Friday, 30 October 2026
346 stories · 12 beats · 4 signals
Signals
Intel's cheapest new laptop chips are sold out, as it moves some capacity to data-centre chips. Some circuit-board orders now take 30 months, because AI buyers pay more.
AEP raised its five-year building plan to $100 billion, with $20 billion for gas plants. Its big signed-up power customers rose 22% in three months, to 84 gigawatts.
SpaceX is keeping its rockets for Starlink and its AI satellites, and told the makers of NASA's Moon cargo landers it will not launch them. Anthropic, an AI company, paid 34.5% of SpaceX's quarterly revenue, Bloomberg reported.
Amazon spent $42.4 billion more cash than it took in over a year, and Microsoft is borrowing $25 billion for data centres. Alphabet lost about $500 billion in one day, its worst since 2004.
What is going on
AI companies pay more for chips, circuit boards, power and rockets, so the firms that make them serve AI first. Laptop buyers wait longer, NASA has to find other rockets, and the AI firms' own investors now ask when all that spending turns into profit.
Where it is heading
The next test is Nvidia, the biggest AI chip maker, which reports its results in mid-November.
Iran said four tankers caught fire after hitting mines near the Strait of Hormuz, which usually carries about a fifth of the world's oil and gas. Iran has a letter from US Vice-President JD Vance offering talks, but has not replied.
An Iranian strike knocked out about 17% of Qatar's gas export capacity. Qatar told buyers in Italy, Pakistan and Bangladesh it cannot deliver until the end of the year.
France will sell 10 million barrels of diesel at cost, to cut pump prices by 12 to 18 cents a litre. Pakistan's diesel passed 400 rupees a litre, against 281 before the war began on 28 February.
US Halloween candy sales fell 6.7% in the month to 17 October. Hershey, which makes Reese's, warned that dearer fuel may make shoppers buy less.
What is going on
Mines and strikes in the Gulf cut how much oil and gas can get out, so fuel stays dear and countries like Pakistan go short of gas. Governments spend money to bring pump prices down, and households still pay through their bills and their shopping.
Where it is heading
The next sign is whether Iran answers the US vice president's letter offering talks to end the war.
Ebola has reached Kenya and Nigeria from an outbreak that began in Congo, and only 3 of 31 African countries checked were judged ready. More than $2 billion of the $3 billion governments pledged has not been paid.
New World screwworm reached Arizona, a third US state, in a dog near the Mexican border. October had 19 US cases by the 28th, against 3 in all of September.
What is going on
Ebola and the screwworm fly are both spreading across borders faster than the checks meant to stop them. Families in the outbreak areas pay first, and ranchers on both sides of the US-Mexico border lose trade while cattle crossings stay shut.
Where it is heading
The next test is whether Nogales, Arizona, reopens to Mexican cattle on 30 November, as planned.
The European Central Bank held its rate at 2.5%, with prices in the euro countries rising 3.8%, nearly double its goal. Traders put the chance of a US rate rise in December at 83.6%.
The average 30-year US home-loan rate was 7.24%, up from 6.17% a year earlier. US home prices fell 0.1%, their first yearly fall in over three years, as the typical monthly payment reached $2,786.
What is going on
Prices are rising faster than central banks want, so they keep rates high and talk about raising them. Home buyers pay first: a monthly loan payment near a record keeps many away, and sellers now face falling prices.
Where it is heading
The next test is the US central bank's meeting on 8 and 9 December.
12 editions
World
The truth: Xi Jinping used this week's party meeting to expel 33 members and leave China's military command with two men: himself and the general who runs its anti-corruption checks.
Finance
The truth: Alphabet lost about $500 billion on Thursday because Google's search sales slowed while its AI spending left it short of cash.
Tech
The truth: Reddit is putting up a login wall because Google now answers questions with AI on its own page and sends Reddit over 1 million fewer visits a week, while readers who log in are worth more to Reddit's advertisers.
Mind & body
The truth: England's NHS told every GP surgery to offer online booking, and about 500 of them used one firm, Silicon Practice, for their websites and online forms.
Climate
The truth: US power companies are building gas plants and giant power lines for data centres, and AEP alone added $22 billion to its five-year plan.
Space
The truth: NASA and the US military built their space plans on SpaceX's rockets, and SpaceX is now turning down new government launch work to keep its rockets for Starlink and its AI satellites.
Biotech
The truth: Health ministers from 45 African countries agreed on Wednesday to prepare every country for Ebola, but an assessment found only 3 of 31 countries checked were ready.
Money
The truth: US home prices slipped for the first time in three years because buyers cannot afford monthly payments near a record, not because homes became cheap to buy.
Sports
The truth: AC Milan and Inter are replacing 100-year-old San Siro because a new stadium with 13,000 premium seats can earn far more on match days, and Generali is paying a record EUR650m to put its name on it.
Gaming
The truth: Roblox lost 9% of its daily players in a year after tightening child-safety measures, Bloomberg reports, though what players spent still beat forecasts.
Food
The truth: New World screwworm, a flesh-eating fly, is spreading north in the US, with 19 cases in October against 3 in September, just as cattle crossings from Mexico reopen one by one.
Cyber
The truth: Binance says a hacked engineer's laptop let an attacker take about $6.3 billion of crypto, and about $3 billion of it is frozen.