Axios

Unions are facing a conundrum: They like the demand for data center construction because it brings trade work, but they don't like that AI might replace other jobs.

Why it matters: The mixed feelings have led to a split in Big Labor: Trade unions back data centers, while groups like the Teamsters advocate policies to restrict AI.

A powerful backlash against AI and data centers has been building for months, fueling local moratoriums and political opposition, but also fears that the $10 trillion infrastructure buildout could hit a wall.

Why it matters: The stakes extend far beyond the U.S. Any backlash that slows the AI boom could have global consequences, with the futures of politicians, economies and nations increasingly tied to the race for technological supremacy.

Billions of dollars in planned data center construction hang in the balance as the midterms approach — and investors are closely watching a few key races in states where projects are planned but construction has not yet started.

Why it matters: If elections don't go Wall Street's way, you could see restrictions that disrupt key projects and, more broadly, rattle the AI trade currently driving the stock market and helping power the U.S. economy.

Homeowners were nearly twice as likely as renters to have an electric vehicle in 2025, new Census data show, revealing a striking divide in America's shift to electric cars.

Why it matters: Homeownership is just one factor in EV adoption, but reliable access to charging is critical — giving homeowners with private driveways or garages an advantage over renters, particularly those in multifamily buildings.

SEATTLE — Business and education leaders said AI is reducing routine early-career tasks, challenging employers to reimagine how workers gain substantive experience and advance in their fields.

Why it matters: Business leaders are betting that the technology could create new workforce opportunities, even as concerns about AI reducing jobs persist.

Axios' Nathan Bomey and Melissa Santos spoke with Microsoft corporate vice president of AI and Work Transformation Katy George and Technology Alliance CEO Laura Ruderman. The Oct. 28 event was sponsored by Western Governors University.

What they're saying: "I think all workforces need to be transformed, and, more importantly, the way we work, the way our business processes run, the way we make decisions, the way that we protect our infrastructure," George said. "All of that is changing with AI."

• George discussed how AI integration at Microsoft automates traditional "grunt work."
• "What we can do instead is to redesign the early career to, frankly, make them more interesting jobs," George said. "But it requires [entry-level workers] to actually level up in terms of judgment and perspective much faster."

Yes, but: Microsoft is reportedly offering voluntary employee buyouts to about 60,000 employees, or a quarter of its global workforce.

• George contended the company is also hiring and argued that AI implementation at Microsoft is "doing far more strategically in terms of driving growth and innovation and risk reduction, and actually creating new opportunities for people."

State of play: Ruderman said schools and training programs are emphasizing different skill sets due to AI's proliferation.

• "I hear a lot from educators now that critical thinking and all of those soft skills are coming back into vogue."

Content from the sponsor's segment:

In a View From the Top conversation, Western Governors University senior vice president and executive dean for the School of Technology Paul Bingham described how the school is preparing students for the workforce while being mindful of AI's impact:

• "The way that we're preparing is to infuse the AI skill sets into all of our legacy programs of computer science and cybersecurity, data analytics, cloud and network engineering," Bingham said.

The proposed $85 billion merger between railroads Union Pacific and Norfolk Southern has become an issue in Nebraska's Senate race.

The big picture: Independent candidate Dan Osborn, a union steamfitter whom polls show has a chance at unseating Pete Ricketts (R-Neb.), has argued that deal risks worker safety and would increase costs.

France's economy unexpectedly contracted in the third quarter, extending a year of stagnation amid political turmoil.

By the numbers: Europe's second-largest economy shrank 0.1% last quarter, after stagnating in the second quarter and contracting 0.2% in the first.

• The broader eurozone grew 0.4%, twice the rate economists expected.

One of the great economic puzzles of 2026 has been this: If the labor market is so strong, why has wage growth been so weak? New data points to health care as a major culprit.

The big picture: Employers' overall spending on worker compensation has continued rising at the same steady clip as last year — but more of that spending is going to employee health benefits, leaving less for wages and salaries.

Grocery giants Albertsons and Kroger on Friday are scheduled to wrap witness testimony in a Delaware Chancery Court trial over their failed mega-merger.

Why it matters: Deal lawyers are paying close attention to the outcome.

Here's a scary truth: The housing market is haunted. Home sales are anemic, yet prices are still high, and homebuilders say it's hard getting people out to even look at places.

Why it matters: For a long time, the residential real estate market was a crucial economic engine in the U.S., and homeownership the backbone of the American dream and wealth building.

• Now, not so much.

Where it stands: The average rate on the 30-year mortgage is 7.24%, up from just under 6% at the start of the Iran war — that put the kibosh on what had been a tentative thaw in the frozen sector.

• With rates that high, a lot of folks — particularly younger first-time buyers — can't afford the monthly payments. In September, 14.5% of pending home sales fell out of contract, per Redfin, the highest share outside the early pandemic.
• Traffic of prospective buyers to new homes fell to its lowest level since 2012 this month, according to a survey of homebuilders from the National Association of Home Builders.

