Theme: Economy

35 lawmakers submitted impeachment articles against President Santiago Peña in the 80-seat lower house on Wednesday and requested an extraordinary session on Thursday to debate the matter, according to Reuters. The opposition accuses Peña of conflicts of interest, misuse of pension funds and institutional cover-ups in the bank case. Paraguay's central bank intervened in Ueno after finding minimum solvency requirements breached, leaving about 3 million customers in a country of 6.5 million people unable to access their accounts. The opposition still lacks the two-thirds majority needed to advance impeachment but has won backing from dissidents of the ruling Colorado Party.

Elon Musk, the single biggest campaign donor in the election cycle, poured over $440 million into Republican candidates and causes, but his preferred candidates lost races in Texas, where he has put down roots. Shares of Tesla and SpaceX dropped after the Democratic Party swept to power in the US midterm elections.

Santiago Peña announced a proposal to reimburse 98% of savers this week and named a new Central Bank of Paraguay (BCP) president after Carlos Carvallo's resignation. Ueno Bank has 2.9 million customers, about 40% of Paraguay's population, processes close to 3 million transactions a day and handles two-thirds of electronic payments at the big retail chains. The central bank decided unanimously to start resolution proceedings against the bank; according to the Public Prosecutor's Office, it faced severe insolvency, with capital below half the required minimum. Peña was a shareholder in Ueno's controlling group until April 2025, and Carvallo ran Financeira Ueno before Peña appointed him to the central bank in 2023; he left the post on Tuesday at the president's request, and Peña canceled his trip to the Ibero-American summit in Madrid because of the crisis.

Brent fell nearly 8% to $95.41 a barrel, and US West Texas Intermediate dropped 7% to $89.40, after President Donald Trump told the Financial Times on Tuesday that he has no immediate plans to strike Iran. Oil had risen more than 10% in October on fears of a possible escalation and has fallen over three consecutive sessions. The Energy Department said it would lend 300,000 barrels from the Northeast Home Heating Oil Reserve to four companies, nearly a third of the stockpile, and US crude inventories fell 900,000 barrels to 409.8 million in the week ended October 30, 4% below the five-year average.

Wall Street opened higher on Wednesday, with the Nasdaq up 1 percent, the Dow Jones Industrial Average up 1.8 percent and the S&P 500 up 1.1 percent, on the heels of the Democratic sweep in the midterm elections. Brent was down 3.09 percent at $100.40 a barrel, and West Texas Intermediate (WTI) was down 3.13 percent at $93.08. Traders were betting on a US-Iran deal to push crude lower.

Export Trading Group (ETG) has filed a $120 million international arbitration claim against the Mozambican government to recover the value of 40,000 tonnes of pigeon peas, maize and rice seized under a ruling by a Nacala judge later dismissed over corruption, in a case opened on October 16, 2024. In a meeting with President Daniel Chapo on October 22, the group proposed a $2 billion fertilizer factory using Mozambican gas. Companhia Industrial da Matola (CIM) challenged on October 12, at the Tribunal Administrativo, the monopoly of the Instituto de Cereais de Moçambique (ICM) over grain imports, accusing Economy Minister Basílio Muhate and the institute of raising, without authorization, the charges paid by importers from $5 to $16 per tonne.

Global stocks recovered on Wednesday from lows hit overnight, while the dollar and oil dipped, after Democrats won control of both the Senate and the House in the US midterm elections. Europe’s STOXX 600 jumped 1.4 percent to two-month highs, MSCI’s All-World index was up 0.3 percent, and US stock futures reversed course to rally around 1 percent, having fallen by as much as 2 percent overnight. AI stocks in Asia initially led the decline in equity markets, and investors expect the Democratic-controlled Congress to apply more scrutiny to the sector. Shares in Elon Musk’s Tesla and SpaceX, which he intends to merge, were down around 4.5 percent to 5 percent in premarket trading, compared with rises of 0.8 percent to nearly 3 percent for other Big Tech stocks. AI and defense stocks slid as clean energy shares rallied after Democrats took control of Congress.

Total oil and gas output at Nigeria's state company rose to 3.04 million barrels of oil equivalent per day in September, up from 3.01 million the previous month. Revenue came in at 3.4 billion dollars (4.608 trillion naira), in line with the months after March, when the Iran war and the Strait of Hormuz crisis hiked international oil prices. The state company attributed the increase to the restart of the Obodo oilfield in mining license OML 150, and said output remains constrained by equipment failures, subsurface issues, flowline leaks, community protests and storage and export infrastructure constraints.

Pastef lawmakers, whose party holds 130 of the 165 seats in Senegal’s National Assembly, rejected the 2026 revised budget bill three times. Passing the text is a precondition for the International Monetary Fund (IMF) board’s approval of a US$ 2.2 billion loan. To bring the accounts back into balance, the government proposes cutting 555 billion CFA francs (about US$ 949 million) in investment spending in its new budget. Senegal’s public debt equals 130% of gross domestic product (GDP), according to Les Echos.

Euro zone inflation rose to 4.0% in October from 3.8% in September, the highest in three years, according to Eurostat, the European Union (EU) statistics agency, in a Reuters report republished by MarketScreener. Inflation has been climbing quickly above the European Central Bank’s (ECB) 2% target this year because the US war in Iran pushed energy costs higher, feeding through to retail prices for a bloc that imports the vast majority of its energy. The ECB now expects inflation to hold above 4% for much of the first half of 2027 before falling quickly toward the “low twos,” when high year-earlier figures get knocked from the data. The reading, set to rise further in the coming months, firmed up market bets for another ECB rate hike in December.

Japan Investment Corp (JIC), a Japanese state-backed fund, plans to sell chipmaking materials maker JSR to Mitsui Chemicals in a deal that could exceed 1.3 trillion yen ($8.2 billion), after buying it for some 900 billion yen two years ago, taking advantage of higher chip-firm valuations on the artificial intelligence investment boom, according to two people familiar with the matter who spoke to Reuters, in a text republished by DealStreetAsia. Founded in 1957, JSR is a leading manufacturer of photoresists used to transfer circuit patterns onto semiconductor wafers, and Nikkei Asia notes that the sale would be the biggest deal in the history of Japan’s chemical sector.

Asian stocks fell on Wednesday along with the dollar, as Democrats gained in the US midterm elections, gains analysts said could lead to gridlock on Capitol Hill. The Nikkei 225 fell 3.6% to 60,835.36, its lowest level since early May, with SoftBank Group down 8% and Kioxia Holdings down 10.8%. The Kospi fell 3.2% to 5,466.83, with SK Hynix down 3.2% and Samsung Electronics down 1.8%. The dollar fell to 158.06 yen from 158.75 on Tuesday, and the euro rose to US$1.1249. Investors see the Democratic wave bringing tighter regulatory scrutiny, particularly of artificial intelligence companies.

Moody’s cut Senegal’s foreign-currency debt ratings to “Ca” from “Caa2,” with a stable outlook, in its fifth consecutive downgrade. The new band corresponds to expected losses of 35% to 65% for external private creditors, against 10% to 20% for “Caa2.” Public debt stands at about 97% of GDP after the government disclosed previously unreported liabilities, and Senegal is negotiating a debt restructuring.

Europe’s six largest oil companies booked US$38 billion in profit in the July-to-September quarter. BP suspended its share buyback program to cut debt faster, reducing the total by as much as US$10 billion, with US$13.9 billion remaining. The majors have shied away from major new spending, a sign they do not see current market conditions as evidence of a lasting improvement in the industry’s outlook.

Paraguay’s central bank seized Ueno Bank, a major digital lender with close ties to President Santiago Peña, over a solvency problem. Hours later, on Tuesday, Peña asked the head of the central bank, Carlos Carvallo, to resign. Carvallo said he had already signed his resignation letter but would stay on to oversee the takeover, because “the central bank needs calm to do its job.” Peña canceled a trip to a summit in Spain and agreed with congressional leaders to fast-track legislation that speeds up payouts to depositors and the return of public money.

In the NBC News exit poll, 43% of voters said one reason for their vote was to express opposition to the president, a far higher share than in the 2018 midterm election. Trump’s approval rating among voters is 38%, against 45% in 2018. For 75% of voters, the nation’s economy is in rough shape, and 65% said Trump’s policies have worsened economic conditions. The network assesses that Trump’s campaign blitz in support of Republican candidates in recent weeks has done little to lift his job approval rating.

13 people and three companies are standing trial at the Paris criminal court for complicity in tax fraud and money laundering by an organized gang, for having allowed more than a hundred wealthy French taxpayers to escape at least €54 million in taxes between 2007 and 2018. Other proceedings over the scheme are under way in Belgium and Switzerland. The newspaper L’Humanité points to €200 million that the accused are alleged to have made disappear from the tax authority’s radar, through offshore companies and bank accounts in several countries.

The South African government confirmed the intention of the United States to withdraw the country’s benefits under the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) from January 1, 2027, with 60 days’ advance notice, according to SAnews, the South African government’s news service. Trade, Industry and Competition Minister Parks Tau said the decision does not define the broader relationship between the two countries and that a solution depends on the willingness of both sides. According to the government, Washington introduced new issues outside the scope of the negotiation process that began in 2025. South African exports under AGOA totaled nearly US$ 1.7 billion in 2025, down from US$ 4 billion in 2024, and accounted for roughly 1% of the country’s total exports. Bilateral trade reached US$ 28.8 billion in 2025, with more than 600 American companies operating in the country. South Africa supplies the United States with 12 of the 50 minerals Washington deems critical and 70% of the isotopes used in cancer treatments.

German auto supplier Schaeffler will cut 3,460 jobs and close five sites in Europe, the company said on Tuesday, citing weakening demand for combustion-engine vehicles, slower-than-expected electric-vehicle adoption and intense competition. The cuts affect 16 sites, including four plants in Germany and one in Belgium, with about 2,660 jobs eliminated in Germany by 2028, roughly 9% of the company's core German workforce. Schaeffler expects annual savings of about 300 million euros by 2030, with one-off costs of roughly 480 million euros, most of which will be booked in 2026.

