They're Celebrating Kristallnacht in Philadelphia This Weekend

Party like it's 1938. 

From City&State Pennsylvania, November 3:

‘These Zionist establishments must go!’ Organizers of upcoming Philly ‘Boycott Ride’ target Jewish-owned eateries
A coalition of pro-Palestinian activists plans to intimidate Jewish-owned businesses on the eve of the 88th anniversary of Kristallnacht, the Nazi night of terror that destroyed thousands of Jewish homes and businesses.

As a former two-term Philadelphia City Councilmember and one of the city’s most prominent real estate developers, Allan Domb has been a fixture in Philadelphia’s civic and commercial life for decades.

So he was “surprised,” he told City & State on Tuesday, to discover that one of his businesses – Schlesinger’s, a Center City Jewish deli – had been singled out for harassment by an anti-Israeli and antisemitic movement whose purported aim, according to a now-deleted Instagram post, is to “show these zio business owners that we see them for the disgusting humans they are.”

Schlesinger’s is one of a half-dozen restaurants in Philadelphia’s Center City targeted by this Sunday’s pro-Palestinian bike ride apparently called “Boycott Ride” in Rittenhouse Square, which aims to oust Jewish- and Israeli-owned businesses from the city. The others targeted by the rally are Huda Burger; Mac Mart; and Goldie’s, K’far Café and Dizengoff, all of which feature the Israeli cuisine of their acclaimed chef-restaurateur, Michael Solomonov.

Aside from Solomonov, all the other businesses are owned by American Jews, a distinction not evident in the rally flyer, which – in language reminiscent of Nazi propaganda against German Jewish businesses like “Kauf nicht bei Juden!” (“Don’t buy from Jews!”), declares: “No business for Zionists! These Zionist establishments must go! Not in our city!”

Jewish media initially reported that flyers had been circulated by the group Philly Writers Against the War on Gaza, but it appears that the main organizer is Philly Bike On Your Left, an activist group, with Philly Solidarity Calendar and Boycott CookNSolo listed on the Instagram announcement as “collaborators.” The latter group is devoted to organizing against CookNSolo, the Philadelphia restaurant group behind Solomonov’s establishments. None of the organizations listed as being “collaborators” responded to requests for comment.

The date of the action, Nov. 8, is a suggestive choice: It is the eve of the 88th anniversary of Kristallnacht, a sweeping orgy of state-sponsored anti-Jewish violence across Nazi Germany, Austria and the Sudetenland (part of modern-day Czechia) on Nov. 9-10, 1938, when more than 7,000 Jewish businesses were damaged or destroyed, along with thousands more homes and synagogues, and 30,000 Jewish men were deported to concentration camps....

....MUCH MORE  

I believe the term they are looking for is Judenfrei.

Recession Incoming

We saw how this played out in 2008.

From Fortune, October 16 i.e. pre-midterms:

‘He can’t run again’: MAGA merch sellers are closing shop and cutting prices. One sold $63 million but now she’s closed three stores 

Richard Kligman didn’t set out to sell President Donald Trump and “Make America Great Again” merch. But Kligman spotted a business opportunity in 2016, when customers began asking for MAGA hats and flags at the Myrtle Beach, South Carolina kite shop he ran with his brother. The duo opened their Trump Super Store in the empty storefront next door in 2018 to keep up with the demand. 

“You’d have thought I was selling crack,” Kligman jokingly told Fortune. But now he wants out. 

“You have to read the writing on the wall that as we go into ‘27, it’s definitely going to fall off, and I’d like to be out of it as much as I could be by the end of ‘27,” he said. 

Sales were “going gangbusters,” Kligman said, between the 2020 and 2024 presidential elections, and the brothers were putting in seven days a week just to keep up with demand from both locals and visitors from around the country. 

But now, Kligman said sales of Trump-branded merch have since fallen 39% from their 2024 levels. 

“A lot of the Trump merchandise stores across the country are closing because they see that things are going to change a bit, and the demand is not what it once was,” Kligman said. “It’s absolutely gone down, but it had to because he can’t run again.”....

....MUCH MORE (the effects go back through the supply chain) 

And from America's Finest News Source, September 11, 2008 (remember September 2008? No good): 

The sudden drop in demand for "Buck Fush" T-shirts and "Hail to the Chimp" posters could leave millions unemployed. 

 

HT: Harvard's Professor Greg Mankiw

Capital Markets: "BOE Initiates Tightening Cycle with Quarter-Point Hike"

From Marc to Market:

In the initial reaction to the US election results, the dollar and US equities were sold.  The market talk was about the implications for the AI build-out.  The AI meme questioned and the Philadelphia Stock Exchange’s Semiconductor Index (SOX) fell by 3.1%, though the Nasdaq Composite rallied 1.4%.  However, in North America yesterday, the focus shifted a bit. Another implication of the shifting US political landscape was the war in Iran. December WTI dropped by 8.3% yesterday, the largest single day decline since the war began. This helped drive rates lower. 

The dollar fell again in Asia Pacific trading today but is mixed now.  As the North American session gets underway, the dollar is a little firmer against most European currencies, except the Norwegian krone and is slightly softer against the dollar-bloc currencies and Japanese yen.  As widely expected, the Bank of England began its tightening cycle with a quarter-point hike (to 4%), while Norway’s Norges Bank stood pat. Its deposit rate is 4.5%....

....MUCH MORE  

BigLaw (Freshfields) On What To Expect From A Democratic Congress

Although London-based Freshfields seems to be everywhere. 2700 attorneys.

This piece was published before the election but shows some interesting insight into what's what.

October 13
Tea on the Hill: Navigating the Coming Congressional Currents 

As the midterms approach, congressional Democrats are already deciding where they will look first. If they win the House in November, and they are planning as though they will, the next Congress will open with an oversight agenda that reaches beyond the administration to the companies whose conduct illustrates its policies. Those companies will come from across the economy. 

