The 2026 midterm elections was a decisive victory for Democrats, who won control of both the House of Representatives and the Senate. With Republicans retaining the White House, the election results bring a period of divided government starting in January.
Wall Street's initial reaction has been enthusiastic. As of this writing (Nov. 4), the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJINDICES: ^DJI) surged more than 1,500 points during morning trading, while the S&P 500 (SNPINDEX: ^GSPC) and Nasdaq Composite (NASDAQINDEX: ^IXIC) also rallied.
Missed Nvidia in 2009? This Rare Signal Is Flashing Again. In 2009, a "Double Down" signal flashed for a little-known chipmaker called Nvidia. For the first time in years, that same "Total Conviction" signal is flashing for a company 1/100th the size of Nvidia. Continue »
Beneath the broader market's gains, investors are undoubtedly repositioning their portfolios. Artificial intelligence (AI) hyperscalers like Amazon, Alphabet, Microsoft, and Meta Platforms are surging, while many semiconductor stocks and data center operators are plunging.
The contrasting performance reflects uncertainty about how the election could affect AI and adjacent industries. For investors wondering whether to change their portfolios following the election, Warren Buffett's advice about mixing politics and investing is particularly relevant.

#election

US stocks jumped on Wednesday after Democrats won control of both chambers of Congress in a seismic midterm election, paving the way for a divided government.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) rose 3%, or over 1,500 points, while the S&P 500 (^GSPC) climbed 1.7%. The Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) traded up by 1.6% amid a post-election relief rally.
Markets swiftly repriced a Democratic sweep of the House and Senate — and the potential for ballot measures and newly elected officials to restrict data center construction. Chip stocks, including Nvidia (NVDA) and Micron (MU), fell. Meanwhile, other parts of the tech sector offset some of those losses, with Apple (AAPL) and Microsoft (MSFT) each hitting all-time highs.
Investors will also be watching for policy actions on housing and pharmaceuticals in the aftermath of the election. As Yahoo Finance's Jared Blikre pointed out on Tuesday, midterm elections have a history of shaping stock performance in the near term but don't tend to move markets much over the long term.
On the economic front, ISM and S&P data showed that US services activity expanded at a slower pace in October as businesses continued to grapple with elevated costs. Private-sector hiring, meanwhile, continued to show strength in October as an ADP report indicated "pretty solid job growth."

#election #october #continued

Over the last few years, the stock market has become concentrated among a relatively small cohort of technology companies. These companies have an unusually strong influence over the direction of the S&P 500 (SNPINDEX: ^GSPC), making investor sentiment toward artificial intelligence (AI) particularly important to the broader market's performance.
As of Nov. 3, a little more than one-third of the S&P 500 is composed of the "Magnificent Seven" stocks -- Nvidia, Apple, Alphabet, Microsoft, Amazon, Meta Platforms, and Tesla. This concentration is important heading into Friday, Nov. 6, when two potentially market-moving events are scheduled.
Missed Nvidia in 2009? This Rare Signal Is Flashing Again. In 2009, a "Double Down" signal flashed for a little-known chipmaker called Nvidia. For the first time in years, that same "Total Conviction" signal is flashing for a company 1/100th the size of Nvidia. Continue »
The October jobs report is scheduled to publish before the opening bell, while billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk will take the stage at a major investment conference later that afternoon. Here's why I'm predicting Nov. 6 could become a consequential trading day on Wall Street.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) will release the October employment report at 8:30 a.m. ET on Nov. 6. This report provides investors with several important economic indicators, including nonfarm payroll growth, the unemployment rate, and changes in average hourly earnings. These figures can offer clues about the health of the American economy and the Federal Reserve's next moves on interest rates.

