The Midday File — The Desk’s Report
Producer Prices Rise 0.3 Percent Against 0.4 Expected While the Bahrain Radar Stands Unconfirmed at Midday, Alaska Posts 125,157 to 119,357, and the Agency Finds a Surplus in Oil
The news at midday: a producer figure a tenth soft on the month and a tenth soft on the year with September revised hotter behind it; a radar claimed in Bahrain and confirmed by no one named in it; a tanker claimed in the strait and reported by no British agency; an oil surplus found by the agency while the price printed four figures before noon; a new official total in Alaska and no new batch yet; an answer due by evening in Washington; and a campaign in its first full day in Spain.
The Midday in Brief: A Tenth Soft on Both Columns, a Claim Still Standing Alone, and a New Total in Alaska
Midday corrected the morning in the one place the morning had promised a correction and left the day’s largest claim exactly where the night had left it: the October producer prices printed at 0.3 percent on the month against 0.4 percent expected, with September revised up behind them, and Iran’s radar in Bahrain stood at 1200 confirmed by no government named in it. The Bureau of Labor Statistics release, in the release filed below, puts final demand at 0.3 percent for October, 1.4 percent for September as revised from the 1.3 percent the earlier editions carried, and 6.5 percent for the year against 6.6 percent expected—the largest 12-month rise since November 2022. Goods rose 0.5 percent and services 0.2 percent, in the wire account filed below. Wall Street read the print as cool and then read Nvidia as heavier: futures rose, the opening gains faded, and at 1053 the shares stood at $160.04, down 3.7 percent, in the market data page filed below. On Bahrain, the midday file adds words around the claim and no confirmation inside it: the Associated Press could not independently verify the radar claim or a new tanker claim in the strait, and Central Command and Bahrain’s Information Ministry did not immediately respond, in the agency account filed below. President Trump’s account of why large strikes have not resumed—five Gulf governments asked him to hold off—stands in the interview account filed below, unconfirmed and undenied by any of the five. The energy agency found a surplus where the war had kept a deficit. Alaska posted a new official total and no new count. Mr. Huang’s answer is due by evening.
Producer Prices at Noon: 0.3 on the Month, 6.5 on the Year, and September Revised to 1.4
The correction the overnight edition promised at 0830 is a revision, and the desk prints it first, in the open: September was hotter than the file carried it. The Bureau’s release above revises September’s final-demand rise to 1.4 percent from the 1.3 percent printed in this paper’s earlier editions and in the consensus the desk carried at 0400; those editions stand unrevised, as a log stands, and the corrected figure stands here. October itself came in a tenth under the forecast on both columns the desk carried: 0.3 percent on the month against 0.4 percent expected, and 6.5 percent on the year against 6.6 percent expected, in the wire account above and in the annual account filed below. The composition is goods-led: goods up 0.5 percent, mostly food and basic organic chemicals, and services up 0.2 percent for a fifth straight month, in the wire account above. Final-demand goods stand 10.2 percent higher than a year ago, the largest 12-month rise since October 2022, in the release above. The two core readings in the file do not use the same basket and are printed as found, in the Cocked Hat: 0.5 percent for the measure excluding foods, energy and trade services, the same as September, in the monthly account filed below, against 0.3 percent for the measure excluding food and energy, with that measure at 5.0 percent on the year, in the December account filed below.
The figure lands, as the overnight edition said it would, in a market already pricing a December increase, and it did not move that pricing far. The wire’s reading is that the largest annual gain in four years supports expectations the Federal Reserve could continue raising rates after next month’s widely expected hike, in the wire account above. The post-print pricing in the file puts a quarter-point December increase at 88 percent, in the futures account filed below; the half-point question stands where the week put it, with members openly discussing whether 50 basis points at the December 8–9 meeting would be more fitting, in the December account above. Five officials speak on Friday in the day’s calendar accounts, and the November producer release follows on December 15, after the meeting. Settled: the print, its revision, and its year. Open: 25 or 50.
