U.S. Producer Prices Rose 1.3% in September and 6.3% From a Year Earlier; Retail Sales Rose 0.8%
Wholesale inflation came in at more than twice the forecast, led by a 20.3% jump in gasoline prices, yet Treasury yields fell and stocks closed higher on Oct. 15. October Fed rate-hike odds were reported between 27% and 34%, depending on the time of day and the source.
U.S.
Federal Judge in Brooklyn Dismisses Justice Department Lawsuit Against New York City's Sanctuary Laws
Judge Ramón Reyes Jr. ruled on Oct. 15 that the government lacked standing to challenge the city's ban on holding people for ICE, and that federal information-sharing laws cannot be used to force the city to share information. The Justice Department has lost similar suits in several other states and cities.
Transgender Inmates Ask Supreme Court to Keep Judge's Order Blocking Federal Prison Limits on Hormones and Surgery
The Trump administration asked the justices on Sept. 28 to lift Judge Royce Lamberth's order, citing prison security. The inmates' lawyers answered on Oct. 8, and the Court has not yet ruled.
Supreme Court Pauses Appeals Court Order Directing FCC to Rule on Party Ad Discounts Before the Election; Sotomayor and Jackson Would Have Denied
The Oct. 14 order means the FCC does not have to decide a Democratic challenge to its political-ad-rate guidance before Nov. 3, and the guidance stays in force through the midterms.
Cornell Found Students Responsible in 16 Sexual Assault Cases From 2020 to 2024 and Expelled Two, CNN Reports, as Yates Review and State Inquiry Proceed
Cornell's own data show the sanctions it gave over four years, while a gang-rape lawsuit has led to a faculty no-confidence debate, an outside review led by Sally Yates, and a state criminal inquiry run by Attorney General Letitia James.
Three-Judge Appeals Panel Questions Both Sides Over Trump's 14-Month D.C. National Guard Deployment
On Oct. 14 the D.C. Circuit heard the Trump administration's appeal of a November 2025 ruling that the president cannot use the D.C. Guard for crime control on his own. The judges asked how the government's view fits with the Posse Comitatus Act, and they also tested the District's claims. No ruling has been issued.
Kimberly Guilfoyle Resigns as U.S. Ambassador to Greece After White House Asks Her to Leave; She Denies Wall Street Journal Misconduct Reports
On Oct. 13, the new White House press secretary said Guilfoyle had been asked to resign. The move followed Wall Street Journal reports about her conduct in Athens and a donor's claim that she asked him to pay a $100,000 credit-card bill. Guilfoyle calls the allegations false.
N.C.
27,077 Ballots Cast by 10 a.m. on First Day of North Carolina Early Voting, State Elections Director Says
In-person early voting for the Nov. 3 general election opened Oct. 15 at 370 sites and runs through 3 p.m. Oct. 31; the elections director stressed security as the state mails letters to 1,392 voters flagged as possible noncitizens.
AG Jackson Calls Duke Energy's Data Center Tariff Deal a 'Massive Step Forward'; He and Gov. Stein Both Ask for Changes Before Regulators Rule
Duke's proposed settlement with state consumer staff and large customers such as Amazon, Google, Meta, Microsoft and the Defense Department sets a 75% minimum bill for big new power users, and the N.C. Utilities Commission must still approve it.
Two New Polls Show Cooper Ahead of Whatley by 7 and 14 Points as N.C. Early Voting Opens
An ECU poll found Cooper ahead 50%-43% and a WRAL/WSOC poll found him ahead 54%-40%. Both were released after a top GOP super PAC moved money out of the state, and Whatley's campaign has paused its own TV ads, which it says is temporary.
N.C. Elections Board Sends Citizenship Letters to 1,392 Registered Voters Flagged by Federal SAVE Database
The State Board of Elections says a letter does not cancel anyone's registration; the flagged group is about 0.02% of North Carolina's 7.9 million voters and is smaller than the 1,599 first flagged in July.
At Least Five Tornadoes Reported in Central North Carolina as Isaias Remnants Bring Mountain Flooding; Peak Outages Topped 22,000
Weather Service teams are surveying the tornado paths from Fayetteville to Louisburg. In the mountains, heavy rain caused landslides and several water rescues, including two people and a dog caught by the rising Catawba River in Burke County.
Stein Signs House Bill 3, Suspending North Carolina's 41-Cent Gas Tax From Oct. 10 Through Nov. 30
Lawmakers passed the bill 111-1 and 41-0 in a one-day special session. Fiscal staff say it is the first suspension of the state's motor fuels tax. It will cost an estimated $362.3 million, paid from a state reserve fund.
Finance
Treasury and OCC Fine Bank of America $1.21 Billion Over Money-Laundering and Sanctions Failures; Shares Fall About 5% After Third-Quarter Revenue Misses Estimates
FinCEN set a $1.2 billion penalty, the OCC set a record $750 million penalty that counts toward it, and OFAC settled for $11.6 million on Oct. 13. A day later the bank reported quarterly revenue below Wall Street forecasts.
