The World Meteorological Organization has warned that a severe rainfall deficit in India in 2026 could lower sucrose content in sugarcane, reduce the effective harvested area and curb overall output, with a near-100% chance that El Nino conditions persist through February 2027. Indian authorities say speculation and hoarding in parts of the trade have also contributed to a recent rise in retail sugar prices.

Malaysia’s Prime Minister said in the Budget 2027 tabling that the government and Grab will jointly fund a RM160 million package to raise gig workers’ earnings and welfare, according to Bernama. Grab said it has reached an agreement in principle on a proposed minimum baseline rate for ehailing drivers and phailing delivery partners. The company plans to increase drivers’ and couriers’ income from 2027 without increasing passenger fares.

Solana mainnet has activated a 200-millisecond slot target, halving the previous 400-millisecond timing and raising block-production opportunities to five per second. The change also shortens a network epoch to roughly 24 hours from about 48 hours. It marks the final step in a four-stage rollout, implemented by Anza via the Agave validator client through the SIMD-0525 upgrade.

U.S. stocks ended higher on Friday, with the Dow up 0.8% and the S&P 500 and Nasdaq each rising about 0.6%. Investors turned their focus to next week, when third-quarter earnings season begins and key inflation data are expected. Analysts are looking for big banks to help drive overall S&P 500 profit growth of 30%. Separately, U.S. consumer sentiment weakened this month and near-term expectations fell to a record low, according to the University of Michigan.

Bitcoin traded at $82,250 U.S. as of Oct. 10, down nearly 5% over the past week and down 1.50% so far in October after a 42% gain in the third quarter. The benchmark 10year U.S. Treasury yield rose to 5.25%, its highest level since April 2002. U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs posted net outflows of $487.1 million U.S. for the week, the largest since June 25, and are down $165 million U.S. in October. Bitmine Chairman Tom Lee said the firm will stop accumulating ETH once its holdings reach 5% of the token’s circulating supply.

The crypto market has slid recently, with Bitcoin pulling back about 7% from its highs. Contributing factors cited include U.S. government Bitcoin transfers and elevated unrealized profits. Despite the dip, on-chain data show large holders accumulated nearly 15,000 BTC (about $1.25 billion), 166,000 ETH, and more than 45 million XRP (about $63 million). The purchases suggest whales remain bullish on the outlook.

AST SpaceMobile shares fell 15% to about $49 on Friday afternoon, extending a 6.13% decline in the prior session. The drop came amid an industry-wide selloff after SpaceX confirmed it agreed to buy 800 MHz of low-band spectrum from Grain Management in a deal estimated at $8 billion. AST chair and CEO Abel Avellan responded in a post on X, saying the company can deploy “critical lowband and midband spectrum that no one can match!”

An HYPE whale address that had held the token for two years has started taking profits through phased sales. The wallet built its position at roughly $3.39 to $3.72 per token for a total cost of $902K. It has sold 257,928 HYPE in tranches of 1,000 to 5,000 tokens, while the remaining holdings are valued at more than $23 million at around $85 per token, implying a roughly 26x unrealized gain. HYPE previously fell to $52 and later rebounded above $90 before the large-scale cash-out began.