And two billion-dollar IPOs to hit the Indian bourse this week.
Mōrena and welcome to your Monday wrap of the major business and political headlines you need to know from the weekend.
First up, China has told the US to stop threatening it with higher tariffs and to continue negotiations over outstanding trade issues, warning it would not be afraid to retaliate in an escalating trade war.
Late last week, US President Donald Trump announced an additional 100% tariff on China, alongside export controls on "critical software", effective November 1. He made the threat in a social media post, which also said he would cancel an upcoming meeting with Chinese leader Xi Jinping. Trump's escalation came after China last month dramatically expanded its export controls, particularly on its exports of rare earths and other critical materials.
The move wiped US$2 trillion off sharemarkets, CNBC reported. The S&P 500 lost 2.7% on Friday US time, the worst day since early April after Trump first announced his Liberation Day tariffs. The Nasdaq Composite also fell 3.56% and the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 1.9%.
On Sunday, China's Ministry of Commerce threatened retaliation in a statement that said such moves would be defensive moves
“Threatening with high tariffs at every turn is not the right way to get along with China,” the Commerce Ministry said on Sunday. “If the US persists in its own course, China will resolutely take corresponding measures to safeguard its legitimate rights and interests.”
In response, however, Bloomberg reports that US Vice-President JD Vance has told China the US has more leverage in a trade war.
“If they respond in a highly aggressive manner, I guarantee you, the president of the United States has far more cards than the People’s Republic of China.”
Chinese leader Xi Jinping. Photo: Paul Kagame.
To Israel and Gaza now, where authorities are preparing for the release of Israeli hostages and Palestinian prisoners on Monday.
The exchange is part of the ceasefire deal, with Hamas meant to release all living hostages within 72 hours of signing the deal. The militant group holds 48 hostages, of whom 20 are believed to be alive.
Israel is also set to release nearly 2000 Palestinian detainees, most of whom will be released once the Israeli hostages are back in Israel. Trump is set to visit Jerusalem to speak at the Knesset at about the time of the swap, which is the first step in his 20-point plan to end the war in Gaza
The BBC is reporting that hundreds of aid trucks are slowly entering Gaza. The UN estimates that at least 600 aid trucks are needed every day to address the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.
Sebastien Lecornu.
To France, where President Emmanuel Macron has reappointed Sebastien Lecornu as prime minister, days after the latter quit the job as a deeply divided parliament looks to pass a 2026 budget.
Macron's rivals have argued Macron should either hold snap parliamentary elections or resign in order to solve what has been labelled the country's deepest political crisis in decades.
“I accept – out of duty – the mission entrusted to me by the President of the Republic to do everything possible to provide France with a budget by the end of the year and to address the daily life issues of our fellow citizens,” Lecornu wrote on X. “We must put an end to this political crisis that exasperates the French people and to this instability that is harmful to France’s image and its interests.”
In India, two billion-dollar initial public offerings (IPOs) are set to begin trading in Mumbai over the next couple of days.
Tata Capital has raised US$1.7 billion, in India's largest IPO of the year, while the Indian unit of South Korea's LG Electronics will list a day later.
Bloomberg reported that the two listings underscore India's growing status as a global fundraising hub, with the country one of the busiest IPO markets in the world over the past two years. October is set to be its biggest month ever for IPOs, with proceeds expected to exceed $5b.
“A strong debut of at least one of the big IPOs could set the stage for a fresh wave of jumbo listings in the coming months, as companies rush to capitalise on buoyant investor sentiment and record liquidity,” DAM Capital chief executive Dharmesh Mehta told Bloomberg. “But any signs of weakness could quickly temper the optimism, and may result in delaying the offers.”
In Australia, hackers say they have leaked the personal records of five million Qantas customers onto the dark web after a ransom deadline passed.
The hacker group, Scattered Lapsus$ Hunters, last week demanded payment in return for preventing the stolen data from being shared. The Qantas data was stolen from a Salesforce database in June as part of a group of more than 40 firms globally who were hacked. The stolen data includes customers' email addresses, phone numbers, birth dates, and frequent flyer numbers.
Finally, the Australian Financial Review reports that Deloitte Australia has apologised for the government report it had to reissue after being found to include AI-generated errors, with the firm saying it will discipline personnel for not vetting the material properly.
The errors in the A$440,000 report included three nonexistent academic references and a fake quote from a Federal Court judgment, with a new version of the report for the Department of Workplace Relations featuring more than a dozen deletions, a rewritten reference list, and corrections to multiple typographic errors.
In its first public statement about the issue, the AFR reported a Deloitte Australia spokesperson saying its review and oversight processes had not been followed in preparing the report.
“We take responsibility for the fact that appropriate review and oversight processes were not followed on this occasion. Our people remain accountable for the accuracy and integrity of our work, regardless of the tools used.”
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