This is the first in a series on what companies should expect from congressional investigations in 2027. Later installments will provide a sector-by-sector breakdown of the key issues likely to draw scrutiny, the points of exposure, and the strategic considerations unique to each industry. We begin with the investigative playbook itself: the strategy, the mechanics, and the decisions companies need to be making right now. 

A New Investigative Playbook

Democrats have been explicit about their strategy. Rather than solely focusing on the Trump Administration, they intend to use private companies as a lens on administration policies and a platform for their message on affordability, competition, and consumer protection. A number of industries can expect to be under the congressional microscope in the coming year, and we will work through each of them here.   

The timeline is aggressive. Democrats are targeting public hearings as early as spring 2027, and they are prepared to move quickly to subpoenas and contempt votes against companies they view as slow to cooperate. That threat is more credible than in past cycles. The Senate HELP Committee’s bipartisan vote to hold Steward Health Care’s CEO in civil and criminal contempt showed that contempt against a private-sector executive can draw support from both parties. Any criminal referral will still need the Trump Justice Department to act on it. That is less of a safeguard than it appears, because much of Congress’s leverage lies in the process itself, including the vote, the public record, and the reputational cost. Further, House Democrats are already coordinating with state attorneys general on parallel investigations, in a more explicit and broader alignment than in any prior cycle. Companies should assume that what they produce to Congress may reach state enforcers and prepare productions with that audience in mind....

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"OpenAI pledges to pay for data center power after election highlights AI concerns"

Well yeah. 
Now start paying surrounding communities.

From CNBC, November 5:

• OpenAI published a policy blueprint and a series of commitments that it pledged to apply to company-owned and -operated data centers in the future.
• The company said it will solicit community input around the projects, publish construction plans and protect ratepayers.
• Voters issued a stinging rebuke of data centers in the midterms after opposition to the facilities mounted over the summer. 

OpenAI reaffirmed its promise to pay the full cost of powering data centers as part of a series of commitments the company published Thursday, two days after voters at the polls roundly rejected the rapid expansion of AI.

The artificial intelligence company said in its commitments that for data centers it owns and operates, it will solicit community input, publish construction plans and stay away from use of non-disclosure agreements with public officials. Additionally, in a policy blueprint, OpenAI encouraged policymakers to enact similar commitments as laws.

“What we’re doing with this blueprint is really laying out the best lessons that we have learned and committing to applying them as they go forward,” OpenAI Chief Global Affairs Officer Chris Lehane told reporters during a Wednesday briefing. “This will help ensure that there is a very high floor in terms of how people move forward.”

On Tuesday, Americans issued a stinging rebuke of data centers at the polls. Out of 41 local ballot measures across 10 states, voters backed restrictions or rejected pro-development measures for all but one, according to an analysis by Ballotpedia and additional results gathered by CNBC on Wednesday.

Opposition to AI data centers mounted swiftly over the summer across both sides of the political aisle. Consumers grappling with inflation, rising grocery prices and stubbornly high prices at the pump grew worried that the facilities could exacerbate environmental harms, raise utility bills and contribute to job loss. For many, they became a physical manifestation of the widespread antipathy and anxiety around AI.

AI companies like OpenAI depend on AI data centers to serve customers and develop new models, and they’re seeking to build out as rapidly as possible to meet demand. In February, OpenAI told investors that it’s targeting $600 billion in total compute spend by 2030, and the company has since announced massive data center projects in Georgia and Ohio....

....MUCH MORE 

"‘We are a threat to Putin’: the small Norwegian news outlet with half its staff on Russia’s wanted list"

From The Guardian, November 4:

Exiled journalists at the Barents Observer face growing intimidation as Moscow seeks to control media beyond its borders 

The official newspaper of the Russian government is an unlikely source of recognition for a European news outlet critical of Vladimir Putin and providing sanctuary to exiled Russian journalists. But in May, two days after Russia tested its new intercontinental ballistic missile system nicknamed “Satan II” by Nato, an article in Rossiyskaya Gazeta prompted celebrations in a remote newsroom in the Arctic.

The story about how “leading global media” reacted to the Sarmat missile test referred to just a handful of outlets including the BBC, Reuters, the Associated Press and France 24. But among them was the Barents Observer, a small, journalist-owned online newspaper publishing in English and Russian about northern Russia and the Euro-Arctic region from a modest office in the north-eastern Norwegian town of Kirkenes.

It was especially surprising given that the publication had been declared an “undesirable organisation” by the office of Russia’s prosecutor general, and half of its staff journalists are on Russia’s wanted list.

Its editor, Thomas Nilsen, said: “We were listed among what the Russian government newspaper itself called ‘leading global media’. That was a very good day at the Barents Observer, because it means we had reached into the inner circle of the Kremlin.”

Last week the Norwegian prime minister, Jonas Gahr Støre, and the Finnish president, Alexander Stubb, held a call with Putin, marking a rare moment of contact between the Russian president and European leaders. Afterwards, Støre said there were “big differences in views” with Putin.

This certainly applies when it comes to press freedom. A few days later, the Nobel prize-winning independent Russian newspaper Novaya Gazeta was forced to close, citing intolerable pressure from authorities.

A short drive from the Norway-Russia border and the only remaining legal land border crossing from Russia into the European Schengen free travel area, Kirkenes is a place where rising tensions with Moscow are felt acutely. But since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine the town has also become a refuge for Russians who have found themselves targeted by Putin’s regime – some of whom are journalists who have been hired by the Barents Observer....

....MUCH MORE 

We've been linking to the Barents Observer for at least a decade and have found them to be accurate in their reporting. Among many others, this story-in-many-parts was retold in September 2019's "Russia's Spy Whales Now Under Tighter Security":

....Of all the stories that came out after the fishermen saw the whale-wearing-a-harness  and realized it seemed pretty at-ease around people was this from one of the whale watchers who went out to look at the Beluga. First the background from the above mentioned May Barents Observer story:

....The beluga whale wearing a harness with mounts for a GoPro camera that first was spotted by local fishermen on Norway’s Barents Sea coast in late April is still swimming around in the harbor of Hammerfest.

