499 Group

Berkshire’s Q3 net earnings fell 28.2%. Its operating earnings fell 5.8%.

The Nov 7 results show net earnings attributable to shareholders of $22.1 billion, versus $30.8 billion a year earlier. Company-defined non-GAAP operating earnings were $12.7 billion, versus $13.5 billion.

Most of the net earnings decline came from lower investment gains: $9.4 billion versus $17.3 billion, including realised and unrealised items. All figures are after tax.

499 view: separate portfolio gains from operating results before interpreting the headline. Then examine the businesses themselves. Operating earnings also declined, and performance varied: insurance underwriting earnings fell while BNSF rail earnings rose.

The useful distinction is where the profit changed, rather than treating every dollar of the decline as the same signal.

Source: Berkshire, released Nov 7.
berkshirehathaway.com/news/nov0726.p…

U.S. employers added 165,000 payroll jobs in October. Access to full-time hours tells another part of the story.

People working part time for economic reasons rose from 4.501 million in September to 4.840 million in October: an increase of 339,000, seasonally adjusted.

These are employed people who want full-time work but had reduced hours or could not find full-time jobs.

Headline unemployment was 4.1%, a movement BLS described as little change.

499 view: job creation and access to sufficient hours are different questions. One month does not establish a trend; watch whether the hours shortfall persists.

The payroll figure counts jobs in a business survey. The chart counts people in a household survey. Their changes should not be combined.

Source: BLS, released Nov 6.
bls.gov/news.release/a…

The Bank of England raised Bank Rate by 25 basis points to 4% on Nov 5, by an 8–1 vote.

Read the split behind the vote:
• The dissenter, Catherine Mann, wanted a larger, 50-basis-point increase.
• Alan Taylor framed his 25-basis-point vote as insurance, without committing to a hiking cycle.
• Huw Pill argued that a single 25-basis-point increase was unlikely to be sufficient.

The Bank expects inflation near 5% in mid-2027. Evidence of wider knock-on effects on wages and prices remains limited.

499 view: agreement on this decision does not settle the next one. Watch whether energy costs spread into wage and price-setting, or weaken demand instead. That transmission matters more than the vote count alone.

Source: Bank of England, Nov 5.
bankofengland.co.uk/monetary-polic…

U.S. services PMI eased to 54.5 in October. Slower deliveries helped cushion the decline.

The headline fell just 0.4 points, but the components moved differently:
• New orders: 55.9, down 3.9 points.
• Business activity: 53.8, down 2.7.
• Employment: 51.4, up 1.3.
• Supplier deliveries: 56.7, up 3.5.

The catch: a higher deliveries index means slower deliveries. As one of four equally weighted components, it partly offset weaker orders and activity.

Prices paid stood at 73.0, down one point. That is a diffusion index, not a 73% inflation rate.

499 view: read demand, hiring and supply constraints separately. This headline alone cannot settle the growth or inflation debate.

Source: ISM, released Nov 4.
ismworld.org/supply-managem…

AMD’s Data Center business added more revenue than the whole company did.

In Q3 results released Nov 3:
• Data Center: +$4.205B year over year.
• Client & Gaming: −$0.326B.
• Embedded: +$0.252B.
• Total: +$4.131B.

Data Center’s share of revenue rose from roughly 47% to 64%.

499 view: the headline 45% growth rate hides different demand cycles inside one chipmaker. Watch whether growth broadens across business lines or remains concentrated.

Two limits: Data Center includes CPUs and GPUs, so it is not a pure AI-revenue measure. Client & Gaming’s decline also masks different trends: Client grew 7%; Gaming fell 40%.

Source:
ir.amd.com/news-events/pr…