On today's podcast:

1) Israel and Hamas have reached a deal for the release of all hostages held by the militant group in Gaza, a major step toward ending a two-year war that’s devastated the Palestinian territory and triggered multiple conflicts in the Middle East as well as protests across the world. The agreement was reached early on Thursday after several days of indirect negotiations between the warring sides in the Egyptian resort of Sharm El-Sheikh. The ongoing talks were brokered by the US, Egypt, Qatar and Turkey and based on a plan unveiled by President Trump last week.

2) French President Emmanuel Macron said he’ll name a new prime minister by Friday evening, having for the time being avoided the need to call a snap election that would have deepened the political chaos in France. Outgoing Premier Sebastien Lecornu, who was tasked by Macron on Monday to negotiate with the political groups in the National Assembly, said sufficient progress had been made to allow work to begin on forming a new cabinet.

3) China has unveiled broad new curbs on its rare earth exports, as Beijing moves to shore up its trade war leverage ahead of a high-stakes meeting this month between Donald Trump and Xi Jinping. Overseas exporters of items that use even traces of certain rare earths sourced from China will now need an export license, the Ministry of Commerce said in a statement Thursday, citing national security grounds. Certain equipment and engineering technology will also be subject to controls, according to a separate release.

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On today's podcast:
1) The Trump administration’s push to deny back pay to federal workers furloughed during the shutdown sets the stage for another round of legal battles over the president’s control of the workforce. The White House in a draft legal opinion Tuesday suggested it may withhold back pay from government employees when the shutdown ends, raising the threat of lost wages for potentially 750,000 civilian workers and stoking a broader clash over how much employees are owed after a shutdown ends. Meantime, spot gold smashed through $4,000 an ounce for the first time, as concerns over the US economy and the government shutdown added fresh momentum to a scorching rally.
2) Outgoing French Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu expressed optimism that an an accord can be reached to allow the formation of a new government without fully endorsing a new proposal to rethink a controversial pension law as demanded by the Socialists.
3) Teams from the US, Qatar, Israel and other nations are headed to Egypt as part of a final push for a deal with Hamas aimed at ending the two-year war that’s devastated Gaza and destabilized much of the Middle East. A US team that includes US special envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner will join Qatar Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed Bin Abdulrahman Al Thani and other senior officials in Sharm El-Sheikh.

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On today's podcast:
1) With the US government shutdown closing in on the one week mark, President Trump showed signs of cracking Monday, sending mixed messages about the state of talks with Democrats on their biggest demand. Trump, who had remained on the sidelines of negotiations for days, on Monday said he was open to negotiating with Democrats over health care subsidies to bring an end to the funding stalemate, at one point suggesting those talks had already begun. The remarks appeared to mark a shift after days of Republicans maintaining they’d only consider a possible extension of Obamacare subsidies after Democrats first passed legislation to fund the government.
2) A federal judge declined to quickly issue a temporary order blocking the Trump administration’s plan to deploy National Guard members to Chicago to counter protests against the US immigration crackdown, while urging the government to delay the controversial plan until she rules. US District Judge April Perry on Monday said she could not rule immediately on a request by Illinois for a two-week halt to the deployment, which would include National Guard troops under federal control from Illinois and Texas. She set a Thursday hearing for arguments.
3) President Trump is pressing Israel and Hamas to secure a settlement to the two-year conflict that’s devastated Gaza and destabilized the Middle East, with the warring sides starting mediated negotiations. A key sign of progress in the talks, taking place in the Egyptian Red Sea resort of Sharm El-Sheikh, will be whether Hamas frees all the roughly 20 of its live hostages — plus the remains of those who are dead — in return for Israel releasing about 2,000 Palestinian prisoners. Indirect discussions between negotiators about preparing the conditions for that exchange got underway on Monday, AlQahera News reported on its X account, citing unidentified individuals. Egyptian and Qatari mediators are working with both sides to establish an appropriate mechanism.

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On today's podcast:
1) French Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu resigned Monday just a day after President Emmanuel Macron named a new cabinet, deepening the country’s political crisis. The premier quit less than 24 hours after Macron announced a government that retained most senior members from previous cabinets. That irked opposition parties looking for change, but in a surprising twist, the reappointed interior minister, Bruno Retailleau — who leads the center-right Republicans — also slammed the choice of ministers as failing to “break” with the past.
2) President Trump is pressing Israel and Hamas to seal a settlement to the two-year conflict that’s devastated Gaza and destabilized the Middle East, with the warring sides set to begin mediated talks on Monday. A key sign of progress in the negotiations, taking place in the Egyptian Red Sea resort of Sharm El-Sheikh, will be whether Hamas frees all the roughly 20 of its live hostages — plus the remains of those who are dead — in return for Israel releasing about 2,000 Palestinian prisoners.
3) Unions representing hundreds of thousands of federal workers asked a US judge to immediately block any mass firings by the Trump administration during the government shutdown while they press a legal challenge.The emergency request Saturday night to US District Judge Vince Chhabria in San Francisco follows what the unions contend are a series of statements from President Donald Trump and other senior officials signaling that agencies could take action on layoff plans as early as Monday. Kevin Hassett, Trump’s top economic adviser in the White House, said the administration is holding off on layoffs at least until Monday, when a divided Senate is due to vote for the fifth time on a stopgap bill to keep government open through November 21st.

