Welcome to Staten News, where everything got more expensive except the stuff that was supposed to.
One thread ran through all four desks this week: pricing power. Carnival raised prices through $100 oil, Google launched its laptops at the premium end, sealed Pokémon boxes trade at 5x retail, and Xbox started charging for cloud hours. The cheap version of everything is disappearing.
💰 Finance
Payrolls rose just 29,000 in September against expectations near 80,000, and unemployment ticked up to 4.2%.
Stocks rallied Friday on Fed-relief hopes. The S&P 500 gained 0.7% and the Nasdaq jumped 1.2% to a record close.
The 10-year Treasury yield kept pushing toward 5.3% anyway, with Brent crude still above $102.
Carnival (CCL) was last week's winner at +15.8% after a record $8.44 billion quarter that absorbed about $150 million in extra fuel costs.
Fair Isaac (FICO) was the loser at -23% after the FHFA put VantageScore next to FICO in mortgage pricing.
This week's calls: Delta (DAL) to gain on Friday's earnings, Constellation Brands (STZ) to slide on Tuesday's.
Wednesday's FOMC minutes are the real event before September CPI lands October 14.
⚾🏈 Sports
Drew Rasmussen took a no-hitter into the eighth and the Rays beat the Yankees 1-0 in ALDS Game 1. Game 2 is tonight at 8 p.m. ET.
Two days earlier, the Yankees finished sweeping Boston 9-0 and 9-2, with Ben Rice driving in six in the opener.
The White Sox won their first playoff series since 2005, then shut out Cleveland 3-0 in Game 1.
Milwaukee leads San Diego 2-0. The Dodgers and Braves are tied 1-1.
Kansas City, Minnesota, and San Francisco are the NFL's last unbeaten teams at 4-0.
The Giants moved to 3-1 behind a 98-yard Deonte Banks pick-six against Arizona. The Jets fell to 1-3 in Chicago.
Lamar Jackson left Baltimore's win with a sprained left ankle and is reportedly day-to-day.
💻 Tech
Googlebooks went on sale in the US on Sunday: five Android-powered laptops from $899 (Acer) to $1,299 (Asus, HP).
Google's announced prices for the Lenovo and Dell models ran $200 higher than what retailers actually charged.
Two of the five run Snapdragon X Elite with Gemini built in, which lands right on top of Windows on Arm.
OpenAI's Dots agents each get their own cloud computer and plug into 4,000+ apps, starting with Pro and Business Premium users.
GPT-6.1 Sol costs $2 per million input tokens and $10 per million output, against Astra's $10 and $50.
Xbox Cloud Gaming caps start in November: 5, 10, and 15 hours a month depending on tier.
Bloomberg says Apple plans to unveil HomePad on October 13. No event is confirmed yet.
🃏 TCG
The 30th Celebration Classic Collection fell 32.7% in seven days, per PokemonWizard.
Crystal Lugia slid from $280 on September 24 to $218.18, and Gengar Prime dropped from $79 to $55.09.
English 30th Celebration sealed is holding firm: Pokémon Center ETB at $308.89 (5.2x MSRP), UPC Night at $722.03 (4.0x).
SIRs hit at 5.24%, which works out to roughly $86 in packs per SIR at Booster Bundle pricing.
The Mewtwo ex Futuristic Rare sits at $55.05 raw after opening near $1,000.
Our predicted gainer is the Japanese Mega Rayquaza ex Mega Ultra Rare, now $543.81 raw, about 70% below its launch week.
Delta Reign prereleases start October 24, and the set hits shelves November 6.
Stay sharp. Signal over noise. — The Bandicoots 🔥