Business & Economy News: 1 November 2026

Investors withdrew $4.6bn and deposited $1bn at Binance, producing a net outflow of about $3.6bn, or 2.1% of its $171bn in assets under management. The exchange began phased withdrawals for 15 networks and assets, including ethereum, USDT and USDC, after a $6.3bn theft on Thursday. Binance said it had replenished 90% of the stolen amount and that users would not bear the impact. The FBI said a North Korea-affiliated group was behind the theft.

National Grid has agreed to buy 29.5 hectares at Dorman Point on Teesside to build Britain's biggest electricity substation, which could supply a planned AI datacentre. The site is owned by Teesworks, and planning applications have been submitted for a datacentre spanning nearly 500,000 square metres. The project aims to give the north east up to 3.2GW of capacity to compete for datacentre investment, though rapid expansion has drawn opposition.

Residents of Menomonie, Wisconsin, successfully protested a $1.6bn AI datacenter campus planned on a 320 acre site outside the city. The project, pitched by shell company Balloonist LLC under nondisclosure agreements, was expected to use 75,000 gallons of water a day and create up to 1,000 temporary construction jobs. Critics say secrecy through shell companies and NDAs has helped tech giants push large projects through struggling cities.

The UK is prepared to spend up to £450m a year to let EU students pay British fees, but only if Brussels grants access to its Made in Europe industrial programme. Officials say the scheme would impose trade restrictions on countries outside the bloc, and ministers hope a 20 November summit deal would benefit British companies. The concession could be controversial at home, as graduates seek changes to student loan repayment plans.

Thousands of Virgin Media O2 staff face redundancy risk as the telecoms firm seeks savings amid billions of pounds of debt and tougher competition. The number of roles is not finalised, but cuts are expected to affect a sizeable part of its 16,000 workforce, mostly in non-customer-facing roles. Its debt was £27.2bn as of 30 June, and it faces rivals including BT, which won permission to buy TalkTalk.

JPMorgan Chase, Charles Schwab, Amazon, Neiman Marcus and Kohl's are blocking personal AI agents like Meta Muse as consumers use them to find savings and cancel subscriptions. Walmart says it is opening access to AI agents, while an audit of 51 large US retailers found only 11 had taken a deliberate position. Five explicitly restrict agents, 37 block them largely by accident and none has a way for a verified agent to complete a purchase.

Social Security's retirement trust fund is projected to run out in the fourth quarter of 2032, when trustees say retirement benefits would be cut by 22 percent. The Congressional Budget Office sees a mid-2032 shortfall and 26 percent cuts. Beneficiaries may see an average $500 monthly reduction under a 24 percent cut, and senators elected this November will be in office in 2032.

A trade truce between Washington and Beijing, extended until next January, has cooled tariff escalation and left open a possible future deal. But neither country has established mutual assurances to limit new hostilities, and both see the standoff as a national security priority. The rivalry is focused on securing supply chains and constraining the technologies and supply chains that support the other side's economic and technological progress.

Meta's ad revenue rose 26% in the third quarter to $63.1bn, while Google's search division grew 12% to $63.4bn, the widest growth gap in Meta's favor since 2021. Chatbots are giving users an alternative to search, reducing clicks on Google links, while Instagram use gives Meta more advertising opportunities. Alphabet fell more than 12% after its earnings report, wiping about $500bn in market value.

China's central bank and regulators are expected to meet with banks, securities firms and fund managers on Monday to discuss tools to support the stock market after a sharp October decline. The meeting will focus on a relending facility for share buy-backs and stake increases by listed companies and major shareholders. The CSI 300 fell 8.5 per cent in October, its biggest monthly drop in more than a decade.

Binance says it has covered 90% of the $6.3bn stolen in a Thursday hack and has set aside more than $6.34bn in company funds to absorb the impact rather than users. The remaining 10% may take longer to source, and withdrawals have been restored on several networks after being suspended. The FBI said North Korea was responsible, and the hack is believed to be the largest in history.

France is releasing ten million barrels of strategic diesel bought before the Middle East war, selling them at 0.28 euros a litre against a mid-October average of 1.10 euros. TotalEnergies cut Access pump prices to 2.15 euros a litre, 10 cents below its other stations, while E. Leclerc and Coopérative U announced 21-cent reductions. The moves follow an average French diesel price of about 2.37 euros a litre on Saturday.

An expected 0.25 percentage point US Federal Reserve rate increase in December is unlikely to reduce Hong Kong family offices' interest in European, US and Japanese property investments, industry insiders said. Ken Peng of Raffles Family Office said there were no signs of a large-scale US real estate sell-off and that the rate-hiking cycle could be short. They typically favour familiar markets.

Hundreds of adult gaming centres in England hold bingo licences that may let them keep discounted business rates despite a budget change. John Healey raised slot machine duty from 20% to 25% and said AGCs would lose a leisure business rates discount.

Gambling Commission records suggest hundreds of venues may have exploited the loophole, and visits to five Merkur and Admiral shops found all had advertised bingo but appeared to offer mainly slot machines.

Some companies are beginning to report financial benefits from artificial intelligence in third-quarter earnings. Santander said AI initiatives generated 194 million euros, or $216 million, in business value in the first nine months of 2026. Novartis reported third-quarter core operating income of $6.04 billion, up 10 percent year on year at constant currencies, and its chief executive said AI was beginning to improve the bottom line.

Argentina announced an investment-for-citizenship programme with a US$350,000 non-refundable contribution and a US$800,000 government bond. The scheme does not count real estate as a qualifying asset, unlike other golden visa schemes. Analysts said it may appeal to internationally mobile investors, including from mainland China and Hong Kong, and could capture 5 per cent of global investment-migration demand.

Rioters looted shops in central Frankfurt late Saturday and clashed with police in Berlin, Cologne and Hamburg after largely peaceful cost-of-living protests. Police used water cannon and reported many arrests, while Hesse's interior minister said around 100 left-wing extremists infiltrated the protest. Gen Z regelt said the marches targeted school underfunding, spending cuts, high living costs and compulsory military service.

Airbnb has updated global house rules for bookings from 20 November, allowing hosts to set seven standard rules and other reasonable requests but no longer ask guests to do cleaner tasks such as washing dishes, stripping beds or taking rubbish off site. Hosts say the changes may raise cleaning costs, while guests welcome fewer checkout chores after paying cleaning fees.