China’s securities regulator told investment banks to pause initial public offerings and suspend large share sales by existing shareholders until markets recover, according to the Financial Times, which cited three people with knowledge of the discussions, in informal guidance given at meetings in recent days, as reported by Reuters and republished by Street Insider — the move follows the CSI300 index falling 8.5% in October, its worst monthly performance in more than a decade, with Reuters saying it could not immediately verify the report, and comes after regulators adopted measures on Monday such as swap operations and an upgraded lending facility for stock buybacks.

About 32,300 companies, equivalent to 6% of all firms in the country, closed in Argentina between December 2023 and July 2026, according to a survey by the Fundar research center. Industrial output fell 3.2% in August from the same month in 2025, according to the national statistics institute (Indec). Economists say the country probably entered a technical recession in the third quarter of 2026, after two consecutive quarters of contracting activity.

The People’s Bank of China announced on Tuesday that it would raise the reserve requirement ratio on foreign-exchange deposits by 2 percentage points, to 6 percent, effective November 15, a move expected to tighten onshore foreign-currency liquidity and ease appreciation pressure on the yuan, which recently broke through 6.65 per US dollar to its strongest level since June 2022.

The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) raised its key interest rate from 4.6% to 4.85%, its fifth hike this year, to try to regain control of surging inflation, which reached 4.3% in the year to September.

The African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) and the African Petroleum Producers' Organization (APPO) have formally launched the Africa Energy Bank, a financial institution focused on oil and gas projects across the continent, with authorized capital of US$5 billion. The bank will support projects across the energy value chain, from exploration and production to transportation, processing, refining and distribution, and has a mandate to reduce reliance on imported petroleum products and promote intra-African trade in energy goods. The new lender is private-sector-led, with majority ownership held by APPO and Afreximbank. Its inaugural general meeting in Abuja, Nigeria, on October 31 appointed Helmy Ghazi as president and formed its first board of directors, with members from the public and private sectors and policy institutions.

Saudi Arabia's economy shrank 3.8% year on year in the third quarter, and oil activities fell 20.4% compared with the same period in 2025, according to the General Authority for Statistics, which released the figures on Sunday.

Oil prices fell more than 4% as hopes grew that US-Iran peace talks would ease supply disruptions in the Middle East. Brent dropped 4.5% to $118.3 a barrel, and West Texas Intermediate (WTI) fell 4.37% to $99.57 at the time of the quote.

Bangladesh’s garment factories reopened on Monday, November 2, 2026, after widespread closures and production disruptions a day earlier, and manufacturers remain concerned about further unrest over workers’ demands for higher wages. Workers are asking for a minimum monthly wage of 30,000 taka ($243), up from 12,500 taka, according to Reuters, in a text republished by WHTC.

Binance customers withdrew $3.64bn as the exchange reopened on Sunday following the record hack, which hit $6.3bn in digital assets and led to the suspension of all transactions — an attack the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) blames on North Korea, according to the BBC.

Crude oil prices started the week lower on renewed optimism about a possible peace deal between the United States (US) and Iran, following mediation talks involving Iran and Qatar over the weekend, OilPrice reports. At that time, Brent crude traded at US$109.82 per barrel and West Texas Intermediate at US$100.57 per barrel.

Oil-producing countries of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies (OPEC+) agreed in principle to keep their December oil output targets steady at a meeting on Sunday, three people with knowledge of the matter told Reuters, in a text republished by The News Tribune. The Xinhua News Agency reported that OPEC+ would maintain oil output for the third consecutive month in December.

The free trade agreement between Mercosur and the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) took effect for trade between Brazil and Norway this Sunday, November 1, Valor Econômico reported. Counting farm and industrial goods, nearly 99 percent of the value of Brazilian exports to the bloc, 99.8 percent in Norway's case, will have duty-free access. From January to September 2026, trade between Brazil and Norway reached US$ 1.7 billion, with a US$ 290.6 million surplus for Brazil, according to Poder360.

Venture Global began commercial operations of the first phase of its second liquefied natural gas (LNG) export project, Plaquemines LNG, and the sale of low-cost LNG to the phase’s long-term customers on October 31, 2026, according to a company release. The Malaga Knutsen LNG tanker loaded the first commercial cargo for Shell from Plaquemines and departed at 3:26 a.m. (9:26 a.m. GMT) on Sunday, according to Reuters, in a report republished by gCaptain.

A barrel of Brent crude settled at almost $118 on Friday, the highest since April, according to Reuters. The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and allies (OPEC+) kept December production targets steady on Sunday, confirming expectations that further policy adjustments are only expected next year, according to the agency.

The seven core members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and allies (OPEC+) agreed in principle to keep production targets unchanged next month, three people with knowledge of the matter told Reuters, in an article published by Channel NewsAsia. Sunday’s online meeting of the group — Saudi Arabia, Russia, Iraq, Kuwait, Algeria, Kazakhstan and Oman — comes as Gulf members have been boosting exports disrupted for months by the conflict. Most, however, are still pumping well below their targets.

Binance resumed withdrawals of bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies on Sunday after the record theft of around $6.3 billion in token assets from its hot wallets, and said 90% of the stolen user assets are covered, according to CNBC. The remaining 10% of tokens are less liquid, meaning they may take longer to buy back, the company said in a post on X on Saturday. Binance said it will absorb the financial impact of the stolen funds and that users will not bear the losses.

Ukraine’s economic losses from explosions between January and October 2026 amounted to nearly 1.9% of the country’s nominal GDP, or about $4.28 billion, excluding the metallurgical sector, according to TASS calculations based on Ukrainian government reports.

A two-day meeting of the foreign ministers of the Group of 20 (G20) ended in Atlanta on Saturday without a joint communique, CGTN reported, as participants failed to reach consensus on major geopolitical and economic issues. Chaired by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, the meeting addressed geopolitical tensions, energy security and supply chains. Participants remained divided over the Ukraine crisis, the US-Iran conflict and US tariffs.

France’s government estimated 320,000 protesters nationwide on Saturday, with about 70,000 in Paris, in a third consecutive weekend of demonstrations against the cost of living and inequality, according to AFP. The estimate was lower than in previous protests, according to AP. More than 500 people were arrested and police fired water cannon and tear gas to disperse rioters on the sidelines of the demonstrations, according to AFP.

Fertilizer shipments from West Asia fell to 994,000 tons in September from 3.41 million tons in the same month a year earlier, according to a senior manager of agriculture data at Kpler, cited by Press TV. J.P. Morgan says the closure of the Strait of Hormuz has upended fertilizer supply chains during planting seasons for staple crops such as corn, soybeans, rice, wheat and vegetables. The World Trade Organization (WTO) reports that fertilizer shipments through the strait have reached a standstill.

China’s State Council ruled that artificial intelligence application projects in the area of market access with a possible significant impact on employment must undergo an employment risk assessment during review, according to the text published by the Chinese government. The guidelines also urge employers to notify employees affected by automation in advance and provide support for training, redeployment and other employment transitions, according to IBTimes. The country created 10.52 million new urban jobs in the first nine months of 2026, 87.7 percent of the annual target, and the surveyed urban unemployment rate averaged 5.2 percent in the first eight months, according to figures released at Saturday’s press conference.

European natural gas prices eased to €97 per megawatt-hour on Thursday after reaching €100 in the previous session, the highest level since December 2022, Trading Economics reported. Futures for the coming winter months on the Dutch Title Transfer Facility (TTF), Europe’s gas benchmark, trade at about €95 per megawatt-hour, nearly three times last winter’s average of about €36, Euronews reported.

IG Metall, Germany's largest industrial union, announced on Saturday nationwide warning strikes in the metal and electrical sectors after rejecting the employers' wage offer, a move affecting about 3.7 million workers, according to TRT World. The first work stoppages are scheduled to begin overnight into Sunday. The employers' proposal includes a permanent 1.3 percent increase starting in July 2028 under a 26-month agreement, according to the outlet.

Companhia Siderúrgica Nacional (CSN) reached on Friday, October 30, an exclusivity agreement with China’s Huaxin Building Materials Group to negotiate the sale of CSN Cimentos Brasil, according to Brazil Stock Guide. The proposal values the cement business at R$12.7 billion on an enterprise-value basis, marking progress on a key component of CSN’s asset-sale program to reduce its debt burden. According to the company, Huaxin submitted the most attractive proposal in the competitive sale process launched in March 2026.

US President Donald Trump’s oil and gas holdings rose an average of 43% since the end of 2025, during the eight-month war with Iran, according to the Jerusalem Post, which cites a report by congressional Democrats. His estimated holdings rose from a range of 12.6 million to 46 million at the end of 2025 to between 22.5 million and 81.6 million. Between March, after the war began, and the end of August, Trump’s accounts bought between 4.7 million and 17.5 million in oil and gas stocks, according to the report obtained by CBS News.

Hackers attributed to North Korea stole at least 6.3 billion dollars in crypto from Binance’s wallets, and about half of that amount was frozen as the stolen assets moved across various blockchains, according to security researchers cited by TechCrunch. Thursday’s attack on Binance was most likely the work of the North Korean group TraderTraitor, which took digital assets from the exchange across 10 blockchain networks, most of the funds in about 20 minutes, according to TRM Labs, in information published by the Korea Herald. Binance, the world’s largest crypto exchange, suspended all deposits and withdrawals while its investigation into the breach continues.

US President Donald Trump said the United States is not lifting restrictions on the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) for now, according to TASS. Asked whether he was considering lifting sanctions on the Russian sovereign fund, Trump said: “Not lifting, or not doing anything.”

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said the country “learned we are overdependent” on the US, according to DW. Carney said four decades of deeper economic integration had left Canada too reliant on the US, PBS News reported, in an article from the Associated Press.

Tens of thousands of people, mostly students and workers, took to the streets across Italy on Friday to demand higher wages and stronger public services, protest against the rising cost of living and oppose increased military spending, according to Reuters, in an article republished by U.S. News. In Genoa, around 15,000 port workers, students and other demonstrators entered the port, joining similar protests in Europe and elsewhere against the use of ports for arms shipments.