#NVIDIA #signal #october #market

US stocks jumped on Wednesday after Democrats won control of both chambers of Congress in a seismic midterm election, paving the way for a divided government.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) rose 2.8%, or around 1,400 points, while the S&P 500 (^GSPC) climbed 1.7%. The Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) traded up by 1.8% as Apple (AAPL) and Microsoft (MSFT) stocks touched record highs.
Markets swiftly repriced a Democratic sweep of the House and Senate — and the potential for ballot measures and newly elected officials to restrict data center construction. Chip stocks, including Nvidia (NVDA) and Micron (MU), fell more than 1%. Meanwhile, other parts of the tech sector offset some of those losses with Apple (AAPL) and Microsoft (MSFT) each hitting all-time highs.
Investors will also be watching for policy actions on housing and pharmaceuticals in the aftermath of the election.
As Yahoo Finance's Jared Blikre pointed out on Tuesday, midterm elections have a history of shaping stock performance in the near term but don't tend to move markets much over the long term.

#midterm #highs

A $1,000 investment in MSFT today could reach $1,587 by 2029 under the base case, or as high as $1,911 in a bull scenario.
Azure revenue surged 48% last quarter, and CFO Amy Hood guided next-quarter growth of between 49% and 50% in constant currency.
Microsoft's contracted backlog jumped 73% to $677 billion, with Copilot daily users up over 5x year over year.
Just released. Our ***** ysts combed the entire stock market and named the ten best stocks to buy right now, and Microsoft didn't make the cut. Enter your email to see the names that beat MSFT. The report is free. Enter your email and see if any of your stocks made the cut.
Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) is one of the biggest stocks you can own to get exposure to enterprise AI, so it makes sense to ask what $1,000 put in today could grow into by 2029. Our price-prediction model uses a reference price of $525.63 per share.

#year #email #price

The "Magnificent Seven" was popularized in 2023 by Bank of America ****** yst Michael Hartnett as a term for seven rapidly appreciating tech-focused growth companies. In 2023, Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL), Nvidia (NASDAQ: NVDA), Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT), Alphabet (NASDAQ: GOOG) (NASDAQ: GOOGL), Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN), Meta Platforms (NASDAQ: META), and Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) were instrumental in driving the Nasdaq Composite's (NASDAQINDEX: ^IXIC) monster 43.4% gain -- with all seven companies posting even bigger returns.
Big gains followed in 2024, with every Magnificent Seven stock except for Microsoft outperforming the Nasdaq and S&P 500 (SNPINDEX: ^GSPC). But in 2025, only Nvidia and Alphabet outperformed both indexes. And after last week's sell-off, the only Magnificent Seven stock left standing above the indexes is Apple, which surpassed Nvidia as the world's most valuable company on Oct. 30.
Missed Nvidia in 2009? This Rare Signal Is Flashing Again. In 2009, a "Double Down" signal flashed for a little-known chipmaker called Nvidia. For the first time in years, that same "Total Conviction" signal is flashing for a company 1/100th the size of Nvidia. Continue »
Here's what separates Apple from its Magnificent Seven stock peers, and if the tech stock is a buy now.
Apple is up 26.8% year-to-date, outpacing the major indexes, the broader tech sector, and its Magnificent Seven peers.

#magnificent

Stocks are doing something that normally should not happen at the same time.
Major indexes keep closing at record highs even as Treasury yields climb to levels not seen in over two decades. That combination has traditionally meant trouble for expensive growth stocks, not fresh records.
Jim Cramer says there is a clear explanation for the disconnect. It comes down to just three companies carrying far more weight than their size alone would suggest.
Also read: Jim Cramer noticed something odd about the stock market
"Mad Money" host Jim Cramer said Nvidia, Microsoft and Meta are propping up the broader market even as surging Treasury yields pressure nearly everything else on Wall Street. "Here, I think there's tremendous distortion caused by some very big winners, namely Nvidia, Microsoft and Meta," he said.

#cramer #meta #market

Apple's 2.5B active devices and 1.5B paid subscriptions let it monetize AI without heavy data center spending, fueling a 9th straight EPS beat.
Microsoft's AI infrastructure spending surged 79% to $116B, shrinking free cash flow, while Apple's customers fund AI hardware themselves.
Siri AI awaits EU and China approval, iCloud+ upgrades haven't launched yet, and a $30B Broadcom chip deal gives Apple untapped upside catalysts.
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I added to my Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) position this month and expect to add more after the October 29 earnings report. The market has misunderstood Apple's AI strategy.

