I'll pull today's top business and market headlines for you.
Today's Top Business / Market Headlines — Wednesday, October 8, 2026:
U.S. Markets
•Wall Street slips at open on government shutdown worries: Wall Street’s key stock indices opened lower on Tuesday. At the open, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 33.4 points, or 0.07%, to 46,282.63. The S&P 500 fell 5.0 points, or 0.08%, to 6,656.19, while the Nasdaq Composite dropped 10.8 points, or 0.05%, to 22,580.359.
•Fed Minutes in focus: Dow Jones Top Markets Headlines at 3 PM ET: Fed Minutes Signal Further Rate Increase This Year, but No Urgency for October Hike.
•Mortgage Rates Surge: Dow Jones Top Markets Headlines at 1 PM ET: Mortgage Rates Surge, Notching Largest Weekly Gain in Four Years. The rise to 7.28% follows the bond-market rout and deals another blow to a limping housing market.
•Earnings watch - PepsiCo: PepsiCo, Inc. (PEP) has announced they will report their next quarter earnings on October 08, 2026. Consensus is for ~$2.29-$2.30 per share on nearly $25 billion in revenue, which would represent about a 4.2% top-line growth on a year-over-year basis. Separately listed as PEP EPS est. $2.32 for Thursday Oct 8.
Global Markets & Economy
•WTO cuts trade forecast: Citing the Global Trade Outlook and Statistics report, Reuters reported that the WTO sharply lowered its 2026 forecast for global merchandise trade volume growth to 0.5% on Tuesday, down sharply from its previous estimate in August of 1.8% growth, citing expected delayed impacts from US President Donald Trump's tariffs.
•Asia lower, led by tech: Bloomberg reported that Asian equities fell, led by technology stocks, after Wall Street’s pullback from record highs fueled caution about lofty valuations and AI-related spending. As of 09:16am GST, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index fell 1.2% and Japan’s Nikkei 225 index declined 0.3%. Asian equities edged lower on Thursday October 8, following Wall Street's retreat, as high oil prices fuelled inflation fears and investors sold technology shares again.
•India: Sensex falls 140 points to 72,499, Nifty down 76 points to 22,527 after flat open.
Commodities
•Gold tops $4,000: Bloomberg reported Asian equities fell, Gold tops $4,000 mark. Gold continued its scorching rally to top $4,000 an ounce as the US government shutdown, a wobble in technology stocks, and political shake-ups in Japan and France buoyed demand. Spot gold was last trading at 4,029.49 an ounce, up 1.1%. On COMEX on Thursday (October 8) gold was trading at $4,152.90 per ounce, up 0.29%, while silver was at $60.645 per ounce, higher by 0.58%.
•Oil higher on inventories: Bloomberg reported that oil gained after a US inventories report, with traders also focused on the broader outlook for supply as OPEC+ presses on with output increases. Brent futures (December contract) were up 0.7% to $65.91/bbl.
Top Corporate Deals / Company News
•Uber to Acquire Business Catering Platform ezCater for $2.3 Billion: Uber Eats and Uber for Business will benefit from ezCater's network of more than 140,000 restaurants across the United States.
•Becton Dickinson to Invest $19 Billion in U.S. in Exchange for Tariff Relief: The move makes the needle- and medical-device maker the latest company to pledge to expand domestic manufacturing to secure an exemption from the Trump administration's tariffs.
•Other Dow Jones Top Company Headlines at 9 AM ET include: Lamb Weston Lifts Fiscal 2027 Outlook after higher-than-expected adjusted earnings, Energy Transfer to Acquire Vaquero Midstream for $2.63 Billion, and SoftBank-Backed DayOne Plans to Raise Up to $5 Billion in U.S. IPO on Nasdaq.