Thursday, 5 November 2026
453 stories · 12 beats · 4 signals
Signals
Iran's Guards say 2 tankers and a tug burned in the Strait of Hormuz, the sea lane out of the Gulf, on Thursday. South Korea plans to move a navy unit to about 650km from it.
Diesel stocks in some markets are at their lowest for the season in 35 years, the chief of Adnoc, Abu Dhabi's state oil company, says. India now buys crude oil from about 43 countries to get round the disruption.
Fresh food in Italy cost 7.5% more in October, after lorry drivers angry at diesel prices blocked roads. Urea, a farm fertiliser, averaged 482 pounds a tonne in the UK as gas costs climbed.
The Bank of England raised its rate from 3.75% to 4% in an 8-1 vote, and Sweden also raised on Wednesday. A barrel of oil fell more than 8% on Wednesday on hopes of peace, then was back up 2.6% to $97.11 by midday on Thursday.
About 500,000 UK tracker mortgages pay some £31 more a month at once. The 87% of UK mortgage-holders on fixed deals feel it only when they renew.
What is going on
Ships burning near the Gulf keep energy dear, so lorries, fertiliser and food cost more. The Bank of England raised its rate to slow those price rises, so homes on tracker mortgages pay first.
Where it is heading
The next test is whether oil stays below the $108 or so that the Bank's 5% inflation forecast was built on.
One 16GB memory chip went from $8.70 to $48 on contract in about a year. Voters sided against data centres in all but one of about 45 local US measures.
Macronix, a Taiwanese chip maker, is dropping Nintendo's cartridge chips because data centres pay more. Nintendo raised Switch 2 prices in 3 countries, and sales fell 41%.
Omaha's power company has under 100 megawatts left for new large customers. Arizona's biggest utility expects its yearly sales to more than double by 2041, and is keeping a coal plant to help.
A Kentucky farming family turned down more than $26m for its land from a data centre developer.
US shares had their worst day since April 2025: the S&P 500, a broad index of big firms, fell 4.36% and the Nasdaq 5.52%, as investors feared slower data-centre building.
What is going on
Data centres pay more, so chip makers and power companies serve them first, and game and phone buyers pay higher prices. Now towns are voting no and investors fear slower building, and shareholders in chip firms paid on Thursday.
Where it is heading
The next test is whether the new governors in Texas, Ohio and Georgia carry out the pauses on data centres they pledged.
JD Vance, the US vice-president, blamed the Iran war for the defeat a day after the vote. A Trump adviser said the defence chief 'could be on the chopping block'.
SpaceX has gained an estimated $10 billion in US contracts since Trump's election, and several Democrats want its role investigated.
One Democratic senator posted a single word after the win: "Subpoenas". CVS Health is splitting in two while fighting state laws against owning both pharmacies and drug middlemen.
Team owners put more than $100m into the elections, mostly on the losing side. A college sport bill that passed the US Senate 77-22 now has almost no chance in the House.
The Dow, an index of 30 big US firms, rose more than 1,500 points on Wednesday after the vote. It fell 1,833 points on Thursday, more than wiping that out.
What is going on
Democrats take over the committees of the US Congress in January, and those committees can order people to testify. Firms that did well under Trump could pay first, in time and legal bills, before any law changes.
Where it is heading
The first test comes in January, when Democrats can start ordering testimony.
The tropical Pacific reached 4C above normal in October, the highest since 1949. Malabar, Florida, took 2 feet of rain in 36 hours, and UNICEF is $5.54 million short for protecting children in Malawi.
Thai rice reached $499 a ton, its highest in almost two years, as El Nino brought drier weather to Asia's fields. Rice in the Philippines jumped 21%.
What is going on
A hot Pacific shifts the rain, so some fields go dry and some towns flood. Families who buy their rice at the market pay in higher prices.
Where it is heading
The thing to watch is whether Thai rice holds near $499 a ton.
12 editions
World
The truth: JD Vance, the US vice-president, blamed the Iran war for his party's defeat one day after the vote, and Trump's adviser named the defence chief as a possible sacking.
Finance
The truth: The big moves in oil, bonds and the dollar rest on one bet: that the Democrats' win in the US vote will end the Iran war sooner.
Tech
The truth: US voters said no to data centres in almost every local vote, and new governors in Texas, Ohio and Georgia have pledged pauses.
Mind & body
The truth: The WHO found 240 million adolescents with no active day last week by asking them, and it reached 1.6 million lives saved by modelling.
Climate
The truth: Rich countries promised poorer ones help against climate harm, gave at most $32bn in 2024, and many are now moving budgets to defence.
Space
The truth: Scientists at Mars have a strong clue and no proof: a gas appears in one place at one time of year, and a co-author calls the link to magma a hypothesis.
Biotech
The truth: WHO's advisers have chosen 2 vaccines built for Bundibugyo, but more than 5,300 people have died and the trial's results are not due until early 2027.
Money
The truth: The Bank of England raised its rate to slow price rises that a war started, and it says its rate cannot change world energy prices.
Sports
The truth: LIV Golf plans to close because BC Partners would pay only if enough star golfers signed, and it judged that too few had by its deadline.
Gaming
The truth: Memory makers earn far more selling to AI data centres, so game companies now come after them.
Food
The truth: A strong El Nino is drying Asia's rice fields, and Thai rice reached $499 a ton while corn and wheat fell.
Cyber
The truth: Most of today's big breaches were found long after they began: Japan Airlines says the access at Amadeus ran for just over 3 years, and DreamHost's intruder stayed about 2 months.