Tesla (TSLA.O) cut its annual capital expenditure forecast by a fifth and ​posted surprise positive free cash flow in the third quarter on Wednesday, after investing far less in its AI and robotics ambitions than Wall Street had ‌expected.

The unexpected cash generated in the quarter comes at a critical moment for Tesla, as CEO Elon Musk explores combining the EV maker with his far more capital-intensive space venture, SpaceX (SPCX.O).

While the lower spending strengthens Tesla’s financial position ahead of any deal, preserving cash at the expense of investment — in AI, robotaxis and humanoid robots — could undermine the very growth story investors are betting on.

Tesla shares, which had risen 2 per cent in after-hours trading after the company reported ​positive cash flow, higher gross margin and market-beating revenue, reversed course to trade down 2 per cent. They have fallen about 14 per cent this year.

“The free cash flow beat was a pleasant ​surprise, but when combined with the lower-than-expected capex, raises questions on the next step for the automaker,” said Ryan Lee, senior vice president of product ⁠and strategy at Direxion, which offers ETFs tied to Tesla. “Lower capex suggests less of an ‘all-in’ approach to the AI arms race than one would expect from Elon.”

Tesla said it expected capital expenses ​for 2026 to be roughly $20 billion, down from its previous forecast of more than $25 billion, but did not say what it would spend less on.

In the third quarter ended September 30, Tesla spent $4.7 ​billion in capex, double that of a year ago, but lower than the $7.5 billion analysts on average were expecting, according to LSEG data. Tesla reported free cash flow of $1.53 billion, compared with an expected $4.92 billion cash burn.

SPACEX MERGER UNDER DISCUSSION

Musk said on Tuesday that a merger between Tesla and SpaceX was a “good idea” and that the companies had formed special committees to discuss a deal. On Wednesday, Musk said on a conference call with analysts ​that he had no more to say on the matter.

A merger would create a single company at the center of Musk’s long-term vision: an integrated technology and manufacturing empire spanning AI, energy, ​robotics, communications and transportation on Earth and beyond.

Still, investors will seek evidence that Tesla is investing enough to turn Musk’s ambitions into commercial businesses, with the robotaxi rollout lagging his promises. Tesla’s energy unit has recently ‌offered a ⁠counterweight to its auto business, which remains under scrutiny as rivals globally launch newer, often cheaper models. Tesla still leans heavily on the aging Model 3 and Model Y.

“The merger still faces a high bar, but tonight’s numbers make the financial logic harder to ignore,” said Thomas Monteiro, a senior analyst at Investing.com.

“The main takeaway is that Tesla’s surprisingly positive cash flow quarter did not come from stronger profits, but from spending billions less than planned at a time when SpaceX is preparing to invest up to $40 billion in a single quarter.”

REVENUE FLAT BUT BEATS ESTIMATES

Revenue was flat from a ​year earlier, despite the end of US tax ​credits that supported sales last year. That ⁠was enough to top Wall Street targets. Net income plunged 43 per cent.

Tesla said in a statement that it ended the quarter with the largest backlog for its passenger vehicles in four years. High gasoline prices have stoked demand for EVs, especially in Europe.

With 486,532 vehicles delivered in the third quarter, ​Tesla is on track to increase annual deliveries for the first time in three years.

“Demand is growing rapidly for our vehicles. It’s exceeding ​our production by a significant ⁠margin,” Musk said on the conference call with analysts. “In a nutshell, after many years of sort of grind and things being fairly flat, I think we’re now headed for a lot of fun and significant growth.”

The FSD (supervised) attach rate reached over three-quarters of new vehicle deliveries in North America, a nearly 20-percentage-point increase from the second quarter, Tesla said.

Automotive gross margin, excluding regulatory credits, came in at 18.1 per cent in ⁠the third quarter, ​higher than analysts’ estimates of 16.7 per cent, according to Visible Alpha data.

Tesla said it was aiming to produce 5 million ​vehicles a year by about 2030, up from an expected 2.5 million this year.

