In October, the FTSE 100 hit fresh record highs. Despite the move over the course of this year, some are concerned the market might be getting ahead of itself. As a result, they feel UK shares could be in for a rocky run through to year-end. I have my own views on what will happen, and decided to check ChatGPT to see if my AI friend agrees or not!
Agreeing on some things
ChatGPT went as far as to say there’s “no clear sign” that UK shares will crash immediately, but caveated this view, saying that the downside risk (ie the risk of a crash) isn’t zero.
I pressed it for more reasoning, and it decided to look to the past. It told me that key market stress signals that have historically preceded crashes aren’t flashing red strongly right now. These include factors like banking sector stress, growth rates and inflation levels.
From my perspective, I agree that the risk of a crash isn’t high. However, unlike ChatGPT, I believe investors could consider positioning their portfolios a bit more defensively for the months ahead. After all, we’ve had a strong rally for much of this year, so instead of buying higher-risk growth stocks right now, I think it makes more sense to look at defensive picks.
The main reason a correction could come is if the Autumn Budget later this month spooks investors. If we see fiscal policy shifting to higher income tax, higher corporate tax, and lower government spending, it could cause the stock market to fall.
Plenty of defensive options
Fortunately, the FTSE 100 has several good defensive shares to consider. For example, National Grid (LSE:NG). The stock is up 16% over the past year, with a dividend yield of 4.08%.
I think it’s a potentially solid pick for a few reasons. To begin with, it offers stable, regulated cash flows. What I mean by this is that as a utility operator in the UK and the US, it has price bands on what it can charge. This ensures revenue remains fairly consistent, allowing the management team to forecast with confidence into the future.
It also appeals due to its income potential. Although the dividend was cut this year, it boasts a track record of paying out dividends for over two decades straight. So even if the market does crash, investors can still look to bank some cash from the dividends.
Finally, National Grid acts to future-proof operations because of large, long-dated capex programmes. It’s focusing on upgrading the network, which should provide more profit in the years to come.
Of course, the company isn’t perfect. Some see the regulatory influence as being a concern, as any changes made by Ofgem have to be obeyed. It’s true that during a market correction, there’s no guarantee National Grid stock might not fall as well.
So I partly agree with ChatGPT, but feel it lacks the gut-feeling investors might have to want to move a little more cautiously for the period to the end of the year.
In October, the FTSE 100 hit fresh record highs. Despite the move over the course of this year, some are concerned the market might be getting ahead of itself. As a result, they feel UK shares could be in for a rocky run through to year-end. I have my own views on what will happen, and decided to check ChatGPT to see if my AI friend agrees or not!
Agreeing on some things
ChatGPT went as far as to say there’s “no clear sign” that UK shares will crash immediately, but caveated this view, saying that the downside risk (ie the risk of a crash) isn’t zero.
I pressed it for more reasoning, and it decided to look to the past. It told me that key market stress signals that have historically preceded crashes aren’t flashing red strongly right now. These include factors like banking sector stress, growth rates and inflation levels.
From my perspective, I agree that the risk of a crash isn’t high. However, unlike ChatGPT, I believe investors could consider positioning their portfolios a bit more defensively for the months ahead. After all, we’ve had a strong rally for much of this year, so instead of buying higher-risk growth stocks right now, I think it makes more sense to look at defensive picks.
The main reason a correction could come is if the Autumn Budget later this month spooks investors. If we see fiscal policy shifting to higher income tax, higher corporate tax, and lower government spending, it could cause the stock market to fall.
Plenty of defensive options
Fortunately, the FTSE 100 has several good defensive shares to consider. For example, National Grid (LSE:NG). The stock is up 16% over the past year, with a dividend yield of 4.08%.
I think it’s a potentially solid pick for a few reasons. To begin with, it offers stable, regulated cash flows. What I mean by this is that as a utility operator in the UK and the US, it has price bands on what it can charge. This ensures revenue remains fairly consistent, allowing the management team to forecast with confidence into the future.
