Your morning briefing, the business news you need in just 15 minutes.
On today's podcast:
(1) A rally in onshore Chinese stocks on their return from a week-long holiday cooled as traders questioned Beijing’s resolve to add more stimulus. Shares in Hong Kong tumbled.
(2) Brent oil tumbled below $80 a barrel as expectations for more stimulus from China fizzled, sparking a risk-off mood across markets.
(3) Milton, the Atlantic’s strongest hurricane this year, is set to approach the Florida peninsula as a catastrophic Category 5 storm, bearing down on a region still struggling to recover from Helene’s devastation.
(4) When Prime Minister Keir Starmer and Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves plotted Labour’s path to power in the UK, they banked on eye-catching moves to hike taxes on private equity and ultra-rich “non-dom” residents to fund key spending plans. Now, those promises are meeting reality.
(5) The UK is opening an office to speed up approvals of novel technologies, including drones and pest-resistant crops, as part of plan to improve the business climate ahead of a major government investment summit.