Passport to Wall Street

Blackstone’s $450 Billion Private Equity Business Loses Its Longtime Chief

Benzinga News — Mon, 28 Sep 2026 14:38:55 -0400

Blackstone's (BX ) longtime head of private equity is set to leave the firm at year-end.

Joe Baratta is leaving the firm after 28 years leading the asset manager's private equity business, Bloomberg reported. Last year, Baratta was placed into a new role overseeing strategies within the private equity unit.

Blackstone manages approximately $450 billion in asstes.

Baratta's role will not be filled, Bloomberg noted, citing an internal memo sent to employees last week. His departure leaves Blackstone with just two executives on its board: CEO Steve Schwarzman and President Jon Gray.

"Joe has spent years empowering a team of experienced investors to oversee our individual private equity strategies and funds. Given the strength of the leaders for each of our dedicated PE verticals today, we do not intend to replace Joe's role," Schwarzman and Gray wrote in the memo.

Baratta joined Blackstone in 1998 and later moved to London to help build out the firm's European private equity business, eventually becoming global head of strategy in 2012. During his tenure, he helped lead investments including Merlin Entertainments and Hilton Worldwide Holdings Inc., both of which generated significant returns.

Beyond Buyouts

During Baratta's time at the firm, Blackstone expanded into a diversified alternative asset manager. Altogether, it oversees approximately $1.3 trillion in assets spanning private equity, real estate, infrastructure, credit and hedge funds.

Last year, Blackstone shifted Baratta into a broader private equity role. In his expanded role, Baratta helped develop the firm's AI investment strategy. He also secured golfer Tommy Fleetwood as the firm's first brand ambassador.

Baratta is reportedly interested in pursuing a career in politics.

The move comes after several high-profile leadership changes at the firm this year, with real estate chief Nadeem Meghji and growth strategy head Jon Korngold also stepping down.

In April, Blackstone launched a new division focused on alternative investments in AI and high-growth tech, including companies such as OpenAI and Anthropic. Jasvinder Khaira joined to lead that team, succeeding Korngold.

Databricks CEO Says AI Cyberattacks Are Moving Faster Than Humans Can Respond

Benzinga News — Mon, 28 Sep 2026 14:38:18 -0400

Databricks CEO Ali Ghodsi says the most immediate risk from increasingly capable artificial intelligence systems may be a cybersecurity arms race that is already moving faster than human security teams can handle.

Speaking on the a16z podcast, Ghodsi said the time between a software vulnerability being disclosed and an exploit being weaponized has collapsed from years to hours, creating a problem that traditional security operations centers are not equipped to handle.

"I think right now the existential risk is close to zero. There will be consequences, not existential, but economic damage and people getting hurt and so on could happen. Humans don't respond fast enough to the attacks that are happening," Ghodsi said, arguing that companies need to automate much more of their security operations with AI agents.

The Databricks CEO distinguished that risk from concerns about so-called superintelligence, saying he sees little evidence that current AI systems are approaching the kind of capabilities described in more extreme AI-risk scenarios.

"I do think there's a lot of infrastructure [that] needs to be secured," Ghodsi said, citing banks and other institutions that are still using outdated security infrastructure.

Cybersecurity and enterprise AI are increasingly becoming intertwined as companies deploy more autonomous agents. Those agents can generate large amounts of logs, activity trails and other data as they interact with systems and with other agents. That creates a new monitoring challenge for companies, while also giving attackers increasingly capable tools.

This is making automated detection and threat hunting increasingly important. Many companies still rely on security teams to sort through large numbers of alerts, including false positives, Ghodsi noted. AI agents could instead monitor systems continuously, identify suspicious activity and even automatically test a company's defenses.

Databricks' AI Experiment

Ghodsi also described how Databricks is using AI internally, saying that more than 90% of the company's software is now written by AI. But he argued that the development of increasingly capable AI systems should not automatically be equated with the emergence of superintelligence.

Ghodsi proposed four conditions he would watch for as evidence that AI development could be entering a more consequential phase: models becoming significantly cheaper to train, requiring less time to train, becoming more intelligent and repeatedly achieving all three improvements.

He said there is currently no evidence that all four conditions are occurring simultaneously. Instead, frontier AI development remains expensive and technically difficult, requiring increasingly large amounts of computing infrastructure, engineering and capital.

That distinction is central to Ghodsi's broader argument. He said companies should take concrete security risks seriously without framing today's AI systems as an imminent existential threat.

For enterprises, the more immediate challenge may be figuring out how to deploy AI fast enough to defend against AI-powered attacks, because human security teams are simply too slow to keep up.

American Airlines Stock's New Floor Holds, But Resistance Remains

Benzinga News — Mon, 28 Sep 2026 14:37:55 -0400

American Airlines Group Inc. (AAL ) shares are trading lower Monday. Two analysts cut their price targets on the stock. Here's what you need to know.

Two Analysts Lower Their American Airlines Price Targets

BMO Capital analyst Michael Goldie maintained a Market Perform rating on American Airlines while lowering the price target to $15.50 from $19. Evercore ISI analyst Duane Pfennigwerth maintained an In-Line rating while cutting the price target to $13 from $17.

American Airlines carries an overall Hold rating on Wall Street, with an average price target of $18. Other recent analyst actions include Rothschild & Co raising its target to $13.50 while maintaining a Neutral rating on September 18.

American Airlines' Chart Shows a Well-Defended Floor Amid a Weakening Ceiling

Beyond today's analyst moves, the stock's broader chart shows momentum fading at the top even as a new floor holds firm underneath. Shares couldn't climb back to July's $18 peak during August's rebound, which stalled out at $17.13. The subsequent decline broke straight through the old lows near $13.32 to $13.42 and settled into fresh territory around $12.54 to $12.59, a floor tested four separate times over roughly a week in mid-September, with each touch landing within a nickel of the others.

Buyers then pushed the stock back up to $14.07 by September 22, reclaiming the previous $13.32-to-$13.42 zone that had already failed twice earlier in the summer, a signal that tends to carry more weight than a standard bounce. Shares now trade around $13.59, sitting in the middle of that recovered range.

Looking ahead, the key levels to watch are whether $13.32 to $13.42 continues acting as support on any pullback, which would validate the recovery, and whether the stock can clear meaningfully above the $14.07 September high.

AAL Shares Are Dropping

AAL Price Action: American Airlines shares were down 1.95% at $13.60 at the time of publication on Monday, according to Benzinga Pro.

