REUTERS TANKAN showed confidence among Japan’s large manufacturers rose to 22 in October from 21 in September, the highest since December 2021, driven by strong semiconductor demand. A precision-machinery manager said semiconductor-related orders have run about 1.5x normal over the past four months; another machinery firm reported strong orders and shipments to the chip sector. The non-manufacturing index fell to 23 from 29, the weakest since November 2024, as rising costs and inflation erode ho

President Trump signed an executive order temporarily permitting truck drivers to use red-dyed, tax-exempt diesel normally restricted to specific non-road uses. The move is likely to give limited relief to U.S. farmers facing rising input costs because red diesel is already widely used in tractors and combines; the main beneficiaries are producers who truck harvested crops. An Ag Bull analyst said opening those stocks to more highway transport users could intensify dealer-level competition during the harvest, lowering some transport costs but risking tighter diesel availability in rural areas.

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