It also appeals due to its income potential. Although the dividend was cut this year, it boasts a track record of paying out dividends for over two decades straight. So even if the market does crash, investors can still look to bank some cash from the dividends.
Finally, National Grid acts to future-proof operations because of large, long-dated capex programmes. It’s focusing on upgrading the network, which should provide more profit in the years to come.
Of course, the company isn’t perfect. Some see the regulatory influence as being a concern, as any changes made by Ofgem have to be obeyed. It’s true that during a market correction, there’s no guarantee National Grid stock might not fall as well.
So I partly agree with ChatGPT, but feel it lacks the gut-feeling investors might have to want to move a little more cautiously for the period to the end of the year.
Malaysian rapper and filmmaker Namewee has been detained in connection with the murder of a Taiwanese social media influencer.
Namewee, whose real name is Wee Meng Chee, surrendered to police on Wednesday and will be placed under remand for six days, his lawyer Joshua Tay said.
Nurse turned model Iris Hsieh, who had more than half a million followers on Instagram and also operated an OnlyFans account, was found dead in a hotel bathtub in Kuala Lumpur on 22 October.
According to local media reports, police said Wee was the last person seen with her before her death.
The 31-year-old, whose real name was Hsieh Yu-hsin, was known as Nurse Goddess by her fans.
Image: Taiwanese influencer and OnlyFans star Iris Hsieh. Pic: irisirisss900/Instagram
Police said she arrived in Malaysia on 20 October for a four-day trip.
Officers are waiting for the full post-mortem and toxicology reports before releasing the official cause of her death, local media reported.
Namewee was briefly detained at the time and separately charged for drug possession and use – allegations he denied.
He said he was deeply saddened by Hsieh’s death and denied any wrongdoing.
In an Instagram post after surrendering to police, the 42-year-old vowed to co-operate with the investigation.
Controversial artist Namewee is known for his satirical lyrics and videos on topics including politics, race and religion.
In 2016, he was arrested over his music video Oh My God following complaints it was disrespectful to Islam.
He released a track with Australian singer Kimberley Chen in 2021 that poked fun at Chinese nationalists and touched on sensitive topics, such as Taiwan’s sovereignty. The pair were banned from entering China and the song was removed from all Chinese platforms.
Good morning. You’re reading the Up First newsletter. Subscribe here to get it delivered to your inbox, and listen to the Up First podcast for all the news you need to start your day.
Today’s top stories
NPR’s senior political editor/correspondent Domenico Montanarojoins the newsletter today to break down the 2025 off-year elections.
Up and down the ballot, Democrats did well, from the marquee gubernatorial races in Virginia and New Jersey to a key redistricting ballot initiative in California and even state Supreme Court races in Pennsylvania. Here are five takeaways from the 2025 off-year elections:
Voters cast their ballots at a polling station on Nov. 4, 2025, in Arlington, Virginia. Virginians hit the polls on Election Day to pick their next governor.
Alex Wong/Getty Images
hide caption
toggle caption
Alex Wong/Getty Images
It’s still the cost of living, stupid. Prices, prices, prices. Affordability was a through line in most of the races Tuesday. President Trump’s lack of focus on it likely hurt his party, as voters overwhelmingly sided with Democrats on the economy.
Republicans still have a Trump problem — in two different ways. Republican candidates are in a quandary — Trump is unpopular and a drag with independents, but without him on the ballot, they continue to have problems turning out base voters.
The Trump slump with Latinos appears to be real. Trump made inroads with Latinos in 2024, but that has slid backward. Latinos chose Democrats in the governors’ races by 2-to-1 margins.
The redistricting arms race is on, and Democrats got a boost Tuesday on that front. Yes on Prop 50 won big, giving Democrats a chance to counterbalance GOP efforts to squeeze out more Republican House seats. It was a big win for California Gov. Gavin Newsom, too.
The Democratic Party will have to wrestle with its identity over the next year. From Zohran Mamdani as mayor of New York to Abigail Spanberger for Virginia governor, there’s going to be a real debate on how best for Democrats to present themselves to win in next year’s midterm elections.
