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— Josh
MARKETS
💰 Trump Halts Canada Trade Talks Over “Fake” Reagan Attack Ad
(Credit: White House/Daniel Torok)
The Scoop: President Donald Trump abruptly terminated trade negotiations with Canada on Thursday, citing a misleading advertisement by the Ontario government that used selectively edited audio of former President Ronald Reagan criticizing tariffs, Fox Business reports.
The Details:
Trump announced the decision on Truth Social, accusing Canada of using a "fake" ad featuring Reagan’s 1987 radio address on trade, which misrepresented Reagan’s stance.
The Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation and Institute condemned the Ontario government for not seeking permission to use and edit Reagan’s remarks, stating it is exploring legal action.
Trump emphasized tariffs as critical for U.S. economic and national security interests.
What’s Next: The ad’s misrepresentation could weaken Canada’s leverage in future trade discussions, as the controversy may embolden U.S. negotiators to demand stricter terms.
Market Roundup
🏦 Economy
⭐ Editor’s Pick: Treasury Department said federal spending growth has sharply slowed under Trump, with outlays falling 2.5% in the third quarter. (FOX)
U.S. existing-home sales rose 1.5% in September, to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.06 million units, marking the highest level in seven months. (INV)
Mortgage rates on the benchmark 30-year fixed home loan fell to 6.19%, the lowest level in over a year. (FBN)
Trump said a private donor contributed $130 million to ensure active-duty troops are paid despite the ongoing government shutdown. (RTS)
📈 Hot Stock Picks
⭐ Editor’s Pick: Market Beat analysts spotlight Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, and RTX as prime AI-infused defense stocks, poised for gains from surging Pentagon budgets and innovations in autonomous warfare. (MB)
Morningstar suggested for investors to snap up Deere & Co. shares, a wide-moat stalwart in agricultural machinery trading at a compelling 16% discount to its $550 fair value estimate. (MS)
Motley Fool analysts crowned Domino's Pizza as a top retail investor pick, citing Berkshire Hathaway's $1.2 billion stake, with a 1.6% dividend yield poised for hikes. (MF)
Zacks Investment Research spotlighted Las Vegas Sands as the ideal value pick for discerning investors, trading at an attractive forward P/E of 18.5 times versus the gaming sector's 22.3 times. (YF)
🏢 Industry
⭐ Editor’s Pick: In a sweeping federal crackdown, the NBA and entangled figures including Chauncey Billups and Terry Rozier were indicted for alleged insider-info betting and rigged poker-game schemes. (ESPN)
CBS News editor-in-chief Bari Weiss is eyeing Fox News anchor Bret Baier to helm the Evening News. (MED)
Target will lay off around 1,000 corporate employees and eliminate about 800 open positions. (CNBC)
Rivian Automotive is cutting more than 600 jobs as weakening EV demand and the end of a key U.S. tax credit force the company to tighten its belt. (WSJ)
🛢️ Energy & Commodities
⭐ Editor’s Pick: Trump’s administration is quadrupling the tariff-rate quota for Argentine beef imports to 80,000 metric tons annually to combat soaring U.S. grocery prices. (RTS)
Trump’s administration is pressing regulators to slash data-center grid connection approvals to 60 days from years-long delays to fuel the AI boom's voracious power demands. (BBG)
China's state-owned oil giants suspended purchases of seaborne Russian crude from sanctioned producers Rosneft and Lukoil. (MT)
Department of Interior reinstated oil and gas leasing across 1.5 million acres of Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge Coastal Plain. (OP)
🌕 Crypto
⭐ Editor’s Pick: Trump pardoned former Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao, nullifying his brief prison term for anti-money laundering convictions. (WSJ)
Trump may achieve his promised crypto overhaul without congressional action, leveraging regulatory moves by the SEC and CFTC to establish rules for digital assets by mid-2026. (AX)
A crypto trader, suspected of earning $190 million shorting Bitcoin and Ethereum before Trump’s tariff announcement, appears to have gained $56,522 betting on the president’s pardon of Zhao. (CT)
JPMorgan Chase plans to permit institutional clients to pledge Bitcoin and Ether as collateral for loans by year-end. (BBG)
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TECH
💻 Nike Reveals “Project Amplify” Robot Shoes
(Credit: Nike)
The Scoop: Nike has revealed Project Amplify, an innovative robotic-powered footwear system designed to enhance walking and running by augmenting natural leg and ankle movement, CNET reports.
The Details:
Project Amplify integrates a motor, drive belt, and rechargeable cuff battery into a carbon fiber-plated running shoe, developed in collaboration with robotics firm Dephy.
Aimed at casual athletes with 10- to 12-minute mile paces, the system is likened to an electric bike, making slower-paced walking, jogging, and running easier and more fun.
Unlike Nike’s Hyperboots, which feature heating and air-compression massage for warmups and cooldowns and retail for $900, Project Amplify focuses on movement augmentation.
