Jean Eaglesham (3:27)

What we've seen since the pandemic is rates up to doubling in some states so far outstripping inflation. And there's a number of factors driven that. One is high inflation in things like repair costs, replacement costs. We've seen the value of homes go up. Also we've seen a rise in natural catastrophes. So hailstorms, wildfires, all of that combining is insurers have pushed up premiums very significantly year on year. We're now starting to see a slight easing in auto rates. But overall, I think homeowners and drivers are really feeling the pain of this.

Alex Osola (4:04)

So in response, several states are considering putting price controls on those premiums. What do those proposals look like?

Jean Eaglesham (4:11)

Insurance has this long, long history of being regulation by state that exempts it from the federal antitrust laws. And these states take their own approach to whether they think price caps are appropriate or not. Illinois is an interesting example. The governor there this summer backed a form of veto for the regulators so they could reject rate increases. And that was after a very significant increase by State Farm. And he was kind of incensed that he couldn't do anything about that. We're also seeing, for example, Louisiana is interesting. They've introduced a measure that bans so called excessive rates. And they can be defined as excessive without any actuarial underpinning. So you don't have to show that there's no basis for it. You can just say it seems excessive to me. And they can even demand refunds from the insurers.

Alex Osola (5:01)

Are there drawbacks to this approach of putting price controls on premiums?

Jean Eaglesham (5:05)

Certainly the insurers industry will say very vehemently there are big drawbacks to this. And their poster child is California. And California for decades had an effective 6.9% cap on rate rises. And that worked for a long time in a sense that say their home insurance rates are below the the national average. Despite having a lot of pricey real estate and a lot of disasters. But it's led to a crisis in the last couple of years where pretty much all the major home insurers have stopped selling new insurance and a lot of homeowners are struggling to get a policy at all. And what we've seen is regulators reacting to that by allowing through a series of very steep price increases, double digit price increases. And their argument is we can't really have affordability unless you have availability. So you have somehow persuade the insurers to keep selling.

Alex Osola (5:59)

And is that happening in other states as well?

Jean Eaglesham (6:02)

So some of those states are still allowing through pretty big increases just because they're concerned to keep the insurers healthy in their market. And that's a balance the regulators say they're trying to draw, which is very difficult. So protecting policyholders without leading to a California style exodus of insurers.

Alex Osola (6:21)

Wall Street Journal reporter Jean Eaglesham. Jean, thanks so much for being here.

Jean Eaglesham (6:25)

My pleasure.

Alex Osola (6:29)

In US Markets today, Apple closed at a record high after a report that sales of this year's iPhone models had started strongly. Shares of the tech giant climbed nearly 4% to more than $262 a share. It topped Microsoft in market cap, becoming number two. By that measure, Nvidia remains number one. Counterpoint, a research firm said that the iPhone 17 phones outsold the iPhone 16 by 14% in the first 10 days were available in the US and China. Wall street has been watching sales of the new phones to see if they surpass previous rollouts. Apple's rise boosted major indexes. The Nasdaq led the gains, adding 1.4%. And the Dow and the S&P 500 both gained more than 1%. Expect a busy week in markets with nearly one fifth of the S&P 500 due to report results this week, including Netflix and Tesla. Coming up, a dumpling craze is fueling America's most successful restaurant chain. More on that and more after the break.

Recorded Future Announcer (7:36)

Every day, millions of cyber threats compete for attention. But only a few truly matter to your business. As the world's leading threat intelligence company, Recorded Future cuts through the noise with precision. Intelligence. That's why the world's top banks and governments trust us, because security leaders don't just react. They foresee spotting the signals that others miss and acting before threats become setbacks. Recorded Future know it matters. Act first.