Today marks day 36 of the ongoing government shutdown, making it the longest in U.S. history. It takes the title from the most recent shutdown, which stretched from December 2018 to January 2019 during President Trump’s first term in office. With no end in sight, Americans are feeling the worsening impacts every day, from disruptions at airports across the U.S. to federal workers going without a paycheck. Here’s how this shutdown compares to previous ones.
The Supreme Court hears arguments today on whether Trump can unilaterally set tariff rates under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act. Lower courts say he has exceeded his authority, while Trump argues that the measure allows him to impose tariffs to address trade imbalances and fentanyl imports. Tariffs are generating billions of dollars for the federal government, but they are also raising the costs of goods for consumers and frustrating businesses. Listen to the oral arguments in the case here.
Israeli authorities have arrested and detained the military’s top lawyer after she admitted leaking footage of Israeli soldiers sexually abusing a Palestinian detainee at a facility where Israel has held Palestinian prisoners throughout the war in Gaza. The military advocate general, Yifat Tomer-Yerushalmi, stated in her resignation letter that she authorized the video’s release to defuse attacks on investigators handling the case. Tomer-Yerushalmi has now been arrested for leaking the footage. Listen to NPR’s Daniel Estrin discuss the significance of the case with Morning Edition or read the transcript here.
Today’s listen
Callery pear blossoms.
Charles A. Tilford/Flickr
hide caption
toggle caption
Charles A. Tilford/Flickr
Callery pear blossoms.
Charles A. Tilford/Flickr
From daily stress to nonstop news, we all might need a moment to calm our nerves from time to time. NPR’s All Songs Considered has released its fourth installment of music to calm you down. It features new releases showcasing ambient sounds from Ozbolt and Klein alongside the hope and good company found in the music of Samia, Hand Habits, KeiyaA, and more. Listen to snippets of the songs. You can also immerse yourself in the playlist here.
Living Better
Our body is an exquisite time-keeping machine. Every cell that has DNA has a molecular clock, but they don’t keep perfect time on their own.
AzmanL/E+/Getty Images
hide caption
toggle caption
AzmanL/E+/Getty Images
Living Better is a special series about what it takes to stay healthy in America.
Scientists say returning to “standard time” is beneficial for our health, but the adjustment can be disruptive. When our body’s circadian rhythm is out of sync, risks for diabetes and heart disease can rise. Here are some ways to realign your habits:
⏰ Eat within a 10-hour window. Also, drop the late-night snack.
⏰ Keep a consistent sleep schedule so your body can stay in rhythm.
⏰Exercise when you feel most alert to help cue your body to be awake.
Teen Vogue signage is seen during the 2025 Teen Vogue Summit at NYA WEST on September 20, 2025 in Los Angeles, California.
Phillip Faraone/Getty Images for Teen Vogue
hide caption
toggle caption
Phillip Faraone/Getty Images for Teen Vogue
Teen Vogue staffers announced that they’ve been laid off as the outlet moves under Vogue.com. The outlet covered fashion, celebrity, politics and social justice issues.
Last night, Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear said that there were at least seven confirmed deaths and 11 injuries from a United Parcel Service cargo plane crash near the Louisville airport. (via LPM)
Math teachers at an Arizona high school are facing death threats after a Turning Point USA employee falsely accused them of wearing Halloween costumes that mocked the assassination of Charlie Kirk. The educators say it was just a joke about solving math problems. (via KJZZ)
Giga, a San Francisco-based startup that builds voice-based AI agents for companies that need customer support, has raised $61 million in Series A funding led by Redpoint Ventures, with participation from Y Combinator and Nexus Venture Partners. The post-investment valuation of the company was not disclosed.
Founded by IIT Kharagpur graduates and Forbes 30 Under 30 alums Varun Vummadi and Esha Manideep, Giga is already working with food delivery company DoorDash. With the fresh funding, the company is looking to scale up usage within Fortune 100 enterprises and grow its team.
