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15 Oct 2026
Goldman Sachs Q3 2026 earnings

Goldman Sachs Posts a Blowout Quarter While Wells Fargo Stumbles

Categories Business

Goldman Sachs Q3 2026 earnings landed well above what Wall Street expected this week. The bank posted one of its strongest quarters on record, even as rivals had a mixed showing. Goldman reported diluted earnings per share of $17.01 against a consensus estimate of $13.65. Revenue came in at $18.68 billion versus the $17.03 billion analysts had penciled in. The results, released October 13, kicked off a busy stretch of big-bank reporting. They showed just how differently the top US lenders are faring three years into a trading-driven earnings cycle.

CEO David Solomon described the results as reflecting “a complicated operating environment” alongside the firm’s “second highest quarterly net revenues.” That characterization captures both the headline beat and the caveats underneath it.

Where Goldman Sachs Q3 2026 Earnings Growth Actually Came From

The quarter’s strength was concentrated in trading and wealth management, rather than traditional dealmaking. Equities revenue reached $6.44 billion, up 72% year over year, while equities financing revenue rose 96%. Advisory fees hit a record $1.65 billion. Asset and wealth management revenue climbed 14% to $5.05 billion, and assets under supervision reached a record $4.1 trillion. Goldman’s year-to-date efficiency ratio improved to 59.4% from 62.1% a year earlier. The bank is converting revenue into profit more effectively, even after absorbing a roughly $450 million charitable contribution that weighed on the bottom line. Net earnings for the quarter came to $5.29 billion, and Goldman’s official filing puts annualized return on equity at 18.7%.

Not every signal in the report was positive. Goldman’s standardized CET1 capital ratio, a core measure of financial cushioning, fell to 12.4% from 14.3% at the end of 2025. That partly reflects the pace of share buybacks: the bank repurchased 2.9 million shares at an average price of $1,048.73 during the quarter. The investment banking fee backlog also declined from the end of the second quarter, driven mainly by a softer advisory activity pipeline, even as realized advisory fees hit a record.

Goldman Sachs Q3 2026 earnings illustration

Wells Fargo Didn’t Share in the Enthusiasm

Wells Fargo’s own Q3 2026 results, reported the same week, told a less flattering story. Revenue came in at $21.87 billion, a figure that disappointed traders and sent the stock down 3% to $81.08 in early trading. JPMorgan Chase, meanwhile, landed somewhere in the middle: shares were little changed around $334.39, as the market digested results that didn’t move the needle sharply in either direction. The divergence underscores how unevenly this earnings season has rewarded different business mixes. Banks leaning hardest into trading and wealth management outperformed those more dependent on traditional lending and deposit income.

What the Market Did With the News

Goldman shares rose roughly 1% in early trading to $904.09 following the release. That move was part of a broader rally that lifted the Financial Select Sector SPDR Fund (XLF) about 1% to $55.62, even as the S&P 500-tracking SPY dipped slightly. The muted index-level reaction suggests investors treated Goldman’s beat as a company-specific story, rather than a signal for the sector as a whole, especially with Wells Fargo’s weaker print landing in the same news cycle.

What to Watch as Earnings Season Continues

The biggest US banks are now mostly past their Q3 reporting dates. Attention shifts to what the mixed results mean for the rest of the financial sector heading into year-end. Three things stand out: capital ratios under pressure from buybacks, advisory pipelines that look softer than realized fee income suggests, and a trading environment that has rewarded scale and equities exposure over traditional lending. For related coverage of how the broader markets and monetary policy backdrop are shaping this earnings cycle, see Tamara News’ reporting on the Federal Reserve’s October rate decision and the widening gap between stock market highs and consumer sentiment.

Common Questions About This Earnings Season

How much did Goldman Sachs beat earnings estimates by?
Goldman posted diluted EPS of $17.01 against a consensus estimate of $13.65, and revenue of $18.68 billion against an estimate of $17.03 billion.

What drove Goldman’s strong quarter?
Equities trading revenue up 72% year over year, record advisory fees of $1.65 billion, and asset and wealth management revenue up 14%, with assets under supervision hitting a record $4.1 trillion.

Why did Wells Fargo’s stock fall after earnings?
Wells Fargo reported Q3 2026 revenue of $21.87 billion, which disappointed traders and sent shares down 3% to $81.08.

Did JPMorgan Chase have a good or bad quarter?
JPMorgan’s stock was little changed after its report, landing between Goldman’s strong beat and Wells Fargo’s disappointing print.

Is Goldman Sachs in a weaker financial position despite the earnings beat?
Its capital cushion narrowed somewhat. The standardized CET1 ratio fell to 12.4% from 14.3% at the end of 2025, partly due to share buybacks.

