Aging Population
More than 4 million boomers will hit 80 in the next five years, and occupancy at both active adult and assisted living communities is already rising fast. This comes as annual inventory growth in senior housing just dropped below 1%, the first time that’s happened since the National Investment Center for Seniors Housing and Care began tracking the metric in 2006. Read more here
America is aging, and it’s not ready, according to new research. With the country getting older, researchers at Northeastern University set out to investigate whether access to essential services like grocery stores, health care, and housing are equally accessible for America’s aging population. In a new paper, they not only found disparities in access but, more worryingly, a gap in infrastructure and policy to help America’s aging population now and in the future. Read more here
Artificial Intelligence
The widespread adoption of artificial intelligence could add up to $16 trillion to the value of the US stock market, according to a leading Wall Street investment bank. Morgan Stanley said in a major study that it was “fundamentally bullish” about the economic gains from wide-scale adoption of AI technology and its impact on employment, productivity and market valuation of firms. The bank estimated that AI had the potential to add almost 30 per cent to the long-term valuation of the S&P 500 — a benchmark of America’s largest companies — worth about $13 billion to $16 billion. “Corporate adoption of AI has the capacity to reshape the future of work. Our analysis suggests S&P 500 companies could accrue annual net benefits totalling some $920 billion,” Stephen Byrd, equity strategist at Morgan Stanley, said. “AI is more than a tool for efficiency. It’s a transformative force that could unlock entirely new sources of growth, productivity, and innovation.” Read more here
A new global survey from Generation, the employment nonprofit that trains and places people into meaningful careers, reveals how entry-level workers are rapidly adopting AI tools – while also exposing some divides between those confidently using AI and those not yet there… Entry-level employees are using AI for a broad range of tasks. In the tech sector, for example, 67% of respondents use AI for multiple functions – including learning (61%), content creation (49%), and administrative tasks (44%). In customer service and sales, content creation (43%) and learning (35%) are the top uses. Read more here
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has announced the launch of a new Artificial Intelligence (AI) Task Force aimed at advancing innovation and operational efficiency through the responsible use of AI. Valerie Szczepanik, SEC’s recently appointed Chief AI Officer, will lead the initiative. Read more here
Cash-Strapped Consumer
“Consumers are showing resilience despite a cautious mood,” said Phil Rist, EVP-Strategic Initiatives, Prosper Insights & Analytics. “As they manage their budgets carefully, merchants can expect a value-driven shopper who is selective but willing to spend where it matters most.” Read more here
Twenty-two percent of all consumers, and 31% of paycheck-to-paycheck consumers, were unable to purchase food items because they were out of stock or no longer sold in the U.S. Read more here
Cybersecurity, Data Privacy & Digital Identity
Google has 1.8 billion Gmail users worldwide, and the company recently issued a major warning to all of those users about a "new wave of threats" to cybersecurity, given the advancements in artificial intelligence. Read more here
This summer, Russia’s hackers put a new twist on the barrage of phishing emails sent to Ukrainians. The hackers included an attachment containing an artificial intelligence program. If installed, it would automatically search the victims’ computers for sensitive files to send back to Moscow. Read more here
Orange Belgium, a subsidiary of telecommunications giant Orange Group, disclosed on Wednesday that attackers who breached its systems in July have stolen the data of approximately 850,000 customers. Read more here
Human resources giant Workday has disclosed a data breach after attackers gained access to a third-party customer relationship management (CRM) platform in a recent social engineering attack. Read more here
Digital Infrastructure
Vantage Data Centers is expanding in Texas with a new gigawatt-scale campus outside Abilene. The company this week announced plans to develop a 1.4GW data center campus in Shackelford County, Texas. Situated on 1,200 acres, Vantage’s Frontier campus is set to be the largest across its global portfolio, with the project set to be its biggest investment to date, totaling more than $25 billion. Read more here