A think tank report says BRICS+ countries should press ahead with a joint cross-border payments mechanism to reduce reliance on the US dollar, Reuters reported on Friday. The same report says a shared currency would face major economic and institutional obstacles.

Israel’s Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich has refused for the past 18 months to sign off on the transfers of funds owed to Ramallah, which have amounted to over US$7 billion, according to the Times of Israel. For much of the past year, the Palestinian Authority has paid its roughly 150,000 public-sector employees only 50 percent of their salaries. The newspaper assesses that the extended political deadlock keeps Benjamin Netanyahu, Smotrich and National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir in their existing positions of influence over affairs in the West Bank, albeit in a caretaker capacity.

The decline knocked nearly $1 trillion in value off the tech-heavy Nasdaq exchange in one week and erased about $2 trillion in a month, according to The Guardian.

Shops and other businesses in Paris and other cities boarded up their windows on Friday, as France braced for a third consecutive weekend of protests coinciding with Halloween celebrations, according to Le Monde. Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez said on Thursday that demonstrations would be allowed, but “not in city centers, where there is a risk of public disorder.”

The European Commission has received about €8 billion in revenue generated from the reinvestment of frozen Russian sovereign assets held at Belgium-based Euroclear since 2024, according to TASS, citing the depository's report. The latest tranche, of €1.4 billion, was transferred to the Commission in August.

Europe’s benchmark natural gas price topped the 100-euro mark for the first time since 2022 on Friday, at 101.82 euros (US$ 114) per MWh, according to OilPrice. European Union (EU) storage sites were 74.89% full as of October 29, well below the five-year average of about 86% for this time of year, according to Gas Infrastructure Europe data cited by OilPrice.

Thousands of students and workers took to the streets across Italy on Friday to demand more school funding and relief from the cost of living, with a heavy police presence to avert possible clashes, according to the Times of Israel. Marches were held in dozens of cities, including Bologna, Genoa, Naples and Turin, where a few minor skirmishes between protesters and riot police occurred at the start of the protest.

Hackers stole US$6.3 billion from Binance, the world's biggest cryptocurrency exchange, in the largest crypto theft in history, according to Reuters. The exchange said that deposits and withdrawals are suspended and about US$3 billion in funds have been frozen after the security incident, according to Al Jazeera. Blockchain investigation firm TRM Labs said it had high confidence that the attack was orchestrated by the TraderTraitor group, linked to North Korea, according to Euronews.

ExxonMobil earned US$15.4 billion in the quarter, slightly more than double the US$7.5 billion of the year-earlier period, and Chevron's profit was US$9.9 billion, against US$3.5 billion a year earlier, according to AFP, in a text republished by France 24. London-based Shell reported a profit of US$12 billion in the third quarter, up 127% from a year earlier, according to CNN.

Christine Lagarde’s early departure from the presidency of the European Central Bank (ECB) gives current European Union (EU) leaders time to pick a successor well before a French presidential election that polls show far-right candidate Marine Le Pen is favorite to win, according to Reuters, in a text republished by Euronext. The former central bank governors of the Netherlands and Spain, Klaas Knot and Pablo Hernández de Cos, are seen as frontrunners to replace her, according to Reuters. The ECB said Thursday that Lagarde will resign February 7, nine months ahead of the end of her eight-year term, according to AP.

Binance estimated the impact of the security incident at $6.3 billion, with around $3 billion in crypto assets frozen so far, according to CNBC. Early checks point to a compromised engineer’s laptop, which allowed unauthorized withdrawals, and the exchange says it will cover all losses, according to the BBC.

Twelve European Union (EU) countries pledged on Thursday to jointly release 42.6 million barrels of oil by the end of January, in line with a G7 deal struck this month to ease concerns over global energy supply, according to AFP, in a text republished by Gulf News. European Commissioner for Energy and Housing Dan Jorgensen said member states pledged to accelerate the release, nearly half of it diesel, according to Xinhua.

Binance suspended all deposits and withdrawals as a precaution while it runs security checks, freezes funds and works with law enforcement, and says the volume frozen after the likely hacker attack totals about US$ 3 billion, up from the US$ 2.5 billion previously reported, according to TASS.

Brent futures for December 2026 delivery rose above US$ 114 per barrel on the London-based ICE, gaining 2.9% to US$ 114.01 per barrel, according to market data cited by TASS.

Binance said at least $2.54 billion in funds were frozen following a “potential security issue” and that it suspended all deposits and withdrawals as a precaution while it investigates the case, according to Al Jazeera. Founder Changpeng Zhao said the episode looks like a hack on the exchange, according to Al Jazeera, and Tether and Circle said they froze funds in response to the incident, according to The Guardian.

European Central Bank (ECB) President Christine Lagarde said on Thursday she had decided to step down eight months before her term was due to expire so that she can speak more freely on issues beyond monetary policy, Reuters reported. The ECB said in a statement that Lagarde had resigned and will step down on February 7, 2027.

Binance said it is investigating “a potential security issue” on its trading platform and that user funds are safe, CNBC reported. The exchange, the world’s largest by daily trading volume, has not confirmed, as of publication, that it suffered an exploit. Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire said Thursday evening that the company had frozen more than $800 million in USD Coin tied to the incident, and Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino said his firm had frozen more than $1.5 billion of its stablecoin. Crypto data provider Arkham Intelligence linked nearly $6 billion in digital assets — including bitcoin, ether, solana and various stablecoins — to 55 wallet addresses it has tied to the potential exploit. Bitcoin slid more than 3% and traded below $80,000 after the executives’ statements, according to NBC News.

US growth accelerated to 3.4% and inflation climbed to 3.6% a few days before the midterm elections, according to Le Monde. The Associated Press assessed that strong growth and inflation paint a mixed picture of the economy days before the vote.

Venezuela’s acting president, Delcy Rodríguez, said she had ordered an assessment of non-essential state assets that could be offered to the private sector or returned to their former owners, in a recorded address on Thursday, according to CNN en Español. She said the initiative is already “advanced” and that “private property is a protected right guaranteed by our Constitution.” In the same address, she reiterated that “there will be elections, everything our Constitution requires” and said the election “should not be a problem or make us go back to times of confrontation that nobody wants anymore”.

Christine Lagarde will step down from the presidency of the European Central Bank (ECB) on February 7, 2027, a date she communicated to the institution's Governing Council and to European Council President António Costa. Lagarde said she had decided to step down eight months before her term was due to expire so that she could speak more freely on issues beyond monetary policy, according to Reuters.

The European Central Bank (ECB) kept interest rates unchanged, and the news that President Christine Lagarde will step down early added to concern over energy costs and France, according to AFP.

The European Union (EU) spent an average of $30.7 billion a month on petroleum oil imports between April and July, up from $19.7 billion in the same period of 2025, according to OilPrice. Since volumes rose by just 1.2%, Euronews Business estimates the bloc paid $11 billion more on oil imports in April–July than a year earlier.

The US economy grew at a 3.4% annual pace from July through September, accelerating from the second quarter on strong consumer spending and investment in artificial intelligence, according to a preliminary Commerce Department estimate reported by AP News. Consumer spending rose at a 3.8% clip in the quarter, and business investment was up sharply, reflecting the AI boom, AP reported.

European Central Bank (ECB) President Christine Lagarde informed the Governing Council and European Council President António Costa that she will step down on February 7, 2027, according to a statement released by the bank on Thursday. Her successor will be appointed by the European Council following the nomination process set out in Article 283 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union. The departure comes before her term ends, DW reported.

The Dutch TTF contract, Europe's benchmark gas price, broke above €100 per megawatt-hour on Wednesday afternoon, a level last seen in December 2022, at the height of the energy crisis that followed Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The front-month contract traded at €100.37/MWh at 16:00 CET, up over 4% on the day, against around €32 before the Iran war began in late February. The benchmark briefly traded at €100/MWh at around 13:35 GMT, up around 4% from the previous session, according to data from the Intercontinental Exchange (ICE).

The Federal Reserve held its benchmark rate at a range of 3.75% to 4.00% on a 10-2 vote in the committee, according to The Hindu. The two members who dissented, Governor Lisa Cook and Cleveland Fed President Beth Hammack, called for an immediate 0.25-percentage-point rate hike. The decision came six days before the midterm elections, amid an affordability crisis fueled by persistent inflation, according to El País.

QatarEnergy has extended to the end of the year the force majeure on deliveries of liquefied natural gas (LNG), in force since April 2026, leaving Europe and Asia without part of the contracted supply heading into the winter, according to OilPrice. Italian utility Edison confirmed it received the notice from the state firm and said it will stop receiving three cargoes at the Adriatic LNG terminal. The force majeure also covers the markets of Pakistan and Bangladesh, according to the publication.

The World Bank projects a 23 percent rise in global commodity prices by the end of 2026, with energy prices at four-year highs because of the war on Iran, according to TRT World. Food prices are expected to rise 10 percent in 2026 and another 7 percent next year, because of conflict-affected grain supply lines, the effects of an extreme El Niño phenomenon, and high fuel and fertilizer prices. Reuters reported the 23 percent projection for 2026 attributed to the Middle East war and other supply shocks.

Mozambique and China signed a supplementary framework agreement to restructure Mozambique's public debt with the Chinese government, according to AllAfrica. It follows a partial Chinese forgiveness of 204 million yuan (1.9 billion meticais) in interest-free loans that were due to mature in December 2024.

Israel’s benchmark Tel Aviv 125 index dropped as much as 3.5 percent in early trading on Wednesday, according to Al Jazeera, as investors weighed the unclear election results.

Top European finance and banking officials will travel to Beijing in the coming months to press for a revaluation of the yuan, according to the South China Morning Post. In the week of November 23, Director-General Maarten Verwey meets Chinese counterparts in Beijing for a macroeconomic dialogue. A European Central Bank spokesperson said the dialogue covers all relevant economic policies in a holistic manner, including global imbalances.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) and Argentina reached an agreement on Tuesday (27) that could release about US$900 million to the country, according to G1. The disbursement still depends on approval by the institution's executive board. The money is part of the US$20 billion financing program signed between Argentina and the IMF in 2025 and is tied to the program's third review, in which the fund checks compliance with the targets agreed with the country. The IMF said net international reserves exceeded the end-June target by about US$4 billion and that the Central Bank had bought almost US$16 billion so far this year.

