Hey friends - I’m heading to SF for five weeks tomorrow. If you’re in town, hit me up! Share Scoops was accepted into Draper University. So we’ll be accelerating things again. Crazy month ahead!

🌎 The Big Picture

With no end in sight for the government shutdown, investors and policymakers are still trying to navigate the uncertainty without their most trusted data.

▶️ The third quarter financial reporting season has been off to a strong start, with America's biggest banks reporting big profits and optimistic outlooks on the state of the country's finances.

▶️ The Federal Reserve's Beige Book survey of conditions across the country wasn't inspiring, but it backed up a story of an economy that’s holding pretty steady. Comments from the chairman of the Federal Reserve helped to reassure investors that policymakers are still on track to keep bringing down borrowing costs.

▶️ The tensions between the US and China have rattled markets over the last few days, but it seems like things have cooled off a bit.

▶️ There’s more data coming out that’s solidifying the trend of worsening inequality that I’ve been talking about for a while.

Americans kept spending in September, but it's mostly coming from the upper-income bracket. According to Bank of America's latest card data, credit and debit card spending per household rose just 0.2% for the month but was up 2.0% compared to a year earlier, the fastest year-over-year growth of 2025.

However, the story changes across income levels. Most of the spending growth has been driven by the wealthiest Americans. Lower-income households increased spending by only 0.6% over the past year, well below inflation, while higher-income spending climbed a much larger 2.6%. Wage gains at the higher end, combined with stock market gains, helped fuel relatively more spending in this group. After-tax wages rose 4.0% for higher-income households, but just 1.4% for lower-income households over the past year. Higher wages are a positive trend for households, but businesses facing slowing sales may need to shift their target audience.

Middle and lower-income families are much more pessimistic. According to JPMorgan’s new Cost of Living Survey, high-income earners are far more confident about the economy, while low-income earners are still struggling to keep up with rising costs. Only 30% of low-income Americans say covering monthly bills is easier than last year, compared with nearly 60% of wealthy respondents. Eighty percent of workers making less than $50,000 cited cost of living as their primary concern, compared to only half of high earners. Lower earners pointed to rent as their biggest expense burden, which makes sense given that the median rental price of $2,500 is now equal to 70% of the typical low-income worker’s monthly take-home pay. Overall, consumer sentiment remains split, with top earners feeling about 25% more confident than the lowest third of earners.

It’s not clear if the economy can keep growing on the spending of the affluent alone. But the growing divide between income groups could significantly impact spending patterns for businesses.

Get the full breakdown of all the trends affecting your home, wallet, and career in the new Weekend Scoop on the Scoops app!

🏭 The Companies Everyone’s Talking About

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❔ The Big Question of the Week

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