Money, in brief

At a rally in Georgia on Saturday, US President Donald Trump said American oil companies are "making a freaking fortune" from the war with Iran. [1]

He said the US oil and gas business is making hundreds of billions of dollars, and called oil prices "temporarily high". [1]

Regular petrol costs $4.29 a gallon on average, against $2.98 the day before the US and Israel attacked Iran in February, says AAA, a US motoring group. [1]

Diesel, which runs the trucks and ships that carry goods to shops, cost $6.35 a gallon on Sunday, up from $3.75. [1]

Oil & Gas Journal, a trade magazine, counted 38 US oil producers and refiners whose revenue grew by about $140bn on a year earlier, in a report on April to June. [1]

The US produces more oil than it uses, yet the higher world price since the war has still reached its petrol pumps. [4]

Cutting US exports could lower prices at home, NPR reported, but US refineries are built for the heavier oil the country imports, not the light oil it pumps. [4]

Argus, a firm that tracks fuel prices, estimates that 60% of diesel's rise from about $3 to $6 a gallon comes from the Strait of Hormuz, and 40% from Russia's war with Ukraine. [7]

In September Trump said "let's not send out the diesel", and the American Petroleum Institute, the oil industry's lobby group, warned a ban would hurt buyers. [5]

Energy Secretary Chris Wright said an export ban would mean "more expensive gasoline right away", because refineries would cut how much they make. [5]

US prices rose 3.7% in the year to September, and petrol 34.2%. [2]

The US central bank raised its interest rate in September for the first time in three years, and the 30-year mortgage rate rose from just under 6% to 7.5% during the war. [2]

Trump spoke less than two weeks before the US midterm elections, and the White House did not immediately reply to Business Insider on Sunday. [1]

Why it matters. The next test is the US midterm vote in early November, and analysts said in May that pump prices fall far more slowly than they rise, taking six months to two years even after a war ends. [1][8]

Saudi Arabia will pay 500 riyals, about $133, a month to state employees, military staff, retirees and households that qualify for social security. [9] King Salman ordered it on a proposal from Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the official Saudi Press Agency reported on Sunday. [9] The payments start before electricity and water tariffs change on 1 January. [9] The kingdom also raised the wage a Saudi worker must earn to count fully towards a company's quota for hiring Saudis, to 5,000 riyals and later 6,000. [9]

Why it matters. Families paid or pensioned by the state get a fixed sum before the new tariffs start. Private firms must pay Saudi staff more if they want them to count towards their hiring quota. [9]

More than 100 Labour MPs have asked Prime Minister Andy Burnham to improve paternity leave in Wednesday's Budget. [10] UK fathers get two weeks at 194.32 pounds a week, or 90% of pay if that is lower, which is less than half the national living wage. [10] The MPs want six weeks at 90% of earnings, capped at 1,200 pounds a week, and the same for self-employed fathers, who now get nothing. [10] A government review of parental leave is due later this year. [10]

Why it matters. Fathers whose employer adds nothing live on the legal minimum, and many builders and farm workers are self-employed, so they get nothing. Retailers such as M&S and Tesco already pay six weeks in full. [10]

UK earners lose 1 pound of their 12,570-pound tax-free allowance for every 2 pounds earned over 100,000 pounds. [11] So between 100,000 and 125,140 pounds a worker keeps only 38 pounds of every extra 100, says NFU Mutual, an insurer, counting national insurance. [11] In England a parent who goes 1 pound over the line also loses free nursery hours, tax-free childcare and child benefit. [11] AJ Bell, an investment platform, puts that at about 30,000 pounds for a family with two small children. [11]

Why it matters. Official figures obtained by Quilter, a wealth manager, suggest 50,500 to 99,000 children missed funded childcare in 2025-26, about three times the count two years earlier. [11] The chancellor sets out the UK's tax plans in a Budget on Wednesday, 28 October. [12]

Of 55 pension systems in the 2026 Marsh CFA Institute Global Pension Index, published last week, 43 are in countries where women have fewer than 2.1 children on average, the level that keeps a population steady. [13] People in richer regions who reach 65 now live about 20 more years, 50.9% more than in 1950. [13] The report said very few systems, as they run now, are secure. [13] The US fund that pays retirement benefits is projected to run out of reserves in late 2032. [13]

Why it matters. In a pay-as-you-go system, today's workers pay today's pensions, so fewer workers each carry more retirees. [13] Some funds are taking bigger investment risks to meet their promises. [13]

Phone brands in Karachi, Pakistan's biggest city, have raised prices by 15,000 to 30,000 rupees a handset, Dawn, a Pakistani newspaper, reports. [14] A basic phone with 4GB of memory and 64GB of storage cost about 20,000 rupees last year and now costs more than 30,000. [14] Dealers and the phone makers' association blame memory chips, not taxes: AI companies are buying them at very high prices, and production has not kept up. [14] Many buyers are turning to used phones. [14]

Why it matters. In Pakistan people bank, work and reach government services on a phone, so the rise shuts some of them out. One father said a new phone for his daughter, just starting college, was now beyond his salary. [14]

The College Board, which runs the college-level AP courses taught in US high schools, began AP Business with Personal Finance this school year. [15] Students who pass its exam can earn college credit, and the course covers running a business as well as saving and spending. [15] Thirty-nine US states now require a personal finance class to graduate, four more than two years ago, the Council for Economic Education says. [15] In Ohio, 26 school districts expect to offer the new course. [16]

Why it matters. In class, students talk through what to do with pay from part-time jobs, such as putting it in a savings account that earns interest. [15] Passing can also cut what a degree costs, by earning some credits early. [15]

Zoopla, a UK property website, counted the share of two- and three-bedroom houses priced under 301,000 pounds, which Which?, a consumer group, reported on Sunday. [17] That is what a couple earning 53,000 pounds can buy with a 20% deposit and a loan of 4.5 times their income. [17] In Keith, Alloa, Kilwinning and Arbroath in Scotland, every such house listed was under that line. [17] In London fewer than 100 homes were, against an average asking price of 542,500 pounds. [17]

Why it matters. Lenders cap a loan at a multiple of income, so where prices sit far above it a typical couple needs a large deposit. Mortgage rates have risen by about a percentage point this year, Which? says, which shrinks what that loan buys. [17]