The big picture: This is a situation years in the making. After the financial crisis in 2008, the Federal Reserve kept interest rates ultra-low, which meant low mortgage rates for buyers.

• Perhaps, perversely, that helped drive up home prices — you can afford to pay more when your mortgage rate is low.
• Home prices exploded, culminating in around a 40% increase during the 2021 and 2022 buying frenzy.

State of play: But now, home prices are still high — they haven't adjusted down as mortgage rates have gone back up.

Catch up quick: The previous era's low mortgage rates — an average of 4.15% from 2008-2021 — were an anomaly.

• "Consequently, there is little reason to believe that mortgage rates will fall much below 7.0% in the months or even years ahead, in the absence of a recession," David Kelly, chief global strategist at JPMorgan Asset Management, wrote in a note titled, yes, "Haunted Housing."

Zoom in: The market is "haunted by the legacy of too-easy monetary policy for well over a decade, which allowed prices to vault higher in the post-pandemic boom," he wrote.

• Tariffs and immigration policies are also taking a toll, Kelly said. The former is driving up prices for materials used to build homes, and the latter is driving up labor costs to build.

Zoom out: The situation is increasingly putting homeownership out of reach for young adults — the homeownership rate for that group, which had bounced back from its post-pandemic low, has fallen back some in recent years.

• Kelly says this is the scariest chart of all:

The bottom line: The housing market is more trick than treat lately.

It's natural to be jumpy this time of year, with armies of undead pedestrians hitting the streets Saturday in search of moist human brain — and Skittles.

• To add to the mood, here are some of the charts we've seen recently that have made the hair on our arms stand up.

Why it matters: After weeks of wobbling sideways, the markets seem to be at a crossroads amid real questions about the durability of the AI trade and the economic boom that backs it.

• Were the AI boom to suddenly turn to bust, it could have scary implications for the economy — investment in data centers is supercharging GDP — the markets and the finances of investors.

The big picture: The stock market has become increasingly AI-pilled, with tech stocks and hyperscalers now accounting for more than half the capitalization of the S&P 500. This is higher even than during the dot-com-driven market boom that peaked in early 2000 before the market crashed.

Context: American households are long in the market, as they've never been before.

Zoom in: At the same time, there are real questions emerging about the durability of the AI boom.

• For instance, prices for tokens — the main measure of AI computing power usage — are tumbling. That's not something you typically see in a market where demand is off the charts, which AI insiders claim.

Between the lines: Falling prices don't mean sales won't go up. (If you boost volumes because of lower prices, you can still make more revenue.)

• But it will sure make it harder to generate the revenue to pay off the massive amounts of debt that tech companies have sunk into AI.
• The market is increasingly scrutinizing companies considered the weakest financial links in the AI ecosystem.

Case in point: The corporate bond market sharply repriced the interest rates it thinks CoreWeave should pay in recent weeks, pushing them to nearly 16% at times.

Yes, but: CoreWeave, some might say, is a heavily indebted player unrepresentative of the giant hyperscalers who are really driving the boom.

• That's true. But even the tech behemoths are seeing their borrowing and spending binge start to impinge on their once mighty cash flows.

What to watch: The continuing rush to the capital markets, with Meta and Microsoft announcing multibillion-dollar offerings just this week.

Fun fact: Massive borrowing binges — especially in the bond market — alongside surging asset prices are one of the few phenomena that academics have found to have a bit of predictive power when it comes to market crashes.

The bottom line: We hope these charts don't keep you up at night.

• Nobody knows when — or if — a crash will hit.
• 🎃 Happy Halloween! 👻

Thursday was a day that will live in infamy for Alphabet shareholders, as the stock plunged 12.6%, vaporizing more than half a trillion dollars in value.

Why it matters: The massive one-day loss shows how AI continues to cause violent bouts of uncertainty throughout the markets, even for giants like Alphabet that have been considered big winners of the AI buildout.

Americans are optimistic AI will grow the economy — but not that it will create jobs in the process, per the first release of the new Axios-CivicScience AI Sentiment Index out Friday.

Why it matters: The AI boom is often criticized as a jobless one, which may explain why sentiment continues to run so negative on what is otherwise such a transformative technology.

Because we weren't going to change who we were once we had kids, my travel-loving husband and I insisted on bringing our toddler on a very adult trip to Portugal and Italy this summer.

• Think: museum visits, Airbnbs, history tours and restaurant reservations.

Why it matters: Of course, traveling with a toddler changed the pace of the trip.

Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva's reelection carries consequences far beyond Brazil's borders.

Why it matters: Lula faces challenges including strained relations with the U.S. over trade and the Bolsonaro family as he pursues an ambitious climate agenda that includes a commitment to ending Amazon deforestation.