Halloween candy sales fell 6.7% in the month ended October 17 versus the same period a year earlier, according to NielsenIQ, which also recorded an 11.7% drop in mid-September. High living costs and chocolate prices explain the slowdown: candy and gum prices rose 44% over five years, compared with 22.5% for food eaten at home. Cocoa hit an all-time high of $10,710 per metric ton in January 2025.
Brazil holds its runoff election on Sunday between Flávio Bolsonaro and Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, tied in Datafolha polls, with a USD 2.26 trillion economy at stake. Its 2025 exports totaled USD 348.7 billion, nearly 80% of Colombia's GDP (USD 438.121 billion) and above Chile's nominal GDP. For Colombia, Brazil is already the third destination for its non-mining-energy exports, which grew 22.1% between January and August.
A complaint shared on Facebook reports that a bank branch in Old Havana, at Prado and Ánimas y Virtudes, sent customers home citing an alleged server outage and resumed service within minutes after a journalist from the official press arrived, without technicians coming to repair the system. The post drew reactions and other accounts of long lines and failures at banks in the capital, amid a cash access crisis.
Morgan Stanley, JPMorgan, Bank of America and Citi are already restricting or blocking access by artificial intelligence agents operating inside customer accounts, according to Axios. The entry was not an attack: the customer gives their username and password to the assistant so it can review transactions or pay bills. A bank executive admitted they cannot tell whether an agent was authorized or acted on its own. Jamie Dimon said the customer who authorizes an agent assumes that responsibility.
The number of entry-level positions at US banks has fallen nearly 5% since 2022, the year ChatGPT launched, according to a report by Revelio Labs, which analyzes employment data from public records including LinkedIn profiles. Employment at mid and senior levels continued to grow. The divergence appears at firms such as JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America and Citigroup. Wells Fargo has fewer positions at both levels, while Goldman Sachs expanded hiring. The report notes that banking jobs are especially exposed to artificial intelligence.
A hypothetical projection based on 2026 Forbes figures places Carlos Slim as the candidate with the greatest advantage to keep topping Mexico's richest list in 2036. Slim leads the ranking with an estimated fortune of 125 billion dollars, 51.5% more than in 2025, while Ricardo Salinas Pliego ranks seventh with 3.7 billion, 24.4% less than the 4.9 billion reported the previous year.
Canadian site Visual Capitalist identified the most valuable company in each of 42 European countries, using data from StockAnalysis.com and local exchanges as of September 29, 2026. Dutch firm ASML, a maker of chip lithography machines, tops the list with $670 billion. It is followed by UK bank HSBC ($342.35 billion), Swiss pharmaceutical company Roche ($341.5 billion), Germany's Siemens ($246.27 billion) and France's L'Oréal ($230.18 billion). In 28 countries the leader is a financial or energy company.
Rising solar generation is pushing wholesale electricity prices to zero or even negative values during peak production hours, often below €30/MWh. According to Expansión, one in two renewable projects in Spain never materializes: of 280,400 MW planned, only about 34,200 MW were built. Storage batteries are increasingly required by banks to finance new parks.
JPMorgan strategists led by Mislav Matejka believe this year's rise in government bond yields may be nearing its limit and that the bond market shows signs of oversold conditions. The bank's fixed income team keeps year-end targets at or below current levels. A stabilization would ease pressure on equity valuations, which have already contracted by about three points for the MSCI All-Country World and the S&P 500. The bank sees more favorable conditions for stocks if yields stabilize and earnings grow.
The central government deficit reached 4.6% of GDP in the first eight months of 2026, about 91.2 trillion pesos, according to the Ministry of Finance. Banco de la República governor Leonardo Villar warned that the deterioration of public accounts can affect inflation, interest rates, credit costs and the dollar. The policy rate stands at 12.25% and the Board decides on October 30.
