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Strictly Come Dancing 2024 week 10 exit leak - ‘gutted’ fans say ‘this is a joke’
ADRE, Chad — For months, Aziza Abrahim fled from one village in Sudan to the next as people were slaughtered. Yet the killing of relatives and her husband’s disappearance aren’t what forced the 23-year-old to leave the country for good. It was hunger, she said. “We don’t have anything to eat because of the war,” Abrahim said, cradling her 1-year-old daughter under the sheet where she now shelters, days after crossing into Chad. The war in Sudan has created vast hunger, including famine. It has pushed people off their farms. Food in the markets is sparse, prices have spiked and aid groups say they’re struggling to reach the most vulnerable as warring parties limit access. Ousmane Taher and his family cross from Sudan into Chad near Acre on Oct 6. Sam Mednick/Associated Press About 24,000 people have been killed and millions displaced during the war that erupted in April 2023, sparked by tensions between the military and a powerful paramilitary group, the Rapid Support Forces. Global experts confirmed famine in the Zamzam displacement camp in July. They warn that some 25 million people – more than half of Sudan’s population – are expected to face acute hunger this year. “People are starving to death at the moment ... It’s man-made. It’s these men with guns and power who deny women and children food,” Jan Egeland, head of the Norwegian Refugee Council, told The Associated Press. Warring parties on both sides are blocking assistance and delaying authorization for aid groups, he said. Between May and September, there were seven malnutrition-related deaths among children in one hospital at a displacement site in Chad run by Doctors Without Borders, known by its French acronym MSF. Such deaths can be from disease in hunger-weakened bodies. In September, MSF was forced to stop caring for 5,000 malnourished children in North Darfur for several weeks, citing repeated, deliberate obstructions and blockades. President Biden has called on both sides to allow unhindered access and stop killing civilians. But the fighting shows no signs of slowing. More than 2,600 people were killed across the country in October, according to the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project, which called it the bloodiest month of the war. Violence is intensifying around North Darfur’s capital, El Fasher, the only capital in the vast western Darfur region that the RSF doesn’t hold. Darfur has experienced some of the war’s worst atrocities, and the International Criminal Court prosecutor has said there are grounds to believe both sides may be committing war crimes, crimes against humanity or genocide. Abrahim escaped her village in West Darfur and sought refuge for more than a year in nearby towns with friends and relatives. Her husband had left home to find work before the war, and she hasn’t heard from him since. She struggled to eat and feed their daughter. Unable to farm, she cut wood and sold it in Chad, traveling eight hours by donkey there and back every few days, earning enough to buy grain. But after a few months the wood ran out, forcing her to leave for good. Others who have fled to Chad described food prices spiking three-fold and stocks dwindling in the market. There were no vegetables, just grains and nuts. Awatif Adam came to Chad in October. Her husband wasn’t making enough transporting people with his donkey cart, and it was too risky to farm, she said. Her 6-year-old twin girls and 3-year-old son lost weight and were always hungry. “My children were saying all the time, ‘Mom, give us food’,” she said. Their cries drove her to leave. As more people stream into Chad, aid groups worry about supporting them. About 700,000 Sudanese have entered since the war began. Many live in squalid refugee camps or shelter at the border in makeshift displacement sites. And the number of arrivals at the Adre crossing between August and October jumped from 6,100 to 14,800, according to government and U.N. data., though it was not clear whether some people entered multiple times. Earlier this year, the World Food Program cut rations by roughly half in Chad, citing a lack of funding. While there’s now enough money to return to full rations until the start of