The Markets’ Reading at Noon: Futures Up on the Print, the Opening Gone by Mid-Morning, and Yields Above Five
Wall Street’s midday is two sessions in one morning, and the desk files them in order. Before the bell, futures yo-yoed on the Nvidia departure and on oil, then the cool print lifted sentiment and pushed futures into the green, in the futures account above. At the open, all three indexes opened higher and then gave it back: at 0938 the S&P 500 stood down 0.09 percent at 7,585.65, the Nasdaq Composite down 0.38 percent at 25,269.40, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average up 0.27 percent at 52,436.17, in the opening account filed below. A later print, timed in Beijing hours, puts the S&P 500 down 0.3 percent at 7,568.31, the Nasdaq down 0.7 percent at 25,187.14, and the Dow slightly higher at 52,316.45, in the give-back account filed below. Thursday’s closes stand beneath both prints: the S&P 500 down 0.35 percent at 7,592.40, the Nasdaq down 0.39 percent at 25,366.09, and the Dow down 0.36 percent at 52,297.09.
Nvidia supplied the weight in both halves of the morning. The shares opened up about 0.6 percent at $167.22 and fell to $163.81, down 1.4 percent, by 0938, in the opening account above, on course for a sixth straight weekly loss. By 1053 the market data page above puts the price at $160.04, down $6.15, or 3.7 percent, from Thursday’s $166.19 close, with the session’s low at $159.04, the high at $170, and market value at $4.19 trillion. The five-session return on the same page is minus 11.87 percent. Europe’s midday ran the other way from its records of the two days before: shares largely fell as Nvidia uncertainty lingered, in the European briefing filed below. The bond market barely moved on the print and stayed where Thursday’s selloff left it: the two-year stabilized near 4.855 percent, the ten-year rose above 5.120 percent, and the thirty-year rose toward 5.500 percent, in the futures account above; the December account’s prints, 5.137 percent on the ten-year, 5.467 percent on the thirty-year and 4.852 percent on the two-year, stand beside them in the Cocked Hat. The company’s November 17 report is the next dated fact in the Nvidia file.
Bahrain at Noon: No Confirmation, No Denial, a Second Claim in the Strait, and the President’s Reason for Holding Off
At midday the Bahrain file contains the claim, two requests for comment that went unanswered, and nothing else from the two capitals named in it. The Guards said its Aerospace Force targeted and destroyed an American early-warning radar on the island of Bahrain; no independent confirmation that the radar was hit or destroyed had emerged, and Washington and Manama had not immediately commented, in the unconfirmed account filed below. The agency account above adds the desk’s two sentences in their exact form: the Associated Press could not independently verify the claim, and Central Command and Bahrain’s Information Ministry did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The imagery bearing from the night stands as the overnight edition printed it—satellite imagery released by Al Jazeera said to show damage to radar domes at the naval base in Manama—and no second picture, no casualty figure and no account of the weapon stands beside it at noon. On the Sirik end, the midday accounts divide on attribution and the desk prints the division: two Israeli outlets now describe the Sirik strike as an American attack on the port city, where earlier reporting carried the Guards’ description of an enemy air attack on a telecommunications tower with no attacker named, in the Israeli account filed below. The attribution is not independently verified in that account.
The strait gained a fifth hull in Tehran’s telling and no hull in the British record. The Guards said a liquefied petroleum gas tanker struck a sea mine and exploded while transiting the strait, in the agency account above; the UK Maritime Trade Operations centre had no immediate report of the incident, in the same account. The four tankers of Thursday’s Iranian account stand as the overnight edition printed them, against the one vessel independently reported struck near Ras Al Khaimah on Wednesday. The Guards warned, through Tasnim, that further attacks and violations in the strait could prompt an unrestricted military response, and its Aerospace Force said it remained ready to engage if aerial provocations and oil smuggling continued, in the strait account filed below.