Social Security Sets 3.6% Cost-of-Living Increase for 2027, Largest Since 2023
The raise adds about $75 a month to the average retired worker's check starting in January; advocates say it trails what older Americans actually pay, and fiscal watchdogs say it adds to the program's long-term gap.
S&P 500 Falls 1.1% and Nasdaq 1.9% After September CPI Shows 3.7% Annual Inflation; Traders Raise Odds of an October Fed Hike
Gasoline rose 9.1% in a month and core prices beat forecasts by a tenth of a point. Tech and AI-infrastructure stocks led Wednesday's decline, while health care and consumer staples rose.
BLS Publishes September CPI Report Oct. 14; Economists Had Forecast 3.6% to 3.7% Annual Inflation, Up From 3.4% in August
The consumer price report, the last before the Fed's Oct. 28 decision, arrives with futures markets pricing about a 70% chance of a December rate hike and about an 80% chance of an October hold, and with forecasters split over whether rising gasoline prices are spreading into core prices.
JPMorgan Reports Third-Quarter EPS of $5.57, Below Analyst Estimates, as Bond-Trading Revenue Comes In at $5.37 Billion; Shares Down About 3.5% Premarket
The largest U.S. bank earned $15.31 billion. Its fixed-income trading desk brought in less than the roughly $6 billion analysts expected, and the size of the revenue miss depends on which of the bank's two revenue figures is used. Goldman Sachs, Citigroup and Wells Fargo also reported Tuesday.
South Korea's Kospi Closes Down 5.46% After Falling as Much as 7.4%, Led by SK Hynix and Samsung; Micron Fell 3.9% in U.S. Trading the Day Before
Investors sold memory-chip stocks after China's CXMT said it plans to launch a denser server memory chip by year-end and after a Broadcom executive warned about AI spending. The drop started on Wall Street Monday and spread to Seoul on Tuesday.
World
Houthi Attack on Yemen's Presidential Palace in Aden Kills Five, Yemeni Government Says
The Houthis said they hit a Saudi-run military headquarters inside the al-Maashiq palace complex. Yemen's government said the dead were guards and civilian staff and that the prime minister was not hurt.
Ukraine Strikes Russia's Ryazan Refinery After Three-Day Pause, Saying Russia Kept Hitting Its Grid During Trump-Announced 'Energy Ceasefire'
Kyiv says it stopped refinery strikes for three days and Moscow did not stop its own attacks. The Kremlin says Ukraine never complied. Trump, who announced the truce before either side publicly agreed to it, now says Zelensky is hard to deal with.
China's September Exports Rise 36.3% From a Year Earlier; Monthly Trade Surplus Reaches $133.5 Billion
China's customs data show higher chip and tech-related shipments and a jump in sales to the U.S. from a weak 2025 base. The figures come as Washington and Beijing hold a tariff truce and Europe presses for cuts to Chinese exports.
UKMTO Reports Container Ship and Tanker Struck in Strait of Hormuz on Oct. 13; Iran's Security Chief Called U.S. Reply to Its Seven Conditions 'Insufficient'
Iran's top security official said on Sunday, Oct. 11, that Tehran was "no longer in the process of responding to the Americans." Separate projectile strikes on ships were reported on Oct. 11 and Oct. 13. The U.S. military says American and partner forces control the strait.
North Korea Fires Multiple Ballistic Missiles, One Flying More Than 900 km, Four Days After South Korea's First Hypersonic Test
Seoul's military called Monday's launches a show of force answering its Oct. 8 hypersonic test. Japan counted at least two missiles, both landing outside its exclusive economic zone. South Korea's security office held an emergency meeting and called the launches a breach of U.N. resolutions.
Trump Says Ukraine Should 'Get a New Leader' After Zelensky Criticizes U.S.-Russia Diesel Deal
Trump spoke on Oct. 10. The day before, while U.S., Ukrainian and European officials were still meeting in Miami, he announced a deal with Putin on Russian diesel, and the Treasury issued a license easing sanctions until April 7, 2027.
Analysis
Unbiased, evergreen deep-dives on the bigger questions — not breaking news.
What Fauci's Released Diary Documents About the U.S. COVID-19 Response — and What It Leaves Unresolved
A 1,141-page personal diary released by Sen. Rand Paul's committee is roughly one-third routine administrative logging; a minority of entries bear directly on contested questions, and a few conflict with contemporaneous public statements.
Eight Months of Mamdani: What New York's Record Actually Shows, and What It Cannot Yet Show
A claim-by-claim audit of what Zohran Mamdani has delivered, how New Yorkers judge it, and what the evidence does and does not license anyone to conclude about the rest of the country.