Morning Brief, Friday 13 November

1. Brussels lines up 50 banks and the shadow fleet, with a 22nd package behind them

Europe’s Russia sanctions are moving from the war industry to the plumbing that pays for it. EU ambassadors provisionally agreed on Wednesday to add 145 individuals and entities to the Russia lists, an EU diplomat told European Pravda: 113 under the regime that protects Ukraine’s territorial integrity, which also covers shadow-fleet companies, 31 under the hybrid-threats regime and one under the cyber regime. Foreign ministers are expected to approve them on Monday 16 November; sanctions need the unanimity of all 27.

The headline number is the banks. France’s Europe minister, Benjamin Haddad, confirmed that the EU would introduce restrictions on 50 banks operating in Russia on Monday, most of them proposed by France; the EU diplomat said they were Russian banks, among the 101 entities in the main regime. Maria Luís Albuquerque, the commissioner for financial services, told the European Parliament these were “hard listings” aimed at the “enablers and profiteers” of the war, covering oil refineries and the shadow-fleet ecosystem. More than 690 shadow-fleet vessels are already barred from EU ports and services, and over 100 Russian banks face transaction bans, Albuquerque said. A 22nd sanctions package is being prepared and, according to European Pravda’s EU sources, should be ready by the end of November.

Le Détroit’s reading: these are listings under existing regimes, not a new package, which is why they can move in a week. For compliance teams the effect is immediate: every new bank on the list becomes a screening hit as soon as the list is published, including in correspondent chains far from Moscow. The test on Monday is unanimity; the test after it is whether the 50 names include banks that still clear payments for the shadow fleet.

2. Putin wants to talk about Europe’s security, and Europe still cannot say who should answer

The talks meant to end the war in Ukraine are drifting towards a bigger subject: the shape of Europe. Vladimir Putin received Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner in the Kremlin on Thursday, and his aide Yuri Ushakov called the conversation “substantive, constructive, candid, and useful”, according to Ukraine’s UNN agency, citing his remarks to Russian media. He said Moscow hoped the Europeans would support work on a new long-term security architecture, recalled Russia’s 2021 proposals, which it intends to update, and said the trilateral talks with Kyiv would continue.

In Dublin, where nearly 50 countries met for the European Political Community summit, Volodymyr Zelensky said the US-Russian discussion was “more about a new security model between Europe and Russia”, which he called “somewhat strange”. Leaders repeated that Europe needs a voice but did not choose one. Three of the five names floated in October have stepped back; Estonia’s Kristen Michal proposed António Costa and Kaja Kallas with a clear mandate, and Emmanuel Macron said “Content determines the format, not vice versa.” The Kremlin’s spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, accused European leaders of pushing towards an “expansion of the war”.

Le Détroit’s reading: Moscow is offering to discuss Europe’s security order with Washington, while Europe’s own delegates sat in separate rooms in Abu Dhabi. That turns the envoy question from protocol into substance: without a negotiator, the continent’s architecture is drafted by others. Michal called a wider security debate a “trap”; EU leaders meet again informally on Friday.

3. Ethiopia takes its case against Eritrea and Sudan to the UN, as embassies close on both borders

Ethiopia’s quarrels with two neighbours are being merged into one file. On Wednesday Getachew Reda, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s adviser on the Horn of Africa, told Guang Cong, the UN Secretary-General’s special envoy for the region, that Eritrea’s President Isaias Afwerki and Sudan’s army chief, General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, support, arm and coordinate armed groups inside Ethiopia and have carried out repeated drone attacks, Addis Standard reported. The allegations have not been independently verified, and the report carried no response from Asmara or Sudan’s army-led government.

The ruptures have piled up for six weeks: Ethiopia closed its embassy in Asmara on 1 October and gave 10 Eritrean diplomats 48 hours to leave; on 4 November it expelled six Sudanese diplomatic staff after Sudan’s consulate in Assosa closed, and Sudan shut Ethiopia’s consulate in Gedaref in return. On the ground, Tigrayan and federal forces clashed in north-western Tigray on 10 November, and the federal army fired artillery towards Hadish Mender, near Badme, in disputed border territory, according to the EEPA situation report of 12 November. Getachew still summed up his talks with the envoy as “talking, not shooting is the best game in town”.

Le Détroit’s reading: naming a president and an army chief to a UN envoy turns border incidents into a dispute between governments, on the record. Addis Ababa, which will host COP32, wants to be seen as the aggrieved party, and Washington is being lobbied too: five Democratic senators have sent Marco Rubio a second letter urging action on the fighting in Tigray, Amhara and Oromia and on the tensions with Eritrea.