Trump Offers Iran Sanctions Relief for Nuclear Progress as Traders Raise Deal Odds

Benzinga News — Mon, 28 Sep 2026 14:37:29 -0400

President Donald Trump is willing to ease sanctions on Iran and release frozen Iranian funds in exchange for "concrete progress" on Tehran's nuclear program, a White House official told CNN Monday, keeping the door open to a deal days after rejecting Iran's latest proposal.

Prediction market traders are becoming more optimistic. Polymarket now gives a final U.S.-Iran nuclear deal by Dec. 31 a 15% chance, up from 10% on Saturday. The wider market has attracted nearly $18.9 million in trading volume.

Trump Says Iran 'Overplayed Their Hand'

"They want to make a deal, but it is not the deal that I want to make," Trump said. "It is what we would have maybe agreed to a year ago. They overplayed their hand."

The comments came as Qatar and other regional mediators continued trying to narrow the gap between Washington and Tehran. U.S. envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner held indirect talks with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi in New York last week, with Qatari officials carrying messages between the two sides.

A White House official told CNN Monday that those discussions have been "positive and constructive," adding that Iran has shown flexibility on nuclear issues.

But the sides remain divided over what happens first.

Iran is seeking sanctions relief, access to frozen assets and an easing of U.S. pressure before making its biggest concessions. The Trump administration says there will be no agreement unless Tehran first makes concrete progress on its nuclear program.

Iran Wants Relief Up Front

U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Mike Waltz said Sunday that Iran was asking for "everything up front with a promise that they would then talk."

Tehran wants relief from billions of dollars in sanctions and access to frozen assets, Waltz said, adding that Trump was not confident Iran would negotiate in good faith.

Trump rejected Iran's seven-day proposal Saturday. Iran had offered to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and restart nuclear negotiations within a week if Washington lifted its naval blockade, removed sanctions on oil sales and restored a regional ceasefire.

Traders Doubt a Major Nuclear Concession

Prediction markets suggest traders remain skeptical that Tehran will make the kind of nuclear concession Washington is seeking.

Polymarket gives just a 6% chance that the U.S. obtains Iran's enriched uranium by Dec. 31. The year-end contract has attracted about $2.4 million in trading volume.

The financial stakes extend beyond diplomacy. Brent crude gained 1.5% Sunday night after Trump rejected Iran's proposal, with disruption around the Strait of Hormuz continuing to pressure global energy markets.

Shares of Exxon Mobil Corp. (XOM ) were up about 1% Monday as oil prices remained elevated. A prolonged disruption to shipping through the Strait of Hormuz could keep crude prices higher, benefiting major oil producers while adding pressure to inflation and the broader economy.

'An AI Operating System, Not a Chatbot': Oppenheimer Hails Microsoft's Enterprise Advantage

Benzinga News — Mon, 28 Sep 2026 14:36:59 -0400

Microsoft Corp. (MSFT ) remained in focus Monday as investors weighed broader market pressure against the company's push to turn Copilot into a larger workplace platform and revenue engine.

Microsoft shares traded slightly lower as rising Treasury yields and oil prices weighed on the broader market.

The company is expanding Copilot beyond an AI assistant by combining subscription pricing with usage-based charges for more demanding workloads.

Microsoft Expands Copilot Beyond Chat

Microsoft Executive Vice President for Copilot Jared Spataro said the company wants Copilot to become the primary interface for workplace AI, similar to Office's role during the PC era.

The revamped product combines Chat and Cowork with Code and Autopilot, allowing users to analyze information, create workplace tools and delegate longer-running tasks.

Spataro told CNBC on Friday that Microsoft employees are already using the new capabilities internally.

Cowork can analyze information across multiple sources, while Code lets non-technical employees build dashboards, widgets and other tools. Autopilot can manage recurring work and help users review emails and conversation threads through Teams.

Microsoft is also adding controls for autonomous agents. Each Autopilot receives its own identity, permissions and audit history, while certain actions, including sending or deleting emails and making purchases, require explicit human approval.

Usage-Based Model Opens New Revenue Stream

Microsoft plans to monetize Copilot through two complementary models.

Companies can purchase Copilot seats for everyday AI tasks, while heavier workloads involving Cowork, Code and Autopilot use consumption-based billing.

Oppenheimer analyst Brian Schwartz told CNBC on Saturday that the changes transform Copilot from a standalone chatbot into what he views as an AI operating system.

Schwartz said the shift could increase engagement, customer retention and monetization. He raised his price target on Microsoft to $570 from $515 and called the company a top pick.

Oppenheimer Sees Azure and M365 Upside

Schwartz believes Copilot gives Microsoft a clearer path to monetize heavier AI use across Azure and Microsoft 365.

He also highlighted Microsoft's multi-model strategy, which works with providers including OpenAI, Anthropic and Muse.

Schwartz said Azure is growing in the low-40% range, with Microsoft guiding toward mid-40% growth this quarter. He believes acceleration toward roughly 50% growth at more than $100 billion of scale could support a re-rating of Microsoft shares.

Top ETF Exposure

The Vanguard Morningstar Growth ETF (VUG ) holds a 9.59% weight in Microsoft, while the Technology Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLK ) holds 9.83% and the iShares Core S&P U.S. Growth ETF (IUSG ) holds 9.75%.

Significant inflows or outflows from these funds can translate into buying or selling of Microsoft shares.

MSFT Price Action

Microsoft shares were down 1.35% at $509.38 at the time of publication on Monday, according to Benzinga Pro data.

Bond Investors Are Fleeing Mutual Funds for ETFs: Why $12B in ETF Inflows Matters Now

Benzinga News — Mon, 28 Sep 2026 13:11:53 -0400

Bond investors are increasingly shifting money away from traditional mutual funds and toward ETFs, creating a striking divergence in fixed income flows that could become more important if bond-market volatility intensifies.

Active bond mutual funds recorded $6.48 billion in outflows in the week ended Sep. 16, according to the Investment Company Institute (ICI). That marked a sharp reversal from a $664 million inflow the previous week and the first weekly outflow after several weeks of positive flows. Taxable bond funds accounted for $4.2 billion of the withdrawals, while municipal bond funds lost $2.28 billion.

