Good morning. On today’s docket:

• 📈 The UAW strike keeps escalating
• 🛢️ US oil is making a resurgence
• 🍟 McDonald’s is launching “Free Fries Fridays”

… and more.

🚀⏰ Ready, Set, Go: Today’s news should be about a 5.03-minute read.

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"It is your attitude, not your aptitude, that determines your altitude."

–Hilary "Zig" Ziglar (1926-2012)

Yesterday, the UAW expanded its strike to a Stellantis pickup truck plant in Michigan, one of the company’s most profitable locations. This latest walkout of ~6,800 workers brings the total number of UAW-represented on strike at the Big Three Detroit automakers to more than 40,000, per the union.

The sticking points: Generally speaking, negotiations have been like a car in neutral on a slightly declined street – inching forward. Stellantis made its latest offer Thursday, which included 23% wage increases, a nearly 50% increase in company contributions to retirement plans, and other enhanced benefits.

The walkout of some of its workers comes days after UAW President Shawn Fain told members the car companies have made some progress in meeting the union’s demands, but he still believes the UAW can get more. Both GM and Ford also are offering 23% wage increases, per Fain.

• Workers were initially seeking an across-the-board wage increase of 36%, the restoration of traditional pension plans, and a 32-hour week with 40 hours of pay, among other things.
• But the Big Three have strongly pushed back on these demands. They’re in the midst of a costly EV transition and hoping to close a cost gap between them and competitors – including Toyota and Tesla – that don’t pay union wages.

Behind the union’s strategy: Rather than push all their chips to the center of the table and call an all-out walkout at one company, the UAW has been gradually expanding the strike at some of the Big Three’s most-profitable factories. This simultaneously impacts the automakers’ bottom lines while also preserving a fund to pay workers on the picket line.

👀 Looking ahead… The latest estimates indicate these strikes have cost the economy ~$9.3 billion, though consumers and dealerships have been largely spared so far. We’ll get more of a window into the economic toll this week, with Q3 earnings due from both GM (today) and Ford (Thursday).

🇹🇷 Uber is offering hot air balloon rides over Turkey as part of a global push into tourism. Local residents and visitors can pay $159 for a one-and-a-half-hour sunrise flight over UNESCO-listed volcanic landscapes in central Turkey, which has become one of Uber’s fastest-growing markets in recent years. The launch is part of Uber’s global expansion strategy centered around tourism, with other services including boat rentals in Greece, flight bookings in the UK, and tuk-tuk rides in India.

💥 Israel-Hamas war update: Israel’s military continues to carry out airstrikes targeting the Gaza Strip, with officials saying 320+ locations were hit over the 24-hour period ending yesterday morning. Hamas officials say the overnight bombing brought the Palestinian death toll above 5,000, a figure that couldn't be independently verified. More than 1,400 people in Israel have died since Hamas’s surprise attack on October 7, and around 220 Israelis are being held hostage by Hamas, per the latest national figures. Hamas released two more civilian hostages yesterday after setting two others free over the weekend, though talks over the release of 50 additional hostages broke down after Israel refused Hamas’ demand to allow fuel deliveries into Gaza.

🇻🇪 Venezuelans are attempting to cross the US’ southern border in spades. Arrests of Venezuelans on the US-Mexico border more than doubled between August and September to reach ~55,000/month, taking the top spot among all nationalities for the first time on record. Venezuela's refusal to accept US deportations and Mexico's decision to only accept a limited number of Venezuelans means most migrants are released into the US from Border Patrol custody. Separately, the Biden administration recently announced temporary legal status for nearly 500,000 Venezuelans who were already in the US as of July 31.

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Chevron has agreed to buy Hess in an all-stock deal worth $53 billion, the latest example of consolidation in the US oil and gas industry.

Driving the move… The prize jewel of the deal for Chevron is Hess’s ~30% share of the estimated 11 billion barrels of oil and gas found off the shores of Guyana, a South American country bordering Venezuela.

• The country’s oil production has ramped up like a halfpipe, going from nothing in 2019 to 400,000 barrels/day. And it’s not expected to stop there. The partners plan to be pumping 1.2 million barrels/day by 2027, making it one of the world’s fastest-ever oil developments and creating a projected $180 billion in market value for the companies involved in the consortium.

At the same time, US oil is making a resurgence. The Department of Energy announced on October 12 that American crude oil production had hit an all-time high of 13.2 million barrels/day.

Big picture: The Chevron/Hess deal comes on the heels of Exxon Mobil’s ~$60 billion acquisition of Pioneer Natural, both deals being made possible by huge profits from strong energy prices and demand since Russia's invasion of Ukraine. It also follows a recent prediction by the International Energy Agency that fossil-fuel demand globally would reach its peak this decade.

New peer-reviewed research is challenging the popular belief that men were the hunters and women were the gatherers in ancient times.

In recent months, scientists from Notre Dame and the University of Delaware conducted a review of existing archaeological evidence on the division of labor in societies during the Paleolithic era, a period between 2.5 million and 12,000 years ago. They discovered the skeletal remains of Neanderthals and other early human relatives showed no difference in trauma patterns between men and women, indicating both genders participated in the same activities throughout their lives.

🤔 What about biological differences?... The scientists found current research indicates men (generally speaking) have an advantage in activities requiring speed and power, such as sprinting and throwing – but women are better suited metabolically for endurance activities like long-distance running, largely due to higher levels of estrogen.

• And since both sets of activities were essential to hunting in ancient times, the study concluded women likely played an important role in hunting alongside men in early human societies.

