Edited by Peter Hillerberg2 min readStories are generated from ORTEX data and reviewed by the ORTEX team. How we publish
US consumer prices set their highest September level since records began in 1997. That is the loudest signal in this week's real-economy data from ORTEX's alternative datasets.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U all-items index reached 336.94 in September 2026. That beats last September's previous record of 324.8. Core CPI, which strips out food and energy, printed at 339.29 for the month. The year-earlier reading was 330.80. Both are the largest September figures in the dataset's history back to 1997. The breadth of the move, headline and core together, leaves little doubt that broad price pressure remained elevated into the autumn.
On 13 October, NRC daily status data showed reactor output at PNW (Pinnacle West Capital) running 10.0 standard deviations below its own history. That is a severe outlier by any statistical measure. A single-day NRC reading does not confirm a lasting outage, but a 10-sigma deviation from the plant's own baseline is far outside normal operating variation.
Separately, Onconova Therapeutics (ONCY) showed trial completion date slippage of 1.1 standard deviations below its own history as of 29 September, according to ORTEX's drug-trial dataset sourced from clinical-trial registries.
The US Department of Transportation's T-100 dataset recorded 101.2 million airline passengers in July 2026. Passenger numbers have now risen for three consecutive months. That is a run of sustained recovery in air travel demand.
The picture elsewhere is weaker. VA loan volume fell for a third straight month in September 2026, standing at $17.2 billion, according to VA lender filing data. In Hong Kong, Transport Department figures show battery-electric car registrations fell 27% year-on-year in July to 1,963 units. Total private-car registrations dropped 20% to 2,536. Minnesota data from Atlas EV Hub points in the other direction: registered battery-electric vehicles rose 24% year-on-year in Q2 2026.
Two major earners report next week. German car registration data, which ORTEX's backtesting measures as a leading indicator of revenue with a 15-day lead and a strong fit, is running 133% above the same quarter last year for GM (General Motors), with all three months of the quarter in. For TSLA (Tesla), the same German registration dataset, measured to lead revenue by 43 days with a strong fit, is running 269% above the year-earlier quarter, again with three of three months in. Those are where the data points so far, not a forecast of the reported figures.
ORTEX Market Intelligence content is generated by AI from a snapshot of ORTEX's proprietary data and reviewed by the ORTEX team. Content is informational only and does not constitute investment advice.
