Financial

CME blamed the outage, which halted trading for more than 11 hours, on a cooling failure at a data centre in Chicago.

Global futures markets were thrown into chaos for several hours after CME Group, the world’s largest exchange operator, suffered one of its longest outages in years, halting trading across stocks, bonds, commodities and currencies.

By 13:35 GMT on Friday, trading in foreign exchange, stock and bond futures as well as other products had resumed, after having been knocked out for more than 11 hours because of an outage at an important data centre, according to LSEG data.

CME blamed the outage on a cooling failure at data centres run by CyrusOne, which said its Chicago-area facility had affected services for customers, including CME.

The disruption stopped trading in major currency pairs on CME’s EBS platform, as well as benchmark futures for West Texas Intermediate crude, Nasdaq 100, Nikkei, palm oil and gold, according to LSEG data.

‘A black eye’

Trading volumes have been thinned out this week by the United States Thanksgiving holiday, and with dealers looking to close positions for the end of the month, there was a risk of volatility picking up sharply later on, market participants said.

“It’s a black eye to the CME and probably an overdue reminder of the importance of market structure and how interconnected all these are,” Ben Laidler, head of equity strategy at Bradesco BBI, said.

“We complacently take for granted that much of the timing is frankly not great. It’s month-end, a lot of things get rebalanced.”

“Having said that, it could have been a lot worse; it’ll be a very low-volume day. If you’re going to have it, there would have been worse days to have a breakdown like this,” he said.

Futures are a mainstay of financial markets and are used by dealers, speculators and businesses wishing to hedge or hold positions in a wide range of underlying assets. Without these and other instruments, brokers were left flying blind, and many were reluctant to trade contracts with no live prices for hours on end.

“Beyond the immediate risk of traders being unable to close positions – and the potential costs that follow – the incident raises broader concerns about reliability,” said Axel Rudolph, senior technical analyst at trading platform IG.

A few European brokerages said earlier in the day they had been unable to offer trading in some products on certain futures contracts.

Biggest exchange operator

CME is the biggest exchange operator by market value and says it offers the widest range of benchmark products, spanning rates, equities, metals, energy, cryptocurrencies and agriculture.

Average daily derivatives volume was 26.3 million contracts in October, CME said earlier this month.

The CME outage on Friday comes more than a decade after the operator had to shut electronic trading for some agricultural contracts in April 2014 due to technical problems, which at the time sent traders back onto the floor.

More recently, in 2024, outages at LSEG and Switzerland’s exchange operator briefly interrupted markets.

CME’s own shares were up 0.4 percent in premarket trading.

The company’s stock has zoomed this year, driven by the explosive growth of the weight-loss drug market.

Eli Lilly has hit $1 trillion in market value, making it the first drugmaker to enter the exclusive club dominated by tech giants and underscoring its rise as a weight-loss powerhouse.

A more than 35 percent rally in the company’s stock this year has largely been driven by the explosive growth of the weight-loss drug market and saw it join the $1 trillion club on Friday.

Once seen as a niche category, obesity treatments are now one of the most lucrative segments in healthcare, with steadily rising demand.

Novo Nordisk had the early lead in the space, but Lilly’s drugs – Mounjaro and Zepbound – have surged in popularity and helped eclipse its rival in prescriptions.

The company’s shares were up 1.3 percent at a record high of $1,057.70.

Lilly now trades at one of the richest valuations in big pharma, at about 50 times its expected earnings over the next 12 months, according to LSEG data, reflecting investors’ belief that demand for obesity drugs will remain strong.

Shares have also far outpaced the broader United States equity market. Since the launch of Zepbound in late 2023, Lilly has gained more than 75 percent, compared with a more than 50 percent rise in the S&P 500 over the same period.

In the latest reported quarter, Lilly posted combined revenue of more than $10.09bn from its obesity and diabetes portfolio, accounting for more than half of its total revenue of $17.6bn.

“They are doing so many things outside of obesity, but to suggest anything is driving share price beyond obesity at this point, I don’t know if that would be a factual statement,” said Kevin Gade, chief operating officer at Lilly shareholder Bahl and Gaynor, in advance of the milestone.

‘Sales phenomenon’

Wall Street estimates the weight-loss drug market to be worth $150bn by 2030, with Lilly and Novo together controlling the majority of projected global sales.

Investors are now focused on Lilly’s oral obesity drug, orforglipron, which is expected to be approved early next year.

In a note last week, Citi analysts said the latest generation of GLP-1 drugs have already been a “sales phenomenon”, and orforglipron is poised to benefit from the “inroads made by its injectable predecessors”.

