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Stocks seesawed Wednesday, finishing mixed in an improvement that followed several days of steep losses fueled by concerns about how interest rates staying higher for longer could impact the US economy. The S&P 500 finished just above the flatline, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 0.2%. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite gained 0.2%.
The stock gains came despite a continued rise in the price of oil, which hit fresh 2023 highs on Wednesday, as well as an uptick in Treasury yields. The benchmark 10-year Treasury yield hit levels not seen in more than 15 years, moving above 4.6%. The recent surge in yields has weighed on risk markets like stocks.
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Meta unveils AI assistant, Facebook-streaming glasses
Meta Platforms Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg on Wednesday rolled out new AI products for consumers, including bots that create photo-realistic images and smart glasses that answer questions, as well as an updated virtual-reality headset.
Zuckerberg described the products as bringing together virtual and real worlds and underscored that part of what Meta offered was low-cost or free AI that could integrate into the daily routine. Meta's Quest is the bestseller in the nascent VR space and the company's executives described it as the best value in the industry, a nod to the impending release of a much more expensive headset from Apple
Zuckerberg said a new generation of Meta's Ray-Ban smart glasses would start shipping on Oct. 17, priced at $299.
The device will incorporate a new Meta AI assistant and be capable of live streaming broadcasts of what a user is seeing directly to Facebook and Instagram, an advancement over the previous generation's ability to snap photos.
US SEC nearing settlement with Wall Street firms over WhatsApp probe
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is finalizing settlements with around two dozen Wall Street firms to resolve investigations into record-keeping lapses, said two people with knowledge of the matter.
The settlements with broker-dealers and investment advisers would mark the latest enforcement action in the SEC's two-year crackdown on Wall Street's use of WhatsApp and other unapproved messaging apps that have so far resulted in more than $2 billion in fines.
Under the deals being finalized with the SEC, the firms would pay fines, admit wrongdoing, and commit to fixing the lapses, including by hiring independent consultants to overhaul their record-keeping programs.
Dollar shines as oil surge spooks investors.
Oil prices scaled one-year highs on Thursday, while world stocks eyed their longest losing streak in two years as worries deepened about persistently high-interest rates, sending investors to shelter in the safety of a surging U.S. dollar.
A surprisingly big drop in crude stocks at Cushing, Oklahoma, stoked concern that fuel demand is outstripping production right when markets least needed another supply-side shock.
U.S. crude rose 3.6% overnight and another 1% on Thursday to hit $95 a barrel for the first time since August 2022. Brent futures hit a one-year high at $97.69.
The prospect of higher energy costs and the specter of sticky inflation put more pressure on longer-dated bonds, with benchmark 10-year Treasury yields up more than 50 basis points this month to hit a 16-year peak at 4.642%.
CoreWeave Nears Stake Sale to Fidelity, Others at $7 Billion Valuation
CoreWeave, a cloud computing provider that’s among the hottest startups in the artificial intelligence race, is finalizing a minority stake sale that values the company at $7 billion, according to people with knowledge of the matter.
Fidelity Investments has agreed to buy the largest portion of the roughly $500 million of employee-owned shares that have been tendered, said the people, who asked not to be named discussing confidential talks. JPMorgan Asset Management and Goanna Capital are among institutions in talks to participate, some of the people said. Terms haven’t been finalized and could still change, they added.
Roseland, New Jersey-based CoreWeave, which previously specialized in Ethereum mining, is projected to achieve about $1.5 billion in revenue in 2024.
Palantir Wins $250 Million AI Deal With US Defense Department
Palantir Technologies Inc. has won a $250 million contract with the US Defense Department to research and develop artificial intelligence and machine learning technology.
The new three-year deal demonstrates the company’s closeness to the US government, as well as its growing presence at the intersection of AI and defense.
Palantir’s shares, which have rallied this year on AI promises, rose 6% Wednesday following the announcement Tuesday.
Micron Slides After Predicting Steeper Loss Than Expected
Micron Technology Inc. fell in late trading after predicting a steeper loss than anticipated in the current quarter, indicating that an industry slump is still weighing on the largest US maker of memory chips.