At the same time, bond ETFs continued to attract billions. ICI data showed $9.72 billion of net issuance for bond ETFs in the week ended Sep. 16, while ETF.com put U.S. fixed-income ETF inflows at $10.3 billion for the week ended Sep. 18. Bloomberg Intelligence ETF analyst Eric Balchunas said bond ETFs took in roughly $12 billion, more than offsetting the mutual-fund outflows.

Why the Divergence Matters

Balchunas warned that accelerating redemptions from bond mutual funds could create a feedback loop. Unlike ETFs, mutual funds must generally meet investor redemptions with cash, which can require portfolio managers to sell bonds.

If those sales push bond prices lower and reduce fund NAVs, weaker performance could trigger additional redemptions, potentially forcing further selling.

"Doom loop" is how Balchunas described that potential scenario.

The ETF structure provides a different mechanism. Investors can trade ETF shares on exchanges without each transaction necessarily requiring the fund to sell underlying bonds. That does not make bond ETFs immune to market stress, but it can reduce the direct link between investor selling and portfolio liquidation.

Investors Are Favoring Shorter Duration

The flow shift is also occurring as investors become more cautious about interest-rate risk. Reuters reported that short-term U.S. Treasury ETFs attracted $12.2 billion over the 20 trading sessions through Sep. 8, compared with just $2.5 billion for long-term bond ETFs.

The takeaway is not necessarily that investors are abandoning bonds. Rather, the latest flows suggest fixed-income investors may be changing the vehicle and duration through which they hold bonds.

For ETFs, that distinction could become increasingly important if mutual-fund redemptions accelerate.

Meta Is Coming for Europe’s Bond Market: AI Debt Is Going Global

Benzinga News — Mon, 28 Sep 2026 13:11:22 -0400

Meta Platforms Inc (META ) is taking its AI spending spree to a new funding market. The company is preparing to tap Europe's bond market for the first time this autumn, turning what was once a U.S.-centric borrowing story into a global one.For investors, the more important signal is where AI companies are finding the money to keep building.

Meta Takes AI Debt Overseas

Meta's expected European bond debut comes as the company pours billions into data centers, chips and other infrastructure needed to support its AI ambitions. The move also fits a broader pattern: U.S. hyperscalers are increasingly looking beyond dollar debt markets as their capital requirements grow.The European Central Bank (ECB) has been tracking that shift. Its August analysis found Alphabet Inc (GOOGL ) (GOOG ), Amazon.com Inc (AMZN ), Microsoft Corp (MSFT ) and Meta are increasingly tapping euro-denominated debt, with hyperscalers accounting for close to 10% of new euro bond issuance by non-financial companies.That matters because the AI buildout is becoming too large to fund entirely from corporate cash flow. The ECB estimates hyperscalers could require more than $1 trillion in capital expenditure by 2028, increasing the incentive to diversify funding sources.

Big Tech Is Going Global

Meta is hardly alone in taking its AI financing overseas.Amazon recently sold C$14 billion (~$9.88 billion) of bonds in Canada, setting a record for Canadian-dollar corporate issuance. Alphabet followed with a record A$5.5 billion (~$3.87 billion) Australian-dollar deal, while Amazon and Alphabet have also been active in sterling and Swiss franc markets.The Financial Times reports that companies outside the hyperscaler group are adjusting their own borrowing strategies around these deals. Some issuers are shortening maturities or avoiding windows when major technology companies are selling bonds, illustrating how AI spending is beginning to influence the mechanics of the broader credit market.The ECB has also warned that a sustained increase in hyperscaler borrowing could eventually make financing more difficult for other companies if investors have to absorb an increasingly large supply of technology debt.

The Investor Signal

For Meta investors, the European debut is more than a funding footnote. It shows how the economics of AI are expanding beyond the semiconductor supply chain and into global capital markets.

The next question is not simply how much Meta can spend on AI, but how efficiently that spending translates into revenue and cash flow.

As hyperscalers compete for bond investors across currencies and markets, the cost of financing could become another variable investors need to track alongside AI revenue growth, capex and margins.

Jensen Huang Says Runaway AI Is an Engineering Problem: ‘We All Need to Hope’

Benzinga News — Mon, 28 Sep 2026 13:09:22 -0400

Nvidia Corp. (NVDA ) CEO Jensen Huang spent last week pushing back on warnings that AI could slip beyond human control. On Monday, as Nvidia launched software to contain rogue agents, he added a caveat: "We all need to hope" engineers can solve the problem.

"I believe it's an engineering problem. I know it's an engineering problem," Huang told CNBC. "And we all need to hope that it's an engineering problem."

"If it's not an engineering problem, it's not solvable."

Huang Says 'Take Away All of Its Rights'

Huang's comments sharpen the argument he made in an interview with Ezra Klein last week, when he pushed back against AI doomsday scenarios and told companies worried they could not control their systems simply: "Don't ship it."

He also said labs should shut down if they conclude an experiment capable of harming the world cannot be contained.

But Huang did not argue that AI agents will always stay within their intended boundaries. When Klein raised examples of agents escaping software sandboxes, Huang replied: "Software breaks out of sandboxes all the time."

Nvidia put that argument into practice Monday with its Open Agent Safety Platform, which includes the open-source OpenShell runtime and Sentry monitoring technology.

"Job number one is take away all of its rights," Huang told CNBC.

He said agents should initially have virtually no access to company systems, with permissions for files, data, tools and networks granted only when needed.

Huang described the protections as a "force field" around an agent, comparing the approach to the security built into modern web browsers.

"We're creating basically the modern browser," Huang said. "It's a browser for agents."

OpenAI Sits Out Nvidia's Push

More than 100 organizations are working with the platform, including Microsoft, IBM, Anthropic, Hugging Face and SpaceXAI. OpenAI is absent from Nvidia's announced list.

Asked about that omission, Huang said OpenAI would be "super welcome" and could inspect the code, use parts of it or build its own technology inspired by the platform.

Why It Matters

While Dario Amodei and Sam Altman have backed calls to slow AI progress over safety concerns, Huang argues the answer is better engineering and tighter controls, not slower development.

A meaningful slowdown in frontier AI development could hurt Nvidia if customers pull back on spending for increasingly powerful training and inference systems.

Polymarket traders currently put the chance of an AI industry downturn by Dec. 31 at about 9%, with roughly $2.4 million traded on the outcome.

But SemiAnalysis has argued AI safety may actually increase GPU demand, as labs devote more compute to monitoring, alignment, interpretability and cybersecurity.

