The Nasdaq share index had its worst day in 18 months after slumping 5.5% on Thursday amid growing signs that the artificial intelligence industry will face tougher regulation because of the midterm election results.

As Wall Street sustained widespread losses, the Nasdaq composite tumbled into “correction territory” – more than 10% below its recent record high – with more than $2tn shaved off its value by the end of trading Thursday. The tech-heavy index had its biggest one-day fall since Donald Trump announced his “liberation day” tariffs on US trading partners in April 2025.

Worries over massive AI spending gripped the New York stock market and rippled out to other bourses worldwide as investors anticipated tougher scrutiny of datacentre expansion plans.

Job growth surpassed expectations in October, new data showed Friday, with the US economy adding 165,000 jobs.

The unemployment rate fell to 4.1% from 4.2%, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics data.

Job growth in the previous two months was stronger than initially reported, with a total of 84,000 jobs added: August was revised upwards by 53,000 to 186,000; and September gains totaled 60,000, up from 29,000.

Wall Street closed sharply higher on Wednesday as Democrats' sweeping midterm election victory eased political uncertainty and boosted risk appetite, though data center shares fell on fears of tighter AI regulation.

Democrats seized control of both the Senate and House of Representatives, scoring wins ‌in Republican strongholds for the first time in generations in a voter backlash against Donald Trump.

Welcome to the Mordor Economy, where ever more energy, extraction and environmental destruction are required just to keep the economic machine running.
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Inspired by the work of systems thinker @natehagens, this brilliant comic by @bruce_mahalski draws a disturbing parallel between our growth-dependent economy and the industrial wasteland of Mordor in The Lord of the Rings.
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Just as Sauron's armies depended on exploiting Middle-earth's resources, and Saruman cut down the forests of Isengard to fuel his war machine, our economy increasingly consumes the natural world to sustain its own expansion.
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Hagens explains this through Energy Return on Investment (EROI), the amount of energy obtained relative to the energy required to produce it.
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Historically, abundant fossil fuels delivered enormous energy surpluses. But as easily accessible resources are depleted, extracting, processing and delivering energy can require increasingly large investments of energy and materials.
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As EROI declines, more of society's energy must be reinvested simply to obtain the next supply, leaving less available for hospitals, schools, infrastructure and improving human wellbeing.
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Hagens warns that this creates a vicious cycle: an economy increasingly devoted to powering itself, while mounting ecological damage demands still more resources for remediation.
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GDP may continue growing even as the net benefits to society diminish. More economic activity does not necessarily mean better lives.
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Meanwhile, the living world pays the price through habitat destruction, pollution, resource depletion and climate breakdown.
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Perhaps it's time to stop feeding the machine and form our own fellowship, building an economy that serves life rather than destroying it.
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The goal must be a good life for everyone within planetary boundaries, not endless growth on a finite planet.
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Artwork: @brucemahalski
Inspired by: @natehagens

Democratic socialist candidates have held up North Dakota's state-owned bank as a model to emulate.

Many things contribute to the rise of fascism, but often overlooked is the role of economics. Today I'm joined by economist and professor Isabella Weber to discuss how we can rebuild our democracy, starting with an overtly anti-fascist economic system.

In Response to Trump’s Tariffs, Canada Has Successfully Boosted non-US Trade to Record Highs—But it Remains Deeply Tied to America

They came for your department stores, your newspapers, your hospitals. Now—hold onto your sesame seed bun—they’re coming for your burger. The drive for fatter profits means higher prices, lower quality, tougher conditions for workers, and sometimes the blowup of the business itself.

Despite massive investments and widespread hype around artificial intelligence, the technology has delivered zero financial payoff to corporate America outside of tech.

Revenue per worker is rising for the Mag 7 but is flat for the S&P 493. Profit margins are rising for the Mag 7 but are flat for the S&P 493.

And there are still no signs of AI boosting productivity growth. With no impact on the bottom line, mainstream corporate America is pulling back and starting to view token spending not as a source of growth but as a cost center that weighs on margins.

Profits are privatized; losses are socialized.youtube.com/watch?v=VbowBTJWKBo@economics #economics #business #government #politics #PSA

Is France showing us that neoliberalism is beginning to fail? As protests against austerity grow, financial markets are demanding spending cuts while ordinary people are demanding better public services and greater economic security. I argue that this conflict could determine the future of European politics and economics.

U.S. consumers aren’t just frustrated with high prices. They’re angry and confused about the increasingly high-tech ways that restaurant chains and major retailers are setting those prices.

