Cracks in AI Trade Power Sharp Tech Selloff

That sent the Nasdaq composite to its worst day since June and its worst month in more than a year. Anthropic momentarily rejuvenated investors this week with a filing that showed soaring revenue ahead of its planned IPO. But then publicly traded tech firms reported earnings—and markets got a reality check. Today, Intel shares crashed 29%, the worst session on record for the company. The plunge vaporized more than $15 billion in combined paper holdings by two of the company’s largest shareholders: the U.S. government and Nvidia.

The hackers plundered $6.3 billion from the exchange’s digital wallets by breaking into a Binance engineer’s laptop, among other breaches, Binance said. Stablecoin issuers Tether and Circle, along with other crypto firms, managed to freeze about $3 billion of that sum, leaving roughly $3.3 billion under the hackers’ control. But the hack, attributed by cybersecurity researchers to North Korea’s TraderTraitor hacking group, has rattled the overall crypto market, knocking bitcoin’s price.

Ukrainian forces last hit an oil refinery on Oct. 15, and had not struck Russian oil infrastructure of any kind since Oct. 20. The pause took place as Trump and other U.S. officials repeatedly demanded Kyiv stop hitting refineries. The Ukrainian military’s decision to end its self-imposed restraint came against a background of intensifying Russian bombardment of Ukrainian cities. Russian drones and missiles killed at least 27 civilians and injured over 100 across Ukraine yesterday.

A grand jury charged Mario Alberto Morales with the second-degree offense of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, according to local authorities in Texas. Video footage played during a press conference appeared to show Morales’ vehicle pursuing a running Miguel Parra Hernandez and striking him from behind. An ICE spokesperson said allegations that the officer intentionally struck Parra Hernandez were reckless and false.

Pike was sentenced to death in 1996 for the murder of Colleen Slemmer. She survived her scheduled execution after receiving two doses of pentobarbital, a sedative that more than a dozen states use for capital punishment, in September. Pike was rushed to a local hospital, where she was intubated on a ventilator and eventually discharged. In a statement dictated to her legal team, Pike said she entered her scheduled execution at peace and woke up several days later at a hospital, “confused and in pain.”

Builders’ costs are growing, which, along with stagnant demand, is forcing them to pull back on production. The war in Iran, tariffs and the AI build-out have increased costs for materials, labor and borrowing, while attempts to remove regulatory obstacles have fallen flat.

Positive flu tests for this time of year have hit highs not seen in a decade, according to CDC data. So far, the flu season is dominated by a strain of H1N1, the type that caused the 2009 flu pandemic. But the latest strain has a specific mutation, called G155E, that is likely playing a role in the season’s early spread. Here’s what you need to know.

With Election Day just days away, the midterm picture is coming into sharper focus. Polls show some of the voter groups that helped power Trump’s 2024 victory shifting, while the president is crisscrossing the country to rally Republican voters and candidates. Bharbi Hazarika checked in with our politics team on what’s shaping the final stretch—and what to watch for Tuesday night.

A. Trump’s victory in 2024 broadened his party’s coalition to include groups that had been resistant to the GOP. Now, polls suggest that those groups are swinging back. More than 70% of young voters disapprove of Trump’s job performance, as do nearly 70% of Latino voters, according to an average of polls collected by the nonpartisan Cook Political Report.

But what might matter even more to the election outcome is the change among another group: white voters without a four-year college degree, sometimes called the white working class. Trump won this group by more than 30 points in 2024, exit polls showed. Now, these voters say they’ll back a Republican candidate for Congress over a Democrat by only 15 points, our latest poll finds. If that group swings away from the GOP, it will put a large number of House and Senate seats in play in the Midwest, in central Pennsylvania and other spots on the map. —Aaron Zitner, polling and politics editor

A. Poll after poll shows that the state of the economy is the top issue for voters in this election. What the polls don’t fully capture is just how frustrated and angry people are with the government overall as they don’t feel politicians in Washington or their state capitals are focused on delivering for their constituents.

While both parties cast blame on each other, I often hear from voters who are just desperate for someone who will actually do what they promise—and want to see elected officials working together to get things done. Voters aren’t just looking to vote for the lesser of two evils, but are eager for candidates who will follow through when elected. —Sabrina Rodriguez, politics reporter

A. In the Senate, watch the early returns in North Carolina, where former Gov. Roy Cooper, a Democrat, is favored to flip the Republican-held seat. Republicans are also defending Susan Collins in Maine and Jon Husted in Ohio—early results there could offer clues about Senate control. If Republicans perform well in Michigan, a Democratic-held seat, that could be a sign the GOP may maintain its majority.

In the House, Democrats need a net gain of only three seats, so competitive races in Virginia, Pennsylvania, North Carolina and Maine could be the first indicator of a cresting blue wave. And keep an eye on a House district surrounding Lexington, Ky.: Democrats have high hopes that Zach Dembo, a former federal prosecutor, could flip a seat held by Republicans since 2013. A win there by Ralph Alvarado, a doctor and former state senator, might mean a better-than-expected night for Republicans. —Ken Thomas, national political reporter

First published in 1974, “Carrie” launched Stephen King’s career. And because of the character’s impact, and how King sold the screen rights, the book would go on to spark more adaptations than any novel in his enormous body of work. Somehow, it’s a universal tale: The coming-of-age of a misfit who is also a monster wreaking horrific revenge.

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🎧 Dow Jones Risk Journal Podcast: AI is helping uncover software vulnerabilities that have remained hidden for years, and that could be a huge problem for companies.

Today’s newsletter was curated by Amira McKee, Bharbi Hazarika and Liz Webber.