Book Bits: 18 October 2025

1929: Inside the Greatest Crash in Wall Street History–and How It Shattered a Nation
Andrew Ross Sorkin
Interview with author via CBS News
After nearly a decade spent studying the most famous stock market crash in history, financial journalist Andrew Ross Sorkin warns that the Wall Street of today echoes the market of 1929, when highs preceded a massive slump, leading to the Great Depression.
Artificial intelligence and technology have contributed to a remarkable boom in recent years. But, Sorkin said, today’s economy is being propped up by the AI boom, and it’s too soon to tell if this is a sugar rush, a short-term and unsustainable boost to the markets. But, Sorkin is positive there’s a crash coming.
“I just can’t tell you when, and I can’t tell you how deep,” he said. “But I can assure you, unfortunately, I wish I wasn’t saying this, we will have a crash.”

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Macro Briefing: 17 October 2025

US stocks fell on Thursday amid growing concerns about regional bank loans. “Credit quality worries are plaguing Wall Street today as fears mount that there are multiple large lenders with heavy exposure to problematic loans with limited collateral,” said José Torres, senior economist at Interactive Brokers. An ETF targeting regional bank stocks (KRE) dropped 6.2% yesterday, closing at the lowest level since August.

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Macro Briefing: 16 October 2025

US to take control of more companies as counter to China’s dominance in rare earth supplies, which are critical for a range of industries. “When you are facing a nonmarket economy like China, then you have to exercise industrial policy,” Treasury Secretary Bessent said. “So we’re going to set price floors and the forward buying to make sure that this doesn’t happen again and we’re going to do it across a range of industries.” An ETF targeting companies in the rare earth industry fell on Wednesday after trading at a record high the previous day.

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Geopolitical Risk Sends Rare Earth Stocks Soaring

Geopolitics has been a key risk factor in economic and financial trends this year, including companies engaged in mining and processing of rare earth elements. As tensions rise between the US and China on access to these critical commodities, creating fears of supply chain shocks, stocks in the industry are roaring higher, based on a set of ETFs through Monday’s’ close (Oct. 13).

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Macro Briefing: 14 October 2025

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Monday the government shutdown is starting to affect the U.S. economy. “It’s starting to affect the real economy. It’s starting to affect people’s lives,” he said in a TV interview. The latest update of the Dallas Fed’s Weekly Economic Index continues to reflect moderate growth: “The WEI is currently 2.42 percent, scaled to four-quarter GDP growth, for the week ended Oct. 4 and 2.37 percent for Sept. 27.”

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