Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.
Top US financiers have warned of an erosion in lending standards after credit markets were shaken by the collapse of First Brands Group and Tricolor Holdings.
Apollo Global Management chief executive Marc Rowan said the unravelling of the two businesses followed years in which lenders had sought out riskier borrowers.
“It does not surprise me that we are seeing late-cycle accidents,” Rowan said on Tuesday. “I think it’s a desire to win in a competitive market that sometimes leads to shortcuts.”
Last month’s failure of First Brands and subprime auto lender Tricolor has reverberated across credit markets and left investors such as Blackstone and PGIM, as well as major banks including Jefferies, nursing heavy losses.
It has also prompted further scrutiny of the private capital industry and the lack of transparency around borrowers, which tend to be highly levered with debt.
“In some of these more levered credits, there’s been a willingness to cut corners,” Rowan told the Financial Times Private Capital Summit in London.
Both Rowan and Blackstone president Jonathan Gray pointed the finger at banks for having amassed exposure to First Brands and Tricolor, but said the collapses were not signs of a systemic issue. “What’s interesting is both of those were bank-led processes,” Gray told the same FT conference, rejecting “100 per cent” the “idea that this was a canary in the coal mine” or a systemic problem.
Far from championing First Brands, Apollo went so far as to build a short position against debt linked to the group prior to its collapse, meaning it would profit if the company failed to repay loans. “Most of the announced holders of risk are, in fact, financial institutions,” said Rowan.
Banks and private capital firms have been at odds in recent years as businesses have increasingly turned to private credit for their borrowing needs. Traditional lenders have labelled the shift regulatory arbitrage and complained that non-bank financial institutions are too lightly regulated.
But First Brands and Tricolor have exposed how both sides are intertwined through complex financial structures that can obfuscate who holds the underwriting risk, especially as bank lenders aim to maintain their market share.
JPMorgan Chase chief executive Jamie Dimon echoed some of the concerns on Tuesday as the bank reported strong earnings that were marred by a $170mn hit from Tricolor’s collapse.
“My antenna goes up when things like that happen. I probably shouldn’t say this but when you see one cockroach there are probably more,” he said. “There clearly was, in my opinion, fraud involved in a bunch of these things, but that doesn’t mean we can’t improve our procedures,” he added, acknowledging that the Tricolor exposure “was not our finest moment”.
Meanwhile, the IMF on Tuesday called for regulators to focus on bank exposure to the sector, noting that “banks are increasingly lending to private credit funds because these loans often deliver higher returns on equity than traditional commercial and industrial lending”.
Daehyun Shin daehyun.shin@hyundai.com Global Strategy & Planning · Hyundai Motor Company
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About Hyundai Motor Company
Established in 1967, Hyundai Motor Company is present in over 200 countries with more than 120,000 employees dedicated to tackling real-world mobility challenges around the globe. Based on the brand vision ‘Progress for Humanity,’ Hyundai Motor is accelerating its transformation into a Smart Mobility Solution Provider. The company invests in advanced technologies such as robotics and Advanced Air Mobility (AAM) to bring about revolutionary mobility solutions while pursuing open innovation to introduce future mobility services. In pursuit of a sustainable future for the world, Hyundai will continue its efforts to introduce zero-emission vehicles with industry-leading hydrogen fuel cell and EV technologies.
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China’s CPI inflation edged up in September, but the economy remained in deflation. The main reason is a continued slide in food prices down to -4.4% YoY, a 20-month low. This is, in part, base effect-driven, as MoM prices actually picked up 0.7%. The primary culprit has been pork (-17%), which is currently in a downward trend and likely to continue dragging food inflation for several more months. On a YoY basis, we continued to see notable drags from vegetable (-13.7%), egg (-11.9%), and fruit (-4.2%) prices despite MoM gains for each of these categories. The drag from these categories may persist in October, but should ease from November onward, helping to support a turnaround of food inflation.
The silver lining in the data was that non-food inflation picked up to 0.7% YoY, up for a fourth consecutive month despite a -0.1% MoM dip. Household goods and services rose 2.2% YoY, driven by a 5.5% YoY uptick in household appliance prices. Sports & recreation (0.8%) and healthcare (1.1%) also contributed positively to non-food inflation. However, rent prices remained flat in YoY terms in September amid the property market slump. Transportation (-2.0%) continued to experience deflation due to falling auto and fuel prices.
