The Headlines - A Wall Street Record, and Why India Cut 130 Million Names From Its Voter Roll

Episode Date: October 7, 2026

Plus, the cats who taste-test kibble. Here’s what we’re covering:Stocks Reach New High as Investors Look Past Rising Rates, by Joe RennisonTop Democratic Super PAC Raised Record Amount in Third Quarter, by Shane GoldmacherTrump Does Not Plan to Reimburse Taxpayers for Promotional Ads, by Shane Goldmacher and Maggie HabermanIndia Cut 130 Million From Voter Roll, Fueling Protests Against Modi, by Mujib Mashal, Pragati K.B. and Hari KumarThese Taste Testers Have Four Legs and Picky Palates, by Jenny Gross Tune in every weekday morning, and tell us what you think at: [e-mail]. Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and Amazon Music. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher. For more podcasts and narrated articles, download The New York Times app at nytimes.com/app. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

From the New York Times, it's the headlines. I'm Will Jarvis, in for Tracy Mumford. Today's Wednesday, October 7th. Here's what we're covering. Wall Street has reached a new record high. Yesterday, the S&P 500, the world's most widely tracked stock index, ticked up to an all-time peak, blowing past a series of other records it's set earlier this year.

Overall, since January, the index has shot up more than 14%. I think these things can sometimes seem counterintuitive, because we see war in Iran, we see war in Ukraine, we see rising deficits, more government debt, we see affordability issues in the U.S. and people struggling just to make ends meet each day. But that's not what the stock market reflects. The stock market reflects the profits of the biggest companies in the country. And the profits of the biggest companies in the country are still very strong. Joe Renison covers Wall Street for the Times.

He says the unprecedented surge in the market comes down to two sectors, energy and AI, On the energy front, the war in Iran has pushed the price of oil way up, and energy companies have been able to sell supplies they have in reserve, or from places outside the Middle East, at that higher price, helping boost revenues. Then when it comes to AI, investors continue to be all in on the Silicon Valley giants that are racing forward with the technology. These are the biggest companies in the stock market. By far the biggest companies in the stock market.

So when they're growing, it makes sense that the stock market. is also rising because they are the driving force of the stock market. However, there are still signs of trouble lurking just beneath the surface because there is pain in the stock market. There is a reflection of higher interest rates. There is a reflection of some of what is weighing even on households across America reflected in the stock market. Nearly every other sector, frankly, outside of energy and tech, nearly every sector of the index is lower over the past month, kind of pointing even more acutely at how much the tech sector is holding everything up. Joe says that one way to understand what's happening in the markets more broadly is to look beyond

just the S&P 500. For example, another stock index, the Russell 2000, which includes smaller companies more closely tied to the ebb and flow of the economy, has fallen nearly 8% in the past two months. Now, two quick updates on the midterm elections. First, the top super PAC behind Democrats' push to take control the Senate in November has raised record-breaking amounts of money going into the final stretch of the race. It entered this month with nearly $112 million in the bank. But even with that cash, the party is still at a significant disadvantage

since ultra-wealthy donors and corporations have been pouring money into Republican super PACs. That's allowed those PACs and other GOP groups to spend enormous amounts of money on things like TV ads, According to Federal Election Commission data, those groups have outspent their Democratic counterparts by more than $400 million in Senate races. And President Trump is facing new questions about his use of taxpayer money to pay for TV ads that promote him. In the past few weeks, there was bipartisan backlash over a series of pro-Trump ads that some critics said was effectively publicly funded propaganda ahead of the midterms. On Monday, Trump announced that his super PAC would pay for the ads instead, though White House officials later clarified that the group has no plans to reimburse the government for the more than $10 million that had already been spent.

Then, yesterday. This was one of the most stunning, effective and powerful displays of American military might and competence. A new taxpayer-funded ad began appearing on TV. It features Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Defense Secretary Pete Hagezeth, and President Trump bragging about how the administration took out the former leader of Venezuela. The Times asked the White House about whether Trump planned to have his Super PAC pay for that ad and others that have run after the president said he would not use public funds, but it didn't respond to those questions. The White House has previously called the series of ads public service announcements and said they're

appropriate because there's no call to action to vote for a particular candidate. In India in recent weeks, there have been widespread protests as public anger grays. rose over a massive removal of names from the country's voter role. In a sweeping effort over the past year or so, more than 130 million names have been eliminated from the list of roughly a billion voters. The government says the effort, which used algorithms to flag anomalies, was meant to clean up duplicates and discrepancies, a kind of routine update. But criticism is mounting that the process was sloppy. For example, 20 million names were deleted after they were marked as dead, even though some of those people are very much alive.

And there are accusations that the whole thing was also politically motivated. Evidence has been piling up that the push disproportionately targeted India's Muslim minority, which is seen as less likely to support the ruling Hindu nationalist party. In interviews with the Times, two senior officials in the ruling party, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said the whole process was designed to bolster their party's electoral advantage. and party leaders have publicly called the revision of the voter list an attempt to weed out, quote, infiltrators, a term that's been used to describe Muslims in the country. Indian election officials did not respond to requests for comments about the changes to the list. The ruling party has pointed out that in the past, opposition parties also called for updates to the voter role.

But unlike previous efforts in which officials went door-to-door cross-checking names, the new push involved eliminating names first, then letting people appeal if they want to. That's effectively shifted the burden of proof onto everyday Indians, forcing many people to choose between going to work to earn a living or making trips to election offices to try and prove that they're eligible to vote. And finally, the Times has been covering a fierce global competition to try and tap into one growing and extremely lucrative market. Every silky broth, every impeccable paté, what your pet is having for dinner.

It's not just nutritious. It's food cats actually want. Last year alone, Americans spent more than $17 billion on cat food, more than 10% jump from a couple years ago, and companies are pouring big money into research to better understand what your cat or dog actually wants to eat. One pet food giant has a research center in France with almost 400 cats and dogs living on a green campus, filled with plenty of toys, a pool. It's all in service of taste testing, where staff give the animals new food products with a variety of textures, flavors, smells, to see which they prefer.

For example, they'll put two different kibbles side by side on a scale, then measure which one a cat ate more of. The staff also study the animal's behavior after their meals. Are they more lethargic than usual, more playful? The research is a work in progress. As anyone with a cat knows, they can be picky, and one research center in England has been trying to better understand the animal's sense of smell and taste.

For example, why don't cats really like sweet foods? And what's up with their obsession with tuna? On that front, they found that cats have the umami taste receptor, and tuna's chemical makeup is basically, in the words of one scientist, super umami for the animals. Part of the frenzied race for new recipes is that some companies see a new opportunity emerging. Many of the pets people adopted in droves during the pandemic are now getting into middle age, so the pet food makers are developing more food aimed at aging animals, for example,

rolling out ultra-soft mooses that are easy on older cats' teeth. The big investment is a sign that companies are betting on customers opening their wallets for top shelf pet food, even as inflation climbs and budgets are stretched. Studies have shown that people will cut back on spending for themselves before they skimp on their pets. Those are the headlines. I'm Will Jarvis. The show will be back tomorrow with Tracy Mumford.