4. A Korean-owned tanker burns off the UAE, as Seoul moves its navy closer to Hormuz

The attacks on shipping have reached the waters off an Emirati port, and an Asian capital’s politics. The Liberia-flagged Dominica Prosperity was hit by an unidentified projectile on Wednesday about 14 nautical miles north-west of Ras Al-Khaimah, setting its engine room on fire; all 22 crew, 19 of them Indian, were evacuated, Reuters reported on Thursday. The tanker is owned by South Korea’s Haut Brion 56 and operated by Sinokor Maritime, according to MARISKS. No one claimed the attack.

Seoul is already edging closer. On 10 November President Lee Jae-myung’s cabinet approved extending the Cheonghae unit’s mission to the end of 2027 and nearly doubling its area, from the Gulf of Aden to waters south of Oman, with a maritime patrol aircraft and mine countermeasures, including an unmanned underwater vehicle. The government says Hormuz is not included. The motion needs a National Assembly vote; two parties in the ruling bloc call it a “backdoor deployment to Hormuz”. Iran’s foreign ministry spokesman, Esmaeil Baghaei, said: “The greatest help they (South Korea) can offer is not to interfere in regional matters.”

Le Détroit’s reading: Seoul’s motion keeps its ships outside the strait while giving them the tools, mine-hunting drones, that would be needed inside it. Each strike on a vessel owned in a non-belligerent country widens the circle of states with a stake. Korea now has both a burning ship and a deployment vote. Brent rose 1.2% to $93.85 on Thursday afternoon.

5. Trump heads for two Asian summits, and the South China Sea code is likely to miss its deadline

The diplomacy Europe wants a seat in will travel through Asia next week. On Thursday Ushakov said Putin and Trump may discuss the whole range of war issues at their planned meeting in China, UNN reported. Donald Trump is due in Manila for the 49th ASEAN summit, for which the Philippines has declared 16 to 18 November special non-working days in the capital, and then in Shenzhen for the APEC leaders’ meeting on 18 and 19 November. On Sunday he said one of his meetings there would be “with President Putin and President Xi”.

The host’s own project is slipping. ASEAN and China are likely to miss their target of concluding a South China Sea code of conduct by the end of 2026, the Associated Press reported, citing three senior Southeast Asian diplomats: they remain divided on its geographic scope, key definitions and whether it would be legally binding. “At this time, we also cannot say if it will not really be concluded at the 49th ASEAN Summit,” said Claire Castro, the presidential palace’s press officer. Premier Li Qiang is expected to stand in for Xi in Manila.

Le Détroit’s reading: the order of the week says a lot. Trump first meets Southeast Asians whose maritime code with Beijing is stuck, then flies to China’s technology capital, where Xi would be the host of any Trump-Putin meeting. If it happens, China becomes the venue for the Ukraine diplomacy Europe cannot join.

6. US ten-year yields climb back above 5%, and Europe shrugs with a second record

Bonds and shares are pricing different worlds. The US 10-year Treasury yield rose to about 5.08% on Thursday afternoon, up nearly 10 basis points, and the two-year to about 4.85%, as bets on a Fed rate rise in December intensified after Tuesday’s hot inflation figures, Reuters reported. Weekly jobless claims rose to 200,000, still consistent with a stable labour market. The dollar traded near a 19-month high, and the euro fell 0.3% to $1.1056, its weakest since April 2025.

Europe looked through it. The STOXX 600 closed at a record for a second session, at 664.01, helped by Burberry, up 8% after quarterly sales and profit beat forecasts, Rolls-Royce, up 2%, and Siemens, up 1.7% after raising its growth outlook; the DAX gained 0.41%, after passing 27,000 for the first time during the session, and the CAC 40 0.34%. In New York, Nvidia, which announced Jensen Huang’s resignation as chief executive on Thursday, opened 13% lower and was down about 5% at mid-session, while the Nasdaq had erased an early loss of more than 1% by the European close.

Le Détroit’s reading: a 5% Treasury yield is the benchmark every other asset is measured against, and it is rising without any help from AI. Europe’s records rest on trains, engines and trench coats, and a weaker euro flatters the dollar earnings of those exporters. Germany’s 10-year Bund barely moved, at about 3.33%. US producer prices for October, due on Friday, are the next test for December.

