Brazil heads to an October 25 presidential runoff after Flávio Bolsonaro edged ahead of President Lula in the first round, a result investors read as a fiscal turning point for the real. Tokyo’s Nikkei climbed back above 70,000 as softer US jobs data cooled bets on a Federal Reserve rate hike, while Brent held near $102 a barrel and Spain waits to hear whether Pedro Sánchez will call a snap election.

Spain

Sánchez weighs a November 29 snap election as Spain enters a fourth year without a new budget. Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez is considering an early general election after Congress rejected his housing decrees; under electoral law, a decree published in the official gazette on Tuesday, October 6, would make November 29 the first possible date. Spain is still running on the rolled-over 2023 budget, and an Infobae analysis finds public spending has nonetheless grown 19% over the period through repeated budget modifications, so an election would further delay a new fiscal plan and new tax or housing measures. (Infobae, elEconomista, Moncloa.com)

New rules oblige employers to give workers far more detail on pay and conditions from today. From Monday, October 5, companies must tell employees in writing about items such as base salary and each pay supplement separately, working-time arrangements, training rights and any algorithms used to decide pay, promotion or dismissal, under a royal decree that transposes an EU directive on transparent working conditions. The obligations cover both new hires and existing staff, giving workers a clearer view of how their wages are built. (EFE / Infobae, Ashurst Perkins Coie, Economist & Jurist)

Catalonia

Commuters face a partial Rodalies service on Monday after the storm. Renfe said full commuter rail service could not resume on Monday, with buses replacing trains on parts of the R1, R2 Nord, R4 and R11 and along the whole of the R7 and R8, while Adif kept pumping water out of the flooded tunnel at Barcelona’s Plaça Catalunya. Southern lines such as the R2 Sud, R15 and R16 were running normally; the disruption means another day of longer journeys for workers and lost hours for businesses in the Barcelona area. (VilaWeb, Europa Press / Infobae, El Nacional)

Storm grounded 385 flights at El Prat as businesses tally losses. Barcelona-El Prat airport cancelled 220 flights on Saturday and 165 on Sunday because of the heavy rain. The nightlife employers’ association Fecalon says the closure ordered by Civil Protection on Saturday night cost the sector about €4 million and is asking the Generalitat for tax relief and compensation; no official estimate of total storm damage has been published yet. (Europa Press / Infobae, elEconomista, Crónica Global)

France

Schneider Electric nears a deal of about $20 billion for US software maker PTC. The French electrical-equipment group is close to buying Boston-based PTC in an all-cash deal valued at around $20 billion, according to a Financial Times report on Sunday that was also reported by Reuters and Bloomberg, with an announcement possible as soon as Monday. Neither company has confirmed the talks; PTC is currently valued at about $15.6 billion on the stock market, and the purchase would deepen Schneider’s push into industrial software. (Reuters / Global Banking & Finance, Bloomberg, Investing.com)

United Kingdom

Borrowing costs near 30-year highs set the tone for the run-up to the October 28 Budget. Long-term UK government bond yields rose above 6% last week for the first time since 1998, raising the cost of servicing the national debt and putting pressure on mortgage pricing. With diesel at a record of about £2 a litre, the Chancellor faces calls for fuel tax relief but higher interest bills leave less room to spend. (Bloomberg, PA / Yahoo Finance UK, RAC)

Germany

Government set to raise its growth forecast sharply on Thursday. Economy Minister Katherina Reiche presents the autumn projection on October 8; draft figures reported by Reuters and Handelsblatt point to growth of 1.3% in 2026, up from 0.5% in the spring, and 1.1% in 2027. The upgrade rests mainly on debt-financed spending on infrastructure and defence, which supports jobs but also adds to inflation pressure at a time of high energy prices. (Reuters / Investing.com, Handelsblatt)

Italy

Diesel tax discount expires today, replaced by a floating excise system. The government’s 6.1-cent-per-litre cut in diesel excise duty ends on Monday, October 5, and is replaced by a “mobile” excise mechanism that adjusts the tax with market prices, which consumer groups warn could push pump prices up. Diesel averages about €2.24 a litre, roughly 52 cents more than before the Iran conflict, and the consumer association Adusbef estimates higher fuel prices cost Italian drivers about €4.7 billion between March and August. (ANSA, QN, ANSA (prices))