The one new official statement in the file is the President’s, and it is about restraint, given as his reason. In an interview released Thursday, President Trump said Saudi Arabia had asked him to let it be the way it is now for a while, and named Qatar, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain as preferring the waiting period; he said he is holding off at the request of the nations he is looking to protect, that he is not sure he agrees with it, and, asked whether he would have hit Iran again without the request, that yes, he would, in the interview account at the top of this report. He said the United States could destroy Iran’s energy, bridges and manufacturing in three days, in the same account. None of the five governments has confirmed the account or denied it, in the same account. The midnight edition’s two unreconciled sentences on the war’s clock—a Friday deadline under the War Powers Resolution, and an administration position that hostilities ceased with the April ceasefire—stand unreconciled at noon; no vote, extension or statement on the deadline stands in the midday file. Both blockades stand.
Oil at Noon: A Surplus Found by the Agency, Exports at 74 Percent, and Four Prices Before Dinner in London
The day’s oil fact is not a price; it is a balance, and it reverses the war’s. The International Energy Agency’s November report, in the report filed below, says global supplies surpassed demand for the first time since the outbreak of the war: observed inventories rose by 52 million barrels in October as Gulf exports recovered much faster than demand, supplies surged by 2.3 million barrels a day to 105.4 million a day in October, and fourth-quarter supply estimates were raised by 3.3 million a day. The wire’s account of the report, in the surplus account filed below, puts fourth-quarter supply at an average of 105 million barrels a day, 1.7 million a day above forecast demand, against a deficit forecast a month ago; Gulf exports have rebounded to 74 percent of pre-war levels; 71 million barrels from the emergency-reserve release pledged in March will be made available by the end of February, including 15 million barrels of diesel; demand falls by 2.7 million barrels a day this year to 102.3 million, and the 2027 surplus is put at about 3.8 million a day. The report’s own caution stands in both accounts: the severe tightness in product supply, especially diesel, remains the overriding concern, and attacks on shipping undermine the recovery the balances assume.
The price spent the European morning ignoring the balance in both directions, and the desk prints its prints with their hours. Brent rose 0.6 percent to $96.43 in early European trading, in the European briefing above; Brent fell 37 cents, or 0.4 percent, to $95.45 at 1015 GMT, in the weekly account filed below; and Brent reversed its earlier gains after the agency report at 0900 GMT to stand down 0.1 percent at $95.71, in the surplus account above. West Texas Intermediate prints at $88.89, $88.06 and $88.59 across the same accounts. On the week, both crudes are headed for a second weekly decline of nearly 3 percent, in the weekly account above, after the previous week’s falls of 16 and 13 percent. The market’s reading, in the wire’s sentence, is that the continued blockade eased fears of renewed direct conflict while shipping attacks remained a supply risk. Settled: the surplus, on the agency’s balances. Open: whether the strait lets it stand.
Dublin at Noon: The Chair, the Exchange and the Next Meeting Stand as Announced, With No Name, No Number and No Date Added
No new sentence from any delegation entered the talks file between the overnight collection and noon, and the desk records the standstill at its full size, because Thursday’s sentences are the largest the talks have produced and none of them yet has a figure attached. Mr. Kushner’s post stands: both sides agreed to expand the next round to include the European partners, and Washington is working toward the largest prisoner exchange of the war, potentially reuniting thousands of people with their families, without details, in the wire account filed below. President Zelenskyy’s three outcomes stand beside it: prisoners released in the largest exchange, European representatives at the table on equal terms, and the next meetings in preparation, in the same account. Mr. Ushakov’s sentence stands against the second of them in form if not in words: the parameters of the exchange are still being agreed. The only prisoner figure in the file remains President Zelenskyy’s own of the day before, 1,000 to 1,200 a side, in the Dublin account filed below.