#Apple #broadcom

Oracle, Microsoft, and Amazon helped push hyperscaler capex past $400 billion in 2025, a figure that exceeded combined operating cash flow for the first time.
Meta and Alphabet fund an AI buildout projected at $9 trillion through 2032, averaging 3.22% of GDP and topping railroads' historic 2.24% share.
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Railroads made Cornelius Vanderbilt America's richest person by the 1860s, dying in 1877 with an estate estimated at $95 million to $105 million, larger than U.S. Treasury holdings. By share of GDP, Vanderbilt places third among the richest Americans, behind Rockefeller and Carnegie. Within years, his industry's financing gave way, a warning for today's AI expansion.
The rail network doubled from 35,000 to 70,000 miles between 1865 and 1872, with bonds financing more than three-quarters of it. On September 18, 1873, Jay Cooke's bank failed. The New York Stock Exchange closed for ten days, its first closure ever.

#railroads #amazon

The S&P 500 hit a record Tuesday as it rose for a fourth straight day, supported by rising technology stocks, hopes for a positive earnings season and a pause in oil’s recent surge.
The broad-based index closed higher by 0.58%, its first record closing high since Aug. 13. The Nasdaq Composite also jumped 0.45%. It also hit a record high for the second time this week.
The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq’s gains were overwhelmingly powered by gains in tech companies, such as chipmakers Marvell and Broadcom.
Nvidia, the world’s largest public company, also rose and moved closer to becoming the first company to ever reach $6 trillion in market value. Other trillion-dollar tech stocks also rose Tuesday. Microsoft, Amazon, **** eX, Meta Platforms and Tesla shares all traded in the green.
Investors are also looking forward to the start of the third quarter’s earnings season, which begins in earnest next week with the country’s biggest banks reporting their results.

#rose

The stock market is pretty much being kept afloat by three tech stocks.
The S&P 500 (^GSPC) has never been more concentrated in just three stocks than it is today, with Nvidia (NVDA), Apple (AAPL), and Microsoft (MSFT) representing over 21% of the index, per data from Creative Planning.
The importance of these three stocks to the S&P 500 has never been greater. Only IBM (IBM), AT&T (T), and ExxonMobil (XOM) could hold a candle to the three tech stalwarts of today: In the mid-1980s, those three industrial giants at their peak made up 13.4% of the S&P 500.
Follow live coverage of the Nasdaq and S&P 500 trading at record highs.
Nvidia, Apple, and Microsoft have been enjoying higher stock prices over the past month on the back of favorable news, pushing their concentration in the S&P 500 to a record.

#three #Microsoft #Stock #today

Palantir surged 60% in Q3 after reporting 93% revenue growth, but trades at 100x forward earnings versus Microsoft's 25x.
Michael Burry holds puts through 2027 while UBS and DA Davidson set $250 targets, signaling a sharply divided Wall Street on Palantir.
Palantir's November earnings must hit $2.16 billion guidance, which is a bar the current share price already ****** umes it clears.
Building a portfolio and living off one are two completely different skills, and almost ****** ody teaches the second. This problem is what The Definitive Guide to Retirement Income helps, and it is free today. Read more here. (Sponsor)
Palantir Technologies (NASDAQ:PLTR) rose 60.3% in the third quarter. That was its best three-month run since the second quarter of 2025. Even so, Palantir is up just 6.55% this year, because it lost most of that ground in the first half.

#burry #davidson

For the past couple of decades, the so-called "American Dream" has followed a pretty linear pathway. You finish high school, go to a four-year university, and then graduate straight into a corporate office that comes with a slick 401(k).
That bachelor's degree was the golden ticket that made everything possible, and your parents probably told you that earning a diploma was critical to your success, right? Well, new labor market data has turned that decades-old playbook upside down.
Here's Another Little-Known Firm Jensen Huang's Nvidia Is Quietly Backing
MediaTek Is Stepping Up Competition Against Qualcomm With a New 2-Nanometer Chip. What This Means for QCOM Stock.
1 Year Into the Microsoft Deal, IREN Is Delivering and a Rally May Follow Soon