The voice AI space is crowded and competitive, mostly because of its potential to automate a lot of customer support work. The sector includes everything from specialized startups such as ElevenLabs and Vapi to tech giants like Amazon and Microsoft, vying for a share of a market projected to grow from $3.14 billion in 2024 to $47.5 billion by 2034.
Voice AI has the potential to streamline a lot of businesses’ customer service tasks, such as answering routine customer questions or scheduling appointments, without a human agent needing to step in. Many companies already use chatbots to automate various written communications with customers, but realistic voice AI that is good enough to hold natural conversations has the potential to handle many more customer interactions.
“It’s about giving time back. Even in chat or calls, people go through ridiculous flows. We want to simplify the process so issues get resolved easily and quickly,” Vummadi, one of Giga’s co-founders, told Fortune.
Vummadi sees Giga’s implementation speed as one of its main competitive advantages. He said the company can deploy enterprise-scale AI support in less than two weeks.
“We’re a very product-based based where companies can come and upload all the existing transcripts of their support agents and their policies, and we automatically build this into our system, so the time to value is dramatically low,” he said.
Another is Giga’s ability to perform multiple actions in real-time. The startup has built a unified real-time orchestration layer that manages all the different things the AI needs to do at once, such as listening, understanding what’s being said, deciding how to respond, checking databases, and speaking back. All tasks the system can do in less than half a second. For example, at DoorDash, if a Dasher can’t complete a delivery, Giga’s system can maintain a live connection with the Dasher, call the consumer to verify the address, and perform cross-check policy compliance all automatically and in real time.
“At DoorDash, we operate at a massive scale across services, platforms, and languages,” said DoorDash co-founder Andy Fang. “Giga leveraged usage data to deliver measurable improvements, including fewer escalations, faster resolution paths, and more efficient workflows across our teams. As we continue to grow across more than 40 countries and serve nearly 50 million people each month, partnerships like this are critical to delivering better outcomes for consumers on a global scale.”
Language and accent barriers
If successful, voice AI companies could help businesses reduce resolution times, cut escalations, and limit the need for large call center teams. However, experts have warned that automated voice AI has historically struggled with nuance and emotional intelligence, particularly when interacting with non-native speakers.
While voice AI systems are typically trained on vast datasets of speech, those datasets tend to skew heavily toward “standard” American or British English, meaning people with strong regional accents frequently find themselves being misunderstood. The problem is also particularly acute for elderly users or people with speech impediments, especially as these systems are increasingly being deployed in critical areas like healthcare and government services.
To combat some of these bias issues, Giga is working with open-source and multi-lingual LLMs and has developed a feature that lets customers opt into talking in a native language.
“We have seen a lot of accent issues go away if people speak in their native language. Multilingual is a very powerful asset,” Vummadi said. “We also store user preferences over time, so every interaction gets better.”
Expanding into finance and healthcare
Giga is planning to use some of the capital to fund an expansion into more regulated industries such as healthcare and finance. For these sectors, the company deploys its entire system on the client’s own cloud infrastructure using open-source models. Vummadi says Giga never has access to client data when deployed in this way.
In financial services, Giga is already live with several clients and is being used to automate compliance processes, such as flagging unusual transactions. When customers make transfers that deviate from their normal patterns, the AI can reach out to confirm the source and maintain the paper trail regulators require. “Those processes will be automated using AI, basically like a human reaching out,” Vummadi said, adding that the system can cross-reference details against external databases like Zillow to verify property sales to prevent fraud.
“What excites me most about Giga is that it’s not just building a best-in-class support bot,” said Satish Dharmaraj, Managing Director at Redpoint Ventures. “The team is building a foundational AI layer for customer voice — one that can understand nuance, reason about context, and scale with enterprise reliability.”
Lenny Kravitz revealed a hint of his little paradise on earth by posting a serene photo of his house in the Bahamas islands. The caption of the iconic image was “Right where I belong…” and a rare, calm moment from his very lively and exuberant life got revealed.