Portugal

2027 budget due this week with passage already assured. The government is set to submit its 2027 State Budget to parliament on Friday, October 9, and the opposition Socialist Party has said it will abstain, which guarantees approval. The Finance Ministry expects a small surplus again in 2027 after a near-balanced 2026, while the Bank of Portugal publishes updated growth forecasts on Wednesday. (ECO, RTP, Jornal Económico)

United States

Stocks face 24-year-high bond yields ahead of Wednesday’s Fed minutes. The 10-year Treasury yield touched 5.34% last week, the highest since 2002, and 30-year mortgage rates rose above 7%, making home loans and other borrowing dearer. Investors will look to the minutes of the Federal Reserve’s September meeting on Wednesday for clues on whether a rate hike is still possible this year, after Friday’s weak jobs report lowered the odds of an October move. (Reuters / Business Recorder, Quartz / Yahoo Finance, Fox Business)

G7 reserve release aims to bring down record diesel prices. G7 countries agreed on Friday to release 100 million barrels of crude oil and fuel products from emergency stocks, with most of the diesel coming in the first 20 days and the rest over four months. US diesel averaged $6.37 a gallon on Friday after a record $6.52 on September 22; an analyst quoted by AP said the release could cut diesel prices by 25 to 50 cents a gallon within weeks, which would ease freight and delivery costs. (AP / BNN Bloomberg, NPR)

Canada

Ontario pump prices jump about 14 cents a litre over the weekend. Regular gasoline rose to around $1.90 a litre in Ottawa and about 192 cents in the Toronto area after a two-day increase of roughly 14 cents, local media reported. The federal suspension of fuel excise tax has been extended to January 31, 2027, and the September jobs report on Friday will show how the energy shock is affecting hiring. (CTV News, CBC, CP24)

Mexico

Peso posts its worst week since March. The peso ended Friday at about 18.15 per dollar despite a 0.7% rebound after the weak US jobs report, leaving it down roughly 2.6% to 2.8% on the week after four straight losing sessions. A weaker peso makes imported goods and dollar debts dearer, at a time when the Finance Ministry is trimming the petrol tax subsidy: drivers pay 2.46 pesos a litre in IEPS on regular Magna this week, while diesel remains fully exempt. (El Financiero, El Imparcial, Expansión)

Brazil

Flávio Bolsonaro leads Lula into an October 25 runoff, setting up a fiscal showdown. With almost all votes counted, Flávio Bolsonaro took about 47% against roughly 45% for President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, so neither reached the 50% needed to win outright. Investors see Bolsonaro as more likely to cut spending, with Brazil’s nominal deficit near 10% of GDP and public debt above 80%, and analysts expected the real and Brazilian stocks to rally when markets open on Monday, although the runoff keeps uncertainty alive for three more weeks. (Reuters / Business Standard, CNN, NPR)

Argentina

Country risk climbs to a one-year high as stocks fall for a third week. Argentina’s country-risk spread rose to about 646–650 basis points in the week to October 2, its highest since late November 2025, while the S&P Merval index fell more than 4% in pesos. Analysts blamed US Treasury yields above 5% and pre-election nerves; higher country risk makes it costlier for the government and companies to borrow abroad. (Infobae, Ámbito)

Private forecasters see September inflation rising back to about 2%. Consultancies estimate monthly inflation of 1.8% to 2.1% for September, up from 1.7% in August, driven by food, seasonal clothing and late-September fuel price increases. The official INDEC figure is due on October 13. (Infobae, Noticias NQN, Ámbito)

Morocco

No major verified economic story in the last 24 hours.

