Nasdaq Falls 2.6%, Its Worst Day Since June, as Meta Drops About 7% After Raising Its AI Spending Outlook
The S&P 500 fell 1.2% and the Dow was flat on Thursday, Oct. 22. Meta reported its first negative free cash flow in at least a decade and plans a new non-voting share class. Tesla also fell after beating forecasts, closing down about 3%.
U.S.
Trump Says Iran Is Faking Hormuz Tanker Hits; ABC Reports U.S. and Israel Have Plans for Strikes After the Nov. 3 Vote
Iran's Revolutionary Guard says seven tankers were hit overnight and Brent crude rose to about $113. Trump calls the claims fake and says Iran is trying to raise oil prices before the midterms. Two Israeli sources told ABC that joint strikes are planned for after the election, which Trump pledged on Oct. 8 not to precede.
Migration Policy Institute Estimates About 660,000 U.S. Deportations in Fiscal 2026, Below the White House's 1 Million Goal
The think tank's report, based on federal data through July 2026, counts 980,000 deportations since January 2025. Arrests inside the country are growing. About 80% of the people deported had no criminal conviction, and the White House says the count misses its bigger result.
Early Vote Tops 19 Million as of Oct. 23; AP Finds Advance Voting Up From 2022 in Several Senate Battleground States
AP says early voting in Texas is up 74% from the same point in 2022, and up more than 30% in North Carolina, Maine and Ohio. Georgia and Michigan are about even with 2022, and analysts warn that early totals do not show who will win.
Supreme Court Leaves Block on Federal Prison Policy Ending Hormone Therapy for Transgender Inmates in Place; Thomas and Alito Would Have Granted Stay
The unsigned, unexplained order keeps a judge's injunction in effect while a class-action lawsuit continues. It does not decide whether the Bureau of Prisons policy is lawful.
Judge Bars DHS Election-Related Interviews in Nine States When Agents Know or Suspect the Person Is a U.S. Citizen
Judge Araceli Martínez-Olguín ruled that DHS's door-knocking likely violates the Voting Rights Act and called its list of targets unreliable. DHS says its agents are rooting out election fraud. The order takes effect Friday afternoon unless an appeals court steps in.
DHS Says About 101,000 Ukrainians and 1,800 Sudanese 'Retain Protection' Past Oct. 19 TPS Expiration Date, Sets No End Date
The department said a decision will come 'at the appropriate time.' Federal law appears to extend the status six months when no decision is published on time, but DHS has not said whether it reads the law that way.
N.C.
US Conec Plans $149.7 Million Hickory Plant With 224 New Jobs; State Pledges $500,000 Performance-Based Grant
The Catawba County maker of fiber-optic connectors expects to finish hiring by the end of 2030, and Hickory and Catawba County will hold hearings on local incentives in mid-November.
North Carolina Counts 924,160 Early Ballots Through Tuesday, About 38% More Than at the Same Point in 2022
The total is 11.72% of registered voters, and one outlet reports the count passed 1 million on Wednesday afternoon. By party registration, Democrats cast about 44% of ballots, unaffiliated voters 34% and Republicans 22%.
Gov. Stein Asks N.C. Supreme Court to Review 2-1 Appeals Ruling That Let the State Auditor Appoint Elections Boards
Stein's petition challenges a 2024 law that moved elections board appointments from the Democratic governor to Republican Auditor Dave Boliek; Boliek's picks gave the state board and all 100 county boards 3-2 Republican majorities.
Stein Urges In-Person Voting, Says Mail Ballot Rejections Are 'Twice as High' as 2022; State Board Data Show 3.1% So Far vs. 2.6% at Same Point in 2022
North Carolina's governor blames new State Board of Elections rules on sealing absentee envelopes. The board's own early data show a smaller increase, and critics say his comparison overstates the problem.
Federal Judge Denies Bid to Block North Carolina's Sept. 4 Absentee Ballot Sealing and Signature Rules for the 2026 Midterms
U.S. District Judge Thomas Schroeder cited the Supreme Court's Purcell principle and the 18 days the challengers waited before suing, and called the rules' burden 'modest' because a voter whose ballot is rejected gets a replacement or can vote in person.
Trump Cites $1.5 Billion in Pentagon Chip Funding for North Carolina at Greenville Rally; Figure Matches Oct. 7 Conditional Wolfspeed Loan Offer
At an Oct. 20 rally for Senate candidate Michael Whatley, Trump said the 'Department of War' will spend $1.5 billion on chips in North Carolina, and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said quartz supplier Sibelco will invest 'hundreds of millions of dollars' in the state. Neither man gave a site or a timeline.
