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Fortune

Forget the House and the Senate, the economy may hinge on state and local races in the midterm elections

Data centers have emerged as a national issue during this midterm election cycle, and candidates for the House and Senate have seized on it in their campaigns. But state and local officials actually have more sway over data center construction and energy infrastructure, so the winners of lower-profile races may hold the economy’s future in their hands. Hyperscalers have been spending hundreds of billions of dollars a year, with forecasts for 2027 topping $1 trillion. JPMorgan has estimated AI-related investment was responsible for about one-fifth of GDP growth over the past year. Analysts at ING believe AI will account for a third of growth in 2026. With Election Day just over a week away and early voting already in full swing in many states, expectations for big Democratic gains could weigh on the stock market, which has sold off in recent days on fears the AI boom will go bust. If there is a further stock slump, it will be because a “blue wave” at the state and local levels will usher in lawmakers opposed to data centers, Thierry Wizman, global FX and rates strategist at Macquarie, said in a note on Monday. “For the direction of the U.S. economy, the composition and direction of governance at the state level may matter more than whether the Democrats ‘win’ the House or the Senate,” he added. That dynamic was on display on Tuesday, when Amazon canceled a plan to build data centers in Loudoun County, Virginia, after reaching an agreement with local officials amid widespread backlash from residents. Amazon Web Services bought property for the project in February for $427 million, but the purchase reportedly blindsided county leaders who were already growing uneasy with the explosion of data centers in recent years. Amazon vowed not to build data centers on the land and will repurpose most of it for mixed-use and residential development, while also donating 25 acres for a community arts center and recreational facility plus $5 million to a housing fund. And in Texas, another AI industry hot spot, Republican Gov. Greg Abbott has turned from a data center booster to a skeptic as he faces a tough re-election race against Democratic state representative Gina Hinojosa. Michael Pearce, chief U.S. economist at Oxford Economics, also observed that midterm races for state capitals and town halls represent a bigger risk to the data center buildout than what happens in Washington, D.C. The Trump administration has already used regulations and executive orders to facilitate construction, and any attempt to pass comprehensive legislation in Congress will be slow, he added.

Forget the House and the Senate, the economy may hinge on state and local races in the midterm elections
Europe
BBC Business

From Levi's to Primark - the fashion chains selling mended clothes

If Alice Brown is browsing in second-hand shops and finds a jumper with a hole, that won't stop her buying it. Over the last year she has developed her own unique style, needle-felting cute animals and insects to cover moth holes, stains and other imperfections, winning her a huge following online. "The natural place for decoration is in the centre at the front. If the hole is under the arm or on the shoulder, it forces you to think about the design," she says. Often dubbed "visible mending" the trend is spreading from hobby crafters and community workshops, even drawing in fast-fashion brands and reaching the designer catwalks this year. At one Saturday morning workshop in Brighton, Jayne Eagle shows her students how to attach a patch of fabric behind a tear so the cat-face design peeps through. Then she instructs them in stitching techniques inspired by the traditional Japanese methods Boro and Sashiko. Instead of matching the thread colour to the garment, they make the mend highly decorative using geometric patterns in large white stitching. She also offers classes in darning using contrasting vibrant colours that celebrate, rather than disguise, the repair. One student, Nicola, has already used her newfound skills to stitch over sunscreen marks on a T-shirt "making a feature of it" and is now delighted that people "stop seeing the stains and just see the decoration". Another student, Lisa, says her mother's generation would never have wanted the mends to show. "Now part of it is being proud of what you've done," she says. Lisa bought a second-hand jacket online, but snipped the fabric with the scissors when she was opening the package. She managed to patch it in a way that "looks intentional". In the past mending was primarily about saving money, by wearing clothes for longer, rather than buying new. But visible mending is about celebrating that choice. An era of "throwaway" fast fashion from the 1980s onwards undermined the tradition of looking after and mending your clothes and people lost the skills, she says.

From Levi's to Primark - the fashion chains selling mended clothes
Europe
The Guardian

