WSJ What's News

@wsjwhatsnews · Podcast

Latest segments

• Tech stock sell-off, 2026-10-30
  Recaps the rout and the turn on AI debt
  Recaps the tech rout with the day's index moves and Intel's 28 percent drop, then frames it as investors turning on debt-financed AI spending at Alphabet and Amazon. Stays inside the sell-off coverage already on the record, adding only Anthropic's cash cushion as color.
• Halloween candy price surge, 2026-10-30
  Adds the supply-side cocoa failures and lab-grown fixes
  Mims walks through the supply side of the candy price story: droughts and floods in Africa plus years of government mismanagement among cocoa growers. He adds the industry's response, lab-grown cocoa cells for premium chocolate and roasted grape seeds for cheap products.
• Rivian and Roblox earnings, 2026-10-30
  Recaps Rivian guidance and Roblox's overnight drop
  Runs through Rivian's raised guidance and Roblox's 17 percent overnight drop, including the CFO's caveat that GTA 6's console-only launch is hard to model. A brief earnings roundup with no new reporting beyond the numbers.
• Amazon Q3 earnings preview, 2026-10-30
  Reports Amazon's $20 billion quarterly net income
  Runs through both Intel and Amazon's after-hours drops, but the Amazon half adds a figure not yet on the record: $20 billion in quarterly net income, set against the $220 billion capex plan and flat shares over the past year.
• Binance's $6.3B heist, 2026-10-30
  Reports the Binance heist figures and frozen funds
  Reports the Binance heist with the numbers behind it: about $6.3 billion taken, about $3 billion frozen, attribution to North Korea's Trader Trader, and the Polymarket hack the day before. Frames it around state-sponsored groups getting more ambitious and AI cyber tools as a growing worry.
• Q3 GDP first look, 2026-10-29
  Adds the debt-to-GDP milestone
  Walks the first GDP estimate with the WSJ economics reporter: consumer spending as the biggest contributor, AI investment at roughly a third of growth, and a debt-to-GDP milestone the earlier coverage did not touch. Closes on the Fed, reading the data as reinforcing a hike next meeting.
• Alaska probe into Dan Sullivan, 2026-10-29
  Reports new grand jury subpoenas
  Reports the governor's ordered probe into the Alaska Senate race and the Justice Department's new grand jury subpoenas, with prosecutors weighing a voter-rights conspiracy charge. Peltola's campaign denies involvement.
• Trump targets Peltola, 2026-10-29
  Reports Trump's call to prosecute Peltola
  Reports Trump's rally call to prosecute and remove Peltola from the Alaska ballot, the Times report on recruiting a same-name challenger, the Justice Department's plan to seek information from her campaign, and the Alaska Supreme Court ruling that both Sullivans can appear.
• Samsung's ninefold profit, 2026-10-29
  Rounds up earnings led by Samsung's record
  Rounds up the day's earnings, leading with Samsung's fourth straight record quarter and the detail that it is holding back its shareholder return plan until early next year, set against SK Hynix's $75 billion return. Shell, Ford, Volkswagen, Geely and eBay get a line each.
• Alphabet's Q3 miss, 2026-10-29
  Breaks down Alphabet's post-earnings sell-off
  Markets reporter Joe Stoner walks through Alphabet's post-earnings sell-off, quoting chief business officer Philip Schindler on AI Mode being less monetized than traditional search, and contrasts it with Azure's 48% growth and Microsoft's capex coming in below expectations. The search shortfall is put at about $2 billion against a $98.5 billion estimate, and Google's international expansion of AI Mode ads…
• China Q3 GDP 4.5%, 2026-10-28
  Questions whether the 4.5% figure is real
  Pivots from the 4.5% headline to whether the number is real: Western analysts put full-year growth at 0 to 3%, and Chinese economists say the unemployment rate misses hundreds of millions of underemployed gig workers. The National Bureau of Statistics did not respond to a request for comment.
• Bolsonaro flees to US, 2026-10-28
  Adds the Trump advisers behind the escape
  Reports Bolsonaro's arrival in Miami and the behind-the-scenes role of Trump advisers Jason Miller and Steve Bannon in arranging the Argentina stop, the private plane and the visas, plus his plan for a shadow government in exile.
• Weil Gotshal dissolution, 2026-10-28
  Reports leadership's plan to dissolve the firm
  Reports that Weil Gotshal's leadership told partners it plans to dissolve the firm, tracing the path from August partner defections and stagnant growth to Michael Aiello's September departure and collapsed merger talks. Frames it as a warning about partner confidence across big law.
• Fed holds at 3.75-4%, 2026-10-28
  Breaks down the two dissents behind the hold
  Covers the October hold with the detail the earlier coverage lacked: two dissents, Cook's first in four years and Hammack's third this year, plus the upgrade of the economy to expanding at a strong pace. Reads the dissents as momentum toward a December hike.
• SK Hynix blowout quarter, 2026-10-28
  Reports SK Hynix's sold-out memory through 2029
  Reports SK Hynix's third-quarter blowout: profit tripled, memory sold out through 2029, a 100 trillion won return package, and the pulled Solidigm IPO. The results lifted Samsung and the KOSPI about 6 percent.
• Israeli election, final week, 2026-10-28
  Reports election night from Netanyahu's headquarters
  Reports from Netanyahu's headquarters in Jerusalem on election night: the mood shifted from muted to celebration as votes came in, with Netanyahu speaking around 3 a.m. and vowing to work with Trump on the Iran threat. Lays out the preliminary seat counts, record turnout and the fragmented opposition.
• Oleshky humanitarian ceasefire, 2026-10-27
  Interviews a correspondent on the truce
  Interviews WSJ correspondent Ian Lovett from Berlin on the Oleshky truce: mined roads, drone-policed exits, residents scavenging canned goods, and Melania Trump's undisclosed role. An exiled analyst reads Russia's agreement as a cheap gesture to the Trump administration after diesel sanctions relief.
• State AI data center backlash, 2026-10-27
  Maps the ballot measures and governor's races
  Walks the midterm map: about 40 local ballot measures and three dozen governor's races next Tuesday, with Texas, Ohio and Michigan as the races the AI industry is watching. Adds the Texas governor's race and Abbott's pause on new development to the state-level backlash file.
• Anthropic's $63B debt deal, 2026-10-27
  Reports Broadcom's role in the debt deal
  Reports the $63 billion Anthropic debt deal and Broadcom CEO Hock Tan's role: months of lobbying banks for about $40 billion and using Broadcom's credit rating to guarantee part of the financing. Frames it as circular financing and ties the AI trade's fate to Anthropic's IPO.
• Israeli election expat vote, 2026-10-26
  Reports from Tel Aviv on expat turnout
  Reports from Tel Aviv on the eve of the vote: expat turnout, the Netanyahu-versus-anti-Netanyahu divide, Eisenkot's polling lead and the weeks of coalition horse trading ahead. A scene-setter with no result yet.