Making big headlines in Norway and around the globe, the locals name him ‘Whaledimir’ (Hvaldimir in Norwegian) after national broadcaster NRK made a poll asking their audience to name the animal. Today the beluga is stripped free from the harness, but is refusing to leave his new life of freedom in Norway. Experts say the whale will likely not survive without being fed by humans....

To which we added:

Hvaldimir? What kind of name is Hvaldimir?
Whaley McWhaleface should have been a lock.

There is some question whether this Beluga returning a woman's dropped phone is Hvaldimar or just some rando phone retrieving cetacean:



Here's the story and video of the retrieval.

Incredible Footage Shows Whale Retrieve Phone Woman Dropped In The Ocean

Vice-President Vance: "End the War, Change our relationship to Israel"

From the Veep's Xitter feed, November 4:

One of the things the data analysts on our side obsessed over was "composition"—whether the electorate looked close enough to 2024 for Republicans to win. And despite polls that showed a Democrat blowout, the data kept on telling us the same story: in some states turnout was merely OK, in other states it was downright amazing, and in no state was it catastrophic. There was a genuine sense of optimism on our team: our people were showing up. So, I asked the smartest data guy I know, does that mean we're going to shock the world? "No," he told me. "We might do better than the polls suggest. But the data is telling us that a lot of Trump/Vance 2024 voters are pissed and planning to vote for the other guys. Our voters are turning out, but they may not vote for us." Well, that looks prophetic now. Our voters did show up. In Florida, for example, the electorate was 9 points more Republican than Democrat, just a couple points worse than 2024. Undoubtedly there were places we could have done better on turnout. But the main problem is not turnout. The main problem is that many people who voted for Trump/Vance in 2024 voted for Democrats in 2026. There will be a lot of infighting and arguing over what happened and why that is. One of the pollsters I really respect told me that our economic messaging wasn’t sharp enough down the stretch. I’m sure that’s true. But the real reason we lost is obvious to almost everyone. Another pollster—one of the smartest people I know in politics, told me yesterday we’d lose the generic ballot by 13 points. I felt negative going into Tuesday, but even I was shocked by this. In his polling, he saw that a lot of Trump 2024 voters were angry and planning to vote for Democrats. He asked those voters who had abandoned us what would cause them to come back on our team. The top four answers, accounting for nearly all of the responses were: 1) End the war 2) Focus on cost of living/inflation 3) Put America First 4) Change our relationship to Israel Our voters showed up. And the above four reasons are why many of them voted for Democrats. This is according to a pollster who nailed the results. While many spent Monday attacking Rachel Campos Duffy for calling for a diplomatic resolution to the conflict, it turns out her political advice was sound. (She’s also a great person.) In the next few months, there's going to be a lot of gaslighting. Expect to hear any number of establishment politicians say the solution to our woes is amnesty. I'm open to the idea that we should change enforcement—by focusing more on businesses that hire illegal labor, for instance. But anyone pushing amnesty is lying to you. The reason we lost is the war. The president himself said so last night. If you'd like to argue it was worth it, that losing the Senate for the next 6 years was worth it, then do so. Argue it was a worthwhile cost to pay. Agree or disagree, that's at least honest. But everyone knows why we lost. And any honest conversation about where we go from here must start there. I remain hopeful about our country. To the people who are pissed off and want to say, “I told you so”: you’re right, you did tell us so. Take that energy into electing Republicans who share your worldview. To the people who are just pissed at the results, you should be. Let’s take that anger and get back to the work of saving our country.

— JD Vance (@JDVance) November 4, 2026

...MUCH MORE

Continues

....Another pollster—one of the smartest people I know in politics, told me yesterday we’d lose the generic ballot by 13 points. I felt negative going into Tuesday, but even I was shocked by this. In his polling, he saw that a lot of Trump 2024 voters were angry and planning to vote for Democrats. He asked those voters who had abandoned us what would cause them to come back on our team. The top four answers, accounting for nearly all of the responses were:

1) End the war
2) Focus on cost of living/inflation
3) Put America First
4) Change our relationship to Israel

Our voters showed up. And the above four reasons are why many of them voted for Democrats. This is according to a pollster who nailed the results.... 

This follows on yesterday's:

"GLOBAL MARKETS-Stocks erase losses, oil tumbles after Trump says US will end $4 billion funding to Israel"

"GE Vernova Sinks 10%, Vistra Down 12% as Democrats Win Congress: 'Incrementally More Negative Sentiment'” (GEV)

From TIKR, November 4: 

Key Takeaways

• GE Vernova fell 10% today, with Vistra and Constellation Energy, after Democrats won both chambers of Congress.
• Only about 20% of GE Vernova’s contracted gas turbine capacity serves data centers.
• Eaton and Caterpillar just reported rising data center demand, and new curbs would face a presidential veto.
• Next up: whether GE Vernova’s gas contracts reach the 130 gigawatts management expects by year-end.

GE Vernova (GEV) fell 10% this morning after Democrats won the Senate and the House in Tuesday’s midterms, and investors sold AI power stocks.

Vistra (VST) fell 12% and Constellation Energy (CEG) fell 7%. Yet Eaton (ETN) and Caterpillar (CAT) are still seeing data center growth.

Evercore ISI analysts led by Amit Daryanani wrote in a note: “Assuming a more restrictive data center development environment, this could create incrementally more negative sentiment for AI infrastructure exposed names.”

Sentiment is the key word here.

Most of these turbines aren’t for data centers 
GE Vernova had 122 gigawatts of gas equipment under contract at the end of September. As of midyear, only about 20% of its contracted gigawatts served data centers....