FTC orders Delta, Uber and others to hand over data on algorithmic pricing

A Delta plane waits to depart at Dulles airport. Photograph: Al Drago/Getty ImagesView image in fullscreenA Delta plane waits to depart at Dulles airport. Photograph: Al Drago/Getty ImagesUS newsFTC orders Delta, Uber and others to hand over data on algorithmic pricingRegulator demands companies explain how and why they charge different prices for the same product or service The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is demanding some of the US’s biggest airlines, ride-share companies and retailers divulge how they are using algorithms and loyalty programs to target customers and drivers with different prices and wages. Nine companies – Delta, United, JetBlue, Lyft, Uber, DoorDash, Instacart, Target and Walmart – were named in the inquiry, which comes after investigations and lawsuits alleging consumers are charged different prices based on their buying histories and drivers paid different fares based on their personal histories. The FTC will “scrutinize the opaque methodology that some companies in these industries may be using to determine how much consumers pay or how much gig workers are paid for the same product or service”, chair Andrew Ferguson said in a statement. US family budgets already burdened by inflation are being gouged by opaque and sometimes deceptive store pricing practices, including surveillance pricing and overcharges by Dollar General and convenience stores. The FTC is tasked with policing “unfair or deceptive acts or practices” in industries except banking and airlines, which means it can not impose any fines or regulations on the airlines named. While the Trump administration has rolled back corporate regulations, the FTC’s consumer protection division has joined with states in some instances to pursue legal action and penalties against some companies. Companies must “turn over information that will allow the agency to assess whether the pricing for a ticket, ride share, food delivery or other product or service varies from one person to the next based on factors such as participation in loyalty programs or analysis of personal data by super-intelligence algorithms”, the FTC said. Several states have begun introducing legislation to ban surveillance pricing and electronic shelf labels that could be used to set different prices based on shoppers habits and online information. The probe follows a July 2024 inquiry by the Biden administration into surveillance pricing, which demanded information from McKinsey, JPMorgan Chase and others that offered surveillance pricing products to consumer-facing companies. “Details like a person’s precise location or browser history can be frequently used to target individual consumers with different prices for the same goods and services,” the FTC found in January of 2025. Whether the inquiry will result in substantial changes in consumer laws or company practices is unclear. “What we have seen so far is that they have not been using these studies that produce meaningful reports that ultimately lead to any rule-making changes,” said Rohit Chopra, a former FTC commissioner who is now head of California’s new Business and Consumer Protection Agency.

FTC orders Delta, Uber and others to hand over data on algorithmic pricing
Europe
The Guardian

Was Ralph Nader right about (almost) everything? His challenge to Democrats ahead of the midterm elections

Ralph Nader listens during a news conference on 2 July 2012 at Public Citizen in Washington DC. Photograph: Alex Wong/Getty ImagesView image in fullscreenRalph Nader listens during a news conference on 2 July 2012 at Public Citizen in Washington DC. Photograph: Alex Wong/Getty ImagesConsumedRalph NaderInterviewWas Ralph Nader right about (almost) everything? His challenge to Democrats ahead of the midterm electionsHeather Timmons in Washington‘Really change things for the working class,’ the ex-presidential candidate says A corporate plutocracy. A broken healthcare system. Massive and widening inequality. Cash-soaked elections. Angry people struggling to pay their bills and disgusted with lawmakers in Washington DC. Nearly everything that pushed famed consumer-rights advocate Ralph Nader to launch the 2000 presidential run that made him a political pariah in Washington is front and center as the US gears up for the 2026 midterm elections. But this time, things are much, much worse. Nader, now 92, has been seething from his home in northwest Washington as the Trump administration rips the guts out of the hard-fought consumer and safety protections he built in the 1960s and 1970s. He’s once again calling for a revolution in a Democratic party that still wants nothing to do with him. “The best thing that could happen for the Democrats is for [Senator Chuck] Schumer and [Hakeem] Jeffries to be voted out in January,” Nader told the Guardian during one of several long phone calls, speaking of the Democratic leaders in both houses of Congress. If Democrats win next week, they need to be bold to fix the country, Nader said: prosecute corruption, restore the federal agencies that have been destroyed, and really change things for the working class. He doubts Schumer and Jeffries will do it. “You think they’re going to have that kind of energy and courage?” Nader said. “They have no stomach for that. They’re going to drag the Democratic party down. People want justice.” As Democrats and their allies seek to defeat Trumpism and restore the US’s teetering democracy, it would be easy to dismiss Nader as a tragic footnote amid the current chaos: the man, although he and his allies vehemently disagree, whose run as a Green party presidential candidate cost Al Gore the presidency and left George W Bush in control. View image in fullscreenRalph Nader addresses supporters as his mother Rose Nader looks on after his arrival at the National Press Club in Washington DC on 7 November 2000. Photograph: Rick Bowmer/APBut the ideas he’s preached for decades, rooted in the New Deal ideals that built the US into an economic powerhouse, are front and center in the midterms and beyond, after a failure to address the woes of working-class Americans opened the door to Trumpism. For Nader, and many others, the central question is: does anyone in US politics have the fight to fix what’s wrong? A series of progressive wins in the Democratic primaries and a flood of cash to Republicans has put everything on the table, from taxing billionaires to raising minimum wage to ‘Medicare for all’ to campaign finance reform. Even the left’s most moderating voices and a few Republicans agree it’s time to rein in the power and influence of big business. Democrats “believe in regulated capitalism, and that we have overdone the capitalism and underdone the regulation”, said Matt Bennett, whose Third Way thinktank pushes moderate ideas. “The fact that we have a trillionaire who is trying to control American politics is pretty good evidence of that,” he added, speaking of Elon Musk’s Republican donations – now over $442m for the midterm elections.