Europe’s seat remains a seat without a name, and the file’s one new machinery sentence is a proposal about a town. More than 40 European leaders ended the Dublin summit without naming a representative; Ms. Kallas’s reading gives the seat to Mr. Costa and herself, other leaders floated the E3 of France, Germany and the United Kingdom, and the format stands undetermined, in the Dublin account above. The Russian delegation head’s reported refusal, printed in the overnight edition from the Czech accounts, stands unanswered in the midday file. The analysis account filed below, in the marathon account, adds the Kremlin’s second road: President Putin proposed a five-day humanitarian operation in Kostiantynivka, and Kyiv said a similar move in Oleshky had been used to insert military assets and demanded clarification. The Coalition of the Willing meets in Berlin next week, the next occasion in the file for the chair to be filled. Settled: the expansion is announced and welcomed in Kyiv. Open: the name, the number, the date, the place, the land and the ceasefire.
Nvidia at Noon: An Answer Due by Evening, Testimony Agreed in Principle, and No Answer Yet in the File
The Nvidia file’s clock is today’s, and at 1200 it has not struck. Three House committees—Intelligence, Foreign Affairs and the Select Committee on China—asked Mr. Huang to respond by the evening of November 13 to their joint letter seeking closed-door questioning on December 1, with a subpoena warned if he does not cooperate voluntarily, in the congressional account filed below. No answer from Mr. Huang stands in any account the desk read at collection; the evening edition carries the deadline’s product, whatever it is. The Senate track stands as the overnight edition printed it: Senator Scott’s letters ask Mr. Huang and Secretary Lutnick to testify on December 3, and a spokeswoman said Mr. Lutnick has proactively agreed to appear voluntarily. A second track runs earlier than both December dates: Mr. Huang has agreed to testify before Congress before Thanksgiving, House leaders are negotiating a closed-door briefing potentially as early as next week, and Chairman Mast said the agreement was tentative on Wednesday night, shortly before the resignation, with a subpoena prepared if it is withdrawn, in the testimony account filed below. The two tracks—before November 26 in one account, December 1 and December 3 in the letters—stand in the Cocked Hat unjoined.
Inside the company, nothing in the midday file moves the overnight record. The board’s position stands: Mr. Huang resigned, Ms. Kress is interim chief executive, and the company says Mr. Huang has no relationship with it anymore. The employees’ petition for his return, with its suggestion-box post at more than 1,600 comments, stands as reported in the overnight file. The Attorney General’s position stands: the Justice Department has not reached a conclusion on whether Ms. Alice Huang is a spy, and Beijing’s denial stands beside it. No finding has been made by the board, by any committee or by any court on any allegation in this file. The shares’ morning is in the markets section above; the November 17 report, the first under Ms. Kress in both jobs, is four days out.
The Count at Noon: A New Official Total in Alaska, No New Batch Yet, and Mississippi’s Counties at Their Deadline
Alaska’s correction is a posting, not a count: the Division’s newest summary is timed Thursday evening, and it moves the official total to the live tally the overnight edition carried. The Division of Elections summary report timed November 12 at 6:36:41 p.m., in the official summary filed below, records all 401 precincts reported and 256,823 ballots cast: Ms. Peltola 125,157 votes, or 49.08 percent; Senator Dan S. Sullivan 119,357, or 46.80 percent; Mr. Heikes 5,490; Mr. Daniel J. Sullivan Jr. 4,199; and write-ins 807, on 255,010 Senate votes. The lead on the official total is 5,800. The Associated Press count at 0909 Eastern today carries the same two totals, at 49.2 and 47.0 percent, with an estimated 88 percent of votes counted, in the live account filed below, and its results page carries the race as too early to call, in the results page filed below. About 5,000 more ballots were counted Thursday, in the live account above. Friday’s scheduled update, on Alaska time, had produced no new figures in any account the desk read by 1200 Eastern; today is the deadline for most mailed ballots to arrive, overseas ballots may arrive through November 18, the ranked-choice tabulation runs November 18 unless the remaining ballots settle the race first, and certification is targeted for November 25. No candidate holds 50 percent of first choices on any tally. The race remains the only uncalled Senate contest.