....MUCH MORE 

Blood Bank Coolers Hacked In France

There is no reason for this stuff to be connected to the internet.

From CNBC, November 4:

Blood banks targeted in latest European fridge cyberattacks 

• Blood banks have become the latest target of cyberattacks on fridges across Europe, the French Blood Establishment confirmed Wednesday.
• Cold storage units with blood products were remotely hacked, with temperatures raised excessively.
• EFS said no blood products were lost and no health impact was identified after alarms detected the anomalies quickly.

French blood banks were on Monday affected by the recent wave of cybersecurity attacks on European refrigeration systems, the French Blood Establishment confirmed on Wednesday.

The organization said that while it wasn’t the direct target of the attack, cold storage units operated by external providers containing the EFS’ blood products were compromised across three of its sites, with hackers cranking up temperatures.

“Specifically, temperature and defrost thresholds were set to excessively high levels,” the EFS said in a statement translated from French to English by CNBC.

“These cold storage units—located at EFS preparation and distribution sites—are used to store blood products prior to their delivery to healthcare facilities, as well as samples intended for EFS biobanks.”

They also stored frozen plasma used for transfusions the manufacturing of medicinal products.

The EFS said that its surveillance systems were triggered rapidly, and depending on the situation, affected equipment was either brought under control with no impact on the products or samples, or they were taken offline. No samples or blood products were lost during the attack, with samples quickly transferred to other facilities, the EFS added....

....MUCH MORE

As noted after the second attack on grocery store coolers:

"Frozen part II: Hackers remotely defrost produce in Euro supermarkets ... again"
The cooler/chiller companies better get this under control....

The life-saving/life-changing miracle of refrigeration is taken for granted. Big mistake

If interested see also: 

July 2024 - "...Refrigeration and the Many Virtues of the Cold Chain"
Cold, very important. For me and for the world....

And why were we so interested? Money.
As mentioned some years ago:

June 3, 2019
Logistics: Big Money For Warehouses, Looking at Cold Storage.

...This next bit brings back some memories. My second stock to double was a cold storage company, actually a dairy with a cold storage operation that was valued at about one-quarter of comparables. I started chipping away at the float and before I got anywhere near enough stock, the management, who knew full well the value of the operation, did an LBO and took it private at 2x market and ended up generating cash-on-cash returns (for themselves) of around 40% per annum for a decade or so.
Bastards.

That led us into being on the right side of the the whole pandemic need for storage and particularly cold storage. Another example of how just being in the right place at the right time can make this whole investing thing so much easier:

June 6, 2019
"It's About To Become A Hot Market For Cold Storage Facilities"—CBRE

March 30, 2020
"Coronavirus: Panic buying sparks surge in flexible storage demand"

April 27, 2020
The UK Food Situation Is Going to Get Interesting
From Reuters:
World's biggest cold storage supplier could reach full UK capacity in three weeks.....

If interested see also January 2019's "Logistics of Cold"
That essay mentions an apple farmer, Barbara Pratt. She's also Maersk's director of refrigerated technical services.
Maersk thinks pretty highly of her, giving her a page on the website: THE QUEEN OF COOL.
Unfortunately, when the cybercrooks attacked Maersk it was lost—you now get a "subdomain takeover" notice so, if interested here she is saved at the Internet Archive page. 

In October 2021 the story was:
Buying Warehouses In Europe and China
It was rather lonely in 2019 when we were pitching warehouses and cold storage facilities but by December 2020 we were posting stuff like:

Real Estate: "Logistics market is hot, but is a bubble forming?"
It's always nice to see a sector you've been babbling about for a couple years finally referred to as a bubble....

Good times.

"A Democrat won the Texas governor's race after promising to halt new data center construction"

Back to Yahoo Finance, November 3: 

A strong showing by Democrats in Texas swept Gina Hinojosa into office as the state's first Democratic governor since 1990 in a contest closely watched by Big Tech companies. 

The state is considered a bellwether for government restrictions on AI data centers.

Incumbent Gov. Greg Abbott conceded the race late Tuesday, calling Hinojosa and then telling his supporters, "mathematically we are not going to be able to win this election." The Associated Press declared Hinojosa the winner at 11:17 p.m. ET.

Hinojosa, Texas' first Latina governor, has pledged to impose a moratorium on data center construction in Texas, which accounts for more than 25% of planned US capacity by 2030. 

"We view the Texas gubernatorial race as particularly important for the next leg of the AI trade," wrote Raymond James's Ed Mills in a pre-election note saying that a strong Democratic showing there "could signal a broader electoral wave while increasing concerns about data center moratoriums and more restrictive AI regulation in the nation's largest planned data center development." 

Bank of America called the race "one of the highest impact elections for the entire utility sector."

Hinojosa made opposition to data center construction a central part of her campaign and charged in one ad that incumbent Gov. Greg Abbott "works for" Elon Musk alongside images of the two men.

She staked out plans for a moratorium on new data center construction as well as stricter regulations on water and power usage and an end to tax breaks.

Abbott was seeking his fourth term as governor and said last year he wanted Texas to be the "epicenter of AI development."

More recently, he announced a moratorium of his own and said he would support more stringent requirements on power and water usage. Hinojosa quickly charged Abbott with "lying" and said his new proposals amounted to an "election year pause."

The race reflected a national mood that has turned sharply against data centers in recent months.

A UMass Amherst Poll in September found nearly two-thirds of Americans oppose local AI data center construction, with just 11% of voters welcoming their construction. These results showed that 76% of Democrats and 52% of Republicans oppose construction in their communities.

Across the country, voters also weighed in on at least 50 local ballot measures related to data centers in contests that spanned 13 states from Arkansas to Wisconsin....

