  Once we get through October and (please God) avert a financial apocalypse by raising the debt ceiling, we'll be able to breathe easy and slide into a cozy stress-free winter … lol, only joking. Let's get into the fresh hell awaiting us in January. 📈 STICKER SHOCK  Prediction: The next panic-buy items to fly off the shelves will be wool base layers and parkas. Because winter utility bills are about to land like a gut punch.
Prices for natural gas have surged more than 180% over the past 12 months. It hasn't been this expensive since February 2014, my colleague Matt Egan writes.
"If we get an early frost, it could get ugly. It could get ugly fast," said Robert Yawger, director of energy futures at Mizuho Securities.
WHY IT MATTERS Natural gas is by far the most common way to heat homes, and it's a leading fuel source for generating electricity. That means winter utility bills are about to become another huge drain on household finances as inflation creeps into just about every consumer product on the market.
IT'S WORSE OVERSEAS European and Asian allies can't come to our rescue, either. In fact, they're in a much bigger pickle.
BOTTOM LINE The issue is a severe supply-demand mismatch. There simply isn't enough energy stored up to meet resurgent demand as the global economy roars back from its Covid-19-induced slumber.
And because there isn't one single cause for the energy shortage but rather a perfect storm of issues, it's a tricky — if not impossible — problem for governments alone to fix.
RELATED: Why is Britain suffering more with shortages and price spikes than other major economies? Blame Brexit.
#️⃣ NUMBER OF THE DAY 2% The US stock market took it on the chin again Tuesday as inflation concerns deepened and pushed bond yields higher. The Dow dropped fell 569 points, or 1.6%. The S&P 500 closed down 2% — its worst day since May. Tech stocks led the losses across the board, and the Nasdaq sank 2.8%. ⚙️ CAR TALK  We've talked a bunch about the computer chip shortage that's been plaguing the auto industry, forcing plants to shut down, delaying shipments and sending car prices through the roof.
If only that were all the industry had to worry about.
It's not just the computer chips that control vital functions in modern cars — automakers are having trouble getting all kinds of parts and materials.
The car industry is a useful microcosm for understanding the global supply chain crisis, because virtually every pandemic-linked economic force has pummeled the industry — often all at once.
See here: Car production ground to a halt in the spring of 2020, before rebounding faster than anyone thought possible at the time. The whiplash left manufacturers short on chips, which were simultaneously being gobbled up by tech companies making laptops and other very-in-demand pandemic-era items.
Now, even if they can secure the parts, carmakers are caught in the nightmare backlog at ports around the world, where even shipping containers themselves are hard to come by. And, of course, suppliers are dealing with a labor shortage. All of that has left consumers waiting longer and paying more for their cars.
BOTTOM LINE "There's no room for error for automakers and suppliers right now," says Mark Wakefield of industry consultant AlixPartners. My colleague Chris Isidore has more on the car crunch.
QUOTE OF THE DAY  Your record gives me grave concern. Over and over, you have acted to make our banking system less safe. And that makes you a dangerous man to head up the Fed. —Senator Elizabeth Warren, to Fed Chairman Jerome Powell
Ugh, Mom and Dad are fighting and I simply cannot. Long story short: Elizabeth Warren just said she would oppose the renomination of Federal Reserve Chairman Jay Powell (known to longtime Nightcap readers alternately as Jay Money, Fed Savage, or simply the Silver Fox), whose term is up in February.
WHAT ELSE IS GOING ON? 💸 Mark your calendars: The US government will run out of money to pay its bills by October 18 if Congress doesn't raise the debt ceiling, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen warned. Come on, Congress, don't be that guy.
📦 Oh look, more creepy ways for Amazon to be part of your life: The company unveiled a bunch of new products, including an Echo device that hangs on the wall and acts as a digital whiteboard, a video chat portal for kids, and a robot named Astro that hangs out in your home.
🚘 Tesla's "full self-driving" technology is just, um, not quite what we expected when the company named it "full self-driving."
🔌 SHAMELESS PLUG This Thursday, September 30, CNN Business presents "Foreseeable Future: Cryptomania."
My colleague Julia Chatterly will be sitting down with Mike Novogratz, the founder and CEO of Galaxy Digital, to discuss all things crypto. Also on deck: a panel discussion with Tavonia Evans (Guapcoin Founder), Hester Peirce (SEC Commissioner) and Sydney Schaub (Gemini Chief Legal Officer). RSVP here!
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