"Big Short" investor Steve Eisman has accused AI executives of manufacturing a "doomsday crisis" to protect their businesses even as competitive pressure pushes them to build more capable models.

Carnival Cruise Stock Hits 16-Month Low: ‘Higher Fuel Prices’ Could Mean More Trouble

Benzinga News — Mon, 28 Sep 2026 13:08:33 -0400

Cruise line operator Carnival Corporation (CCL ) looks to show investors that things are not as bad as feared when the company reports third-quarter financial results Tuesday before market open.

Here are the earnings estimates, what analysts are saying, and key items to watch.

Carnival Q3 Earnings Estimates

Analysts expect Carnival to report third-quarter revenue of $8.30 billion, up from $8.15 billion in last year's third quarter, according to data from Benzinga Pro.

The company missed revenue estimates from analysts in the most recent second quarter, while beating estimates in seven of the last 10 quarters overall. The third quarter is typically the highest for Carnival's revenue.

Analysts expect Carnival to report third-quarter earnings per share of $1.36, down from $1.43 in last year's third quarter.

The company has beaten analyst estimates for earnings per share in 15 straight quarters.

What Analysts are Saying

Analysts have been lowering their price targets on Carnival stock ahead of the earnings report.

Bank of America Securities analyst Andrew Didora warned of higher oil prices and their impact on Carnival, with the company being the only major cruise line that doesn't hedge its fuel prices.

Didora said this leaves Carnival "uniquely exposed to higher fuel prices."

The analyst lowered the price target on Carnival from $42 to $38, while reiterating a Buy rating.

Didora said the higher oil prices could impact Carnival's fourth quarter more than its third, which could put an emphasis on guidance Tuesday.

Here are other recent analyst ratings on Carnival stock and their price targets:

JPMorgan: Maintained Overweight rating, lowered price target from $43 to $39
Susquehanna: Maintained Positive rating, lowered price target from $33 to $28
TD Cowen: Maintained Buy rating, lowered price target from $34 to $32
Goldman Sachs: Maintained Buy rating, lowered price target from $35 to $30

Key Items to Watch

Higher fuel prices are likely to be a key topic and could end up sinking the stock, which currently trades near 16-month lows.

The company's second-quarter results were overshadowed by guidance, which could happen again, with future guidance potentially hurt even more by rising oil costs.

In the second quarter, Carnival saw revenue up 5.3% year-over-year and highlighted strong passenger ticket revenue and overall strong demand. The company was 93% booked for 2026 at the time.

Ultimately, investors and analysts will be looking at financial results, customer deposits, demand, pricing and company commentary on future guidance and what higher oil prices mean.

Strong bookings and record customer deposits weren't enough to carry the stock after second-quarter results and may not be enough again on Tuesday.

Carnival Stock Price Action

Carnival stock is down 0.1% to $22.22 on Monday versus a 52-week trading range of $21.45 to $34.03. Carnival stock is down 28% year-to-date in 2026.

Nvidia’s AI Boom Has a Hidden Dependency: One Dutch Company

Benzinga News — Mon, 28 Sep 2026 13:08:00 -0400

Nvidia Corp's (NVDA ) AI empire has made the chip designer one of the most important companies in the market. But follow the supply chain one step further and the story leads to a Dutch company with a monopoly of its own.

ASML Holding N.V. (ASML ) makes the most advanced EUV (extreme ultraviolet) machines needed to manufacture the chips powering increasingly complex AI systems.

Follow Nvidia to TSMC

Investors first learned to look beyond Nvidia when the AI chip boom made Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Ltd. (TSM ) a critical part of the story. ASML CEO Christophe Fouquet says the next question is even more revealing: How does TSMC make those chips?

The answer leads to ASML.

Fouquet told the Financial Times that investors who initially focused on Nvidia's chip designs eventually recognized TSMC's role in manufacturing them. Then they discovered that TSMC relies on ASML's EUV lithography machines for the most advanced chip production.

ASML has a total monopoly on the most advanced EUV machines, which are essential for producing chips used in complex AI applications.

That puts ASML in a very different position from the more visible AI winners. Nvidia designs the chips. TSMC manufactures them. ASML supplies the machines that make that manufacturing possible.

The $400 Million Machine

The scale of ASML's technology helps explain why the company is so difficult to replicate.

An EUV machine can cost roughly $400 million and is about the size of a double-decker bus. It uses lasers, mirrors, vacuum systems and short-wave light to print increasingly small circuits onto silicon wafers.

But the price tag may actually undersell the complexity.

An ASML EUV machine contains more than 100,000 parts, supplied by 200 principal suppliers and roughly 2,000 companies across the broader ecosystem. Fouquet says that complexity has become an advantage because ASML can work with specialist companies rather than trying to manufacture everything itself.

Companies including Zeiss, Trumpf and VDL supply critical components, while ASML has acquired or invested in selected suppliers when needed to protect the technology chain.

The AI Trade Goes Deeper

That makes ASML an unusual AI infrastructure play.

Its importance does not come from selling AI models, designing GPUs or operating data centers. It sits further upstream, providing equipment that enables the production of the advanced chips those businesses depend on.

Fouquet also expects the AI cycle itself to remain substantial. He estimates the technology's effect on society and industry could last 10 to 15 years, saying the world is still seeing only the "tip of the iceberg."

For investors, the Nvidia story therefore has another layer. The AI hardware chain does not end with the chip designer or the chip foundry. It reaches back to a Dutch equipment maker whose technology has become one of the industry's hardest-to-replace links.

Bank of America Adds AI Tools to AskGPS, CashPro Platforms

Benzinga News — Mon, 28 Sep 2026 13:07:32 -0400

Bank of America Corp. (BAC ) said Monday it launched the AskGPS Intelligence Hub, expanding its internal generative AI platform for Global Payments Solutions employees.

The new tools will combine client, account and relationship data to help employees prepare for treasury discussions and identify changing client needs.

The Intelligence Hub builds on AskGPS, which Bank of America introduced in 2025 and now supports nearly 3,000 employees.

Initial features will include AI-powered Treasury Management Reviews, digital account schematics and enhanced relationship insights.

The bank said employees will remain responsible for judgment, decisions and client interactions. AskGPS operates under Bank of America's Responsible AI framework, which includes governance, testing and oversight.

Adds AI-Powered Payments Insights To CashPro

Separately, Bank of America launched Payments Insights on Monday, adding a new AI-powered analytics capability to its CashPro platform.

