Pick a winner in this week’s world-famous-news-haiku-competition™ in today’s poll, below! 👇🏻

Matt Davis — Need2Know Chedditor

Table of Contents

• Google Shares Tumble As 'AI Mode' Hurts Search

• Nvidia Chief Implicated in Chinese ‘Honey Trap’ Pl …

• Economy Grows 3.4% in Q3 but You Still Feel Broke

• Halloween Candy Prices Are up 15% This Year

• What To Read This Very Weekend

• Poll of the Day: It’s World-Famous-575™ Time

• Poll of the Day: Ocean Spray, A-OK?

What’s the Stock Market Up To, Eh?

$SPX ( ▼ 0.3% )  $DJI ( ▼ 0.25% )  $NDX ( ▲ 1.59% )  

Companies Mentioned in Today’s Newsletter

$GOOGL ( ▼ 12.64% )  $NVDA ( ▼ 0.8% )  $AMZN ( ▼ 4.25% )  $COST ( ▲ 1.36% )  

Google Shares Tumble As 'AI Mode' Hurts Search

It turns out teaching a search engine to talk like a friendly genius isn’t great for business when it forgets to show you ads. Alphabet $GOOGL ( ▼ 12.64% ) shares took a historic 12% plunge yesterday — vaporizing $460 billion in market value — after revealing that its shiny new AI features are eating its core moneymaker alive.

For decades, Google made billions off users frantically clicking through links. Enter "AI mode," which politely gives you conversational answers directly at the top of the screen so you never have to click an ad again. Google’s Chief Business Officer, Philipp Schindler (no relation), practically admitted the self-inflicted wound, acknowledging that "AI mode" queries led directly to "lower monetization." That’s tech speak for automated corporate cannibalism.

Search division revenue lagged at $63.4 billion (missing Wall Street’s $64.9 billion forecast), while quarterly AI capital expenditures ballooned past $50 billion, pulling free cash flow down to minus $9.1 billion.

Wall Street was not amused. David Wagner, head of equities at Aptus Capital Advisors, told the Financial Times, “Search is where the concern sits. In a market worried about AI chatbots cannibalizing its key franchise, investors need to see it accelerating, not decelerating.” Instead, Google spent tens of billions to build a chatbot that essentially tells users, "No need to buy anything, here's your answer for free!"

To make matters worse, competitors are showing how to spend responsibly. Dec Mullarkey, managing director at SLC Management, told the FT, “Microsoft $MSFT ( ▼ 0.16% )  is a standout on cash discipline, while delivering on growth. Google fell short and cash flow is expected to be a drag through next year.”

So while CEO Sundar Pichai touts shiny new models like Argon and Carbon, investors are asking a much simpler query: When does spending $205 billion a year on AI start paying the bills?

Quote of the Day

Nvidia Chief Implicated in Chinese ‘Honey Trap’ Plot

In what reads like a high-tech spy thriller, Nvidia $NVDA ( ▼ 0.8% ) Chief Executive Jensen Huang reportedly found himself targeted in a covert Chinese intelligence operation. U.S. spy agencies concluded that Alice Huang (also known as Huang Le), an executive at Singapore-based data center firm Megaspeed, was acting as a Chinese intelligence asset funneling information to Beijing. The pair were spotted drinking whiskey in Taipei and leaving business dinners together, setting off alarm bells at the White House, the New York Times reports.

When President Donald Trump was briefed on the intelligence findings roughly a year ago, he chose not to take any action. Wary of disrupting Nvidia’s booming chip sales or complicating delicate trade negotiations with China, the administration let surveillance continue without giving Jensen a defensive briefing. Apparently, when your chips drive the entire stock market, standard national security protocols take a backseat.

Nvidia's press office promptly attempted to downplay the situation. Company spokesman John Rizzo asserted that “Jensen’s interactions with Ms. Huang are not unusual or unexpected” because “meetings with customers are part of a CEO’s job,” adding that clients like Megaspeed receive “zero information relevant to national security.” Meanwhile, Megaspeed said its current leadership takes the matter “extremely seriously and is committed to getting to the facts,” while Chinese Embassy spokesman Liu Chang dismissed the allegations as “groundless smears and slanders.”

Which, you know, is what I’d say in Liu Chang’s position.

Economy Grows 3.4% in Q3 but You Still Feel Broke

Against all expectations, the U.S. economy surged ahead at an annualized rate of 3.4% in the third quarter. Wall Street analysts had penciled in a timid 3.2%, but corporate America and the average shopper decided to keep spending regardless.

What powered this surprise boom? Would you believe, a frantic mix of corporate AI spending and relentless consumer shopping?

Private fixed investment jumped 9.4%, driven by tech giants panic-buying hardware and building data centers for the AI race. As James McCann, senior economist at Edward Jones, told the FT, “The seemingly indefatigable U.S. consumer and a nascent AI investment boom continue to drive the U.S. economy, with growth running well above trend.”

