Business & Economy News: 2 November 2026

Apple posted stronger-than-expected fiscal third-quarter revenue and profit of $30.71 billion, or $2.10 a share, up 12% from a year earlier. The result gave new CEO John Ternus an upbeat start and bucked a downward trend after disappointing quarters from Alphabet, Amazon and Intel. Apple said earnings included five cents a share from tariff refunds, while analysts had expected $1.99 a share on $113.4 billion revenue.

A New York Fed survey found that 48.8% of college-educated workers had no in-person meetings on their most recent office day, even as many employers require in-person attendance. On those days, 70.6% had at least one teammate who was not in the office, and more than a third had neither in-person nor hybrid meetings. The findings show a large share of in-office workers are commuting mainly for video calls and messages.

Palantir beat third-quarter estimates after reporting revenue above $2 billion, nearly double a year earlier, and net income of $1.13 billion, or 44 cents a share, as businesses adopt more of its artificial intelligence tools. U.S. commercial revenue rose 148% to $984 million, surpassing U.S. government revenue of $953 million for the first time. The company lifted full-year U.S. commercial guidance to more than $3.56 billion.

Intel shares fell 29% on Friday after the company said quarterly revenue would be $1 billion to $2 billion below estimates, capping a 45% October drop. The chipmaker is under pressure to win outside foundry customers after spending half a decade and much of its $108 billion in capital expenditures trying to challenge TSMC. It is shifting some Oregon capacity from 18A to older Intel 3 wafers, a move that could complicate that effort.

British Gas has resumed force-fitting prepay meters in homes of customers unable to afford energy bills after the regulator lifted a block dating back almost four years. The move follows the supplier's largest settlement on record, worth more than £100m, for sending debt collectors into vulnerable homes during the prepay scandal. Agents can install meters this winter; forced fittings in homes with young children or people over 75 remain banned.

Gwynne Shotwell and her husband Robert will donate over 2 million SpaceX shares to children's Trump Accounts in December, with one share each for around 2 million holders aged 11 to 17 in ZIP codes with median family incomes of $57,000 or less. An additional gift is planned for eligible 11 to 17 year olds in military families, foster care, and Texas counties near the couple's home. It follows Treasury rules allowing individual stock gifts.

Control of Great Britain's 39m smart meters has passed to a non-profit successor, ending a 13-year licence held by Smart DCC, a Capita subsidiary. The network will become a wholly owned subsidiary of the Smart Energy Code Company, with an independent board focused on cost and transparency. The handover follows costly delays, with three in 10 households still without a meter and another £1.7bn potentially needed to complete the rollout.

After holding rates at 3.75% to 4% on Oct. 28, Fed Chairman Kevin Warsh said the bank will keep meeting eight times a year but hold fewer rate-setting votes over the next two years. Next year, one of the eight meetings will not include a rate vote or post-meeting statement, and the following year two will not, leaving six scheduled chances to adjust rates. The change could make borrowers wait longer for costs to respond to economic conditions.

Brent crude fell more than 6.5% to as low as $105.55 a barrel, its lowest since 16 October, after Iran said contacts with the US to end their eight-month war were continuing. Qatari officials had sought to free more than $6bn in Iranian assets to help reopen the Strait of Hormuz. The drop lifted airline shares and cut the 10-year UK bond yield by 10 basis points to its lowest since 22 September.

U.S. manufacturers produced the most goods in five years in October, including plastics, computers and electrical equipment, as a growing economy and artificial intelligence stoked demand. Stubborn inflation remained a big problem, with companies struggling to obtain supplies and deliver goods to customers in a timely manner.

Anthropic filed an amended IPO prospectus showing revenue of $33.24 billion for the nine months ended September 30, up about 1,200% year on year, and a net loss of $104 billion. The company said most of its $80.7 billion first-half loss came from the change in fair value of convertible notes and derivative liabilities. It also disclosed about $895.4 billion of committed spend, substantially all for compute and infrastructure.