Alex Osola (8:08)

It's been a bit over a month since conservative activist Charlie Kirk was killed, but some of the effects are only becoming clear now. One interesting data point sales of Bibles soared in the weeks after Kirk's death. According to book tracker Circana BookScan, there were 2.4 million Bibles sold in the US in September, a 36% jump over the same month of 2024. That's the biggest month of Bible sales so far this year and bucks a broader trend of weakening print sales in the U.S. the president of HarperCollins Christian Publishing said Bible sales have been strong over the last two years, but it seemed that Kirk's death had awakened a lot of people. HarperCollins Publishers like the Wall Street Journal, is owned by News Corp. Separately, Disney felt an impact after the company temporarily took Jimmy Kimmel off the air following his comments related to Kirk's death. According to data from Antenna, a subscription analytics company, an estimated 3 million subscribers canceled Disney plus in September and 4.1 million canceled Hulu. Those cancellation numbers were bigger than the average over the last three months for those services and are a sign that customers were upset over Disney's decision to briefly suspend the show. Shares of French luxury company Kering rose more than 4% today after it said it was selling its beauty business to L' Oreal for 4 billion euros, equivalent to $4.66 billion, confirming a wall Street Journal report over the weekend. Kering is selling perfume brand House of Creed, which it bought only two years ago. It's also giving l' Oreal the exclusive rights to develop perfumes and cosmetics for Kering labels like Gucci and Balenciaga for 50 years. The deal could leave Kering with less debt and better focus on its core luxury brands. Gucci, its largest brand by revenue, has suffered from slowing sales in China, and Kering's share price has dropped by half over the past four years. The Supreme Court said today that it would decide whether drug users have a constitutional right to own a gun. There's a federal law that bans people who use illegal drugs like meth or cocaine from owning a gun, and the Trump administration wants to keep that law in place. It's a rare example of the administration advocating for gun control instead of pushing to expand gun rights. The law was the basis for one of Hunter Biden's convictions last year. A federal jury in Delaware found him guilty of three felony counts, including possession of a revolver while being an unlawful drug user. He was later pardoned by his father. Former President Joe Biden and President Trump's special envoy. Steve Witkoff and son in law Jared Kushner arrived in Israel today to try to keep a fragile ceasefire and peace process for Gaza on track after clashes between Hamas and Israel over the weekend, Israel launched strikes against dozens of Hamas targets, saying the militant group had previously killed two of its troops in an attack. Skirmishing continued today. And finally, which restaurant chain do you think has the highest average sales in the U.S. i'll give you a hint. It's not Cheesecake Factory or Del Frisco's Double Eagle Steakhouse. It's Taiwanese restaurant chain Din Tai Fungi, which has just 16 locations in the U.S. its large restaurants and rapid service are feeding America's craze for dumplings. On TikTok and other social media, it's not hard to find people posting videos with strong feelings about its food. The contrast of the texture of the dumpling skin and the sticky rice is just heaven in your mouth.

Bel Lynn (11:44)

It's apparently a really popular restaurant because it took three hours for us to.

Alex Osola (11:47)

Get this table had the same feelings on the Shamai as they did for the Xiaolongbao. It was just bland, not very juicy and underwhelming. That buzz is translating to real money. According to market research firm Tecnomic, the company's US restaurants generated an average of $27 million in annual sales last year. That's the highest number among the 1500 restaurant chains with five or more locations that tech nomomic tracks. Din Tai Fung's Manhattan restaurant in Times Square is the chain's top selling location in the US and it's growing, announcing its latest location today, a 20,000 square foot space on the ground floor of a luxury Brooklyn apartment building, the restaurant is expected to open in 2027. And that's what's news for this Monday afternoon. Today's show is produced by Pierre Bienname and Zoe Kolkin, with supervising producer Tali Arbel. I'm Alex Osola for the Wall Street Journal. We'll be back with a new show tomorrow morning. Thanks for listening.

Comcast Business Announcer (12:53)

With leading networking and connectivity, advanced cyber security and expert partnership, Comcast business helps turn today's enterprises into engines of modern business Powering the engine of modern business powering possibilities. Restrictions apply.