Despite analysts pointing to various headwinds (overspending on artificial intelligence, financing the build-out and profitability timelines, and strain in European government bond markets, among them), JPMorgan’s Kriti Gupta and Nick Roberts are expecting markets to have a strong end to 2026.

In a note shared exclusively with Fortune, they wrote: “The path to year-end is unlikely to be a straight line. There are still plenty of hurdles to clear, from the midterms and geopolitics to questions around the durability of the AI build-out. But volatility doesn’t necessarily mean the bull market is running out of road.

“If anything, resilient markets, broader participation and a history of strength into year-end suggest investors may be better served looking past bouts of uncertainty rather than heading for the sidelines. 

“The hurdles are real. So far, the market has shown it can clear them.”

• S&P 500 futures were down by 0.97% this morning. The index fell 0.37% yesterday.
• In Europe, the Stoxx 600 was down 0.26% in early trading, and the U.K.’s FTSE 100 rose 0.11% before lunch.
• Asia: South Korea’s KOSPI was down 3.48%. Japan’s Nikkei 225 was down 2.12%. India’s Nifty 50 was up 0.32%. China’s CSI 300 was down 1.39%.
• Brent crude is at $113 per barrel.
• Bitcoin is down at $77,630.

ONE BIG THING

What we know about the Binance hack

The party behind a hack at Binance, the world’s largest digital currency exchange, remains unconfirmed after an estimated $6.3 billion was drained from the company. 

Everyone from security researchers to Elon Musk, to the company itself, has a theory on what happened and why—Fortune’s Jeff John Roberts reported early this morning that the security firm TRM and others have said North Korea is almost certainly behind it.

Binance believes the hacker gained access to servers via an employee's or contractor's laptop, allowing them to “submit unauthorized withdrawal transactions.”

OUCH!

The Fed’s Warsh is a “human opioid” for the markets, Macquarie says 

Macquarie’s Thierry Wizman published a note yesterday titled “Kevin Warsh, The Human Opioid,” which seems a little harsh. Yet upon further reading, it seems Wizman is arguing that Warsh gives so little guidance in his views on the economy that market volatility remained unusually low on “Fed Day” (Wednesday), when he announced that the central bank would not change interest rates from the 3.75% level. 

“Kevin Warsh took the excitement out of ‘Fed Day,’” Wizman wrote. All the major asset markets—stocks, bonds, currency, and gold—traded within a tight range.

 “By saying little to guide markets toward his next intended step, he's managed to keep intra-session stock and bond market volatility on FOMC meeting days low. But that was the aim of his ‘reforms’ after all,” Wizman said.

“Fun times are indeed over.”

MORE FROM FORTUNE

• The Intern Who Took Over Sam’s Club | Fortune Daily
• The Pentagon and Britain are bracing for the power to go out. The ultrawealthy got there first, with backup generators, escape homes, and stockpiles, by Sydney Lake.
• As bosses push workers to use AI, a Kentucky man found a way to opt out: a federal law protecting religious beliefs, by Mia Osmonbekov.
• Rakuten Capital’s Saemin Ahn thinks Southeast Asian VC needs a different model, as good startups don’t get enough ‘oxygen’ compared to the U.S., by Angelica Ang.
• The U.S. expected 17,000 disputes a year when it passed this medical bills law. It gets over 2 million instead, by Lindsey Murtagh and The Conversation.

CHART OF THE DAY

People really hate AI data centers

“Nearly two-thirds of U.S. adults oppose data center construction in their local communities,” according to this chart from Oxford Economics’ Bernard Yaros and Matthew Walsh. “Although opposition is concentrated among Democrats, most independents and Republicans also oppose the buildout in their communities.”

NUMBER OF THE DAY

€338.25 million

The annual wage bill, in euros, for the players of Real Madrid, the most of all European soccer teams, according to research by sports gambling site Winsports. (That’s about $378.87 million.) Manchester City is next highest at €282.44 million, followed by Liverpool F.C. at €260.50m and F.C. Barcelona at €251.46m.

THE FRONT PAGES TODAY

• Alphabet shares tumble in $500bn rout - FT
• Big Tech’s Data Center Blitz Is Burning Through Cash and Scaring Wall St - NYT
• Inside the U.S. Military’s Open-Ended Mission to Keep Gulf Oil Flowing - WSJ
• Ukraine Hits Russian Oil Refinery, Ending Pause and Defying Trump - WSJ
• Midwestern retirees helped turn Florida red. Now they could turn it blue - Washington Post

ONE MORE THING

Airbnb just fixed the most annoying thing about Airbnb

It’s the most passive-aggressive part of staying in an Airbnb: Your host asks you to pay a cleaning fee and then hands you a list of cleaning duties to be performed before you leave. But Airbnb guests who are tired of spending the final hour of their vacation stripping beds and scrubbing pans are about to get a break—and many hosts are not happy about it, Fortune’s Lena Borrelli reports.

Under a new “reasonable house rules and requests” policy announced Oct. 20, Airbnb hosts generally can no longer ask guests to “complete tasks that require significant effort or time, or would typically be performed by a cleaner.” The company names three examples: stripping the bed, taking trash offsite, and washing and putting away dishes. The policy applies worldwide to reservations booked on or after Nov. 20, 2026.

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