The International Energy Agency (IEA) warned that supply chains for many of the technologies shaping the emerging Age of Electricity remain highly concentrated in a small number of countries. Electricity demand in ASEAN countries is rising at twice the pace of overall energy consumption, driven by industrial electrification, air-conditioning needs, electric vehicles and data centres, according to ET EnergyWorld.

US artificial intelligence (AI) company Anthropic publicly filed its prospectus for an initial public offering (IPO) on Monday, which could become the largest stock market debut in history, according to CGTN — revenue reached US$ 16.29 billion in the first half of 2026, up from US$ 1.16 billion year on year, with a net loss of US$ 80.7 billion in the half, of which US$ 72.4 billion came from changes in the fair value of convertible notes.

US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer warned that a $3.4 billion European Investment Bank loan to Airbus could jeopardize a tariff truce between Washington and Brussels, according to France 24. Greer said his office had received no details about the financing, announced in June, and urged the European Union to resolve the matter quickly.

European wholesale gas prices hit 97 euros per megawatt-hour on Monday as temperatures across Europe fell and traders priced in stronger demand for heating. The jump comes as fears grow of further supply disruptions in the Middle East. According to RT, European natural gas prices have surged to their highest level in four years amid the war in Iran.

Trade officials told Al Jazeera that the US-Israel war on Iran is driving up fuel and fertiliser costs across Africa and threatening the continent's food security. According to the outlet, the sharp rise in fertiliser prices has led many countries to cut back on its use, which is expected to affect next year's crops and the availability of food.

The European Union will start charging a 2 euro handling fee from Sunday on packages from outside the bloc, in a bid to curb the influx from China, according to the South China Morning Post. Some 93 per cent of the cheap packages that arrived in Europe came from China, usually through platforms such as AliExpress and Temu, the newspaper reported. Nearly six billion small packages entered the EU last year, according to official data cited by AFP, in a text republished by RFI.

In the first trading session after Lula's runoff victory, Brazil's currency dropped 12 percent against the dollar and the stock exchange halted trading for 30 minutes as the Bovespa index fell 10 percent from its previous close, triggering a circuit-breaker. Bovespa futures tumbled nearly 15 percent, according to Al Jazeera. Donald Trump said the election in Brazil “looked more like a fraudulent election”, without presenting any evidence of irregularities.

The Iran war is set to make global liquefied natural gas (LNG) importers spend at least 39 billion dollars more in 2026, even as they buy 60.7 million tonnes less, as Qatari and Emirati exports are disrupted through the Strait of Hormuz, Rystad Energy estimates. Europe takes the biggest hit: its LNG bill rises at least 12 billion dollars, or 18%, even with demand falling 24 million tonnes.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz kicked off a five-day tour of Asia on Monday, travelling to Singapore before scheduled visits to Japan and South Korea, DW reported. Merz is accompanied by 30 senior businesspeople from industry, technology, defense and energy, and is expected to meet Singapore's Prime Minister Lawrence Wong and Japan's Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi.

Microsoft is offering voluntary buyouts to about 60,000 employees, roughly a quarter of its workforce, the company said on Monday, as it seeks to cut costs while pouring money into artificial intelligence, according to AFP. Staff on select teams in the United States, Canada, India and Britain at vice president level and below are eligible, a Microsoft spokesperson said, while some groups of employees, including some working on data centers, sales and marketing, are excluded.

US President Donald Trump predicted at a rally in Michigan on Sunday that the trade dispute with Canada would be resolved “soon”, without providing specifics, according to Reuters.

Oil flows out of the Strait of Hormuz averaged 11.7 million barrels per day in October, up from 9.8 million barrels per day in September, according to a Kpler estimate cited by OilPrice. In the same period, at least 25 ships were hit in Hormuz in the first 20 days of the month, and outlets tracking these incidents note that many attacks go unreported.

The Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, requested a plan to circumvent banking sanctions using cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology, the Jerusalem Post reported. Economists and entrepreneurs called the proposal “bizarre” and said it offered “no help whatsoever”, according to the same outlet. In an interview on Saturday, Netanyahu said cryptocurrency was one of several possible options and that he would take the central bank’s objections into account, the Middle East Eye reported. In September, sanctions imposed by the UK and 11 other countries focused on the trade of goods from Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank.

Hundreds of thousands marched across France on Saturday protesting the rising cost of living and a lack of government resources for essential services like schools. Nearly 1,000 people were arrested as fresh clashes erupted during nationwide protests against the rising cost of living and fuel prices, The Hindu reported.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the country needs to prepare an alternative economy capable of functioning by circumventing sanctions, with blockchain technology among the options under consideration, and said it is only a matter of time before US military aid, tens of billions of dollars for the defense budget, ends: "America has changed", he said, according to RT.

Protests against the war and the rising cost of living returned to major Italian cities on Saturday, a week after unrest erupted across the country, with clashes between demonstrators and police in Turin, Rome and Bologna and largely peaceful rallies in Milan, Reuters reported in a text republished by the Jerusalem Post. Authorities deployed a heavy police presence and many shops closed as a precaution; Reuters witnesses did not observe any shops being looted or property vandalized.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Russian President Vladimir Putin have directed their governments to expand bilateral cooperation, with the goal of raising trade between the two countries to $100 billion by 2030, according to Ambassador Vinay Kumar, quoted by The Hindu. The two countries are also working towards two-way investment of $50 billion by 2030.

The US Department of Energy on Friday authorized an emergency exchange of up to 400,000 barrels of oil for Phillips 66's Lake Charles refinery, citing a temporary disruption to crude deliveries, according to OilPrice. The oil will come from the reserve's West Hackberry site in Louisiana and is available for immediate delivery. The Strategic Petroleum Reserve holds 282.7 million barrels, a level some analysts consider close to the operational minimum.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned that Israel could face banking sanctions and said he had ordered preparations for alternative financial mechanisms, including blockchain technology, in an interview with Channel 10, according to the Jerusalem Post. Asked whether blockchain technology could provide a means of dealing with economic sanctions, he replied: “One of them. Certainly. And I’ve already asked for a plan to be prepared for that.” Netanyahu also warned that US military aid cannot be taken for granted: “If you think we’re going to continue receiving what I secured twice, and that’s tens of billions of dollars in American aid for the defense budget, prepare yourselves and get used to the fact that it won’t happen, because America has changed.”

France and the United Arab Emirates have revived plans to jointly develop an upgraded Rafale fighter jet after talks stumbled earlier this year, officials said, according to the Hindustan Times. The project, for which France’s 2027 draft budget earmarks €3 billion ($3.36 billion), has returned to the top of the agenda after the joint plan by France and Germany for a next-generation fighter aircraft collapsed, according to Reuters, in a text republished by Euronext. The UAE is France’s biggest customer of the Rafale warplane, built by Dassault Aviation.

Iran's central bank governor, Abdolnaser Hemmati, said the country's foreign exchange reserves are “in a good shape” and would last until the end of Donald Trump's administration, according to Mehr News.

Siluanov said 99.1% of settlements in Russia-China trade are carried out in rubles and yuan, in remarks to the Rossiya-1 television channel, according to Anadolu. Speaking at the opening of the 11th Russia-China Financial Dialogue in Beijing, he said Moscow and Beijing must “maintain the stability of bilateral financial infrastructure.”

Iran’s first vice president said trade with Tajikistan is up 50% since the start of the conflict with the United States, but Tajik figures show a rise of about 15%, to $254 million in the first half of 2026, according to OilPrice. Iran’s transport minister pitched Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan on a north-south route centred on Chabahar to India, winning a Kazakh commitment to work on a transport agreement.

Europe’s benchmark natural gas price rose on Thursday to nearly €90 per megawatt-hour, the equivalent of $29.50 per million British thermal units, as escalation in the Middle East raised concerns about European winter supply, according to OilPrice. EU storage sites were only 74% full on October 21, well below the five-year average of about 86% for this time of year, according to data from Gas Infrastructure Europe.

A truckers’ protest in southern Italy halted production of buffalo mozzarella, with an estimated loss of €3 million (US$3.37 million) in just 24 hours as the milk cannot reach dairies in the Naples region, according to SCMP. The protests, which seriously affected fuel and food supplies in southern Italy, were easing on Thursday as Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s government was lining up aid, according to Reuters, in a text republished by U.S. News.

Brent rose US$ 3.35 (3.08%) to US$ 112.17 a barrel on Thursday, the highest level since May 18, while West Texas Intermediate (WTI) gained US$ 2.68 (2.76%) to US$ 99.83 a barrel, according to Reuters. The Hindustan Times attributes the rise to Houthi attacks on Saudi Arabia, tensions in the Strait of Hormuz and disruptions to oil supply.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) forecast on Thursday a 1.3% contraction in output for the Middle East, North Africa and Pakistan in 2026, as a result of the war against Iran's impact on energy production, shipping, tourism, trade and confidence, according to Reuters, in a text republished by Yahoo Finance. For 2027, the IMF projected 6.6% growth, but output in those economies would generally stay below pre-war projections. The fund said the outlook remains clouded by “exceptionally high uncertainty”.

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney and Ontario Premier Doug Ford jointly announced on Wednesday an 8.7-billion Canadian dollar strategic industry support package — about 6.18 billion US dollars — designed to shield workers and businesses from ongoing US tariffs and drive long-term growth, CGTN reported. The federal-provincial plan focuses on Ontario’s steel, automotive and critical minerals sectors. The new strategy builds on federal assistance programs that have already funneled more than 25 billion Canadian dollars to workers and businesses navigating US tariffs.

India’s largest state-owned refiner, Indian Oil Corporation (IOC), will slightly reduce the volumes of Middle East crude it will buy under annual term deals for fiscal year 2027/2028, which starts next March, amid uncertainty of supply from the region, according to OilPrice, which cites an anonymous source who spoke to Reuters. India paid $15.4 billion to import crude oil in September, up 46% from $10.5 billion a year earlier, as international prices and the Indian import basket soared amid reignited tensions in the Middle East, according to OilPrice.

