Emma Tucker

1. FROM MY DESK

France is on the precipice of a dangerous financial spiral.

The global surge in interest rates has exposed the country, once an oasis of relative stability, as one of Europe's weakest links. France now pays more to borrow than former crisis hot spots like Greece and Italy, while running a budget deficit surpassed only by the U.S. among its peers.

Last week, a slow-burning selloff in France's government-bond market took an alarming turn as it spread across the continent, reviving memories of the eurozone debt crisis. With 10-year borrowing costs having risen toward 5%-the highest level since 2002-investors are bracing for things to get worse.

Stacy Meichtry and Chelsey Dulaney report on France's deteriorating finances and the wild card that could push the country over the edge.

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2. TODAY'S HEADLINES

-- Oil is coming out of the Strait of Hormuz again-just not the kind the world needs most.

-- Saudi-backed forces pressed a ground operation to oust Houthi rebels from the strategic Yemeni port city of Mokha and safeguard vital energy exports passing through the Bab al-Mandeb Strait.

-- President Trump said he plans to pay for controversial pro-Trump television ads using funds from his MAGA Inc. super PAC rather than the federal government.

-- An investment group is acquiring a luxury senior housing operator in a $1 billion deal, seeking to capitalize on the buying power of the aging baby boom generation.

-- Trump has approved a plan to put to death by firing squad the former Army major who went on a 2009 shooting rampage that left 13 people dead at Fort Hood in Texas.

3. LIVE FROM THE MARKETS

Follow our live financial coverage all day.

-- Stocks Spencer Jakab is watching: How do you say "October surprise" in Portuguese? Brazil's runoff presidential election is still almost three weeks away, but an unexpectedly strong showing by right-wing candidate Flávio Bolsonaro in the first round sent the country's currency and stocks soaring Monday. The most active vehicle for American investors to own that market, the iShares Brazil MSCI ETF, jumped 12.5%. That was its sharpest daily rise since its initial recovery from the Covid-19 panic in March 2020. (Get Spencer's Markets A.M. newsletter in your inbox.)

-- Oura's stalled IPO offers a cautionary tale about hardware one-hit wonders, writes David Wainer. The smart-ring maker pitched itself as a high-margin tech platform, but investors saw right through it.

4. READ IT HERE FIRST

Campus rape allegations are upending the tenure of Cornell's president.

Before ascending the ranks of academia, Cornell University President Michael Kotlikoff demonstrated against the Vietnam War and earned a literature degree at the University of Pennsylvania. Weeks before he graduated in 1973, women occupied the school's College Hall to protest leaders' response to a series of reported rapes. Now at another Ivy League university, Kotlikoff finds himself in the midst of rising uproar over campus sexual-assault allegations-and this time, he is the leader in the hot seat. Kotlikoff has spent most of his two-year tenure battling crises, report Douglas Belkin and Jared Mitovich.

5.

The Bolsonaro family made a warp-speed political comeback in Brazil. Here's how they did it.

The Bolsonaros are back. Former right-wing President Jair Bolsonaro is still under house arrest, serving a 27-year sentence for plotting a coup. But his eldest son is now within reach of the presidency, his wife and another son are headed to the Senate, and his youngest son and brother to the lower house of Congress. The Bolsonaros' success in Sunday's elections shows how the conservative movement the eldest Bolsonaro built is becoming the dominant political force across this nation of more than 200 million people. Bolsonaro is no longer just a man, political scientists say, but an idea-and one that resonates with Brazilians today more than any other, reports Samantha Pearson.

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6. SEE THE STORY

Read the reply-all email after Oct. 7 that tore a business apart.

The Israel-Gaza conflict remains a third rail in workplaces and beyond. At a Dallas therapy practice, it divided in-laws and escalated into firings and lawsuits. This account-pieced from hundreds of pages of court records and depositions as well as hours of video-offers a rare, inside view into how politics and identity clashes can rock a workplace.

7. HAPPENING TODAY

-- Paramount's Warner Bros. Discovery takeover is expected to close.

-- Economic data: The Commerce Department releases August U.S. trade data.

-- Earnings: Constellation Brands

-- Today's paper

8. THE NUMBER

11.42%

The share of commercial mortgage-backed securities handled by special servicers in August, according to Trepp. That's the highest special-servicing rate since February 2013-and a sign that those loans were facing problems such as missed payments or difficulty refinancing at maturity. A growing number of commercial real estate buyers are threatening to walk away from recent transactions unless the seller offers better terms, and rapidly rising interest rates are to blame.

9. AND FINALLY...

Even Warren Buffett can't resist a late-night YouTube rabbit hole.

Feeling guilty about spending hours each day watching YouTube? Don't be. Warren Buffett is right there with you. Glenn Close clips. Commercials from the 1950s. Paul Anka videos. The famed investor can't get enough. Buffett enjoys speeches by complete unknowns. He's a fan of (Berkshire Hathaway's) own content, too, proud of how it performs on the video platform. He watches it all, nearly every evening, usually from a recliner in his Omaha home.

10. BEYOND THE NEWSROOM

-- Opinion: Permitting headaches may be America's biggest economic Achilles' heel. Miracle of miracles, a draft bipartisan permitting bill emerged in the Senate that-dare to hope-could pass in the lame duck session.

-- WSJ | Buy Side: Shop the best Amazon Prime Big Deal Days sales, handpicked by our team of professional shoppers.

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Today's newsletter was curated and edited by Morgan Smith and Gary Mitchell in collaboration with Editor in Chief Emma Tucker. Got a tip for us? Here's how to submit.

This article is a text version of a Wall Street Journal newsletter published earlier today.