Markets

Hiring a US-to-China Tanker Now Costs More Than a SpaceX Launch

A US-to-China tanker voyage now costs more than a rocket launch Chartering a very large crude carrier from the US Gulf to China now costs around $80 million, more than the roughly $74 million price of a standard Falcon 9 launch, according to Bloomberg and shipbroker Gibson. It

Markets

Trump-Putin Diesel Deal Totals 4.8 Million Tonnes, FT Reports

Trump says the Putin diesel deal totals 4.8 million tonnes Donald Trump said his deal with Vladimir Putin covers up to 4.8 million tonnes of Russian diesel released onto the global marketplace, the Financial Times reported. The figure is the sum of the four tranches Trump announced on

Markets

Trump Claims Russia Will Supply Diesel to America

Trump claims Putin agreed to send Russian diesel to America President Trump announced that he reached a diesel deal with Russian President Vladimir Putin, claiming Russia will immediately supply over 300,000 tons of diesel fuel to the American and global marketplace, another 500,000 tons during November, and 1,

Geopolitics

Trump Administration Sanctions the International Criminal Court

Trump administration slaps sanctions on the International Criminal Court The Trump administration imposed sanctions on the International Criminal Court on Friday, hours after one of its former judges, Navi Pillay, won the Nobel Peace Prize, putting Washington on a diplomatic collision course with European allies. "President Trump will never

Markets

Record Diesel Sends 16 Trucking Companies Into Bankruptcy in 30 Days

Sixteen trucking companies fold in 30 days as diesel hits record highs Sixteen trucking businesses nationwide sought bankruptcy protection in the last month of summer, crushed by record diesel prices and rising operating costs. The filings, dating from late August through September 21, ranged from single-truck owner-operators to

Markets

SpaceX Makes a Run at the Carriers, and Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile Get Crushed

Telecom gets its worst scare in decades as SpaceX buys nationwide spectrum SpaceX has agreed to acquire Grain Management's nationwide 800 MHz spectrum portfolio in a deal valued at about $8 billion, a landmark step toward turning Starlink Mobile into a full U.S. wireless carrier. The low-

Markets

OpenAI Drops 722 AI Math Papers, Mathematicians Cry Foul

OpenAI dropped 722 math papers overnight. Mathematicians are not applauding. OpenAI posted 722 AI-generated mathematics manuscripts to GitHub on October 6, claiming progress on 372 families of open problems. The papers came from an unreleased internal frontier model, and roughly half of them shipped without independent verification. The fallout

Markets

McDonald's Prices Doubled in 10 Years While Shareholders Pocketed Nearly $40B

The golden arches got expensive McDonald's prices are about twice as high as they were a decade ago, according to a new analysis from More Perfect Union that is fueling fresh frustration over fast food prices. The report says the chain's customers are paying double while

Macro

Krugman Warns France Is on a Fiscally Unsustainable Path and May Be Too Big to Save

France is on a fiscally unsustainable path, and it may have crossed the line from too big to fail to too big to save. That is the warning economist Paul Krugman laid out in a column published October 8, and it is rattling bond markets. Krugman points to the basics:

Macro

Foreclosure Filings Just Rose 13% Year Over Year, With the South Hit Hardest

Filings are climbing, fast Foreclosure filings rose 13% year over year in August, according to ATTOM's August 2026 U.S. Foreclosure Market Report. The data shows 40,277 U.S. properties with foreclosure filings in the month, including default notices, scheduled auctions, and bank repossessions. That was up

Macro

Canada's Economy Just Lost 68,300 Jobs, Wiping Out Every Gain This Year

A stunning miss north of the border Canada's economy lost a net 68,300 jobs in September, a stunning miss against forecasts for a gain of 9,200. The unemployment rate inched up to 6.5% from 6.4% in August, and the September decline effectively erased every

Markets

AI Executives Are Privately Preparing for a Public Revolt After a Catastrophic AI Event

Top executives at Anthropic, OpenAI, and other AI companies are privately gaming out scenarios for a public and political revolt after a catastrophic AI event — and they are planning as if one is coming in 2027. The internal exercises focus on what some executives call "the day after"

Markets

AI Companies Are Privately Planning for the Day an AI Cyberattack Takes Down the Grid

Top executives at OpenAI, Anthropic, and other frontier AI companies are privately gaming out what happens the day after a catastrophic AI event. The scenario drawing the most concern: a large-scale cyberattack that shuts down access to financial services, internet connectivity, or even power and water. The internal exercises

Markets

AI Companies Privately War-Game 'Day After' Catastrophe Scenarios

AI giants are quietly gaming out the day after a catastrophic event Top executives at OpenAI, Anthropic, and other leading AI companies are privately running crisis simulations for a catastrophic AI incident, preparing for the public and political backlash that would follow. The scenario getting the most attention: a large-

tariffs

NY Fed Says Tariffs Are Entirely Behind Inflation on Everyday Items

NY Fed researchers found tariffs added 2.9 percentage points to consumer goods inflation by February 2026. Without them, goods prices would have fallen.

openai

OpenAI's Annualized Revenue Nears $50 Billion, $20B Below Earlier Reports, per FT

OpenAI told investors annualized revenue neared $50B at end-September, about $20B below the $70B figure reported in late September, per the FT.

trump

Trump Disclosed 517 Trades in August Worth Up to $273 Million, Led by $25M Meta Buy

Trump's August disclosure lists 517 trades worth $74.3M to $273M. Biggest buy: $5M-$25M of Meta on Aug. 21, plus $1M-$5M each of Netflix, AT&T, Chevron and more.

mortgages

Average 30-Year Mortgage Rate Hits 7.6%, per MortgageNewsDaily

MortgageNewsDaily's index hit 7.59% for top-tier 30-year fixed rates. The MBA weekly survey hit 7.49%, the highest since November 2023.

treasury

Treasury Sells $22 Billion in 30-Year Bonds at 5.618%, Highest Yield Since 2000

The $22B 30-year Treasury auction cleared at 5.618% with strong 2.54 bid-to-cover, the highest clearing yield for a 30-year auction since August 2000.

vance

Vance Defines Socialism as Replacing American Workers and "Boys in Girls' Sports"

Asked to define socialism, JD Vance said it means replacing American workers with foreign workers and letting boys play in girls' sports.

nidal-hasan

Hegseth Says Fort Hood Shooter's Firing Squad Execution Will Be Made Public

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Nidal Hasan's Dec. 3 firing squad execution at Fort Hood will be "made public so people can watch it."

anthropic

Being Mean to Claude Can Now Get Your Account Suspended Under Anthropic's New Rules

Anthropic's updated usage policy bans "sustained and needless abusive or cruel behavior" toward Claude, with suspension or termination for extreme cases.

openai

OpenAI Says Iranian Operatives Used Its Models to Plant Anti-US War Articles in US Media

OpenAI banned an Iranian influence operation, "Bogus Bylines," that used ChatGPT and seven fake journalist personas to plant articles in US media outlets.

trump

Trump Bought Up to $25 Million in Meta Stock and $5 Million in SpaceX Debt

Trump's August disclosure shows up to $25M in Meta stock bought Aug. 21 and up to $5M in SpaceX notes bought Aug. 18, two days before a space policy signing.

microsoft

Trump Administration Suspends Microsoft From Green Card Program Over Fraud Claims

The Trump administration suspended Microsoft from the PERM green card program, accusing it of fraud. Vance cited 6,000 layoffs against 6,300 H-1B visas.