Lilly’s recent deal with the White House to cut prices for its weight-loss drugs, as well as planned investments to expand drug production, augur well for its growth.

Lilly is starting to resemble the “Magnificent Seven” again, said James Shin, director of Biopharma Equity Research at Deutsche Bank, referring to the seven tech heavyweights, including Nvidia and Microsoft, that have powered much of the market’s returns this year.

At one point, investors viewed it as part of that elite group, but after some disappointing headlines and earnings, it slipped out of favour.

Now, however, it seems poised to rejoin that circle, possibly even as an alternative for investors, especially given recent concerns and weakness in some AI stocks, he added.

Still, analysts and investors are watching whether Lilly can sustain its current growth as prices of Mounjaro and Zepbound come under pressure, and whether its scale-up plans, along with its diversified pipeline and dealmaking, will offset margin pressure.

Some 380 hospice beds out of around 2,000 lie empty in England because of financial pressures, say bosses.

Hospice UK has told BBC News this is up from 300 a year ago and illustrates the severe challenges facing the sector.

Beds are left empty to save money – since staffing and caring is costly – and so are unavailable to patients.

Hospices are run by charities, raising between two-thirds and three-quarters of their income from donations and private fund raising. They depend on the rest from the NHS, and managers say this funding has not kept pace with costs, such as employer national insurance.

Hospice leaders say their organisations are “on the brink of a financial crisis”.

A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said the government had already invested £100 million to improve hospice facilities and had committed £80 million for children’s and young people’s hospices over three years.

“We recognise there is more to do and we are exploring how we can improve the access, quality and sustainability of all-age palliative care and end of life care in line with the 10-Year Health Plan,” a spokesman added.

Hospice UK says five of its members have announced “cost reductions” or cutbacks since early October. In some cases job losses are being made.

One of them is Ashgate Hospice in Derbyshire which has warned staff that 52 are at risk of redundancy. Bed numbers are also being reduced – from 15 to six – and the proposals would mean 600 fewer patients being cared for each year.

The hospice has blamed energy bills and rising staff salaries with NHS funding not matching the increases.

Meanwhile, Arthur Rank Hospice in Cambridge says a cut in NHS funding will mean inpatient beds being reduced from 21 to 12 – what it described as “a devastating decision”.

Garden House Hospice Care in Hertfordshire has announced what it calls “the most serious financial challenge in its history” and has launched a consultation process which may lead to more than 20 redundancies.

Charlie King, director of external affairs at Hospice UK, said: “The financial situation facing hospices is untenable, with even more beds out of use this year than last year.

“We know many hospices have waiting lists and demand for end of life care is rising, so it’s not a case of lack of demand. Hospices desperately want to reach everyone who needs them, but financial pressure is holding them back.”

Mr King argued that an overhaul of hospice funding was needed because ministers were pushing for more care to be shifted from hospitals into the community. He added that with assisted dying potentially on the horizon, well-funded end of life care would be a vital safeguard.

Ministers unveiled an emergency funding plan this year with £100 million available for hospices in England. But the money was specifically for capital spending on improving buildings and facilities rather than for day to day running costs. Funding for future years for adult hospices has yet been announced though the government has come up with an £80 million three year plan for children’s hospices.

US Senate vote to end shutdown delivers reprieve to investors worried about AI valuations and weakness in US economy.

Stocks from the United States to Japan have risen sharply amid hopes that an end to the longest US government shutdown in history is imminent.

US lawmakers on Sunday moved to end a five-week impasse over government funding, a boost for investors unnerved by signs of growing weakness in the US economy and the sky-high evaluations of firms involved in artificial intelligence.

After a group of Democrats broke with the party leadership to join Republicans, the US Senate voted 60-40 to advance a bill that would fund government operations through the end of January.

The funding package still needs to win final approval in the Senate and then pass the US House of Representatives, after which it would go to US President Donald Trump for his signature – a process expected to take days.

Stock markets in the Asia Pacific made large gains on Monday, while futures in the US also rose in advance of stock exchanges reopening.

South Korea’s benchmark KOSPI led the gains, rising about 3 percent as of 4pm local time (07:00 GMT).

Japan’s Nikkei 225 and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng also rose sharply, advancing about 1.3 percent and 1.5 percent, respectively.

Taiwan’s Taiex rose about 0.8 percent, while Australia’s ASX 200 gained about 0.75 percent.

Futures for the US’s benchmark S&P 500 and tech-heavy Nasdaq-100, which are traded outside of regular market hours, were up about 0.75 and 1.3 percent, respectively.

