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The head of the World Trade Organization has warned that global growth could be affected if the current Israel-Hamas war spreads to the wider Middle East region.

“If it goes beyond where it is now and spreads to other parts of the Middle East, there will be an impact,” Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala told CNBC’s Martin Choong.

That’s because the Middle East is the “source” of much of the world’s natural gas and oil, the WTO chief said.

Escalating the conflict could further weigh on trade growth, which is already “very severe,” he added.

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– Sheila Chiang

Australia posted a 0.9% monthly increase In seasonally adjusted retail sales in September.

That accelerated from August’s 0.2% increase and beat expectations, with economists polled by Reuters forecasting a 0.3% rise.

On a seasonally adjusted year-on-year basis, retail sales fell 2%, the National Bureau of Statistics said.

Australia’s retail sales are one of the metrics the Reserve Bank monitors when considering Australian fiscal policy, using it as a measure of household spending.

– Lim Hui Jee

China’s tech giants may be reeling from regulatory clamdowns, but they still have “a lot of value,” says senior analyst Don Ives.

A managing director and senior equity research analyst at Wedbush Securities sees a few stocks as positive. Many analysts share the same opinion, with one name above 68%.

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– Amala Balakrishna

The Dow Jones industrial average fell more than 350 points on Friday, capping a sour week that sent the S&P 500 into correction territory.

The 30-share Dow closed down 366.71 points, or 1.1%, at 32,417.59. The S&P 500 fell 0.48% to 4,117.37.

– Brian Evans

Tech companies — particularly companies developing artificial intelligence — have gained traction this year, as investors flock to the likes of Nvidia, Baidu and Alibaba.

However, one lesser-known tech player stands out than Sanjay Iyer, portfolio manager at US-headquartered WCM Investments.

The networking company counts Cisco and Juniper as competitors in the industry and 40% of its revenue currently comes from Microsoft and Meta.

CNBC Pro subscribers can read more here.

– Amala Balakrishna

Inflationary expectations fluctuate sharply on the final revision University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment Survey Published on Friday, October.

Respondents now see a rate of 4.2% over the year, up a full percentage point from the outlook in September. The survey was 0.4 percent higher than the previous release two weeks ago.

However, the broader index was marginally positive at 63.8, down 0.8 percentage point from the last reading, though below September’s level of 67.9.

– Jeff Cox

Bitcoin is on pace to post its best week since June, after a big rally earlier this week pushed it out of the tight range it’s been stuck in for most of the year.

The coin is on pace to end the week 14% higher at the $33,000 level, according to Coin Metrics. At around $1,770, Ether is heading for a 10% weekly gain. Currency metrics measure a week in crypto, which is traded 24 hours a day, from 4:00 PM ET on the stock market from one Friday to the next.

Investors are watching closely to see if Bitcoin can find new ground at current levels. Next week will get its first testing ground with the Federal Reserve’s Open Market Committee meeting starting Tuesday. Callie Cox, an analyst at investment firm eToro, noted that bitcoin outperforms stocks on Fed days, outperforming the S&P 500 in 10 of the past 13.

“Next week could be the real test for crypto,” he said. “The industry news is encouraging, but I worry that investors have forgotten that we are in an aggressively high-rate environment. The Fed will reaffirm high rates in its comments next week. That could be a tough pill to swallow.”

“I wouldn’t be shocked if Powell entertains the idea of ​​a rate cut,” he added. “Inflation has made a lot of progress, and recently, his language has been more hawkish than usual. Powell may be tough, but any kind of flexibility will lure people back into riskier investments like crypto.”

– Tanaya Machel