The tool gives corporate and commercial clients insights into payment efficiency, cross-border flows and working-capital performance across U.S. accounts. It also uses peer benchmarking and visualizations to help treasury teams identify trends and potential areas for improvement.

CashPro processed 213 million payments in the first half of 2026, up 10% year over year.

Payments Insights is part of CashPro Data Intelligence, which also includes Capital Markets Insights, Mobile Security Insights, CashPro Forecasting and CashPro Search. The bank plans to expand additional CashPro security capabilities globally in 2027.

Bank of America Stock Analysis

Bank of America stock trading lower by nearly 2% on Monday as rising risk aversion pressures financial stocks and the broader market. The Nasdaq is down 1.02%, while the S&P 500 has lost 0.60%.

Bank of America's decline appears largely tied to broader market weakness rather than a company-specific development. Most sectors are trading lower, with only three in positive territory.

Bank of America remains under pressure in the short term. Shares are trading 6.5% below the 20-day simple moving average and 9.1% below the 50-day SMA.

However, the stock remains about 0.9% above its 200-day SMA, an important longer-term support level.

The relative strength index stands at 27.42. A reading below 30 is generally considered oversold and can signal that selling has become stretched.

The 20-day SMA remains below the 50-day SMA. However, the 50-day average is still above the 200-day SMA following a golden cross in June.

Analyst Outlook

The stock carries a Buy consensus rating and an average price forecast of $65.57.

UBS raised its price forecast to $70 while maintaining a Buy rating on Aug. 3. JPMorgan raised its forecast to $68 with an Overweight rating on July 29. Evercore ISI raised its forecast to $67 and maintained an Outperform rating on July 17.

Bank of America ETF Exposure

Bank of America is a major holding in several financial-sector ETFs. It represents about 5.07% of the Financial Select Sector SPDR Fund (XLF ) and 8.78% of the Invesco KBW Bank ETF (KBWB ).

Price Action

Bank of America shares were down 1.73% at $55.72 at the time of publication Monday, according to Benzinga Pro data.

Fed Hike Bets Hit 70%: Gold Just Lost The Argument to a 5.2% Treasury

Benzinga News — Mon, 28 Sep 2026 10:22:04 -0400

Gold has spent 2026 living through a war in the Gulf, an oil shock and inflation stuck above 3%. That should have been ideal for a hedge against inflation and disorder.

Instead, the metal trades roughly 25% below its January peak.

The reason is a number the bond market last printed in 2007. The 10-year Treasury yield rose to 5.22%, the highest since June 2007.

Traders now put the odds of a second straight Federal Reserve rate hike at 70.3%.

Spot gold fell 3.06% to $4,153.10 an ounce on Monday, its lowest close since early August. SPDR Gold Shares (GLD ) closed Friday at $393.41, 22.8% below its January all-time high of $509.70.

So why is gold falling at a time when inflation fears are running high?

Oil Is The Link Between Hormuz And The Fed

The chain starts in the Strait of Hormuz.

Over the weekend, President Donald Trump rejected Iran's proposal to reopen the waterway within seven days. West Texas Intermediate crude rose nearly 4% to $95.89 a barrel on Monday.

After that, the steps follow in order. Higher oil lifts inflation.

Higher inflation pushes the Fed toward more hikes. More hikes push Treasury yields up.

Higher yields make gold, which pays no interest, less attractive.

"The high bond yields and high oil price tandem continues to act as a thorn in gold's side," Tim Waterer, chief market analyst at KCM Trade said on Monday.

He added that the week's data could make things worse.

"Stronger-than-expected inflation or employment numbers could keep upward pressure on bond yields and weigh further on gold," Waterer said.

UBS strategist Giovanni Staunovo pointed to the same two drivers, rising oil and growing bets on further U.S. hikes. He warned they could keep real interest rates and the dollar elevated and raise the cost of holding gold.

Real Yields Are Doing The Damage

The yield that matters most for gold is the real one. A real yield is what a bond pays after expected inflation. The 10-year Treasury Inflation-Protected Securities (TIPS) yield, a direct measure of it, stood at 2.87% on Monday.

In simple terms, a 10-year Treasury now pays almost 2.9% a year above inflation.

Every rise in real yields makes the gold position more expensive to hold.

"It's real rates that have moved up more than the inflation expectations," Cleveland Fed President Beth Hammack said on Friday.

For gold, that is the harder case.

If the rise in yields were driven by fear of inflation, gold could hold up as an inflation hedge. When real rates are doing the rising, gold usually has no offset.

Adam Button, head of currency strategy at investingLive, saw the link play out in real time last week.

"You saw the clear correlation when it broke at five percent again," he said in Kitco's weekly survey. "It shot higher; gold went down. Gold is a bit of a risk asset too, so that's the drag."

ING's economists said Monday that October hike pricing stood at 16 basis points, or about 64% of a full quarter-point move. "Upside surprises in jobs data could take rate hike pricing for the October FOMC above 20bp," they wrote.

August PCE inflation arrives Wednesday. It is the first reading of the Fed's preferred gauge since the September hike, after core PCE rose 3.3% in the 12 months through July. September payrolls follow on Friday.

SpaceX Starship Reaches Orbit for First Time Despite Engine Failure

Benzinga News — Mon, 28 Sep 2026 10:21:40 -0400

SpaceX (SPCX ) sent Starship into orbit for the first time Monday despite an engine failure that briefly appeared to derail the mission, before deploying all 26 Starlink V3 satellites.

Shares fell about 2% in premarket trading after SpaceX said Starship would be unable to reach orbit, then reversed the decline after the company changed course and completed the milestone.

Engine Shutdown Briefly Puts Orbit in Doubt

SpaceX spokesperson Dan Huot initially told viewers during the company's livestream that Starship would not reach orbit after one of its six engines shut down early.

Minutes later, engineers determined the spacecraft could continue. Starship completed its orbital insertion burn around 25 minutes after launch, becoming the first Starship to reach orbit.

The previous 13 Starship flights all followed suborbital trajectories.

Reaching orbit is a major step toward turning Starship from a test vehicle into an operational launcher capable of deploying satellites and eventually flying reusable missions.

The spacecraft then deployed all 26 production Starlink V3 satellites, completing the main commercial objective of the flight.

Starlink Is the Commercial Payoff

Monday's satellite deployment is where Starship's first orbit starts to matter commercially.