If the recovery of non-food prices is sustained, it would go a long way toward pushing China out of deflationary territory. But the MoM decline suggests that, at this stage, this is still questionable. As food prices are often cyclical, this drag will fade. We should see China’s CPI inflation data edge back into positive territory, potentially before year-end but more likely next year.
PPI inflation unsurprisingly remained in deflationary territory for the 36th consecutive month, at -2.3% YoY. However, this represented a second straight month of higher PPI inflation, as input prices edged up a little higher from -4.0% YoY to -3.1% YoY. Most industries continued to face falling ex-factory prices. Exceptions are non-ferrous metals mining (13.9%), non-ferrous metal smelting and processing (6.5%), as well as water production and supply (2.3%).
Lower-than-expected third-quarter inflation may translate to a more supportive GDP deflator in next week’s GDP read, adding upside risk to our current 4.5% YoY forecast.
Considering the slowing momentum in 3Q, another month of deflation suggests that monetary policy easing remains on the table. The recent escalation of tensions between China and the US ahead of potential talks between Presidents Xi and Trump at the end of the month could keep the PBOC on hold for the rest of October. That would leave ammunition to support markets if talks do not go well. November, consequently, remains an interesting window to watch for potential easing.
(Bloomberg) — Asian stocks advanced after three days of losses, as optimism over a potential Federal Reserve interest-rate cut lifted sentiment and outweighed renewed US-China trade tensions.
MSCI’s regional stock gauge gained 1.3% after Fed Chair Jerome Powell’s concerns about a weakening labor market reinforced expectations for an October rate cut. Futures on the S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 rose 0.1% as investors shrugged off trade-war concerns after President Donald Trump said he might stop trade in cooking oil with China.
The offshore yuan extended its gains after China boosted its currency defense on Wednesday amid a trade spat. A gauge of the dollar weakened and gold set a new peak. Treasury two-year yields hovered near their lowest levels since 2022 while crude oil was near a five-month low.
Since the tariff-fueled selloff in April, global stocks have rebounded sharply, buoyed by optimism over artificial intelligence and expectations of further monetary easing following the Fed’s September rate cut. That rally, however, faces headwinds as trade tensions between the US and China resurface, with both sides stepping up rhetoric and signaling possible new restrictions on key technology.
“Macro uncertainty remains the key overhang for risk assets,” said Dilin Wu, a strategist at Pepperstone Group, in a note. “With rate-cut bets and solid earnings underpinning sentiment, I believe the downside for US stocks remains limited.”
In China, the currency gained after the central bank set the so-called yuan fixing at 7.0995 per dollar, stronger than the closely watched 7.1 per dollar level amid mounting trade tensions with the US. It’s the first time since November that the central bank has set the yuan fixing stronger than 7.1 per dollar, after holding that line since late August.
“A fix below 7.10 sends a strong message of strength,” said Fiona Lim, a senior foreign-exchange analyst at Malayan Banking Bhd. in Singapore. “A strong yuan is symbolic of how China is in a position of strength for any negotiations or tit-for-tat escalations.”
What Bloomberg strategists say…
Fed dovishness is driving a fresh bout of dollar weakness, which also clears the path for hedging strategies centered on gold. The theme of buying stocks despite AI bubble fears — and adding to bullion holdings in case those fears become reality — looks to be getting a fresh run.
— Garfield Reynolds, MLIV Team Leader. For full analysis, click here.
Also, China’s deflation eased in September, leaving the country on track for the longest streak of economy-wide price declines since market reforms in the late 1970s.
Earlier, Powell signaled the US central bank is on track to deliver another quarter-point interest-rate cut later this month, even as a government shutdown significantly reduces its read on the economy.
Swap contracts are pricing in roughly 1.25 percentage points of rate cuts by the end of next year, from the current range of 4%-4.25%.
Powell said the economic outlook appeared unchanged since policymakers met in September, when they lowered rates and projected two more cuts this year. Boston Fed President Susan Collins also said the US central bank should continue lowering rates this year to support the labor market.
“Markets viewed Fed Chair Powell’s speech as consistent with continued rate cuts over the coming FOMC meetings this year,” ANZ Group Holdings Ltd. analysts Brian Martin and Daniel Hynes said in a note.
