10 Things You Need to Know: October 14, 2026
Key data releases this week include: NFIB Small Business Optimism (Tue), existing home sales (Tue), CPI (Wed), Beige Book (Wed), retail sales (Thu), PPI (Thu), import prices (Fri), and industrial production (Fri).
DJ
October 5, 2026
The Institute for Supply Management’s purchasing managers’ index for services providers was 54.9 in September, compared with 55.4 in the prior month. Economists expected a reading of 55. The prices paid index registered at its highest level since July 2022, coming in at 74.
Bloomberg
October 7, 2026
Minutes of the September FOMC meeting show all participants supported the 25-basis-point rate increase, almost all judged inflation risks were tilted to the upside, and most thought another hike would likely be appropriate by year-end.
Bloomberg
October 12, 2026
European Central Bank Governing Council member Christodoulos Patsalides cautioned that there’s only so much officials can do to keep inflation shocks at bay. “A central bank’s monetary policy cannot solve wars, fiscal problems, or supply chain issues,” the Cypriot governor said. The remarks point to the challenge for the ECB in responding to a backdrop for consumer prices that depends closely on the duration of the Middle East war.
Bloomberg
October 12, 2026
China’s trade surplus reached $805.5 billion in the first eight months of 2026, up 3% from the year-earlier period as exports surged 19%. The strength in exports was led by technology products and automobiles, which rose by $299 billion from a year earlier (or 44%), accounting for 63% of the total increase in headline exports. These sectors now represent one-third of total exports, up from about one-quarter in 2018.
Barron’s
October 12, 2026
Tokenization of financial assets could be the biggest revolution on Wall Street since the move from paper to electronic trading. Banks, brokerages, and asset managers position excess collateral at different institutions, wait for transactions to settle, and sometimes must borrow money because of asset-transfer delays. Modernizing the market’s plumbing could free up billions of dollars now idled as traditional systems process trades.
Bloomberg
October 8, 2026
Federal Reserve Governor Christopher Waller said further interest-rate hikes will likely be needed to slow inflation, though officials have some flexibility on timing and don’t need to tighten at consecutive policy meetings. “If the economic data continue to come in as expected, I anticipate additional hikes to support a timelier return of inflation to our 2% goal,” Waller said. The signal from Waller broadly echoes recent remarks from other top Fed officials.
WSJ
October 8, 2026
The US budget deficit reached $1.993 trillion in fiscal 2026, up 12% from the previous year and the highest since 2021. Federal spending rose to $7.4 trillion, while revenue totaled $5.4 trillion. Rising interest costs on federal debt exceeded $1.1 trillion, adding to fiscal pressures as Treasury yields climb and policymakers face mounting concerns over long-term debt sustainability.
Bloomberg
October 6, 2026
The value of loans trading below 60 cents on the dollar, or deeply distressed levels, rose to $65 billion from $40 billion a year ago, to the highest since March 2020. Distressed leveraged loans, or those trading at or below 80 cents on the dollar, are also on the rise, totaling $139.8 billion, a nearly 90% jump over the past 12 months and just $4 billion shy of a high in May 2020.
CNBC
October 6, 2026
A record 25.5% of financed new-vehicle purchases in the third quarter had loan terms of 84 months or longer, up from 21.8% a year earlier, according to a new report from Edmunds. The average monthly payment over that same period reached a record $787, up from $756 a year earlier, the data shows. The average amount financed also reached a record $44,664.