Japan booked a trade deficit of $17.8 billion (2.82 trillion yen) from April to September, almost double the figure a year earlier, as the Middle East crisis made energy imports far more expensive for a resource-poor G7 economy, according to government data released on Wednesday. The volume of petroleum imports fell 21.2 percent while the value surged 26.3 percent; the volume of petroleum products dropped 26.8 percent and the value rose 23.2 percent.

The yield on France's benchmark 10-year government bond surpassed 5% on Wednesday, its highest level since 2002, as investors demanded a higher return for holding the country's debt amid a budget standoff and violent street protests, according to Le Monde. According to the newspaper, the spread over the German 10-year bond, the eurozone's credit benchmark, surged to nearly 160 basis points.

The executive director of the International Energy Agency (IEA), Fatih Birol, said he sees no credible pathway toward a normalization of the oil market in 2027, according to The Hindu. The war has lifted oil above US$100 a barrel, from below US$70 before hostilities began, with diesel at record highs on refinery damage, and the IEA has organized the release of up to 400 million barrels of strategic reserves, with further releases admitted if warranted. Brent traded at US$110.30 and West Texas Intermediate (WTI) at US$99.12, both higher on Middle East supply fears, according to OilPrice, in a text published at the address recording the quotes.

Elon Musk said special committees of independent directors were formed at Tesla and SpaceX to examine the merger, but the committees have not reached agreement on terms and there is no guarantee that they will, according to the BBC. Musk also said the deal would need approval from at least 50% of Tesla shareholders, a hurdle he called quite high, and that — with Tesla valued at roughly US$1.5 trillion and SpaceX at US$2 trillion — the combination would rank among the largest mergers in history.

Saudi Arabia postponed the Future Investment Initiative, known as “Davos in the Desert”, to an undisclosed date in 2027, according to a statement from the conference shared with CNN. The decision to cancel the Oct. 26-29 conference came after a series of Houthi attacks on the Saudi capital, including a deadly missile strike earlier this month on Riyadh’s King Khalid International Airport, CNN reported.

Brent crude surpassed US$ 111 a barrel on Tuesday and reached its highest level in five months, amid worsening conflicts in the Middle East. Around 9 am, the barrel was trading at US$ 111.12, up 1.43%, and reached US$ 111.69 during trading, according to G1. WTI rose 5.7%, to US$ 109.60. Oil flows through the Strait of Hormuz fell to about 8.5 million barrels per day last week, from more than 20 million the week before, according to analysis firm Kpler. The International Energy Agency (IEA) said it was ready to coordinate a new release of oil from member countries’ emergency reserves, if necessary.

The spread between French and German 10-year yields is the highest since the closing levels of January 2012, when the eurozone was in the midst of a credit crisis that required interventions by the European Central Bank, according to Le Monde. The yield on France's 10-year OAT government bond rose to 4.94% on Tuesday, more than 150 basis points above the comparable German government bond, considered the European benchmark of creditworthiness. The Guardian puts the spread at 143.6bps, on track for its highest closing level since early 2012, amid a wave of street protests in France.

The US Department of Agriculture will provide $8 billion in diesel fuel relief to American farmers for this year’s harvest season, distributed as one-time payments to eligible candidates, according to OilPrice. US diesel prices remain above $6 per gallon, climbing from $6.2665 last Monday to $6.3187 yesterday.

Chinese carmakers are gearing up European production to sidestep tariffs and an import quota, according to the South China Morning Post (SCMP) — the EU will cap imports of Chinese hybrids at 350,000 a year from as early as 1 December, less than half the 800,000 expected in 2026, with vehicles assembled inside the EU exempt, according to Automotive World.

Brent stood at $109.70, up 0.15%, and WTI at $98.72, up 0.18%, according to the Times of India, after Brent had climbed to $110.70 a barrel in the previous session, its highest level since May 20.

EU countries do not know where to find an additional 70 billion euros ($78.4 billion) to aid Ukraine in 2027, after Volodymyr Zelensky requested the amount at the bloc’s most recent summit, according to La Repubblica, cited by Sputnik. The EU has already agreed to a 90-billion-euro loan for 2026-2027, with 60 billion euros earmarked for military spending and 30 billion for budget support.

Saudi Arabia has decided to postpone its flagship investment conference until next year, organizers confirmed in a statement on Monday, following deadly attacks that rocked the kingdom in recent weeks, according to Reuters, in a text republished by the Jerusalem Post. The attacks struck military, energy and civilian infrastructure across the country, including state oil company Aramco’s headquarters and Riyadh’s international airport, where strikes killed at least 18 people.

China’s gross domestic product (GDP) grew 4.5% year on year in the third quarter, the National Bureau of Statistics of China reported, better than economists had expected and up from 4.3% in the second quarter, according to The Guardian. According to analysts at ABN Amro cited by the newspaper, the pickup mainly reflects export strength on the global AI and tech boom, more than offsetting drags from the Iran conflict and ongoing weakness in domestic demand.

China’s gross domestic product (GDP) grew 4.5% year on year in the third quarter, according to official data. The world’s second largest economy rose from 4.3% in the previous quarter but stayed below the 5% recorded from January to March, the BBC reported, citing official Chinese data.

Argentina’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) grew 2.3% in the first quarter of 2026 and 2% in the second from a year earlier, according to the National Institute of Statistics and Censuses (INDEC) — a picture that entered the first debate of Brazil’s runoff, when Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) asked Flávio Bolsonaro (PL) whether he intended to reproduce Javier Milei’s economic policy in Brazil, according to G1.

Syria and the World Bank Group have agreed to establish a multi-donor fund to support the country’s recovery and reconstruction, the SANA news agency reported, citing the parties’ joint statement. The fund is intended to provide concessional financing, investment guarantees and technical support, as well as strengthen the country’s institutional capacity.

Detentions in Saturday’s protests across France rose to 2,397, according to the Interior Ministry cited by Agence France-Presse (AFP), and 997 police officers were injured, seven of them seriously. The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) reported about 2,400 people arrested and about 1,000 police officers injured, seven of them seriously. In a Sunday address, President Emmanuel Macron said “nothing justifies” the “unbridled” violence seen in nationwide cost of living protests.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said President Donald Trump wants to take a 60-day period to analyze what imposing sanctions on Russia and tariffs on other countries would mean for the global economy and for his country. The law that sanctions Russia and Iran is known as the Graham Act, according to The Hindu.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said the country has become self-sufficient in gasoline supply through consumption management and public cooperation, and that it previously had to spend 12 billion dollars importing the gasoline it needed, according to the Tehran Times.

France counted 1,800 people arrested in the national tally of the violent protests, according to Agence France-Presse (AFP). The demonstrators were protesting against rising fuel prices, the cost of living and deteriorating public services, including schools, according to the BBC.

The CGT, France’s biggest trade union, said more than 500,000 people have joined Saturday’s nationwide protests over the cost of living, according to France 24. A protester had their hand blown off by a police crowd-control grenade, a police source told Agence France-Presse (AFP), and masked protesters smashed the glass doors of Lille’s town hall as they forced their way in.

China cut its holdings of United States Treasury securities by US$ 27.3 billion in August, bringing the stock of those assets to its lowest level since 2008. The Chinese portfolio fell from US$ 618 billion to US$ 590.7 billion in August, the lowest in 18 years, according to the survey cited by Brasil 247.

Protesters attended a demonstration against the “high cost of living” in Paris, according to an AFP photo dated October 17. French police fired tear gas at demonstrators in Paris who were protesting against rising prices and what they described as the erosion of the country’s social model, according to the Times of India. Clashes were also reported in Marseille, where protesters hurled projectiles at police, who responded by deploying tear gas.

United States President Donald Trump signed an executive order waiving newly passed Russia sanctions, claiming the move is in the US’s “national interest”, according to Al Jazeera. The blocked measures would have included up to 100 percent tariffs on all goods brought into the US from the five top importers of Russian crude oil or gas, including China and India. Earlier this month, Trump announced a deal to bring stocks of Russian diesel into global markets, and the US Treasury waived sanctions on Russian diesel sales until April 2027.

International Monetary Fund (IMF) Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva told reporters that discussions with policymakers showed optimism about the resilience of the global economy, the promise of artificial intelligence and the dynamism of Asia, and worry about inflation, high levels of debt, wars and climate risks, according to Al Jazeera. Georgieva also said that low-income countries now spend 8 to 14 percent of their revenue on debt repayments, up from previous years.

The US budget deficit reached $1.99 trillion in the 2025-2026 fiscal year, according to the Treasury, cited by the Russian agency Sputnik.

Pakistan’s finance minister, Muhammad Aurangzeb, told Agence France-Presse (AFP) that the country has withstood the initial shock from the war against Iran but said continued attacks on Gulf energy infrastructure would delay a return to economic normalcy. In an interview on the sidelines of the International Monetary Fund (IMF)–World Bank Annual Meetings in Bangkok, he said Pakistan had procured enough energy supplies to last through November 2026.

Protesters in Bangkok called on institutions such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to focus on climate financing and tax reforms that help poorer citizens instead of demanding austerity, according to the South China Morning Post (SCMP). The protest issued six demands to the IMF and the World Bank, including debt cancellation and greater public oversight, according to Khaosod English.

The two-day European Union (EU) summit concluded in Brussels on Friday without a breakthrough on the bloc’s long-term budget, as rising security commitments and soaring energy costs exposed a growing gap between Europe’s ambitions and its ability to deliver, according to CGTN. Leaders ended more than five hours of debate on October 15 without narrowing their differences, according to the Brussels Signal.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced the European Union (EU) will develop a new tool to swiftly block access to the bloc’s market in the event of a trade war, according to TRT World. “We will develop a new instrument for decisive action by limiting access to the single market where this is in the union’s interests fast and immediately,” she told reporters after EU leaders met in Brussels. Von der Leyen said the EU’s trade deficit with China reached 1 billion euros per day in 2025 and warned that the imbalance was expected to worsen in 2026.

China’s research and development (R&D) spending rose 8.2 percent in 2025 to 3.93 trillion yuan (about 584.5 billion US dollars), the National Bureau of Statistics said, in a Xinhua report published by the Global Times. The country’s R&D intensity reached 2.8 percent of GDP, exceeding the 2.72 percent average of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) for the first time.

