(The opinions expressed here are those of the authors.)

By Anna Szymanski

LONDON, Oct 3 (Reuters) - What matters in U.S. and

global markets today

By Anna Szymanski, Editor-in-Charge, Reuters Open Interest

Hello Morning Bid readers!

Global equity markets mostly shrugged off the U.S. government

shutdown this week, with all three major U.S. indices recording

record highs on Thursday and Asian and European markets on track

to deliver weekly gains early on Friday. While history suggests

markets may be right not to panic, this shutdown will likely

delay the release of vital government data, making the Federal

Reserve's job even more challenging.

The Fed already faces a head-scratching economic environment,

with almost 4% annualized growth and little job creation,

something that might be explained by the artificial intelligence

boom. Staying on the AI theme, ROI Financial Markets

Editor-at-Large Mike Dolan argues that if the AI equity "bubble"

bursts, it might take the U.S. economy down with it.

Private payrolls for September were released on Wednesday.

While economists tend not to put too much stock in this data,

investors took note of the biggest monthly drop in employment in

over two years. Meanwhile, hopes for continued Fed easing helped

put gold on track for its seventh consecutive weekly gain.

In the energy markets, oil prices fell throughout much of the

week on expectations of rising supply, including possible

accelerated production increases from OPEC+, but Brent crude was

down 1% early on Friday following news of a fire at Chevron's El

Segundo refinery, one of the largest on the U.S. West Coast.

Zooming out, ROI Energy Columnist Ron Bousso argues that Big Oil

is becoming increasingly bullish about the future outlook even

as it grows ever more bearish about the near term. Predicting

what's going to happen in oil markets this year has become quite

tricky, argues ROI Asia Commodities Columnist Clyde Russell,

given that three of the biggest current drivers of crude prices

are the unwinding of OPEC+ production cuts, China storage flows

and geopolitical tensions - all of which are challenging to

forecast accurately.

On the renewables side, ROI Energy Transition Columnist Gavin

Maguire explains why Italy's economic woes may have a climate

upside. And Clyde Russell discusses critical minerals and why

the weak pricing for many of them does not reflect their

supposed importance to the global energy transition.

And, finally, over in the metals world, ROI Metals Columnist

Andy Home looks at the fragility of the copper supply chain,

highlighting the catastrophic events at

Freeport-McMoRan's Grasberg mine last month.

As we head into the weekend, check out the ROI team's

recommendations for what you should read, listen to, and watch

to stay informed and ready for the week ahead.

I'd love to hear from you, so please reach out to me at

This weekend, we're reading...

GAVIN MAGUIRE,

ROI Global Energy Transition Columnist: This analysis by

Carbon Brief explains that electricity demand in Great Britain

was fully covered by clean energy sources for a record long

stretch in 2025. That's pretty impressive for a country that was

over 75% powered by fossil fuels up to 2010.

ANDY HOME, ROI Metals Columnist: My read of the week comes

courtesy of Anjana Ahuja in the Financial Times. She writes

about ground-breaking work on the concept of black hole stars,

which pose the cosmological question of which came first:

galaxies full of matter or black holes?

RON BOUSSO, ROI Energy Columnist: The book More and More and

More by Jean-Baptiste Fressoz is a fascinating overview of the

history of energy through the centuries. It argues that the idea

of an energy transition is false, suggesting instead that the

world has always been adding new sources of energy.

JAMIE MCGEEVER, ROI Markets Columnist:

United States, Inc. is a collection of four Project

Syndicate articles highlighting several fundamental flaws in

trying to run the U.S. government like a business.

We're listening to...

does a deep dive on the UN General Assembly. From broken

escalators to high-stakes diplomacy, Reuters correspondents

explore the challenges facing global multilateralism at a

challenging moment in history.

Facing Coming Storms"is a podcast by the British Army's

Centre for Historical and Conflict Research and the Project for

Study of the 21st Century. In this episode, Reuters columnist

and PS21 executive director Peter Apps speaks with Admiral Nils

Vang, former head of the Danish Navy, about the .

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Opinions expressed are those of the authors. They do not reflect

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