👀 A tale of two Sams

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Closing arguments were made today in Sam Bankman-Fried's fraud trial. Which means *drumroll please* a verdict could be coming soon. And rate hikes may or may not be happening again. Let's get into it.

By Elisabeth Buchwald and Allison Morrow

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Last updated November 1 at 7:43 PM ET

👀 TALE OF TWO SAMS

After a verrrrry long day in court, closing arguments in Sam Bankman-Fried's fraud trial are wrapping up, and the case is expected to be turned over to the jury on Thursday. That means, in theory, a verdict could come as early as tomorrow evening. But with four weeks' worth of testimony and stacks upon stacks of documents to consider...we're not holding our breath.

Allison has been in court for (almost) all of it, and she will be there till the bitter end. Here's what she took from today's closing arguments, which kept jurors (and journalists!) seated a full 90 minutes longer than usual.

'Pyramid of deceit'

US Assistant Attorney Nicholas Roos presented the government's view that Bankman-Fried is guilty of stealing money and engaging his business partners in a cover-up.

Roos described Bankman-Fried's crypto empire as "a pyramid of deceit, built by the defendant on a foundation of lies and false promises — all to get money." Eventually, he said, it collapsed and hurt "countless victims."

The core issue in dispute, Roos said, was whether Bankman-Fried knew that taking the money was wrong, or whether, as the defense contends, it was one of many honest mistakes carried out by a young, very busy startup founder.

"The answer is clear: He took the money, he knew it was wrong, he did it anyway," Roos said. "Because he thought he was smarter… he thought he could talk his way out of it."

Bankman-Fried "came up with a tale that was conveniently put together to exclude himself from the fraud."

The 'good faith' defense

SBF's lead defense lawyer, Mark Cohen, came back with an appeal for jurors to use their common sense.

"The government has sought to turn Sam into some sort of villain, some sort of monster," Cohen said. "It's both wrong and unfair."

In perpetuating the movie-villain narrative, the government fixated on Bankman-Fried's hair, his clothes, testimony about his sex life, photos of him sleeping on a private jet or posing awkwardly with celebrities.

"We'll agree that there was a time when Sam was probably the worst-dressed CEO of all time," Cohen quipped. "But that's not a crime."

Cohen also sought to undermine three of the prosecution's cooperating witnesses, who all testified that SBF was the one ordering the crimes in a yearslong scheme to defraud customers.

He urged jurors to "consider their testimony overall very carefully," in the context of their plea agreements.

As Cohen wrapped up his speech around 6 pm, his voice sounding hoarse, he asked jurors to consider the defense's view as they deliberate.

"Business decisions made in good faith are not grounds to convict," he said. "There was bad judgement. That does not constitute a crime."

Stay tuned: The government gets one more rebuttal before the judge hands the case over to the jury Thursday morning. Then, the verdict waiting game begins.

NUMBER OF THE DAY

29%

Here's something else to give thanks for at your Thanksgiving meals this year: cheaper turkeys.

With wholesale turkey prices down 29% compared to last year, consumers are set to pay around 13% less for turkeys bought in stores, according to Wells Fargo's new Thanksgiving food report.

The big drop in price isn't related to anything nefarious, CNN's Parija Kavilanz wrote. It's the American tradition of supply and demand, and this year, there are just way too many birds.

💸 IS THIS IT?

If this is it, Jerome Powell, please let us know! And by us, I really mean me, Elisabeth, so I can beat every economics reporter to an exclusive story. I digress...

But for real, investors really, really want to know if the Federal Reserve is done hiking interest rates after raising them to their highest level in 22 years. That's helped slow the economy and get inflation down without causing a recession — so far.

And today in a move that shocked no one, the Fed announced it held interest rates steady for the second meeting in a row.

As always, investors tuned in closely to Powell's post meeting presser with reporters. While he spent a good chunk of it answering reporters' questions about what elevated yields mean for the central bank, yields basically said, "You might want to think again!"

The yield on the 10-year Treasury note closed at 4.734%, 140 basis points lower than where the yield opened on Wednesday.

Stocks ended the day on a high note. The Dow rose by 221 points, or 0.7%, in Wednesday trading. The S&P 500 hit a session high, and was up 1.1%. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite was 1.6% higher.

What happened: Although Powell didn't outright say it, many investors appeared to take his remarks as yet another sign that the central bank has finished hiking interest rates.

For investors, getting hints that rate hikes are over is the next best thing to hearing rate cuts could come. Lower interest rates make it cheaper to borrow money, which means people have more funds to invest.

But Powell and other Fed officials have been exceedingly careful not to deliver as much as the slightest whisper of a rate cut. In fact, Powell said today that the Fed is "not thinking about rate cuts right now at all" or talking about them either.

Powell likely makes such remarks to keep investors in check. By that I mean, make sure they don't get overly excited and start pouring more money in the bond market, which in turn, would likely cause yields to move a lot lower. Since the interest rates people pay to borrow money are closely related to bond yields, such a move would effectively undo all the Fed's work over the past year-and-a-half to get inflation down.

Looking ahead: Investors are thinking a rate hike is probably off the table for the Fed's last meeting of the year in December and the foreseeable future.

My two cents: I wouldn't rule it out.

WHAT ELSE IS GOING ON?

💼 WeWork is really looking like WeCrashed. Shares of the flexible workspace provider closed down almost 50% on Wednesday following a Wall Street Journal report that it is considering filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.

🧁 Magnolia Bakery is turning its most iconic desserts into cannabis edibles. Yes, really.

🍽 Thinking of skimping on a DoorDash tip? Do so at your own risk, warns a message being tested by the food delivery provider.

😷 Chains are using theft to mask other issues, a new report says.