In the same conversation, he said in comments first reported by Bloomberg: “You should expect OpenAI to spend trillions of dollars on infrastructure in the not very distant future. And you should expect a bunch of economists to say, ‘This is so crazy, it’s so reckless, and whatever.' And we’ll just be like, ‘You know what? Let us do our thing.’” Read more here
OpenAI finance chief Sarah Friar said Wednesday that even with the company hitting revenue milestones, it faces ongoing pressures from artificial intelligence compute demands… “Our bet is, our demand is going to keep growing, our training needs are going to keep going, and we will spend maybe more aggressively than any company who’s ever spent on anything ahead of progress,” Read more here
Guilty Pleasure
She and many others in Generation Z have embraced “treat culture,” the habit of indulging in small luxuries, like a $12 jumbo-size coffee, a $5 baked dessert or a $30 key-ring doll called the Labubu, to reward themselves or practice self-care, even if the treats are outside their budgets. Although many Gen Z-ers do not feel financially secure, more than half say they buy themselves a small treat at least once a week, according to a new survey of nearly 1,000 Gen Z adults from Bank of America’s Better Money Habits team. Read more here
Homebuilding & Materials
A downbeat outlook on the US housing market from James Hardie Industries Plc sent shares of the building materials producer tumbling the most in five decades, the latest sign of caution around a pillar of the world’s largest economy. Read more here
Demand for homes can also tell us about demand for mortgages. Mortgage rates have been ticking down in recent weeks from about 6.8% a month ago for a 30-year fixed to around 6.6% today. But that hasn’t caused demand for home loans to surge. Mortgage rates have come down, but not that much… The vast majority of homeowners are sitting on mortgages with rates well below where they are right now, he said. “And that means that most of them will still experience the ‘lock-in effect’ or the financial penalty if they were to move.” Read more here
Nuclear Energy & Uranium
Investor-owned U.S. electric utilities will invest more than $1.1 trillion in the 2025-2029 period, marking a rapid increase in capital expenditures as the sector rushes to meet growing power demand, according to a Wednesday report from the Edison Electric Institute. Read more here
Higher demand is the principal reason for higher energy costs for New Jerseyans, Christine Guhl-Sadovy, president of the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities, said when addressing a joint meeting of the Senate and Assembly Environment committees in Point Pleasant borough Thursday. “The primary driver is data centers and the development of AI. In fact, PJM notes that 30 of the 32 gigawatts of anticipated new load in the PJM region by 2030 is driven by data centers,” Read more here
Safety & Security
The Philippine government has proposed a 2026 defence budget of PHP299.3 billion (USD5.2 billion), the third successive year of double-digit growth amid growing tensions with China. Read more here
As Europe prepares for a decade-long arms shopping spree to rebuild neglected militaries and narrow the gap with US firepower, its spending choices will shape the continent’s industrial base for years to come… European allies are splitting along a spectrum, from those leaning heavily on US weapons to those insisting on buying European, with each path offering both short-term fixes and longer-term strategic bets. Read more here
Taiwan plans to boost defence spending by a fifth next year, surpassing 3% of gross domestic product, as it invests billions more in new equipment to better face down China and convince the United States it takes seriously calls to bolster its military. Read more here
While drones have become well-established tools in public safety operations—particularly for emergency response and law enforcement—their utility in government operations is rapidly expanding into diverse and impactful areas. These include infrastructure inspection, land surveying, environmental monitoring, traffic management, and even public communication during events. Read more here
Carlsbad police are testing first-responder drones and could be the next city in San Diego County to adopt the program… A drone can be hovering over a site, transmitting video several minutes before officers arrive. Sometimes, the eye in the sky will show that no officer is needed, saving time and resources for more important calls. Read more here
The Oceanside Police Department officially launched its Drone as First Responder pilot program, according to a press release from the agency on Monday. This program aims to improve response times, enhance officer safety and provide a real-time situation awareness during the calls for service. Read more here
