U.S. President Donald Trump speaks with members of the media on the South Lawn of the White House before boarding Marine One on Monday, October 5, 2026, in Washington, DC, USA.
Samuel Corum | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Hello, this is Leonie Kidd from London. Welcome to another edition of CNBC’s Daily Open.
The price of the pump is a sore point.
And with less than a month until the midterm elections, President Trump has turned to executive orders aimed at easing pressure on American consumers.
Read more.
What you need to know today
US President Donald Trump signed an executive order allowing broader use of so-called “red diesel” in an effort to ease price pressure at the pump. Speaking at a rally in Nebraska, President Trump said the fuel, usually reserved for off-road agricultural and construction applications, could be used more widely on U.S. roads and highways. This would reduce costs “significantly”, he claimed.
He insisted on “Society of Truth” that fuel costs are not rising due to supply disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz, and once again blamed attacks on Ukrainian and Russian oil refineries.
President Trump offers aid to Russia
President Trump offered aid to Russia after the death of a staff member at a Siberian plague institute, sparking global concerns about the spread of the disease.
“We encourage Russian authorities to share accurate information quickly and openly,” a State Department spokesperson who requested anonymity told CNBC.
Read more about what we know so far about this case.
Bonds through volatility
Contagion concerns have left European bond investors on edge after France’s central bank chief told the Financial Times that the country was at risk of being “choked by interest rates.” In a separate editorial for the paper, former ECB board member Lorenzo Vini Smaghi said it was time for the central bank to suspend its quantitative tightening program.
Meanwhile, in Britain, Prime Minister Andy Burnham is “obsessed with the bond market,” said Andy Haldane, his informal adviser and former chief economist at the Bank of England.
Check out our exclusive interview with Squawk Box Europe here.
In the United States, US Treasury yields remain high, with the 10-year bond hitting a new 2002 high and the 30-year bond hitting its highest level in 24 years.
new record high
And finally…
Russian gold floods into Hong Kong as bullion trade resumes due to Western sanctions
Russian gold is flowing into Hong Kong at a record pace, highlighting how Western sanctions are rerouting London-bound bullion to China and other Asian markets.
Hong Kong imported 112.7 tonnes of Russian gold in the first seven months of 2026, according to an analysis of Hong Kong Census and Statistics Department data by precious metals investment firm BullionVault.
Imports have already exceeded a record high of 92.1 tons for all of 2025, compared to just 3.3 tons in 2021, before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
— Li Yingshan
