Setting the bar nice and low, I see – Third-quarter earnings for the S&P 500 Index are projected to rise 29%, vs. an average quarterly growth rate of 12.6% over the past decade. Technology is helping drive those expectations, with semiconductor earnings alone projected to surge 130% year over year amid strong AI demand. (Source: Barron’s)

Everybody comfortable? – Weekly jobless claims fell to 194,000 in mid-October, near their lowest level since the late 1960s, as employers continue to hold onto workers despite sluggish hiring. US payrolls grew by just 29,000 in September and have averaged only 69,000 new jobs a month in 2026, highlighting a labor market with relatively little hiring or firing. (Source: CNBC)

Sacre bleu, that’s a lot of IOUs – France is facing growing pressure in its bond market as concerns about its finances and political uncertainty test foreign investors’ appetite for its debt. Nearly 55% of French government debt was held outside the country last year, compared with 31% in the US and 13% in Japan. With 10-year French bond yields now above 5% for the first time since 2002, that reliance could prove costly: France has more than $1 trillion in debt coming due by 2030. (Source: The Wall Street Journal)

That’s an awfully long time to skip the guac – The typical renter household now needs 16 years to save for a down payment and closing costs on a starter home, double the time required in 2019. Even middle-income households earning roughly $50,000 to $120,000 face an estimated 12-year wait, as home prices and other costs have risen faster than incomes. (Source: NPR)

I mean, it’s one banana, Michael. What could it cost, $10? – A banana can cost as little as 15 cents, but keeping America’s most-consumed fruit that cheap is getting harder. Rising fuel and fertilizer costs are putting pressure on prices, with diesel for refrigerated shipping up 70% since the start of the Iran war and banana prices already 2.2% higher year over year in August. Current pricing contracts expire in December, potentially opening the door to further increases. (Source: MSN)

Commitment issues, daddy issues … but mostly trust issues – Americans’ trust in one another’s democratic judgment has fallen to a more than 50-year low, with just 51% expressing a great deal or fair amount of trust, according to Gallup. That’s down from 86% in 1976 and 78% in 2005, with remarkably similar levels today across party lines: 53% of Democrats, 51% of Republicans, and 49% of independents. (Source: Axios)

You know what, I’ll just walk it off – The average cost of family health coverage surpassed $28,000 in 2026, while workers’ contributions jumped 9% to $7,471. With healthcare costs continuing to rise, 44% of large employers facing higher projected costs increased workers’ premium contributions, while 21% raised deductibles or other cost sharing for most services. (Source: The Wall Street Journal)

And these results might actually hold up – “You Can See Everything,” a nearly three-hour documentary about Elizabeth Holmes, grossed an estimated $15 million from just 855 screens during its opening weekend, with more than 2,000 sold-out shows nationwide. That made it one of the biggest openings this century for a movie debuting on fewer than 1,000 screens. (Source: The New York Times)

Apparently, we’re all in need of our fae fix – Bloomsbury’s adjusted pre-tax profit fell 30% in the first half of its fiscal year, but the publisher is still forecasting record full-year results thanks to two new Sarah J. Mass books. There’s precedent for that optimism: In fiscal 2024, sales of Maas’s books surged 161%, helping Bloomsbury achieve what were then the highest revenue and profit in its 37-year history. (Sources: Publisher’s Weekly and Business Insider)

Not everyone at once, now – Five of college football’s top seven teams were upset on the same day on 10/17, an unprecedented shake-up among the sport’s highest-ranked teams. Based on pregame betting lines, the odds of all five losses occurring were just 0.1%. It was also the first time since 1996 that Georgia, Alabama, and Texas all lost within 24 hours. (Source: The Wall Street Journal)