....MORE 

Capital Markets: "Election-Inspired Dollar Setback may be Buying Opportunity Ahead of Friday's Employment Report "

From Marc to Market: 

The US election results initially spurred a sell-off in tech shares as Democrats may be more interested in regulating AI than the current administration, and local initiatives on ballots seemed overwhelmingly to support limits on the data center build out. That said, the amount of territory or percentage of data center plans seem relatively modest. While equities have recovered, the dollar remains broadly lower. The intraday momentum indicators are stretched, and the greenback has begun consolidating after session lows were recorded in the European morning.

The dollar’s drivers, including the outlook for Fed policy and the economy, are likely to be more supportive over the next 48 hours or so. The US sees the ADP private sector jobs estimate today, alongside the final services and composite PMI, ISM services, and the September trade balance. Several Fed officials speak tomorrow and Friday, and those that have spoken recently seem to support a rate hike next month. And then on Friday, is the October jobs growth is seen a little more than 60k, which would be better than the three-month average....

....MUCH MORE 

Also at Marc to Market: 

Surplus: The History of Too Much and the End of Economic Primacy 

Surplus: The History of Too Much and the End of Economic Primacy

The Puzzle

The United States carries more than $40.5 trillion of debt. Neither party has the appetite to address it. Yet adjusted for inflation, real interest rates remain subdued. While nominal yields are near multi-decade highs, real yields are modest. The US 10-year yield is a little below 4.95% now, and US CPI was 3.7% in September.

Scarcity cannot explain this. There is too much capital chasing too few outlets, and that is the argument of Surplus. The S&P 500 could fund the entire $5.2 trillion AI build-out with about 2.5 years of profits. Buybacks happen not because senior executives are generous; US corporations are now net lenders. Return the hot potato, the surplus capital to investors. Let them figure out what to do with it.

Politics and Economics Rejoined

Harold Lasswell, a founder of modern political science, defined politics as "who gets what, when and how." To the modern ear that sounds like economics....

....MUCH MORE 

"Asian shares mixed as Democrats retake US Congress"

From dpa via the Oman Observer, November 4: 

Asian stocks ended mixed on Wednesday after Democrats took control of both houses of Congress in a dramatic win in the US midterm elections, raising uncertainty over tech regulation, trade policy and the US budget deficit.

Meanwhile, after a gauge of US job openings exceeded economist estimates, the probability of the US Federal Reserve hiking rates by 25 basis points in December rose to 80% in money markets.

Gold prices jumped more than 2% to hold above $4,000 an ounce in Asian trade, driven by a softer dollar and lower Treasury yields.

The US dollar dropped against all of its Group-of-10 peers while the benchmark 10-year Treasury note declined seven basis points to 4.89% as a commanding "blue wave" forced traders to rethink US President Donald Trump's remaining policy agenda and the political trajectory into 2028.

Brent crude futures were modestly higher at $103.76 a barrel after seeing sharp swings in the previous session amid uncertainty over the US-Iran peace talks.

Qatar said it saw hope for an interim deal as both the US and Iran evaluate new proposals put forward by mediators, despite fresh US strikes and continued threats to shipping through the Strait of Hormuz.

However, Iran's national security chief indicated in a social media post that Washington's response to Iran's demands for reopening the Strait of Hormuz and resuming peace talks was insufficient.

Trump told US broadcaster Fox News on Tuesday that he is "not looking to kill lots of people" in Iran following the midterm elections, but warned Washington would act decisively if needed.

Mainland Chinese and Hong Kong markets rose as a crushing defeat for US President Trump in the midterm elections opened the door to legislative deadlock.

China's Shanghai Composite index rallied 2.16% to 3,686.17 while Hong Kong's Hang Seng index surged 1.67% to 23,919.50, led by technology and healthcare stocks.

Investors shrugged off the results of a private survey that showed China's services sector expanded at its slowest pace in three months in October, with business confidence easing amid fierce competition and rising costs.

Japanese markets fell sharply as trading resumed after a public holiday. The Nikkei average lost more than 3% to hit a three-month low before recovering some lost ground to settle 1.42% lower at 62,188.63. The broader Topix index dropped 0.89% to 3,895.38.

Tech stocks suffered heavy losses, with Japanese chip-testing equipment maker Advantest, Japanese chip-equipment maker Tokyo Electron, Japanese telecom and investment group SoftBank Group and Japanese memory-chip maker Kioxia Holdings falling 3-5% on worries that Democratic control of both chambers in the US could lead to tighter regulation of data-centre projects and slower AI infrastructure spending.

Seoul stocks swung between gains and losses before closing higher as battery and pharma stocks rose on hopes for policy support by the Democratic Congress in the US. The Kospi index climbed 0.62% to 5,683.80....

....MUCH MORE 

"Democrats won control of Congress. Their economic agenda is set to target healthcare, tariffs, and Trump's allies"

From Yahoo Finance, November 3: 

Democrats retook power in Washington on Tuesday night after flipping key House and Senate seats to command majorities in both houses of Congress.

Democrats secured control of the Senate after winning races in historically red states including Texas, South Carolina, and Kansas.

The party was also "marching toward control of the U.S. House" late Tuesday night, according to the Associated Press, after flipping seats from Florida to New Jersey to Kentucky. Four major networks said Democrats' control of the House was assured. 

Democrats retook power in Washington on Tuesday night after flipping key House and Senate seats to command majorities in both houses of Congress.

Democrats secured control of the Senate after winning races in historically red states including Texas, South Carolina, and Kansas.

The party was also "marching toward control of the U.S. House" late Tuesday night, according to the Associated Press, after flipping seats from Florida to New Jersey to Kentucky. Four major networks said Democrats' control of the House was assured.

The power shift creates a new platform for Democrats to launch investigations of President Trump's economic allies — Elon Musk to name one — and pass bills that may be unlikely to become law but will mark a sharp change in the political climate for business leaders and economic issues after two years of unified Republican control.

The change also appears set to elevate figures like Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren and others to prominent positions with oversight over economic policy.

