Envoys in Tehran, and no deal yet.
- Who met: Saudi Defence Minister Khalid bin Salman, Pakistan’s army chief Asim Munir and Turkish intelligence chief Ibrahim Kalin met Iran’s top security negotiators.
- The outcome: the four countries agreed to keep talking about expanding cooperation on regional peace and security, AP reported.
- Qatar: Qatari mediators arrived in Tehran on Sunday, working in coordination with Washington, AP reported.
- Iran’s position: spokesman Esmail Baghaei said messages still pass to the US through intermediaries, and that no Iranian accepts “complete surrender”.
- Israel votes today: Defence Minister Israel Katz said Israel has no intention of attacking Iran before the election.
AP noted that a June deal brokered by Pakistan and Qatar unravelled quickly. It was meant to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and end the US blockade of Iranian ports.
Chipmakers lead a rebound.
- Anthropic filed for its IPO on Monday under the ticker ANT; Nvidia, Broadcom and Micron rose, Yahoo Finance reported.
- The filing’s headline: $16.3bn of revenue in the six months to June, against $4.6bn for all of 2025.
- Oil slipped after Brent neared its highest level since April on Friday.
Monday 26 October closes. Brent is now quoted for January delivery.
18.39
VIX
−5.45%
+0.38%
Russell 2000
small caps
5.30%
US 30-Yr
−1.4bp
+0.51%
Hang Seng
Monday
| S&P 500 | +0.70% | |
| Nasdaq Composite | +0.82% | |
| Stoxx 600 | +0.77% | |
| FTSE 100 | +0.72% | |
| DAX | +0.91% | |
| Nikkei 225 | −0.80% |
| Brent (Jan) | $110.74 | −0.86% |
| WTI (Dec) | $101.76 | −1.46% |
| Gold | $4,038.40 | +0.76% |
| Silver | $54.11 | +0.74% |
| US 10-Yr | 4.99% | −0.2bp |
| EUR/USD | 1.1179 | −0.37% |
| US Dollar Index | 101.96 | +0.15% |
| Bitcoin | $79,603 | +0.09% |
The Gulf trades the talks.
Gulf and Egypt · benchmark index moves · close Mon 26 Oct
Saudi Arabia’s best day in 13 months.
One-day % change in each market’s main index.
Source: Reuters, via Business Recorder, 26 Oct; rounded to one decimal.
A week of decisions.
Central banks
The Fed meets today
- Futures price a 90% chance of a hold at 3.75%–4% when the Fed decides on Wednesday.
- Bank of America expects a quarter-point hike. The ECB decides on Thursday, the Bank of Japan on Friday.
MoneyCheck · Yahoo Finance · 26 Oct
Earnings
Big Tech reports
- Alphabet and Microsoft report on Wednesday after the US close.
- Amazon follows on Thursday after the close; Apple on Monday 2 November.
Yahoo Finance · 26 Oct · Business Wire · 15 Oct · Apple investor relations
AI spending
Meta raises, Microsoft trims
- Meta plans to raise up to $95bn for AI infrastructure, starting with $35bn in stock.
- Microsoft is offering voluntary buyouts to about 60,000 employees.
Yahoo Finance · 26 Oct
The Yemen front, both ways.
Strikes continued in both directions over the weekend and on Monday.
- Houthi claims, Saturday 24 Oct: the group said it targeted airports in Riyadh, Dammam and Najran and oil sites including Rabigh; Saudi authorities did not confirm.
- Coalition account: it said it intercepted missiles aimed at Yanbu and Taif, France 24 reported.
- Monday: the coalition said an operation destroyed five tunnels storing ballistic missiles and four launchers, AP reported.
- Egypt: parliament approved President Sisi’s request to provide military support to Saudi Arabia against Houthi attacks.
- Aramco will start storing crude in Singapore from the second half of 2027, the two countries’ energy ministers said.
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