Brent crude futures for December delivery were down 4 cents to $65.99 a barrel by 1037 GMT. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude fell 5 cents to $62.32 a barrel

International News via Reuters:

Oil prices steadied on Wednesday after falling for two days as investors weighed OPEC+ plans for a larger output hike next month while data from the U.S. and Asia showed signs of demand waning.

Brent crude futures for December delivery were down 4 cents to $65.99 a barrel by 1037 GMT. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude fell 5 cents to $62.32 a barrel. Both contracts headed 1% lower earlier in the volatile trading session.

On Monday, Brent and WTI both settled more than 3% lower, their sharpest daily declines since August 1. On Tuesday, they each fell 1.5% further.

Oil has dropped on the market anticipating a similar size OPEC+ production increase in November and U.S. and Asian demand starting to fall, Rystad analyst Janiv Shah said.

“U.S. drawdowns have slowed, so some bullish movement could start to flip,” he added.

The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies, known as OPEC+, could agree to raise oil production by up to 500,000 barrels per day (bpd) in November, triple the increase made for October, as Saudi Arabia seeks to reclaim market share, three sources familiar with the talks said.

However, OPEC wrote in a post on X that media reports of plans to raise output by 500,000 bpd were misleading.

Meanwhile in the U.S., an industry report showed U.S. crude stockpiles fell while gasoline and distillate inventories rose in the week ended September 26, according to market sources citing American Petroleum Institute estimates on Tuesday.

Data on factory activity in Asia, the world’s biggest oil-consuming region, also added to concerns about fuel demand, as manufacturing activity contracted across most major economies in September.

In addition, record U.S. oil production, some caution ahead of the OPEC+ meeting this weekend and a risk off environment due to the U.S. shutdown also played a part, Giovanni Staunovo, an analyst at UBS said.

The U.S. government shut down much of its operations on Wednesday as deep partisan divisions prevented Congress and the White House from reaching a funding deal – which government agencies have warned would halt the release of a closely watched September employment report, amongst other things.

Focus was also shifting to the supply and export disruption in Russia due to continuous and successful Ukrainian assaults, PVM Oil Associates’ analyst Tamas Varga said.

Reporting by Seher Dareen in London, Mohi Narayan in New Delhi; Editing by Christian Schmollinger, Jacqueline Wong, Alexandra Hudson

The agreement, seen as far less punishing than some within the industry had feared, gives hard-hit global drugmakers a degree of clarity after a volatile year

International News via Reuters:

European healthcare stocks jumped on Wednesday, mirroring moves in the United States, propelled by a deal between Pfizer and President Donald Trump to lower prescription drug prices in the Medicaid programme in exchange for tariff relief.

The agreement, seen as far less punishing than some within the industry had feared, gives hard-hit global drugmakers a degree of clarity after a volatile year during which Trump has taken aim at the sector over high U.S. medicine prices.

The Pfizer deal is expected to break the seal for other agreements as companies look to hand Trump pricing wins in return for lower tariffs on their drugs to enter the huge U.S. market.

“We expect EU pharma to follow suit and negotiate with the Trump administration for exemptions,” said Lucy Coutts, Investment Director at wealth managers JM Finn, which holds shares in GSK, AstraZeneca, Roche and Novo Nordisk.

She said this would likely be in the form of investment in U.S. manufacturing and participation in TrumpRX, a website being launched by Trump for Americans to buy drugs at a discount.

SHOT IN THE ARM FOR PHARMACEUTICAL SHARES

Trump sent letters to 17 leading drug companies in July telling them to slash prices to match those paid overseas. He asked them to respond with binding commitments by September 29. Pfizer is the first drugmaker to announce a deal.

U.S. patients currently pay far more for prescription medicines, often nearly three times more than in other developed nations, and Trump has been pressuring drugmakers to lower their prices to what patients pay elsewhere.