The 26 V3s are production satellites intended to join the Starlink network, rather than test payloads. SpaceX says each can provide about 1 terabit per second of downlink capacity, meaning the batch could eventually add roughly 26 Tbps to the network.

Starship is designed to make that expansion much faster. SpaceX says a mature vehicle could carry as many as 60 V3 satellites in one mission, adding more than 20 times the network capacity of a Falcon 9 Starlink launch.

If SpaceX can repeat Monday's deployment at high frequency, it could add Starlink capacity in far larger increments than Falcon 9 allows, helping support more users and potentially improving the economics of expanding the network.

SpaceX CFO Bret Johnsen said earlier this month that Flight 14 would become Starship's first "revenue-generating flight."

$2 Trillion Case Rests on Reusability

Reusability is central to SpaceX's economic advantage. Falcon 9 transformed launch economics by routinely recovering and reflying its boosters, while Starship is designed to go further by reusing both stages.

Pivotal Research analyst Jeffrey Wlodarczak said this month that SpaceX's roughly $2 trillion investment case "rests almost entirely" on solving Starship reusability.

Polymarket traders put the chance of a successful splashdown at about 86% Monday morning, meaning Starship survives reentry and reaches the Pacific under control.

The answer is still several hours away. Starship is expected to circle Earth about six times before an 11-second deorbit burn nearly nine hours after liftoff, followed by a planned Pacific splashdown roughly an hour later.

A successful return would be a key step toward making Starship reusable, allowing it to fly again after refurbishment.

NVIDIA Flexes Its Cash Muscle With Record $150 Billion Buyback Increase

Benzinga News — Mon, 28 Sep 2026 10:21:18 -0400

NVIDIA Corp. (NVDA ) stock gained nearly 2% in Monday premarket trading after the board significantly expanded its share repurchase program, giving investors another signal of management's confidence in the company's cash generation and long-term AI opportunity.

The gain came despite a softer market backdrop, with S&P 500 futures down 0.5% as rising Treasury yields and higher crude oil prices pressured technology stocks.

Expands Buyback To $235 Billion

NVIDIA's board authorized another $150 billion for share repurchases, increasing the remaining authorization to $235 billion. The company expects to complete the remaining program through fiscal 2028.

This marks the largest increase to NVIDIA's share repurchase authorization in the company's history.

CEO Jensen Huang linked the expanded buyback to NVIDIA's cash generation and its confidence in what he called a "platform shift to AI and accelerated computing."

The move gives NVIDIA additional flexibility to return capital to shareholders while the company continues investing in its expanding AI business.

Builds AI Agent Security Business

Separately, NVIDIA also introduced its Open Agent Safety Platform, which lets companies control autonomous AI agents, monitor their actions and stop them when they move outside approved boundaries.

The platform includes OpenShell, which controls how agents perform tasks, and Sentry, which independently monitors activity and can isolate an agent within milliseconds if it violates established rules.

"AI's extraordinary potential for society will only be realized if we solve AI safety," Huang said.

More than 100 organizations are working with NVIDIA's agent-safety technologies. Anthropic is combining Claude Managed Agents with NVIDIA's tools, Salesforce integrated OpenShell with Slack, and SAP is incorporating the technology into its business AI platform.

Huang Sees AI Infrastructure Demand Accelerating

Huang separately said AI computing demand continues to strengthen as companies build NVIDIA-powered infrastructure and AI becomes more useful.

He estimated that a 1-gigawatt NVIDIA AI facility costs about $50 billion to $60 billion to build but can generate about $50 billion in annual rental revenue under current market conditions.

Huang said token generation has increased 25-fold in less than a year, while open models now produce nearly 70% of generated tokens, up from about 30%.

He also expects AI safety testing to become another major computing workload alongside training and inference, potentially creating additional data-center demand.

Huang said Grace Blackwell systems can rent for about $16 per GPU hour, compared with roughly $5 under some contracts signed a year earlier. He expects higher rental prices to improve cloud providers' revenue forecasts and encourage additional infrastructure investment, creating a flywheel that is "really, really flying."

NVIDIA Analyst Outlook

NVIDIA carries a Buy consensus rating with an average price target of $348.22.

Piper Sandler initiated coverage with an Overweight rating and $300 target on Sept. 10. Rosenblatt maintained a Buy rating and $390 target on Sept. 4, while Needham maintained a Buy rating and $300 target the same day.

NVIDIA Top ETF Exposure

The Goldman Sachs ActiveBeta US Large Cap Equity ETF (GSLC ) holds a 9.83% weight in NVIDIA, the Pacer Data and Digital Revolution ETF (TRFK ) holds 9.92%, and the Franklin Focused Dynamic Growth ETF (FFOG ) holds 9.88%.

Significant inflows or outflows from these funds can translate into buying or selling of NVIDIA shares.

NVIDIA Price Action

NVDA Stock Price Activity: NVIDIA shares were up 1.58% at $228.58 during premarket trading on Monday, according to Benzinga Pro data.

Anthropic Loses Key Court Fight With Pentagon

Benzinga News — Fri, 25 Sep 2026 16:06:06 -0400

Anthropic lost a major legal challenge Friday after a federal appeals court upheld the U.S. government's decision to exclude the artificial intelligence company from the Pentagon's supply chain over concerns tied to its restrictions on how Claude can be used.

The 2-1 ruling from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit leaves the Department of Defense's designation of Anthropic as a supply-chain risk under the Federal Acquisition Supply Chain Security Act of 2018.

"We respectfully disagree with the court's decision. Another federal court has already held the government's parallel designation unlawful. We remain confident in our position and are considering all options, including further review," a spokesperson for Anthropic told Benzinga.

The decision drew a sharp reaction from Emil Michael, Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering.

"[The] hammer of justice has been smashed," he wrote on X, calling Anthropic a "supply chain risk" to the defense industrial base, adding that "no private company will insert their opinions in the chain of command."

The dispute stems from a breakdown in negotiations earlier this year over the military's use of Claude, Anthropic's family of AI models.

Anthropic had agreed to expand the government's permitted uses of Claude but maintained two restrictions: The models could not be used for lethal autonomous warfare or mass surveillance of Americans. The Department sought contractual language allowing "all lawful uses" of the technology.

When Anthropic refused to remove those restrictions, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth designated the company as presenting a significant supply-chain risk on March 3 and ordered its products removed from Department systems. The Department also barred contractors from using Anthropic products.