Oracle filed Monday plans to issue $10 billion in common stock and $10 billion in senior notes to finance its artificial intelligence buildout. The company said proceeds will be used for general corporate purposes, including capital expenditures, debt repayments and future investments. Shares fell 3% in premarket trading after the fundraising was outlined at its investor day last week. Oracle shares are down 33% in 2026 and 50% in 12 months.

Poundland's former owner Steve Smith said he would invest in the retailer after it filed for administration. Business Minister Kate Dearden is set to meet senior executives later this week. Gordon Brothers, which bought Poundland for 1 pound last year, has stopped funding the business and rejected an offer from Martin Property Group, leaving up to 12,000 jobs at risk.

Empyrean Technology, China's top EDA tools provider, said it will buy a 50.38% stake in Easy Logic Technology for 218.8 million yuan, or $33 million. The Shenzhen based start up develops logic optimisation tools, and Empyrean said the deal would boost its next generation artificial intelligence and 3D IC design capabilities. The acquisition supports Huawei's Tau Scaling Law, which targets performance equivalent to a 1.4 nanometre node by 2031.

Beijing plans to put more than 12,000 hydrogen fuel cell vehicles on its roads and build more than 40 hydrogen refuelling stations by 2030. The city's five-year plan also targets a more than 30% cut in fuel cell vehicle and component costs and aims to replace fossil-fuel hydrogen with green hydrogen. The move is expected to cut annual carbon dioxide emissions by more than 300,000 tonnes as China promotes hydrogen.

Google UK signed an access agreement with the Prospect union, allowing it to organise among about 7,000 UK workers, including YouTube but excluding DeepMind. The deal follows new UK workplace rights and a similar agreement with Meta, which employs about 5,000 people in the UK. It lets unions run sessions at Google sites, including its King's Cross headquarters, and is expected to help unions recruit members in big tech.

Marvell Technology said Monday it will buy optical components maker Lumentum in an all stock deal, with Lumentum shareholders receiving 4.5 Marvell shares for each Lumentum share. The companies said the deal targets optical connectivity for AI infrastructure and is expected to close in the first half of 2028. Marvell's market value has more than tripled over the last three years, while Lumentum's stock has more than doubled in 2026.

Mondelēz International, owner of Cadbury and Toblerone, has asked vegan brand Moo Free to remove its White Choccy Snowballs from shelves, accusing it of infringing the Snowball trademark registered in 2001. Moo Free said it had sold the products for about two years and disputed infringement, saying the demand came just before Christmas.

The row follows Mondelēz legal action against Catherine's Originals over a bar it says copies Toblerone's shape.

SpaceX is reportedly in talks with EchoStar and chairman Charlie Ergen over acquiring or gaining access to Boost Mobile and its network. The move is part of a bid to launch a fourth national wireless carrier and challenge AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile, which have banded together against the SpaceX threat.

Portugal's idealista price index says home prices rose 7.5% in October compared with a year earlier, a new record high, and 1.2% on the quarter. The median price was 3,249 euros per square metre at the end of October. Asking prices rose in all 20 district capitals and autonomous regions analysed, with Lisbon at 6,248 euros per square metre and Castelo Branco cheapest at 1,119 euros.

HKEX plans to extend its after-hours derivatives session to 4.15am from 3am in March 2027, subject to approval, and is considering a further extension to 5.15am by November 2027. It also began accepting Bond Connect securities and Ministry of Finance bonds as non-cash collateral, with seven institutions posting over 400 million yuan ($60 million) on day one.

The moves aim to align Hong Kong hours with the U.S. and Europe and support offshore yuan.

Ibstock, the UK's largest brickmaker, said third-quarter sales fell 22% below expectations and cut output by a fifth as brick market volumes fell 17% in July and August. The company issued its second profit warning this year and now expects full-year profits to be materially below previous expectations. Shares fell as much as 13%, the biggest drop on the London stock market, as the government delays a first-time buyer scheme to April 2027.

