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Wrightsville × Wilmington
Monday, October 5, 2026
Monday Edition · 6 Min Read
Good morning, Wilmington.
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In The Loop
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A group of women veterans completed a 300-mile march across North Carolina, finishing in Wilmington to honor fallen service members. |
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Trump named intelligence chief Jay Clayton to lead a new AI agency, putting one person in charge of the federal government's entire artificial intelligence push. |
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Mortgage rates are approaching a three-year high, and new loan applications are plunging — bad news for buyers and sellers alike. |
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The Doobie Brothers are coming to Live Oak Bank Pavilion on Tuesday, and Trampled by Turtles hits Greenfield Lake Amphitheater on Thursday — a big week for live music in Wilmington. |
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Markets
| Name |
Value |
Change |
YTD |
| Nasdaq |
27,190.86 |
+1.19% |
+17.02% |
| S&P 500 |
7,722.72 |
+0.73% |
+12.60% |
| Dow |
51,176.96 |
+0.49% |
+5.78% |
| 10-Year Treasury |
5.277% |
+0.76% |
+26.03% |
| Bitcoin |
$85,411.42 |
+0.79% |
-3.74% |
Data provided by Yahoo Finance · Market data as of most recent close
Stocks finished the week in the green across the board, with the Nasdaq leading the charge as tech optimism around AI held firm. The real story is the 10-Year Treasury, now sitting above 5.27% — up more than 26% year-to-date — which is quietly doing more damage to housing affordability and corporate borrowing costs than the stock indexes let on. Bitcoin stayed range-bound, unable to shake its year-to-date deficit even as equities pushed higher.
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Beach Report · Wrightsville Beach
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Mon 10/5 | Tue 10/6 | Wed 10/7 | Thu 10/8 | Fri 10/9 | Sat 10/10 | Sun 10/11 |
| Wind |
↓ 10 mph | ↙ 16 mph | ↙ 11 mph | ↙ 6 mph | ↙ 13 mph | ↙ 12 mph | ↙ 26 mph |
| Waves |
| | | | | | |
| |
1.5 ft | 3.5 ft | 3 ft | 2.5 ft | 3 ft | 4.5 ft | 7 ft |
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7s ESE | 5s ENE | 6s E | 6s ESE | 6s E | 6s E | 7s E |
| High tide |
3:02a
3:35p | 4:10a
4:39p | 5:11a
5:35p | 6:03a
6:24p | 6:50a
7:08p | 7:34a
7:50p | 8:17a
8:32p |
| Low tide |
9:32a
10:25p | 10:32a
11:13p | 11:26a
11:59p | 12:19p | 12:44a
1:09p | 1:27a
1:57p | 2:09a
2:42p |
Tides from NOAA · Wave and wind forecast from Open-Meteo · Forecasts change, check before you paddle out
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Top Story
300 Miles on Foot, Ending Right Here in Wilmington
A group of women veterans wrapped up a grueling 300-mile march this week with their finish line in Wilmington, completing a cross-state journey intended to honor service members who died by suicide and raise awareness about veteran mental health. The women walked through rain, heat, and long stretches of rural North Carolina to reach the coast. Wilmington, with its deep military ties to Camp Lejeune and the broader Cape Fear region, was a fitting place to close the march. Events like this have a way of cutting through the noise — no legislation required, just people putting boots on pavement for something that matters. It's the kind of story that reminds you what community actually looks like.
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Quick Hits
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The Battleship Turns 65 — and It's Still Got Stories to Tell
The Battleship North Carolina marked 65 years docked in Wilmington this week, with the attraction doubling down on efforts to preserve oral histories and personal accounts from those who served aboard her during World War II. It's a living archive on the Cape Fear River, and it's not done collecting.
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Trump Promises $100 Medicare Checks to 20 Million Seniors
President Trump this week pledged $100 payments to roughly 20 million Medicare recipients, framing it as a benefit improvement ahead of the midterms. Critics are already asking where exactly the money comes from — a fair question for any taxpayer watching the federal ledger.
