Flash News

TREE NEWS reports: At Friday’s New York close, S&P 500 futures settled down 0.36% and Dow futures fell 1.13%, while Nasdaq 100 futures gained 0.16%. Russell 2000 futures slipped 0.21%.

TREE NEWS update: China launched the Yaogan-53 07-09 and Yaogan-56 19-21 satellites into their planned orbits at 3:25 a.m. on October 24 from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, using a Long March 4B rocket. The satellites are mainly intended for scientific experiments, land resource surveys, crop yield estimation and disaster prevention and mitigation. The mission was the 673rd flight of the Long March rocket series.

TREE NEWS reports: FTSE China A50 index futures closed down 0.37% in the continuous night session, settling at 12,991 points. The move reflects overnight positioning in the offshore contract tracking the 50 largest A-share companies.

TREE NEWS update: The foreign ministers of Turkey, Egypt, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia issued a joint statement after meeting in Istanbul on the evening of Oct. 23, calling Israel’s occupation the root cause of instability in and beyond the region. They urged early implementation of the two-state solution under UN resolutions, supporting an independent, sovereign Palestinian state based on the 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital, and agreed to maintain close consultations on Palestine, Yemen and Strait of Hormuz navigation.

TREE NEWS update: Fitch Ratings maintained Ukraine’s sovereign credit rating at ‘CCC’, citing expectations that the Russia-Ukraine conflict will persist until 2027 amid weak ceasefire momentum. The agency said Ukraine will continue to run large fiscal deficits due to weak domestic revenue capacity. Following the December 2025 GDP warrant restructuring, Ukraine’s near-term external debt redemption profile is manageable.

TREE NEWS update: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on the 23rd that security guarantees are the “core element” of Ukraine’s negotiations and “must be truly reliable,” speaking at an online event hosted by the Hudson Institute. About 9.5 million Ukrainian citizens are abroad, or 20% to 25% of the population, since the full-scale conflict began, he said, adding that millions have lost their lives, homes and jobs.

TREE NEWS update: French Finance Minister Roland Lescure said he noted Moody’s decision to keep France’s credit rating unchanged, calling it an acknowledgment of the French economy’s resilience. The statement gave no further detail on the rating level or outlook. The decision removes, for now, the threat of a downgrade to Europe’s second-largest economy.

TREE NEWS update: A magnitude 4.4 earthquake struck off the coast of Hualien County, Taiwan, at 04:48 on October 24, according to an automatic determination by the China Earthquake Networks Center. The epicenter was located at 23.86 degrees north latitude and 121.91 degrees east longitude. The final results are subject to the official rapid report.

TREE NEWS reports: Moody’s expects France’s budget deficit to reach 5.2% of GDP in 2027, exceeding the European Union’s fiscal rule capping deficits at 3% of GDP. The projection puts France’s public finances on a path that would breach the bloc’s fiscal framework.

TREE NEWS reports: Emerging-market stocks fell for a fourth consecutive week on Friday as oil prices jumped to $117 a barrel, heightening fears of interest-rate hikes. Most developing-nation currencies weakened against the dollar, with South Africa’s rand, Chile’s peso and Poland’s zloty the worst performers. Brazil’s real bucked the trend, gaining 1.3% against the dollar and breaking through the 5-per-dollar level to become the best-performing emerging-market currency.

TREE NEWS update: Venezuela’s crude oil production has reached 1.252 million barrels per day, the country’s highest level in months, Oil Minister Héctor Obregón said during a visit to the Nabepp oil field in Zulia state. Obregón was accompanied by Nabepp CEO Alejandro Betancur and a U.S. government delegation, with PDVSA and U.S. officials inspecting the Bachaquero field.

TREE NEWS reports: The Dow Jones ETF closed down 1.24% on Friday, Oct. 23, leading losses among major U.S. asset-class ETFs. The S&P 500 ETF fell 0.52%, the Nasdaq 100 ETF slipped at most 0.18%, and the gold ETF dropped 0.65%. The United States Brent Oil Fund gained 3.02%, while the emerging markets ETF rose 0.47% and the dollar-bullish index added 0.21%.

TREE NEWS reports: Consumer staples was the worst-performing of the S&P 500’s 11 sectors, closing down 1.83%, while consumer discretionary, telecom, financials, industrials and health care fell by as much as 1.39%. Information technology and energy moved against the trend, gaining 0.35% and 2.51% respectively.

TREE NEWS update: Colombia’s state oil company Ecopetrol said it expects third-quarter net profit of 4 trillion to 5 trillion pesos. The forecast gives investors an early look at the company’s earnings ahead of its formal quarterly results. No further details on the drivers behind the estimate were provided.

TREE NEWS update: China’s deputy permanent representative to the UN, Sun Lei, called on the International Atomic Energy Agency to halt its review of Iran’s nuclear issue during a UN General Assembly session on the IAEA’s annual report on Sept. 23. Sun said the IAEA should maintain an objective and impartial stance and act strictly within its mandate, while Iran’s nuclear dispute must ultimately be resolved through diplomacy, as military force and sanctions only escalate tensions.

TREE NEWS reports: Most US sector ETFs declined on Friday, Oct. 23, with the global airline ETF falling 2.5% and consumer discretionary, financials, industrials and healthcare ETFs dropping as much as 1.66%. The technology sector ETF gained 0.49%, the semiconductor ETF rose 0.74% and the energy ETF climbed 2.6%. Year to date in 2026, the energy ETF is up 58.14% and the semiconductor ETF up 46.39%, while the airline ETF is down 7.02%.

TREE NEWS reports: The iShares National Muni Bond ETF closed up 0.18% at $103.43, approaching its Sept. 8 close of $103.73. The fund gained 1.06% for the week, marking its fourth consecutive weekly advance.

TREE NEWS reports: US bank deposits totaled $19.810 trillion in the week ended last week, up from $19.772 trillion the prior week. The $38 billion weekly increase marks a modest rise in deposit levels across the banking system.

TREE NEWS update: S&P affirmed Greece’s long-term sovereign credit rating at BBB and its short-term rating at A-2, keeping a stable outlook on both. The affirmation leaves the country’s investment-grade standing unchanged. No further details were disclosed.

TREE NEWS update: US President Donald Trump said he called Google CEO Sundar Pichai and asked him to rename the Atlantic Ocean “American Ocean” and the Strait of Hormuz “Trump Strait.” Trump recounted that Pichai refused, saying he could not rename oceans, and Trump then said he was only joking. The remarks were made in a public speech; no date or location was given.