Flash News

TREE NEWS update: Ukraine’s energy minister said Russia destroyed a key energy facility in Kyiv. The minister gave no further details on the extent of the damage or the type of infrastructure hit. The strike adds to mounting pressure on Ukraine’s power grid as Russia continues targeting energy infrastructure.

TREE NEWS update: European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde told euro-area finance ministers at the Eurogroup that the central bank is monitoring markets, saying the ECB has the tools to control unsupported market dynamics. She gave no further detail on which instruments might be used or which markets were under scrutiny.

TREE NEWS update: The Trump administration announced a science initiative totaling more than $6 billion, funded by federal agencies, companies, academia and philanthropies. Under the Genesis Mission consortium, Nvidia, AMD, OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, AWS and Micron will provide a combined $2.4 billion in superintelligence tools and compute credits, with Nvidia committing $1 billion, AMD $500 million and OpenAI $200 million. The plan also includes $1.8 billion for NIH, DOE and Biohub virtual biology projects, a $215 million quantum competition, and a NASA-DOE nuclear reactor mission to Mars targeted for 2028.

TREE NEWS update: US President Donald Trump said he will not strike Iran before the US midterm elections. The statement sets a timeline for any potential US military action against Iran, tying it to the country’s election calendar. No further details were given.

TREE NEWS update: Federal Reserve Chair Warsh will deliver remarks at the International Monetary Fund on October 16. The appearance is set for local time on that date. No further details on the topic of the speech were provided in the schedule.

TREE NEWS update: US President Donald Trump said in a Truth Social post that the White House will regard anyone who uses the term ‘Artificial Intelligence’ instead of the ‘highly accepted and more accurate’ new term ‘Super Intelligence’ as an enemy. Trump had previously proposed renaming AI to ‘Super Intelligence’.

TREE NEWS update: Portugal plans further tax cuts and higher pensions in its 2027 budget while keeping a small fiscal surplus. The plan includes lower personal and corporate income taxes and housing tax relief, with pensions raised under Portugal’s standard adjustment mechanism. The government expects a 2027 budget surplus of 0.1% of GDP and public debt falling to 84.5% of GDP from 87.5% this year.

TREE NEWS reports: Vishal Khanduja of Morgan Stanley Investment Management has turned bullish on US Treasuries for the first time in ten years, as yields hit 20-year highs and begin to weigh on economic growth. Khanduja, who co-manages the $4.1 billion Eaton Vance Total Return Bond Fund with Brian Ellis, lifted the fund’s duration to 6.07 years as of June, above the 5.8-year benchmark duration of the Bloomberg US Aggregate Bond Index.

TREE NEWS reports: UK 10-year gilt yields rose 3.8 basis points to 5.480% on Thursday, touching 5.521% intraday and approaching the 2007 third-quarter peak of 5.564%. Two-year yields gained 6.1 bps to 4.913%, while 30-year yields added 1.3 bps to 5.992% after hitting 6.045%, near the 1998 first-quarter high of 6.258%. The 2s/10s spread fell 2.672 bps to +56.532 bps.

TREE NEWS update: NASA and the US Department of Energy have signed a memorandum of understanding to develop nuclear energy for space. The agreement covers cooperation between the two federal agencies on space nuclear power development. No financial terms or specific programs were disclosed.

TREE NEWS update: US Central Command said Iran has been unable to export any oil because of what it described as an ironclad blockade of Iranian ports by the United States. The statement, issued by the US military command responsible for the Middle East, gave no further details on the scope, timing or enforcement of the blockade.

TREE NEWS reports: Freddie Mac said the US 30-year fixed mortgage rate rose to 7.4% last week, up from 7.28% a week earlier — a seventh consecutive weekly increase and the highest level since at least November 2023. The benchmark home-loan rate has now climbed for seven straight weeks.

TREE NEWS update: Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney pledged C$2 billion to retrofit one million homes for energy efficiency, a programme expected to save Canadians C$1 billion a year in energy costs. The plan includes subsidies of up to C$10,000 for heat pumps.

TREE NEWS reports: Bitcoin fell below $81,000, touching a near three-week low, while oil prices rose on reports that a military confrontation between the US and Iran could resume. The move came as traders priced renewed geopolitical risk into both crypto and energy markets.

TREE NEWS update: The commander of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said no outside power has the right to threaten or interfere in the Strait of Hormuz or the Persian Gulf. The statement concerns the strategic waterway through which a large share of global seaborne oil passes. No further details were provided.

TREE NEWS reports: The S&P 500 energy sector climbed 3.1% intraday, its largest single-session advance since August 10. The move marks the sector’s strongest intraday performance in months, with all figures as reported.

TREE NEWS update: The European Union said its gas system is prepared to handle the winter season even though storage levels remain low. The assessment, issued by the bloc, points to the system’s capacity to meet seasonal demand. No further figures or measures were provided.

TREE NEWS reports: Airbus recorded 17 gross aircraft orders in September and a net order total of 1,105 aircraft for the first nine months of the year. The planemaker delivered 72 aircraft in September, bringing cumulative deliveries for January-September to 547.

TREE NEWS reports: In late European trading on Thursday, October 8, ICE UK natural gas futures fell 0.95% and the TTF benchmark Dutch natural gas contract slipped 0.45%. ICE EU carbon allowance futures moved the other way, gaining 1.78%.

TREE NEWS update: South Korea’s foreign ministry said on the 8th that the country has decided to recall its ambassador to Ukraine. The ministry said the government expects outstanding issues between Seoul and Kyiv to be properly resolved and will continue consultations with the Ukrainian side to that end.