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Boeing Just Won a $20 Billion Navy Fighter Contract
Boeing landed a $20 billion contract to build the Navy's next-generation fighter jet, a massive win for the aerospace giant after years of turbulence. Defense spending at this scale has ripple effects across the supply chain, and Boeing badly needed the momentum.
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Hoggard Shuts Out New Hanover 42-0 in the Crosstown Rivalry
Hoggard's football team delivered a dominant performance in the crosstown rivalry, blanking New Hanover 42-0 in a game that wasn't particularly close at any point. Vikings fans had a good Friday night.
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SpaceX Brought Starship Home Early — and That's Actually Impressive
SpaceX successfully completed Starship's first orbital flight this week, bringing the vehicle home ahead of schedule in what the company called a controlled early return. For a rocket program that has had its share of spectacular explosions, this counts as a genuine milestone.
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National Story with a Local Angle
Mortgage Rates Near a Three-Year High — and the Numbers Are Getting Ugly
Mortgage rates are closing in on a three-year high, and new loan applications have plunged in response, according to Axios — a combination that puts both buyers and sellers in a tough spot. The 10-Year Treasury yield, now above 5.27%, is the engine driving rates higher, and there's no obvious near-term relief valve in sight. For a market like Wilmington, where coastal property prices were already elevated and inventory has been tight, higher borrowing costs compound the squeeze on anyone trying to buy or move. It's also a headwind for the area's steady stream of retirees and remote workers who have been relocating here — sticker shock at the closing table has a way of cooling relocation decisions.
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What Else Is In The Loop
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Trump Names an AI Czar, and It's Not a Tech Person
President Trump tapped Director of National Intelligence Jay Clayton to lead a new federal AI agency — branded, somewhat ambitiously, the "Super Intelligence Force" — putting a finance and legal background at the helm of the government's entire artificial intelligence push. Clayton will oversee AI policy across federal agencies while keeping his intelligence role, a combination that reflects how thoroughly Washington has decided AI is now a national security issue.
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The Houthis Hit Saudi Oil Infrastructure. Things Are Escalating.
Yemen's Houthi rebels claimed an attack on Saudi Aramco facilities this week as Saudi Arabia and Yemeni forces launched a counteroffensive, with the U.S. declining to participate directly — for now. Oil markets are watching the Strait of Hormuz closely, and the G7 has already moved to release diesel reserves as fuel supplies tighten.
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AI Was Supposed to Kill Tech Jobs. The Data Disagrees.
Tech job openings have actually risen as AI investment accelerates, driven by surging demand for hardware engineers, data infrastructure roles, and AI-adjacent specialties — undercutting the narrative that automation is simply erasing employment. The catch: the new jobs require different skills than the ones being displaced, and the transition isn't painless.
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Business Beat
A Business Law Firm Just Planted Its Flag in Wilmington
Fourscore Business Law has opened a Wilmington office, adding another specialized legal services option to a market that has been attracting professional services firms alongside its broader commercial growth. The firm focuses on business transactions and corporate law — the kind of infrastructure that follows economic expansion, not precedes it.
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One More Thing
Diesel Is So Expensive That Fishermen Can't Always Afford to Leave the Dock
A Fortune report this week spotlighted commercial fishermen around the country who are sometimes sitting out trips because diesel prices make heading out to sea economically irrational — and some are laying the blame squarely on tariff-driven fuel costs. For a coastal city like Wilmington with working waterfront heritage and an active fishing culture, it's a concrete example of how trade policy translates into everyday decisions at the dock. The line from one fisherman quoted in the piece is about as plain as it gets: "It's huge. It's crazy."
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Weekend Events
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Indigo Girls in Concert
Sunday, Oct. 11, the Indigo Girls perform at The Wilson Center, with tickets starting at $55.28 — a rare chance to catch a legendary act at one of Wilmington's best mid-size venues.
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Quote of the Week
“Someone is sitting in the shade today because someone planted a tree a long time ago.”
— Warren Buffett
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The Loop
Wilmington’s Morning Briefing
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