FIVE MINUTE DAILY

Global markets eased as investors weighed oil and dollar moves, Washington signaled the first real movement to end the long shutdown, and the AI race accelerated with a multibillion-dollar cloud pact.

Forward this to a friend who wants the world in five minutes.

Lawmakers reported “glimmers” of progress toward reopening the federal government after weeks of stalemate, with senior senators sketching an off-ramp even as key disputes remain over health policy riders and spending caps.

Negotiators floated ideas to fund core agencies and sequence tougher issues into later talks, signaling a shift from hardened positions to problem-solving across chambers and parties woven through Capitol discussions.

The shutdown has delayed data releases and federal services, with ripple effects from research labs to small-business loans.

Markets have leaned on private surveys in the data vacuum, adding volatility to rate expectations.

Why it matters: a credible framework this week could restore basic functions, reduce economic uncertainty, and unlock negotiations on longer-term fiscal choices.

OpenAI signed a seven-year, $38 billion cloud deal to run core AI workloads on Amazon Web Services, gaining access to hundreds of thousands of Nvidia GPUs and diversifying beyond a single provider.

The agreement, outlined in a joint AWS announcement and detailed by wire reports, sent Amazon shares higher and rekindled debate over AI infrastructure spending.

The pact arrives amid OpenAI’s restructuring and a scramble among cloud giants to lock in AI demand.

Why it matters: the scale underscores capital intensity in generative AI, with implications for chip supply, data-center buildouts, and competitive dynamics across the biggest platforms.

Residents in northern Afghanistan began clearing debris after a magnitude-6.3 earthquake near Mazar-i-Sharif killed at least 20 people and injured close to 1,000, according to early counts.

Images showed damaged homes and impacts to historic sites as local responders worked through aftershocks and power cuts, per on-the-ground updates.

The tremor adds to humanitarian strain as winter nears and aid pipelines remain fragile.

Why it matters: quake-resilient construction and emergency access are urgent priorities, with aid groups warning of shelter and medical gaps if support lags in the coming days.

China’s leader met Russia’s prime minister in Beijing to expand investment and economic ties across energy, agriculture, and the digital economy despite external headwinds, signaling durable alignment in a turbulent environment, according to readouts.

Medics reported new fatalities in Gaza amid isolated clashes and strikes that continue to test a tense truce, as regional diplomacy explores security arrangements and humanitarian access, per field reports.

Washington plans a new working group with Beijing to curb fentanyl flows, reviving a familiar approach to a deepening public health and law-enforcement challenge, based on policy signals.

The dollar strengthened as traders trimmed near-term rate-cut bets, while stock futures and Asia benchmarks slipped from highs in a cautious tone shaped by the shutdown and mixed data, a pattern sketched in morning trade and global wrap.

Crude fell more than 1% as investors digested OPEC+ plans to pause output hikes next quarter alongside a firmer dollar and soft factory readings, pressuring benchmark prices.

Foreign arrivals to Thailand are down 7.22% year-to-date, underscoring uneven regional travel recoveries and pressure on a key Southeast Asian growth engine, according to official tallies.

BP reported a second successive quarter of better-than-expected profit and reiterated its turnaround plan despite lower oil prices, pairing a buyback with a strategy tilt back to hydrocarbons, detailed in a company brief.

U.S. equities pared gains but tech sentiment improved after the Amazon–OpenAI pact highlighted durable AI demand even as manufacturing data signaled ongoing contraction, tempering rate-cut hopes in market trade.

A Los Angeles pilot randomized trial used behavioral economics to improve adherence to blood-pressure therapy, adding evidence for low-cost interventions that can scale in primary care, per a new study report.

A review argues doctoral programs must adapt for an AI-heavy research era, emphasizing data fluency, ethics, and collaboration skills as core competencies, outlined in the latest analysis.

Experts cautioned there’s no robust evidence for “microdosing” GLP-1 drugs for assorted symptoms, urging rigor as off-label marketing spreads, according to a clinical overview.

Jacoby Brissett threw two touchdowns as Arizona beat Dallas 27–17 to snap a five-game slide, raising questions about the quarterback timeline once Kyler Murray returns, per the game recap.

Nikola Jokic posted 34 points and 14 assists in a wire-to-wire Nuggets win over the Kings, extending Denver’s dominance in the matchup, noted in postgame coverage.

October delivered the weakest domestic box office for the month since the late 1990s, reflecting a thin slate and underperforming releases, according to industry tallies.

Glamour’s Women of the Year ceremony streams from New York this evening, spotlighting honorees across entertainment, beauty, and sports, with event details.

Beyond furloughs and shuttered museums, prolonged shutdowns create a data drought that clouds policy and markets.

With agencies unable to publish routine releases, investors lean on private surveys and proxies, amplifying noise in rate expectations and cross-asset moves documented in market briefs.

The interruption cascades to credit markets, procurement pipelines, and research grants, delaying awards and lab work that depend on steady agency operations.

Households feel it as well. Federal backstops for small-business lending, housing, and nutrition programs become case studies in patchwork continuity.

Emergency rulings have compelled partial funding for SNAP to keep benefits flowing in November, but agencies juggle legal constraints and lapsed appropriations, a fragile arrangement captured in program updates.

Local governments and nonprofits stretch to cover gaps, but they cannot replicate federal scale, creating uneven relief and administrative burdens.

What to watch: whether Senate frameworks coalesce into a short-term funding bridge that strips contentious riders while sequencing negotiations on health and border provisions.

Any deal will also need credible timelines to restore data releases and clear backlogs.

If talks stall, agencies will face tougher triage, and private indicators—not designed to replace official statistics—will wield outsized influence in pricing and policy debates until the lights fully come back on.

• Coffee futures ticked higher in early London trade as supply jitters persisted, according to price boards.

• Australia advanced a plan to offer free daytime electricity from rooftop solar, aiming to smooth grid demand, as outlined in an energy policy.

• EU officials floated a probationary period for future members to safeguard rule-of-law standards, per enlargement briefings.

Thanks for reading Five Minute Daily — concise, clean, and complete. Share this with someone who wants smarter mornings, and subscribe to get it in your inbox.

—The Five Minute Daily Team