🤖 Anthropic has recorded one of the largest corporate losses ever reported:

The company posted a staggering -$80.7 billion net loss in the first half of 2026, up from -$13 billion a year earlier.

This is also nearly DOUBLE its full-year 2025 loss of -$42 billion.

-$72 billion of the loss stems from non-cash accounting adjustments reflecting changes in the value of convertible notes and other financing instruments, leaving an estimated -$8.7 billion loss after these charges are excluded.

At the same time, revenue surged to $16.3 billion from just $1.1 billion a year earlier, but computing and infrastructure spending nearly QUADRUPLED to $9 billion, exceeding the $7.3 billion spent throughout 2025.

Meanwhile, Anthropic's infrastructure commitments now exceed $600 billion and could reach $750 billion, with most cloud contracts being noncancelable and payable regardless of actual usage.

The company also faces significant customer concentration, with just 2 customers accounting for ~20% of 1H 2026 revenue, while major cloud providers cannot supply all the computing capacity it needs.

Anthropic is preparing for a potential $2 trillion IPO despite enormous infrastructure obligations, substantial underlying losses, and uncertainty over whether revenue growth can justify its spending.

Previously however, Reuters reported that investors are now discussing a valuation of around $1.5 trillion, as slower revenue growth and soaring AI infrastructure costs weigh on sentiment.

Anthropic's $2 trillion IPO ambition is colliding with the brutal economics of the AI arms race.

🔗 Global Markets Investor

🇮🇹 Fuel protests in Italy are causing food shortages as trucks are not able to reach supermarkets

The protests, which began in southern Italy last week, have also disrupted operations in two regional airports in Calabria because they cannot ​get deliveries of aviation fuel.

With traffic snarled in various parts ​of the country, long queues formed on the A1 ⁠motorway near the southern city of Naples after truckers restricted ​access.

Trucks and tractors drove into the central square in the northeastern ​city of Ravenna as the protests spread and farmers added their voices.

Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini said the government was prepared to consider a cap ​on diesel prices to help ease the pressure on hauliers

Italy ​has set aside around €1 billion ($1.1 billion) this year to help truck drivers cope ‌with ⁠surging fuel costs and replace older vehicles with less-polluting models.

The protests come as Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni's government deals with unrest last weekend in northern cities including Milan where gangs of mainly young people ​went on the ​rampage.

The ANCD-Conad group, ⁠representing retailers operating under the Conad supermarket brand, said large quantities of perishable products including fruit ​and vegetables, as well as milk and meat ​were stranded ⁠on trucks and in warehouses.

"The freedom to protest cannot translate into undermining citizens' right to receive fresh food or destroying the value ⁠created ​by Italy's agri-food supply chains," said the ​group's president Maurizio Pelliconi.

Giorgia Meloni has already cut the fuel tax but it has done nothing to keep fuel prices low as the wars in the Middle East caused by the U.S. and Israel continue to choke the trade routes that once delivered fuel to Italy and the rest of Europe.

🔗 https://www.reuters.com/world/italian-retailers-warn-food-shortages-caused-by-truck-drivers-protest-2026-10-21/

🇮🇱🗳⚔️🇮🇷 Israel's election may change its leader, but not Iran war policy — Reuters

Israel's election next week may change its leader, but not its strategy: Iran will remain its chief adversary, military force will continue to be its preferred tool and Palestinian statehood ​a distant prospect, regional policymakers and analysts say.

That is because the strategic assumptions underpinning Israeli policy were hardened by the October 7, 2023, attacks on southern Israeli communities by ‌Palestinian militant group Hamas and by the wars in Gaza, Lebanon and Iran.

If anything, Israel could toughen its security policy, the analysts said, as victory for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu with the backing of far-right coalition partners could embolden him to step up the war with Iran, tighten Israel's grip on the occupied West Bank and push diplomacy further to the margins.Israel's security doctrine now rests on three pillars: breaking Iran, holding buffer zones beyond its borders and using force to deter enemies.

The real ​divide is one of degree rather than direction — how aggressively Israel fights its wars, how far it expands Jewish settlements in the West Bank and whether any leader opts for diplomacy, the ​analysts said.

From Tehran to Riyadh, Tuesday's election is not seen as a potential turning point but as a test of whether the Middle East is settling into ⁠a long confrontation, where wars ebb and flow while the underlying conflicts are unresolved.

"If Netanyahu is elected, he'll do whatever he thinks he wants to do," said Aviv Bushinsky, a former adviser to Netanyahu. "Expansion of ​the settlements will continue. The wars against Iran, Hamas and Hezbollah will continue.""What you see now is what you'll see after the election, maybe even more aggressively," he said. "As long as Iran is in such ​a situation, it's a waste of time talking about Palestine.”

Netanyahu said on Sunday that Israel must prioritise “prevention and offence over containment and defence”, including pre-emptive strikes to thwart emerging threats, while establishing Israel as a regional power and maximising its independence in armaments.

WHY THE COURSE IS UNLIKELY TO CHANGE

The election pits Netanyahu's right-wing Likud and its ultranationalist allies against an opposition led by former military chief Gadi Eisenkot's Yashar party.Palestinian analyst Ghassan al-Khatib sees no prospect of a fundamental shift in ​policy towards the Palestinians, with Israeli political parties competing to project harder-line positions as public opinion moves further to the right.“The substance of the policy remains the same: No to a Palestinian state and ​yes to further settlement expansion. On this, they are all in agreement,” he said.

