Top 5 US news stories
October 8 2025
Homeowners Pounce on Brief Dip in Mortgage Rates
Nationwide Flight Delays Continue Amid Air Traffic Controller Shortages
Private Data Points to Cooling U.S. Labor Market
Gold Surges Past $4,000 for First Time Amid Economic Uncertainty
Nobel Prize in Chemistry Awarded for Development of Metal-Organic Frameworks
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…US GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN ENTERS 8th DAY…
1. Homeowners Pounce on Brief Dip in Mortgage Rates
Blink and you will have missed the recent refinancing boom. The rush to lock in a cheaper mortgage was still a hopeful sign for lenders. A minor move in mortgage rates triggered a strong reaction from borrowers. The cost of a 30-year home loan fell 0.3 percentage point to 6.26% over the three weeks through Sept. 17, which was the lowest rate in 11 months. Refinancing activity jumped 80% over the period, data from the Mortgage Bankers Association show, but fizzled once mortgage rates rose again. Borrowers are moving faster to lock in even small reductions in their housing costs. The financial incentive to refinance was actually higher back in September 2024, when rates fell to 6.08%, but fewer people took action then. They may have been waiting for costs to drop further and wound up frustrated when mortgage rates climbed instead. It has taken almost a year to get another opportunity. What happens next matters not just to mortgage lenders but also the broader economy. Letting borrowers save on monthly payments, or tap equity in their homes, could become a key mechanism through which Federal Reserve interest-rate cuts feed through to support consumer spending.
WSJ
2. Nationwide Flight Delays Continue Amid Air Traffic Controller Shortages
Air traffic staffing shortages were disrupting air travel around the nation Tuesday for a second consecutive day, with delays at airports in Nashville and Chicago. The disruptions came a day after the transportation secretary warned that the government shutdown could lead to delays and cancellations, but neither the cause nor the severity of the shortages was immediately clear. The Federal Aviation Administration said in an advisory that air traffic control facilities in Philadelphia, Las Vegas, Nashville, Chicago, Houston and Boston were short-staffed. The F.A.A. slowed traffic at Nashville International Airport, where a ground stop caused delays of more than two hours, and at O’Hare International Airport in Chicago, where incoming flights were delayed by 40 minutes. In a statement posted online, the Nashville airport said that controllers would rely on radar systems from the airport tower Tuesday night because of “insufficient staffing” and that the en route center in Memphis — more than 200 miles away — would take over approach control later in the evening.
NYT
3. Private Data Point to Cooling U.S. Labor Market
A host of alternative jobs data from Wall Street are pointing in the same direction: The U.S. labor market is losing steam. These numbers are getting more attention while the federal government shutdown keeps the lights off at the Bureau of Labor Statistics, delaying new data in an unsettled time for the jobs market. In the federal data void, Bank of America this week said it is seeing signs of rising unemployment and slowing job growth in its customers’ data. Private-equity company Carlyle Group, extrapolating from companies in which it owns stakes, said Tuesday that it thinks overall U.S. jobs growth slid in September from an already weak official reading in August. Goldman Sachs said its measure of labor-market tightness fell last month back to levels seen in 2015, indicating a tough landscape for job seekers. These follow a report from payroll processor ADP last week that said U.S. employers shed private-sector jobs last month.
WSJ
4. Gold Surges Past $4,000 for First Time Amid Economic Uncertainty
Gold has climbed above $4,000 a troy ounce for the first time, capping a dizzying rally as investors worried about inflation and soaring debt levels pile into the precious metal. Gold hit $4,036 early on Wednesday, extending a rally that has sent prices up more than 50 per cent this year, stoked in recent days by the US government shutdown, which is fuelling appetite for haven assets. The gains have been driven by central banks buying bullion to diversify away from the dollar, as well as by investors who see gold as a hedge against uncertainty. “It’s a historic milestone,” said Alexander Zumpfe, bullion trader at Heraeus. “Demand is being driven not only by central banks and institutional investors, but also by robust physical buying.” Other key landmarks in the gold price have come at time of chaos or uncertainty: it passed $1,000 during the financial crisis, and $2,000 during the Covid-19 pandemic, while the $3,000 threshold was passed in March, just ahead of Donald Trump’s “liberation day” tariffs that sent financial markets into a tailspin.
FT
5. Nobel Prize in Chemistry Awarded for Development of Metal-Organic Frameworks
Susumu Kitagawa, Richard Robson, and Omar M. Yaghi were awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry on Wednesday “for the development of metal-organic frameworks.” The scientists are responsible for developing new, large-scale molecular structures through which gases and other chemicals can flow freely. These structures, known as metal-organic frameworks, have a wide range of uses, including collecting water from air, capturing toxic gases and trapping carbon dioxide. Their experiments, which began in the 1980s, laid the foundation for the development of thousands of other metal-organic structures.
NYT
October 8 1871: Of 37 separate fires that break out on the same day in the Great Lakes region, three are massive. The Great Chicago fire killed 300, the Great Michigan fire 300-500, and the Wisconsin Peshtigo fire—history's deadliest—killed least 1,200.
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Sources
- https://www.wsj.com/economy/housing/homeowners-are-pouncing-on-the-tiniest-drop-in-mortgage-rates-2f66f72d?mod=hp_lead_pos3
- https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/07/us/politics/air-traffic-control-government-shutdown.html
- https://www.wsj.com/economy/jobs/the-unofficial-jobs-numbers-are-in-and-its-rough-out-there-3518e239?mod=hp_lead_pos4
- https://www.ft.com/content/ed7f86e8-d12a-4c0a-a7d6-8400bfde6140
- https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/08/science/nobel-prize-chemistry.html