The company projected a fiscal first-quarter loss of as much as $1.14 a share, excluding some items. Analysts had estimated a 96-cent loss. On the bright side, revenue is expected to start recovering in the period. Micron predicted sales of $4.2 billion to $4.6 billion, compared with an estimate of $4.21 billion.
Peloton stock soars on content partnership with Lululemon
Peloton and Lululemon have entered a five-year partnership that will make the at-home exercise brand the exclusive digital fitness content provider for Lululemon.
Lululemon will become the primary athletic apparel provider for Peloton while some Peloton instructors will be Lululemon Ambassadors. Additionally, Peloton will begin selling co-branded merchandise with Lululemon on Oct. 11.
Lululemon also announced it intends to discontinue sales of the Lululemon Studio Mirror before the end of the year and will also discontinue its digital app-only membership tier on Nov. 1. The company will continue to provide ongoing service and support for Mirror devices.
The Studio Mirror, which was initially aimed to rival Peloton in the at-home fitness market, largely flopped for Luluemon. In March, the company announced a $442.7 million post-tax impairment charge related to the Mirror business.
Peloton shares soared nearly 30% in after-hours trading following the news while Lululemon stock was little changed.
Apple iPhone 15 Pro Users Complain That Device Can Get Too Hot
Some of the first owners of Apple Inc.’s iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max are complaining that the new devices get too hot during use or while charging, a potential setback for the company’s flagship product.
The gripes have spread across Apple online forums and social media networks, including Reddit and X. Customers say that the back or side of the phone becomes hot to the touch while gaming or when conducting a phone call or FaceTime video chat. For some users, the issue is more prominent while the device is plugged in to charge.
Evergrande Halts Trading After Founder Put Under Police Control
Trading in shares of China Evergrande Group was suspended on Thursday after a report that its chairman had been placed under police watch, as concerns mounted about the cash-strapped developer's future amid growing liquidation risk.
With more than $300 billion in liabilities - roughly the size of Finland's gross domestic product - Evergrande has become the poster child of a debt crisis in China's property sector, which contributes to roughly a quarter of the economy.
Evergrande has been working to get creditors' approval for restructuring its offshore debt. The process got complicated this week after Evergrande said it was unable to issue new debt due to an investigation into its main China unit.
Riddle
QUESTION: In a cricket match the average number of runs in the first 15 overs was two.
After a further 15 overs, the average rose to nine.
What was the average number of runs in the last 15 overs only?
PARTNER
Any other business
Hollywood Writers Secure Guardrails Against AI
After a 148-day strike, Hollywood screenwriters secured significant guardrails against the use of artificial intelligence in one of the first major labor battles over generative AI in the workplace.
The strike was also about streaming-era economics, writers' room minimums, and residuals — not exactly compelling picket-sign fodder. But the threat of AI vividly cast the writers' plight as a human-versus-machine clash, with widespread implications for other industries facing a radically new kind of automation.
In the coming weeks, WGA members will vote on whether to ratify a tentative agreement, which requires studios and production companies to disclose to writers if any material given to them has been generated by AI partially or in full. AI cannot be a credited writer. AI cannot write or rewrite “literary material." AI-generated writing cannot be source material.
Hong Kong crypto firm hit by $200 million hack
Hackers stole around $200 million from crypto firm Mixin early on Saturday, the company said on social media platform X on Monday, in what researchers say is the largest crypto theft so far this year.
Mixin, which lists its location on LinkedIn as Hong Kong, said the database of its network's cloud service provider was "attacked by hackers, resulting in the loss of some assets" and that "the funds involved are approximately US$200 million".
ChatGPT users can now browse the internet, OpenAI says.
ChatGPT users will now be able to surf the web, Microsoft-backed OpenAI said on Wednesday, expanding the data the viral chatbot can access beyond its earlier September 2021 cutoff.
The artificial intelligence startup said its latest browsing feature would allow websites to control how ChatGPT can interact with them.
"Browsing is available to Plus and Enterprise users today, and we'll expand to all users soon. To enable, choose Browse with Bing in the selector under GPT-4," OpenAI said in a post on social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter.
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