Hello Capitalists!
Get the edge on what you need to know today:
Bessent ends Warren letter with “Happy Indigenous Peoples’ Day”
European gas nears multi-year highs despite Citi easing call
Halloween candy prices jump 8.1% ahead of $13.5 billion season
Sponsored Delta Capital
Bessent ends Warren letter with “Happy Indigenous Peoples’ Day”
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent handwrote a mocking “Happy Indigenous People’s Day” close on his reply to Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s letter about rising Treasury yields and borrowing costs.
Prolific correspondence: The response noted Warren has sent more than 100 letters to the department in the past 21 months.
Knowledge critique: Bessent charged her with little understanding of financial markets and offered economics tutorials after dismissing her view that the yield rise was self-inflicted.
Policy contrast: He described her as a cheerleader for Biden-era spending as rates climbed from near zero and inflation hit multi-decade highs, while highlighting her support for large tax increases.
Heritage reference: The note followed her Oct. 7 request for answers by Oct. 21 and alluded to long-standing controversy over her ancestry claims.
Musk quietly pumps $276M to save Republican midterms
Elon Musk has funneled more than $276 million since July into Republican organizations and his super PAC for the midterms, emerging as the largest known donor while keeping a lower profile than in 2024.
Senate Leadership Fund: He gave $158 million this summer to the main GOP Senate super PAC, one of the largest political donations on record and more than the Democratic rival raised from all donors that quarter.
America PAC turnout: Over $76 million went to his group to build canvassing operations active in seven Senate battlegrounds and nearly three dozen House races.
Cycle totals higher: Giving this cycle already reaches about $366 million, exceeding the roughly $290 million he spent in the 2024 presidential race.
Quieter strategy: The spending continues without the high-visibility rallies or early government role seen after the prior election.
Doing $25k a month? Banks stall.
Get $500k approved in 5 minutes!
If you’re a business owner you know that expenses pop up at any time, whether or not you have the cash sitting in the bank
Maybe your restaurant is ready for a second location.
Or your construction company needs to finance new equipment.
Or you need some extra cash to make payroll or renovate your office.
Sometimes you need access to capital now and you don’t have time for all the hoops a bank will put you through.
If your business generates at least $25,000 in monthly revenue, you can apply for business funding from Delta Capital in a few clicks, get an approval in minutes and get funds wired within the hour with no impact on your personal credit.
Whether you’re buying equipment, stocking up on inventory, expanding your business, or taking on your next big opportunity, Delta Capital can approve up to $500,000 in business funding in under 5 minutes. And wire the funds within the hour.
So if your business is generating $25,000 or more a month, click the link
Micron slides as China’s CXMT touts denser 4F² memory
Micron, SK Hynix and Samsung shares fell after Chinese memory maker CXMT reported key progress on a denser cell architecture and plans for a server product by the end of 2026.
Stock reaction: Micron and SK Hynix dropped around 2% while Samsung fell 4% amid the broader South Korean selloff.
CXMT announcement: President Cao Kanyu detailed the advance at a Shanghai industry event over the weekend, targeting higher density for servers.
Design edge: The 4F² structure aims to pack more cells than the industry’s 6F² standard, with competitors also pursuing it.
Micron context: Shares remain about 16% below their June all-time high following strong September results.
Broadcom and Intel CEOs say capital is AI’s next bottleneck
Broadcom’s Hock Tan and Intel’s Lip-Bu Tan warned at a Singapore conference that financing constraints may now limit AI expansion more than chip, memory or power shortages.
Capital over hardware: Hock Tan said capital could become the biggest constraint, even as prior bottlenecks have been overcome.
Easing timelines: Memory shortages might resolve within a year, wafer constraints by 2028 or 2029, and power availability improve with new builds.
Demand outlook: Both see compute demand exceeding supply through 2029 and possibly 2030, with no major slowdown in the next two to three years.
ROI pressure: Lip-Bu Tan stressed that companies will need to show returns on heavy AI investment as the cost of capital rises.
European gas nears multi-year highs despite Citi easing call
Dutch TTF futures trade near 83 euros per megawatt-hour, the highest since early 2023, as Europe heads into winter without Qatari LNG even while Citi sees the supply squeeze easing.
Storage levels: Facilities stood over 73% full on Oct. 7, better than earlier forecasts of missing 70% but still well below the roughly 90% 15-year average.
Easing factors: Citi’s Maggie Xueting Lin cited industrial demand down 8% year-over-year in September and nearly 30% below pre-2022 levels, plus warm weather and potential Ukrainian re-exports.
Bearish forecast: Lin holds a fourth-quarter base case of 56 euros, pointing to faster-than-expected injections.
Prior pressure: Goldman had earlier said prices near 100 euros might be needed to free Asian cargoes for Europe.
Canadian ransomware negotiator arrested in FBI data probe
A 54-year-old Canadian cybersecurity executive who negotiates ransomware payments was arrested in the Philadelphia area on federal extortion-related charges as the FBI investigates the ShinyHunters group.
Charges filed: Edward Dubrovsky faces conspiracy to threaten the confidentiality of information to extort money and interference with commerce; the case is sealed and headed to Texas.
Group link: The arrest comes during a probe of ShinyHunters, which claimed data on nearly every FBI employee including via the jobs website.
Professional role: Dubrovsky has specialized in cyber-extortion negotiations for firms such as CyberSteward.
Detention status: He is held at the Federal Detention Center in Philadelphia pending further proceedings.
Halloween candy prices jump 8.1% ahead of $13.5 billion season
Candy and chewing gum prices rose 8.1% in August from a year earlier, more than double overall inflation, as Americans prepare to spend $4.1 billion on treats this Halloween.
Total spending: The National Retail Federation projects overall Halloween outlays of $13.5 billion, up from $13.1 billion last year.
Per-person average: Shoppers expect to spend $115.14 each, little changed from $114.45.
Survey details: The figures come from a Prosper Insights poll of 7,889 consumers conducted in early September.
Priority holds: Consumers continue to treat the holiday as a spending priority while seeking affordability through comparison shopping and coupons.
I love it! Bessent wishes Happy Indigenous Day to Senator Elizabeth Warren today, Hahaha….😆 👏🫶