Cranberry Journal — Independent Business, Technology & Culture

On 4 October we reported that health care and social assistance had added more jobs over 12 months than the whole economy for 16 months running. The revised data end that run at 14. We rebuilt the count and the sector table from the BLS payroll series.

A Chatham County government recruiting sign in Pittsboro, North Carolina, in April 2023. File photograph.

By Thomas Gutierrez 1 hour ago6 min read

U.S. employers added 165,000 jobs in October, almost three times the 59,000 economists had expected, and the unemployment rate slipped to 4.1 per cent from 4.2 per cent, the Bureau of Labor Statistics said on Friday. The bureau also revised August up to 186,000 and September up to 60,000, adding 84,000 jobs to what it had reported before.

The headline number is strong. The revisions do something more useful. They change the shape of the past year. On 4 October, working from the data published then, we reported that health care and social assistance had added more jobs over 12 months than the U.S. economy as a whole for 16 months in a row. With Friday's figures, that is no longer true for August or September, and it is plainly untrue for October.

By our arithmetic, 366,000 in the 12 months to October. Total nonfarm employment rose from 158.41 million in October 2025 to 159.29 million in October 2026, a gain of 885,000, according to the bureau's Table B-1. Health care and social assistance went from 23.49 million to 24.00 million, a gain of 519,000. Everything else, from factories to banks to the federal government, gained the difference.

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Money

Consumer Credit Growth Picked Up for a Third Straight Quarter, to a 4.2 Per Cent Rate: Over the Past Year, Borrowing Still Grew Less Than Prices

The quarterly pace is the fastest the Fed's current release shows.

By Daniel Okafor 36 minutes ago

Kiewit Plaza, a tall, pale office tower in Omaha, with rows of narrow windows, a Kiewit sign near the roof, a low two-storey wing in front, a flagpole, young trees and an empty street under a blue sky with white clouds.

Business

Berkshire Hathaway Spent About $9.6 Billion on Its Own Shares Last Quarter, Four Times What It Put Into Other Companies' Stocks

The repurchases are the largest in any quarter in the filings we checked back to 2018.

By Margaret Holloway 56 minutes ago

The Numbers

Inflation Is 3.7 Per Cent, Less Than Half Its Rate Before the 2022 Midterms. Gasoline and Mortgages Cost More Than They Did Then.

By Daniel Okafor November 2, 2026

Markets

OPEC+ Left Its December Oil Targets Unchanged. Brent Ended the Week at $117.64, $12.64 Above Washington's Forecast for the Quarter.

By Daniel Okafor November 1, 2026

World

China's Factory Index Fell to 49.3 in October. Construction New Orders Fell 5.7 Points, to 40.

By Daniel Okafor November 1, 2026

The Numbers

South Korea Exported $115.3 Billion in October, 93.7 Per Cent More Than a Year Ago. Chips Supplied Almost Three-Quarters of the Increase.

By Alison Acosta November 1, 2026

World

The Bank of Canada Raised Rates Expecting About 2 Per Cent Growth. Two Days Later, the Data Put the Quarter Nearer 1.2 Per Cent.

By Daniel Okafor October 31, 2026

Business

National Express's Owner Agreed to a 46p-a-Share Takeover Worth £308 Million. The Buyer Is Taking On a Company Valued at £2.3 Billion, and Most of That Is Debt.

By Margaret Holloway October 31, 2026

Markets

Japan's Central Bank Says Underlying Inflation Is at Its 2 Per Cent Goal. Its 1.25 Per Cent Rate Is Still 1.35 Points Below Its Forecast.

By Daniel Okafor October 31, 2026

Opinion

Margaret Holloway

Explainer

How an Aged Company Can Help a New Business Reach Bank Credit Sooner, and How to Do It the Right Way

Funding specialist Michael Praver says shelf corporations are one path to bank capital for qualified owners.

November 6, 2026

Health Care

Dr. Richard Berry's Ohio Clinic Is Adding Two Doctors and Expanding Direct Primary Care to Employers

Maple Health uses a membership-based primary care model designed around access, continuity and predictable costs.

November 5, 2026

The Numbers

Florida Passed Its Property Tax Cut With 157,000 Votes to Spare. Wyoming and Oklahoma Said No, and Washington Kept Its Millionaires' Tax.

We tracked 13 statewide tax measures through seven sets of results.