next year, more arrivals will strain the system and more hunger will result if funding doesn’t keep pace, said Ramazani Karabaye, head of the World Food Program’s operations in Adre. During an AP visit to Adre in October, some people who fled Sudan at the start of the war said they were still struggling. Khadiga Omer Adam said she doesn’t have enough aid or money to eat regularly, which has complicated breastfeeding her already malnourished daughter, Salma Issa. The 35-year-old gave birth during the war’s initial days, delivering alone in West Darfur. It was too dangerous for a midwife to reach her. Adam had clutched the baby as she fled through villages, begging for food. More than a year later, she sat on a hospital bed holding a bag of fluid above her daughter, who was fed through a tube in her nose. “I have confidence in the doctors ... I believe she’ll improve, I don’t think she’ll die,” she said. The MSF-run clinic in the Aboutengue camp admitted more than 340 cases of severely malnourished children in August and September. Staff fear that number could rise. The arid climate in Chad south of the Sahara Desert means it’s hard to farm, and there’s little food variety, health workers said. People are fleeing Sudan into difficult conditions, said Dr. Oula Dramane Ouattara, head of MSF’s medical activities in the camp. ”If things go on like this, I’m afraid the situation will get out of control,” he said. Comments are not available on this story. Send questions/comments to the editors. « Previous Next »Shiv Sena may get housing ministry in Maharashtra cabinet expansion
For Daniel Bwala, a baptism of fire
Jason Aldean's wife blames 'wokeness' for Billboard 100 greatest country artists of all time list snubJACK GREALISH'S partner and newborn daughter were in attendance at the Etihad to watch Manchester City take on Tottenham. Childhood sweethearts Grealish and Sasha celebrated becoming parents for the first time in with September after the birth of their baby girl Mila. And Sasha and Mila were seen at the Etihad on Saturday. Taking to Instagram, Sasha posted a photo of herself sitting down with a blue and white stripe coat while holding Mila. Grealish, 29, was named on the bench for the clash. That meant he was powerless to prevent Man City from going 3-0 down. He then came on in the 74th minute to replace Rico Lewis. However, he was unable to turn the game around before Brennan Johnson scored a fourth goal for Spurs. That final goal compounded City to their fifth defeat in a row, something they have not seen since Stuart Pearce was in charge in 2006. It also saw Pep Guardiola suffer his worst ever home defeat. BEST FREE BET SIGN UP OFFERS FOR UK BOOKMAKER S Grealish has played 11 games this season. He is yet to score but has contributed three assists in all competitions . Sasha works as a model and influencer. She has been backed to make millions as the "ultimate muminfluencer" . Sasha Attwood and Jack Grealish have become parents for the first time, but their relationship started well over a decade ago... The pair met as teens in Solihull, West Midlands at secondary school, with Sasha previously saying they have been together since she was 15. Jack was already on his way to becoming a professional footballer when he met Sasha. Despite the long-term nature of their relationship, she remained on the sidelines when his career took off. However, intense interest in Jack's private life came to a head in 2021 when England reached the final of Euro 2020, delayed a year because of the Covid-19 pandemic. Because of their romance, Sasha was cruelly targeted by trolls on TikTok and Instagram, receiving 200 death threats a day from "young girls". The pair were spotted on holiday together following the tournament and slowly began showing more of their relationship on social media when the vile trolling died down. In 2022, they celebrated their 10-year anniversary and purchased a seven-bed mansion set in 24 acres worth £5.6 million. They moved in to the home in late 2023, but Sasha and members of Jack's family were subject to a terrifying robbery while cheering on the Manchester City star during a televised match just after Christmas. Their latest milestone is Sasha's pregnancy , which they announced on social media on July 7, and the birth of daughter Mila Rose on September 27.
NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks climbed Thursday after market superstar Nvidia and another round of companies said they’re making even fatter profits than expected. The S&P 500 pulled 0.5% higher after flipping between gains and losses several times during the day. Banks, smaller companies and other areas of the stock market that tend to do best when the economy is strong helped lead the way, while bitcoin briefly broke above $99,000. Crude oil, meanwhile, continued to rise. The Dow Jones Industrial Average jumped 461 points, or 1.1%, and the Nasdaq composite edged up by less than 0.1%. Nvidia rose just 0.5% after beating analysts’ estimates for profit and revenue yet again, but it was still the strongest force pulling the S&P 500 upward. It also gave a forecast for revenue in the current quarter that topped most analysts’ expectations due to voracious demand for its chips used in artificial-intelligence technology. Its stock initially sank in afterhours trading Wednesday following the release of the results. Some investors said the market might have been looking for Nvidia’s revenue forecast to surpass expectations by even more. But its stock recovered in premarket trading Thursday, and Wedbush analyst Dan Ives said it was another “flawless” profit report provided by Nvidia and CEO Jensen Huang, whom Ives calls “the Godfather of AI.” The stock meandered through Thursday as well, dragging the S&P 500 and other indexes back and forth. How Nvidia’s stock performs has more impact than any other because it’s grown into Wall Street’s most valuable company at roughly $3.6 trillion. The frenzy around AI is sweeping up other stocks, and Snowflake jumped 32.7% after reporting stronger results for the latest quarter than analysts expected. The company, whose platform helps customers get a better view of all their silos of data and use AI, also reported stronger revenue growth than expected. BJ’S Wholesale Club rose 8.3% after likewise delivering a bigger profit than expected. That may help calm worries about how resilient U.S. shoppers can remain, given high prices across the economy and still-high interest rates. A day earlier, Target tumbled after reporting sluggish sales in the latest quarter and giving a dour forecast for the holiday shopping season. It followed Walmart , which gave a much more encouraging outlook. Nearly 90% of the stocks in the S&P 500 ended up rising Thursday, and the gains were even bigger among smaller companies. The Russell 2000 index of smaller stocks jumped a market-leading 1.7%. Google’s parent company, Alphabet, helped keep indexes in check. It fell 4.7% after U.S. regulators asked a judge to break up the tech giant by forcing it to sell its industry-leading Chrome web browser. In a 23-page document filed late Wednesday, the U.S. Department of Justice called for sweeping punishments that would include restrictions preventing Android from favoring its own search engine. Regulators stopped short of demanding Google sell Android but left the door open to it if the company’s oversight committee continues to see evidence of misconduct. All told, the S&P 500 rose 31.60 points to 5,948.71. The Dow jumped 461.88 to 43,870.35, and the Nasdaq composite added 6.28 to 18,972.42. In the crypto market, bitcoin eclipsed $99,000 for the first time before pulling back toward $98,000, according to CoinDesk. It’s more than doubled so far this year, and its climb has accelerated since Election Day. President-elect Donald Trump has pledged to make the country “the crypto capital of the planet” and create a “strategic reserve” of bitcoin. Bitcoin got a further boost after Gary Gensler, the chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission, said Thursday he would step down in January . Gensler has pushed for more protections for crypto investors. Bitcoin and related investment have a notorious history of big price swings in both directions. MicroStrategy, a company that’s been raising cash expressly to buy bitcoin, saw an early Thursday gain of 14.6% for its stock quickly disappear. It finished the day with a loss of 16.2%. In the oil market, a barrel of benchmark U.S. crude rose 2% to bring its gain for the week to 4.8%. Brent crude, the international standard, climbed 1.8%. Oil has been rising amid escalations in the Russia-Ukraine war. In stock markets abroad, shares of India’s Adani Enterprises plunged 22.6% Thursday after the U.S. charged founder Gautam Adani in a federal indictment with securities fraud and conspiracy to commit securities and wire fraud. The businessman and one of the world’s richest people is accused of concealing that his company’s huge solar energy project on the subcontinent was being facilitated by an alleged bribery scheme. Stock indexes elsewhere in Asia and Europe were mixed. In the bond market, the yield on the 10-year Treasury inched up to 4.43% from 4.41% late Wednesday following some mixed reports on the U.S. economy. One said fewer U.S. workers applied for unemployment benefits last week in the latest signal that the job market remains solid. Another report, though, said manufacturing in the mid-Atlantic region unexpectedly shrank. Sales of previously occupied homes, meanwhile, strengthened last month by more than expected. AP Business Writers Matt Ott and Yuri Kageyama contributed.