Was Ralph Nader right about (almost) everything? His challenge to Democrats ahead of the midterm elections
Europe
The Guardian

‘We don’t have inflation’? Five charts show the US economic reality of Trump’s second term so far

Illustration: Guardian Design/Getty ImagesView image in fullscreen Illustration: Guardian Design/Getty ImagesUS midterm elections 2026Explainer‘We don’t have inflation’? Five charts show the US economic reality of Trump’s second term so farAs the US midterm elections approach, we take a look at data to see a true picture of the US economy under Trump With the midterm elections fast approaching, many Americans have the economy on their minds. US voters are exhausted by years of higher prices. Donald Trump won the presidency in 2024 on promises to lower inflation and undo the damage he said the Biden administration had inflicted on the economy. In Trump’s view, his plan is working. At a recent rally in Montana, Trump boasted about the current economy, framing it as a booming time for Americans. “We’re richer now,” he said. “We don’t have inflation.” Economic data paints a different picture. Inflation, especially gas prices, has soared over the last year. The job market has been in stasis, and higher interest rates have meant it’s more expensive for Americans to borrow money for loans and mortgages. These fluctuations have a concrete impact on the lives of Americans. A recent Harris poll for the Guardian found that a majority of Americans, including some Republicans, disagree. Nearly two-thirds said they believe the country is experiencing a recession, and many said higher prices had been a pain point. Americans are reporting having trouble saving, and a third polled said one surprise bill could sink them financially. The rate of price increases has dramatically cooled since its peak in 2022, when the pandemic’s economic stimulus packages found their way into consumer prices. Inflation peaked at 9.1%, a 40-year high, in June 2022. In January 2025, the month when Trump started his second term, inflation was down to 3%. By April 2025, it would be 2.3% – the lowest rate since 2021. That’s when things start to get bumpy. After Trump placed tariffs on nearly everything that the US imports, inflation started to heat up again, climbing back up to 3% in September 2025. After many of his tariffs were paused and eventually found to be illegal, prices started going down again. In January and February 2026, inflation was back down to 2.4%. The Iran war, specifically its impact on oil prices, has brought inflation back up to levels not seen since 2023. In May, inflation reached 4.2% and has hovered above 3.4% since. It’s been nearly six years since Americans have seen inflation at a manageable 2% level. Price increases build up over time and can put a squeeze on budgets, which is why it’s such a sensitive point for voters during a crucial election. In the Guardian’s recent poll with the Harris Poll, gas prices were the most common pain point for Americans, with 83% saying they are making a dent in their current finances.

‘We don’t have inflation’? Five charts show the US economic reality of Trump’s second term so far
Asia
The Hindu BusinessLine

Suraj Estate Developers Q2 results: Profit down 30%

Realty firm Suraj Estate Developers Ltd on Saturday reported a 30 per cent decline in consolidated net profit to ₹23.06 crore for the September quarter on higher expenses. Total income rose to 171.08 crore in the second quarter of this fiscal year from ₹145.42 crore in the corresponding period of the preceding year, according to a regulatory filing. The expenses rose to ₹140.12 crore from ₹101.33 crore during the period under review. Mumbai-based Suraj Estate Developers Ltd is one of the leading realty firms in the country. Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments. We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of TheHindu Businessline and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.

