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Modal Labs (US) raised $750M led by Accel at a $15.75B valuation for AI cloud infrastructure.

How do heavily indebted countries actually get out from under their debts? A short walkthrough of currency debasement as the long-term cycle's typical endgame - why governments choose inflation over deflation or default, how reserve currencies buy themselves extra time, and why every debasement quietly transfers wealth from savers to borrowers.

Soufflé Therapeutics (Boston) closed a $135M Series B led by Juvia Group. It is developing RNA medicines delivered outside the liver, including for muscular dystrophy and heart failure.

Why do recessions look so different from one another? A short walkthrough of the three kinds of economic shocks - supply, demand, and financial - how each one moves output and prices in opposite directions, why supply shocks corner central banks into stagflation, and what the 1973 oil crisis, 2008, and COVID-19 actually had in common.

EFY Finance raised a seed round backed by Tether for stablecoin-based cross-border payments in Latin America.

Why do economies sometimes boom or freeze without any change in fundamentals? A short walkthrough of the role of trust and confidence - how optimism becomes a self-reinforcing engine of spending and credit, why "animal spirits" can decouple markets from reality, and why rebuilding confidence after a crisis takes years even when the numbers have already recovered.

China sanctioned Paraguay's Gustavo Villate and Belize's Francis Fonseca over Taiwan ties, a first against serving allied ministers, raising cross-strait tensions.

Iran rejected Washington's latest ceasefire proposal as Trump signaled renewed strikes after the Nov. 3 midterms, with 12 ships hit near Hormuz in a week.

How do you read the health of any economy in five numbers? A short walkthrough of the five-pillar framework - production, debt, consumption, confidence, and currency - that diagnoses economies as different as ancient Rome, 1970s Britain, 2010s Japan, and today's emerging markets using the same handful of vital signs.

Clueso (US and Bengaluru, YC-backed) raised a $10M Series A for AI that automates product tutorial and training videos.

NY Fed's John Williams says one more Fed rate hike is likely appropriate in late 2026 but none is needed in 2027, a view that diverges from market pricing.

Astribot (Shenzhen) raised about $149M for cable-driven humanoid robots with embodied AI.

Why don't farmers get paid the futures price when they sell their crop? The answer is basis - the gap between the futures contract price and the local spot price. A short walkthrough of cost-of-carry mechanics, how basis shifts from negative at harvest to positive pre-harvest, why farmers hedge at 'futures minus basis', and how the delivery mechanism keeps the two prices tethered together at expiration.