Friday and the days ahead

Chart 7

Friday 13 to Thursday 19 November

Key dates. Times are Paris time (CET); New York is six hours behind

Hover or tap an event for details

Paris timeEventWhy it matters

FriInformal meeting of EU leaders, DublinAI and competitiveness; the envoy debate in the wings (story 2)Friday 13 November, convened by António CostaThe Brussels Times (Costa’s invitation); EU Perspectives, 12 November 2026, 16:17 UTCWritten on Thursday evening, may change

Fri 14:30US: October producer pricesAfter a hot consumer price report (story 6)Friday 13 November, 08:30 New YorkBLS release schedule, November 2026

MonEU Foreign Affairs Council, BrusselsExpected approval of 145 listings, including 50 banks (story 1)Monday 16 NovemberCouncil of the EU meeting page; European Pravda, 12 November 2026Expected, not yet adopted

Mon to Wed49th ASEAN summit week, ManilaTrump due to attend; the South China Sea code (story 5)16 to 18 November declared special non-working days for the summitPhilstar, 15 October 2026; Daily Tribune (citing AP), 12 November 2026, 18:34 PHT

Tue 22:20Nvidia third-quarter resultsThe first results without Jensen HuangTuesday 17 November, about 13:20 Pacific; call at 14:00 PacificNvidia press releaseColette Kress is interim chief executive

Tue to WedCOP31: resumed high-level segment, AntalyaLeaders’ statements resume; talks run to 20 November17 and 18 November, for parties whose leaders did not speak on 11 and 12 NovemberUNFCCC, COP31 high-level segment pageTalks run through 20 November (Türkiye Today)

Wed to ThuAPEC leaders’ meeting, ShenzhenTrump, Xi and a planned Putin meeting (stories 2 and 5)18 and 19 NovemberReuters via News Tribune, 9 November 2026Kremlin on a planned Trump-Putin meeting in China: UNN (citing Yuri Ushakov’s remarks to Russian media), 12 November 2026, 17:11 Kyiv

Dates checked against the publishers’ calendars and reports on Thursday 12 November; schedules can change.

Markets

Market note

Thursday 12 November: European closes; US stocks, Nvidia, Treasury yields and oil at the times shown

Hover or tap a figure for details

STOXX 600, close664.01+0.14%STOXX 600: a record close for the second session in a rowReuters via Boursorama, 12 November 2026, 18:12 ParisChange computed from Wednesday’s record close of 663.05 (Reuters). The Reuters text gives +0.25%, apparently at an earlier time

DAX, close26,772+0.41%DAX at the close: 26,771.88, after passing 27,000 for the first time during the sessiondpa-AFX via finanzen.at and ariva.de, 12 November 2026Wednesday’s Xetra close: 26,662.77 (dpa-AFX); +0.41% is consistent with both levels. Reuters gave +0.57%, apparently at another time

CAC 40, close8,361+0.34%CAC 40 at the close: 8,361.36Reuters via Boursorama, 12 November 2026, 18:12 ParisWednesday’s close: 8,332.88 (investingLive); +0.34% is consistent with both levels

Brent, afternoon~$93.85+1.18%Brent crude at about the European close, rebounding after an earlier fallReuters via Boursorama, 12 November 2026, 18:12 ParisNot a settlement. AP had $93.53, +0.8%, at 09:41 New York

S&P 500, intraday+0.17%at the European closeS&P 500 up 0.17% at the European closeReuters via Boursorama, 12 November 2026, 18:12 ParisNot a close. AP: down 0.7% at 09:41 New York, after the Nvidia news

Nasdaq, intraday+0.08%at the European closeNasdaq Composite up 0.08%, after erasing a drop of more than 1% early in the sessionReuters via Boursorama, 12 November 2026, 18:12 ParisNot a close. AP: down 1.5% at 09:41 New York. The Dow was up 0.31%

Nvidia, mid-session−5.1%opened −13%Nvidia down 5.1% at mid-session, after Jensen Huang’s resignationReuters via Boursorama, 12 November 2026, 18:12 ParisOpening price $150.99 (−13.09%) against Wednesday’s close of $173.73 (Le Détroit Nvidia breaking, 12 November 2026 (ANI, SF Standard, Zonebourse)). Not a close: Thursday’s close came after this edition was written

US 10-year yield5.08%+9.6 bp10-year Treasury yield at 5.0845%, back above 5%Reuters via Boursorama, 12 November 2026, 18:12 ParisAnother report: 5.054%, up 6.5 bp, the highest since 22 October (Rallies.ai, 12 November 2026). The 2-year: 4.8455%, +11.9 bp

European index levels are Thursday’s closes. US stocks, Nvidia, Treasury yields and Brent are intraday levels at about the European close, not closes or settlements: Wall Street closed at 22:00 Paris, after this edition was written.