Yet, there’s a classic twist in the GDP accounting math: While tech firms spent big on AI, much of that high-tech equipment was imported from abroad, creating a noticeable drag on net trade. Eric Winograd, senior economist at AllianceBernstein, told the FT, “It looks like a strong quarter driven by domestic demand activities and a drag from trade. We talk about the boost to growth from AI, but a lot of that stuff is imported.”

Meanwhile, consumer spending rose 3.8% as regular folks kept spending on food, healthcare, iPhone Duos that break down the middle, and accommodation despite rising fuel costs and cumulative inflation. Diane Swonk, chief economist at KPMG US, captured the stark divide between headline macroeconomic figures and everyday reality. She told the FT, “The economy remains remarkably resilient, but doesn’t resonate for too many — because individual lived experiences are not the same as the averages. The burn of inflation is real, cumulative, and the level of prices is still too high for too many.”

So, while the economy may be growing, it’s very possible you may be feeling poorer. Sucks to be you, I guess?

Song of the Day: Bebe Stockwell, ‘Bad At Goodbyes’

Here’s a polished, deeply relatable folk-pop track that captures the bittersweet hesitations of ending a relationship. So, it’s just like this newsletter!

Halloween Candy Prices Are up 15% This Year

If the cost of filling your Halloween bowl feels more terrifying than a late-night horror movie, you’re not hallucinating. The real nightmare this spooky season isn't ghouls or goblins — it’s candy inflation. Halloween candy prices have surged a shocking 71% over the past five years, according to a study by FinanceBuzz.

To put that economic horror story into perspective, a standard 100-piece bag of sweets that used to feel like pocket change now averages $16.96 — a whopping $7.05 higher than five years ago. Suddenly, being the "cool house" on the block that hands out full-sized chocolate bars requires serious financial planning.

So, how are budget-conscious families surviving the trick-or-treat squeeze? Many are bypassing standard retail store shelves altogether in favor of massive bulk variety packs from online sellers like Amazon $AMZN ( ▼ 4.25% ) . Over 60,000 shoppers have already snagged 2-pound bulk party mixes to satisfy the neighborhood horde. Of course, having to re-buy your emergency stash three separate times because your own family keeps raiding the supply before October 31st creates its own unique inflationary hazard.

I spent $125 on five of the big bags from Costco $COST ( ▲ 1.36% ) .

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What To Read This Very Weekend

My colleague Joe Drake has some book recommendations for you. Take it away, Joe!

The 2026 Booker Prize longlist is packed with some of the most exciting books of the year by some of the most acclaimed writers in contemporary fiction. The winner for this year will be announced on Monday, November 9th and if you’re looking for your next great read, these are three of my standouts from the list: John of John, The Disappearers, and Switzy.

John of John by Douglas Stuart

Douglas Stuart, the Booker Prize-winning author of Shuggie Bain, returns with another emotionally devastating portrait of family, identity, and the struggle to escape your past. Set on a Scottish isle, the novel follows a young art student returning home to a deeply religious community, where a complicated relationship with his father brings buried tensions to the surface. With richly atmospheric writing and an unflinching exploration of shame, violence and belonging, Stuart delivers another standout novel. If I had to choose one, this would be probably my favorite novel of the year.

The Disappearers by Marlon James

Marlon James, who won the Booker Prize for A Brief History of Seven Killings, returns to Jamaica in a bold, gripping novel that confronts the dangers of living openly as a gay man in a hostile society. Set in late-1980s Kingston, the story follows a group of actors rehearsing an openly gay play whose lives are shattered by a brutal hate crime, forcing them to reckon with everything that follows such a horrific attack: trauma, rage, survival, and revenge. While it may be a difficult read at times, it is necessary and is definitely one of the best books I have ever read.

Switzy by Emma Cline

In keeping with the dark and tumultuous theme of this week’s recommendations, Emma Cline, the bestselling author of The Girls, delivers a haunting and dark meditation on wealth, aging, and what ultimately gives a life meaning. However, the good news here is that this book delivers more humor than my previous two suggestions. The novel follows David, a retired executive struggling with dementia as he travels across Europe toward an assisted-suicide clinic in Zurich, revisiting fractured relationships and confronting the legacy of his privilege and personal compromises. 

Should You Check Your 401(k) Today?

👎️ 

No.

Poll of the Day: It’s World-Famous-575™ Time

Poll of the Day: Ocean Spray, A-OK?

We asked: Do you want clothes branded with "Ocean Spray"?

You answered:

🟨⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ Yes. I love the idea of wearing a fleece with a Cranberry Juice company's logo on it. (93)
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 This is madness. (292)
385 Votes via @beehiiv polls

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