Welcome to Markets Desk, your midday read on the stories moving money and markets.
Crude oil is surging today, with December West Texas Intermediate up more than three percent as traders price in a pair of serious geopolitical risks — persistent Houthi attacks on Saudi infrastructure and growing speculation that Washington could authorize a fresh military operation against Iran following the election cycle.
Shifting from commodities to credit, American Express reported third-quarter two thousand twenty six earnings that beat expectations, with billed business continuing to climb. But the headline underneath the headline is a significant workforce reduction — potentially thousands of jobs cut, reversing two full years of aggressive hiring across its global operations.
And on the regulatory front, Senator Richard Blumenthal is pressing Tether chief executive Paolo Ardoino for documentation tied to a reported financial arrangement between the stablecoin issuer and a firm founded by a former White House crypto adviser. Blumenthal, the Democratic ranking member of the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, wants records in hand, and the scrutiny arrives at a delicate moment for crypto's relationship with Washington.
That's the tape. Markets Desk, signing off the floor.