Finance
U.S. Initial Jobless Claims Fall 6,000 to 194,000, Lowest Since July; Continuing Claims Rise to 1.728 Million
Layoffs stayed near historic lows in the week ending Oct. 17, while the number of people still collecting benefits hit a six-week high. Economists disagree on whether that points to a tight labor market or a frozen one.
Philadelphia Chip Index Falls 6.72% Thursday; Kospi Erases 4% Drop to Close Up 0.3% as SK Hynix Halts Solidigm Listing Review
SK Hynix's filing cited market conditions and its share price. Four days earlier, South Korean regulators had said a U.S. listing of its Solidigm unit would fall under the country's double-listing rules.
10-Year Treasury Yield Falls Below 5% for First Time Since September as AI Stocks Slide; Brent Oil Settles at $113.17
Bond prices jumped on Thursday, Oct. 22, after Meta's earnings set off a tech selloff. Reuters put market pricing for a December Fed rate hike at about 85%, though other trackers showed lower odds, even as a Middle East flare-up sent oil to its highest close since May.
FAA Certifies Boeing 737 Max 10, the Largest Max Model, With 1,555 Orders Waiting
The U.S. regulator approved the jet on Oct. 20, 2026, more than five years after its first flight. Boeing says deliveries begin in the coming months, but some reports place the first deliveries in 2027.
Netflix Third-Quarter Profit Tops Estimates; Company Lowers 2026 Ad Revenue Forecast to About $2.7 Billion From $3 Billion, and Shares Fall About 6% Premarket
Netflix earned 87 cents a share against an expected 82 cents on $12.87 billion in revenue, but its fourth-quarter revenue and profit forecasts came in below analyst estimates the same week the company cut about 1,000 jobs and replaced its top content executive.
SpaceX Reports Q3 Revenue of $14.6 Billion, Up 161%, and $4.4 Billion Net Income; Musk Says SpaceX and Tesla Boards Formed Committees to Study a Merger
SpaceX shares rose roughly 9% to 10% in premarket trading. Musk says he is recused from the talks, the committees have not agreed on terms, and a Tesla deal would need votes from a majority of all outstanding Tesla shares.
World
Brent Tops $113, a Five-Month High, After Iran's Revolutionary Guard Claims Seven Ships Hit Near Hormuz; Trump Calls the Claims 'Fake'
No independent monitor has confirmed the seven incidents Iran described. Shipping data partly backs Trump's claim that oil flows are above prewar levels and partly cuts against it, depending on whether oil leaving by bypass routes is counted.
Russia Fires 21 Ballistic Missiles at Kyiv, Three With Cluster Warheads, Zelensky Says, Hours After Putin Agrees to Resume Talks After Nov. 10
Zelensky says two people died and 34 were hurt in Russian attacks across 12 regions overnight; Kyiv officials reported 1 dead and 24 hurt in the capital. Russia says it hit defense plants. The strike followed a Putin–Witkoff meeting at which Russia freed American Stephen Hubbard.
Israel's Military Chief Orders Highest Alert and Leave Freeze Before Oct. 27 Election as Netanyahu Vows to Topple Iran's Government
Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir canceled soldiers' leave starting Oct. 22. Netanyahu is campaigning on finishing wars with Iran and Hezbollah, and polls show neither bloc near a governing majority.
Iranian Officials Tell Reuters Tehran Is Prolonging U.S. Talks to Deny Trump a Win Before Nov. 3 Midterms and Is Preparing for Renewed Attacks
Three senior Iranian officials and an Iranian insider, all unnamed, say they expect no deal before the election, while the Strait of Hormuz stays largely closed and oil stays above $100 a barrel; the White House and Iran's Foreign Ministry did not answer Reuters' requests for comment.
Nigeria Confirms Ebola Case in Abuja in Woman Who Arrived via Uganda; 44 Contacts Being Traced as Kenya Reports Ninth Case
Uganda says the patient was not infected there, while Nigeria says the source of exposure is still under investigation. The case adds a major West African air hub to an outbreak that began in Congo in May, and it raises questions about U.S. travel screening, which does not currently cover Nigeria.
Saudi Arabia Postpones Oct. 26-29 'Davos in the Desert' Investment Forum to 2027 Amid Houthi Strikes on Riyadh
Organizers did not name security as the reason, but news outlets tied the move to a weeks-long Houthi campaign. That campaign included an Oct. 10 missile strike on Riyadh's main airport that killed at least 12 people.
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.