Advertisement
When the shutter of the camera clicked, it appeared that Kravitz was not at all ready for it. The first people who saw it pointed out the serene and honest character of the singer and even praised it. The picture showing a man who is completely comfortable and confident in his own territory was a sharp contrast to the singer’s bold, lively character.
Several viewers have commented and one of them offered a very beautiful way of expressing the reason why the picture gained such popularity saying; “This picture is so nice; it’s like the photographer was sneaking up on him.” The unguarded spirit was sensed in the comments as well. One person referred to the picture as “Peace, nature, simple and authentic Lenny!!!” The Spanish version is even more vivid as it still keeps the same enthusiastic tone and is made understandable to all readers.
It is very clear that the spot holds a lot of significance to Kravitz who is never far from the Bahamas. “There are places that change us, they change us from inside out. What a joy they are! Even if we are living far away from them we keep coming back to those places feeling our calm, our home.” The above quotation is a clear expression of the connection between such places and the two concepts of comfort and belonging, which Kravitz’s private moment has touched upon so extensively.
Others have also expressed their thoughts along the lines of how genuine the photo was, one man labeling it “Pure, raw, authentic; thank you for that.” Another one, meanwhile, portrayed Kravitz as a “Beautiful soul spirit heart filled with love, truth, simple man, human child of God, blessed, Wow, Authentic, Respect, freedom ride, life, love, oneness, peace, just simple, Beautiful heart” letting his thoughts flow in a torrent of words that reflected the emotional reaction so many shared.
The rock star’s relationship with nature seemed to be a reason for his audience to become very philosophical in their thoughts. One viewer expressed it; “Kravitz’s aura was, ‘It’s peace of mind’ while another insisted, ‘So beautiful for the soul’. By these comments, it can be easily understood that the peaceful moment of the singer was not only visually appealing but also emotionally attractive to those who were living his life.
Kravitz’s way of life and spirituality in music have long been his differentiators, thus rendering the glimpse into his private retreat very meaningful. His, “Right where I belong” caption is very much the mark of a man who has found his center after an exhausting period in the limelight and the audience seemed to have taken a liking to this gentle side of the legendary artist.
A tsunami of comments came up supporting both, the man, and the moment, one of the people perfectly summed it up: “Mr. Kravitz, just chilling at home. In the Bahamas. I love it.” This plain sentence was the main reason why the post was so appealing – it was not about the rock star, but rather about the man’s bond with his favorite place that was quite calm.
Advertisement
Lenny Kravitz’s moment of genuine tranquillity was very unlike other celebrities’, as his compassion made it all the more special. He did not only show his audience the picture, but he also let them feel that very moment of life. Even when he appeared miles away, still living in his fantasy, the rock legend was uttering weighty words in a simple way, that is, sometimes the most forceful message is just being present, in a place that is like home. He has also announced a major 2025 homecoming concert in the Bahamas, further solidifying this special connection. His recent appearance at the VMAs showcased a completely different, bold style. Fans were also treated to a rare 1995 acoustic performance he shared recently. This tranquil moment is a stark contrast to a shirtless post from Las Vegas that turned up the heat.
When Xavier “X” Atencio was plucked by Walt Disney in 1965 to be one of his early theme park designers, he was slotted on a number of projects that placed him out of his comfort zone.
Atencio, for instance, never would have envisioned himself a songwriter.
One of Atencio’s first major projects with Walt Disney Imagineering — WED Enterprises (for Walter Elias Disney), as it was known at the time — was Pirates of the Caribbean. In the mid-’60s when Atencio joined the Pirates team, the attraction was well underway, with the likes of fellow animators-turned-theme park designers Marc Davis and Claude Coats crafting many of its exaggerated characters and enveloping environments. Atencio’s job? Make it all make sense by giving it a cohesive story. While Atencio had once dreamed of being a journalist, his work as an animator had led him astray of a writer’s path.