Sources

15 Oct 2026
Erasmus Mundus scholarship 2027

Erasmus Mundus Scholarship 2027: Deadlines and How to Apply

Categories EU, Scholarships, Study Abroad

Applications for the Erasmus Mundus scholarship 2027 intake are opening programme by programme this autumn, and several deadlines fall between December and January. There is no central application. According to the European Commission’s Erasmus+ page, students apply directly to the institution running their chosen Joint Master’s, and each programme’s website lists its own steps, requirements and dates. That makes the next few weeks the time to build a shortlist.

In this guide

How Erasmus Mundus Joint Masters work

An Erasmus Mundus Joint Master’s is a degree delivered by a consortium of universities in several countries, so students typically study in at least two of them. The Commission says some programmes offer full scholarships to the best-ranked students worldwide, covering participation costs and contributing to travel, visa and living costs. Not every student on a programme receives one. You can read the Commission’s own announcement of the latest 87 selected projects.

What the scholarship covers

The Commission page does not state amounts. Two guides published this year, which are not official sources, give a rate of EUR 1,400 a month for up to 24 months and say that cost contributions depend on programme conditions. Scholarships Central describes this as a contribution toward eligible costs rather than a guaranteed lump sum. Treat these figures as indicative and confirm the amount on the programme page before you rely on it. Students who have previously held an Erasmus Mundus scholarship cannot receive another, according to the same guide.

Deadlines to expect

The Commission says applications usually open between October and January for courses starting the following academic year. VisaWise Travel reports that most programme deadlines for the 2027-28 intake fall between December 2026 and January 2027, many around mid-January, with a few in February or March, and that some close earlier. A second guide says the newly selected 2027 programmes were expected to open in autumn 2026 for a September 2027 start. Because no central calendar exists, the only reliable date is the one on each programme’s own page.

Who can apply

You need a bachelor’s degree or be in your final year and graduate before the master’s begins. Applicants with equivalent learning can apply if the degree-awarding country recognises it. Each programme adds its own academic, language and mobility requirements, and some ask for work experience or a research proposal. Typical documents include transcripts, a motivation letter, references, a CV and an English test score unless waived.

A practical plan

Consider a hypothetical applicant. Amina is a Pakistani graduate in public health. She lists six programmes, notes each portal’s deadline, and asks her referees for letters in October instead of December. Because the guides do not set a limit on the number of applications, she applies to several but writes a separate motivation letter for each. She also checks visa rules for each study country. If you want to compare other awards, see our reports on the Commonwealth Master’s scholarships and the Gates Cambridge scholarship. Our visa eligibility checker can help with the study-country visa side.

Erasmus Mundus questions

Is there one Erasmus Mundus application?

No. You apply directly to the institution running each Joint Master’s programme, according to the European Commission.

When are the deadlines?

They vary. One guide reports most fall between December 2026 and January 2027, but the only reliable date is on each programme’s website.

How much is the scholarship?

The Commission page gives no figure. Unofficial guides cite EUR 1,400 a month for up to 24 months, so confirm with the programme.

Who can apply?

Applicants with a bachelor’s degree, or in their final year and graduating before the master’s starts, subject to each programme’s own criteria.

Can I apply to more than one programme?

The guides we read set no universal limit, but individual programmes may have their own rules.

Does admission guarantee funding?

No. Scholarships are competitive, and admission to a programme does not guarantee one.

Sources

15 Oct 2026
Gaza ceasefire one year

A Year Into the Gaza Ceasefire, the UN Says the Killing Never Stopped

Categories World

A year after the guns were meant to fall silent, the Gaza ceasefire one year mark has arrived with a grim verdict from humanitarian groups. More than 100 of them, in a joint statement issued October 9, warned that the truce “exists in name only.” Signatories include Amnesty International, the Norwegian Refugee Council, Save the Children, Oxfam and Greenpeace. Their statement lands alongside separate figures from the United Nations Human Rights Office documenting over a thousand deaths since the ceasefire took effect.

The ceasefire itself began on October 10, 2025, under a US-backed framework known as the Gaza Board of Peace. One year on, two sets of casualty figures are circulating this week. They tell a similar story from different angles: a truce that stopped the heaviest fighting without stopping the killing.

What the Gaza Ceasefire One Year Mark Has Actually Verified

The UN Human Rights Office, OHCHR, says it has verified 1,076 Palestinian deaths in Gaza between the ceasefire’s announcement and the end of July 2026. Of those, 268 were children and 126 were women, meaning women and children made up 37% of verified fatalities. Ajith Sunghay, the OHCHR’s head for the Occupied Palestinian Territory, described continued violations during what was supposed to be a ceasefire as appalling. He said Palestinians continue to face attacks in what he called an “ever-shrinking area.”