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OpenAI whistleblower found dead in San Francisco apartment after taking his own lifeCybersecurity Risk Assessment Market Outlook and Future Projections for 2030
A Youtuber who has travelled to some of the most dangerous countries in the world is now planning to visit North Korea. Callum Mills, 32, enjoys places where there is a higher element of risk such as active war zones or political instability, including Syria, Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan and Ukraine. He has met drugs lords, the Taliban, stood on Saddam Hussein's Palace and had dinner with gang members in Brazil. The traveller saw a Banksy original wall mural in the West Bank in Palestine and visited compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan, and even met Pablo Escobar's brother Roberto Escobar while on a trip in Medellin, Colombia. Now, Callum is now planning his next trip - to North Korea. He says he became "addicted" with danger tourism after exploring the most obscure places in Egypt during Covid. Since then, the adrenaline junkie has been to countries such as Syria, Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan and Ukraine. However, Callum says it is not the danger that fascinates him as all his trips are about connecting with different cultures and meeting new people. He said: "It is hard for people to understand this - it does become an addiction you seek the adventure and that feeling of being on edge. Their representation is always negative - I wanted to go there and connect with people locally. "I like to roam about and see what happens. I would always buy a one day flight. I like to get to the more obscure places that are not touristy. I've been asked this many times - about how I get to see some of the things that I do. I always say, 'I just speak to people'. "There have been incredible people who I've spoken to, with some people teaching me a lot about things. Getting to visit all these countries, people and areas has delivered a better education than school ever did." Callum - also known as Callum Abroad on YouTube - was in his second year of nursing degree at the University of the West of Scotland when the Covid-19 pandemic hit. His classes were being cancelled and he could not attend university so he decided to check what flights were available from Scotland. He said: "The longer I spent at home the more restless I became. The only flight I could take was Cairo in Egypt - and I never looked back I just kept doing. "It wasn't because I had a keen interest in Cairo. I wanted to see something a bit different - not just the pyramids. I decided to go to "Garbage City" as the locals call it. It didn't go well with the locals - I was told I was going to be attacked. "I found it pretty interesting - they go round the city and collect all the garbage before taking it back to their community to be sorted." After the first trip at the age of 28 he never returned to university as the more he travelled the more people were interested in what he was doing. Next, he packed his bags and travelled to Syria as he "wanted to show people what the world is really like." However his travels ended up being featured all over the news when he shared a video of what it is like to enter the boarders in Syria. He said: "My social media went crazy. I was being wanted because I exposed what it was like to enter the borders - where you had to pay soldiers to enter the borders." But despite this Callum says he "loved" his time in the country as the locals were "fantastic". "People think it is a complete war zone. But once you get there people are really nice," he added. "The media and the west forget sometimes that people in these countries are just ordinary people." Pakistan was the next country on the list - which is now Callum's favourite destination and he has been there six times already. He explained how he understands why some people would feel "intimidated" in Pakistan. Callum continued: "Both of my arms are filled with tattoos - but people just look at you because they are curious. I go to a lot of weddings there - it is countless the number of weddings I go to." Callum shares most of his experiences in his YouTube channel. And after meeting with drugs gang in Barcelona and Bogota he took a flight to Medellin in Colombia and even met Roberto Escobar, brother of Pablo Escobar. He said: "I chatted with him while his wife translating what I was saying. We got a picture together. I don't tend to plan things in my travels - I just plan things as I go. That's the beauty of it." In June 2023 the Coatbridge native decided to travel on a 40-hour train from Romania to Moldova and then by a bus to get him in Ukraine. Bombs dropping in the Ukrainian cities of Kherson and Odesa is one such moment that sticks in Callum's mind. "I could hear the bombs dropping off behind me when I got to Kherson. There was a time I had to take a second because I felt very