Suraj Estate Developers Q2 results: Profit down 30%
Europe
The Guardian

Embattled CBS leader Bari Weiss downplays concerns about weak 60 Minutes ratings

Bari Weiss at an event in New York City. Photograph: Noam Galai/Getty Images for the Free PressView image in fullscreenBari Weiss at an event in New York City. Photograph: Noam Galai/Getty Images for the Free PressCBSEmbattled CBS leader Bari Weiss downplays concerns about weak 60 Minutes ratingsCBS News editor-in-chief sidesteps viewership concerns and says flagship show doing ‘tremendously well’ CBS News editor-in-chief Bari Weiss has spoken publicly for the first time about the ratings challenges the network has experienced under her year-long tenure, sidestepping concerns about diminished viewership at the Sunday show 60 Minutes by saying it was not her top priority. “I could never build anything if I were focused on the precise number of people that happen to tune in to the second feature on 60 Minutes on a given Sunday,” she said at an industry conference on Wednesday organized by the tech publication the Information. The news organization did not offer press credentials. Weiss completely overhauled 60 Minutes in late May, ousting the show’s executive producer and parting ways with three top correspondents, including Scott Pelley. But the show has struggled to even match last season’s viewership, which averaged 9.1 million viewers per episode. The show’s most recent episode drew just 5.64 million viewers, “one of the smallest audiences for the program in years”, Variety reported. The show was the lowest-rated sixth episode of the weekly show this century, a feat also achieved by the fourth episode of the show. The show’s ratings are heavily dependent on whether it is preceded by a highly watched NFL football game. Ratings for the show have been low despite a strong run of guest bookings and news-making segments. Viewership hasn’t been all bad, either – the 4 October edition of the show drew an average of more than 10 million total viewers. Weiss was also asked about parent company Skydance’s recent merger with Warner Bros Discovery, the parent company of CNN. While Weiss was initially rumored to potentially lead the cable news network, chief executive David Ellison instead opted to keep CNN chief executive Mark Thompson in place – for the time being, at least. Asked whether she might be interested in running CNN, Weiss replied: “I want to focus on doing CBS News, trust me. This is a big enough challenge.” Weiss said she is not focused on criticism of her tenure at CBS News, which has come from inside and outside the building. Her strategy has been to “put the blinders on, tune out the noise and focus”, adding: “I’m not doing anything I’m doing for popularity’s sake.”

Embattled CBS leader Bari Weiss downplays concerns about weak 60 Minutes ratings
Europe
BBC Business

Poundland's future hangs in the balance as chain edges towards collapse

Image source, Getty ImagesByEmma Simpson, Business correspondent and Tom Espiner, Business reporterPublished29 October 2026, 09:46 GMTUpdated 40 minutes agoThe future of Poundland hangs in the balance as the discount chain edges towards collapse, the BBC understands. The retailer's directors are filing a notice of intention to appoint administrators, which if approved by the High Court, will give the business 10 days breathing space to find a rescue deal. Poundland's managing director Barry Williams wrote a memo to his 12,000 staff across its 600 stores in the UK and Ireland saying the US owner of the chain had limited Poundland's access to funding. Gordon Brothers bought Poundland, which had been struggling, from the Polish retail group Pepco in June last year for a nominal £1. Irish firm Martin Property Group (MPG) put forward a bid to take the business on as a going concern, which was the preferred option for management, but it is understood this did not meet Gordon Brothers' expectations. Gordon Brothers wants to recoup a £30m shareholder loan it inherited from the previous owners as part of a its deal, but it is understood the Martin Property Group offer was for £5m, with the rest of the payment deferred. Gordon Brothers could secure a new owner through what is known as a pre-pack administration. But the most likely option for the business to be broken up and for parcels of stores to be sold. A Gordon Brothers insider said this would allow creditors to recover funds. Gordon Brothers is the main creditor, and has made £70m of loans to the business. The US investment firm's position is that current employees may be able to get employment with new store owners. Interested parties include Poundstretcher owner, Fortress, which according to one insider is interested to take on between 200 and 250 stores. Another large retailer is understood to be interested in buying up more than 100 other sites.

Poundland's future hangs in the balance as chain edges towards collapse
Europe
BBC Business

What we now know about the UK economy in four charts

Image source, Getty ImagesByMichael RaceBusiness reporterPublished7 hours agoThe UK may have no involvement in the US-Iran war, but the country is feeling the full force of the conflict on its economy. Soaring energy prices are set to dent growth in the short term, push up inflation and leave living standards in a "grim" place, according to the latest official forecast from the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR). Interest rates are also predicted to rise, making borrowing more expensive, along with government debt repayments. Chancellor John Healey warned the nation faces "real challenges ahead" as he announced policies that he said would offer "breathing space" for households in the coming months. "What we face today are global economic storms," he said. "We can't wish them away. We must choose the course we steer through them." In its first assessment of the UK economy since the Middle East conflict started, the OBR said rising energy prices were the biggest risk to the economy in the near future. Despite raising its growth forecast for this year, it sharply cut its prediction for next year from 1.6% to 1%. When an economy grows, businesses tend to invest more, create more jobs and give pay rises to workers, which leaves people feeling better off on average, though it can take time and not everyone necessarily benefits. Companies making higher profits also pay more in tax, which can enable the government to spend more on public services. When there is slow economic growth, or the economy shrinks, the opposite can occur. Inflation can weigh on growth and the OBR has forecast that prices are set to rise at a faster pace as higher energy bills filter through supply chains and to consumers, especially in 2027. High global oil prices have already hit drivers at the pumps, with petrol priced at almost £1.73 per litre on average, while diesel is near £1.99. Elevated oil prices over time can lead to prices edging upwards across a host of goods, such as food, as companies pass on the higher expenses they face to consumers.

What we now know about the UK economy in four charts