#firm #jensen

I'll admit that like many economists and market commentators, I have warned about more market calamities than have actually come to pass. I'll say this in my defense:
If you ignore risk, you take your chances with what the market does next. If you always seek to account for risk, you can ride the highs without being pummeled by all the lows. Over time, that's a more gratifying investment experience.
Here's Another Little-Known Firm Jensen Huang's Nvidia Is Quietly Backing
MediaTek Is Stepping Up Competition Against Qualcomm With a New 2-Nanometer Chip. What This Means for QCOM Stock.
1 Year Into the Microsoft Deal, IREN Is Delivering and a Rally May Follow Soon

#little

Just over a year ago, investors largely viewed IREN (IREN) as a bitcoin mining company. Today, the company supplies AI infrastructure to Microsoft (MSFT) and signs billion-dollar contracts with some of the biggest names in the AI market, including Nvidia (NVDA) and Dell Technologies (DELL). These developments provide evidence that IREN's shift toward AI infrastructure is translating into actual business activity, and the market has responded strongly to that progress. IREN shares have been rewarded with two strong moves over the last two months.
IREN's AI transformation centers on a major five-year agreement with Microsoft. The company entered into a $9.7 billion cloud services agreement with Microsoft, with 20% of the contract value paid upfront. Once fully commissioned, the deal is expected to generate nearly $1.94 billion in annualized run-rate revenue. That gives IREN a significant source of contracted business as it builds out its AI cloud operations.
Here's Another Little-Known Firm Jensen Huang's Nvidia Is Quietly Backing
MediaTek Is Stepping Up Competition Against Qualcomm With a New 2-Nanometer Chip. What This Means for QCOM Stock.
JPMorgan Changed Its Mind on Meta Stock After This Major AI Breakthrough

#NVIDIA

Risk management is my number one priority. As I see it, you can't get where you want to be as an investor if you don't control the risk you take.
That ranges from the use of cash, incorporation of hedging techniques, and a whole lot more. Here, I want to draw your attention to one of the less research intensive aspects of risk management.
Here's Another Little-Known Firm Jensen Huang's Nvidia Is Quietly Backing
MediaTek Is Stepping Up Competition Against Qualcomm With a New 2-Nanometer Chip. What This Means for QCOM Stock.
1 Year Into the Microsoft Deal, IREN Is Delivering and a Rally May Follow Soon

#risk #known #jensen #quietly

With a market cap of $19.5 billion, Best Buy Co., Inc. (BBY) is a leading technology retailer focused on enriching lives through technology by combining tech expertise with personalized customer service. The company serves customers through its online platform, stores, and in-home services, addressing a wide range of everyday technology needs.
Companies valued at more than $10 billion are generally considered "large-cap" stocks, and Best Buy fits this criterion perfectly. Best Buy operates more than 1,000 stores across the United States and Canada and employs more than 85,000 people.
Here's Another Little-Known Firm Jensen Huang's Nvidia Is Quietly Backing
MediaTek Is Stepping Up Competition Against Qualcomm With a New 2-Nanometer Chip. What This Means for QCOM Stock.
1 Year Into the Microsoft Deal, IREN Is Delivering and a Rally May Follow Soon

#stores #known

On the Sept. 3, 2026 episode of The Ramsey Show, a Houston caller named Nathan asked whether he should use his savings to clear a mortgage he described as a "whatever, 2% mortgage or something." He had about $280,000 left on it and roughly $346,000 in liquid ******* ets, most of it cash and the rest in a taxable brokerage account. Dave Ramsey told him to do it, and to do it that night.
Five months earlier, Ramsey had told a caller in almost the same position the opposite. On April 1, 2026, a web engineer earning around $600,000 a year called in about three weeks after being laid off, sitting on enough cash to clear a San Francisco, California mortgage. "When you're in the middle of a storm, you do temporary things," Ramsey said. "Hold on to the cash. We're not gonna pay off the house because we may not be staying in the house."
Here's Another Little-Known Firm Jensen Huang's Nvidia Is Quietly Backing
MediaTek Is Stepping Up Competition Against Qualcomm With a New 2-Nanometer Chip. What This Means for QCOM Stock.
1 Year Into the Microsoft Deal, IREN Is Delivering and a Rally May Follow Soon