A government led by Netanyahu's opponents might seek to repair Israel's international standing by curbing some settler violence or pursuing settlement expansion with less fanfare. But ‌such changes ⁠would be a shift in style rather than substance, al-Khatib said.

🔗 https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/israels-election-may-change-its-leader-not-iran-war-policy-2026-10-21/

🇫🇷🤝🇸🇦🇧🇭🇦🇪 France received commitments from Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and the UAE for diesel shipments during a presidential visit but its unclear how and when the diesel will be delivered

French President Emmanuel Macron has secured the delivery of an additional 200,000 tonnes of diesel per month from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Bahrain during a tour of the Gulf, the French presidency said Tuesday.

With the addition of deliveries from Saudi Arabia, France has commitments for 295,000 tonnes per month, representing just over 10 percent of its consumption, the presidency added.

Macron is undertaking a tour of key energy suppliers in the Gulf in an effort to secure oil and diesel supplies and bring down prices in France, after a weekend of violent protests sparked by soaring living costs.

🔗 https://www.france24.com/en/middle-east/20261020-macron-secures-diesel-deals-on-gulf-visit-as-fuel-prices-stoke-unrest-in-france

🛰 Satellite imagery from earlier today, October 21st, of the southern/Omani lane in the Strait of Hormuz shows zero ships risking being struck or sunk by the IRGC.

@CIG_telegram

🇦🇱 Albania’s PM Edi Rama on the protests:

From the very beginning of the Flamingo Revolution, public dissatisfaction was accompanied by a wave of Russian influence across social media.

Tens of thousands of fake profiles were created specifically to pretend to be Albanians who wanted to protect nature.

They were mobilized, just as thousands and thousands of others were mobilized by the terrorist republic of Iran to protect nature in Albania.

How can these things be coincidences? These are not coincidences. There are no coincidences here.

🔗 Clash Report (@clashreport)

🇪🇺 During the latter half of 2026, a period of unrest spread across Western and Southern Europe. Demonstrations have occurred in France, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Greece, Albania, Belgium, Germany, Austria, and Ireland. Though largely unconnected, these events usually have occurred against the backdrop of affordability crises and calls for better living and working conditions.

🔗 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2026_European_unrest

🇱🇹🤝🇵🇰 Lithuania Agrees to Visa Facilitation for Pakistanis

Pakistan and Lithuania discussed visa and consular facilitation as part of efforts to strengthen bilateral ties. The talks covered measures to ease movement between the two countries for professionals, students and business personnel.

The discussions took place virtually during the eighth round of bilateral political consultations, according to the Foreign Office spokesperson.

During the consultations, both delegations explored ways to increase collaboration between their private sectors. They placed particular emphasis on information technology and digital services.

Lithuania is a country of just 2.9 million people.

🔗 https://propakistani.pk/2026/10/20/lithuania-agrees-to-visa-facilitation-for-pakistanis/

🇫🇷 The French 10 year bond yield as surpassed the 5% mark, the highest since June 2002.

Meanwhile, the premium investors ‌demand ⁠to hold French bonds over benchmark 10-year German Bunds was at around 157 bps, nearing levels last seen in 2011.

The gap between French ​and German ​yields reflects ⁠the extra return investors demand for lending to the former.

@CIG_telegram

🇺🇸🇮🇳 Vivek Ramaswamy proudly announced that his campaign is pouring an additional $4 million into a vicious attack ad campaign against Ohio gubernatorial candidate Amy Acton.

The ad features Acton’s estranged mother who testifies that her daughter is an untrustworthy liar. Acton’s mother, Donna Arthur, married and cohabitated with the man indicted for sexually abusing Acton at age 12, before Acton was removed from her mother’s household.

Arthur lost custody of Amy Acton and Amy’s brother, Phillip Sterns, due to habitual neglect and sexual abuse, but remained married to him afterward.

Acton stated that she has not heard from her mother since they appeared in a courtroom together and were separated in 1978. Americans of all political affiliations are justifiably horrified by Vivek’s actions, but Ramaswamy, who was endorsed by JD Vance and President Trump for the Ohio governorship, has only doubled down.

🔗 https://www.forbes.com/sites/saradorn/2026/10/21/ramaswamys-campaign-admits-making-controversial-ad-featuring-amy-actons-mother-will-spend-4-million-airing-it/

📎 AF Post

🇺🇸🇮🇳 US vice-president, James David Vance, refuses to condemn Vivek Ramaswamy for the reprehensible campaign ad attacking his Democratic rival, Amy Acton and chooses to chastise other GOP members who called Ramaswamy out

Q: "Ramaswamy's campaign put out a controversial ad featuring his opponent's mother. Some Republicans are backing away from that. Do you think that ad was appropriate?"

JD VANCE: "Well, I'll be honest with you. Whether the ad was appropriate or not is not really my concern. My concern is who is gonna govern. I have to admit I'm a little bit disgusted when I see Republicans who are whining more about that ad than they are about what the Democrats want to do".

🔗 Aaron Rupar (@atrupar)