Good morning and welcome to FirstFT. In today’s newsletter:

• Global equities hit by rise in oil prices

• Barclays axes 5,000 jobs

• Axel Springer’s plan to carve out TikTok’s European operations

• The battle for Israel’s future

Higher oil prices have sparked a sell-off in global equities, sending US futures tumbling and Chinese stocks into bear market territory as the Middle East conflict and Eurozone debt worries rattled financial markets.

Futures tracking the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 tumbled 1.8 per cent ahead of the Wall Street trading day. S&P 500 futures slid 1 per cent.

China’s benchmark CSI 300 index dropped 1.8 per cent, leaving it 20 per cent down since June, underlining fragile investor confidence in the world’s second-largest economy.

European stocks fell, with the Stoxx 600 Europe index down 1 per cent and the riskier corners of the region’s bond markets suffered another bout of selling.

Brent crude gained more than 3 per cent to $112.27 a barrel, touching levels last seen during the early months of the Iran war. US oil was also higher after Iran-backed Houthi militants escalated their attacks on Saudi Arabia, leading the US state department to order some personnel to leave the country.

US Treasuries, a global haven asset, rallied, pushing the 10-year yield down 0.07 percentage points to 5.08 per cent. But French and Italian debt continued to be targeted by investors.

“The overnight backdrop has clearly turned more negative,” said analysts at Deutsche Bank, pointing to rising crude prices.

• Go deeper: What happens in the US bond market does not stay there, writes Mohamed El-Erian.

Here’s what else I’m keeping tabs on today:

• Results: Blackstone kicks off the earnings season for alternative asset managers. Procter & Gamble, American Airlines, Comcast and Spotify are among the other companies reporting earnings.

• Economic data: Mexico’s statistics agency will publish first-half October inflation data while Argentina is due to release August retail sales data. The US Conference Board publishes its leading index.

• BBC lawsuit: A discovery hearing takes place in a $10bn defamation case brought by Donald Trump.

Could Anthropic’s public listing mark a turning point for the AI boom? Join us for a live Ask an Expert Q&A with Richard Waters and George Hammond, who will be answering your questions about Anthropic’s IPO.

Five more top stories

1. Barclays plans to axe 5,000 jobs this year — 5 per cent of its workforce — with developers bearing the brunt of the cuts as the UK bank adopts AI across its operations. About 60 per cent of the cuts will be in support functions as “AI makes our people more productive”, the bank said.

• More financial news: Arini Capital Management’s under-pressure hedge fund has shed another 7 per cent this month, exacerbating losses in the fast-growing London credit specialist’s marquee strategy. 

• London Stock Exchange Group: LSEG has agreed to acquire credit specialist Octus from Permira for $3.5bn, its biggest purchase since buying Refinitiv for $27bn in 2019.

2. Axel Springer’s boss Mathias Döpfner, one of Europe’s top media moguls, has sought to hive off and acquire a stake in TikTok’s European operations. The chief executive and co-owner of the company that owns Politico and the UK’s Daily Telegraph pitched the politically charged plan to a well-connected member of the Trump administration.

3. Companies and governments are racing to protect their websites against security vulnerabilities in a programming language that underpins much of the internet. The flaws were identified using OpenAI and Google models after going undetected for more than a decade. Here’s the latest.

4. Beijing is increasing diplomatic pressure on Taiwan and expanding its maritime “grey zone” tactics in the waters east of the country. Analysts use the term grey zone to describe steps short of open war and say China is intensifying its campaign to sever Taiwan from its few remaining allies.

5. Hundreds of US lawyers have agreed to work for free on efforts to monitor next month’s midterm elections in what voting rights groups say is the biggest effort of its kind to prevent meddling at the polls. The attorneys are volunteering for non-profit groups that specialise in election integrity.

What will the UK Budget mean for Britain? Register and send your questions to top FT journalists for an exclusive FT subscriber webinar on October 29, the day after the Budget.

The battle for Israel’s future

Israelis go to the polls next week for what is the most consequential election in the country’s history. At stake is a choice between two radically different political visions, as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu looks to stay in power. James Shotter reports on the battle for Israel’s future.

We’re also reading . . . 

• Who’s paying for the AI build-out? Every big pool of capital, in every corner of the developed world, is funding data centres, writes Robert Armstrong.

• The most profligate G7 country? France and the US are heading into a wall and the consequences will be ugly, argues Chris Giles.

• China’s Africa footprint: Tanzania, Uganda and Kenya have emerged as top destinations for private Chinese investment in manufacturing.

• Highland Spring billionaire: Once Scotland’s richest man, Mahdi Al Tajir, the United Arab Emirates’ first ambassador to the UK, has been hit by defaults and creditor enforcement actions.

Chart of the day

Before returning to the White House last year, Donald Trump promised to “make America affordable again” as well as slapping tariffs on “foreign countries that have been ripping us off for years” to shrink the US trade deficit. His pledges were big, bold and controversial but has he delivered? With less than two weeks until the midterm elections, here is the FT’s scorecard.

And there is still time to send me a question for James Politi, the FT’s Washington bureau chief. James will be answering readers’ questions in a special edition of this newsletter before voters go to the polls. Hit reply if you are reading this in your inbox or email firstft@ft.com.

Take a break from the news . . . 

What are the best alternatives to men’s classic blazers? Switch gears and step out in style in an overshirt or chore shirt, says stylist Becky Malinsky, who has some more suggestions.

Additional reporting today was by Twinkle Gotico and Benjamin Wilhelm.