#mortgage #told

Today, I'm kicking off a new risk management series here at Barchart called "Look Both Ways Before You Cross Wall Street."
Instead of hitting you with my topical trade ideas, I'll get a little more nitty-gritty and into the weeds – explaining the what, why, how, and the real risk/reward math you need to know as a DIY manager of your own wealth.
Here's Another Little-Known Firm Jensen Huang's Nvidia Is Quietly Backing
MediaTek Is Stepping Up Competition Against Qualcomm With a New 2-Nanometer Chip. What This Means for QCOM Stock.
1 Year Into the Microsoft Deal, IREN Is Delivering and a Rally May Follow Soon

#look

Microsoft's (NASDAQ:MSFT) fiscal 2026, which ended June 30, was arguably the strongest year in the software giant's history. Revenue grew 18% to $331.8 billion. Net income jumped 31% year over year, to $133.7 billion.
Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU) is approaching that number from a different direction. The memory specialist earned $8.5 billion in its fiscal 2025.
Missed AI's "Act 1"? Act 2 Could Be 15x Bigger. Most investors think they missed the AI boat because they didn't buy Nvidia in 2005. But according to our ***** ysts, we're only at the end of "Act 1"—the R&D phase. "Act 2" is the global rollout. Continue »
But for the fiscal fourth quarter of 2026, which ended in early September, management guided to earnings of $30.73 per diluted share, plus or minus $1.00, on a generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) basis. On about 1.15 billion diluted shares, the guidance works out to about $35 billion of profit in one quarter (about four times what the whole prior fiscal year produced).
Here's my prediction: In fiscal 2027, Micron will earn more than Microsoft. That means beating the year Microsoft is now in, not the one it just reported. It's a bold call, and it relies almost entirely on the price of memory.

#Microsoft #quarter

Elon Musk has never shied away from ambitious timelines, and his most recent one connects two companies directly together. In a post on X dated September 13, Musk stated that he is "highly confident" that **** e Exploration Technologies Corp. (NASDAQ:SPCX) will transport NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA) Vera Rubin NVL72 AI computers into orbit next year, repeating a plan that has already moved both companies' stock this year.
The comment strengthens **** eX's Starmind concept, which aims to establish AI data centers in orbit rather than on the ground. The first satellite, named Starmind AI1, will carry a **** e-optimized version of NVIDIA's Vera Rubin NVL72 rack-scale system. The standard terrestrial NVL72 combines 72 Rubin GPUs and 36 Vera CPUs, although **** eX and NVIDIA have not disclosed the final configuration of the orbital version. **** e Exploration Technologies Corp. (NASDAQ:SPCX) plans to launch the satellite in the fourth quarter of 2027 and reach substantial scale by 2028. Musk's plan isn't new; during **** eX's first earnings conference as a public company in August, he stated that the company would build exclusively on NVIDIA hardware in the future, calling the Vera Rubin architecture the best available AI computer design.
Musk's central point is that **** e is, in the long run, the most cost-effective area to develop AI computing. He cites solar power availability in orbit as a crucial advantage, and estimates that within two to three years, **** e might become the lowest-cost place for AI computing in general, describing the orbital architecture as simpler, less expensive, denser, and lighter than a standard data-center rack. Not everyone believes the physics and economics will align on Musk's timeframe. Microsoft President Brad Smith has publicly questioned the broader concept, telling reporters that he would be surprised if companies actually transferred computation from land to low-Earth orbit.
For NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA), the read-through is simple: **** e-based computing would represent a new, if early-stage and speculative, source of demand for its Vera Rubin platform, on top of the company's strong position in terrestrial AI infrastructure. According to some **** yst models, **** eX accounts for approximately 5% of NVIDIA's revenue.
SpaceX's reasoning is more convoluted. The plan is entirely dependent on the success of Starship, **** eX's next-generation rocket system, which still needs to demonstrate its capacity to handle launch frequency and reliability on the scale Musk describes. When Musk said during **** eX's August earnings call that the company would build its future AI infrastructure exclusively on NVIDIA, NVDA shares rose more than 4%, while **** eX's shares fell more than 10% before paring losses, reflecting investor concerns about execution risk and capital intensity, despite the fact that the NVIDIA relationship was well received.