While Powell’s remarks set the tone for trading, investors were also monitoring a series of trade-related developments.
US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer predicted that heightened tensions with China over export controls would ease, following talks between representatives of the two countries. Trump, too, sounded cautiously optimistic that a positive outcome could be reached.
“We have a fair relationship with China, and I think it’ll be fine. And if it’s not, that’s OK too,” Trump told reporters Tuesday at the White House. “We have a lot of punches being thrown, and we’ve been very successful.”
Elsewhere, the European Union is considering forcing Chinese firms to hand over technology to European companies if they want to operate locally, in an aggressive new push to make the bloc’s industry more competitive.
Attention in Asia is also on Japan. Investors are cautious going into the country’s 20-year government bond auction on Wednesday as the shock collapse of the ruling coalition fuels fresh political uncertainty.
Longer-maturity bonds plunged after Sanae Takaichi’s surprise victory in the Liberal Democratic Party election earlier this month, while prospects for her becoming prime minister diminished after the rupture of the 26-year alliance last week.
Amid the political uncertainty, the heads of Japan’s main opposition parties are expected to discuss Wednesday whether they can close policy gaps and pick a candidate of their own for the nation’s premiership.
Corporate News:
Asian luxury-goods stocks rose after LVMH sales unexpectedly returned to growth in the third quarter as shoppers splurged on Moët & Chandon Champagne and Dior perfumes, suggesting a persistent slump in luxury demand is easing. Apple Inc. is preparing to expand its manufacturing operations in Vietnam as part of a push into the smart home market and an ongoing effort to lessen its dependence on China. Stellantis NV will invest $13 billion in the US over the next four years, as it seeks to reinvigorate business in the critical market and curb the impact of tariffs. Some of the main moves in markets:
Stocks
S&P 500 futures rose 0.2% as of 11:57 a.m. Tokyo time Japan’s Topix rose 1.3% Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.9% Hong Kong’s Hang Seng rose 0.9% The Shanghai Composite was little changed Euro Stoxx 50 futures rose 0.9% Currencies
The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index fell 0.2% The euro rose 0.2% to $1.1626 The Japanese yen rose 0.5% to 151.06 per dollar The offshore yuan rose 0.2% to 7.1277 per dollar Cryptocurrencies
Bitcoin fell 0.1% to $112,935.06 Ether was little changed at $4,120.94 Bonds
The yield on 10-year Treasuries declined two basis points to 4.01% Japan’s 10-year yield was little changed at 1.650% Australia’s 10-year yield declined two basis points to 4.21% Commodities
West Texas Intermediate crude fell 0.4% to $58.49 a barrel Spot gold rose 0.8% to $4,174.25 an ounce This story was produced with the assistance of Bloomberg Automation.
Japan Mobility Show 2025 (JMS), to be held at Tokyo Big Sight from October 30, 2025, is an event where visitors can see, touch, and experience the future of mobility. Evolving from the Tokyo Motor Show, JMS operates adopts the concept “Let’s go explore an exciting future!”
Since its founding, Honda has always been driven by the dreams of Honda associates and creating mobility products using its original technologies and ideas. As a comprehensive mobility company, Honda continues to take on challenges to augment possibilities for people and society through its mobility products and services.
Pedestrians pass a Huawei Technologies Co. flagship store in Shenzhen, China, on Wednesday, Oct. 8, 2025.
Qilai Shen | Bloomberg | Getty Images
China’s consumer prices fell more than expected in September, while the deflation in producer prices persisted, underscoring the impact of sluggish domestic demand and trade worries on consumer and business sentiment.
The consumer price index fell 0.3% in September from a year earlier, National Bureau of Statistics data showed on Wednesday, a sharper decline than economists’ forecast of a 0.2% slide. Prices ticked up 0.1% month-on-month.
Core CPI, which strips out volatile food and energy prices, rose 1.0% from a year earlier, the highest since February 2024, according to data from Wind Information.
China’s producer price index dropped 2.3% from a year ago, in line with economists’ forecast, official data showed.
The producer price downturn has persisted for almost three years, hurting profitability of manufacturers who have had to weather tepid consumer confidence and production disruption stemming from U.S. trade policies.
Weak consumer demand has weighed on the world’s second-largest economy that’s struggling from a prolonged housing downturn and tepid household spending while U.S. tariffs squeeze exports.