The Treasury Department on Thursday proposed a rule to curb American high-tech investments, including AI, outbound to U.S. adversaries like China, Russia, North Korea and other “countries of concern.” The rule expands restrictions in the Outbound Investment Security Program (OISP) on hypersonic systems and quantum information technologies, high-performance computing and supercomputing, as well as AI.…

The Treasury Department on Thursday proposed a rule to curb American high-tech investments, including AI, outbound to U.S. adversaries like China, Russia, North Korea and other “countries of concern.” The rule expands restrictions in the Outbound Investment Security Program (OISP) on hypersonic systems and quantum information technologies, high-performance computing and supercomputing, as well as AI.…

U.S. commercial oil inventories dropped by 3.06 million barrels last week, a depletion four times larger than the 820,000-barrel decrease projected by analysts, according to the U. S. Energy Information Administration (EIA). This physical drawdown coincided with a 2.16% jump in Brent crude prices to $111.18 per barrel, driven by escalating threats to physical supply chains in the Middle East. The inventory drop signals immediate demand outpacing deliverable supply in the United States, while the price surge reflects market anxiety over the vulnerability of global export routes. The primary physical constraint identified by traders is not a lack of global reserves, but the security of the Strait of Hormuz, the critical chokepoint for a significant portion of global oil exports. On Wednesday, Houthi forces launched attacks on strategic assets in Saudi Arabia, including the Dammam airport and a strategic oil field. Simultaneously, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) reported firing on four vessels and destroying three tankers via mines west of the Strait of Hormuz. Tehran characterized these actions as a response to U. S. provocations. For the physical commodity market, this represents a direct threat to the flow of barrels from producer hubs to global consumption centers.

All banks in Cyprus will be closed on Wednesday, October 28, to mark Ohi Day, the Central Bank of Cyprus (CBC) has announced.

The central bank informed the public that banking services at branches will be unavailable for the national holiday.

Celebrated throughout Greece and Cyprus, Ohi Day (‘Anniversary of the No’) commemorates the country’s rejection of an ultimatum from Fascist Italy on October 28, 1940, and its entry into the Second World War.

Customers who need to carry out branch transactions are advised to make arrangements in advance, while online and mobile banking services remain available.

NextDC boss Craig Scroggie has been very public about his extreme diet and exercise regime.

NextDC boss Craig Scroggie has been very public about his extreme diet and exercise regime.

Rosatom and Indonesia's PT Pembangkit Listrik Nuklir have signed an agreement to supply two floating power units (PEB-100) to the North Maluku region, aiming to provide 200 MW of installed capacity to the northern part of Halmahera Island. The project introduces a mobile generation solution designed to circumvent the infrastructure constraints of remote island geography, where traditional land-based plant construction is often prohibited by long lead times and site limitations. Technical Architecture and Grid Integration The PEB-100 utilizes RITM-family reactor plants-technology derived from nuclear icebreakers-housed on a floating platform. This configuration shifts the primary construction phase from a remote site to a controlled factory environment, accelerating deployment. The system converts thermal energy from the RITM reactor into mechanical energy to drive a turbine generator, which then injects low-carbon electricity into the local regional grid. For an archipelagic nation like Indonesia, the deployment of floating units addresses the fundamental challenge of establishing firm capacity in isolated areas. Unlike variable renewable energy sources, these nuclear units provide a stable baseload, ensuring dependable operation for industrial facilities and urban centers regardless of weather conditions.

Oil prices were little ‌changed in early Asian trade on Friday, after rising 4 percent to a five-month high in the previous session due to ​concern of further energy supply disruption after Houthi attacks on top exporter Saudi Arabia. Brent crude futures was down 21 cents, or 0.2 percent, at $112.96 a barrel as of 0030 GMT, while US West Texas Intermediate crude was down 27 cents, or 0.3 percent, at $98.12. On a weekly basis, WTI was on track ‌to end two ‌weeks of gain to finish ​lower. ‌Brent,

Rajinikanth's 'Jailer 2' crosses Rs 600 crore worldwide in nine days, despite a sharp drop in Day 8 India collections, while overseas markets continue to drive its box office success.

