Eight OPEC+ countries are likely to further raise oil output on Sunday with the group’s leader Saudi Arabia pushing for a large increase to regain market share and Russia suggesting a more modest rise, four people with knowledge of OPEC+ talks said.

Russia and Saudi Arabia, the two biggest OPEC+ producers, have over the past years sometimes disagreed on the size of output rises but ultimately found a compromise. (Reuters – Continue Reading)

The Senate failed to pass government funding bills for the fourth time on Friday, leaving the shutdown in effect likely through the weekend with congressional leaders appearing to be at an impasse.

Ahead of Friday's vote, Senate Majority Leader John Thune stood firm on the Senate floor and signalled his party’s unwillingness to negotiate with Democrats over their demands in order to open the government back up.

"This shutdown needs to end sooner rather than later, and there's only one way out of it. Democrats need to vote for the clean, nonpartisan continuing resolution sitting right there," Thune said. "All it takes is one roll call, vote, the government's back open." (ABC – Continue Reading)

As of Thursday’s close, equities appeared largely unfazed by the US government shutdown. Still, the recent resilience has not altered our view that stocks remain overvalued.

The longer the stalemate between Republicans and Democrats continues, the greater the potential hit to sentiment and the broader economy. Currently, Federal spending accounts for around 23% of GDP, and when combined with state and local outlays, government expenditure represents about 36%. The White House estimates that each week of shutdown shaves roughly $15 billion off GDP. Put simply, the longer the shutdown drags on, the larger the drag on growth.

However, not all shutdowns are created equal. While some of the economic losses are typically recovered once the government reopens (due to back pay and resumed activity), others are irreversible. For example, the 2018–2019 shutdown cost the economy $11 billion, with $3 billion permanently lost. (LiveSquawk – Continue Reading)

Tesla and General Motors are leading the U.S. automotive industry this year in record domestic sales of all-electric vehicles, as consumers hurried to buy EVs before up to $7,500 in federal incentives for each purchase ended in September.

New data provided to CNBC from Motor Intelligence shows U.S. sales of EVs topped 1 million units through the first nine months of the year and set a new quarterly record of more than 438,000 units sold during the third quarter — achieving market share of 10.5% for the period.

That record market share is up from 7.4% during the second quarter and 7.6% during the first three months of the year, according to Motor Intelligence. Sales of all-electric models were estimated to be 1.3 million in 2024, with a roughly 8% market share. (CNBC – Continue Reading)