Mississippi’s day is a deadline, not a count. The state’s 82 counties must submit certified results today, Friday, November 13, with statewide certification scheduled for December 3, in the certification account filed below. No certified county total stands in the midday file. The race stands called for Mr. Colom in this paper’s file since the midnight edition of November 12, and the certification account’s cautions stand with it: Mississippi has no automatic recount, and a recount on a margin this close would require a court order. The Democratic caucus stands at 55, and Alaska decides 55 or 56.
Spain at Noon: The First Full Day, Fifteen Private Polls One Way and the State’s Survey the Other
Spain’s campaign ran its first full day on Friday, and its first-day record is rallies held and interviews published, over the same divided polls the night carried. Prime Minister Sánchez opened at the Fibes congress centre in Seville before about 4,000 supporters, according to EFE, in the campaign account filed below; Mr. Feijóo skipped the midnight poster-hanging ahead of a rally in Madrid’s Plaza de Colón on November 13, in the same account, and the two men debate on Monday, November 16. The campaign runs to November 27 and Spain votes on November 29. The polls’ division is now countable in a new way: all 15 private polls published up to November 12 gave the Popular Party and Vox a combined absolute majority, averaging 50.6 percent of the vote, and a Sigma Dos survey for El Mundo on November 9 put the Popular Party on 131 seats, the Socialists on 105 and Vox on 68—199 seats between the two right parties, above the 176 needed, in the same account. Against that stands the state survey’s 33.3 percent for the Socialists, printed in the overnight edition, and the private readings of 26 to 29 percent for the Socialists that the wire reports. The issue under both remains housing, Wednesday’s strike behind the campaign’s first day, and the standing body’s split of Thursday—the broad decree validated 35 to 34, the renewal decree rejected—inside the campaign’s first sentences. On Monday the Brazilian president visits Spain to support the Socialist campaign.
The Cocked Hat
Where the midday’s bearings do not meet, the desk prints the triangle. On the core of the producer print: 0.5 percent on the month for the measure excluding foods, energy and trade services, against 0.3 percent for the measure excluding food and energy—two baskets, two figures, both standing. On September: 1.4 percent as revised in today’s release, against 1.3 percent as first printed and carried in this paper’s earlier editions, which stand unrevised. On Brent: $96.43 in early European trading, $95.45 at 1015 GMT and $95.71 after the agency report, with the report itself quoting North Sea Dated around $93 at the time of its writing. On Nvidia: up 0.6 percent at the open, down 1.4 percent at 0938, down about 2.3 percent in another intraday account, and down 3.7 percent at $160.04 at 1053. On the ten-year yield: above 5.120 percent in the futures account and 5.137 percent in the December account. On Mr. Huang’s testimony: before Thanksgiving, potentially as early as next week, in the testimony account, against December 1 in the House letter and December 3 in the Senate’s, with his answer to the House due by this evening and none in the file at noon. On Sirik: an American strike on the port city in two Israeli outlets, against an enemy air attack with no attacker named in the earlier reporting the Guards cited. On the strait: five tankers in Tehran’s cumulative account—four on Thursday and a gas carrier on Friday—against one vessel in the independent record and no immediate report at all, in the British agency, of Friday’s claim. On Spain: the Socialists at 33.3 percent in the state’s survey, at 26 to 29 percent in the polls the wire reports, and behind a combined right majority in all 15 private polls. On Alaska’s share counted: 88 percent estimated in the Associated Press count, with all 401 precincts reported in the Division’s summary—two measures of two different things, printed as found. Against the triangle, the midday’s single-valued facts are these: producer prices rose 0.3 percent in October and 6.5 percent on the year, and September stands revised to 1.4 percent; no American or Bahraini confirmation of the radar claim stands in the file, and the British agency has no immediate report of the tanker claim; the agency’s balances show a fourth-quarter surplus for the first time since the war began; Alaska’s official total stands at 125,157 to 119,357, uncalled; Mississippi’s counties certify today; Spain’s campaign is in its first full day; and Mr. Huang’s answer is due by evening. The evening edition collects at 1800.