You can stop hunting, we found red October – In one month, cryptocurrencies managed to lose nearly all of their market-capitalization gains for the year. Cryptocurrencies had reached a peak market value of $4.4 trillion on 10/6, but Bitcoin alone, the largest cryptocurrency, lost about $300 billion during the four weeks ended 11/6. Part of the steep drop is a self-fulfilling lack of confidence after that peak. (Sources: Bloomberg and the Daily Upside)

A tale of few pities – Stock investors feel good about the economy these days, while sentiment among people who don’t own stocks is at the lowest level since the data began in 1998.  Why so different? Market gains may give those who own stocks a financial and psychological buffer against negative economic news. (Sources: University of Michigan and the Wall Street Journal)

Winning on Wall Street – With most companies having reported their second-quarter earnings, 82% announced positive earnings surprises. The year-over-year earnings growth rate is tracking at 13.1% this quarter, which could be the fourth consecutive quarter of double-digit earnings growth for S&P 500 Index companies. (Source: FactSet)

Do we round up or round down now?! – After 232 years of producing them, the US Mint in Philadelphia made its last US penny on 11/12. The copper coins will remain in circulation, but ceasing production should save $56 million a year in materials since each penny costs more than 3 cents to make. Despite more than 300 billion pennies estimated to be in circulation, retailers have been hoarding them in the lead-up to the phaseout since there's no official guideline to penniless prices. (Source: AP News)

Parting is such sweet sorrow – Chinese exports unexpectedly fell in October after the rush to fill orders ahead of tariffs. Despite efforts to diversify export partners, exports to the US dropped 25% year-over-year while exports to the European Union and other Asian economies only rose 0.9% and 11.0%, respectively. (Source: Reuters)

Couldn't fix it, but people sure were talking about it – The term “government shutdown” was cited on about 18% of earnings calls this quarter, the second-highest in the last decade (the most was in the fourth quarter of 2018). From a sector standpoint, companies in the industrials, information-technology, and real-estate sectors mentioned the shutdown and its impact (or lack thereof, in some cases) the most in their calls. (Source: FactSet)

Hey Siri: Are we friends? – Americans are feeling more anxious than optimistic about AI’s growing influence. More than half believe it will hurt our ability to think creatively (53%) and form meaningful relationships (50%). And while 76% say it’s extremely important to know if content is AI-generated, only 12% feel confident they can actually spot it. (Source: Pew Research Center)

I will not be visiting – Scientists found what may be the world’s largest spiderweb inside Sulfur Cave on the Albania–Greece border, spanning over 1,000 square feet and hosting more than 110,000 spiders. Unusually, two different species—the barn funnel weaver and the sheet weaver—share this massive web, thriving in an ecosystem fueled by sulfur microbes rather than sunlight. (Source: Smithsonian Magazine)

This feud boiled over – In a win for American pasta makers, new tariffs and antidumping duties totaling 107% are making it cost-prohibitive for some of Italy's biggest pasta brands to continue selling in the US. The pasta competition has been fierce for decades: The Commerce Department has investigated complaints of Italian companies dumping pasta (undercutting prices to flood the market) by American manufacturers since the 1990s. (Source: The Wall Street Journal)

Cheater cheater, prop-bet eater – Two MLB pitchers, Emmanual Clase and Luis Ortiz, were indicted last week on charges that they worked with sports bettors to throw in-game bets. Both pitchers allegedly took bribes to adjust the speed and outcome of certain pitches during in-game "prop" betting (wagers on specific stats or occurrences within a game vs. the overall outcome of the game), which won gamblers more than $400,000 before the league noticed unusual activity and suspended the players. (Source: Reuters)