European equity markets faced a sharp correction on October 22, 2026, as technical vulnerabilities in foundational web infrastructure triggered a sell-off. The Madrid-based IBEX-35 index dropped more than 300 points at the start of the session, falling between 1.5% and 1.7%. This decline reflects a broader shift in investor sentiment, where market stability is increasingly tied to the integrity of the software layers supporting global corporate operations. The PHP2Shell Vulnerability and Systemic Risk The immediate catalyst for the volatility is the discovery of two critical vulnerabilities in the PHP programming language, collectively termed "PHP2Shell." Because PHP serves as the primary engine for a vast number of websites and web applications, the flaw allows attackers to remotely execute malicious code on servers. This creates a direct path for unauthorized access to file systems and sensitive databases, effectively turning a common development tool into a vector for systemic failure. The economic impact of such a flaw is not limited to tech firms but extends to any entity relying on the affected software for its business processes. The vulnerability shifts the risk profile of the entire digital ecosystem, forcing companies like Google, Amazon, OpenAI, and Cloudflare into a reactive posture of identification and patching. This dependency creates a scenario where a single technical failure in a widely adopted open-source language can trigger an immediate repricing of risk across global markets.

“To make these calls look credible, certain members, acting in concert with the operators, post false claims of profit and praise the 'expert'. This practice, known as astroturfing, creates a false impression of genuine support and induces unsuspecting investors to act on the call,” says SEBI

The electricity system is forecast to have a surplus of 5.9 gigawatts between the end of October and the end of March next year.

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Just over one in four girls surveyed in single-sex schools currently have access to Computer Science at Leaving Certificate level, according to new research.

The electricity system is forecast to have a surplus of 5.9 gigawatts between the end of October and the end of March next year.

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The tax debt balance remains ‘significantly higher’ than the pre-pandemic period, a National Audit Office report said.

© PA Archive

"Ukraine needs secure, sovereign, and high-performance satellite communications systems that it controls," ICEYE CEO Rafal Modrzewski said in a press release announcing the deal with Kyiv.

Warhound came out of stealth on Wednesday with $200 million in funding and a mission to create “elite working dogs” equipped with "advanced body armor."

The electricity system is forecast to have a surplus of 5.9 gigawatts between the end of October and the end of March next year.

© PA Archive

A new federal lawsuit looks to drive a stake through the heart of Donald Trump and his family’s questionable cryptocurrency empire.

The Trump family’s crypto ventures brought in more than $1.4 billion in 2025, as his administration has pressed for crypto-friendly policies. This is part of why polling shows that most Americans think Trump is profiting from the presidency in illegal or unethical ways.

And in a lawsuit filed Thursday, a shareholder of Circle Internet Group — a competitor of the Trump family’s World Liberty Financial crypto company — accuses the Trump business of “corruptly profiting” off crypto deals and says the president has violated the Constitution’s foreign emoluments clause. (A spokesperson for Circle said the company “did not initiate, direct, authorize, or participate in the filing.”)

The lawsuit specifically cites the sale of a major stake in World Liberty to an entity involving the United Arab Emirates’ national security adviser — also known as the “Spy Sheikh” — four days before Trump’s inauguration. The suit also details how a UAE-backed firm led by that same official used World Liberty cryptocurrency to make a $2 billion investment in the crypto firm Binance.

The lawsuit comes as some crypto enthusiasts turn on Trump over his profiting off the industry while in office. The president and his representatives have always said his crypto investments are above board, with a White House spokesperson calling the new lawsuit “frivolous” and adding, “There are no conflicts of interest.” A World Liberty spokesperson called the lawsuit “without merit” and has previously said Trump had no role in the company.

Such claims are disputed by people like Protect Democracy’s executive director, Ian Bassin, who has argued that Trump’s crypto dealings are blatantly unconstitutional. And Matt Pelikan, a lawyer whose firm filed the lawsuit, said in a statement:

President Trump has turned his office into a source of private profit on a scale without precedent in American history. The President’s business dealings are not only corrupt, they are illegal.

This lawsuit only stands to fuel voters’ anger over government corruption: A recent Fox News poll showed nearly 9 in 10 voters as extremely or very concerned about corruption. So, with the midterms less than two weeks away, anything that stands to remind the public about Trump’s terrible track record on this issue seems like a threat to Republicans’ electoral hopes.

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