emotional," he said. "A lot of people said they are prepared to die in Odesa. They don't think the Russians will stop until they get Odesa - that was a common theme I was getting from people. I just wish the war would stop killing each other - the level of devastation is bad." He added: "The bomb sirens were going off doing the day and the night - when the siren goes off people don't panic. I think it has got to the point where it is numb to them." In Afghanistan, he says he was taken away for questioning by the Taliban and asked him to convert to Islam. "I took the land border from Pakistan - it is very strict and it is a bit hectic there is a lot of screaming and shouting," he said. "The Taliban came up for me and I remember I was a bit nervous and only of them spoke English and the other didn't. I was making small talk with them. In Afghanistan it was my first interaction with the Taliban. They were asking me where I was from, asking if I was in the military or my family. Asked if I was Muslim and then they shook my hand." In Bogota's Bronx in Colombia he met gang members who told their stories. This happened while he was beside a crocodile and they said they would get the reptile to bite the limbs off of other gang members if they caught them. The UK Foreign Office advises against everything but essential travel to North Korea, but Callum is "desperate" to go. The country ruled by the Kim family since 1948 has been widely condemned for abusing human rights violations. Callum said: "I am prepared for any backlash I get and I want to see it with my own eyes. Nobody in the west was allowed in for five years. I wanna see the capital. It's a chance to speak to a North Korean - it would be great if I could do it. "I understand that it will be a challenge and I can take that on board - I am aware of the hardships people in North Korea face. I know some people might think that it's wrong to travel to North Korea however as someone who's got a desire to travel and see the world, I would hope people can understand that. "It's like when a car has a bump on the motorway, people tend to slow down and look because they are curious." However, Callum admits he doubts this will be possible in North Korea due to the strict guided nature of the tours. He said: "I think when you go to these countries you have to follow the rules. Don't go and break the rules in these countries. As long as I conduct myself in a proper manner I am pretty confident. It'd be good to have the human perspective and see it with my own eyes." According to the government the level of tension on the Korean Peninsula remains high. Although daily life in the capital city, Pyongyang, may appear calm, the security situation can change quickly with no advance warning about possible actions by the authorities. This poses significant risks to British visitors and residents, as stated by the Foreign Office. Information about his travels are at the YouTube at Callum Abroad, as well as on Twitter through his @CallumAbroad account.Banque Cantonale Vaudoise Reduces Holdings in iShares MSCI South Korea ETF (NYSEARCA:EWY)
WASHINGTON—As a former and potentially future president, Donald Trump hailed what would become Project 2025 as a road map for “exactly what our movement will do” with another crack at the White House. As the blueprint for a hard-right turn in America became a liability during the 2024 campaign, Trump pulled an about-face. He denied knowing anything about the “ridiculous and abysmal” plans written in part by his first-term aides and allies. Now, after being elected the 47th president on Nov. 5, Trump is stocking his second administration with key players in the detailed effort he temporarily shunned. Most notably, Trump has tapped Russell Vought for an encore as director of the Office of Management and Budget; Tom Homan, his former immigration chief, as “border czar;” and immigration hardliner Stephen Miller as deputy chief of policy. Those moves have accelerated criticisms from Democrats who warn that Trump’s election hands government reins to movement conservatives who spent years envisioning how to concentrate power in the West Wing and impose a starkly rightward shift across the US government and society. Trump and his aides maintain that he won a mandate to overhaul Washington. But they maintain the specifics are his alone. “President Trump never had anything to do with Project 2025,” said Trump spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt in a statement. “All of President Trumps’ Cabinet nominees and appointments are whole-heartedly committed to President Trump’s agenda, not the agenda of outside groups.” Here is a look at what some of Trump’s choices portend for his second presidency. As budget chief, Vought envisions a sweeping, powerful perch The Office of Management and Budget director, a role Vought held under Trump previously and requires Senate confirmation, prepares a president’s proposed budget and is generally