Pakistan was named chair of the Boards of Governors of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank for 2027, returning to the position for the first time since 1953, according to the country’s Ministry of Economic Affairs. Minister for Economic Affairs Ahad Khan Cheema, who is also Pakistan’s governor to the World Bank, was formally announced as the incoming chair during the plenary session of the 2026 World Bank Group (WBG)-IMF Annual Meetings in Bangkok.

Chinese chip and tech firms flagged as much as six-fold growth in unaudited third-quarter profits, according to the South China Morning Post (SCMP), on huge demand for home-grown processors and artificial intelligence infrastructure.

India nearly halved its export duty on diesel for two weeks, according to OilPrice. South Korea kept its price caps on fuel products unchanged for a fourth consecutive period on Friday, amid elevated international oil prices and continued tensions in the Middle East, according to the Korea Herald.

International Monetary Fund (IMF) chief Kristalina Georgieva said on Friday that the risks of artificial intelligence may exceed its opportunities without safeguards and an ethical framework, according to Reuters. Georgieva backed a blend of industry self-regulation and input from key governments.

Members of the International Energy Agency (IEA) agreed to complete the release of 100 million barrels still outstanding from the March intervention to calm markets — the countries will accelerate distribution of the remaining volumes, including 20 million barrels of diesel as soon as possible, after a board meeting in Paris on October 15, and have so far released 330 million of the 400 million barrels pledged in March.

Finance ministers and central bank chiefs from the Group of 20 (G20) major economies met in Bangkok on Thursday to discuss rising inflation, according to Jiji Press. The meeting ended without a joint statement and with the absence of United States (US) Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, who prioritized domestic economic issues, while Russian minister Anton Siluanov was listed among those attending, according to CNBC.

EU leaders failed to reach agreement on the 2028-2034 multiannual financial framework worth €1.76 trillion ($1.97 trillion), according to TASS, which attributed the deadlock to disagreements between net contributors and beneficiaries. Discussions continue at an extraordinary meeting on November 26. Macron warned that striking the budget deal is urgent before the French pre-campaign, according to Agence France-Presse (AFP).

The International Energy Agency (IEA) confirmed on Thursday the release of about 330 million barrels of emergency oil reserves, according to Middle East Eye. The release is part of a March agreement under which member countries agreed to release 400 million barrels to address the disruption to supplies amid the US-Israeli war on Iran.

Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico said Slovakia will not take part in a new financing package for Ukraine, speaking in Brussels on Wednesday, according to RT. “By all means, give money to Ukraine, but the Slovak Republic will not participate in this mechanism,” he said. “These are not loans; they are gifts. Ukraine will never pay back any of this money.” Fico also said the existing €90 billion EU loan package had already proved insufficient.

International Monetary Fund (IMF) Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva warned that Houthi strikes on Saudi infrastructure could affect the global economy and cited the near closure of Hormuz and disruptions in the Red Sea, which sharply curtailed oil and gas exports and reduced production capacity, according to OilPrice.

Far-right leader and presidential candidate Marine Le Pen said in Brussels that France can no longer finance Ukraine, citing the country’s high deficit and weak economic growth, according to France 24.

GlobalFoundries will build chip facilities under an investment deal between the United States and Japan, according to Kyodo News. Japan will invest about $21 billion in up to two chip factories in New York, jointly owned by the US government and Japanese interests and operated by GlobalFoundries, according to Reuters, in a text republished by WHTC. The first factory is expected to add annual US manufacturing capacity of about 900,000 300 mm wafers when fully operational, according to the same report.

Norway is expected to overhaul the ethical rules for its $2.3 trillion wealth fund following the findings of a state-appointed commission due on Thursday, according to Reuters; the review follows the Trump administration’s protest against the divestment from Caterpillar shares over the use of the US company’s bulldozers in Gaza and the occupied West Bank, according to Reuters.

Iran’s stock market has seen an influx of investments despite increasing power outages, a shortage of foreign currency and the rate of the rial tanking, Iran International reported on Tuesday, according to the Jerusalem Post. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) forecast that Iran’s economy would contract by 7.6% in 2026, as compared to the rate of 5.4% projected in July, according to the same outlet.

The head of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said on Wednesday that the recent attacks on Saudi Arabia could impact people everywhere, as global energy costs rise. The Saudi economy is important for the region and the world, the Fund said, and these developments have potentially negative spillovers for everybody, everywhere.

China’s exports surged 36.3% in September from a year earlier, its customs agency said Wednesday, according to the Associated Press (AP), in a text published by ABC News. The trade surplus reached $133.5 billion for the month, up from $119.1 billion in August.

The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) projected global oil demand growth of 2.6 million barrels per day in 2027, after growth of just 200,000 barrels per day in 2026, pushing average demand from 105.7 million to 108.3 million barrels per day, with part of the jump coming from rebuilding stocks drawn down during the Iran war – commercial stocks in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) stood 177.2 million barrels below their 2015-2019 average in August, according to OilPrice.com.

The US fined Bank of America US$1.2 billion for violating money laundering and sanctions laws, according to the South China Morning Post. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said that when a bank of this size fails to meet its anti-money-laundering and sanctions obligations, the consequences extend far beyond its own walls and expose the entire US financial system to significant illicit finance risks. Regulators cite failures involving US$5 billion in suspicious activity, according to the Hindustan Times.

Brent crude was trading at $105.43 per barrel and West Texas Intermediate (WTI) at $92.60 per barrel, both slightly down from Monday's close, according to OilPrice. Saudi Energy Minister Abdulaziz bin Salman said there is no danger for oil exports and called Riyadh “the capital of energy security”, according to OilPrice, which cites the minister.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) on Tuesday (October 13, 2026) raised its forecast for global economic growth in 2026 by 0.1 percentage point to 3.1%, citing “resilience” in the face of high energy costs and other shocks, according to The Hindu. In its World Economic Outlook report, the Fund left its forecast for 2027 global growth unchanged at 3.4%.

Oil prices edged lower on Tuesday after climbing by nearly $2 a barrel in the previous session, with Brent at $106.04 and West Texas Intermediate (WTI) at $93.27, according to Reuters, which also cites US President Donald Trump saying Russia had agreed to supply diesel and his administration had temporarily lifted US sanctions on Russian fuel. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) warned that the global economy could soon test the limits of resilience, with emergency oil stocks running low and government budgets overstretched, according to the Guardian, which adds that rerouting oil supplies away from the Strait of Hormuz and releasing strategic stocks helped contain the impact of the US-Iran war on prices.

Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak said Russia could reach 3.5 million tonnes per month of diesel to global markets by the end of the year, just as was the case before the crisis, and that additional Russian deliveries have already pushed global diesel prices down by about 5-6%, according to TASS.

In an interview with Reuters on Monday, Cuban Minister of Energy and Mines Vicente de la O Levy said the oil blockade by the United States forced the country to seek its own alternative solutions, using its sun, wind, tides, fuel and Cuban crude oil, and that 144 solar farms with a combined capacity of about 1,418 megawatts have been installed on the island in recent years, with China as the largest supplier of panels, according to Al Jazeera.

The EU will limit the number of hybrid vehicles imported from China to 350,000 a year, the European Commission has confirmed. Brussels used World Trade Organization (WTO) rules to impose the 350,000 vehicle-a-year quota quickly, which will halve Chinese market share to 3%. The safeguard measure is expected to take effect as soon as December, according to Bloomberg.

The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences decided to award the 2026 Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel to Robert E. Hall and Michael Woodford, “for microeconomic foundations of macroeconomic stabilisation”, according to the official announcement. The laureates’ models, used by central banks and governments, allow well-timed fiscal and monetary policy measures to reduce the economy’s peaks and troughs.

Both main crude contracts fell more than 1% after US President Donald Trump announced an energy ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine, according to AFP. Trump wrote on Truth Social that there is an energy ceasefire “effective immediately” and that “both parties have agreed. Do not break it!”. Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky appeared to express surprise, said he was seeking further details and added that “Ukraine supports the ceasefire, and it is important that Russia support it as well”. AFP also reported that Kyiv said Moscow had struck multiple power plants in the country.

Syria’s central bank said on Sunday that it issued its first letter of credit in 14 years to facilitate a petroleum products supply deal between the Syrian Petroleum Company and Saudi Aramco, according to the Jerusalem Post. The bank said the transaction was arranged in coordination with a major US bank, which it did not name, opening a channel to finance oil imports and settle payments through the formal banking system.

Ukraine will have to pay $27.94 billion in interest to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank until 2061, according to TASS calculations based on data from Ukraine's Finance Ministry. Counting principal and interest, the bill with the two institutions reaches $128.86 billion, by the same estimate.

Member countries of the International Energy Agency (IEA) expressed support for accelerating the oil stock releases announced in the March 2026 Collective Action, aiming to complete them as soon as possible, the agency said. About 325 million barrels of oil have been released under the March 2026 Collective Action, according to the IEA, which notes that some countries released greater volumes than they initially pledged.

The Russian government has partially lifted its ban on diesel exports to implement the agreements reached by Presidents Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump, the cabinet said. The measure takes effect on October 10, allowing 500,000 metric tons of diesel to the global market at this stage, according to the statement.

Just over two weeks before the runoff, the government of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva announced on October 9 fuel tax cuts and expanded subsidies aimed at lowering fuel prices. A new decree eliminates federal taxes on the import and sale of gasoline for 30 days, with the possibility of an extension. The government will also provide an additional subsidy of 1.40 reais per liter to diesel importators for 30 days, on top of the 2.12 reais per liter subsidy already in effect.

The Port of Los Angeles, the largest container port in the United States and the country's leading gateway for imports from China and other Asian countries, had its busiest quarter on record from July through September, according to the South China Morning Post. According to port director Gene Seroka, the period totaled almost 3 million TEUs (twenty-foot equivalent units), and, including June, almost 4 million container units were moved, the strongest four-month stretch ever recorded.