According to Indec data released during the week, Argentina's exports over the last 12 months exceeded USD 100 billion (USD 100.845 billion) and the trade balance for the same period reached USD 26.472 billion, both records. In September, external sales hit a monthly high of USD 10.036 billion. The cash-basis surplus could exceed USD 30 billion by year-end, although imports fell 2.5% and capital goods showed sharp volume declines.
With China's economy not fully recovered from the pandemic, Western luxury brands are feeling the pressure as consumers increasingly opt for second-hand goods or new brands. The personal luxury market in mainland China contracted between 3% and 5% in 2025, after plunging 19% in 2024, according to Bain & Company, while the second-hand luxury market grew between 15% and 20%. Louis Vuitton closed five stores in mainland China over the past two years.
The 1,200 MW Hiep Phuoc LNG plant in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, has completed 60% of its civil works and 20% of equipment installation. The project, with an estimated investment of $892.8 million and Siemens Energy turbines, expects the progressive commercial start-up of its three units between October and December 2028. HPPC is also studying expansions that would take the complex to 4,200 MW.
Brazil holds its presidential runoff this Sunday, October 25, between incumbent Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and Senator Flávio Bolsonaro, son of former president Jair Bolsonaro. About 158 million citizens are eligible to vote and seven pollsters show a technical tie. In the first round on October 4 the gap was 1.9 percentage points, the narrowest since 1985. Bolsonaro proposes cutting public spending and taxes; Lula favors social protection and state investment.
The wholesale electricity price stands at 196.86 euros per megawatt hour this Monday, October 26, 2026, 75.95% more than Sunday's 111.88 euros, according to data from the Iberian Energy Market Operator (OMIE). The most expensive hour will be from 20:00 to 21:00, at 300.00 €/MWh, with 16 slots above 200 euros. The cheapest will be from 14:00 to 15:00, at 56.54 €/MWh. The PVPC will be known late in the afternoon.
Stores belonging to Ecuador's Association of Home Appliance Warehouses (Asadelec) will move Black Friday forward to November 20, 2026, and expect double-digit revenue growth. The guild, which groups ten chains including Artefacta, Comandato, Crecos, Jaher, Japón, La Ganga, Marcimex, Orve Hogar, Sukasa and Todo Hogar, is restocking inventory and preparing promotions. The date change aims to avoid clashing with the sectional calendar and with citizens' travel for the elections.
Investors are increasing their use of credit default swaps (CDS) to hedge exposure to debt issued by companies tied to artificial intelligence infrastructure. Morgan Stanley reported that average weekly trading volume in CDS linked to bonds from issuers such as Oracle, Alphabet, Amazon, Meta, Broadcom and Nvidia exceeded $9 billion in September, up from less than $2 billion in July. AI-linked debt issuance reached about $466 billion so far in 2026, compared with $101 billion in the same period of 2025.
Five of the largest US banks —JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, Wells Fargo, Citi and Morgan Stanley— have begun restricting third-party AI agents' access to customer accounts, according to reports cited by the outlet. Citi confirmed it does not allow external assistants to log in or make transactions, though it permits read-only access through approved open banking providers. The trigger is an authentication problem: systems verify credentials, not whether a person or an autonomous agent is behind them.
Between January and August 2026, Colombian imports of vehicles, parts and accessories grew 55.9% compared with the same period in 2025, according to ANIF data. China accounted for 30.1% of vehicle imports as of July 2026, up from 16.1% in 2022, and South Korea rose from 2.5% to 11.6%, while Brazil and Mexico lost share. New vehicle registrations rose 36.1% year on year in September 2026, and hybrids and electrics made up 46.2% of sales between January and September.
The oil surge, with North Sea Dated averaging US$116.89 per barrel in September and around US$134 when the IEA's October report was prepared, is a global economic shock. Argentina, formerly an energy importer, is now a net exporter thanks to Vaca Muerta: its trade balance in the segment went from imports of about US$11 billion a year to a surplus of between US$6,663 and 7,815 million last year, heading toward US$10 billion this year. The benefit comes alongside costlier fuels and a declining manufacturing industry.