Digital price tags are rapidly replacing paper ones in grocery aisles. Artificial intelligence tools help businesses decide what to charge by predicting how customers might respond. Terms like “dynamic pricing” and “surveillance pricing” are stirring anxiety on social media, where users wonder if different people are getting different prices for the same product.

Americans have grown accustomed to changing prices when booking flights, hotel rooms and rides, but the prospect of everyday spending shaped by algorithms they don’t understand and personal data they may not realize they’re sharing has touched a nerve.

Neoliberalism has dominated economic and political thinking for more than 45 years. But what does it actually mean, who benefits from it, and why have successive governments accepted its ideas?

Chip makers and tech investors such as Samsung and SoftBank plunge as potential interest rate hikes spook markets

An accelerating sell-off of AI-linked shares has hit global markets, as fears over rising inflation and future interest rate hikes spooked traders already wary of the heavily indebted sector.

South Korea’s benchmark Kospi 200 index, which is heavily skewed towards the companies that make memory chips, fell more than 8% overnight to a six-month closing low, triggering circuit breakers that brought trading to a halt at various points.

Some of those semiconductor stocks, such as SK Hynix and Samsung Electronics, plunged nearly 11% and 9.5%, respectively. The index closed at a six-month low, down 8.1%.

Wholesale inflation rose more quickly than expected last month on a big jump in fuel costs, a sign that stubbornly rising prices remain an economic challenge for consumers and a political problem for Republicans in the midterm elections

Wholesale inflation rose more quickly than expected last month on a big jump in fuel costs, a sign that stubbornly rising prices remain an economic challenge for consumers and a political problem for Republicans in the midterm elections.

The Labor Department’s producer price index — which captures inflation before it reaches consumers — soared 6.3% in September from a year ago, up from 5.6% in August and the biggest increase since December 2022, the government said Thursday.

On a monthly basis, wholesale prices increased 1.3% from August to September, the largest since March 2022, after a 0.5% increase the previous month.

High valuations and debt put sector in danger, while fund also warns on government borrowing and cyber-attacks

The threat of an AI share price crash rippling out across global markets is putting world financial stability at risk, the International Monetary fund has warned.

In its twice-yearly Global Financial Stability Report, the IMF highlighted the sky-high valuations for AI companies along with their increasing debt pile as one reason that risks in the system are “elevated”.

“The consequences of an AI correction could be global,” it warned. Aside from the US, Asian markets would be most exposed, and the UK and euro area potentially more insulated – though investors with US holdings would be hit.

For more than a decade, call centers were one of the most reliable ways into formal office work in middle- and lower-income countries. That route is now shrinking. Revelio Labs' global headcount data shows call center employment is 5.3% below its December 2023 peak. Of the 70 quarter-end readings since 2009, headcount fell from a year earlier only eight times, and all eight have come in the last eight quarters.

Farmers, truckers and economists say a move to cut taxes on diesel will provide little relief from record-high fuel prices that have soared since the U.S. attacked Iran months ago.

Industry groups said they appreciate President Donald Trump’s executive order expanding the use of a diesel now reserved for off-road work, but farmers already have access to the fuel and many have already wrapped up harvest. Truckers will struggle to navigate differing state rules.

“In the context of diesel prices that are over two dollars more than they were last year, it just doesn’t come close to closing that wound,” said Matt Perdue, president of the North Dakota Farmers Union.

U.S. employers added a disappointing 29,000 jobs and the unemployment rate ticked up last month, the government reported Friday, a month before voters go to the polls in pivotal midterm elections at a time of discontent over the high cost of living and the state of the economy.

Hiring dropped from a revised 133,000 in August, the Labor Department reported. The unemployment rate rose to a still-low 4.2% from 4.1% in August,

Economists had expected September payrolls to come in at 90,000.

Another month of poor job growth; headline number is +29,000. But again significant downward revisions to prior months:

The change in total nonfarm payroll employment for July was revised down by 31,000, from +21,000 to -10,000, and the change for August was revised down by 29,000, from +162,000 to +133,000. With these revisions, employment in July and August combined is 60,000 lower than previously reported.

More than 20 years after his death, we’re still living in the neoliberal world Milton Friedman made.

The arc of neoliberalism begins in 1947, gathers steam in the 1970s, and reaches its zenith in the 1990s before breaking into a million pieces and forever out of the control of its progenitors. The story of Milton Friedman rises and falls along with it, and it’s a complicated one of ego, ambition and academic notoriety; a confluence of factors and foibles that came to define the modern economic age.

This is the story of Milton Friedman, one of the principal architects of the modern world.

Read the full article here:

https://www.currentaffairs.org/news/were-living-in-the-world-that-milton-friedman-made