This is breaking news. Please refresh for updates.
(Bloomberg) — Gold rose to a record high, boosted by an escalation in US-China frictions and bets the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates twice more this year.
Bullion climbed to a peak of $4,185 an ounce. Spot silver advanced after a volatile day on Tuesday that saw prices surge to an all-time high above $53.54 an ounce, before tumbling sharply amid signs a historic squeeze is starting to ease.
Most Read from Bloomberg
Yields on US Treasuries fell to the lowest levels in weeks on Tuesday, after Fed Chair Jerome Powell signaled the US central bank is on track to deliver another quarter-point cut later this month. Lower yields and borrowing costs tend to benefit precious metals, which don’t pay interest.
Meanwhile, risk-off sentiment swept markets — boosting gold’s haven appeal — after President Donald Trump said he might stop trade in cooking oil with China. The comments injected fresh tensions into the relationship between the world’s two largest economies, with Beijing vowing to retaliate after Washington threatened an additional 100% tariff on China last week.
In silver, the market has been gripped by a lack of liquidity in London, sparking a worldwide hunt for metal and driving benchmark prices to soar above futures in New York. The gap between the two markets narrowed on Tuesday after London prices fell, while the cost of borrowing silver in the city also started to decline, although both remained at very high levels.
Traders remain on edge ahead of the conclusion of the US administration’s so-called Section 232 probe into critical minerals — which includes silver, as well as platinum and palladium. The investigation has revived fears the metals could be swept up in new tariffs, even after they were officially exempt from levies in April.
The four main precious metals have surged between 58% and 80% this year, in a rally that’s dominated commodity markets. Gold’s advance has been underpinned by central-bank buying, rising holdings in exchange-traded funds, and Fed rate cuts.
Demand for havens has been aided by recurrent US-China trade tensions, threats to the Fed’s independence, and a US government shutdown. Investors have also been seeking safety in precious metals to protect themselves from the threats posed by runaway budget deficits — a phenomenon known as the “debasement trade.”
Meeting Australia’s emissions reduction targets is not going to be simple and the Queensland Liberal National government has gone out of its way to make it much harder.
Its energy roadmap, released on Friday, can’t really be interpreted as anything other than a transparently political document, designed to placate climate deniers that have a stranglehold on significant parts of the state’s governing party. You wouldn’t be heading down this path otherwise.
As previously promised, Queensland’s treasurer and energy minister, David Janetzki, confirmed the government plans to repeal the former state Labor government’s target of 80% of the electricity coming from renewable energy by 2035. That target included a now abandoned commitment to shut state-owned coal power plants by that date.
Instead, Janetzki said, coal would “play a critical role” in the energy system until at least 2046, meaning the dirty fossil fuel “will be part of the state’s generation for decades”. He has pledged $1.6bn to help keep coal plants running longer.
The government also wants to more than double the amount of gas-fired power in the state over the next decade, including building a new 400 megawatt gas plant in central Queensland. It has kicked in $479m to help get there.
Janetzki argued there would also be an expansion of renewable energy, promising $400m to help with the transition. But in reality, the state’s plans for large-scale solar and wind have been dramatically scaled back.
Up to 6.8 gigawatts of new renewable capacity is promised by 2030, but this is just a reiteration of what is already planned by private investors, including developments being underwritten by the federal government’s capacity investment scheme.
After that, the treasurer says expansion of clean energy will slow. Only 4.4GW is expected to be built between 2030 and 2035.
If this happens, it will lead to vast amounts more greenhouse gas than currently forecast being pumped into the atmosphere over the next decade. But you wouldn’t know this from reading the energy roadmap. The phrases “climate change” and “fossil fuels” don’t appear.
This is not just a major step back from what was promised under Labor – parts of which renewable energy supporters quietly believed may have been more ambitious than realistic. It also works against the Australian Energy Market Operator’s blueprint for an optimal future power grid.
Janetzki argued his plan was “pragmatic and realistic” and “founded on economics and engineering, and not on ideology”. The latter is a familiar line used by some other Liberal party figures, notably Malcolm Turnbull and Matt Kean, and usually when making the case for renewable energy with firming support as the cheapest and most flexible electricity solution.
The Queensland treasurer has turned this on its head, claiming unreleased government modelling shows that propping up coal, building gas and injecting less solar and wind into the system will save the average household $1,035 a year.