responsible for implementing the administration’s agenda across agencies. The job is influential but Vought made clear as author of a Project 2025 chapter on presidential authority that he wants the post to wield more direct power. “The Director must view his job as the best, most comprehensive approximation of the President’s mind,” Vought wrote. The OMB, he wrote, “is a President’s air-traffic control system” and should be “involved in all aspects of the White House policy process,” becoming “powerful enough to override implementing agencies’ bureaucracies.” Trump did not go into such details when naming Vought but implicitly endorsed aggressive action. Vought, the president-elect said, “knows exactly how to dismantle the Deep State” — Trump’s catch-all for federal bureaucracy—and would help “restore fiscal sanity.” In June, speaking on former Trump aide Steve Bannon’s “War Room” podcast, Vought relished the potential tension: “We’re not going to save our country without a little confrontation.” Vought could help Musk and Trump remake government’s role and scope The strategy of further concentrating federal authority in the presidency permeates Project 2025’s and Trump’s campaign proposals. Vought’s vision is especially striking when paired with Trump’s proposals to dramatically expand the president’s control over federal workers and government purse strings—ideas intertwined with the president-elect tapping mega-billionaire Elon Musk and venture capitalist Vivek Ramaswamy to lead a “Department of Government Efficiency.” Trump in his first term sought to remake the federal civil service by reclassifying tens of thousands of federal civil service workers — who have job protection through changes in administration—as political appointees, making them easier to fire and replace with loyalists. Currently, only about 4,000 of the federal government’s roughly 2 million workers are political appointees. President Joe Biden rescinded Trump’s changes. Trump can now reinstate them. Meanwhile, Musk’s and Ramaswamy’s sweeping “efficiency” mandates from Trump could turn on an old, defunct constitutional theory that the president—not Congress—is the real gatekeeper of federal spending. In his “Agenda 47,” Trump endorsed so-called “impoundment,” which holds that when lawmakers pass appropriations bills, they simply set a spending ceiling, but not a floor. The president, the theory holds, can simply decide not to spend money on anything he deems unnecessary. Vought did not venture into impoundment in his Project 2025 chapter. But, he wrote, “The President should use every possible tool to propose and impose fiscal discipline on the federal government. Anything short of that would constitute abject failure.” Trump’s choice immediately sparked backlash. “Russ Vought is a far-right ideologue who has tried to break the law to give President Trump unilateral authority he does not possess to override the spending decisions of Congress (and) who has and will again fight to give Trump the ability to summarily fire tens of thousands of civil servants,” said Sen. Patty Murray of Washington, a Democrat and outgoing Senate Appropriations chairwoman. Reps. Jamie Raskin of Maryland and Melanie Stansbury of New Mexico, leading Democrats on the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability, said Vought wants to “dismantle the expert federal workforce” to the detriment of Americans who depend on everything from veterans’ health care to Social Security benefits. “Pain itself is the agenda,” they said. Homan and Miller reflect Trump’s and Project 2025’s immigration overlap Trump’s protests about Project 2025 always glossed over overlaps in the two agendas. Both want to reimpose Trump-era immigration limits. Project 2025 includes a litany of detailed proposals for various US immigration statutes, executive branch rules and agreements with other countries — reducing the number of refugees, work visa recipients and asylum seekers, for example. Miller is one of Trump’s longest-serving advisers and architect of his immigration ideas, including his promise of the largest deportation force in US history. As deputy policy chief, which is not subject to Senate confirmation, Miller would remain in Trump’s West Wing inner circle. “America is for Americans and Americans only,” Miller said at Trump’s Madison Square Garden rally on Oct. 27. “America First Legal,” Miller’s organization founded as an ideological counter to the American Civil Liberties Union, was listed as an advisory group to Project 2025 until Miller asked that the name be removed because of negative attention. Homan, a Project 2025 named contributor, was an acting US Immigration and Customs Enforcement director during Trump’s first presidency, playing a key role in what became known as Trump’s “family separation policy.” Previewing Trump 2.0 earlier this year, Homan said: “No one’s off the table. If you’re here illegally, you better be looking over your shoulder.” Project 