Atencio would not only figure it out but end up as the draftman of one of Disneyland’s most recognizable songs, “Yo Ho (A Pirate’s Life for Me).” In the process, he was key in creating the template for the modern theme park dark ride, a term often applied to slow-moving indoor attractions. Such career twists and turns are detailed in a new book about Atencio, who died in 2017. “Xavier ‘X’ Atencio: The Legacy of an Artist, Imagineer, and Disney Legend” (Disney Editions), written by three of his family members, follows Atencio’s unexpected trajectory, starting from his roots in animation (his resume includes “Fantasia,” the Oscar-winning short “Toot, Whistle, Plunk and Boom” and even stop-motion work in “Mary Poppins”).
For Pirates of the Caribbean, Atencio is said to have received little direction from Disney, only that the park’s patriarch was unhappy with previous stabs at a narration and dialogue, finding them leaning a bit stodgy. So he knew, essentially, what not to do. Atencio, according to the book, immersed himself in films like Disney’s own “Treasure Island” and pop-cultural interpretations of pirates, striving for something that felt borderline caricature rather than ripped from the history books.
Xavier “X” Atencio got his start in animation. Here, he is seen drawing dinosaurs for a sequence in “Fantasia.”
(Reprinted from “Xavier ‘X’ Atencio: The Legacy of An Artist, Imagineer, and Disney Legend” / Disney Enterprises Inc. / Disney Editions)
Indeed, Atencio’s words — some of those quoted in the book, such as “Avast there! Ye come seeking adventure and salty old pirates, aye?” — have become shorthand for how to speak like a pirate. The first scene written for the attraction was the mid-point auction sequence, a section of the ride that was changed in 2017 due to its outdated cultural implications. In the original, a proud redheaded pirate is the lead prisoner in a bridal auction, but today the “wench” has graduated to pirate status of her own and is helping to auction off stolen goods.
At first, Atencio thought he had over-written the scene, noticing that dialogue overlapped with one another. In a now-famous theme park moment, and one retold in the book, Atencio apologized to Disney, who shrugged off Atencio’s insecurity.
“Hey, X, when you go to a cocktail party, you pick up a little conversation here, another conversation there,” Disney told the animator. “Each time people will go through, they’ll find something new.”
This was the green light that Atencio, Davis and Coats needed to continue developing their attraction as one that would be a tableau of scenes rather than a strict plot.
Tying it all together, Atencio thought, should be a song. Not a songwriter himself, of course, Atencio sketched out a few lyrics and a simple melody. As the authors write, he turned to the thesaurus and made lists of traditional “pirating” words. He presented it to Disney and, to Atencio’s surprise, the company founder promptly gave him the sign off.
“Yo Ho (A Pirate’s Life for Me),” Atencio would relay, was a challenge as the ride doesn’t have a typical beginning and ending, meaning the tune needed to work with whatever pirate vignette we were sailing by. Ultimately, the song, with music by George Bruns, underlines the ride’s humorous feel, allowing the looting, the pillaging and the chasing of women, another scene that has been altered over the years, to be delivered with a playful bent.
The song “altered the trajectory” of Atencio’s career. While Atencio was not considered a musical person — “No, not at all,” says his daughter Tori Atencio McCullough, one of the book’s co-authors — the biography reveals how music became a signature aspect of his work. The short “Toot, Whistle, Plunk and Boom,” for instance, is a humorous tale about the discovery of music. And elsewhere in Atencio’s career he worked on the band-focused opening animations for “Mickey Mouse Club.”
“That one has a pretty cool kind of modern instrument medley in the middle,” Kelsey McCullough, Atencio’s granddaughter and another one of the book’s authors, says of “Mickey Mouse Club.” “It was interesting, because when we lined everything up, it was like, ‘Of course he felt like the ride needed a song.’ Everything he had been doing up to that point had a song in it. Once we looked it at from that perspective, it was sort of unsurprising to us. He was doing a lot around music.”
