What we are reading:
This week: Amazon stores AI chips it can't yet power, midsize lenders see strong loan demand, investors come for the neighborhood restaurant, mortgage rates ease with the 10-year, and a family manufacturer that has never had a layoff.
📦 Amazon is taking delivery of Nvidia GB300 racks before it has the power to run them, about $5 billion in August and about $3 billion a month after, per Business Insider reporting. Amazon calls staging hardware near its sites standard practice. Its 2026 capital spending runs near $220 billion. https://finance.yahoo.com/technology/ai/articles/amazon-warehousing-billions-nvidia-ai-142317720.html
🏦 Midsize lenders reporting third-quarter results this week described strong loan demand, and part of it is the calendar: commercial loans written during the pandemic are hitting their usual five-year reset. https://www.marketplace.org/story/2026/10/20/midsize-lenders-are-seeing-high-loan-demand-right-now
🍽️ Investment groups are buying into family-run restaurants. The regulars aren't all happy about it. https://www.nytimes.com/2026/10/20/dining/private-equity-restaurant-deals.html
🏠 The 30-year conforming mortgage rate fell 11 basis points on the week to 7.52% as the 10-year Treasury slipped to 5.09% from 5.31% on October 5. The gap between the two widened to 2.21 percentage points from 1.92 in early September, so borrowers got less relief than the Treasury move suggests. https://www.housingwire.com/articles/mortgage-rates-dip-treasury-yield/
🏭 The Gund Co., a St. Louis manufacturer, hasn't laid anyone off since its founding in 1951. It has 1,300 employees, sales approaching $400 million and 18% average annual growth over a decade, and more than 200 companies have visited to study how it runs. https://www.wsj.com/business/bosses-want-the-secrets-of-the-family-firm-that-has-never-had-a-layoff-in-75-years-ac608165
Chart of the week: loans at U.S. commercial banks are up 7.9% over the year, the fastest since May 2023, while securities holdings grew 2.1%. Source: Federal Reserve H.8 release.
Caird Investment Partners is an SEC-registered investment adviser. Registration does not imply a certain level of skill or training. This post is market commentary, not investment advice. Figures as of October 22, 2026.
