Why raise money in euros?

Marketplace’s Jobs Week began with a murkier employment picture ahead of October’s report. David Royal said revisions erased much of July and August’s apparent strength; health care keeps adding jobs because of an aging population, while manufacturing and construction are being supported largely by AI data centers. Indeed’s Sneha Puri said openings are weak and advertised salary growth trails inflation. Gusto’s Nick Tremper said small businesses are not competing aggressively on wages. Glassdoor’s Daniel Zhao added that poor employee sentiment and rising long-term unemployment reflect a low-fire market, where losing a job is especially costly.

Sam Bishop-Hanna described using ChatGPT and Claude to build itineraries and find conveniently located hotels, illustrating the travel industry’s “discovery” stage. West Virginia University professor A.J. Allury said AI can turn a traveler’s preferences into a personalized shortlist and potentially complete the booking, though that requires trust. Bank of America analyst Sean Kelly compared adoption with online credit-card payments, predicting it will happen faster than the internet’s adoption curve. He also said hotel AI agents could handle repetitive requests—such as extra towels—freeing front-desk staff to focus on guests in person.

At K2 Space’s 180,000-square-foot Torrance factory, brothers Karan and Neil Kunjur explained why their company rejects the assumption that satellites must be as small and light as possible. Falling launch prices—about $350,000 for a 50-kilogram satellite on a SpaceX rideshare—make larger satellites economical because they can use simpler materials. K2’s solar arrays span roughly 50 meters for a 20-kilowatt satellite and more than 100 meters for a 200-kilowatt model. The company launched Gravitas in March, plans to build 100 satellites a year, and sells satellite “cages” that customers can equip for different missions.

K2 has about 400 employees, a valuation near $7 billion, a U.S. Space Force contract and a role in the Golden Dome missile-defense program, which the Congressional Budget Office estimates could cost $1.2 trillion. Karan Kunjur defended private-sector involvement in national security by comparing satellites with the internet and computers, though the host said that was not really an answer to his concern. K2 makes about 90% of its components in-house and is developing autonomy so hundreds of satellites can be managed from one laptop. Kunjur predicted space-based computing could compete with terrestrial data centers in five to ten years.

Alphabet plans to issue about $6.7 billion, or roughly €6 billion, in European bonds, while Meta is reportedly considering a similar sale. Randy Vogel said U.S. issuance—Microsoft sold $25 billion and Oracle $10 billion around the same time—has filled investors’ appetites and some investors face limits on one company’s debt. Northeastern professor John Bai said European revenue makes euro borrowing easier to repay without currency conversion. Guy LeBas cited reduced exchange-rate volatility, and CreditSights’ Winnie Cisar said European corporate borrowing can be more than 1.5 percentage points cheaper than in the U.S. Rising rates could nevertheless make investors question repayment capacity and demand still higher yields.

Mortgage rates averaged 7.24% for a 30-year loan last week, while the country remains short roughly four to five million homes. National inventory rose 6% year over year, but San Francisco single-family inventory fell 33%. Realtor Cynthia Cummins said she sold a 1,000-square-foot condo listed at $1.3 million for $1.8 million after receiving 10 offers. Some buyers are taking a break, while AI-driven wealth and owners’ “golden handcuffs”—mortgages below 3%—help keep supply tight. The episode ended by noting Anthropic has contracted for $895 billion in computing, chips and data centers, including $70 billion due within a year, against $33 billion in revenue through September.