{"id":73194,"date":"2026-10-18T08:08:14","date_gmt":"2026-10-18T12:08:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/israel-gdp-rebounds-15-4-as-pope-leo-xiv-returns-and-macron-addresses-france\/73194\/"},"modified":"2026-10-18T08:08:14","modified_gmt":"2026-10-18T12:08:14","slug":"israel-gdp-rebounds-15-4-as-pope-leo-xiv-returns-and-macron-addresses-france","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/israel-gdp-rebounds-15-4-as-pope-leo-xiv-returns-and-macron-addresses-france\/73194\/","title":{"rendered":"Israel GDP Rebounds 15.4% as Pope Leo XIV Returns and Macron Addresses France"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2>Key Takeaways<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Israel&#39;s Q2 GDP surged by a revised 15.4% annualized<\/strong>, marking a massive recovery from a first-quarter contraction caused by conflict with Iran.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Pope Leo XIV made his first public appearance<\/strong> since undergoing lung cancer surgery, addressing the faithful from the Vatican with a message of service and recovery.<\/li>\n<li><strong>French President Emmanuel Macron is scheduled to address the nation at 8:00 PM<\/strong> local time following a weekend of violent protests and civil unrest across France.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Israel&#39;s domestic spending and exports skyrocketed<\/strong>, with private spending up 14.6% and exports rising 26.6% in the second quarter.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Israel\u2019s Economy Stages Dramatic V-Shaped Recovery<\/h2>\n<p>The Israeli Central Bureau of Statistics reported a significant upward revision for the nation&#39;s economic performance in the second quarter of 2026. <strong>Gross Domestic Product (GDP) grew at an annualized rate of 15.4%<\/strong>, surpassing earlier estimates of 14.9%. This rebound follows a revised <strong>1.5% annualized contraction in Q1<\/strong>, a period heavily impacted by security-related shutdowns and the conflict with Iran.<\/p>\n<p>The recovery was driven by a broad-based surge in economic activity as regional tensions eased. <strong>Private spending climbed 14.6%<\/strong>, while <strong>government outlays surged 22.4%<\/strong>, reflecting increased public consumption and the late approval of the state budget. <strong>Exports of goods and services rose 26.6%<\/strong>, and <strong>investment in fixed assets grew by 4.1%<\/strong>, signaling a return of business confidence.<\/p>\n<p>Per capita figures also showed a sharp turnaround, with <strong>GDP per capita rising 14.1% on an annualized basis<\/strong>. Analysts suggest that while much of this growth is a &quot;correction&quot; from the Q1 slump, the underlying resilience of the Israeli economy remains strong. The Bank of Israel has maintained its 2026 growth forecast at approximately 4%, citing a robust labor market and declining inflation.<\/p>\n<h2>Pope Leo XIV Resumes Duties Following Cancer Surgery<\/h2>\n<p>In a highly anticipated moment for the Catholic Church, <strong>Pope Leo XIV appeared at the window of the Apostolic Palace<\/strong> overlooking St. Peter\u2019s Square on Sunday. This marked his first public engagement since undergoing a delicate operation five days ago to remove the lower lobe of his right lung due to cancer.<\/p>\n<p>Speaking in a <strong>firm, clear voice<\/strong>, the 71-year-old pontiff thanked the global community for their prayers, stating that he had &quot;overcome this delicate phase&quot; of his recovery. He informed the gathered crowds that he would <strong>gradually resume his commitments<\/strong> as his health permits. During his Sunday message, he urged Catholics to set aside &quot;selfish ambitions&quot; and serve God &quot;without compromise.&quot;<\/p>\n<h2>Macron to Address France Amidst Nationwide Unrest<\/h2>\n<p>The \u00c9lys\u00e9e Palace has announced that <strong>President Emmanuel Macron will deliver a televised speech to the nation at 8:00 PM<\/strong> local time. The address comes in the wake of a weekend characterized by <strong>violent protests, looting, and arson<\/strong> in several major French cities.<\/p>\n<p>The unrest, sparked by grievances over high living costs and the state of public services, resulted in nearly <strong>1,800 arrests and hundreds of injuries to police officers<\/strong>. Macron is expected to call for calm and outline the government&#39;s strategy to address the civil disorder. The speech follows a high-level meeting between the President and his senior ministers to assess the damage and the security situation across the country.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Key Takeaways Israel&#39;s Q2 GDP surged by a revised 15.4% annualized, marking a massive recovery from a first-quarter contraction caused [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":50383,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"rank_math_schema_Article":[],"rank_math_focus_keyword":[],"rank_math_description":[],"financial_data_references":[],"stock_symbols_mentioned":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[5012],"tags":[1008,5070,5096,6180,15322,23237,23259],"class_list":["post-73194","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-breaking-news","tag-gdp","tag-emmanuel-macron","tag-global-markets","tag-vatican","tag-pope-leo-xiv","tag-france-protests","tag-israel-economy"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73194","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=73194"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73194\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/50383"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=73194"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=73194"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=73194"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}