The ZEW indicator of economic sentiment in Germany was published on Tuesday. After a substantial decline in September, the index rose slightly, to 13.1 points. That may not cheer German policymakers, however; it is still much lower than the readings given throughout the summer. On October 9th Robert Habeck, the economy minister, admitted that the economy will probably shrink in 2024 for the second year running. Two days later Volkswagen, Germany’s biggest carmaker, reported a 7.1% drop in global deliveries in the third quarter compared with the same period last year.

Next year Germany’s economy should finally start growing again. The rate of inflation is forecast to continue to slow from 5.9% last year and 2.2% this year to 2% in 2025. In July the government launched a growth programme that included cuts to income and electricity taxes. Its effects, however, are unlikely to be felt in time to help the coalition government win re-election in September.

Ted Cruz, a Republican senator from Texas, will face his Democratic challenger, Colin Allred, in a debate in Dallas on Tuesday. The state leans Republican but Democrats have been gaining strength there in recent years. Donald Trump is almost certain to win Texas’s electoral votes, but Mr Allred could conceivably defeat Mr Cruz.

Up until now, Democrats have pinned their hopes of holding the Senate on defending incumbent senators in deep-red Ohio and Montana. But red-state Democrats have become less common as “ticket splitting”—when voters choose different parties for election to different offices—has declined. With hopes fading in Montana, the Democrats are moving some resources to Florida and Texas. The Economist’s forecast estimates that the Democrats have a 25% chance of holding their Montana seat. In Texas and in Florida their odds of victory are 21% and 20% respectively.

Bank of America, Citigroup and Goldman Sachs report third-quarter earnings on Tuesday. Investors are more worried about the consumer banks in that group, BoA and Citigroup, than they are about Goldman, which has a bigger investment-banking business. After a period of high interest rates, many consumers are struggling to repay credit-card debt. That has pushed up provisions for loan losses.

The results of JPMorgan, disclosed last week, bode well for Goldman. JPMorgan’s profits fell by 2% year on year because of losses in its credit-card business. But thanks in part to the growth of investment-banking fees and a rise in net interest income, the drop in profits was smaller than expected, sending its share price surging to its highest level in two years. Over the past two years, dealmaking plummeted as economic uncertainty lowered companies’ valuations. Now, renewed confidence and interest-rate cuts have sparked a resurgence. That helped JPMorgan, and may boost Goldman, too.

The waiting game continues. Two weeks after Iran launched 181 ballistic missiles towards Israel, Iranians are bracing for Israel’s response. Normally, their political concerns centre on economic mismanagement, the struggle for civil liberties and the mass imprisonment of activists. Now they are worrying about what to do when the bombs start falling.

Fearing an imminent attack on the capital, Tehran, some have headed farther north. Others are preparing to use their basements as bunkers. Many are carrying on business as usual. But major international airlines have suspended flights, martial music has crept back into state broadcasting and Iranian flags fill the streets. When the prospect of war seemed faint, some Iranians were glad to hear Israel’s calls for regime change. Now that the risks feel real, they are more reluctant. “We want the regime weak,” says a sometime protester, “but not so weak it can’t protect us.”

“Electric Lady Studios: A Jimi Hendrix Vision”, a film released on streaming platforms on Tuesday, focuses on an unheralded aspect of the rock guitarist’s legacy. Shortly before his death in 1970 Hendrix spent $8m (at today’s values) and much of his energy to build a state-of-the-art recording studio in Greenwich Village, New York. It has hosted bands and singers from Stevie Wonder and Led Zeppelin to Beyoncé and Taylor Swift and flourishes to this day.

The heroes of this film are not, however, the musicians, but the engineers, designers, technicians and managers who created a space that was unlike anything else at the time. Their devotion to their crafts shines through. So does their enthusiasm for what Steve Winwood, who collaborated with Hendrix, describes as “a different type of recording”, in a studio built by an artist where creativity is everything. What Hendrix himself might have achieved there can only be imagined. What other musicians have is, happily, a matter of record.