There was an unexpected stock market correction yesterday, hoping it wasn't the beginning of a crash. Wall Street suffered its worst loss since 2020, when COVID came. Nasdaq was particularly crushed.
- Bet you don't know much about this index?
- Launched in 1971 as the world's first automated stock exchange.
- World, meaning 51 countries.
- Lists 5500 companies.
- The Nasdaq Composite Index has 3370 stocks.
- The Nasdaq-100 includes 100 corporate entities, but features 101 or more tickers because companies sometimes issue multiple class of common stock. Is worth between $31 trillion and $41.4 trillion, depending how free-float and constituent market caps are aggregated.
- To promote diversity, listed companies are required to have female directors on their board, and members from underrepresented groups....or explain their absence.
- Since the close yesterday of the Nasdaq-100 at 26,629.81, the index has dropped 6.36% from its all-time high on 6October2026.
- Thus, the market value of the Nasdaq-100 dropped anywhere from $2 trillion to $2.6 trillion.
- Keep in mind that a trillion dollars would:
- pay the U.S. defense budget or
- 2.5 million U.S. homes or
- value of every major U.S. sports league team or
- the combined 2500 aircraft fleet of Delta, United and American Airlines or
- the value of Elon Musk, but 500 Taylor Swifts.
- A trillion seconds would take us back to 29,000 BC.
- A trillion $1 bills laid end-to-end would take us around the Earth around a 1000 times.
- Well, the market will have a bad week, but it apears not to be crashing:
On Thursday, chip stocks Nvidia (NVDA), AMD (AMD), Micron (MU), and Sandisk (SNDK) recouped some losses from the prior session's broad selloff, which sent the VIX Volatility Index (^VIX) up 70% to 28.
On to my topic of the day, which is part two to my posting on Monday, indicating that train trips are very safe. If you plan to take a long train ride, might as well go on the best, although these can sometimes be ridiculously expensive. Condé Nast has annually polled its readers for 39 years. Here is the result for 2026.
- Yes, there are the big ticket, bucket list journeys we all know and aspire to book for ourselves one day. But this year, there were a surprising number of newcomers, including some no-frills public transit you can hop on for the price of a decent lunch–no reservations, no fanfare, just a ticket and a seat by the window. Here’s how you, the readers, ranked them: These are the best train trips in the world.
- You can read the article for details, but let me focus on a few I've been on, or would like to someday.
#16 Canyon Spirit by Rocky Mountaineer.- I think we will catch this train as part of our Route 66 trip next year.
- Only two days long, but we were on a Rocky Mountaineer in Canada earlier this year, and was impressed.
#15 The Canadian, connecting Vancouver and Toronto.- Did this in 2017, from Vancouver to Toronto.
- Largely repeated this earlier this year, from Toronto to Vancouver.
#14 The Vietage by Anantara, from Danang to Quy Nhon, Vietnam.- Only 6 hour ride
- Features French cuisine, local caviar, etc.
- I mention this train because we will be on another luxury in Vietnam for a week later this year.
#13 Royal Scotsman, Scotland.- A Belmond train, from Edinburgh throrugh the Scottish Highlands.
- Been thinking about this train for decades, for I had a period in my life when I spent several summers in a row in Edinburgh.
#12 Napa Valley Wine Train, California.- Between Napa and St. Helena, 36 miles, 6 hours.
- 4-course meal, plus tasting stops at Charles Krug and V. Sattui Wineries.
- Again, been through Napa a dozen times, and always wondered if this was worth the cost of around $500/person.
#11 Eastern & Oriental Express, Southeast Asia.- A Belmond train.
- Took this train from Bangkok to Singapore 15 years ago.
- Narrow track rail, so very shaky. Hard to walk around. Dangerous.
- But great.
- But cost around $3500 for 3 nights and 4 days.
- #10 Vietnam Central Heritage Connection. Only three hours long, but I mention it because, again, Vietnam.
- #7 Hiram Bingman, Peru.
- A Belmond train.
- Named after Hawaii-born Hiram Bingham, who is credited with the first westerner to find Machu Picchu, in 1911.
- Cuzco to Machu Picchu roundtrip.
- A little more than $1000 covers the train ride, with fine cuisine and drinks, plus a guided tour through Machu Picchu.
- Plan to do this if I ever go back. My experience? Visited there in 2011. Read about my grand adventure. And it was all of that, and more.
#6 The Ghan, Australia. I wrote about this train on 5October2026.- #3 Rocky Mountaineer, North America.
- We had a grand time on this train earlier this year.
- Is the largest privately-owned premium tourist train in the world.
- #1 Venice Simplon-Orient-Express, Europe.
Year after year, the world’s most iconic locomotive continues to be a Readers’ Choice Awards favorite, and a standard-setter in luxury travel generally. The decadent interiors are a fantasy of 1920s Art Deco design, but it’s the impeccable service that keeps this train firmly ensconced in a class of its own. Bags are whisked off the platform and magically reappear in your cabin, no glass ever runs empty, and the beds seem to make themselves anytime you step outside of your cabin. By day, you can revel in the scenery of French countrysides and Swiss mountain scenes, and by night, the formal dress code feels anything but stuffy—in fact, playing dress up and making your way to the bar car is, we think, one of the coolest experiences anyone could have on a train. Plus, this train is always creating new ways to up the ante and retain its exclusive status: especially of note are the “Villeggiatura by Train” itineraries, a series of four-day journeys that combine slow, romantic travel with two-night stays at Belmond hotels including Villa San Michele, Caruso and Hotel Cipriani.
Should mention that just this 4-day trip mentioned in the final sentence costs around $10,000.- Ah, but all those films and Agatha Christie.
To close, yesterday experienced Kilauea's 56th eruptive episode. Quick for two reasons. Only lasted a few hours. Second, #55 was only a month ago. Still, impressive. Watch this video.
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