China and the EU reached an “understanding” on hybrid vehicles on Friday, October 9, according to Le Monde, as their commerce chiefs concluded talks with an agreement to strengthen dialogue, dispelling fears of a full-blown trade war. Trade chiefs Maros Sefcovic and Wang Wentao agreed that both sides would adhere to “procedures concerning company price undertakings” for hybrid cars, according to China’s Commerce Ministry, citing a joint statement.

The European Union (EU) will support 46 new strategic projects to accelerate supplies of critical raw materials by 2030, including lithium, gallium and rare earths for the auto, defence and renewable energy industries, with a funding cost of €21bn, according to The Guardian. The stated goal is to reduce dependence on China, which controls much of these essential raw materials, and six of the new projects are in France, across 16 countries, with eight for mining, 11 for refining and 19 for recycling, according to Le Monde.

India's continued purchases of Russian oil could pose a fresh hurdle in talks for an interim trade deal with the US, according to Bloomberg, in a text published by Mint. US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said on Thursday that a deal with India was not on the cards soon, citing Russian oil as a point of friction, according to CNBC. In September, India's imports of Russian crude declined to around 1.75 million barrels per day, the lowest level since April, according to PTI, in a text published by Mint.

The World Bank projects a 2.1% contraction in 2026 for the economies of the Middle East, North Africa, Afghanistan and Pakistan, with Gulf Cooperation Council states shrinking by an average of 4.3%, according to the Jerusalem Post. Qatar and Kuwait are the hardest hit, with GDP contracting 20.9% and 14.6% respectively, while the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Saudi Arabia are the least affected, at 1.6% and 2.0%. The bank attributes the decline to the closure of Hormuz: Gulf oil production fell from a prewar average of about 26 million to about 16 million barrels a day in March, according to The National.

In Beijing, EU trade commissioner Maros Sefcovic said on Thursday that the bloc’s trade deficit with China was “unsustainable,” as he opened two days of talks to avert a trade war. Sefcovic wrote on X that the goal of day one was to begin rebalancing the bloc’s unsustainable trade deficit. According to European figures, last year China exported to the EU around €1 billion a day more in goods and services than went the other way.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) reached a staff-level agreement with Pakistan on reviews of some of its lending programs, potentially unlocking about $1.21 billion in financing pending board approval.

European Trade Commissioner Maros Sefcovic has arrived in Beijing for talks on the European Union’s (EU) growing trade deficit with China. He will meet Chinese Commerce Minister Wang Wentao on Thursday and Friday after months of discussions over a deficit of more than €1bn a day and Chinese restrictions on rare earths, according to Al Jazeera. Sefcovic travels to Beijing on October 8 for what he called “a super crucial meeting” with Wang Wentao, seeking results to present to EU leaders on October 15 and 16, according to Politico.

The US Treasury announced its first penalty under rules on American investment in sensitive Chinese technologies: a $200,000 fine against Amidi, LLC, the parent of Plug and Play Tech Centre, according to the South China Morning Post. Amidi failed to notify an investment of about $92,478 by its Chinese fund subsidiary in Shanghai Qiongche Intelligent Technology, known as Noematrix, on April 19, 2025.

Iraq devalued its currency on Wednesday, changing the official exchange rate from around 1,300 dinars to the U.S. dollar to 1,500 dinars to the dollar, according to AP. The central bank said the new rate had been decided at a Cabinet meeting the night before to meet the relevant financial, economic and monetary requirements. The gap between the official and parallel rates had widened in recent months as a result of the U.S.-Iran war, which has sometimes spilled over into Iraq, and disruptions to shipping in the Strait of Hormuz.

Brent rose 93 cents, to $101.51 a barrel, according to Mehr News. The gains reflected supply fears from a storm heading for US oil-producing regions and attacks by Yemen’s Ansarullah movement on Saudi Arabia, according to Reuters, in a text republished by Mehr News. Brent for December delivery stood at $101.45 as of 02:30 GMT, up 0.87%, according to Al Jazeera.

EU trade negotiators are heading to China for two days of crunch talks starting Thursday, aimed at a breakthrough deal tackling China’s record £1bn-a-day trade surplus and at sealing a pilot deal on cars, according to The Guardian. Last month, the EU asked China to voluntarily restrict hybrid exports, warning that safeguards — which could include quotas — could be enacted, according to the newspaper. On Monday, Germany’s chancellor, Friedrich Merz, agreed to a “historic U-turn” on its policy on China by siding with French President Emmanuel Macron, according to The Guardian.

Trump announced in Baltimore the opening of a $6.6bn shipbuilding factory, partly funded by the US government and owned by Anduril Industries, with $2.9bn from the Navy and $3.7bn in private funding, according to The Guardian. He presented the project as the largest US shipyard since World War II, according to TASS.

The US goods and services deficit was $105.6 billion in August 2026, compared with $92.8 billion in July, according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) and the Census Bureau. The August deficit with Mexico, at $27 billion, was the highest on record.

The rial traded at more than 2.5 million rials to the U.S. dollar, according to the Associated Press (AP), in text republished by U.S. News — just 27 days after the previous record low of 2.2 million to the dollar on Sept. 2; the United States announced a new round of sanctions aimed at Iran on Monday and warned every country that does business with the country, according to AP, in text republished by ABC News.

Iran’s petroleum minister, Mohsen Paknejad, resigned and President Masoud Pezeshkian named Hamid Bovard as caretaker head of the Oil Ministry. No reason was given for the resignation. Paknejad had held the post since August 2024 and leaves it as the seven-month war between Iran and the United States pressures the country’s economy, according to Reuters, in a text republished by The Hindu. Bovard was managing director of the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC).

Russia's draft budget for 2027 proposes 17.1 trillion roubles (US$ 202.58 billion) for defence, about 27% higher than the 13.5 trillion originally allocated, according to Reuters, in a text republished by the Times of India. The document cuts social policy by 7%, education by 6%, healthcare by 6.8% and the national economy by 7.4%.

The A7 network, founded in Kyrgyzstan with Moscow's backing, operates through a constellation of shell companies in jurisdictions such as Hong Kong, Turkey and several African countries, according to El País. An investigation by the Financial Times found that more than $6.9 billion passed through international banks such as Standard Chartered, Citigroup and Deutsche Bank via the scheme.

Iran and Turkey are seeking to raise bilateral trade to $30 billion, with the development of the Bazargan border, the opening of a fourth crossing, expanded rail and road transport and the creation of a joint Khoy–Van–Mersin free zone, according to the Tehran Times. The Iranian outlet said trade between the two countries in the year 1404 was about $19.2 billion, including $6.8 billion in Iranian exports and $12.4 billion in imports.

Iran’s rial continued its decline on Saturday, as the central bank announced an injection of up to $2 billion to support the currency while the economy faces US sanctions and a naval blockade, according to Middle East Eye. The dollar was sold at around 2.688 million rials, up from 2.632 million on Friday, according to bon-bast.com.

China's Commerce Ministry launched an anti-dumping investigation on Saturday into imports of p-nitrotoluene from the EU, according to The Hindu. The investigation follows a request from China's domestic industry, which says low-priced European p-nitrotoluene is flooding the Chinese market. The move comes less than a week before the bloc's trade chief is due in Beijing for talks, the paper reported.

Russia plans to spend 17.1 trillion roubles ($202.58 billion) on defence in 2027, about 27% more than the 13.5 trillion roubles originally budgeted, and to cut social policy funding by 7%, education by 6% and healthcare by 6.8%, according to Reuters, in text republished by Euronext Live.

The Argentine government launched a citizenship-by-investment program, presented by Economy Minister Luis Caputo and Cabinet chief Diego Santilli during the Argentina Week business event in Paris, with applications starting in the fourth quarter of 2026, according to DW. In a statement, the Economy Ministry said the announcement is part of Argentina's drive toward international openness and reforms aimed at attracting capital.

The United States asked the European Union to release 120 million barrels of diesel from national strategic reserves over 180 days, according to Al Jazeera. EU countries agreed that further diesel stock releases should include a US commitment to avoid a unilateral diesel export ban.

The European Union rejected the US threat to ban any diesel exports unless the bloc releases more of its fuel stocks, France 24 reported. “We fully reject any ban on diesel. A ban would not be beneficial to anyone. It would undermine our trust in the United States as a reliable partner,” European Commission spokeswoman Anna-Kaisa Itkonen said. The 27-nation bloc was ready to work with the International Energy Agency (IEA) on the possible release of fuel reserves to contain prices, she added. Average US diesel prices have surged more than 70 percent to $6.39 a gallon since the start of the Iran war, according to motorists’ association AAA.

The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and allies (OPEC+) delayed its production capacity review that will set members’ 2027 oil output quotas, after the US-Israeli war on Iran disrupted expansion projects in the Middle East, according to Reuters. Completion was due by the end of September 2026 and is now expected by mid-November, one of the sources said.

US President Donald Trump kicked off a 32-day campaign tour ahead of the November midterm elections, with rallies in Texas and Oklahoma. A poll by The Associated Press (AP) and the NORC Center for Public Affairs Research released Thursday shows 71 percent of Americans disapprove of the war, which has driven up fuel prices, while only 26 percent approve of Trump’s handling of the economy. Around half of respondents said they feared being unable to afford food and gasoline.

Russia plans to spend 17.1 trillion roubles ($202.58 billion) on defence in 2027, around 27% more than the 13.5 trillion roubles originally budgeted and the highest figure since the start of the war in Ukraine, in 2022, according to Reuters. The government raised its estimate for its 2026 budget deficit to 3.2% of gross domestic product (GDP), from 1.6% previously, the agency reported. The explanatory note for the 2027–2029 budget draft projects the 2026 federal deficit at 3.2% of GDP, or 7.335 trillion roubles, according to TASS.

The US 10-year Treasury yield breached a level last seen in April 2002, rising 4 basis points to 5.3338%, according to LSEG data. In Europe, the French 10-year yield rose 11 basis points to 4.9501%, Italy’s was up 10 basis points to 4.7171%, and the UK 10-year yield rose 5 basis points to 5.483%.

