How Many Palestinians Has Israel's Gaza Offensive Killed?

Source: AP

What happened last week

Markets in focus

as of 4 Oct 2025. Past performance is not a reliable indicator of future performance.

as of 3 Oct 2025. Past performance is not a reliable indicator of future performance.

as of 3 Oct 2025. Past performance is not a reliable indicator of future performance.

The week ahead

Source: ig

J.P. Morgan upgraded its stance on the euro zone to "overweight" from "neutral" on Monday, noting that the equities in the region have become more attractive after several months of underperformance and policy support.

"The time is coming up to turn bullish on Eurozone equities," J.P. Morgan strategists, led by Mislav Matejka said.Euro Stoxx 50 (.STOXX50), has trailed the S&P 500 (.SPX), by nearly 18% since a strong first-quarter rally, but this relative underperformance could be used as a buying opportunity, Matejka said.The strategists noted that with relatively cheaper valuations than their U.S. counterparts, and potential catalysts such as German stimulus, and improving euro zone credit impulse, could renew sentiment in the region.

The 15% tariff on European Union goods has also put to rest one of the major overhangs on the region's equities, J.P. Morgan said.

The brokerage retained its positive stance on European defense stocks, as it expects capital expenditure to be constructive and boost parts of industrials, construction materials and utilities.

While the uncertainty in France could create an overhang, Matejka said, "We would use the weakness to buy, as we believe that any pressure will not be long-lasting."

The potential uptick in earnings and rise in share buybacks could also help underpin the euro zone's more optimistic outlook heading into next year.

The Wall Street brokerage reiterated its year-end target of 5,800 for the Euro Stoxx 50. The index is up 10.4% year-to-date, according LSEG data.

Source: Kitco

Last year Kemi Badenoch entered the Conservative Party conference competing with three of her Tory rivals for the leadership. As winner of that contest, this time around she confronts a more formidable foe: irrelevance.Since losing two-thirds of its seats in last year’s general election, dire poll ratings and defections have humbled the once-dominant party of UK government. If a vote were held today, a recent opinion survey showed, they’d collapse to fourth, trailing Nigel Farage’s Reform UK Party, the governing Labour Party, and the Liberal Democrats.

Rebuilding after 2024’s ballot-box rejection was always going to test Rishi Sunak’s successor. But doubts over Badenoch’s ability to lead the fightback mean she still has to guard against the mutinous instincts that led her party to cycle through five leaders in a decade.Should pollsters’ predictions hold at May’s local elections — her next test at the ballot box — many in the shadow cabinet speculate she will be replaced soon after, according to those who spoke to Bloomberg, asking for anonymity to share their views freely.

If rivals lack a greater zeal to depose her ahead of that, it’s because of skepticism that it would make any difference. Speaking before this year’s conference in Manchester, which got under way on Sunday, several of Badenoch’s colleagues voiced the concern that voters may be unlikely to return to them after just one term out of office.The next election isn’t due until 2029 and competing ever more successfully for former Conservative voters’ attention is Reform, which has succeeded in monopolizing the right-wing of British politics far more adeptly than its five parliamentary seats would suggest. That number had been four before a defection from the Conservatives.

In recent weeks, Labour Party Prime Minister Keir Starmer has sought to cast the next election as a head-to-head between his party and Reform. If voters buy into his framing, the Tories will find it harder to turn around their dire opinion-poll ratings.In interviews on the opening day of the conference, Badenoch — the first woman from an ethnic minority — to lead the party of Winston Churchill and Margaret Thatcher — urged patience on her colleagues. “The election is not tomorrow,” she told the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg. “Nothing good comes quickly or fast. And it will pay off,” she said, insisting she had a plan.

Her party came out with hard lines on migration, which has eclipsed the economy in recent polls of voter concerns. She pledged to annually deport 150,000 people “who shouldn’t be here,” while declining to elaborate where they will go.Tomorrow in his speech, Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer Mel Stride will identify what he says are £47 billion ($63 billion) of potential budget cuts, with almost half of that made up from slashing the welfare bill. Another £7 billion would be hacked off the foreign aid budget — almost half of current spending in an area that’s already suffered cuts to 0.5% of economic output from 0.7%.

The party’s challenge will be convincing voters it can tackle problems that went unaddressed over a 14-year stretch in government.

Labour Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood said the Tories had “suddenly discovered a zeal for reform that they did not have when they were in office,” pointing to their failure to enforce secure borders: migrant crossings in small boats from France were virtually non existent in 2017, but had soared to more than 45,000 a year by 2022. Meanwhile, an effort to deport arrivals to Rwanda never got off the ground. It’s an issue Labour, too, are struggling to deal with.Several of Badenoch’s colleagues — both in her cabinet and the back benches — said they fear more high-profile defections to Reform, which has already claimed Tory former cabinet ministers in Nadine Dorries and Jake Berry. In her interview Kemi denigrated the insurgent right-wing party as a “one-man band.”

If Badenoch were challenged for the leadership of her party, erstwhile rival Robert Jenrick is a frontrunner but four of his colleagues voiced skepticism that he will do better against Farage. He’ll be Farage-lite, one said: and voters who want that kind of politics will just vote for the Reform leader himself.The other candidate on the up is Katie Lam, the 33-year old Goldman Sachs alumnus who is also on the right on immigration but — having won election in 2024 — has the advantage of not being associated with the old guard.

Some party centrists believe there to be an opportunity for a leader who can tack against the Tories’ current rightward shift and pivot back toward the center-ground to take advantage of Labour’s own collapse. There are also Liberal Democrat voters to be won back there: Ed Davey’s party took 60 seats off the Conservatives last year, and recent polls suggest they can win more next time around.

“Polls are not elections,” Badenoch said in her interview. Hers is not the only UK party nervously repeating this mantra.

Source: Bloomberg Europe

Consumer concerns about inflation have fallen to their lowest level in nearly three years, according to Morgan Stanley’s latest U.S. Consumer Pulse Survey, even as analysts warn that tariffs could still lead to future price pressures.

In the bank’s 69th monthly survey of around 2,000 consumers conducted between Sept. 25 and 29, 56% of respondents cited inflation as their top concern, down from 60% in August and 63% a year earlier.

“While inflation remains the number one concern for consumers over the next 12 months, the proportion of consumers reporting it as their primary concern has dropped to the lowest level since 2022,” Morgan Stanley said.

The firm cautioned that the improvement might be premature. “Tariff price pass-through is likely not yet complete,” analysts wrote, noting that more than two-thirds of affected firms have yet to raise prices or expect further increases.

The bank’s analysis of corporate transcripts also found that companies are “increasingly discussing flexing pricing power to mitigate the impact of tariffs.”

Consumer sentiment toward the economy and household finances has also improved.

Morgan Stanley said thirty-six percent of respondents expect the economy to improve over the next six months, up from 33% last month, while those expecting conditions to worsen fell to 46% from 49%.

Morgan Stanley said this marks a “notable improvement from -16% last month,” though confidence remains below January highs.

The survey also highlighted the growing role of inheritance in household finances, with 17% of consumers having received one and 14% expecting to.

Morgan Stanley said inheritances are “primarily used for savings, retirement, or investments,” underscoring their link to long-term financial security.

Source: Yahoo Finance