Republican Nate Sheets, backed by Gov. Greg Abbott, and Democrat Clayton Tucker are competing for Texas agriculture commissioner, a race closer than expected in a Republican-leaning state, to succeed Sid Miller after his 12-year tenure. The agency oversees a $1.8 billion two-year budget covering farm aid, rural infrastructure, school lunches, SNAP, WIC and rural hospitals. Sheets, also a fifth-generation Texan, wants to make farming profitable again and remove harsh chemicals from food, while Tucker wants to stop data center companies from draining Texas resources and break up monopolies such as Tyson Foods and John Deere. If Tucker wins, he would be the first Democrat to hold the post since 1991.
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Investment in data centers, put at $10.3 trillion, is now the largest financial bet in US history, surpassing the late 1800s railroad boom in both scale and economic impact. A Columbia Business School report estimates the buildout's economic effect at nearly 4% of GDP, compared with more than 2% for railroads, which cost about $173 billion in today's dollars. Texas, Virginia, Ohio and Georgia lead projected spending, and some states are rethinking tax breaks as revenues shrink and energy demand rises. Data center construction value has more than doubled to $85 billion a year while other construction fell 8%, and economist Paul Krugman warns this crowds out housing and jobs. The article also notes that AI profitability has yet to catch up with the spending.
- Data Centers, Aerospace, and Machined Parts: This Company's Earnings Just Made the Bull Case for U.S. Industrials
Fastenal, an industrial supplier whose short-cycle sales act as a read on current demand, reported daily sales growth of 20.2% year over year in heavy manufacturing, 13.2% in other manufacturing and 12.3% in all other end markets. The Institute for Supply Management's PMI showed solid U.S. manufacturing expansion every month of 2026, after nearly all of 2023 to 2025 in contraction. On its third-quarter call, management said machined products, aerospace and industrial equipment were strong, with data centers showing the strongest growth, while nonresidential construction kept growing though more slowly than in an unusually strong second quarter. Traditional manufacturing and automotive were relatively weaker, and agriculture and food were the weakest areas. The article reads this as broad-based industrial strength and suggests GE Aerospace, RTX, Illinois Tool Works, Rockwell Automation and Comfort Systems USA could report good quarters.
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Song Da Cao Cuong (SCL) reported Q3/2026 profit of VND 38 billion, up 136%, on net revenue of over VND 263 billion (up nearly 98%), while gross profit margin rose from about 36% to 41%. For the first nine months, revenue reached nearly VND 666 billion (up 81%) and after-tax profit nearly VND 94 billion, already exceeding more than 110% of its full-year profit target. Chairman Kieu Van Mat attributed the results to technology upgrades, production line optimization and capacity expansion, with several new plants expected to start operations by November 2026. The company said it spent more than two years testing its products before Vingroup accepted them; Vingroup's share of its business has fallen to about 25% as customers expanded to around 10 major groups and exports began to Laos, Cambodia and the Philippines. Over the past two years, the company has invested about VND 1,000 billion in factories and technology.
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- Asian shares mostly decline after AI stocks lead a rebound on Wall Street
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- Asian shares mostly decline after AI stocks lead a rebound on Wall Street
Asian shares mostly fell in cautious trading Tuesday after AI-related stocks rebounded on Wall Street, while other sectors stayed shaky and oil prices remained high. Japan's Nikkei 225 slipped 0.6% to 64,512.35, Australia's S&P/ASX 200 lost 0.8% to 8,772.10, and South Korea's Kospi dropped 2.8% to 5,605.31. On Wall Street, the S&P 500 rose 0.4% and the Nasdaq rallied 1.1%, helped by Nvidia, while the Dow fell 0.1%. The 10-year Treasury yield climbed to 5.14%, and U.S. crude rose 0.15% to $103.50 a barrel as uncertainty over the war with Iran kept oil prices elevated.
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X-Energy (NasdaqGS:XE), American Electric Power and Amazon agreed to assess a 960 MW advanced nuclear project in Indiana using Xe-100 reactors, on a former coal plant site. Under the joint development agreement, Amazon would provide development funding and commit to a long-term power purchase. The article says the deal offers commercial validation for X-Energy's reactor platform rather than immediate financial relief, as the company, with a $4.3b market cap, reported $150.28 million in revenue, a $448.87 million loss, and a 20.2x price-to-sales ratio. The next key milestone is whether the study reaches a final investment decision for the Sullivan County site.
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