The main events by the morning: October 28

• The Vienna court lifted the blocking of assets of Sibur's subsidiary in Europe. The assets of Sibur International GmbH were blocked in June 2024 at the initiative of the Austrian Interior Ministry on the basis of a media report claiming the company's connection with persons under sanctions. The court ruled that the evidence about the share of sanctioned persons in the company turned out to be unfounded, and the asset lock was lifted.

• Production at Arctic LNG-2 was halted amid increasing pressure from sanctions. Commercial gas liquefaction at the facility was also stopped. NOVATEK has more and more problems with the sale and transportation of products, so stocks of the finished product are accumulating. The average volume of gas production in October halved to 5.3 million cubic meters. 

• Republican vice presidential candidate J.D. Vance has declared his readiness for negotiations with Russia on Ukraine. He is confident that it is necessary to find a peaceful solution to the conflict in Ukraine through dialogue with Russia. According to him, it is important to maintain contacts, even if relations with rivals are difficult.

• Trump is catching up with Harris in the pre-election polls. Recent polls from CBS and YouGov show that Trump has come close to Harris: 49% of Americans are ready to vote for him against 50% for Harris. However, according to a number of characteristics, for example, cognitive abilities, Trump is inferior – only 33% of respondents trust him, while Harris gets 47%. At the same time, a growing number of voters believe that the country is ready for the first black woman president.

• Russian banks will benefit from an increase in the Central Bank's key rate by the end of the year. Dmitry Pyanov, First Deputy chairman of VTB, said that the yield on liabilities already exceeds the current key rate, which limits the growth of deposit rates, but an increase in loan rates will provide additional profits for banks.