Chapter 1: What are the latest updates on Wall Street and the AI market?
Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Windsor Johnston. Stocks on Wall Street are trading sharply lower this morning, extending Thursday's massive sell-off. NPR's Scott Horsley reports the Dow Jones Industrial Average tumbled more than 500 points in early trading.
Investors are rethinking some of their earlier excitement over the artificial intelligence boom. Both the Dow and the S&P 500 index dropped nearly 1.75 percent on Thursday and while the tech-heavy Nasdaq fell 2.3%. There's also less confidence that the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates again at its next meeting in December.
Walmart shares opened down after the retail giant announced that CEO Doug McMillan will retire early next year. After more than a decade in the job, McMillan will continue to serve as an advisor at Walmart, while the head of the company's U.S. business, John Ferner, takes over as CEO.
Chapter 2: How is the government shutdown impacting federal workers and lawmakers?
Walmart sets to report quarterly earnings next week. Scott Horsley, NPR News, Washington.
Now that the government shutdown is over, lawmakers are bracing for the political fallout. Hundreds of thousands of federal workers are returning to their jobs after missing paychecks, and agencies are scrambling to restart everything from safety inspections to backlogged benefit claims.
One of the six Democrats who voted with House Republicans to fund the government was California Congressman Adam Gray. He says the shutdown went on far too long.
It became pretty clear during this government shutdown the longest U.S. hit. The president and the Republican majority were, you know, really comfortable putting the most vulnerable Americans at risk with the SNAP program and some of these other important funding programs. So it just felt immoral, frankly, to continue with it.
Chapter 3: What are the implications of California's new congressional maps?
Gray says both parties will have to answer for the uncertainty the shutdown caused, especially for families who couldn't afford to wait for lawmakers to resolve their differences. The Department of Justice is joining a lawsuit seeking to overturn California's new congressional maps, which favor Democrats.
The lawsuit came after voters approved Proposition 50 to draw new lines ahead of next year's midterm elections. Guy Maserati from Member Station KQED reports.
The Trump administration is teaming up with the California Republican Party to ask a federal judge to block the new congressional map from taking effect. They argue the Proposition 50 district lines were drawn to unfairly benefit Latino voters, violating the equal protection and voting rights of other Californians.
Governor Gavin Newsom frames Prop 50 as an effort to counter moves by Republicans in Texas, Missouri, North Carolina, and possibly others. Democrats in Virginia have also countered, and other states are considering it. In a statement, a spokesperson for Newsom says Republicans, quote, lost at the ballot box, and soon they will also lose in court. For NPR News, I'm Guy Marzarati in San Francisco.
Chapter 4: How is the use of weight loss medications changing in the U.S.?
This is NPR News in Washington. A new survey shows one in eight adults in the U.S. is currently taking the drug Ozempic, Wegovi, or similar weight loss medications. NPR's Cindy Lepkin reports that's according to the nonpartisan research organization KFF.
The number of adults taking GLP-1 drugs, which include Ozempic, Wegovi, Zephound, and Manjaro, is going up. It went from 6 percent a year and a half ago to 12 percent now. People are taking the drugs for chronic conditions like type 2 diabetes and heart disease, as well as for weight loss. Here's Ashley Kurtzinger, a pollster at KFF.
What was really striking to us is that there wasn't one demographic group that was kind of driving the increase. It looked like there was a pretty steady increase in use across demographic groups.
Chapter 5: What recent changes have been made to tuition policies at Johns Hopkins University?
Although most people taking these drugs say they have some insurance coverage for them, more than half say the drugs are difficult to afford. KFF conducted the poll between October 27th and November 2nd. Sydney Lepkin, NPR News.
Johns Hopkins University says it will no longer charge tuition for undergraduates from families earning up to $200,000 a year. The new program covers students from more than 85 percent of U.S. households and includes tuition and living expenses for families making up to $100,000. The move follows a $1.8 billion gift from alumnus Michael Bloomberg.
Stocks continue to trade sharply lower on Wall Street at this hour. The Dow was down 542 points, the Nasdaq down 113, the S&P 500 also trading lower, down 40 points. This is NPR.