Top Stories This Morning: The Situation in France Weighs on the Euro; Moonshot AI Prepares for a $5 Billion IPO

The euro remains near a 17-month low amid concerns over high levels of government debt and a political stalemate in France. China’s Moonshot AI has completed a private funding round at a valuation of about $50 billion and is preparing for an IPO in Hong Kong in the first quarter of 2027, through which it could raise up to $5 billion. SpaceX shares rose nearly 8% following a “buy” recommendation from Morgan Stanley ahead of a new Starship test and the company’s third-quarter earnings report. Read about these and other topics in our roundup of key events as of the morning of October 6.

On Tuesday, the euro continued to trade near its lowest level since May 2025, falling to $1.1219 during Asian trading, according to Reuters. The currency is under pressure from concerns about high public debt and a political stalemate in France, compounded now by risks related to early elections in Spain.

“We are fairly pessimistic about the euro. We believe it will fall below $1.10,” said Joseph Capurso, a strategist at the Commonwealth Bank of Australia. He noted that the market is not surprised by the currency’s current weakness. “For the euro to rise, we need a significant drop in oil prices and a substantial increase in expectations of tighter monetary policy in Europe. Or eurozone countries will finally begin to tackle their budget deficits, although I don’t think we should count on that anytime soon,” the analyst added.

Since June, the yield on 10-year French government bonds has risen by more than 1 percentage point and is now approaching 5%, the highest level since 2002. France now pays more to borrow than former epicenters of the eurozone crisis, such as Greece and Italy. At the same time, the government faces the task of refinancing the massive debt accumulated during the era of ultra-low interest rates. By 2030, France will have to repay more than $1 trillion in debt, and next year it must issue bonds for a record amount of about $380 billion, according to the WSJ.

China’s Moonshot AI has closed its latest private funding round at a valuation of about $50 billion and is preparing to go public in Hong Kong in the first quarter of 2027, according to sources cited by Bloomberg. The company may begin preliminary meetings with investors as early as October and is considering raising up to $5 billion.

Moonshot has become one of the most prominent Chinese AI startups following the launch of the Kimi K3 model. This summer, the company was valued at $31.5 billion, and its annual recurring revenue is expected to grow from the current $1 billion to $2 billion by December. However, the agency notes that the IPO timeline may change amid increased scrutiny of AI companies by Chinese regulators.

SpaceX shares rose nearly 8% and closed at their highest level since mid-June after Morgan Stanley analysts called the company’s stock undervalued and recommended buying it ahead of the next Starship test and the third-quarter earnings report, according to CNBC. The bank set a price target of $300 per share—about 75% above Monday’s closing price of $171.09.

The rise in stock prices has once again made Elon Musk a trillionaire: Forbes estimates his net worth at $1.03 trillion. SpaceX is receiving additional support from U.S. defense contracts and its AI business: the company provides computing power to Google and Anthropic, and recently launched Google’s AI chips into orbit.

As a result of last year’s cyberattack on Oracle’s healthcare division, the data of nearly 20 million people was compromised, according to the Texas attorney general, as reported by CNBC. The stolen information may have included Social Security numbers, addresses, and medical records; approximately 3 million of those affected are Texas residents.

The attack affected legacy servers from Cerner, which Oracle acquired in 2022 for $28 billion. Oracle Health’s clients include hospitals, clinics, the U.S. Department of Defense, and the Department of Veterans Affairs. In some cases, the attackers were able to obtain patients’ names, diagnoses, medication information, and test results, the TV channel reports.

The World Bank Has Raised Its Growth Forecast for East Asia Thanks to AI Exports

The World Bank has raised its growth forecast for the economies of East Asia and the Pacific for 2026 to 4.5% from 4.2% in April, thanks to exports of artificial intelligence-related goods, according to CNBC. Growth is expected to slow to 4.4% in 2027 and to 4.3% in 2028. The forecast for Vietnam saw the sharpest increase—by 1.1 percentage points, to 7.4%. China, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam exported $1.4 trillion worth of AI-related goods in the 12 months through April.

At the same time, the World Bank warned of the region’s heavy reliance on the AI boom: excluding these goods, trade growth was weak or negative, and in Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam, they accounted for more than 70% of export growth. An additional risk stems from a potential slowdown in global AI investment: capital expenditures in this sector in the U.S. have already reached about 6% of GDP, comparable to the peak of IT investment in 2000.

Donald Trump signed an executive order expanding access to red-dyed diesel fuel, which is typically exempt from federal tax and used in agriculture and off-road equipment, Reuters reports. Until the end of the year, U.S. authorities will defer the excise tax on such fuel when used on public roads, without charging interest or imposing penalties. The measure is intended to ease pressure on prices after diesel prices in the U.S. rose to a record high of about $6.50 per gallon in September.

Prices rose amid the U.S. and Israel’s war with Iran and attacks on oil refineries in the Middle East and Russia. High fuel prices have become a political risk for Trump ahead of the Nov. 3 midterm elections: according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll, his approval rating remains at a record low of 32%.

Hong Kong imported 112.7 metric tons of Russian gold in the first seven months of 2026—already more than the record 92.1 metric tons imported in all of 2025, according to BullionVault, as reported by CNBC. By comparison, shipments totaled just 3.3 metric tons in 2021. Russian gold accounted for nearly 15% of Hong Kong’s non-monetary gold imports, up from 0.6% in 2021.

The increase in shipments reflects a shift in Russian gold flows from London and other Western markets to Asia following the sanctions, the TV channel notes. Hong Kong has become an important channel for shipments to mainland China—the world’s largest gold market, where demand remains high: China’s official gold reserves grew by more than 40 metric tons in the first half of 2026.

— Japan's broad-based Topix index rose 0.8%, and the Nikkei 225 also rose 0.8%.

— Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index rose 0.8%. Stock exchanges in mainland China are closed for the holidays.

— In South Korea, the KOSPI fell 1%, while the KOSDAQ rose 2.6%.

— Australia's S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.6%.

— Nasdaq 100 futures rose 0.2%, while S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average futures rose 0.1%.

This article was AI-translated and verified by a human editor