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Trade Wars
Americans Are Falling Behind on Their Car Payments
Since the pandemic, buyers on auto-dealer lots have encountered surging sticker prices and smaller incentives from automakers to lessen the blow. To afford an automobile, more consumers, especially lower-income families, have resorted to buying used cars and taking out longer loans. Now, more are falling behind on their loans, signaling that lower-income consumers are struggling to afford payments as wages stagnate and unemployment ticks higher. While the economy has remained strong, and Wall Street has kept buying subprime auto loans, the auto market is evidence that not all is well under the hood.
The percentage of new-car buyers with credit scores below 650 was nearly 14% in September, roughly one in seven people, J.D. Power said last month. That is the highest for the comparable period since 2016. And the portion of subprime auto loans that are 60 days or more overdue on their payments hit a record of more than 6% this year, according to Fitch Ratings, while delinquency rates for other borrowers have remained relatively steady. An estimated 1.73 million vehicles were repossessed last year, the highest total since 2009, according to data from Cox Automotive, an industry-research firm.
Read more at the NYT
How Sharpie Bucked the Trend of Outsourcing to China
Inside a Tennessee factory, Sharpie has reimagined American manufacturing—producing its iconic markers faster and more cheaply in the US than overseas, all while keeping jobs at home. The Maryville factory, nestled in the Smoky Mountains, now produces the bulk of Sharpies sold in America, following nearly $2 billion in investments and a comprehensive redesign of its processes by parent company Newell Brands. Back in 2018, Sharpie was still relying on overseas manufacturing for much of its production. That's when Chris Peterson, now CEO, challenged his team to figure out if they could beat Asian factories at their own game—and do it stateside. The answer: an ambitious push toward automation, staff training, and supply chain consolidation.
Today, robots handle much of the packing, while longtime employees have transitioned into roles like automation engineering, supported by company-funded training and even college tuition. The result: wages at the plant are up by about 50% in five years, and no jobs were cut. Production is now three to four times faster, and quality has improved, with robots even catching printing errors on marker barrels. The move hasn't just sped up deliveries and cut shipping costs—it's let Newell keep prices stable despite inflation.
Read more at The WSJ
No Survivors From Blast At Tennessee Explosives Factory, Sheriff Says
The blast in rural Tennessee that leveled an explosives plant and was felt for miles around left no survivors, authorities said Saturday. The total number of dead was unclear, as was the cause of the Friday blast. By the weekend the devastation came into focus, with officials saying they’d found no survivors. “There’s a gauntlet of emotions there,” Humphreys County Sheriff Chris Davis said during a news conference, pausing to clear his throat before he asked for prayers for the families of the victims in a shaky voice. “We’ve recovered no survivors,” he added.
The explosion Friday morning at Accurate Energetic Systems scattered debris over at least a half-mile (800-meter) area and was felt by residents more than 15 miles (24 kilometers) away, Davis said. Aerial footage showed the company’s hilltop location smoldering and smoky Friday, with just a mass of twisted metal, burned-out shells of cars and an array of debris left behind. The company’s website says it processes explosives and ammunition at an eight-building facility that sprawls across wooded hills in the Bucksnort area, about 60 miles (97 kilometers) southwest of Nashville. It’s not immediately known how many people work at the plant or how many were there when the explosion happened.
Read more at CNBC
CEO: AI and Defense Demand Are Remaking The Space Economy
The space economy is experiencing a kind of growth in 2025 that looks nothing like the speculative frenzy of 2021 — and that's exactly why it matters. The data from Space Capital's latest Space Investment Quarterly reveals a market that has fundamentally matured. With another $5.8 billion invested across 115 companies in Q3, this year has already surpassed 2024 in overall investment and is on track to rank among the top three funding years on record. The center of gravity has shifted from speculative narratives to funded, dual-use capability, and investors are backing companies with customers, contracts, and clear profitability paths.