On Wednesday, Europe’s healthcare sector index cheered the move, rising 2.8%, which, if sustained, would be its biggest daily percentage gain since April. The index is down 2.9% so far this year.

Pharmaceutical companies and their suppliers – many of which have business in the United States – surged, topping Europe’s STOXX 600 index.

Ambu rose 10%, Sartorius 7.4%, and Merck, Roche and AstraZeneca all climbed around 5%. Novo Nordisk and Novartis gained 3.7% and 2.3%, respectively.

Pfizer shares had risen 7% on Tuesday in the United States, while other U.S. pharma stocks also gained.

Shore Capital analyst Sean Conroy said clarity was beginning to emerge on the potential impact of the Trump administration’s “most-favoured-nation” drug pricing proposal and things looked “far less draconian than feared”.

COMPANIES IN ‘CONSTRUCTIVE’ TALKS WITH US ADMINISTRATION

Britain’s GSK, maker of HIV drugs and vaccines, said it was having constructive conversations with the Trump administration over drug pricing. Germany’s Merck KGaA, which makes cancer drugs, said similar.

Roche said that it and its U.S. unit Genentech remain committed to working with the Trump administration towards strengthening American manufacturing and making medicines more affordable for patients in the United States.

Novo Nordisk, the Danish firm that makes the Wegovy weight-loss injection, said it is engaged in discussions with the Trump administration over the “most-favoured-nation” executive order.

Novartis said it remained committed to finding constructive solutions that lower costs for Americans and address price disparities between the U.S. and other high-income countries.

Berenberg analysts estimated that a 50% reduction in Medicaid sales, which account for about 3% of large pharma revenues, would hit sector earnings per share by an average of 4%, with the biggest impact at GSK at around 7% and the smallest at Pfizer at about 1%.

“We believe that now if the companies are investing in the U.S. they should be on the safe side,” Bernstein analyst Florent Cespedes told Reuters, adding that European firms have announced some $200 billion in U.S. investments.

Angelo Meda, head of equities at Banor SIM in Milan, said 2025 was meant to have been a year of expansion for drugmakers, but this had been hit by tariffs. The deal was a relief.

“Any positive news on that front can breathe new life into a sector that is currently trading at relative lows compared to the broader market,” he said.

Reporting by Alun John in London, Danilo Masoni in Milan, Dimitri Rhodes in Gdansk and Maggie Fick. Additional reporting by Dave Graham, Patricia Weiss; Writing by Adam Jourdan; Editing by Amanda Cooper, Mark Potter and Ros Russell

Between January and September, sales of Tesla cars in Spain increased 9.5% from the same period a year earlier

International News via Reuters:

Tesla’s new car sales in Spain rose 3.4% in September from the same month in 2024 to 2,992 vehicles, registration data released by industry group ANFAC showed on Wednesday.

Between January and September, sales of Tesla cars in Spain increased 9.5% from the same period a year earlier, while total sales of electrified vehicles, a category that includes both fully electric vehicles and hybrids, grew by 98%.

Reporting by Javi West Larrañaga; Editing by Emma Pinedo

Euro zone manufacturing slipped back into contraction as new orders fell at their fastest rate in six months

International News via Reuters:

Factory activity shrank in much of the world last month, private surveys showed on Wednesday, as signs of a slowdown in U.S. growth and the anticipated impact of President Donald Trump’s tariffs added to pressure from weak Chinese demand.

Euro zone manufacturing slipped back into contraction as new orders fell at their fastest rate in six months, with export markets acting as a particular drag, signalling that the recovery in the region’s industrial sector was fragile.

The HCOB Eurozone Manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI), compiled by S&P Global, fell to 49.8 in September from August’s 50.7, which was the first reading above the 50.0-point line denoting growth since mid-2022.

“The drop in the PMI is showing up across the board, with respective figures for consumer goods, capital goods and intermediate goods all down on the month,” said Cyrus de la Rubia, chief economist at Hamburg Commercial Bank.

