Oil and dollar futures rise, geopolitical tensions, company news
• Oil prices could rise to $200 a barrel if Israel destroys Iran's energy infrastructure - CNBC. U.S. crude oil prices are rising for a third straight session after Iran launched a ballistic missile attack on Israel, raising tensions in the region. Industry observers have been sounding the alarm in recent days, warning of a real threat of disruption to large amounts of supply.
Iran, a member of OPEC, is a key player in the global oil market. It pumps nearly four million barrels of oil a day, and an estimated 4% of global supply could be at risk if Iran's oil infrastructure were targeted by Israel, which is now considering striking not only Iran's nuclear facilities but also its oil production and refining infrastructure.
• France received €120 million from the European Union to uproot part of its vineyards - government press service. Global demand for wine is falling, and its production last year reached a 60-year low. France is one of the largest wine producers in the world.
• UAE abolishes VAT on cryptocurrency exchanges and transfers. The abolition will be retroactive to January 1, 2018, and virtual asset companies can apply for VAT refunds.
• Google is losing control of search - WSJ. TikTok and AI startups are challenging it. With new offerings for advertisers, Google's share of the U.S. search ad market is expected to fall below 50% next year, according to one research firm.
• GE subsidiary shares soar as it positions itself as 'supermarket' for AI energy demand
GE's Vernova has become a Wall Street favorite as a powerhouse in artificial intelligence.
• FAO: World food prices rose at the fastest rate in 1.5 years in September (+10.4%), driven by worsening crop prospects in Brazil and concerns that India's decision to lift restrictions on the use of sugarcane for ethanol production could impact sugar exports.
• Oil CEOs increasingly important source of funding for Donald Trump - Bloomberg
VW: Chinese automakers should be able to stave off tariffs by investing in EU
• Volkswagen's chief executive said the EU should consider adjusting planned tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles to account for investments made in Europe.
• The new UK government's first international investment summit will bring together senior executives from companies including Google, Wayve and Brookfield Asset Management. The summit, which takes place on 14 October, aims to boost foreign direct investment to boost economic growth, a key mission of Prime Minister Keir Starmer since he was elected in July.
• Inflation update and start of third-quarter earnings reports to attract investors' attention this week
The October Consumer Price Index (CPI) report will top the economic calendar.
• Wall Street economists expect headline inflation to rise just 2.3% year-on-year in September, slowing from the 2.5% seen in August. The week also includes an update on consumer sentiment and the release of the Fed's September meeting minutes.
• On the corporate side, some of America's largest financial institutions, including JPMorgan (JPM), Wells Fargo (WFC) and BlackRock (BLK), will begin third-quarter earnings season on Friday. PepsiCo (PEP) and Delta Air Lines (DAL) are also scheduled to report early in the week.
• Hillary Clinton called for control over the internet in the US. “If platforms like Facebook, Twitter (X), Instagram or TikTok don’t control content, we lose complete control. This has not only social and psychological consequences, but real harm.”
• Telegram is going to replace YouTube. The messenger team has announced a competition among developers to create a new video player. It will appear next year, first in the iOS app, and then for Android and desktop versions.
• Intel (INTC) solved the problem that was killing the 13th and 14th generation processors after two years. The new chips will work fine, but the old ones will not. The problem turned out to be in the processors themselves, which request too much voltage and literally kill themselves. There is no way to fix this.
• Mark Zuckerberg, the founder and head of Meta, has surpassed Jeff Bezos and Bernard Arnault in the list of the world's richest people and taken second place with $206.2 billion. The leader of the rating, Tesla CEO Elon Musk, is ahead of Zuckerberg by about $50 billion.
• Who benefits if OpenAI goes for-profit? - Microsoft (MSFT). OpenAI is considering converting from a nonprofit to a for-profit company, and its wealthy benefactor, Microsoft, has a lot to gain if the ChatGPT developer gets the green light.
• Saudi Arabia raises Asian oil prices amid market volatility - Bloomberg. Traders are watching the developments in the Middle East conflict.
• Italian prosecutors have charged 7 people and 2 firms with producing defective parts for Boeing aircraft. Italian prosecutors are charging fraud and violating flight safety regulations after investigating the possible production of defective parts made by an Italian company for Boeing.
• Revenue growth at iPhone maker Hon Hai Precision Industry Co. accelerated last quarter as demand for AI servers offset weak smartphone sales.
• Taiwan's Foxconn, the world's largest contract electronics manufacturer, beat expectations with its highest-ever third-quarter revenue, driven by strong demand for artificial intelligence (AI) servers.