Democrats are planning "a shock-and-awe legislative sprint," the New York Times reported, on issues like healthcare subsidies and Trump's tariffs, which could prompt a wave of bills to pass the House but stall against the 60-vote threshold in the Senate. Even in the minority, Senate rules mean Republicans retain the power to stop legislation. 

Democrats are also likely to seek areas of bipartisan agreement on pharmaceuticals, the housing market, and AI data centers, all sectors that both Republicans and Democrats have spotlighted on the campaign trail.

Divided government, of course, may also set the stage for political clashes that could be destabilizing to markets and the broader economy.

"While conventional wisdom suggests equities tend to rally following midterm elections, particularly when the outcome produces divided government, we caution that the post-election environment may look considerably different this cycle," warned Raymond James Washington Policy Analyst Ed Mills in a pre-election note.

He added that much of the recent volatility has been driven by unexpected moves from the White House. "We believe Trump will increasingly test the limits of executive authority during the remainder of his term," Mills wrote.

An expected focus on Elon Musk and Trump's economic team 
The House is set to be led by Rep. Hakeem Jeffries of New York, who has been notably tight-lipped about his plans.

He met with Democratic volunteers as Election Day wound down and told reporters, "We're relentlessly focused on driving down the high cost of living and fighting for an affordable America."

Jeffries avoided the question of whether he would reach out to Trump while the president told the New York Times he will accept the election results.

Democrats overall, going by early signals, intend to aim their new powers at an array of high-profile targets, with Musk chief among them, as part of a far-reaching effort to impose new checks on the Trump administration.

"Lawyer up," said Rep. Robert Garcia, who is poised to become chair of the House Oversight Committee, in one particularly pithy signal of the Democrats' plans.

Recent developments involving Elon Musk and Starlink in Ukraine are just the latest topic that Democrats say they will investigate around the world's richest man. The Wall Street Journal has reported that Musk ordered the slowdown of a military-grade version of Starlink relied on by Ukraine and discussed the decision on a call with Trump in October.

A group of Silicon Valley lawmakers said in a letter the issue raises broader concerns and could lead them to "closely scrutinize federal funding awarded to Mr. Musk's businesses" in the next Congress....

....MUCH MORE 

Also at Yahoo Finance:

Over the next decade, the U.S. Treasury will spend $20 trillion in interest on the national debt—$200 billion a month by 2036

"Trending Now: The End of the World" November 6

From the always handy Find a Protest website: 

Trending Now: The End of the World
ICAN Deutschland, Artists Against the Bomb und der Rosa-Luxemburg-Stiftung [im Rahmen Programm der (Kunst-)Ausstellung 

"Artists Against the Bomb"] (Die Veranstaltung findet auf Englisch mit deutscher Simultanübersetzung statt)

Date: Friday, November 6th, 2026
Time: 6:00 PM
Location: Rosa-Luxemburg-Stiftung, Berlin, Germany 

....MUCH MORE, map, theme, contact info, organizer website

 

FindAProtest homepage 

Browse Find a Protest:

 

Interactive Protest Map 

 

Browse Protests by Cause

 

This Weekend 

 

Popular Cities - https://www.findaprotest.info/#popular-cities 

MIT Technology Review: "The Impossible Issue"

From MIT, November/December 2026 issue:

 

....MUCH MORE

"GLOBAL MARKETS-Stocks erase losses, oil tumbles after Trump says US will end $4 billion funding to Israel"

From Reuters via London South East, November 3: 

* Dollar flat, Treasury yields edge higher as midterms eyed

* Apple's ​weak outlook ⁠adds to tech earnings gloom

* Oil volatility keeps ​investors on edge

Stocks in Europe and the US reversed course to trade ​higher ‌on Tuesday as oil prices dropped after US President Donald Trump said Washington would stop $4 billion in funding to Israel after the end of ⁠this year.

Speaking to Fox News' Fox and Friends, Trump said Israel ⁠no longer needed the funding. He had made a ​deal with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to stop the aid, he said.

The comments sent oil prices lower and helped stocks reverse their losses. The pan-European STOXX 600 index rose 0.13% to 650.3 points, while futures tracking the benchmark S&P 500 index added 0.14%.

AI ANXIETY ​KNOCKS STOCKS ‌IN ASIA

The gains offered some relief after a fresh bout of AI anxiety unnerved investors, who are also on tenterhooks as voting began in crucial US midterm elections....

....MUCH MORE 

It Looks Like The Japanese Gangsters Were Right

Although we didn't outright sneer when linking to this May 2024 Le Monde article:

"In Japan, yakuza are reduced to stealing Pokémon cards", 

it might have been a bit condescending to include "Making a slow getaway: Japan's anti-yakuza laws result in cohort of ageing gangsters" among the outro links. The geriatric mobsters may have known exactly what they were doing....

Since then we've seen:

October 20, ABC News - Thieves steal nearly $1 million worth of Pokémon cards in SoCal FedEx truck break in 

November 1, ZeroHedge - Pokemon Card Mania Sparks Bubble Fear: "Just Doing A Crazy Bull Run" 

Which started with: 

A PSA 10 Aquapolis Crystal Lugia just sold for $360,000 again, tying the record from earlier this month; in August one sold for $148,511, per . New floor or the top? Follow us for more collectible news https://t.co/BDysHzoZxu

— Nerdcave’77 (@nerdcave77) November 1, 2026

As it's hook and then went into charts, graphs, market analytics, fear/greed indicators, lists of top cards, analyst commentary:

We are no longer just talking about people spending a few thousand dollars on nostalgia anymore. At these extravagant prices, collectibles are competing for the same pools of capital that could otherwise be sitting in stocks, crypto, watches, art or other alternative assets.... 

and so much more that it's actually a bit overwhelming. 