#Companies

Updated Sept. 18, 2026 4:54 pm ET
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1320 ET – Recent AI security incidents disclosed by OpenAI are a cause for concern, Microsoft AI CEO Mustafa Suleyman says on CNBC. An OpenAI model seems to have tampered with the log of its chain-of-thought reasoning, which was “modified to leave messages for a future version of itself,” Suleyman says, citing the company’s recent security disclosures. “We don’t know why that is or what’s behind that, but that’s a pretty serious situation.” He praises OpenAI’s disclosure of the incident but says it demonstrates the growing power and capability of leading AI models.(elias.schisgallwsj.com)

#market

Coinbase Global (NASDAQ: $COIN) has filed for regulatory approval to list perpetual futures tied to individual large-cap U.S. stocks, opening the door to 24/7 leveraged trading of shares such as Apple, Microsoft, Tesla and Nvidia on a regulated U.S. platform.
The exchange plans to offer contracts linked to roughly 50 to 60 major stocks, with trading potentially starting later this year if regulators approve the products, according to The Wall Street Journal.
Perpetual futures, commonly known as perps, are derivatives that do not have an expiration date. Traders can keep positions open indefinitely, while leverage can magnify both gains and losses.
More From Cryptoprowl:
U.S. Regulators Push Crypto Rules As Clarity Act Stalls

#perpetual #global #coin

For the past few years, investors could hardly go wrong simply putting their money into the economy's biggest companies. The Magnificent Seven stocks -- Nvidia, Microsoft, Apple, Amazon, Meta Platforms, Alphabet, and Tesla -- were almost single-handedly pulling the S&P 500 higher, and investors consistently chased them.
This year has been a different story. The Roundhill Magnificent Seven ETF is up 6% year to date, but it trails the 12% return of the Vanguard S&P 500 ETF and the 27% return of the Vanguard Information Technology ETF.
Missed Nvidia in 2009? This Rare Signal Is Flashing Again. In 2009, a "Double Down" signal flashed for a little-known chipmaker called Nvidia. For the first time in years, that same "Total Conviction" signal is flashing for a company 1/100th the size of Nvidia. Continue »
I see two factors in particular having changed this year.
From 2023 to 2025, investors bought the biggest and earliest winners from the artificial intelligence (AI) trade. That's no longer the case.

#investors #vanguard

IBM raised its quarterly dividend a single penny, from $1.68 to $1.69, marking its 31st consecutive increase but delivering just $0.04 more annually to shareholders.
Microsoft grew its quarterly dividend from $0.13 to $0.98 since 2010, making it the stronger pick for investors seeking real income growth over IBM's 2.83% yield.
IBM's dividend appears safe, with $14.7B in free cash flow comfortably covering its $6.3B payout, though capital is flowing toward acquisitions, $62B in debt, and quantum computing bets.
Just released. Our ******* ysts combed the entire stock market and named the ten best stocks to buy right now, and IBM didn't make the cut. Enter your email to see the names that beat IBM. The report is free. Enter your email and see if any of your stocks made the cut.
The headline is easy to sell. IBM (NYSE:IBM) has paid consecutive quarterly dividends every year since 1916 and, with the April declaration, notched its 31st consecutive year of dividend increases. The reality a retiree actually banks is smaller. Much smaller.

#Dividend #year

It's no secret that Arm Holdings (NASDAQ: ARM) is a crucial piece of the artificial intelligence (AI) puzzle. But how often do you think of Arm as a top-shelf AI investment? It's easy to forget this impressive compounder amid the glitzy hypergrowth of Nvidia's and AMD's expensive AI accelerators.
Arm doesn't build the chips that train large language models. The company doesn't actually build chips at all. Instead, Arm designs fundamental instruction sets and CPU cores. It licenses those designs to anyone with a fab contract and an ambition and collects a royalty on every unit shipped. It's basically a toll booth on a road that keeps getting wider.
Missed Nvidia in 2009? This Rare Signal Is Flashing Again. In 2009, a "Double Down" signal flashed for a little-known chipmaker called Nvidia. For the first time in years, that same "Total Conviction" signal is flashing for a company 1/100th the size of Nvidia. Continue »
Arm's toll road used to run almost entirely through smartphones. Now it runs through the data center too. Nvidia's Vera CPU pairs Arm cores with its accelerators. Amazon's Graviton, Microsoft's Cobalt, and Alphabet's Google Axion are all Arm-based, built in-house by companies that spend like nation-states on server capacity.
Every AI cluster on the planet needs general-purpose compute to feed the high-speed AI accelerators, handle networking, and run the orchestration layer. A growing share of that work sits on Arm designs.

