A railroad strike is looking increasingly likely: Two unions have rejected the tentative agreement brokered by the Biden administration over concerns about inadequate sick leave.

The most informative sessions unpacked providers’ increased alertness around fraud, the next era of BNPL, attendees’ excitement over open banking innovation, and fintechs’ efforts to align with regulators.

Hispanics fuel US population and economic output: The demographic group’s US consumer expenditures are growing faster than those of non-Latino consumers.

Inflation remains high. So does consumer spending. On this week’s Halloween episode of “Behind the Numbers: Reimagining Retail,” our analysts looked at a few silly and even spooky indexes for evaluating consumer behavior during times of economic constraint.

At Money20/20, Dan Rosen offered his insights on fintech funding cycles, what the coming consolidation among fintechs may look like, and what he learned from this year’s startup pitch competition.

Mobile ads that cover 80% of the screen receive 6.6 seconds of attention from the average smartphone user. That’s more than double the attention received by ads with 50% screen cover, and about eight times that of ads covering less than 10% of the screen.

Musk courts advertisers right before the Twitter deal becomes final: The magnate has realized a “free-for-all hellscape” is not in his best interests.

Aldi US plays catch-up with its new ecommerce platform: The discount grocer aims to narrow the gap by letting shoppers buy online.

Walmart Health expands clinics in Florida: We look at why 16 new health centers won’t be a gamechanger.

Digital health startups to watch: This week, we spotlight patient recruitment platform SubjectWell and virtual MSK company RightMove on the back of fresh funding hauls.

Teladoc’s double-edged Q3 earnings are in: We review how the company fared this past quarter and examine how its mental health entity will be a swing factor for 2023.

A quest for pros: Meta’s premium Quest Pro headset is now available, and while early reviews laud the improved design, comfort, and controllers, reviewers also dinged the poor battery life and confusing mixed reality focus.

Meta faces rocky road to reverse underperformance: Q3 shows revenue outlook weakening as metaverse projects swell expenses.

For many, Facebook’s new name introduced “the metaverse” as a concept. But a year out, most people have not entered the metaverse. Right now, Meta’s facelift doesn’t appear to have legs. (Quite literally—the little Horizon Worlds avatars still don’t have legs.)

On today's episode, we discuss Uber's foray into advertising, whether or not we are past "peak newsletter," how to convert online shoppers into buyers, how Apple's privacy changes have affected mobile marketers, how much media young people consume, an explanation of what's most disrupting advanced TV, how much it costs to raise a kid in the US, and more. Tune in to the discussion with our vice president of Briefings Stephanie Taglianetti and analysts Ross Benes and Evelyn Mitchell.

Consumer spending grew 0.4% in Q3: But the shift to spending on services continued as goods spending fell for the third straight quarter.

McDonald’s and Chipotle keep growing: That’s despite both chains raising prices to offset their rising costs.

Alphabet earnings disappoint, except in the cloud: Google Cloud surpassed Q3 expectations as Alphabet’s topline revenue dashes investor hopes. Expect more pressure on employees, which could harm workplace culture.

Shutterstock flip-flops on text-to-image tech: The stock image company has changed its mind about AI art, integrating DALL-E 2 into its platform. The outcome is uncertain as copyright challenges loom.

Phishing attacks on the rise: Trusted brands like DHL, Microsoft, and LinkedIn are often impersonated in phishing emails, causing millions of dollars in breaches. Are brands responsible for educating their customers?