For what it's worth today's introduction was previously used on top of a September 2025 Wall Street Journal story:

"The Hot Investment With a 3,000% Return? Pokémon Cards"

Meanwhile I still look back at what might have been:

June 2018 - CryptoKitty Trading Volume Collapses: Andreessen, Union Square and Climateer Hurt Worst which has most of the story including:

Matt Levine Writes About CryptoKitties ("this column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board or Bloomberg LP and its owners"). 

Matt Levine's Meow Culpa—CryptoKitties, An Exegesis 

"How we made $100K trading CryptoKitties"
Not us, we're HODLers, this guy:... 

Which was followed by March 2019's "Who owns IP on the blockchain? CryptoKitties give glimpse into less-cute crypto concerns"
I had asked that people not mention CryptoKitties in my presence as I am still in mourning* but they do anyway....

And finally:

"Elaine Thinks About Signaling and Destroys My CryptoKitties Dreams":

Her piece was written a couple weeks ago i.e. at least two cryptocurrency price tumbles ago.
Think of a waveform, but not the smooth, soothing shape of a sinusoid. Rather think of a faux quasi-periodicity with just enough regularity to trigger a mirage of pattern recognition, just enough to suck you in, across the event horizon of speculation into the madness of Hunter S Thompson:...

"Still humping the American Dream, that vision of the Big Winner somehow emerging from the last minute pre—dawn chaos of a stale Vegas casino. Big strike in Silver City. Beat the dealer and go home rich. Why not? I stopped at the Money Wheel and dropped a dollar on Thomas Jefferson—a $2 bill, the straight Freak ticket, thinking as always that some idle instinct bet might carry the whole thing off. But no. Just another two bucks down the tube. You bastards! No. Calm down. Learn to enjoy losing.... 

—Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas

Excuse me, I have to take a moment  

"Why is Egypt jumping into Houthi war? First, follow the money."

From Responsible Statecraft, October 29:

Cairo buys an increasing amount of fuel from abroad, owes billions to foreign lenders, and depends on open Red Sea-Suez traffic, among other pressures. 

Egypt's parliament has voted, after two postponements, to authorize President Abdel-Fattah el-Sisi to take “necessary measures” to help defend Saudi Arabia against the Houthis, the Iran-aligned group that controls much of Yemen and has spent weeks firing missiles and drones at the kingdom’s airports and fossil fuel infrastructure.

It took weeks of debate in the halls of power for the parliament to ultimately give Sisi the greenlight. This is unusual given that the chamber is largely pro-government and normally gives the president what he asks for.

A handful of members abstained over concerns that relevant details — such as the length of the mission, the cost, how many troops would be sent — were never disclosed. Their complaints reflect deep unease in Egypt about being dragged into a foreign war.

To understand why Sisi has pushed to provide military support to Saudi Arabia, despite institutional reluctance, one must follow the money.

Saudi Arabia keeps roughly $10.3 billion parked at Egypt’s central bank. These deposits count toward Egypt’s foreign-currency reserves. Add accounts owned by Kuwait and Qatar and the total is about $18 billion, close to one-third of Egypt’s $57 billion of reserves. Egypt relies heavily on these deposits because it is one of the world’s biggest wheat importers. It also buys an increasing amount of fuel from abroad and owes billions in interest to foreign lenders, all in dollars, which it does not, on its own, earn enough of.

There is no public indication that Riyadh tied those critical deposits to Egypt’s military support. But Cairo does not need to be asked. Its pound just hit a record low of 56 to the dollar. Debt service — interest plus repayments — takes about 64% of this year’s budget, and the interest payments alone cost more than the state spend on education, health, wages and subsidies put together. A government in this position cannot easily say “no” to one of its main financial backers.

Egypt has spent decades avoiding foreign entanglements, especially in Yemen. In 1962 then-President Gamal Abdel Nasser sent troops there to back the republicans in a civil war. The republicans ultimately won, but Egypt was bogged down for years and lost thousands of soldiers.

Yet staying out has proved much harder than Egypt hoped. When Iranian missiles hit the United Arab Emirates earlier this year, Abu Dhabi, which rescued Egypt’s economy in 2024 with a blockbuster $35 billion property deal on the Mediterranean coast, complained loudly that its Arab friends were doing nothing. Cairo then quietly sent a detachment of Rafale fighters, which only became public knowledge when Emirati state media showed Sisi inspecting the jets during a visit.

The lesson learned from that episode is that Gulf money comes with an expectation of visible loyalty....

....MUCH MORE 

Capital Markets: "The Greenback is Mixed as Americans Vote; Aussie Sold after RBA Signaled Its Fifth Hike may be its Last"

From Marc to Market: 

The US dollar is mixed today, as Americans vote in the midterm elections.  There does not seem to a robust pattern for the dollar around the midterm elections, but the S&P typically does well in the fourth quarter of the mid-term year, and with even more regularity, the S&P rallies in the third year of a presidential term (2027).  

There have been two notable developments today. First, as anticipated, the Reserve Bank of Australia delivered its fifth hike of the year today, and encouraged market speculation that the tightening cycle is over. The Australian dollar, which has been buoyed by the tighter monetary policy, is the weakest of the G10 currencies today, off nearly 1/3 of 1% to its lowest level in a little more than two weeks. Second, the PBOC announced an increase reserve requirement for foreign currencies. This, coupled with the first back-to-back increase in the dollar’s fix in a little more than a month, suggests a period of consolidation may be at hand....

....MUCH MORE  

"Brookfield plans for a $27 billion AI data center at UK power station"

Talking big money.

DRX:Lon is up 67.00 (+8.28%) at 876.00 

From CNBC, November 3: 

• Brookfield is planning a data center with more than one gigawatt of capacity at a site in England.
• The asset manager estimated that the potential investment for the project could exceed £20 billion ($26.8 billion).
• Drax Group, which operates the power station the facility will be housed at, saw shares rise more than 8% on Tuesday morning. 

Brookfield is targeting a massive artificial intelligence data center in the north of England, as Europe scrambles to develop infrastructure to support the rollout of AI amid high energy and land costs.