US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer presented the four workstreams the US presidency of the Group of 20 (G20) has focused on over the course of the year: the weaponization of food, structural excess capacity and production, the Most-Favored-Nation principle, and forced labor in global supply chains. Greer called for the major G20 economies to refrain from coercive actions on food trade, tackle industrial overcapacity and re-examine the prevailing post-World War Two tariff system, according to Reuters.

Brazil and the United States agreed to form a working group to discuss US tariffs on Brazilian goods and other bilateral trade issues, Brazil's Ministry of Development, Industry, Trade and Services said. The agreement followed talks between Brazilian Foreign Minister Mauro Vieira and Development, Industry, Trade and Services Minister Marcio Elias Rosa with US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer in Milwaukee, on the sidelines of a meeting of trade ministers from the Group of 20. Washington announced a 25% Section 301 tariff on certain Brazilian goods on July 15, followed by a measure on July 23 that imposed an additional 12.5% tariff on certain Brazilian imports.

The inspector general of the Federal Reserve (Fed) found no reasonable grounds to believe that a violation of federal criminal law had occurred in the renovation of the central bank’s Washington buildings, and did not identify violations of board policy warranting a finding of administrative misconduct, according to CNN. The report faulted project oversight; the renovations had a roughly $1 billion cost overrun, according to France 24, in a report with Reuters. Trump renewed his call for Jerome Powell to step down. “At a minimum, ‘Too Late’ Powell should be forced to resign from the Board. He can’t manage a Building,” he said, according to France 24. Powell stepped down as Fed chair in May; Kevin Warsh, who took over from him, said he would follow the report’s recommendations on project management.

India’s External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar warned of a “major food crisis” in the coming months, on top of the fertiliser shortages the world is already seeing because of the Ukraine and Iran conflicts, according to The Hindu. He said some of the major grain exporters will not be able to send out their shipments, particularly via the Black Sea. He spoke on September 28, in a conversation at the Asia Society in New York.

US consumer confidence fell to its lowest level since 2014, just over one month before the congressional midterm elections, according to Al Jazeera. Consumers pointed to higher costs for goods and services as the primary reason for the decline, according to The Conference Board, which released its monthly report on Tuesday. The average price of a gallon of gasoline stood at $4.45 on Tuesday, compared with $4.08 a month ago, according to AAA.

The spokesperson for Qatar's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Al-Ansari, said the prolongation of the armed conflict between the United States and Iran in the Middle East and regional instability carry grave consequences for the international economy, according to TASS. Al-Ansari added that the region provides the world with energy products and also with items important to international food security, such as urea, and to industry, such as helium, petrochemicals and aluminium.

Authorities in Turkey ordered the liquidation of some 130 investment funds worth $17bn earlier this month, according to Middle East Eye. The crisis involving funds accused of running Ponzi-like schemes has affected half a million people.

The US and China unveiled a list of goods recommended for reduced tariffs following last week's summit between Presidents Donald Trump and Xi Jinping, according to Al Jazeera. The agreement covers 30 billion dollars of each side's imports, with 77 Chinese goods and more than 1,600 US products, and China's Commerce Ministry said the sides would discuss a reciprocal tariff reduction framework of 30 billion for 30 billion.

China is set to cut tariffs on a broad range of US agricultural goods, from corn and wheat to meat and dairy, according to Reuters, in a text republished by The Hindu — but soybeans, the top import item, were excluded from the list and still face an additional tariff of 10%. Both sides agreed to form a trade council to discuss a reciprocal tariff cut on $30 billion worth of products, still according to Reuters, in a text republished by The Hindu.

Lula signed the decision that ends the operation, offering, intermediation and advertising of betting, according to The Guardian. The provisional executive order comes into force immediately, needs congressional approval within 120 days to remain in effect, prohibits new deposits into accounts and gives users until October 5 to withdraw their funds. Lula said he had taken a hard, drastic and necessary measure and compared the sector to a cancer.

The United States is weighing a ban on diesel exports, and the European Union has already reacted. According to The Guardian, Donald Trump is considering a 90-day export ban to provide a temporary respite from high pump prices for American households before the midterm elections, after US diesel reached a record average of $6.52 a gallon. The EU warned Trump against the plan to block exports to the global market, saying the move would negatively affect Europe and the United States. According to The Wall Street Journal, EU officials say they are in talks with the Trump administration to head off export controls.

President Donald Trump ordered the cancellation of $810 million in congressionally appropriated funding, according to the New York Post. The move eliminates 11 pools of unspent money at seven federal departments and agencies.

United States immigration agents fanned out across southwest Kansas this week, a region with a large concentration of feedlots and slaughterhouses, and the effect on the meat industry was immediate, according to Reuters, in a text republished by MarketScreener. The prospect of arrest kept much of the largely immigrant workforce away, forcing beef processing plants to slow down and backing up cattle. The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) estimated that 90,000 cattle were slaughtered on Thursday, down 16% from a week earlier. Cattlemen’s associations say the immigration operations are having a chilling effect on documented workers and will push up the price of beef.

U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping ended their Washington summit on Friday, September 25, 2026, with ceremony but no progress on core issues, the Hindustan Times reported. The two sides extended their trade truce until January 10, 2027, according to Daijiworld, stretching relief that had been set to expire on November 10.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the trade truce with China, due to expire in November, will be extended until January, DW reports. Xi Jinping’s visit to the United States, his first in ten years, was heavy on pomp and light on substance in trade, artificial intelligence and Taiwan, and the next meeting of the two presidents is expected on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Shenzhen in November, according to DW.

Fuel prices in Lebanon have doubled since the start of the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran, reaching $1.60 a litre, Middle East Eye reports. The country’s trade union federation urged the government to declare a state of economic emergency and threatened an open-ended general strike next week; the World Bank projects Lebanon’s economy will contract 6.4% in 2026, according to the same report. The head of the workers’ confederation said the rising cost of living could lead to a “social explosion,” he told dpa.

Gaza’s economy is going through the worst economic crisis on record, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) said, according to France24. The report finds 92% of economic establishments damaged or destroyed and daily per capita gross domestic product (GDP) of $0.58, according to the Times of Israel liveblog.

The Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) estimated that an extreme El Niño event would cause a cumulative loss of at least 2% of regional gross domestic product (GDP) over three years, half of it in the first year, and could add up to 4.8 million people to poverty by the end of the decade compared with a scenario without the phenomenon. ECLAC’s third Special Report, released on 21 September 2026, points to critical vulnerability in energy, fishing, agriculture and infrastructure and recommends ten public policy measures, according to the agency’s press release. Projections by the United States National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) cited in the report indicate a more than 90% probability that the phenomenon will reach very high intensity in the northern hemisphere’s fall and winter of 2026-2027 and a 69% probability of historic magnitude, a “Super El Niño”; for the October-December 2026 quarter, the probability of a rainfall deficit is 60%, and 31.1% of the region’s territory is on high alert, according to Xinhua.

Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) President Ilan Goldfajn is working to secure approval for a US$ 2.5 billion loan to Venezuela and has faced pushback from part of the lender’s board, according to two sources with knowledge of the matter who spoke to Reuters. Board members raised concern about lending to Caracas without the parallel work of other multilateral lenders that would ensure the country’s capacity to repay, even though they recognise the benefits of re-engaging with Venezuela, one of the sources said. The IDB has made no new loans to the country since May 2018, when Venezuela fell behind on payments, and Caracas owes more than US$ 2 billion in overdue principal and interest to the bank. The operation would fall under a Special Development Lending (SDL) arrangement, which for Venezuela is capped at US$ 500 million under the bank’s rules, and would require a size waiver and a second waiver for the absence of a standing programme with the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Any proposal needs the approval of the IDB’s 14-member executive board, where the United States holds 30% of the voting power, followed by Argentina and Brazil with 11.35% each. Goldfajn told Reuters on Monday, 21 September, that the IDB is working on an “engagement note” with Venezuela, a short-term plan that typically precedes new lending. The bank declined to comment, and the Venezuelan government did not respond to a request for comment.

US president Donald Trump made more than 1,000 stock purchases and sales in July, worth between US$ 79m and US$ 270m, according to a The Guardian analysis of the financial disclosure released on Tuesday, 22 September 2026. He made more than 700 sales totaling between US$ 35m and US$ 137m and more than 440 purchases totaling between US$ 43.5m and US$ 134m. His two largest sales were of Amazon and Microsoft stock, between US$ 5m and US$ 25m each, on 20 July 2026; the same day he sold up to US$ 5m in Oracle and Costco shares and bought up to US$ 5m in Intuit and Salesforce stock. The White House said the portfolio is “independently managed by third-party financial institutions” and that there are no conflicts of interest: “Neither President Trump nor any member of his family has any ability to direct, influence, or provide input regarding how the portfolio is invested,” spokesperson Davis Ingle said. The disclosures, required by law, list only the date and a range for each transaction; the filing is published on the US Office of Government Ethics portal. Trump and Republicans are championing a ban on stock trading by members of Congress that would not cover the president or the vice-president.

Ineos halted production on Tuesday, 22 September 2026, at three chemicals plants in Hull, north-east England, blaming the cost of gas in the United Kingdom, which the company says stands at 12 times the level in the United States and eight times that of China. Two units at the Saltend complex have already stopped and the third will be shut down in the coming days, according to The Guardian and the Yorkshire Post. The company says around 1,000 employees at Saltend are affected and that a further 3,000 skilled jobs across the Humber region could be hit; no redundancies are planned. The plants produce acetic acid, acetic anhydride and ethyl acetate, and are Europe’s last world-scale acetyls units. UK natural gas prices doubled between July and September and reached their highest level since December 2022, a move the Yorkshire Post links to the United States and Israel’s war on Iran and the disruption of oil and gas supply through the Strait of Hormuz.

Ratings agency Fitch upgraded Sri Lanka’s long-term sovereign credit rating from ‘CCC+’ to ‘B-’ on Tuesday, September 22, 2026, with a stable outlook, citing macro-stabilization policies and structural reforms that eased external financing risks, according to Reuters and the Xinhua news agency. Fitch cautions that the country’s credit profile remains constrained by high government debt-to-GDP and modest foreign exchange reserves. Sri Lanka defaulted on its external debt in 2022.