Space infrastructure investment reached a five-quarter high of $4.4 billion in Q3, fueled by a breakout year in US satellite manufacturing and record activity in the Chinese launch sector. While defense spending dominates headlines, the integration of artificial intelligence with space-based data is quietly revolutionizing the applications layer of the space economy. Big Tech's race to develop "World Models" — AI systems that understand and navigate physical space — depends fundamentally on petabytes of satellite, aerial, and camera data. AEF represents a critical architectural shift from "pixels to embeddings," replacing brittle, bespoke models with a queryable representation of Earth itself.
Read more at YahooFinance
Parker-Hannifin Completes Curtis Instruments Acquisition
Parker-Hannifin Corporation, the global leader in motion and control technologies, last month announced that it has completed its transaction to acquire Curtis Instruments, Inc. from Rehlko, for approximately $1 billion in cash. Curtis designs and manufactures motor speed controllers, instrumentation, power conversion and input devices that complement Parker’s capabilities in electric and hybrid vehicle motors and controls, as well as hydraulic and pneumatic technologies for the mobile machinery market. Curtis expects calendar year 2025 sales of approximately $320 million. Curtis has a location in Mt. Kisco, Westchester County.
“Curtis is a high-performing, innovation-driven business and we are excited to have them join Parker’s Motion Systems Group,” said Berend Bracht, President of Parker’s Motion Systems Group. “Curtis adds complementary technologies to our existing electrification platform, better positioning us to serve our customers as they continue the adoption of more electric and hybrid solutions. We are confident Curtis will benefit from Parker’s increased scale, focus, and investment.”
Read the press release from Parker
AstraZeneca Increases Stake, Breaks Ground On $4.5 Billion Virginia Pharmaceutical Plant
AstraZeneca held a groundbreaking ceremony for a new pharmaceutical factory in Albermale, Virginia October 10. In statements, the pharmaceutical giant also said it would spend a total of $4.5 billion, $500 million more than its initial July announcement had accounted for, and the largest such investment in company history. The new factory is expected to directly create 600 jobs, the company said. “With our $4.5 billion investment in Virginia, the largest in AstraZeneca’s history, we are not only building a state-of-the-art manufacturing facility, but also driving life sciences innovation and economic growth,” said AstraZeneca CEO Pascal Soirot.
Workers at the new factory will produce weight-loss drug compounds as well as cancer treatments. Initial plans for the factory included plans to produce drug substance for AstraZeneca’s weight-loss drugs, including an oral GLP-1 drug similar to Ozempic: In its October 10 announcement, the company said the extra $500 million added to previous plans would let the factory also produce AstraZeneca’s antibody drug conjugate cancer treatment.
Read more at Plant Services
EV Demand Isn’t Falling Off A Cliff
Yes, the $7,500 federal tax credit for an electric vehicle purchase has ended and yes, EV sales are slowing. But demand won’t collapse, according to Urban Science. Several pillars of support for the EV market aren’t going away, and those will create a floor to any sales slowdown, Tom Kondrat, global lead for advanced analytics at Urban Science, told Wards Auto. The five pillars Kondrat named include:
- Current BEV owners like their vehicles and will continue to buy electric vehicles
- More market entries at lower price points
- Rising consideration of BEVs as consumers see more on the road
- Continued manufacturer purchase incentives
- Expanding public charging infrastructure
Longer term, Urban Science projects demand for electric vehicles to grow gradually, Kondrat added.
Read more at Ward’s Auto
Ferrari Trims EV Target Even As They Aim To Rev Up Investors With An EV Like No Other
Ferrari has set out new long-term financial goals, forecasting net revenues of around €9bn ($10.42bn) by 2030 as the sports car maker halved its electric vehicle target. With a compound annual growth rate of roughly 5%, the company said growth will be largely supported by sports cars and related activities underpinned by its order book. The company said the projected revenue growth reflects a richer product mix and increased personalisation.
Ferrari outlined a revised 2030 sports car line-up comprising 40% internal combustion engine models, 40% hybrids and 20% fully electric vehicles. The company also presented the production-ready chassis and powertrain for the “elettrica” at a technology and innovation workshop, stating it plans to begin deliveries in late 2026. Ferrari executive chairman John Elkann said: “With the new Ferrari elettrica, we once again affirm our will to progress by uniting the discipline of technology, the creativity of design and the craft of manufacturing.”
Read more at YahooFinance
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