Surveys revealed a split across the currency union with the Netherlands leading the expansion with activity at a 38-month high while growth continued in Greece, Ireland and Spain. Meanwhile, the bloc’s three largest economies – Germany, France and Italy – all registered contractions.

In Britain, outside the European Union, activity shrank at the fastest pace in five months, reflecting subdued domestic demand and fewer export orders, painting a more downbeat picture than recent official data.

In Asia, the stress on manufacturers highlights the challenge policymakers face in protecting their export-reliant region from higher U.S. levies, a key policy of the Trump administration that has upended the global trade order and put the brakes on economic growth.

Export powerhouse Japan and global tech hub Taiwan saw manufacturing activity shrink in September, the surveys showed, leaving businesses in Asia – heavily dependent on the U.S. market – on a fragile footing.

Worryingly, China, a key engine of the global economy, also remained in the doldrums.

An official survey released on Monday showed manufacturing activity in the world’s second-biggest economy contracted for a sixth month in September, dragged down by weak consumption and the squeeze from U.S. tariffs.

The prolonged slump underlines the twin pressures on China’s economy: Domestic demand has failed to mount a durable recovery in the years since the coronavirus pandemic, while Trump’s tariffs have squeezed Chinese factories as well as overseas firms that buy components.

“The September PMI readings for most countries in Asia remained weak and we continue to expect manufacturing activity in the region to struggle in the near term,” said Shivaan Tandon, emerging markets economist at Capital Economics. 

“With growth set to soften and inflation likely to remain contained, we expect central banks in Asia to loosen policy further.”

 The S&P Global Japan Manufacturing PMI fell to 48.5 in September from 49.7 in August, staying below the 50.0 threshold. It shrank at the fastest pace in six months due to steep falls in output and new orders, the survey showed.

Taiwan’s manufacturing PMI fell to 46.8 last month. Factory activity also shrank in the Philippines and Malaysia, the private surveys showed.

By contrast, South Korea’s factory activity expanded for the first time in eight months underpinned by improving overseas demand. The manufacturing PMI in Asia’s fourth-largest economy, released by S&P Global, rose to 50.7 in September, moving above the 50-mark for the first time since January 2025.

The outlook for South Korea’s exporters, however, hinges on negotiations to formalise a July deal aimed at reducing U.S. tariffs on Korean goods imports including automobiles to 15% from 25% in return for South Korea’s investment of $350 billion in the U.S. The talks have stalled due to Seoul’s concerns over foreign exchange implications.

India’s manufacturing sector expansion lost some momentum and slipped to its weakest pace in four months, suggesting Washington’s punitive 50% tariffs on its goods could be starting to hurt Asia’s third-largest economy.

Reporting by Jonathan Cable and Leika Kihara; Editing by Hugh Lawson, Shri Navaratnam and Lincoln Feast

Teams worked through the night to rescue some 362 people and pump water from buildings

International News via Reuters:

Flash floods in Ukraine’s Odesa killed nine people including a family of five trapped in their home as it was engulfed by water, emergency services said on Wednesday, as torrential rain left hundreds in need of rescue and thousands without power.

Teams worked through the night to rescue some 362 people and pump water from buildings, the service said on the Telegram messaging app, and it posted pictures of passengers being lifted from a flooded bus and cars pulled from the water.

“A horrific situation in Odesa these days – 9 people have died as a result of the natural disaster, including a child,” President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on X platform.

He added that the whereabouts of one more person were still being verified.

A family of five who lived in lower ground floor flat of a building was unable to escape the wave of water, the emergency service’s spokesperson for the Odesa region Maryna Averina told Ukrainian television.

Another three women died as they were walking along a road and were swept away, Averina added.

“In just seven hours, almost two months’ worth of rain fell in Odesa,” Mayor Hennadiy Trukhanov said on Telegram earlier. “No stormwater drainage system can withstand such a load.” 