A Fight Over AI Guardrails

The court's majority said the government had sufficient grounds to conclude that Anthropic's continued integration into military systems created a national-security risk.

Anthropic argued that the government could mitigate those concerns by testing individual versions of Claude before deploying them and that the company could not control models after delivering them to contractors.

The court rejected those arguments, pointing to the way Anthropic embeds restrictions into Claude that can cause the model to refuse certain requests.

Anthropic had previously developed a specialized Claude Gov model after standard commercial versions refused some national-security-related work. The company ultimately allowed the government to use Claude for areas including weapons-system design, foreign intelligence analysis and offensive cyber operations, while retaining its restrictions on autonomous lethal weapons and mass surveillance.

Anthropic's Legal Fight Continues

Anthropic also argued that the government's action violated its constitutional rights and amounted to retaliation for its position on AI safety.The appeals court rejected those claims, saying the government acted because Anthropic refused to accept a contract term officials considered essential, rather than because of the company's advocacy around AI policy. A separate federal court in California previously ruled against a related government designation involving the company. That case involved a different statutory framework, meaning the two rulings address separate legal questions. For Anthropic, the split decisions leave the company facing continued restrictions on its ability to work with the Pentagon even as its legal challenges to the administration continue.The case also underscores a growing tension in the AI industry: As governments increasingly rely on frontier AI systems for national-security work, companies are still seeking to retain control over how those models can be deployed.

The D.C. Circuit's majority acknowledged that tension, writing that the case raised difficult questions about the government's use of increasingly powerful AI systems and who should decide how those systems are deployed in military operations.

This content was partially produced with the help of AI tools and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors.

Microsoft Gives Copilot A Major AI Makeover

Benzinga News — Fri, 25 Sep 2026 16:05:38 -0400

Microsoft Corp. (MSFT ) stock rose about 3% Friday as investors favored large-cap technology stocks amid a broader market advance.The Nasdaq and S&P 500 each gained 0.53%. The technology sector led the market with a 1.02% increase.

Microsoft Expands Copilot

Separately, Microsoft on Friday unveiled a redesigned Copilot with new Home, Code and Autopilot capabilities as it expands its push into workplace AI.Home combines Chat and Cowork while adding Word, Excel and PowerPoint directly to Copilot. Code lets users build apps, dashboards and automated workflows using natural-language prompts. It runs on technology that also powers GitHub Copilot.

Meanwhile, Autopilot is designed as a persistent AI agent that can handle recurring tasks, follow up on projects and continue working without constant prompts. It operates within a company's Microsoft environment with defined permissions and governance.Microsoft said Home and Code will begin rolling out through its Frontier program in the coming weeks. Autopilot will expand to private preview at the end of September. The company also introduced new FinOps tools aimed at helping businesses manage AI spending.

Deep Discounts for Large Companies

The launch follows a recent report that Microsoft plans to cut Copilot prices for large corporate customers. The Information reported Tuesday that discounts could range from about 30% for customers buying more than 1,000 seats to as much as 50% for purchases above 10,000 seats.The discounts could begin as soon as October and may be tied to large seat commitments and additional usage-based spending. Copilot currently starts at $30 per user per month.

AI Spending Set To Surge

Microsoft's monetization push comes as hyperscaler AI spending accelerates.Goldman Sachs strategists led by Ryan Hammond expect capital spending by Alphabet Inc., Amazon.com Inc., Microsoft, Meta Platforms Inc. and Oracle Corp. to rise more than 50% to $1.2 trillion in 2027, Bloomberg reported.

The group is on track to spend about $800 billion in 2026. Goldman estimates hyperscalers need roughly $300 billion in annual AI revenue to break even on those investments.

Microsoft Technical Analysis

Microsoft remains in a long-term uptrend.The stock is trading 3.1% above its 20-day simple moving average of $500.01. It is also 8.4% above its 50-day SMA of $475.80 and 19.3% above its 200-day SMA of $432.06.The 20-day SMA remains above the 50-day average. In addition, the 50-day SMA crossed above the 200-day SMA in August, forming a bullish golden cross.However, momentum has cooled. The MACD is below its signal line, while the histogram remains negative. That suggests the broader trend is still positive, but the pace of gains has slowed.Near-term resistance sits around $518. Support is near $486.

Analyst Outlook

Microsoft carries a Buy consensus rating and an average price forecast of $567.04.Stifel upgraded Microsoft to Buy on Sept. 23 and raised its price forecast to $575. Oppenheimer maintained an Outperform rating and lifted its forecast to $570 on Sept. 22. Cantor Fitzgerald maintained an Overweight rating and raised its forecast to $608 on Sept. 21.

Microsoft ETF Exposure

Microsoft is a major holding in several large growth and technology ETFs. It represents about 9.59% of the Vanguard Growth ETF, 9.83% of the Technology Select Sector SPDR Fund and 9.75% of the iShares Core S&P U.S. Growth ETF.

Its large weighting means fund flows into or out of those ETFs can also influence trading in Microsoft shares.

Price Action

Microsoft shares were up 3.01% at $512.92 at the time of publication Friday, according to Benzinga Pro data.

Coinbase Is Preparing For A Customer That Can’t Open An Account

Benzinga News — Fri, 25 Sep 2026 16:05:12 -0400

The next customer that Coinbase Global, Inc. (COIN ) is preparing for may not be human. AI agents are increasingly being built to discover services, make decisions and transact without waiting for a person.Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong now sees stablecoins as a natural rail for this emerging machine economy, as the company builds payment infrastructure around that shift.The company's x402 payment protocol allows AI agents to pay for APIs, data, software and other services directly in stablecoins, without conventional checkout flows. Its Coinbase Business product now explicitly pitches businesses on getting paid by AI agents-with "No agent account needed."

Armstrong, responding to Coinbase Predict's post highlighting BlackRock, Inc's (BLK ) view that AI agents could become a major source of stablecoin demand, reduced the thesis to three steps:

"The number of agents will keep growing"
"The number of agents that need to transact then keeps growing"
"Crypto and stablecoins will be their go-to payment rail"

His conclusion was even shorter: "Yep."The significance isn't simply that Armstrong agrees with BlackRock. It is that Coinbase is already building the infrastructure for the behavior Armstrong is describing.