The Palestinian Ministry of Health has put the toll higher, at more than 1,400 killed since the truce began. The OHCHR has verified 1,076 of those cases and says its own count is likely conservative, since it does not capture every civilian death among adult men. Separately, the 100-plus NGOs behind this week’s joint statement cited more than 1,400 deaths including at least 327 children in the year since the deal. Save the Children said nearly one child has been killed in Gaza every day since the ceasefire was announced.

Gaza ceasefire one year illustration

The “Yellow Line” Keeps Moving

Central to the dispute is the so-called Yellow Line, a buffer zone established under the ceasefire framework that marks how far Israeli forces have withdrawn. Humanitarian groups say Israel has shifted the line further into Gaza than the original agreement intended, crowding Palestinians into smaller areas. The OHCHR recorded 331 deaths near the Yellow Line alone, including 66 children, 27 women and 238 men. Violence has continued in the days immediately around the anniversary. At least eight Palestinians were reportedly killed on October 8, and heavy tank fire was reported in Khan Younis on October 9.

A Health System Still Running on Fumes

None of Gaza’s 36 hospitals is currently operating at full capacity, hampered by shortages of medicine, equipment and fuel, according to the NGO coalition’s statement. More than 18,500 patients are said to need medical evacuation out of Gaza, including at least 4,000 children. More than 1,000 people have died while waiting for one to be arranged. The World Health Organization estimates roughly 24% of the wounded from the broader war have sustained life-changing injuries requiring long-term rehabilitation, a quarter of them children.

Those figures sit on top of a much larger total. The Palestinian Ministry of Health’s running count since October 2023 stands at 74,254 people killed, including at least 21,000 children, or roughly 3% of Gaza’s pre-war population. About 175,000 people have been wounded, the equivalent of 1 in every 13 residents. The ministry’s methodology counts only hospital-recorded or officially registered deaths, so the true toll is likely higher.

Shelter and Food Are Still a Crisis, Not an Afterthought

Nearly 2 million Palestinians need shelter, with about 80% of structures in Gaza damaged, the NGO statement says. Humanitarian groups blame Israeli restrictions on construction materials and equipment for blocking reconstruction and repair work. On food, the coalition projects that 1.4 million people will face crisis-level hunger or worse through the end of 2026. Amnesty International’s Secretary General, Agnes Callamard, framed the stakes bluntly: “Accountability cannot be buried under the rubble.” The signatory groups are calling on Israel to comply with the International Court of Justice’s binding orders related to humanitarian access.

What Comes Next for Gaza’s Reconstruction

None of this week’s reporting points to an imminent resolution. The ceasefire framework remains in place on paper, but the gap between its terms and conditions on the ground is now the subject of UN verification reports and NGO monitoring, rather than active negotiation. Reconstruction funding, movement of materials, and accountability for the Yellow Line’s position are all likely to remain open questions well into next year. For related coverage of how international accountability and sanctions pressure is playing out elsewhere this month, see Tamara News’ reporting on the UK’s sanctions against Iranian nationals and the new torture charges filed against Venezuela’s Maduro and Flores.

Questions Readers Are Asking About the Ceasefire’s First Year

When did the Gaza ceasefire actually start?
It took effect on October 10, 2025, under the US-backed Gaza Board of Peace framework.

How many people has the UN confirmed were killed since the ceasefire began?
The UN Human Rights Office has verified 1,076 deaths between October 2025 and the end of July 2026, while cautioning that its count is likely incomplete.

Why do the casualty numbers from different sources not match?
The Palestinian Ministry of Health’s count (over 1,400) and the UN’s verified figure (1,076) cover different methodologies and time windows. The UN has formally confirmed a subset of the ministry’s reported cases.

What is the Yellow Line and why does it matter?
It’s the buffer zone marking the extent of the Israeli military withdrawal under the ceasefire deal. Humanitarian groups say it has moved further into Gaza than agreed, and nearly a third of verified deaths since the ceasefire have occurred near it.

Is Gaza’s humanitarian situation improving a year on?
Not according to the NGOs and UN agencies cited here. None of Gaza’s hospitals are at full capacity, almost 2 million people need shelter, and 1.4 million are projected to face crisis-level hunger through the end of 2026.

What are humanitarian groups asking Israel to do?
The coalition of over 100 organizations is calling for compliance with the International Court of Justice’s binding orders on humanitarian access and accountability for ceasefire violations.