Egypt

Alamein forum agrees to launch an African investment platform by early 2027. The Alamein Declaration, agreed by the five founding states of the African Union development agency AUDA-NEPAD (Algeria, Egypt, Nigeria, Senegal and South Africa), sets up an “Alamein Investment Platform” by February 2027 and a continental fund for small businesses and supply chains by mid-2027, though without funding targets. On the sidelines, President Sisi and Nigerian industrialist Aliko Dangote discussed investment in energy, fertiliser, chemicals and cement, with no amounts disclosed. (Ahram Online, Daily News Egypt)

Nigeria

Warning strike ends as public servants threaten an indefinite stoppage over fuel and pay. The three-day strike by public-sector unions ended on Sunday with about 65% participation nationwide, according to union leaders, who now threaten a total strike alongside the wider labour movement in the coming weeks. They want lower petrol prices, higher salaries and immediate talks on the 2027 minimum wage, for which they seek ₦500,000 a month; no date has been set. (Vanguard, The Guardian Nigeria, BusinessDay)

South Africa

Record fuel price rise of over R3 a litre expected on Wednesday. Month-end Central Energy Fund data point to increases of about R3.29 a litre for 95 petrol, R3.08 for 93 petrol and R2.80 for 500ppm diesel from October 7, which would take 95 petrol to roughly R30 a litre inland for the first time. The official announcement is still pending and Minister Gwede Mantashe has said there are no immediate plans for relief, so commuters and businesses face a sharp jump in transport costs. (IOL, BusinessTech)

China

Golden Week spending grows modestly, helped by trade-in subsidies. Revenue at 78 major shopping streets rose 5.3% year on year in the first three days of the holiday, with foot traffic up 3.4%, according to Commerce Ministry data reported by state media. Consumer trade-in subsidies generated 19.63 billion yuan (about $2.9 billion) of sales, including car and home-appliance replacements; the figures suggest household spending is growing, but at a measured pace. (Xinhua, People’s Daily)

Japan

Nikkei returns above 70,000 as chip stocks rally. The Nikkei 225 rose about 2.5% on Monday morning to above 70,000 for the first time since July, led by Tokyo Electron, Advantest and SoftBank Group, as weaker US jobs data reduced expectations of a Federal Reserve rate hike. The rally lifts the value of Japanese pension and savings portfolios, though a former Bank of Japan board member, Asahi Noguchi, said the central bank could raise its 1.25% policy rate again in December. (Xinhua, Reuters / The Standard, Reuters / Investing.com)

India

RBI begins a three-day meeting with a rate hike on the table. The Reserve Bank of India’s Monetary Policy Committee started deliberations on Monday and announces its decision on October 7, with a Reuters poll showing almost 60% of economists expecting a 0.25-point rise in the repo rate to 5.5% as oil above $100 a barrel pushes inflation, which hit 4.82% in August, above the 4% target. A hike would make home and car loans dearer during the festive shopping season; the Sensex rose about 0.9% in early trade on Monday. (Business Today, Business Standard, Business Standard (markets))

South Korea

President orders probe into a wave of bank data breaches. President Lee Jae-myung ordered a thorough investigation on Sunday after Shinhan, KB Kookmin, Hana, BNK Busan and a savings bank reported leaks of customer data including names, phone numbers, income and loan limits, and the Financial Services Commission held an emergency meeting with the sector the same day. The breaches raise fraud risks for customers and could bring tighter security rules for lenders; Korean markets are closed on Monday for a holiday. (Korea Times, Seoul Economic Daily, Reuters / SRN News)

Middle East

OPEC+ holds November output steady and Brent stays near $102. The seven core OPEC+ producers kept their combined target at about 31 million barrels a day for November, but they are pumping around 5 million barrels a day less than before the war because Gulf exports through the Strait of Hormuz remain disrupted. Brent traded around $102 a barrel in early Asian trading on Monday, compared with about $73 before the conflict, keeping fuel bills high worldwide. (The National, Reuters / EnergyNow, Gulf News)

Australia

Chalmers calls the war an economic “disaster” and flags budget savings. Treasurer Jim Chalmers said higher bond yields linked to the US-Iran conflict will add billions of dollars to debt-servicing costs and that the mid-year budget update in December will need more savings, while ruling out a new fuel excise cut for now. He said Australia does not expect a recession, but with the Reserve Bank’s cash rate at a 15-year high, mortgage holders face no quick relief. (ABC News, Reuters / Yahoo Finance)

Sources & method

Compiled by The Daily Economy editorial team with AI assistance from the sources linked in each item, cross-checked in at least two outlets, and updated several times a day. Read our editorial policy.