Unusual Whales

US national debt hits $38 trillion for the first time

Amid the federal government shutdown, U.S. gross national debt exceeded $38 trillion on Wednesday, setting a new record and underscoring the rapid accumulation of liabilities on America’s balance sheet. The milestone also marks the fastest non-pandemic-related rise of a trillion dollars in the debt — the U.S. crossed

Federal Reserve officials, who are unable to receive U.S. economic statistics due to the continuing government shutdown, recently lost access to a separate measure of employment data from ADP

The Federal Reserve still has multiple ways to monitor the labor market despite losing access to key data from ADP during the government shutdown. State-level unemployment claims and other private data sources can still provide valuable insights into employment conditions. The shutdown has halted the release of the government’s

Trump is considering restricting US software exports and shipments of items made with US software to China

The U.S. is considering restrictions on software-related exports to China, in response to Beijing’s broad export controls on rare earths, as both countries gear up for a pivotal round of negotiations. When asked by CNBC’s Eamon Javers whether Washington was mulling limits on items that use American

The governor of the Bank of England, Andrew Bailey, has said that recent events in US private credit markets have worrying echoes of the sub-prime mortgage crisis in 2008

The Governor of the Bank of England, Andrew Bailey, has cautioned that recent turmoil in U.S. private-credit markets bears unsettling similarities to the sub-prime mortgage crisis that triggered the 2008 global financial meltdown. Speaking before a House of Lords committee, he stressed the need to “have the drains up”

Real estate investors bought one-third of all single-family residential homes sold in the second quarter of 2025

Real estate investors accounted for just over one-third of all single-family home purchases in Q2 2025, according to the Investor Pulse Report from BatchData and CJ Patrick Company. At 33%, the share of investor purchases reached its highest level in five years, up from 27% in Q1. The report estimates

Amazon, AMZN, is hoping its robots can replace more than 600,000 jobs it would otherwise have to hire in the United States by 2033

Amazon is reportedly advancing automation initiatives that could allow it to avoid hiring over half a million U.S. workers. According to The New York Times, which cited interviews and internal strategy documents, the company aims for its robots to replace more than 600,000 jobs it would otherwise need

The Trump administration warned China not to retaliate against foreign companies helping the US to develop critical industries

The Trump administration warned China against retaliating toward foreign firms assisting the United States in developing critical industries, following Beijing’s move last week to sanction the U.S. units of South Korea’s Hanwha Ocean Co. over its plans to invest in America’s maritime sector. “China’s recent

China imported no soybeans from the US in September, the first time since November 2018

China imported no soybeans from the United States in September, marking the first month since November 2018 that shipments fell to zero, as buyers turned to South American suppliers amid the ongoing trade dispute between the world’s two largest economies. Data released Monday by China’s General Administration of

Wells Fargo says AI is not in a bubble

We’ve all had the eerie moment of realizing we’re talking to a bot online. Long before ChatGPT made chatbot interactions mainstream, bots were everywhere—from MIT’s ELIZA in 1966 to Microsoft’s infamous Clippy. But by the time of the 2016 election, bots took a darker turn

Trump: US can pay debt with tariffs

Lawyers representing small businesses and states challenging former President Donald Trump’s authority to impose broad tariffs on nearly all U.S. imports urged the Supreme Court on Monday to uphold lower court rulings that invalidated most of the measures. One coalition of small businesses argued the tariffs “amount to

Amazon, AMZN, the second largest employer in the US, aims to replace more than half a million jobs with robot

Amazon is reportedly advancing automation initiatives that could allow it to avoid hiring over half a million U.S. workers. According to The New York Times, which cited interviews and internal strategy documents, the company aims for its robots to replace more than 600,000 jobs it would otherwise need

The Trump administration has agreed to forgive student debt under income-driven repayment programs it had partially blocked

The Trump administration has agreed to reinstate student debt relief under programs it previously limited, reopening access to loan forgiveness for millions of borrowers. The agreement, reached Friday between the U.S. Department of Education and the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), restores processing of student loan forgiveness for eligible