There are also more recent examples. A June peer-reviewed study examining the practices of foraging societies across the globe over the past century found 79% of such cultures feature women hunters, who participate regardless of their child-bearing status.

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💬 Quoted… “Free Fries Fridays.”

• On every Friday through the rest of this year, McDonald’s is giving away free medium-sized french fries with a purchase of $1 or more through its app. Customers can score a collective ~2.5 pounds of free fries across the ten remaining Fridays in 2023, with the offer ending just in time for New Year’s resolutions (thankfully🙌).

🪙 Stat of the Day: Just when you thought it was done – crypto craziness rears its head again. Haycoin, a cryptocurrency never intended to hold any monetary value, is currently trading at $3.5 million per coin, or over 100x higher than the price of bitcoin. The recent jump in price came after Haycoin creator Hayden Adams burned 99.99% of all Haycoins on Saturday – collectively “worth” $650 billion – to separate himself from what he called "silly" speculation around the 0.01% of coins outside of his wallet (56 in total).

🤔 Did You Know?... The Michelin tire company began its now-famous restaurant guide (aka Michelin star ratings) so people would drive more and wear out their tires.

📰 Worth a Read: In Japan, people choose where to pay taxes based on thank-you gifts → (WSJ)

• ☝️ Nikon announced the winners of its 2023 Small World photomicrography competition, which include a close-up of a rat’s eye (top left) and the scales of a Chinese moth (bottom right).

BUSINESS & MARKETS

in partnership with The Average Joe

• 💰 US markets closed mixed (S&P: -0.2%; Dow: -0.6%; Nasdaq: +0.3%).
• 🍏🤖 Apple is planning to spend $1 billion/year to develop its own generative AI products, per a new Bloomberg report, which also says the company plans to integrate AI into Siri, Messages, and Apple Music.
• 📝 Tesla is facing multiple DOJ investigations, the EV-maker disclosed in an SEC filing yesterday.

*From our partners: 🗞️💰 Do you like money? Do you like things to-the-point and easy-to-understand? The Average Joe’s free investing newsletters are filled with market trends and insights anyone can understand. Get the free newsletter (join 220,000+ investors).

SPORTS, MEDIA & ENTERTAINMENT

• 💑📱 Tinder added a new matchmaking feature that gives users’ friends and family members the ability to recommend potential matches within the app.
• 🎮📉 Faze Clan, a video-game-influencer company worth $725 million at the time of its SPAC acquisition last summer, has reportedly been purchased by GameSquare for $17 million.
• ⚾ MLB Playoffs: The Rangers beat the Astros 11-4 to advance to the World Series; in the NL, the Diamondbacks beat the Phillies 5-1 to force a deciding Game 7 tonight. | 🏈 Monday Night Football: The Vikings upset the 49ers by a score of 22-17 behind two receiving touchdowns from WR Jordan Addison.

SCIENCE, SPACE & EMERGING TECH

in partnership with Meowtel

• 🌕 The Moon may be 40 million years older than previously thought (4.46 billion years old vs. 4.42 billion), per a new analysis of lunar samples brought back by NASA’s Apollo 17 mission in 1972.
• 🎗️ A new approach to treating cervical cancer lowers the risk of death or recurring illness by 35%, according to new research presented at the ongoing ESMO medical conference in Madrid.
• 🌎 The Earth’s core could be slowly leaking helium that was initially trapped there billions of years ago when our planet first formed, per a new peer-reviewed study published in Nature.

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MISCELLANEOUS

• ✈️ An off-duty pilot was charged with 83 counts of attempted murder for allegedly trying to shut down the engines of an Alaska Airlines flight en route from Washington state to San Francisco on Sunday.
• 🏛️ Sen. Bob Menendez (D-NJ) pleaded not guilty to federal charges accusing him of conspiring to act as a foreign agent on behalf of the Egyptian government.
• 🗳️ House Republicans heard speeches yesterday from eight lawmakers vying to become the next Speaker of the House; internal voting on the GOP candidates is scheduled for later today. (From the Left | From the Center | From the Right)

CLICKBAIT

• ⚽ Soccer goalkeepers literally see and hear the world differently.

Yesterday, we covered the US government’s approach to the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas, which entered its third week on Saturday.

❓ Our question to you: In your opinion, what role should the US play in the ongoing Israel-Hamas war?

• Deploy troops and aid to assist Israel in combat: 13%
• Deploy troops and aid as a deterrent, but stay out of Israel: 19%
• Send military or humanitarian aid, but don’t deploy troops: 18%
• Focus exclusively on humanitarian aid: 26%
• Stay completely out of the conflict: 16%
• Unsure/other: 8%

Click here to read some of the best responses.

+Note on sample size: We received 9,162 votes and 749 longform responses.

Welsh artist Nathan Wyburn loves to experiment with different art mediums. Most recently, the sculpture artist recreated some of the UK's most famous natural monuments – entirely out of local organic produce. 

😋 Good enough to eat... The project came to fruition after researchers realized how little people know about the produce they're regularly consuming.

• “I like to bring people closer to the natural world through my work, and relished the opportunity to take up this unique challenge," he told Berkshire Live. "It was a really fun process thinking about how I could bring that to life through local products.”

❓ Trivia: What do you call an organism that eats both plants and animals?

🐴 True or False?... Besides being god of the sea, Poseidon was also the Greek god of horses.

🤔 Riddle Me This: You always find me in the past, I can be created in the present, but the future can never taint me. What am I?

(keep scrolling for the answers)

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❓ Trivia: An omnivore

🐴 T/F: True, and earthquakes too

🤔 Riddle: History