Fox News – the pro-Trump, pro-war, pro-Israel TV news outlet – published a story last week about French President Emmanuel Macron blaming the Trump administration’s illegal war of aggression against Iran as one of the reasons major protests broke out across the country because of the high living costs.

ECONOMIC UPDATE
As we extensively detailed in last week’s Trends Journal, across the world, young people who are broke, busted and seeing worse times ahead are taking to the streets.

OIL PRICE IS HIGHEST IN FOUR YEARS AS IRAN GIRDS FOR ATTACK
On 23 October, benchmark Brent crude oil for December delivery closed its U.S. trading day at $116.72, its highest since the immediate aftermath of Russia’s attack on Ukraine in February 2022.

MORE BULLSHIT: TRUMP SAYS U.S. IN FULL CONTROL OF HORMUZ STRAIT
President Donald Trump said in an interview on Sunday that he is still contemplating whether to work out a deal with Iran or to escalate the war and “finish them off.”

EXPECT MASSIVE U.S. STRIKES ON IRAN AFTER THE MIDTERMS WITH INCREASING ENERGY SHOCK, BOND MARKET SHOCK, WHICH WILL HIT THE ENTIRE U.S. ECONOMY
Multiple major news organizations are now reporting that the United States and Israel have prepared plans for potentially massive new military operations against Iran AFTER THE NOVEMBER 3 US MIDTERM ELECTIONS.

SPOTLIGHT ON THE GEN Z REVOLUTION
As we have detailed in The Trends Journal, across the globe young people are taking to the streets in protest of their inability to earn a decent living and the prospects for a more dire socioeconomic future.

AMERICANS HATE BOTH PARTIES: MORE VOTERS IDENTIFY AS INDEPENDENTS, NEW POLL FINDS
Forty-five percent of Americans identify as independents, which is the highest percentage since 1988, when Gallup first started tracking political attitudes in the U.S.
Global Economy

U.K INFLATION IS ITS HIGHEST IN A YEAR
Britain’s rate of inflation rose from 3.1 percent in August to 3.5 percent in September, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) reported, reaching its highest since last October when the rate was 3.6 percent.

BOND BUST REVIVES SPECTER OF EUROPE’S 2011 ‘DOOM LOOP’
The current global bond rout has reminded many analysts and investors of the Eurozone banks’ 2011 debt crisis.
U.S. Economy

MARKET OVERVIEW
Last Friday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 652 points as Thursday’s rout in tech stocks spread more widely across sectors.

HOME SALES SLOWEST IN 25 YEARS AS MORTGAGE RATES RISE AGAIN
September’s pending home sales – homes for which buyers signed sales contracts – fell to their lowest number since at least 2021 as the average national U.S. mortgage rate reached as high as 7.45 percent, its highest since November 2023, the National Association of Realtors (NAR) reported.
The Iran War

MORE BULLSHIT: TRUMP SAYS U.S. IN FULL CONTROL OF HORMUZ STRAIT
President Donald Trump said in an interview on Sunday that he is still contemplating whether to work out a deal with Iran or to escalate the war and “finish them off.”

HEGSETH MAKES SECRET VISIT TO ISRAEL TO MEET WITH NETANYAHU
Pete Hegseth, the secretary of War, made a secret trip to Israel last week to meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to discuss another round of war with Iran.
The Israel War

ISRAEL CARRIES OUT SCORCHED-EARTH POLICY IN LEBANON
Israeli forces inside Lebanon have destroyed towns, burned farmland, and continue to occupy large swaths of land south of the Litani River, which The New York Times described as a “vast expanse of mostly destroyed villages.”

UN COMMISSION SAYS ISRAEL HAS COMMITTED GENOCIDAL ACTS SINCE GAZA CEASEFIRE
The UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory issued a new report on Monday that accused Israel of committing “genocidal acts” inside Gaza, even after the ceasefire agreement went into place in October 2025.





