Daily Brief: Trump Says Iran War Over, Stocks Rally

In today's Bilig Daily Brief, President Donald Trump said the war with Iran was militarily "effectively over" after talks with Qatar's prime minister, pushing oil lower and helping a global stock rally. Russia and Ukraine opened United States-mediated talks in Abu Dhabi, Trump said the FBI was looking into Nvidia's chief executive, and China's trade surplus passed $1 trillion for a second year.

Trump says Iran war is "effectively over"

President Donald Trump said on Monday that Iran was militarily "effectively over" after meeting Qatar's Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani at the White House, AFP and Al Jazeera reported. Trump said the United States would keep its current posture, including the naval blockade of Iranian ports, and called new strikes "quite unlikely". The Qatari leader welcomed "positive discussions on reaching a deal". Iranian security official Mohsen Rezaei dismissed reports of talks as "fake news".

Russia and Ukraine open talks in Abu Dhabi

Russian and Ukrainian delegations began two days of US-mediated talks in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday, the first three-way round since February, The National and the Moscow Times reported. Kremlin adviser Vladimir Medinsky leads Russia's team and Rustem Umerov leads Ukraine's, with US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner mediating. Ukrainian officials first met European Union, NATO, German, French, British and Italian representatives. "Our proposal is to bring the Europeans into the discussion after this trilateral," a US official said.

Wall Street and Asia rally as oil falls

The S&P 500 rose 2.3% on Monday to 7,549.94, the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 2.2% and the Nasdaq Composite added 2.7%, AP and TheStreet reported. Japan's Nikkei 225 closed 2.9% higher at 60,459.58 on Tuesday and South Korea's Kospi jumped 4.4%. Europe's STOXX 600 was up 0.9% at 08:05 GMT, near a record, Reuters said. Brent crude fell to about $90 a barrel. The US 10-year Treasury yield stood near 4.86%. US October inflation data is due at 13:30 GMT.

Trump says FBI is examining Nvidia's Huang

President Donald Trump said on Monday the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) was looking into Nvidia Chief Executive Jensen Huang's affair with a Chinese businesswoman alleged to be a spy, Reuters reported. "I know the FBI is looking into it," Trump said. "I think that he'll be in good shape." Nvidia shares closed down 4.3% after its board opened an inquiry. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun called the allegations "a groundless accusation, slander, and a smear".

Trump alleges fraud in midterm elections

President Donald Trump questioned the result of last week's midterm elections on Monday, alleging fraud without evidence, AFP and Al Jazeera reported. "Does anybody really believe that this 'Election' was honest. How could the Polls be so wrong???" he wrote on Truth Social. Democrats won control of both chambers of Congress. On election night, Trump told the New York Times he was "absolutely willing to accept those results".

Republican files Hegseth impeachment articles

Republican Representative Thomas Massie filed a resolution on Monday to impeach Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Roll Call and Time reported. Its eight articles accuse Hegseth of breaching the War Powers Resolution over the Iran war, killing suspected drug traffickers without trial and running an illegal operation to seize Venezuela's Nicolás Maduro. Filed as a privileged measure, it could force a vote by Wednesday. Trump said he would "stand by" Hegseth.

China's trade surplus passes $1 trillion again

China's exports rose 35.2% in October from a year earlier and imports jumped 41.6%, customs data showed on Tuesday, Reuters and AP reported. The monthly surplus was $105.3 billion, taking the January to October total to $1.04 trillion, above $1 trillion for a second straight year. Semiconductor exports rose 137.1% by value, according to AP. Exports to the United States climbed 32.9% from a low base after last year's tariffs.

SoftBank swings to $7 billion quarterly loss

SoftBank Group reported a net loss of 1.1 trillion yen (about $7 billion) for July to September on Tuesday, its first quarterly loss in about two years, Reuters and Bloomberg reported. It made a profit of 2.5 trillion yen a year earlier, driven by gains on its OpenAI stake. The loss was larger than the worst forecast in an LSEG poll. SoftBank shares rose 13.9% in Tokyo before the results.

France blames Iran for supermarket cyberattack

France accused a cyber unit linked to Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) on Monday of hacking refrigeration systems at about 700 food sites, Al Jazeera and the Grocery Gazette reported. Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot called the October attacks "unprecedented in both its scale and its level of aggression". Paris prosecutors are investigating the head of the unit, named Shahid Kaveh, and two deputies. France summoned Iran's ambassador and will seek European Union sanctions. Iran has routinely denied cyberattacks.

Steel plant explosion kills 17 in Türkiye

An explosion at the Habaş steel plant in Aliağa, Izmir province, killed at least 17 workers on Monday, Turkish officials said, TRT World and Anadolu reported. Izmir Governor Süleyman Elban said a crane carrying a replacement boiler collapsed into an electric arc furnace, rupturing a natural gas line. President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said judicial and administrative investigations had begun and that the cause and any negligence "will be established".

Board of Peace faults Israel over Gaza floods

The US-backed Board of Peace said on Monday that Gaza faced a humanitarian emergency after flooding and that Israel's response "remains insufficient", the Times of Israel and Bloomberg reported. Rains flooded more than 70,000 tents over the weekend. The board said Israeli delays had slowed weapons decommissioning and also pressed Hamas to disarm and give up governing authority under the Trump-backed peace plan.

Anthropic targets IPO as soon as next week

Anthropic aims to begin trading on Nasdaq as soon as next Thursday or Friday, the Wall Street Journal reported on Monday, TechCrunch and Investing.com said. The artificial intelligence (AI) company is expected to file its price range this week, under the ticker "ANT". Investors had expected a valuation of about $1.5 trillion last week, but some major backers are pushing for less after the AI share sell-off, the report said.