Anthropic’s IPO

What’s Riding on Anthropic’s Market Debut? Nearly Everything.
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/10/26/technology/anthropic-going-public-stakes.html
Anthropic sits atop a pyramid of business partners and suppliers, making it a barometer of the broader economy. Its initial public offering will have widespread implications. 

US Manufacturing Employment

U.S. Manufacturing Is Adding Jobs Again, but the Hiring Rules Have Changed
https://www.wsj.com/business/u-s-manufacturing-is-adding-jobs-again-but-the-hiring-rules-have-changed-29171127
While factory employment is on the rise, a shift toward high-tech automation is creating roles with greater barriers to entry. 

Forward Guidance and the Fed

Kevin Warsh, Forward Guidance and the Nobel Prize
https://www.wsj.com/opinion/kevin-warsh-forward-guidance-and-the-nobel-prize-ae265640
The winning economists make the case for the kind of forecasting the Fed chairman doesn’t like. 

The Decline of Humanities

Does anybody still major in the humanities?
https://spectator.com/article/anybody-still-major-humanities-college/
Charles Lipson:
At every university, big and small, fewer and fewer students are studying English, History, Philosophy, Art History, French literature or Anthropology. Those dwindling numbers mark a striking change in higher education. Not too long ago, English and History were among the most popular majors on campus. Students gravitated to them because they liked the subject matter and found the courses engaging and enriching. Those students weren’t preparing to become professors of Renaissance History or 19th-Century Poetry. They expected to go into business, law, or some related field. Still, they wanted a liberal education before they went out into the working world, and they got it in traditional humanities disciplines. 

A Highly Concentrated Earnings Boom

Two AI Chipmakers Make Up 34% of America’s Earnings Boom
https://www.wsj.com/finance/stocks/the-earnings-boom-is-heavily-reliant-on-just-a-handful-of-stocks-21decb53
Ten companies—including Nvidia, Micron and other AI giants—account for roughly two-thirds of corporate profit growth.
 
Related:
https://finance.yahoo.com/technology/ai/articles/apollo-slok-says-ai-delivered-092836159.html 

Era of Polycrisis

If you feel like everything’s falling apart, you’re probably right
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2026/10/21/no-happy-ending-in-sight-for-this-global-polycrisis/
From the streets of Paris to the debt markets, there are no happy endings in sight to the world’s many crises. 

Related:
https://www.newstatesman.com/culture/books/2026/10/the-world-beyond-left-vs-right

Knowledge Transfer – From Asia to USA

The Factory in Phoenix That Could Save American Manufacturing
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/10/23/opinion/ai-computer-chips-semiconductor-arizona-industry.html
America is figuring out the trick to reindustrialization, if it can learn the right lessons.