2025 contributors slated for CIA and Federal Communications chiefs John Ratcliffe, Trump’s pick to lead the CIA, was previously one of Trump’s directors of national intelligence. He is a Project 2025 contributor. The document’s chapter on US intelligence was written by Dustin Carmack, Ratcliffe’s chief of staff in the first Trump administration. Reflecting Ratcliffe’s and Trump’s approach, Carmack declared the intelligence establishment too cautious. Ratcliffe, like the chapter attributed to Carmack, is hawkish toward China. Throughout the Project 2025 document, Beijing is framed as a US adversary that cannot be trusted. Brendan Carr, the senior Republican on the Federal Communications Commission, wrote Project 2025’s FCC chapter and is now Trump’s pick to chair the panel. Carr wrote that the FCC chairman “is empowered with significant authority that is not shared” with other FCC members. He called for the FCC to address “threats to individual liberty posed by corporations that are abusing dominant positions in the market,” specifically “Big Tech and its attempts to drive diverse political viewpoints from the digital town square.” He called for more stringent transparency rules for social media platforms like Facebook and YouTube and “empower consumers to choose their own content filters and fact checkers, if any.” Carr and Ratcliffe would require Senate confirmation for their posts. Image credits: AP/J. Scott Applewhite
OpenAI whistleblower found dead in San Francisco apartment after taking his own lifeU.S. small-cap stocks have delivered an exceptional performance this November , with the iShares Russell 2000 ETF IWM climbing 8.5% and outpacing the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust SPY . This year's rally for IWM is driven by supportive monetary policy, political developments, and economic resilience. The Federal Reserve's recent rate cuts, including a 25-basis-point reduction in November, have reduced borrowing costs, particularly benefiting small-cap companies that rely heavily on credit. What To Know: Small-cap companies, which constitute the bulk of the Russell 2000 index, are typically more sensitive to borrowing costs than their larger counterparts. Unlike large-cap companies, which often have diversified funding sources and international revenue streams, small-caps rely heavily on domestic lending to finance operations, expansion and innovation. Read Also: S&P 500 Faces Volatile 2025 As ‘Inflation Boom’ Could Return: Bank Of America Strategist Lower interest rates directly reduce borrowing costs, improving profit margins for small-cap firms. Additionally, cheaper credit can enable these businesses to invest more aggressively in growth initiatives, such as hiring, capital expenditures and research and development. Rate cuts also typically encourage a rotation into riskier assets like small caps, as the lower yields on fixed-income securities push investors to seek higher returns in equities. This shift in investor sentiment is another factor behind the strong performance of IWM during periods of monetary easing. What Else: Optimism surrounding the Republican sweep in the 2024 elections has further bolstered small caps, as investors anticipate regulatory rollbacks . Economic fundamentals have added fuel to the rally. The U.S. economy remains strong, with steady GDP growth and a robust labor market supporting consumer confidence and domestic demand, key drivers for small-cap stocks. Read Also: US Business Activity Soars To 31-Month Highs In November: Small Caps Rally, Dow Tops 44,000 IWM Performance After Recent Elections Historical data from Benzinga Pro suggests that the performance of small caps, including IWM, often reflects broader market sentiment driven by post-election policies, economic expectations and seasonal trends. November 2020 (Post-Biden Election) : Following the election of Joe Biden, IWM experienced a sharp rally, increasing by 18.24% in November 2020. This surge was largely driven by investor optimism surrounding the COVID-19 vaccine and the possibility of new fiscal stimulus. November 2016 (Post-Trump Election) : After Donald Trump won the election in November 2016, IWM rose by approximately 6.5% . This was fueled by expectations of pro-business policies, including tax cuts and deregulation. November 2012 (Post-Obama Re-election) : In November 2012, after President Obama was re-elected, IWM saw more modest growth, rising by about 1.5% . This reflected investor expectations of stability under Obama's second term. November 2008 (Post-Obama's First Election) : Following Barack Obama's first election, small-cap stocks faced challenges in the aftermath of the financial crisis. IWM declined by approximately 5% in November 2008 as the market struggled amid the global economic downturn. Read Also: DOJ Targets Google Chrome, Poll Shows 64% Oppose Alphabet Breakup: YouTube Seen As Top Prize © 2024 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.