The reprieve comes as investors are concerned that AI-linked stocks may be wildly overvalued and that Trump’s sweeping tariffs could be doing more damage to the US economy than has been captured in headline data so far.

Nvidia, whose graphics processing units are integral to the development of AI, last month became the first company in history to reach a market valuation of $5 trillion, a day after tech giant Apple surpassed $4 trillion in market value.

While the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ official jobs report has been suspended since August due to the government shutdown, several other analyses have pointed to a rise in layoffs in October.

Challenger, Gray & Christmas, an executive outplacement firm, said in a report last week that layoffs surged 183 percent last month, making it the worst October for jobs since 2003.

A separate analysis by Revelio Labs, a workforce analytics company, estimated that the economy shed 9,100 jobs during the month.

Trump promises to defend Hungary’s finances amid Orban-EU tensions and to sign $600m gas deal, says Hungarian leader.

Hungary has struck a deal for what Prime Minister Viktor Orban called a “financial shield” to safeguard its economy from potential attacks following talks with US President Donald Trump.

Orban, a longtime ally of Trump and one of Europe’s most outspoken nationalist leaders, met the US president at the White House on Friday to seek relief from sanctions on Russian oil and gas. Following the meeting, he announced that Hungary had secured a one-year exemption from those measures.

“I have also made an agreement with the US president on a financial shield,” Orban said in a video posted by the Hungarian outlet index.hu on Sunday. “Should there be any external attacks against Hungary or its financial system, the Americans gave their word that in such a case, they would defend Hungary’s financial stability.”

A White House official said the deal also included contracts worth roughly $600m for Hungary to buy US liquefied natural gas. Orban gave no details of how the “shield” would work, but claimed it would ensure Hungary would face “no financing problems”.

“That Hungary or its currency could be attacked, or that the Hungarian budget could be put in a difficult situation, or that the Hungarian economy could be suffocated from the financing side, this should be forgotten,” he said.

The move comes as Orban faces economic stagnation and strained relations with the European Union, which has frozen billions of euros in funding over what Brussels calls Hungary’s democratic backsliding. Critics accuse Orban of using his ties with Washington to sidestep EU pressure and secure new financial lifelines.

Orban said on Friday that Hungary also received an exemption from US sanctions on Russian energy after a meeting with Trump.

Hungary’s economy has struggled since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, but its currency, the forint, has shown some recovery this year, supported by high interest rates.

Trump, meanwhile, has extended his support to another far-right leader, Argentina’s Javier Milei, pledging to strengthen the country’s collapsing economy through a $20bn currency swap deal with Argentina’s central bank. Trump said he would also buy Argentinian pesos to “help a great philosophy take over a great country”.

Milei, who has made more than a dozen trips to the US since taking office in December 2023, including to attend Trump’s second inauguration, is battling inflation, debt, and dwindling reserves. Argentinian bond prices plunged in late September as the central bank scrambled to stabilise the peso.

Nov. 5 (UPI) — European lawmakers have agreed to a fifth disbursement of $2 billion for Ukraine, supporting its financial stability and government as its defense against a Russian invasion nears its fourth year.

The European Council, the collegiate body of the 27-member bloc, adopted a decision Monday to disburse the funds under its Ukraine Facility, the EU’s main framework for sustaining Ukraine’s economy, governance and reconstruction.

The disbursement comes after Kyiv’s successful completion of nine steps required for the money to be released and one outstanding step from the fourth disbursement of $3.6 billion in August.

“The funding aims primarily to bolster Ukraine’s macro-financial stability and support the continued operation of its public administration,” the council said in a statement.

The Ukraine Facility was adopted in February 2024 and came into force the next month to provide Ukraine with up to $57.4 billion in stable financing in the form of grants and loans through 2027.

Up to $36.7 billion of the funds are earmarked for reforms and investments established in the Ukraine Plan, which will also accelerate Kyiv’s EU accession.

Under the Ukraine Facility, the EU has disbursed about $6.8 billion in bridge financing, $2.1 billion in pre-financing and now five installments of $4.8 billion, $4.1 billion, $4 billion, $3.6 billion and $2 billion on Tuesday.

The disbursement came as the European Commission, the executive branch of the bloc, published a report assessing that Ukraine has made progress in its accession process.

President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine said in a statement that the report “is the best assessment to date — proof that even as we defend against Russia’s full-scale aggression, Ukraine continues to reform and transform according to European standards.”

“Ukraine’s progress on the path to the EU is achieved by efforts of millions of our people,” he said.

“We are committed to working together to strengthen Europe and our shared values.”