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Hamas agreed to release the last of the hostages from its 2023 attack on Israel but said the rest of a US peace plan would be subject to negotiation, a stance that offered uncertain hopes for an end to the conflict in Gaza.

President Donald Trump responded favorably to the Hamas statement even though the group failed to address other key elements of his 20-point proposal that Israel has also demanded, including that it disarm. He called on Israel to stop its bombing campaign and said discussions were underway on “details to be worked out,” suggesting that he was willing to give Hamas some leeway.

“I believe they are ready for a lasting PEACE,” Trump said of Hamas in a social media post. “Israel must immediately stop the bombing of Gaza, so that we can get the Hostages out safely and quickly!”

In a subsequent video post, Trump thanked the Muslim-majority nations he credited with assisting in the negotiations and pledged that “everybody will be treated fairly” in ongoing talks.

“This is a big day,” Trump said. “We’ll see how it all turns out — we have to get the final word down in concrete.”

For instant reaction and analysis, Bloomberg Balance of Power host Joe Mathieu speaks with:

- Rep. Gregory Meeks of New York
- Bloomberg News State Department and Foreign Policy Reporter Eric Martin
- Former Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman

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Bloomberg Daybreak Weekend with Host Tom Busby take a look at some of the stories we'll be tracking in the coming week.

• In the US – a look ahead to the impact of lumber and timber tariffs on housing, and President Donald Trump’s Pfizer deal on drugmakers.
• In the UK – a look ahead to the Nobel Prize decisions.
• In Asia – a look ahead to the impact of the Golden Week holiday.

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On today's podcast:
1) The Senate is expected to hold another vote today on a stopgap spending bill to reopen the government into mid-November. It comes as President Trump threatens to slash jobs. The US government shutdown adds uncertainty for investors seeking signals on the Federal Reserve's monetary-easing path. It will delay Friday's government payroll report, making investors reliant on private data for clues about the economic outlook.
2) Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent predicted a “pretty big breakthrough” in the next round of trade talks with China. China has stopped buying US soybeans, with Beijing using the import ban as a bargaining chip in trade talks with the US. The US and China are set to hold talks before the scheduled November 10 expiration of a truce on the highest tariff levels from earlier this year.
3) Boeing's 777X is slated to fly commercially for the first time in early 2027, a fresh setback to the US planemaker. The delay could result in potentially billions of dollars in accounting charges, with analysts estimating the non-cash accounting charge could run from $2.5 billion to as much as $4 billion. Boeing executives are set to discuss the extent and cost of the latest schedule slip for the jet when Boeing reports earnings on Oct. 29.

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On today's podcast:
1) White House Budget Director Russell Vought is planning to swiftly dismiss federal workers, a sign that Republicans will lean into hardball tactics to pressure Democrats to cave to end a government shutdown. Vought told House lawmakers Wednesday that some federal agencies will move to terminate workers within one to two days, according to people familiar with the remarks, who requested anonymity to discuss a private meeting. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters that layoffs would happen within “two days, imminent, very soon” but declined to give any details about what agencies or positions would be targeted. Meantime, the Trump administration is planning to cancel billions of dollars earmarked for hydrogen projects in California and the Pacific Northwest, as well as $18 billion in infrastructure funding for the New York metro region.
2) Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago President Austan Goolsbee said a lack of official data while the US government is shut down will make it harder for central bankers to interpret the economy. Goolsbee reiterated concerns about a recent pickup in services inflation, which he said could mean price pressures are persistent in parts of the economy least impacted by tariffs.
3) OpenAI has completed a deal to help employees sell shares in the company at a $500 billion valuation, propelling the ChatGPT owner past Elon Musk’s SpaceX to become the world’s largest startup. Current and former OpenAI employees sold about $6.6 billion of stock to investors including Thrive Capital, SoftBank Group Corp., Dragoneer Investment Group, Abu Dhabi’s MGX and T. Rowe Price, a person familiar with the transaction said. That boosted the US company’s price tag well past its previous $300 billion level during a SoftBank-led financing round earlier this year.

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