Happy Tuesday and welcome to your morning wrap of the latest political and business headlines from around the world.
First up, global stocks have rallied overnight as investors are upbeat on the potential of a US-China trade pact, CNBC reported.
Key indices across Europe, Asia and the United States notched gains as US and Chinese officials cooled tensions over the weekend, laying the ground for a new trade deal.
“I think we have a very successful framework for the leaders to discuss on Thursday,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said from the Asean Summit in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
The framework reportedly includes a delay of China’s rare earth export restrictions that caused the latest trade flare-up, the withdrawal of Trump’s threatened 100% tariff on China, and a resumption of Chinese purchases of American soybeans.
“I have a lot of respect for President Xi, and we are going to come away with the deal,” Trump said overnight from Air Force One.
CFRA Research chief investment strategist Sam Stovall told CNBC it would be a positive sign if the world’s two largest trading partners were to resume working again. “A lot of the forecasts for technology have been without the benefit of China, so once you can add China back into the equation, that would probably be fairly optimistic for the markets.”
Donald Trump.
Meanwhile, Donald Trump has not ruled out the possibility of seeking a third term for the White House, commenting he would “love to do it”, the BBC reported.
But Trump rejected the idea of running for vice-president, which has been floated by some of his supporters as a way for him to circumvent the US Constitution, which only allows the president to serve two terms.
He told reporters during his trip to Asia that the idea would be “too cute” and “wouldn’t be right”.
It is unclear what method he would use to run again, although last week, former Trump strategist Steve Bannon said that a “plan” was in place to secure him another term.
Talking about the possibility of a third term, Trump said: “I haven’t really thought about it. But I have the best poll numbers that I’ve ever had.”
In business news, tech company Qualcomm has released a new artificial intelligence computer chip, marking new competition for Nvidia, which has dominated the market for semiconductors, CNBC reported.
The company’s shares popped 15% as it announced its new AI200 and AI250 products, which will go on sale in 2026 and 2027, respectively. The entry of Qualcomm into the data centre world marks new competition in the fast-growing market for AI-focused server farms.
An estimate from consultancy McKinsey said nearly US$6.7 trillion in capital will be spent on data centres through to 2030. The industry has so far been dominated by Nvidia, whose products hold over 90% of the market.
Staying with business, Tesla chair Robyn Denholm said Elon Musk could leave the company as chief executive if shareholders do not approve his trillion-dollar pay package, Reuters reported.
The appeal comes ahead of the company’s annual meeting on November 6, with the board facing criticism for not acting in shareholders’ best interests and governance experts questioning the independence of the board.
Denholm, in her letter to shareholders, said the proposed performance-based plan was designed to retain and motivate Musk to continue leading the company for at least another seven and a half years.
Musk’s leadership was “critical” to Tesla’s success, she said. The plan would grant Musk 12 tranches of stock options if the company hit ambitious targets, such as a US$8.5 trillion market cap and developments in driving and robotics.
The company’s shares were up close to 6% overnight.
Elon Musk.
To Argentina now, where the country’s president Javier Milei has cruised to victory in midterm legislative elections as voters handed him a mandate to keep pushing through a radical overhaul of the economy, CNN reported.
The results would likely come as a relief to Milei, whose poll numbers had surged in recent weeks. They are also likely to please US President Donald Trump after the US recently provided Argentina with a large bailout.
Analysts said the strong showing for Milei could reflect fear of renewed economic turmoil if the country abandoned his austerity policies, which have drastically slowed inflation.
“Argentines showed that they don’t want to return to the model of failure,” said Milei, speaking triumphantly before a crowd of supporters at a hotel in Buenos Aires after the results.
Finally, Jamaica is in the path of a “life-threatening” hurricane that is believed to be the strongest ever to hit the island nation overnight, the BBC reported.
Hurricane Melissa has already been blamed for four deaths on the island of Hispaniola. Meteorologists warn that the hurricane’s slow pace means it is set to dump torrential rain on affected areas for longer, increasing the risk of deadly flooding and landslides.
Melissa has maximum sustained wind speeds of 165mph (270km/h) and could strengthen further in the next 12 to 24 hours, forecasters warned. Jamaican ministers have warned of “massive flooding” and have urged the public to use emergency shelters.