November 5, 2026

World

The Bank of England Raised Rates to 4 Per Cent, Its First Increase in 1,190 Days. Its Staff Expect Inflation Near 5 Per Cent by the Middle of Next Year.

The rise reverses one of the six cuts the Bank made between August 2024 and December 2025.

November 5, 2026

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The Numbers

The Fed Held Rates at 3.75 to 4 Per Cent, and Two Officials Voted for a Hike. The Next Morning, Core Inflation Came In at 3.1 Per Cent.

By Daniel Okafor October 29, 2026

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Business

Weil Gotshal Brought In About $2.1 Billion Last Year. Its Leaders Now Recommend Closing the 95-Year-Old Firm.

By Margaret Holloway October 29, 2026

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Business

The "Endless" Cruise Ship Paid $700 a Ton for Fuel Before the Iran War. It Stopped Sailing After Paying $2,000 to $3,000.

By Thomas Gutierrez October 29, 2026

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Explainer

The Pentagon Wants Its Major Bases Able to Run 90 Days on Their Own. Britain Is Asking Households to Manage for Three.

By Alison Acosta October 28, 2026

Editor's Choice

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Money

Opponents Have Spent $304 Million to Defeat California's One-Time Billionaire Tax. That Is About 0.3 Per Cent of What Its Backers Say It Would Raise.

By Daniel Okafor

The state's own analyst says the tax would raise "tens of billions of dollars" and calls the amount very hard to predict.

Latest News

Everything we have published, newest first

Business

National Express's Owner Agreed to a 46p-a-Share Takeover Worth £308 Million. The Buyer Is Taking On a Company Valued at £2.3 Billion, and Most of That Is Debt.

Mobico, the owner of National Express and Spain's ALSA, agreed on Friday 30 October to a cash takeover at 46 pence a share, valuing its equity at about £308 million. The bidder is a vehicle jointly owned by the Cosmen family, Mobico's largest shareholder, and the Madrid fund manager Asterion. Shareholders and a court still have to approve it.

By Margaret Holloway October 31, 2026

A white National Express coach with the slogan "if you know, you go" parked at a bus station in Derby, with a brick building and a white office block behind it.

Markets

Japan's Central Bank Says Underlying Inflation Is at Its 2 Per Cent Goal. Its 1.25 Per Cent Rate Is Still 1.35 Points Below Its Forecast.

The Bank of Japan held its policy rate at 1.25 per cent on Friday 30 October by an 8-1 vote and said underlying inflation is now "generally consistent" with its 2 per cent target, a first since the target was set in 2013. One board member wanted 1.5 per cent. The bank will also sell its ETF holdings more than twice as fast from January.

By Daniel Okafor October 31, 2026

The grey stone, green-roofed Bank of Japan head office in Tokyo, with Corinthian columns and a Japanese flag, seen above trees, with modern office towers rising behind it.

Business

McKesson Is Paying $1.4 Billion for Half of Option Care. The Deal Sets Up a Framework for It to Buy the Rest.

Clayton Dubilier & Rice and McKesson agreed on Monday to take Option Care Health, the largest independent home infusion company in the United States, private for $32.05 a share. McKesson is putting in about $1.4 billion for 49 per cent, and the agreement sets out a framework for it to buy the private equity firm's majority later. Lenders have committed more money to the deal than the two buyers have.

By Margaret Holloway October 7, 2026

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Lagarde Will Leave the ECB on 7 February, Almost Nine Months Early. Three of the Six Seats on Its Executive Board Will Change Hands by the End of May.

Lagarde says she wants the freedom to speak and to engage beyond monetary policy. The timing also hands the choice of her successor to today's EU leaders, and turns three board vacancies into one negotiation.

Margaret Holloway

The Euro Area Grew 0.4 Per Cent Last Quarter, About 1.6 Per Cent at an Annual Rate. France Shrank, and Its Jobless Rate Rose to 8.5 Per Cent.

France and Italy, the two largest euro economies after Germany, produced no growth between them. France is now the only member reporting a smaller economy than a year ago.

Daniel Okafor

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Money

U.S. Wages Rose 3.1 Per Cent in the Year to September, 0.6 Per Cent Less Than Prices. Employers' Health Costs Rose 6.4 Per Cent.