OpenAI signed UAE deals across energy, investment and government as it seeks a $20 billion funding round co-led by UAE investors. CEO Sam Altman met Abu Dhabi crown prince Khaled bin Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan. ADNOC, G42, Mubadala, Inception42 and the Abu Dhabi Government signed arrangements to use OpenAI models, including a five-year Inception42 agreement and a government machine-readable policy initiative.

Oil prices fell, with Brent and West Texas Intermediate both down, as Iranian negotiators held talks in Qatar over reopening the Strait of Hormuz. President Donald Trump said negotiations were going fine but kept military options open, while Secretary of State Marco Rubio said no decision had been made on resuming action. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said the strait could reopen in as little as two days if Washington met conditions.

Ryanair reported net profit of €2.15bn for the first half of its financial year, down 15% as unhedged jet fuel prices doubled and fares fell 4%, while passenger numbers rose 6% to 125.8 million. The airline said its fuel bill could rise by around €2bn in the financial year ending March 2028 and is reviewing temporary pay freezes, lower crew ratios and greater use of AI. It also announced an €800m share buyback starting in February 2027.

The People's Bank of China said on Monday it would start a one year swap facility letting institutional investors exchange illiquid assets for liquid ones to buy stocks. 31 institutions have applied for 100 billion yuan, or $15.04 billion, after the Chinese share market's worst decline in almost a decade. The CSI 300 rose on speculation about state support.

Chinese stocks rose after a report that financial regulators were set to discuss support measures with industry participants following a record 12-week sell-off. The CSI 300 closed up 0.8%, while Shanghai's Star 50 rose 3.1%, the most since mid-September. Sinolink Securities and Pacific Securities rose by the 10% daily limit, and Hong Kong stocks gained 0.4%.

Apollo Global Management launched a European private credit platform with more than 10 billion euros, or $11.2 billion, of lending capacity. The European Credit Company will lend to large and mid-market companies and real-asset owners in infrastructure and real estate. Abu Dhabi Investment Council is among backers, with Athora, Norinchukin Bank, Standard Chartered and Aranda Principal Strategies. Apollo said it targets Europe's financing needs.

Europe is seeking critical minerals from Central Asia, while Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan want foreign investment and technology to process minerals locally. Talks at a Tashkent forum covered lithium, tungsten, supply chains and the Middle Corridor. Germany and Kazakhstan endorsed a 2026 to 2028 roadmap, and a German firm is pursuing a potential $500mn lithium project in eastern Kazakhstan.

Ryanair CEO Michael O'Leary warned European airfares could rise by 10% to 20% in 2027 as fuel hedges expire and jet oil prices stay high. The airline expects its fuel bill to be about 2 billion euros higher and is considering cost cuts, including a temporary pay freeze. Profit figures differ: CNBC reported a 15% fall to 2.15 billion euros, while BBC reported pre-tax profit fell 16% to 2.4 billion euros for the six months to September.

BYD and Geely Auto posted their strongest monthly sales of the year in October, with BYD delivering 490,168 cars, up 11% year on year, and Geely delivering 310,183 cars, up 1%. Both companies accelerated their global push, with BYD's October EV sales rising 102.8% and Geely's October deliveries up 157.8%. Analysts said the results increased pressure on smaller Chinese carmakers as domestic sales in the first nine months fell 21.7%.

HSBC said its RedCoin retail stablecoin has attracted 50,000 users since its official launch just over a week ago, its group CEO said at Hong Kong FinTech Week. The Hong Kong dollar-backed coin, one of only two licensed stablecoins in the city, launched in October for more than 3.3 million PayMe users and will later be available to all HSBC and Hang Seng clients. HSBC attributed the uptake to Hong Kong's regulatory environment.

Nine of the biggest listed oil producers are on course to make more than $95bn in the third quarter, following $96bn in the second, as the US-Israel war on Iran pushed prices above $126 a barrel. Saudi Aramco is expected to lead with net income up 7% to $30bn, while BP reported $8.46bn, its biggest since 2008. Refining divisions benefited from higher prices and a supply shortfall after the war hit Hormuz shipments.

