China August total retail sales of consumer goods MoM -0.13% (prior +0.06%).

MS NOW, citing three sources, reports President Trump met privately last Thursday backstage at the Republican National Convention with OpenAI CEO Sam Altman; one source said Altman requested the meeting. A former OpenAI researcher has publicly accused OpenAI and competitor Anthropic of acting irresponsibly and endangering human safety. The pair discussed AI and its growing influence and, in subsequent days, expressed clear differences over slowing frontier AI. Altman wrote Sunday that a slowdown is worth the cost, saying competitive pressure is no excuse for reckless development and that capabilities must not outpace alignment and oversight. Trump rejected the need for AI guardrails, warned regulation would lead to the industry’s “extinction and bankruptcy,” and called AI the greatest economic development engine in history.

Shell top executive (SHEL.N) said the global natural gas market is expected to expand by two-thirds by 2050.