• China's home sales rose during the National Day holiday as stimulus measures aimed at reviving the country's property market are in effect, state media reported Saturday.
• Klarna Bank AB's board has agreed to oust an ally of the firm's co-founder Viktor Jacobsson, amid ongoing conflict at the Swedish buy-now-pay-later firm as it prepares for a potential IPO next year.
• Arcadium Lithium (ALTM) shares jumped 10%, triggered by news that Rio Tinto is in talks to buy a smaller miner.
• Rivian has applied for a federal loan to resume construction of an electric vehicle plant in Georgia.
Although Rivian has applied for a loan, the department has not yet made a final decision, and the application does not disclose the amount requested or the terms. The electric vehicle maker has paused construction of its planned $5 billion Georgia plant to speed up vehicle production.
• Electric car startup Fisker faces scrutiny from U.S. securities regulators. Fisker filed for bankruptcy protection in June after burning through its cash trying to ramp up production of its Ocean SUV.
• Dollar's best week in two years sends peers lower The dollar is on track for its best week since 2022, with geopolitical turmoil, the prospect of lower overseas borrowing costs and a robust U.S. economy all pushing the world's reserve currency higher.
• McDonald's Chicken Big Mac goes on sale next week. The Chicken Big Mac is a twist on the original Big Mac. It has the same familiar toppings, but instead of the Big Mac's two beef patties, it uses two tempura-battered chicken patties.
Analysts expect this to improve MCD's financial performance.
• On October 11, the Hollywood film about Trump, The Apprentice, will be released in the United States. The film's world premiere was held at the 77th Cannes Film Festival on May 20, 2024. Trump's lawyers tried to block its release. From this we can conclude that the film could play into Harris's hands. Trump and Harris' ratings are now almost equal.
• The NYT reported on the first discussion of Ukraine between Trump and Putin. We are talking about a meeting on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Hamburg in 2017. According to the publication, in a conversation with Trump, who at that time had recently become the President of the United States, Putin called Ukraine a "corrupt fictitious country" and emphasized that Russia has every right to influence it. Trump asked Putin about his opinion on the possible supply of American weapons to Ukraine, to which he replied that this would be a "mistake" on the part of the United States.
• US Republican Party expresses concern over Hungary's rapprochement with Russia and China. Five US Republican senators expressed their concern over Hungary's ties with Russia, which is moving closer to China. They issued a joint statement after a visit to Budapest this week.
• The IDF has launched a new ground military operation in Jabaliya, targeting Hamas' attempts to re-establish a presence in northern Gaza - Times of Israel.
• Chinese government-linked hacker group Salt Typhoon has attacked U.S. eavesdropping systems - The Wall Street Journal
The attack hit AT&T and Verizon, the newspaper reported, and hackers may have accessed information from systems the federal government uses for court-ordered wiretapping.
• China ready for closer cooperation with North Korea - Xi Jinping. In January this year, the countries agreed to protect common interests.
• Europe is sinking into its worst industrial nightmare - Bloomberg. Massive state subsidies have failed to awaken European industry: Scars from the Ukraine war and competition between the US and China are hitting energy-intensive sectors such as chemicals, threatening jobs, and putting pressure on carmakers such as Volkswagen.
The investment was meant to be a geopolitical weapon to protect valuable supply chains and meet climate goals, but has brought only disappointment and failure for the bloc's policies.
• Argentine President Javier Miley calls China a 'very interesting commercial partner' and announces visit to Beijing in January 2025 - SCMP.
• A month before the election, the U.S. Attorney's Office and the Justice Department have stepped up their efforts in the 2020 election case. Trump has no immunity in the case of trying to hold on to power, said U.S. Special Counsel Jack Smith. He believes that the former president's partial immunity from prosecution does not affect the case of his attempt to illegally hold on to power after the 2020 election.
• The obesity rate in the US has declined for the first time since the 1980s, - Financial Times. According to the publication, this happened because of weight-loss drugs and diabetics. According to the FT, every eighth American has used weight-loss drugs and 6% still do so.
• NATO wants to create 49 additional combat brigades with about 5,000 soldiers each, supposedly to protect against Russia, writes Die Welt. The
Alliance also plans to increase the number of air defense units fivefold: from 293 to 1,467, the article says, citing a document with “minimum requirements for the capabilities” of member countries.
• Israel did not give the US guarantees that it would not strike Iran's nuclear facilities - CNN. According to columnist Alex Bolton, the escalation of the conflict with Hezbollah and Iran is nullifying Joe Biden's diplomatic efforts.