Xavier “X” Atencio contributed concepts to Disneyland’s Haunted Mansion, including its famous one-eyed cat.
(Reprinted from “Xavier ‘X’ Atencio: The Legacy of An Artist, Imagineer, and Disney Legend” / Disney Enterprises Inc. / Disney Editions)
Atencio would go on to write lyrics for the Country Bear Jamboree and the Haunted Mansion. While the Haunted Mansion vacillates between spooky and lighthearted imagery, it’s Atencio’s “Grim Grinning Ghosts” that telegraphs the ride’s tone and makes it clear it’s a celebratory attraction, one in which many of those in the afterlife prefer to live it up rather than haunt.
Despite his newfound music career, Atencio never gave up drawing and contributing concepts to Disney theme park attractions. Two of my favorites are captured in the book — his abstract flights through molecular lights for the defunct Adventure Thru Inner Space and his one-eyed black cat for the Haunted Mansion. The latter has become a fabled Mansion character over the years. Atencio’s fiendish feline would have followed guests throughout the ride, a creature said to despise living humans and with predatory, possessive instincts.
In Atencio’s concept art, the cat featured elongated, vampire-like fangs and a piercing red eye. In a nod to Edgar Allan Poe’s story “The Black Cat,” it had just one eyeball, which sat in its socket with all the subtlety of a fire alarm. Discarded eventually — a raven essentially fills a similar role — the cat today has been resurrected for the Mansion, most notably in a revised attic scene where the kitty is spotted near a mournful bride.
Xavier “X” Atencio retired from Disney in 1984 after four-plus decades with the company. He drew his own retirement announcement.
(Reprinted from “Xavier ‘X’ Atencio: The Legacy of An Artist, Imagineer, and Disney Legend” / Disney Enterprises Inc. / Disney Editions)
Co-author Bobbie Lucas, a relative of Atencio’s colloquially referred to by the family as his “grandchild-in-law,” was asked what ties all of Atencio’s work together.
“No matter the different style or no matter the era, there’s such a sense of life and humanity,” Lucas says. “There’s a sense of play.”
Play is a fitting way to describe Atencio’s contributions to two of Disneyland’s most beloved attractions, where pirates and ghosts are captured at their most frivolous and jovial.
“I like that,” Lucas adds. “I like someone who will put their heart on their sleeve and show you that in their art.”
Palantir (NASDAQ: PLTR) stock experienced a sharp pullback after the company posted its earnings for the third quarter of 2025 on Monday night (3 November) and UK investors have been aggressively buying the dip. Looking at data from AJ Bell, it’s the most bought stock on the platform over the last day.
Now, I’ve had this artificial intelligence (AI) stock on my watchlist for ages but I’ve never actually pulled the trigger and bought it for my portfolio. Should I follow the crowd and buy it now? Let’s discuss.
Unbelievable Q3 earnings
Palantir’s Q3 results were truly unbelievable. For the quarter, revenue was up an incredible 63% year on year to $1.18bn. Adjusted earnings per share (EPS) was $0.21, more than double the figure in Q3 2024. Meanwhile, the company’s ‘rule of 40’ score (revenue growth plus profit margin) was 114 – that’s literally unheard of.
Driving this mind-blowing growth was the company’s US commercial segment. Here, revenue was up 121% year on year to $397m, signalling that US businesses are scrambling to adopt Palantir’s AI technology. US government revenue growth remained strong however, at 52%.
“These are arguably the best results that any software company has ever delivered.” Palantir CEO Alex Karp
Just getting started
Looking at these numbers, one thing’s very clear. This company is the real deal when it comes to AI. I was impressed with its growth rate last quarter, which was 48%. The fact that this has accelerated to 63% suggests that the company has AI solutions that are truly best in class.
What’s interesting is that in the quarterly letter to shareholders, its CEO said that the company is just getting started.
I think he may be right because of the $1.18bn in revenue for Q3, $883m came from the US. In other words, there could still be huge potential in Europe, Asia, and other areas of the world.
Does the stock look attractive?