Sources

Featured image for illustration: war-damaged buildings in Aleppo, Syria (not Gaza), credit: EU Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid / Flickr (CC BY 2.0). In-content image: Zaatari refugee camp, Jordan, credit: DFID – UK Department for International Development / Flickr (CC BY 2.0).

15 Oct 2026
EU frozen Russian assets

Europe Is Sitting on €210 Billion of Frozen Russian Money. It Still Won’t Touch It

Categories EU, World

European Council leaders gathered in Brussels on October 15-16, 2026, for a summit that put EU frozen Russian assets back on the agenda. Once again, they left without resolving what to do with them. A senior European diplomat briefed reporters on condition of anonymity ahead of the meeting. Ukraine’s financing needs beyond 2026 would be discussed, the diplomat said — but no funding decision was expected this time around.

That holding pattern has defined the debate for the better part of a year. Roughly €210 billion in Russian central bank assets remain frozen across European institutions, most of it held through the Brussels-based clearing house Euroclear. Using that money to fund Ukraine’s defense and reconstruction has obvious appeal on paper. In practice, the EU has been unable to agree on how, or whether, to do it.

Why the EU Frozen Russian Assets Question Keeps Resurfacing

The idea came close to a breakthrough at the European Council’s December 2025 summit. The Commission proposed a so-called “reparations loan”: EU governments would advance Ukraine funds backed by the frozen Russian assets, to be repaid once Russia compensates Ukraine for the war. Belgium, which hosts most of the frozen holdings through Euroclear, blocked it. Belgian officials have repeatedly warned that unilaterally seizing sovereign assets, rather than merely freezing them, could expose Euroclear and the eurozone to legal and financial retaliation. That risk includes claims from Moscow and knock-on damage to confidence in European asset custody more broadly.

Instead of the reparations loan, the EU adopted a conventional €90 billion support package for Ukraine covering 2026 and 2027, approved in December. Officials say that package was expected to cover only around two-thirds of Ukraine’s financing needs over that period. That leaves a gap that frozen Russian assets were meant to help close — and still might, if Belgium’s objections can eventually be overcome.

EU frozen Russian assets illustration

What EU Leaders Actually Discussed in Brussels

According to the diplomat who briefed Interfax-Ukraine ahead of the summit, the October 15-16 talks were expected to revisit Ukraine’s financing gap without producing a concrete decision. Positions on using the frozen assets “have not changed” since December, the diplomat said. It remained unclear how the discussion among the 27 heads of state and government would unfold once they sat down.

A separate EU spokesperson confirmed that the €90 billion package was never meant to be the whole answer. Work with international partners is continuing to help close the remainder of Ukraine’s funding needs, the spokesperson said. Those partners include the United Kingdom, Canada and Norway. The spokesperson gave no timeline for when, or whether, the asset question itself would be resolved.

Belgium’s Objection Is the Real Obstacle

Belgium’s position matters disproportionately because of where the money physically sits. Euroclear’s Brussels headquarters makes Belgium the custodian of most of the EU’s frozen Russian holdings. That gives Brussels effective veto power over any scheme that touches the underlying assets, rather than just the interest they generate. EU governments have so far relied on windfall profits from the frozen assets, interest income rather than the principal, to help fund Ukraine. It’s a far more legally conservative approach than the reparations loan Belgium rejected.

That caution reflects a genuine legal question EU lawyers have not fully settled. Is seizing a sovereign state’s central bank reserves defensible under international law, even in response to an illegal invasion? Or would it set a precedent that other states, and markets, come to see as confiscation rather than enforcement? The EU has not answered that question yet.

What Happens Next on Ukraine’s Funding Gap

Nothing in the Brussels talks suggests the stalemate breaks soon. The €90 billion package keeps Ukraine funded through 2027 on paper, but officials acknowledge it falls short of the full bill. The reparations loan idea has not been formally withdrawn, only shelved pending a legal and political fix that satisfies Belgium. Expect the topic to return at the next European Council meeting. Expect the UK, Canada and Norway to keep absorbing some of the gap in the meantime through bilateral support, rather than a unified EU mechanism.

For Ukraine, the practical effect is a financing plan built one summit at a time, rather than the multi-year certainty a resolved asset question would provide. For more on how the EU’s internal politics are shaping Europe’s response to the war, see Tamara News’ coverage of France’s 2027 budget cuts and the IMF and World Bank’s October meetings in Bangkok, where Ukraine’s financing also featured on the sidelines.

Frequently Asked Questions

How much Russian money is actually frozen by the EU?
EU officials put the figure at roughly €210 billion, most of it held through the Euroclear clearing system in Belgium.

