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Delayed 15 min · 13:30 GMT

FLASH

Germany’s gas storage hits a record low of 61% as winter arrives Korea’s chip exports jump 259% as October shipments hit $115.3B Oil at $110: will talks, the status quo or strikes set the next move? The 49.3 Problem: China’s factories shrink as its carmakers sell abroad Week ahead: US midterms, two rate hikes, jobs data and AI’s next earnings test Weekend Wrap part 2: Record profits, Falling Stocks - and Nervous AI Investors Weekend Wrap 1: The AI bill nobody fully counted: Bangladesh, World's no.2 apparel exporter, forms garment wage board after protests shut 43 factories FBI pins $6.3B Binance heist on North Korea; withdrawals restart Exxon earns $15.4B, Chevron $9.9B as refining boom lifts Big Oil

Germany’s gas storage hits a record low of 61% as winter arrives Korea’s chip exports jump 259% as October shipments hit $115.3B Oil at $110: will talks, the status quo or strikes set the next move? The 49.3 Problem: China’s factories shrink as its carmakers sell abroad Week ahead: US midterms, two rate hikes, jobs data and AI’s next earnings test Weekend Wrap part 2: Record profits, Falling Stocks - and Nervous AI Investors Weekend Wrap 1: The AI bill nobody fully counted: Bangladesh, World's no.2 apparel exporter, forms garment wage board after protests shut 43 factories FBI pins $6.3B Binance heist on North Korea; withdrawals restart Exxon earns $15.4B, Chevron $9.9B as refining boom lifts Big Oil

Industries

The 49.3 Problem: China’s factories shrink as its carmakers sell abroad

China’s factory gauge fell back into contraction in October just as its EV makers posted their strongest numbers of the year. Both are true: demand abroad is strong and demand at home is weak.

News | 2 November 2026

The 49.3 Problem: China’s factories shrink as its carmakers sell abroad

China just printed two numbers that refuse to agree.

The official manufacturing PMI fell to 49.3 in October from 50.1, with production, new orders and export orders all shrinking.

The same weekend, Xpeng cleared 50,000 deliveries for the first time and BYD posted its best month of the year. Both are true.

Look inside BYD’s number: exports doubled to 170,194 while sales at home fell 10.6%. High-tech factories are expanding; consumer-goods makers are not.

One China builds for the world. The other is waiting for a shopper who isn’t spending.

Europe has noticed: a 350,000-a-year cap on Chinese hybrids is due from 1 December.