How, exactly? The view among experts is this seems wildly optimistic. It is at odds with other analyses. And it rides roughshod over an obvious point: the coal plants are going to have to be replaced. Pushing that transition beyond a timeframe when the current leadership will be in government doesn’t change that.
Most analysts say the transition is likely to be cheaper if there is a plan for the fossil fuel’s exit. Big energy investors – who these days are overwhelmingly solar and wind and battery investors – will be better prepared to deliver replacement plants if they know when they will be needed. The LNP is stripping away that certainty and sending a signal that investors may be better off building somewhere else.
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It’s been doing this for a while, including by cancelling windfarms that had been approved and changing environment laws to make it harder to build them.
Queensland is Australia’s biggest polluting state. It has huge amounts of sun and land, but the lowest proportion of electricity from renewable energy in the country. Even Western Australia, which has no climate targets and is famously in the thrall of fossil fuel companies, performs better.
Over the past year, just 32% of Queensland’s power came from solar, wind and hydro, while 64% came from coal. Strip out booming rooftop solar and the proportion from large-scale big generators was less than 18%.
Compare this with the entire nation, where 42% of electricity was from renewables and 53% from coal. Or compare it with the global picture where, according to the thinktank Ember, renewable energy in the first six months of 2025 surpassed coal generation for the first time, largely thanks to solar generation growing by a third.
The sunshine state could choose to be a leader in this shift but is instead opting to crawl while others sprint.
Meanwhile, its coal plants are often failing – 78 times last summer alone, according to Renew Economy.
Perhaps this is why the premier, David Crisafulli, can keep a straight face while arguing he is still committed to meeting targets of cutting state emissions by 75% by 2035 (compared with 2005 levels) and net zero. Without coal shutdowns and a corresponding surge in renewable energy, he has no plan to get there.
Nationally, the same can be said of the Albanese government’s recently announced 62-70% emissions target range for 2035. The backslide up north ultimately means there will need to be a bigger drive in Canberra to cut pollution – and sooner, rather than later.
Sapiens International (NasdaqGS:SPNS) has quietly advanced over the past three months, gaining attention from investors interested in its steady performance and growth in the insurance software sector. The company’s recent track record has outpaced broader benchmarks.
See our latest analysis for Sapiens International.
Sapiens International’s share price has surged nearly 65% year-to-date and climbed 44.5% over the last three months, highlighting strong momentum. This stands in contrast to a steadier long-term total shareholder return of 23% over the past year and 143% over three years. Investors appear to be rewarding its consistent growth, indicating renewed optimism about its future prospects.
If Sapiens’ rise has you considering what’s next in tech, now is the perfect time to explore other potential standouts with our See the full list for free.
But with shares now trading well above analyst targets and recent gains reflecting strong sentiment, investors may wonder whether Sapiens remains undervalued or if markets have already priced in all its future growth.
Sapiens International’s last close at $43.09 stands notably above the most widely followed fair value estimate of $37.25, sparking debate around the company’s premium and what underpins this ambitious target.
The expansion of Sapiens’ insurance platform, especially with successful contract wins and platform implementations, is expected to drive revenue growth by enhancing their market position and adding new customers. Increasing cloud adoption, with a goal to transition over 60% of customers to their SaaS model within five years, can lead to higher margins and increased recurring revenue, positively impacting net margins and ARR.
Read the complete narrative.
Want the full playbook behind this high sticker price? The narrative’s valuation hinges on aggressive tech adoption, platform dominance, and a margin growth story. The biggest surprise is how these fast-moving drivers add up, so don’t miss the calculations behind the hype and see which assumptions could tip the scales.
Result: Fair Value of $37.25 (OVERVALUED)
Have a read of the narrative in full and understand what’s behind the forecasts.
However, modest projected revenue growth and challenges during the SaaS transition could limit Sapiens’ upside if these headwinds persist longer than anticipated.
Find out about the key risks to this Sapiens International narrative.
If you have your own view or want to dig deeper, you can analyze the numbers and shape your own narrative in just a few minutes. Do it your way
A great starting point for your Sapiens International research is our analysis highlighting 2 key rewards and 1 important warning sign that could impact your investment decision.
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This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned.
Companies discussed in this article include SPNS.
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