Trump has said that the US is considering buying beef from Argentina

Republican Senator Deb Fischer of Nebraska on Tuesday cautioned President Donald Trump that his proposal for the United States to purchase beef from Argentina would harm American cattle ranchers and fail to reduce consumer prices. “Bottom line: if the goal is addressing beef prices at the grocery store, this isn’

42% of consumers didn’t know their chips were made out of potatoes

Lay’s is emphasizing its simple, homegrown roots with a major brand refresh. Parent company PepsiCo is removing artificial dyes, updating the logo, and featuring real potatoes prominently on the packaging. The new matte bags, designed to resemble wooden potato crates, will include ingredient lists free of synthetic colors and

Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier is issuing a criminal subpoena against Roblox

Republican Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier announced that his office has issued criminal subpoenas to Roblox Corp (RBLX.N), describing the popular video game platform as a “breeding ground for predators” that exposes children to serious risk. In a video statement posted on X, Uthmeier accused Roblox of prioritizing profit

China and I will have a really fair, and really great trade deal together, Trump has said

U.S. President Donald Trump said on Monday that he expects to reach a fair trade agreement with Chinese President Xi Jinping and downplayed the likelihood of tensions over Taiwan, even as his top trade negotiator accused Beijing of “economic coercion.” Speaking with reporters, Trump suggested that China had no

The US is rolling back tariffs on “products that cannot be grown, mined, or naturally produced in the United States"

The Trump administration is quietly softening some of the tariffs that form the backbone of the president’s signature economic policy. In recent weeks, President Trump has exempted dozens of goods from his so-called reciprocal tariffs and has offered to carve out hundreds more — from farm products to aircraft parts

Without data centers, GDP growth was 0.1% in the first half of 2025

U.S. GDP growth in the first half of 2025 was largely driven by investment in data centers and information processing technology, according to Harvard economist Jason Furman. Excluding those technology-related categories, Furman estimated that GDP growth would have been just 0.1% on an annualized basis — a near standstill

Private credit & banking system are sound

Despite concerns about bad loans at midsize U.S. banks, a senior analyst at Moody's Ratings concludes there is scant evidence of any system-wide trouble. Marc Pinto, head of global private credit at Moody’s, admitted on CNBC’s Squawk Box that loosening lending standards and relaxed loan-terms

US warns world will "decouple" from China if it imposes new export controls

Top U.S. officials have accused China of reneging on a trade truce made earlier this year, ramping up tensions between the two economic powers. In a rare, orchestrated public display, U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent denounced China’s proposed cuts to rare-earth exports

China’s Xpeng to mass produce flying cars next year

One of its most promising businesses is its flying-car division, which began in 2013 as Xpeng Aeroht. In 2020, the division was formalized as a tech arm mostly owned by Xpeng. The firm intends to release its first production vehicle in 2026 and aspires to lead in low-altitude VTOL craft.

US regulators to offer capital relief to community banks

Federal banking regulators are preparing to introduce a proposal to lower the community bank leverage ratio from 9% to 8%, the minimum level permitted by law. The Federal Reserve, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency are expected to jointly release the plan

Governor JB Pritzker has released partial tax records showing he and his wife reported more than $10.3 million in taxable income

Illinois Governor JB Pritzker (D) and his wife, MK, disclosed $1.4 million in gambling income in a campaign-issued statement Thursday. They reported over $10.3 million in taxable income and paid $30.2 million in federal taxes and $4.5 million in state taxes. Sources say Pritzker, a billionaire

Investors around the world are pouring money into China for the first time in years, per Bloomberg

International investors are cautiously returning to China’s start-up ecosystem, signaling the first signs of recovery for a sector long constrained by geopolitical tensions and Beijing’s technology crackdown. People familiar with ongoing fundraising efforts said several of China’s leading venture capital firms are nearing completion of up to

President Trump plans to announce a policy proposal to make in vitro fertilization more accessible

President Donald Trump announced Thursday that the U.S. government and Germany’s Merck KGaA have reached an agreement to lower the prices of several drugs used for in-vitro fertilization (IVF) in exchange for shielding the company’s products from future tariffs. Under the deal, Merck’s U.S. subsidiary