [16]

The fund's companies take years to sell, but owners can ask for cash every quarter. [16]

Owners still waiting join a queue for future quarters. [16]

They asked for nearly 10% of the fund back and can get at most 5% for now. [16]

When Partners Group's fund owners get their money back.

The fund pays out at most 5% a quarter, so those still waiting join a queue. [16]

Hello Sunshine, actor Reese Witherspoon's film and TV company, has reportedly cut about half its staff. [17]

About 30 people lost their jobs, US entertainment papers reported on 30 October. [17]

The company has not confirmed the number. [17]

On 13 October Witherspoon and Mediawan, a French media group, agreed to buy it back. [17]

They bought it from Candle Media, which took control of it in 2021. [17]

The part that sold lifestyle products to her fans is being shrunk. [17]

The firm will focus on films, TV shows and Reese's Book Club. [17]

Staff in the products business lose out, while film, TV and books are kept. [17]

NTPC, India's state-owned power company, made 38.7% more profit in July to September. [18]

Its profit was Rs 7,029.56 crore, against Rs 5,066.78 crore a year earlier. [18]

Revenue rose 21.2% to Rs 54,269.95 crore. [18]

Its fuel bill rose too, to Rs 28,628.19 crore from Rs 23,062.34 crore. [18]

On Saturday its board declared a dividend of Rs 3 a share. [18]

A dividend is a share of profit paid out to the company's owners. [18]

Its shares are still about 21% lower than six months ago. [18]

Because NTPC is state-owned, India's government is one of the owners the dividend goes to. [18]

Owners on its books on 6 November get the payout. [18]

NIO, a Chinese electric carmaker, delivered 34,246 cars in October. [19]

Of these, 18,125 were NIO cars, 8,383 ONVO and 7,738 Firefly, its three brands. [19]

It has delivered 1,332,139 cars in all, up to the end of October. [19]

Its ES8, a large SUV, passed 160,000 deliveries on 23 October. [19]

NIO says the ES8 is China's best-selling large SUV this year. [19]

NIO says China's car buyers now choose more on brand than on features. [19]

The figures come from NIO itself, and no outside count has checked them yet. [19]

Britain's budget this week raised the tax on slot machine takings from 20% to 25%. [20]

Slot arcades in England would also lose a discount on business rates, a property tax. [20]

But hundreds hold bingo licences that may let them keep the discount, the Guardian found. [20]

Gambling Commission records list more than 200 arcades licensed as bingo halls. [20]

In shops the Guardian visited, bingo ran only on a few tablets in one corner. [20]

Merkur and Admiral, the UK's two biggest slot arcade firms, own many of them. [20]

Their machines offer a 2-pound spin every 2.5 seconds, linked to more gambling harm. [20]

A business rates expert says the result hangs on how the UK Treasury defines an arcade. [20]

MP Alex Ballinger urged ministers to stop the licences being used to dodge the rules. [20]

Oxfam's shop profit fell 23% to 4.9 million pounds last year, from 6.4 million. [21]

Oxfam is a charity that fights poverty and runs shops to raise money. [21]

The British Heart Foundation plans to close 150 shops after a 3.3 million pound loss. [21]

Of every 100 pounds spent in Oxfam shops, 6 now reaches its charity work. [21]

In 2022 it was 22 pounds. [21]

Yet UK spending on second-hand clothes has quadrupled in ten years, to 8.8 billion pounds. [21]

Sites like Vinted and Depop let people sell old clothes they might once have donated. [21]

The shops' trade body says Vinted is not a big problem and blames poorer donations. [21]

Of every 100 pounds spent in its shops, 6 now reaches its work, down from 22 in 2022. [21]

Britain's budget will protect spending meant to prevent problems, so it cannot be raided later. [22]

It is called a preventative departmental expenditure limit, or PDEL. [22]

It starts with the next spending review, which begins next year. [22]