Governor Oleh Kiper said the region was now suffering from torrential rainfall for a second day, which had flooded roads, caused power outages, damaged property and brought down trees.

Over 500 workers were involved in the rescue effort, he said. He added 42,000 customers in 32 villages and towns in the region were still temporarily without power.

Zelenskiy said he instructed his deputy prime minister to conduct a full review of operations in Odesa.

Reporting by Lidia Kelly and Anna Pruchnicka; Editing by Kim Coghill, Clarence Fernandez, Alexandra Hudson

The shallow quake struck late on Tuesday off the coast of the island of Cebu, cutting power and damaging buildings

International News via Reuters:

The death toll from a 6.9-magnitude earthquake that hit the central Philippines rose to 69 on Wednesday, a disaster official said, as authorities mounted a rescue effort to find survivors after one of the country’s strongest quakes in a decade.

The shallow quake struck late on Tuesday off the coast of the island of Cebu, cutting power and damaging buildings. It was not immediately clear how many people were missing. 

The death toll was 69 as of Wednesday late morning said Jane Abapo of the regional Civil Defense office, citing data from the provincial disaster agency that was subject to validation. 

The national disaster agency earlier said the toll could be as high as 60, with 150 reported injured. 

The hospital in Bogo City near the epicentre of the quake was “overwhelmed”, Civil Defense official Raffy Alejandro told reporters. 

The Philippine coast guard deployed a vessel carrying dozens of doctors, nurses and other medical personnel bound for Bogo, while President Ferdinand Marcos Jr assured survivors of swift assistance, with cabinet secretaries on the ground directing relief operations. 

“We are assessing the damage, we are assessing the needs,” Marcos told reporters after distributing aid in Masbate, an island recovering from the impact of Super typhoon Ragasa last week.  

Mariano Martinez, the mayor of San Remigio municipality close to Bogo, said there were 11 casualties in the area, with victims as young as 12 and the death toll expected to climb.

“Our first main problem is finding the casualties, identifying people who needs help”, he told DZMM radio, adding many homes had suffered damage.  

RING OF FIRE

Earthquake monitoring agencies put the quake’s depth at around 10 km (6.2 miles) and recorded multiple aftershocks, the strongest having a magnitude of 6. There was no tsunami threat following the quake.

The Philippines lies in the Pacific “Ring of Fire,” where volcanic activity and earthquakes are common. The country had two major earthquakes in January, with no casualties reported.

In 2023, a 6.7 magnitude offshore earthquake killed eight people. 

San Remigio Vice Mayor Alfie Reynes said among those killed were people who were playing basketball in a sports complex when it partially collapsed. 

She appealed for food and water for evacuees, as well as heavy equipment to aid search and rescue workers. 

“It is raining heavily and there is no electricity so we really need help, especially in the northern part because there’s a scarcity of water after supply lines were damaged by the earthquake,” Reynes said.

Local media posted videos of people rushing out of their homes as the ground shook and buildings collapsed, including a church that was more than 100 years old.  

Cebu, one of the Philippines’ most popular tourist destinations, is home to 3.4 million people. It was not immediately clear the extent of the damage in other areas of the island.

The Mactan-Cebu International Airport, the country’s second busiest gateway, remained operational.

Philippine seismology agency Phivolcs said close to 800 aftershocks have been recorded and warned affected areas to expect more tremors in the coming days, although their strength is expected to gradually diminish.

It reported tremors as far south as Zamboanga del Norte, 330 km  (205 miles) away. 

In the town of Pilar, resident Archel Coraza said most of his family were asleep when their house began to shake violently.

“I woke them up and we all rushed outside into the street,” he told DZMM.  

Reporting by Adrian Portugal and Eloisa Lopez in Cebu and Mikhail Flores in Manila; Reporting and Writing by Karen Lema; Editing by John Mair, Martin Petty