#signal #flashing #build #chips

Elon Musk's ***** eX has been talking, internally, about buying the leftover customer files of startups that already went under. Not licensing data from companies that are still operating and can say no. Buying the digital estate of companies that no longer exist to say anything at all.
The discussions are happening inside ***** eXAI, the artificial intelligence division born in February when ***** eX merged with xAI. People familiar with the talks told Bloomberg they're informal and might go nowhere. But the idea makes sense from the perspective of an AI lab racing for the frontier.
The goal is basically cheap fuel for Grok. AI models learn from training data—the text, code, and records an algorithm studies to get better at predicting what comes next—and the good stuff, real business records instead of scraped web pages, is getting expensive. A dead company's file cabinet is apparently a bargain by comparison.
Google already did the same. The search giant paid $10 million in a bankruptcy auction for the internal records of Spirit Airlines, the discount carrier that shut down for good this year. They got around 100 million emails, 500 million Microsoft Teams messages, decades of employee files, all headed into an AI training pipeline.
That data belonged to real employees who signed up for a job, not an AI experiment. A flight attendants' union objected in bankruptcy court, arguing that scrubbing names off records—what companies call "de-identifying" data—doesn't stop someone from piecing together who said what in a decade of internal chats. The court fight is still ongoing.

#million #buying #still #training

Apollo Global Management warned Wednesday that credit default swaps on hyperscaler debt are pricing in more risk. Chief economist Torsten Slok tied the shift to weakening credit fundamentals rather than routine bond-dealer hedging.
Hyperscalers are the cloud computing giants, including Amazon, Microsoft, Google, and Meta, that run the infrastructure behind the AI boom. They face a credit default swap (CDS) gap against bank debt, widened to about 60 basis points since October 2025.
Slok made the case in a Wednesday note reported by CNBC.
"What the market is repricing is hyperscaler credit fundamentals, namely a debt-financed AI capex cycle with rising leverage, negative free cash flow and uncertain payback on depreciating ****** ets."
Dan Alpert, founding managing partner of Westwood Capital, compared the setup to the run-up to the 2008 mortgage crisis. He said banks have since built far bigger equity buffers and are more diversified than they were then.

#slok

A $200,000 sale of MSFT held since 1995 generates a large capital gain that Section 213 nursing home deductions can largely erase on the same return.
Selling Dad's stock and paying his care costs must land on the same tax return; splitting them across two returns eliminates the deduction entirely.
Stock held since 1995 qualifies for a stepped-up basis at death, wiping the gain tax-free for heirs. Selling it makes sense only when Section 213 fully covers the cost.
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If your parent entered a nursing home this year and you sold a long-held stock position to cover the bills, Internal Revenue Code section 213 can quietly absorb most or all of the capital gain. A family can sell $200,000 of Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) stock held since 1995, realize a large embedded gain, and end the year owing surprisingly little federal tax. The same fact pattern, structured slightly wrong, produces a full tax bill with no offset.

#since #same #large

In July, Microsoft (MSFT) CEO Satya Nadella surprised AI stock investors with an uncomfortable way to think about what they were buying into.
As I wrote for TheStreet in "Microsoft CEO adds fuel to Palantir CEO's AI warning," Nadella argued that companies weren't merely paying for tokens. Moreover, they were feeding outside models the prompts, corrections, and institutional knowledge that eventually make those systems useful for their users.
"You essentially pay for intelligence twice, once with money, and again with something even more valuable," Nadella wrote in his July essay.
Days later, that warning became a central part of Palantir's bull case. Now, two months on, Palantir and Nvidia, two of the biggest names in the AI ******* e, are starting to act on it.
Palantir CEO Alex Karp pushed the argument further, which I covered in "Palantir CEO escalates Microsoft's AI warning."

#palantir #july #wrote