So we have a brilliant company here. But a brilliant company doesn’t always translate to a winning investment so what does the stock look like? Well, this is where things get complex.
You see, Palantir has an insanely high valuation today (even after its pullback). At present, it trades on a forward-looking price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio of 209 and a forward-looking price-to-sales ratio of about 58 (these figures use sales and earnings estimates for 2026).
These valuations add a ton of risk to the investment case because they’re so high. For reference, Nvidia trades on multiples of about 30 and 13 right now.
Note that a lot of professional analysts have problems with the valuation. On Wall Street, several firms have price targets below $70. Personally, I’d be willing to pay a premium for this company because of its growth. But I can’t justify a price-to-sales ratio of 58.
That kind of ratio assumes that growth will keep ticking along at current rates for years. And I think that’s unlikely (although it could happen).
My move now
Given the sky-high valuation, I’m going to leave Palantir on my watchlist for now. I’m keen to buy it for my portfolio, but I think I’ll get better opportunities in the months ahead.
Sophie Rain once again took over the internet with her latest look. She revealed her Halloween outfit in an Instagram post, wearing a Spider-Man bodysuit. This look from the OnlyFans model definitely caught fans’ attention online.
Sophie Rain stuns in Spider-Man bodysuit
In a post captioned, “are your spidey senses tingling?” Sophie Rain revealed her outfit for Halloween. She posted pictures of herself in a mini Spider-Man bodysuit as she posed in front of a white background. Showing off her thigh and arm tattoos, Rain completed her outfit with a golden wristwatch and bracelets around her wrists. In the images posted on her Instagram account, she can even be seen doing a Spider-Man pose for the camera.
Image credit: Instagram / @sophieraiin
Fans stormed the comments section with praise and also a little humour. One fan wrote, “She’s so beautiful,” while another joked, “I don’t have spidey sense but something else is tingling.”
Originally reported by Elton Fernandes on Mandatory.
A Los Angeles man is accused of trying to recruit hundreds of women and girls into a multi-state sex trafficking ring, according to prosecutors in Colorado.
Andrew Dominguez, 36, was charged with seven counts by a grand jury in Colorado, officials said, including one count of violating the Colorado Organized Crime Control Act, two counts of attempted pimping, two counts of criminal impersonation, one count of extortion and another count of tampering with a victim or witness.
According to the indictment, Dominguez had “established relationships” with several women and girls across multiple states, including Colorado, Texas, New Mexico and a minor in Arizona.
On Monday, Colorado Atty. Gen. Phil Weiser and Denver Dist. Atty. John Walsh announced Dominguez’s arrest. Prosecutors allege that Dominguez has contacted hundreds of women and girls online, looking to recruit them into a sex trafficking ring.
In a statement, officials said Dominguez began contacting victims in early 2023.
Prosecutors with the Denver district attorney’s office became aware of Dominguez when, while investigating a sexual assault involving a different suspect, a woman told prosecutors she believed she had been included in online commercial sex sites for prostitution.
Investigators later determined Dominguez had made the online post for the woman, officials said.
Over the course of their investigation, officials tracked hundreds of commercial sex ads throughout the country, according to the indictment, with many of them listing a similar message in the text of the ad: “no blacks. no pimps. no thugs. no cops.”
Dominguez allegedly used voice over internet protocol numbers, or “VOIP” numbers, which are not linked to a physical phone but transmit calls and texts via the internet, making them more difficult to link to an owner.
Investigators allege, according to the indictment, that Dominguez used the “VOIP” numbers to promote sex workers online, to pose as men looking for sex workers, and to extort women that he’d been unable to recruit for prostitution.
Dominguez threatened to distribute pictures and videos of the women if they did not give him money or engage in prostitution for him, according to investigators.
Officials said more victims may yet be identified.
The 36-year-old was taken into custody in California with the help of agents with the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation’s Fugitive Apprehension Team and U.S. Marshals.
Officials plan to have him extradited to Colorado to face charges.