South Korea's President Lee Jae Myung unveiled the country's largest ever budget, raising 2027 spending 12.8% to 820.9 trillion won ($610.14 billion). The plan allocates 21.3 trillion won to semiconductors, physical AI and AI data centers, nearly double 2026, plus 4.7 trillion won for a sovereign AI model. It comes as the IMF forecasts 3.3% growth in 2026, with October exports at a record $115.3 billion.

More than 2.3m UK households face higher mortgage payments in 2027 as fixed deals end, with the Bank of England widely expected to raise the base rate from 3.75% to 4% on 5 November. Inflation rose to 3.5% in September, and the OBR warned household disposable incomes would fall 0.6% next year. Mortgage approvals fell to a near three-year low in September, while energy price cap increases are expected in January.

Swire Properties is exploring listing its mainland Chinese commercial assets as C-Reits, CEO Tim Blackburn said. Clearer rules on commercial land-use right renewals and the expansion of the Reits regime to retail properties could help the company move toward an asset-light model. Swire has committed nearly 70% of its HK$100 billion mainland investment plan, financed in part by HK$60 billion raised from selling noncore assets.

Brent crude futures fell 3.31% to $109.67 a barrel and U.S. West Texas Intermediate futures fell 3.34% to $100.64 on Monday as the U.S. and Iran signaled diplomatic options. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said President Trump prefers a peaceful resolution, while Iranian authorities said a deal remained possible after talks mediated by Qatar. The developments matter because concerns over the Middle East and Ukraine conflicts are likely to linger.

A Commons select committee report said Labour has not delivered a coherent China strategy since 2024, leaving businesses unable to plan and security risks unmanaged. The report warned Britain risks having its relationship shaped by Washington or Beijing, and cited the March block of Ming Yang's £1.5bn wind plant in Scotland. MPs acknowledged trade benefits, including low-cost imports and profitable operations in China.

Hong Kong-based WeBank Technology, a fintech unit of Tencent-backed WeBank, generated tens of millions of dollars in revenue last year as demand for digital banking infrastructure rose in Southeast Asia. The unit, established in June 2024 to serve Belt and Road markets, is growing in Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand. In Indonesia, a partner bank's revenue and profit rose fourfold over two years and its customers grew fivefold.

Fairfax Financial Holdings faces opposition over its proposed $5.5 billion takeover of India's IDBI Bank, with workers calling a two-day nationwide strike and Rahul Gandhi backing the unions. Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman said the bank was revived after over 250 billion rupees of recapitalization. The government said the sale of over 60% of IDBI will mark the largest foreign direct investment deal in India's financial sector.

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman made an unannounced visit to South Korea over the weekend, meeting Samsung executives and reportedly holding talks with SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won. Samsung said the discussions covered AI developments, business opportunities and the technology's impact on operations. The trip builds on Stargate partnerships for advanced memory chips and AI data centers, though SK Hynix did not confirm the reported meeting.

China's CSI 300 Index rose 0.3% to 3,997.76 on Monday, rebounding from October's 8.5% fall that put it in a bear market. Speculation grew that Beijing would expand a 300 billion yuan relending facility for share buybacks, with the central bank set to meet regulators to improve the programme. State buyers may have bought at least 170 billion yuan of ETFs in October, while the Nasdaq 100's 3.5% Friday drop may complicate efforts.

Hong Kong's IPO market cooled in the fourth quarter, with only three new listings since October, all closing below offer prices, and two candidates shelving deals. Six companies started bookbuilding on Friday, aiming to raise up to HK$6 billion, as regulators tightened scrutiny of pricing. Industry players said a year end rush by hard tech firms could still help Hong Kong seek a top three global ranking for 2026.

Binance recorded $3.64 billion in net outflows after reopening withdrawals on Sunday following a $6.3 billion hack. The exchange processed $4.65 billion in withdrawals and $1.01 billion in deposits between 6 a.m. and 3:30 p.m. UTC on November 1, a net outflow equal to 2.1% of its $171 billion in assets. It said withdrawals were stabilizing and that it had covered about 95% of the stolen amount, with the remainder in less liquid tokens.