What’s Next: Project Amplify could reshape the casual running market by lowering physical barriers to exercise, potentially broadening Nike’s customer base. The footwear system is still in the testing phase, with Nike planning a broad consumer launch “in the coming years.”
Tech Roundup
🧠 AI
⭐ Editor’s Pick: A study reveals that AI-assisted mammogram screenings enable radiologists to detect up to 20% more breast cancers without increasing false positives. (WCNC)
Anthropic struck a multiyear cloud deal with Google, securing access to up to one million custom Tensor Processing Units by 2026. (CNBC)
OpenAI acquired Software Applications to integrate its AI-driven Mac interface tech into ChatGPT. (BBG)
Apple is producing U.S.-made AI servers at a new Houston plant ahead of schedule in response to Trump’s call to bring manufacturing back. (FNB)
Baltimore police searched a teenager after an AI security system erroneously identified a crumpled bag of chips as a firearm and summoned officers. (WDBJ)
🤖 Hardware & Robotics
⭐ Editor’s Pick: AI-powered robots are transforming in vitro fertilization by automating precise tasks like sperm selection and embryo culture, boosting pregnancy success rates to 51% in early pilots. (FOX)
Chinese startup Noetix Robotics unveiled Bumi, the world's cheapest humanoid robot at $1,370, a compact 3-foot-tall model designed for educational and home use. (IE)
Macy’s unveiled its largest and most automated warehouse—a $640 million, 2.5 million-square-foot facility in North Carolina. (WSJ)
AgiBot unveiled a new content platform enabling its robots to create and share AI-generated videos and tutorials. (TI)
🚀 Defense & Space
⭐ Editor’s Pick: China unveiled its next five-year economic blueprint, pledging intensified investments in technological self-reliance and advanced manufacturing to fortify its military against escalating U.S. rivalry. (WSJ)
SpaceX broke its own record of 138 orbital launches with its 139th mission for 2025, a Falcon 9 launch that successfully deployed a Hisdesat Spainsat NG-2 communications satellite into orbit. (SP)
European military tech startups, long overlooked by investors, are surging in prominence as regional governments boost defense budgets to counter Russian threats. (WSJ)
💰Venture Capital
⭐ Editor’s Pick: Chainguard has secured $280 million in growth financing from General Catalyst's Customer Value Fund to scale its open-source software protections. (GW)
Enterprise software startup UnifyApps secured $50 million in a Series B funding round led by WestBridge Capital. (ISN)
Fintech startup Clerq raised $21 million to enhance its same-day pay-by-bank platform for high-ticket purchases. (AX)
Vermeer raised $10 million in Series A funding led by Draper Associates to advance its AI-powered drones to navigate GPS-denied environments via camera inputs. (DD)
FREEDOM
📢 Anti-Woke Activist Robby Starbuck Sues Google Over "Outrageously False" Information
(Credit: Robby Starbuck Show)
The Scoop: Conservative activist Robby Starbuck filed a $15 million defamation lawsuit against Google in Delaware Superior Court, accusing its AI tools—including Bard, Gemini, and Gemma—of generating and disseminating "outrageously false" claims against him.
The Details:
Starbuck, known for anti-woke corporate campaigns, alleges Google's AI fabricated accusations of sexual assault, rape, harassment, stalking, drug charges, resisting arrest, murder, Epstein flight involvement, and child sexual assault, reaching an estimated 2.8 million users.
Despite cease-and-desist letters to Google executives, the false outputs persisted, with Starbuck citing the recent Charlie Kirk assassination attempt as heightening risks from such smears.
The suit claims negligence and malice, asserting Google's AI was engineered to target political opponents; Google counters that issues stem from resolved "hallucinations" in LLMs and creative prompting, unable to replicate in current products.
Starbuck previously settled a similar suit against Meta and now consults on its AI bias policies.
What’s Next: The case could set precedents for AI accountability, forcing tech giants to implement stricter safeguards against defamatory outputs and potentially reshaping liability standards for generative AI.
Freedom Roundup
🏛️ Policy & Culture
⭐ Editor’s Pick: Corporate America's DEI backlash is reversing boardroom diversity gains, with white men capturing a majority of new S&P 500 director seats for the first time since 2017. (UT)
The UK government is broadening its Online Safety Act to mandate preemptive cyberflashing, a move critics decry as fostering algorithmic pre-crime censorship. (RTN)
DOJ official Harmeet Dhillon vowed to combat campus antisemitism through targeted FACE Act prosecutions rather than speech codes. (JI)
Trump's AI czar, David Sacks, has lambasted Anthropic for pursuing "backdoor Woke AI" by hiring the Biden administration's AI team. (NB)
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DISCLAIMER: The CAPITAL newsletter is for informational purposes only and does not constitute financial, investment, or professional advice. Readers should conduct their own research and consult a qualified financial advisor before making investment decisions. The CAPITAL newsletter and its owner and operator, Josh Caplan, are not liable for any loss or damage resulting from reliance on this information. The CAPITAL newsletter is solely owned and independently operated by Josh Caplan, separate from any employer affiliations.
