Alphabet and the no good, very bad earnings day – Alphabet lost nearly $500 billion in market value after its third-quarter earnings call offered disappointing results. Massive single-day losses are now becoming commonplace: Individual US-listed companies have shed $200 billion or more in a single session 18 times so far this year—a feat that had never happened before 2022. (Source: Yahoo Finance, as of 10/28)

Going for the three-peat – Through October 23, about a quarter of S&P 500 Index companies had reported Q3 earnings. The vast majority were beating analysts’ expectations, keeping expected earnings at a whopping 29.5% year over year. If the season ends at that rate, it would be the third consecutive quarter of earnings growth above 25% and the eighth consecutive quarter of double-digit earnings growth. (Source: FactSet)

One and done? – Though two policymakers voted in favor of another rate hike, the Federal Reserve (Fed) kept interest rates unchanged in October after September’s first hike since 2023. But markets don’t necessarily think the Fed is finished: Traders are pricing in an 85% chance of at least another quarter-point increase in December. (Source: Yahoo Finance)

Talk about a Brazilian blowout – Brazilian markets tumbled following President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s surprise re-election, with the Bovespa Index ending the day 14% lower, its worst decline since March 2020. The Brazilian real fell more than 8% against the US dollar, putting it on pace for its sharpest one-day decline since 1999, while the yield on Brazil’s local-currency 10-year government bond jumped more than 2 percentage points to around 15%. (Source: The New York Times)

Using the buddy system – With US home prices up more than 50% since the end of 2019, 3.3% of buyers under 35 co-applied for a mortgage with someone over 55 in 2025, up from 2.5% in 2019. First-time buyers are adjusting in other ways, too: one in 12 used an adjustable-rate mortgage in October, the highest share since tracking began in 2019. (Source: Barron's)

Culture clash – AI may be transforming the workplace, but employees are split on how it impacts culture. At companies that have integrated it, about 24% of employees say culture has improved while 25% say it’s gotten worse. Almost all (99%) of human resources leaders say AI is important to their organization’s strategy, but 50% lack confidence in managers’ ability to guide employees on using it. (Source: Gallup)

Will history repeat itself? – In every midterm since 2006, the president’s party has lost House seats, though the size of the losses has varied dramatically. Democrats lost 63 seats in 2010, Republicans lost 41 in 2018, yet previous cycles produced much smaller swings: 13 seats in 2014 and just nine in 2022. (Source: The American Presidency Project)

Full bars? In this economy? – The cost of Halloween candy has continued to climb sharply in recent years: The average price of a 100-piece bag is now $16.96, up 71% since 2021, while prices for 17 popular Halloween candies rose 15% in the past year alone. Searches for cheap Halloween candy in bulk are up more than 5,000% year over year. (Source: The New York Times)

Guess it's Halloween candy for breakfast, then – People who regularly indulge in late-night snacking may have a 20-30% increased risk for two types of potentially fatal liver disease, cirrhosis and fatty liver disease. More research is needed to understand the connection, but the researchers suggest it may have to do with the body’s internal clock, or circadian rhythm. (Source: The Independent)

Playing the odds – The NBA joined the NHL and MLB in partnering with the growing prediction-market industry by announcing a new partnership with Kalshi and Polymarket, with the NFL remaining the last major sports league holding out. The deals include limits on certain NBA-related contracts and information sharing around suspicious trades, both part of a broader effort to protect game integrity. (Source: CNBC)