What did EU leaders decide about EU frozen Russian assets at the October summit?
No new decision. A diplomat briefed on the talks said positions remain unchanged from December, when Belgium blocked a plan to use the assets as collateral for a “reparations loan.”

Why does Belgium object to using the frozen assets?
Belgium hosts most of the holdings through Euroclear. It has warned that seizing the underlying assets, rather than just their interest income, carries legal and financial risk that a windfall-profits approach avoids.

Does the EU’s €90 billion package cover all of Ukraine’s needs?
No. EU officials have said it was expected to cover only about two-thirds of Ukraine’s financing needs for 2026-2027, with the rest meant to come from partners or an eventual resolution on the frozen assets.

Who else is helping fund Ukraine besides the EU?
The United Kingdom, Canada and Norway are named as continuing partners working alongside the EU, though no unified mechanism has replaced the stalled reparations loan.

Is a decision on the frozen assets likely before the end of 2026?
Nothing from the October summit suggests an imminent breakthrough. Officials describe the legal and political questions as unresolved, rather than close to agreement.

Sources

15 Oct 2026
October 2026 Visa Bulletin

October 2026 Visa Bulletin: EB-2 and EB-3 Dates Move Back

Categories Immigration, Visa Updates, Work Permits

The October 2026 Visa Bulletin, the first for fiscal year 2027, moved several employment-based green card cut-off dates backwards. The State Department says some categories for applicants from the rest of the world retrogressed to keep issuances within the quarterly and annual limits. According to the bulletin itself, the worldwide final action date is 1 January 2025 for EB-2, 15 May 2024 for EB-3 and 1 January 2022 for Other Workers. EB-1 remains current.

In this report

The October final action dates

These are the employment-based final action dates for applicants charged to all countries other than those listed separately, taken from the State Department table:

  • EB-1: current.
  • EB-2: 1 January 2025.
  • EB-3 (skilled and professional workers): 15 May 2024.
  • Other Workers: 1 January 2022.

The bulletin says only that some categories “retrogressed” to hold issuances within the fiscal year 2027 limits and that the department will monitor demand and adjust as needed. The pages I could read do not state what the earlier dates were, so this report does not quantify how far they moved. Grape Law describes EB-2, EB-3 and Other Workers as the categories affected.

India and China

Applicants born in India and mainland China have their own dates. For India, the October table shows EB-1 at 1 February 2023, EB-2 at 1 November 2013, EB-3 at 1 January 2014 and Other Workers at 1 January 2014. For mainland China it shows EB-1 at 1 July 2023, EB-2 at 1 October 2021, EB-3 at 8 January 2022 and Other Workers at 1 October 2019. The bulletin also notes that the annual Other Workers limit is reduced under NACARA, by about 150 numbers for fiscal 2027, and that the religious workers category is extended through 11 December 2026.

What a final action date means

A date in the table means the category is oversubscribed, and visa numbers are available only to applicants whose priority date is earlier. Consider a hypothetical case. Maricel is a Filipino nurse whose employer filed an EB-3 petition and whose priority date is 1 March 2024. Because the Philippines is charged to the worldwide column, that date is earlier than 15 May 2024, so her number would be available if everything else is in order. A colleague with a priority date of 1 August 2024 would wait. Which chart applies to an applicant can differ, so check the State Department bulletin and your own case.

The bulletin governs when a visa number is available. It does not replace the other rules affecting green card applicants. For those, read our reports on the public charge rule for I-485 filers and the H-1B $100,000 payment.

What to watch next

The State Department publishes a new bulletin each month and says it will keep adjusting dates. Dates can move forward as easily as back, and a retrogression does not mean a petition is denied. Employers and applicants should ask their attorney whether to file for adjustment of status now or wait, since that depends on the chart USCIS accepts for the month. Our visa eligibility checker can help you compare routes if the US wait does not suit you.

October 2026 Visa Bulletin questions

What changed in the October 2026 Visa Bulletin?

The State Department says some employment-based categories for rest-of-world applicants retrogressed to keep fiscal year 2027 issuances within limits.

What is the EB-2 date for most applicants?

The worldwide EB-2 final action date is 1 January 2025.

What is the EB-3 date for most applicants?

The worldwide EB-3 final action date is 15 May 2024, with Other Workers at 1 January 2022.

Is EB-1 affected?

EB-1 is listed as current for all chargeability areas, though India and China have dates.

Does retrogression cancel my petition?

No. It affects when a visa number is available. Your priority date is kept, and dates can advance again.

Where can I check my own priority date?

On the State Department’s monthly Visa Bulletin page, or with an immigration attorney who can read your case.

Sources

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