Energy company Drax Group said Tuesday it has signed an agreement with Brookfield and the asset manager’s neocloud platform Radiant to jointly develop an AI data center on the Drax Power Station estate in North Yorkshire. London-listed shares of Drax were up 8.8% in early morning trading.

The project is initially targeting up to 100 megawatts of capacity to be operational from the first quarter of 2028, with an additional 500 MW of capacity to be brought online between 2028 and 2031. It is then looking to secure more than 1 gigawatt of capacity at the site by an unspecified date.

Brookfield estimates total investment, including semiconductors, could exceed £20 billion ($26.8 billion), with an initial £2.5 billion investment in phase 1.

“This is a unique opportunity for the UK’s AI ecosystem to build at scale,” Radiant CEO Mahdi Yahya said in a statement. “By designing, building and operating from the UK, it will give British researchers, startups and enterprises access to frontier compute at home.”

The first phase of Brookfield’s project in North Yorkshire will use power from the grid and target commercial customers from early 2028.

The initial phase is subject to planning, regulatory and network approvals from the government and relevant agencies, alongside securing a tenant for the project, Drax said in a statement said. The company added that final investment decisions are yet to be made.

Europe’s AI data center push
While the U.S. has surged ahead on developing the huge data centers needed to power AI, Europe has been slower to break ground on the facilities. The U.K. in particular has struggled with high energy costs and challenges with long waiting times for businesses to connect to the grid....

....MUCH MORE

Also at CNBC:  Jim Cramer says these six fashion stocks are buys beyond the AI trade

If one is so inclined we have much more on Drax, the largest powerplant in Britain, including the James Bond connection (Moonraker's villian, Hugo Drax*) and the admiral. Use the 'Search blog' box, upper left.

Richard Drax's grandfather, Admiral Sir Reginald Aylmer Ranfurly Plunkett-Ernle-Erle-Drax, KCB, DSO, JP, DL, was pals with Ian Fleming.

—Bournemouth Daily Echo, Revealed: James Bond's 11 surprising connections to Dorset and the New Forest, October 25, 2015.

Ditto at: "https://www.mi6community.com/discussion/7270/the-real-james-bond-characters-flemings-inspirations"

....There's probably a connection to the giant biomass power plant of the same name but I've forgotten what it is. Or maybe that's just the northern branch of the fam.

Renewable Fuel: "Wood Pellet Giant Enviva Discloses a Financial Crisis"
*Nationality American 

Occupation  Criminal mastermind 

Affiliation Independent 

Status Deceased; shot by a poison dart and blasted into space by James Bond

"Frozen part II: Hackers remotely defrost produce in Euro supermarkets ... again"

The cooler/chiller companies better get this under control.

From The Register, November 2:

Let it go (bad): Dozens of stores report mass food wastage as managers start their week in puddles 

The cyberattacks on commercial refrigerators and freezers in Europe continue, as a slew of grocery stores in Belgium, Ireland, Luxembourg, and Sweden report widespread food wastage as a result of miscreants raising the temperatures to highs of 50ºC (122°F).

In Belgium, around 40 Delhaize stores were affected after the attackers reportedly switched fridges and freezers into defrost mode overnight, between Sunday and Monday, resulting in stock issues.

Diego Louwers, a Proxy Delhaize store manager in Overijse, near Brussels, told RTL Info that the consequences of the cyberattacks were "catastrophic," forcing the store to throw out the entirety of its fresh and frozen products.

"We can't have anything worse in our line of work," he said. "We have to throw away all of our merchandise, and it's both heartbreaking and very complicated operationally."....

....MUCH MORE 

FrenchTech: "CERN Partners With Mistral to Build a New Kind of AI for Physics"

From HPCwire, October 27:

CERN, the world’s largest particle physics laboratory, has spent decades collecting enormous amounts of data from particle collisions. With the recent rapid growth in AI capabilities, CERN wants to develop a foundation model that can make better use of all that data.

To help it achieve this goal, the European physics laboratory has teamed up with French AI company Mistral. The two have signed a statement of intent to explore the development of foundation models for scientific research.

CERN is already using AI for particle physics. With Mistral, CERN wants to move from multiple specialized AI models to a more general foundation model that could perform several scientific tasks. Their first project is a proposed Large Physics Model, reportedly called Flare, that would be trained on billions of simulated collisions from the Large Hadron Collider (LHC).

How much data has LHC collected? According to some estimates, CERN currently holds around one exabyte of experimental data from the LHC. That is equivalent to one million terabytes. And that amount is expected to grow significantly. An upgrade to the LHC around 2030 is expected to increase the number of collisions tenfold.

The new foundation model with Mistral could handle several of these tasks together. It could help reconstruct collision events and identify particles, reducing the need for separate algorithms.

What’s in it for Mistral? The partnership provides access to one of the world’s largest scientific datasets and an opportunity to expand its work into scientific research....

....MUCH MORE 

I was sort of hoping for next-gen riot-dispersing sound cannons but this could get interesting too. 

"The face you make after you voted for socialism because gas was expensive."

From Resist CBDC:

The face you make after you voted for socialism because gas was expensive. https://t.co/HEFsbtdZWu

— Resist CBDC 🏁 (@Resist_CBDC) September 26, 2026

As has been observed, most recently in Brazil, you can vote your way into socialism, you can't vote your way out. 

Kilkenomics: Economics, Comedy (like Davos without the hookers) November 6 - 8, Kilkenny, Ireland

Tickets still available.

From the event website:

“John Maynard Keynes meets Lenny Bruce”

 

“Having a laugh despite the gloom”

 

“A little jewel where players manage to talk human without being patronizing”

 

“I’ve been to lots of festivals and conferences, but Kilkenomics may just be the best. More than that: it felt like democracy.”

 

“Wildly successful”

 

“An utterly bizzare idea but the public love it”

 

....MUCH MORE