Hey Snackers,
Google dropped its annual Halloween “Frightgeist” data earlier today, revealing the costumes, candy, decor, and more that have spiked in popularity this year. Unsurprisingly, this year’s movies are playing a big part in the trending outfits of 2026, with Agamemnon from “The Odyssey” in fourth; Nikki from “Obsession” in third; and Buddy the Unicorn, the titular character from the viral horror phenomenon “Buddy,” taking first.
The highest trending kids’ costumes this year have gone in a different direction, however, with the top two spots taken by country stars: apparently you can expect to greet swarms of younger trick-or-treaters dressed as Ella Langley and the late Dolly Parton this October 31.
Stocks had a particularly rough day on Wednesday, with the S&P 500 falling by a little more than a point and the Nasdaq 100 falling 1.9%
Apple has seen its rivals’ attempts at a smart home. Now it’s ready to show up ten years late and completely roll up the entire category.
Never mind that it’s basically a huge Apple Watch! Never mind that it’s yet another screen to add to your roster! Never mind that “iPad” might just have been the perfect name for an Apple home hub had it not been taken in 2010! Just be happy that you now have a new option in the crowded market of big tech smart-home products to choose from, after Apple unveiled its HomeView smart display yesterday.
Dubbed a “new way to enjoy entertainment, stay connected, and manage the home,” the 7-inch, $299 device will officially drop on Friday, November 13, per the company’s announcement. From the chaotic three-minute trailer, users will be able to play music, control smart devices, FaceTime hands-free, and access Siri AI — basically everything you can do from any number of the smaller Apple devices you already own, cementing the pithy “It’s an iPhone for your home.” verdict from The Verge’s Jennifer Pattison Tuohy.
Alongside another device to take to battle against Google and Amazon equivalents, Apple also announced new HomePod smart speakers, a fourth-generation Apple TV 4K, and a suite of smart-home accessories made in collaboration with LG.
Increasing its offering of devices to dot around the house makes sense when taking a look at its Apple’s Wearables, Home and Accessories segment more broadly. The division that covers AirPods, Watches, TVs, Beats, and accessories like chargers and cases has seen revenues sink a little in recent years, with sales down some $3.2 billion in the first quarter of the year compared to their 2022 peak.
It’s important to note that even with the declines more broadly, Apple’s Wearables, Home and Accessories unit still hauled $7.9 billion for the company in Q3 — putting it slightly behind Macs ($10.4 billion), slightly ahead of iPads ($6.2 billion), and contributing 7.6% of the company’s overall revenues for the quarter.
The Takeaway
With reportedly soft sales for the company’s latest iPhone and the big bet it’s placed on its soon-to-be-released foldable Duo not yet a surefire success, could the company’s new range of home products rise to the challenge and potentially help CEO John Ternus keep the Apple house in order? Only time — or a chorus of Siri AI voices booming from millions of HomeViews in kitchens and hallways across the globe — will tell.
Snacks Shots
🏈 Football: With just two weeks left in the regular season, the Montreal Alouettes are strong 48% favorites to hoist the Grey Cup this year, with the best-in-the-West Edmonton Elks are seen as their likeliest rival to win the Canadian Football League this year.
🏈 No, Not That One, The Other One: The Seattle Seahawks have a 58% chance of beating the Denver Broncos tonight on Thursday Night Football, according to prediction markets.
*Event contracts are offered through Robinhood Derivatives, LLC — probabilities referenced or sourced from KalshiEx LLC or ForecastEx LLC.
Analyzing 2.2 million internet recipes to find out that America’s most online dish is… chicken casserole
As we all know by now, getting to the bottom of one online recipe is troubling enough — fighting through ads and meandering asides about what the dish really represents to the author. So, sheets.works has really put the work in with a new Data Drop exploring the most common recipes across 2.2 million online recipes.
The chief finding from the ambitious project? We might be decidedly uninspired in the kitchen, with chicken casserole emerging as the nation’s leading dish on the internet, as cooks across the country look to the 20th century staple to fill up midweek meal slots or fill Thanksgiving tables.
More broadly, around one in every 26 recipes that sheets.works assessed contained the word “casserole,” with broccoli and squash casseroles coming in as the second most written-down dishes online.
The full project is heavy on data viz and contains other insights on everything from the most common individual ingredients, popular flavor combinations, and roughly how many components the average dish contains (~seven to eight, apparently)...
Charting how many Guinnesses founders and CEOs knock back on The Cheeky Pint podcast
Meta boss Mark Zuckerberg must have thought he’d gotten off pretty lightly when the disappointing box office figures for Aaron Sorkin’s “The Social Reckoning” landed toward the end of the weekend. Any sense of relief wasn’t to last however, as online audiences happily pounced on Zuck’s appearance on The Cheeky Pint podcast earlier this week.
However, it wasn’t a misplaced comment or tense entanglement with the host, Stripe co-founder John Collison, that drew attention to the founder and CEO; it was his apparent struggle to stomach the customary “Cheeky Pint” (568 milliliters of the black stuff).
As you can see from the chart above — handily put together by an intern at the European Technology Network show, apparently — despite the much-maligned initial effort with his Guinness, Zuckerberg’s consumption across the episode didn’t hold up too badly compared to other guests of the pod.
What else we’re Snackin’
The AI boom might still be moving a little too quickly for ASML to keep up, as the Dutch company announced it’s receiving orders into 2030 and revealed that demand could outstrip its supply next year and in 2028.
Netflix is laying off around 6% of staff, affecting roughly 1,000 positions, in its biggest round of cuts since 2022, according to The WSJ.
The biggest Big Bank story of the day: Bank of America’s Q3 profit took a sizable hit from a $1.2 billion Treasury fine for “violations of anti-money laundering and sanctions laws.”
Thursday
TSMC slated to report results overnight.
Earnings from Schwab and Interactive Brokers set to come out ahead of the open.
September retail sales and PPI inflation scheduled for 8:30 a.m. ET.
American Airlines and JB Hunt results due out postmarket.