Weekly Economic Report 10.31.25

Happy Halloween, or as our Irish ancestors say, the festival of Samhain (pronounced sow-in – we know the Irish can’t spell any better than the Scots, who write McVane as McVean). The festival marked the end of harvest, and the start of darker days when agricultural workers not only rose, but finished their day without light. Cattle were brought in from summer pasture – which typically meant families were reunited after a summer living apart, as younger men tended cattle in often distant fields. That evening was seen as a time when the netherworld and reality had a thin threshold. Fires were built to ward off the spirits, and masks were worn to scare away evil. We were interested to learn that participants jumped through the fires to drive off bad spirits – much like during our wife’s Iranian spring festival of Chaharshanbe Suri (the last Wednesday before Nowruz, or New Year, on March 21st). All Hallows Eve begins a three-day period of contemplation for Christians, followed by All Saints Day on November 1st, and All Souls Day on November 2nd. (Yes, there is a government shutdown, and with no data to talk about our mind wanders to other topics).

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