Wages and salaries for U.S. civilian workers rose 3.1 per cent in the 12 months to September, down from 3.5 per cent a year earlier, the Bureau of Labor Statistics said on Friday 30 October. After inflation, they fell 0.6 per cent. Private employers' health benefit costs rose 6.4 per cent.

By Margaret Holloway October 30, 2026

Markets

Exxon and Chevron Earned $25.3 Billion Last Quarter. Refining Made Them Almost as Much as Pumping Oil, and Both Pumped Less.

Exxon Mobil earned $15.4 billion and Chevron $9.9 billion in the third quarter, the companies said on Friday 30 October. Chevron's profit was almost three times its year-earlier figure. Refining and fuel sales supplied nearly half the combined total, while both companies produced less oil and gas than a year earlier.

By Daniel Okafor October 30, 2026

A wide view over hillside houses toward a refinery with rows of rust-coloured storage tanks, white spheres and drifting steam, below a ridge of hills and a clear blue sky.

The merger agreement gives regulators up to two years and makes DoorDash pay $1.25 billion if antitrust law stops the deal, almost twice what Instacart would owe for walking away.

Business

DoorDash Will Pay $65 a Share, About $17 Billion, for Instacart. If Antitrust Law Blocks the Deal, DoorDash Owes Instacart $1.25 Billion.

By Alison Acosta October 30, 2026

Markets

Caterpillar's Backlog Hit a Record $78 Billion, Up 96 Per Cent in a Year. Its Dealers Plan to Cut $1.6 Billion of Inventory This Quarter.

Caterpillar's sales rose 17 per cent to $20.7 billion in the third quarter and adjusted profit was $7.20 a share, the company said on Thursday. Its order backlog reached a record $78 billion, up about $38 billion from a year earlier. It expects construction equipment volume to fall modestly in the fourth quarter as dealers shrink their stocks.

By Daniel Okafor October 29, 2026

What We’re Following

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A Wendy's restaurant with a stone and stucco exterior, red patio umbrellas and a single grey car parked in front, under a clear blue sky.

Trian Has Offered $7.35 a Share to Take Wendy's Private, About $1.4 Billion. That Is Roughly Half the $2.7 Billion of Debt the Bidders Would Keep.

The black glass and white travertine Solow Building at 9 West 57th Street in Manhattan, seen from street level against a blue sky, with older towers on either side.

Ares Capital Will Pay a 30 Per Cent Premium for an Apollo-Managed Lender. The $10.88 Price Is Still 15 Per Cent Below What the Lender Says Its Loans Are Worth.

An empty operating theatre with a padded surgical table under a ceiling-mounted surgical light, flanked by two wall monitors, equipment carts, an anaesthesia unit and a blue gas cylinder, under white ceiling panels.

A Catholic Hospital System's Affiliate Will Pay $23.50 a Share for Surgery Partners, a 49 Per Cent Premium. Bain Capital Offered $25.75 Last Year and Is Keeping Its Stake.

A Boeing 737 MAX test aircraft in Boeing's blue and white livery, registration N8701Q, parked on an apron with work stands and stairs beside it, with hangars, hills and a blue sky behind.

Boeing Delivered 161 Airliners Last Quarter and Lost About $4.3 Million on Each. Its 6,300-Jet Backlog Would Take About a Decade to Build at This Year's Pace.

Business

The Cheesecake Factory Served 9.5 Per Cent More Guests Last Quarter. At Chipotle, Transactions Rose 0.8 Per Cent.

Comparable sales at The Cheesecake Factory's namesake restaurants rose 15.2 per cent in the third quarter, with traffic up 9.5 per cent, the company said on 27 October. A day later Chipotle reported comparable sales up 2.1 per cent, with transactions up 0.8 per cent. Cheesecake Factory's management says it is too early to tell how lasting its new, younger guests will be.

By Margaret Holloway October 29, 2026

The cream-coloured frontage of a Cheesecake Factory restaurant with red lettering and white awnings, behind palm trees, hedges and a flowering bougainvillea, below a white apartment building.

Ford's Electric Unit Lost $1.06 Billion Last Quarter, a Quarter Less Than a Year Ago. Per Vehicle Shipped, the Loss Rose to About $31,000.

The smaller total loss came with a larger loss on each vehicle. Ford's case is that the next electric platform, a $28,350 car due late next year, changes that arithmetic.

Alison Acosta