The cost of food and housing claimed 46.9 percent of U.S. household incomes in 2025, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ (BLS) annual Consumer Expenditure Survey.
ECONOMIC UPDATE
Despite the sharp stock market decline last week which accelerated because President Trump’s Republican Party got smashed in the midterm elections, U.S. stocks spiked Monday.
AFTER THE ELECTION, WHAT’S NEXT FOR THE U.S. AI INDUSTRY?
American voters soundly thumped the AI industry in the 3 November election, supporting 40 of 41 proposals across the country proposing controls, restrictions, or outright bans on AI models and data center development.
LIKE CHINA’S EVs, CHINESE MOTORCYCLES HAVE INVADED EUROPE
China has followed its EV success in Europe with an array of low-cost, high-performance motorcycles that are stealing attention from European standards BMW and Italy’s century-old Ducati.
THE U.S. TREASURY IS VASTLY EXPANDING ITS DEBT ISSUANCE AND BUYBACK PROGRAM ON A PLANETARY SCALE
The Treasury is dramatically expanding its debt buyback program AND raising its planned “liquidity support purchases” from a maximum of $38 billion in the previous quarter to as much as $70 BILLION in the upcoming quarter…
GULF COUNTRIES BRACE THEMSELVES AMID THE RISK OF A RAMPED-UP WAR BETWEEN U.S. AND IRAN
Gulf countries have yet to fully recover from the first round of war that the U.S. and Israel launched against Iran on 28 February, and there is an uneasy feeling in the region that a new round of fighting could lead to even more destruction.
TRUMPTY DUMBTY: WHERE MIDTERM ELECTIONS WENT WRONG FOR TRUMP
Despite President Trump insisting last week that his name was not on the ballot and that he would’ve emerged successful if he was up for reelection, the facts began to emerge on why Republicans saw their control of Congress slip away to the Democrats.
Global Economy
SPOTLIGHT: BIGS GETTING BIGGER
DoorDash, the U.S.’s largest food and restaurant delivery service, will pay $65 a share to buy Instacart, the online grocery shopping and delivery company.
TOP TREND 2023: OFFICE BUILDING BUST
The high interest rates bondholders now demand have sunk Europe’s value of office property sales in the third quarter to its lowest since 2009, during the Great Recession, when property prices were at their lowest, the Financial Times reported.
U.S. Economy
MARKET OVERVIEW
The tech-focused NASDAQ index fell 2.86 percent on Friday, its worst one-day drop since 5 June, after Amazon and Intel posted disappointing quarterly results, reigniting fears over the future of AI and its investment bubble.
THE U.S. TRUCKING INDUSTRY HAS HIT THE SKIDS
This year through October, 221 U.S. trucking firms have gone bankrupt under pressure from soaring diesel fuel prices and steadily rising insurance premiums.
The Iran War
IRAN MANAGED TO CAUSE BILLIONS IN DAMAGE ON U.S. BASES IN EARLY STAGE OF WAR
Satellite imagery revealed the extent of damage that the Iranians managed to inflict on American bases in the Persian Gulf, and the new revelations show Tehran’s ability to carry out precision strikes on vulnerable U.S. assets in the region.
PENTAGON: WAR WITH IRAN COST AMERICAN TAXPAYERS $47.1 BILLION AS OF 16 OCTOBER
The Pentagon informed Congress last week that the Iran War has cost the U.S. at least $47.1 billion, according to the department’s estimates as of 16 October, which is an increase of about $3.5 billion from early September when the Associated Press reported that the price tag was $43.6 billion.
The Israel War
TRUMP SAYS HE HELPED SAVE NETANYAHU AFTER LAST-MINUTE ENDORSEMENT
President Donald Trump said in a post on Truth Social last week that his last-minute endorsement of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu played a central role in preventing the leader from suffering an electoral defeat last week.
GAZA DEATH TOLL
Israel has killed at least 74,615 Palestinians inside Gaza and wounded another 175,899 since October 2023.