Mortgage rates spiked to their highest level in nearly three years, continuing their climb above the 7% threshold.

🧊 Why it matters: Housing sales were already slow due to a lack of inventory and elevated rates, creating a risk that the market could further its freeze.

Zoom in: The weekly average 30-year fixed mortgage rate was 7.28% as of today, Freddie Mac reported.

• That's up 0.94 points from a year ago, and 0.25 points from last week.
• Mortgage rates closely track 10-year Treasury yields, which have risen by over 1.25 percentage points since the start of the Iran war in February.

📊 The impact: Mortgage applications are plunging.

• The Mortgage Bankers Association reported yesterday that applications during the week ended Sept. 25 fell 6% from a week earlier.
• And with rates at their highest point since November 2023, homebuyers are beginning to turn to adjustable-rate mortgages.
• ARMs made up 10.3% of mortgage applications in the most recent period, marking the highest point since October 2025, according to the MBA.

🏷️ What we're watching: There are early signs that rising rates could put downward pressure on prices as sellers look to attract buyers.

• "Softer market conditions and greater affordability pressures have contributed to increased pricing pressures across many of our markets," KB Home senior VP William Hollinger said last week on an earnings call, noting the home builder had "made pricing adjustments."

🔭 Reality check: Rates may not remain elevated for long.

• Capital Economics projects average 30-year fixed mortgage rates at 6.25% by the end of 2027, as energy prices fall and the Fed raises rates less aggressively than markets currently expect.

Go deeper

Private equity firm Sycamore Partners reportedly is in talks to sell British pharmacy chain Boots to part of the billionaire Weston family for around $9 billion (including debt), Axios' Dan Primack writes.

📊 Why it matters: Sycamore isn't wasting any time breaking up the Walgreens Boots Alliance, believing that it's worth less than the sum of its parts.

Catch up quick: Sycamore gained control of Boots through last year's $24 billion takeover of Walgreens, which previously had acquired Boots from KKR and Stefano Pessina for around $22 billion via a multiyear process.

Go deeper, via the WSJ: "Selling Boots at the price being discussed would be an early win for Sycamore, which is poised to make a sizable return on the sale. It would also allow the firm to focus on reviving Walgreens' U.S. operations."

🚙 General Motors' third-quarter sales declined 5.5% amid a steep falloff in EVs, though the automaker pointed to a strong performance in both SUVs and full-size pickups. Its stock closed up 3%. (WSJ)

🤖 Anthropic is said to be looking to go public as soon as mid-November, with formal marketing of the deal potentially kicking off the week of Nov. 9. (Bloomberg)

💼 Microsoft executive Ryan Roslansky, who led the company's LinkedIn subsidiary from 2020 through April, is leaving at the end of the year. (CNBC)

Jake Paul is back in the ring for another round as a VC. The YouTuber-turned-boxer's venture firm Anti Fund is seeking to raise $400 million for its second fund, according to a regulatory filing, Axios Pro Deals' Ryan Lawler reports.

State of play: The target for Anti Fund II is more than 13 times the size of the firm's first venture fund, which closed less than a year ago.

• The first version of the fund counts firms like OpenAI, Modal and Anduril among its investments.

💭 Nathan's thought bubble: If investing comes as easily to Jake Paul as his fight with Mike Tyson, this should go very well.