Brent crude futures settled 8.7% lower at $94.62 a barrel on Wednesday, while West Texas Intermediate closed down 8.3% at $88.12 a barrel. Both benchmarks reached their lowest closing levels since 31 August and posted weekly declines above 15%. The fall followed Republican losses in the US midterm elections, in which Democrats took control of the House and Senate, and signs of openness to a diplomatic settlement between Washington and Tehran. Trump told the Financial Times he has no immediate plans to strike Iran.
Taiwan
3 stories since 31 October 2026, newest first
5 November 2026
4 November 2026
Asian share markets fell sharply on Friday 6 Nov after a steep sell-off in US technology stocks the previous day. Tokyo's Nikkei 225 dropped 5.5% early, Seoul's Kospi fell as much as 8.8% and triggered a 20-minute trading halt, and Taiwan's TAIEX lost more than 8%. US Nasdaq fell 5.52% and the S&P 500 fell 4.4% on Thursday, wiping out about $2.5 trillion in tech market value. Earlier, on 4 Nov, markets had reacted to early US midterm results pointing to Democrats taking the House and possibly the Senate. Brent crude fell to $103.54 a barrel and WTI to $96.04.
31 October 2026
The European Space Agency has published Copernicus Sentinel-3 imagery of Super Typhoon Champi, taken on 21 Oct off the coasts of Taiwan and the Philippines. The agency says the storm's eye spans about 50 km and that Champi is the strongest tropical cyclone recorded so far this year, with maximum sustained winds of 296 km per hour. Cloud-top temperatures at its centre fall as low as -70 °C, and waves near the centre reached up to 10 m. The storm brought serious flooding and damage across eastern Taiwan.