Coinbase Is Building For Machine Payments

Coinbase launched Coinbase for Agents in June, allowing AI agents to trade, pay and execute financial workflows within user-defined limits. The company has also integrated its x402 and wallet infrastructure with Amazon Web Services' Bedrock AgentCore Payments, allowing agents to discover services and make micropayments in USDC.

The company is therefore approaching AI agents from both sides of the transaction. An agent can spend. Businesses can accept those payments.That distinction matters because traditional online payments were designed around humans: accounts, cards, invoices, subscriptions and checkout screens. Coinbase's newer infrastructure is designed around software that may need to make frequent, small payments automatically.Coinbase said in its second-quarter results that more than 99% of onchain agentic commerce was completed using USDC, while more than 90% of agentic stablecoin transaction volume ran on Base.

The AI-to-Crypto Link Gets More Interesting

For investors, the bigger question is whether AI creates a new source of recurring transaction activity for Coinbase's ecosystem.That remains an emerging market rather than a proven mass-adoption trend. But the potential connection is unusually direct: more agents could mean more software purchasing data, computing resources and digital services, which could mean more machine-to-machine payments.

Armstrong's three-part thesis captures the bet. More agents → more transactions → more demand for the rails that let software move money.

The next catalyst to watch is whether agentic payments move from experiments and infrastructure launches into meaningful commercial activity.If they do, Coinbase would not simply be serving people using crypto. It could provide the financial plumbing for customers who never need to open an account in the first place.

Peter Thiel: Palantir Sales to US Corporations Accelerated 'Tremendously' As Europe Falls Behind in AI

Benzinga News — Fri, 25 Sep 2026 16:04:46 -0400

Palantir Technologies Inc. (PLTR ) co-founder and chairman Peter Thiel says sales to U.S. corporations have accelerated "tremendously" as American businesses race to adapt to artificial intelligence, while European companies lag behind.Speaking with Axel Springer CEO Mathias Döpfner upon receiving the 2026 Axel Springer Award in Berlin, Thiel called the U.S. the center of AI development, with China a "fast follower" and Europe "extremely far behind."Thiel pointed to Palantir's corporate growth as evidence of the divide, noting U.S. companies feel intense pressure to "get ahead of the curve."

"There's still much, much less of that sense of urgency in Europe," Thiel said.Palantir's U.S. commercial revenue surged 55% year over year to $159 million in Q2 2024, with total U.S. commercial customer count jumping 83%.

IMF Warns Europe Risks Falling Further Behind

Thiel's comments came days after IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva warned that Europe "qualitatively lags the U.S. in AI adoption."

IMF survey data showed U.S. companies using AI to overhaul entire business processes, while European companies tend to apply the technology more narrowly.Thiel said Europe needs to "get its economy going" and become "a part of building the future."

Thiel contrasts 2 Examples of Europe Trying to Catch Up

With Concorde, Britain and France managed to catch and overtake the U.S. in supersonic passenger aviation, Thiel argued.Minitel, in his telling, was the opposite. France's government-backed online network used dedicated terminals connected to telephone lines for services such as banking, directories and messaging before the World Wide Web took off."The internet was supposed to be French," Thiel said. Instead, he argued, France fell behind, digging itself into "a deeper and deeper ditch."Asked whether Europe's position in AI today looks more like Concorde or Minitel, Thiel said: "Europe's further behind than Minitel was."

Prediction Traders See U.S. Firms Dominating AI Race

Polymarket traders give U.S. companies an overwhelming edge to own the world's top-ranked AI model at the end of 2026. Anthropic leads with a 70% chance, followed by OpenAI at 14%, Google at 10% and xAI at 4%.

Chinese developers including Alibaba, DeepSeek and Z.ai each sit around 1%, while France's Mistral is at 0.1%.

Palantir shares are currently trading at around $191.78, down 0.4%.

Nvidia GPU Demand Is So Extreme, Even Bad Cloud Infrastructure Is Selling, SemiAnalysis Says

Benzinga News — Fri, 25 Sep 2026 16:04:06 -0400

Demand for NVIDIA Corp. (NVDA ) GPUs has become so intense that even cloud providers with badly functioning infrastructure can still find customers willing to pay healthy margins, according to SemiAnalysis."If you've got GPUs," buyers will pay, researcher Sam Harshe said, even if a provider's Kubernetes, the software used to manage workloads across a cluster, is "completely broken" and its storage "barely works."Harshe described "ridiculous backwardation" in the market, with customers paying steep premiums for compute available within weeks rather than waiting several months. The findings come from months of testing 77 GPU-cloud providers and interviews with more than 200 customers for SemiAnalysis' ClusterMAX 3.0 report.

Bad Infrastructure Isn't Stopping Sales

GPU-cloud companies rent GPU clusters to AI developers, handling the networking, storage and software around the chips.SemiAnalysis ranks them from Platinum to Underperforming based on factors including reliability, performance and support. Just 19 of the 77 providers tested earned a Platinum-through-Bronze "Medallion" rating.

CoreWeave Inc. (CRWV ) and Nebius Group N.V. (NBIS ) ranked Platinum, while Alphabet Inc.'s (GOOGL ) Google Cloud and Oracle Corp. (ORCL ) earned Gold. Microsoft Corp.'s (MSFT ) Azure ranked Silver, while Amazon.com Inc.'s (AMZN ) AWS and Crusoe were Bronze.

Crusoe, a privately held Nvidia-backed AI infrastructure company valued at $30.9 billion last week, received one of the harsher reviews. SemiAnalysis said one Crusoe H100 cluster produced more genuine GPU errors in five days than it saw across the rest of its testing combined, and called Crusoe's managed clusters "exceptionally unreliable."SemiAnalysis said Crusoe subsequently fixed several of the issues.

Paying Up for Compute

The wider market shows why customers may tolerate those shortcomings.Microsoft CFO Amy Hood said in July that demand continues to exceed available supply, describing the imbalance as a "relatively extreme moment."

Oracle said this month that demand for AI cloud training and inference continues to grow faster than supply, even after delivering more than 300,000 GPUs since the end of its previous quarter, nearly triple the capacity delivered in the fourth quarter.Nvidia, meanwhile, reported Data Center revenue of $89 billion last quarter, up 117% year over year. CEO Jensen Huang said AI demand was "accelerating."

What About GPU Depreciation?

SemiAnalysis said companies are signing four-year contracts for H100 capacity, evidence that older Nvidia GPUs can retain significant earning power while compute remains scarce.That appears to push against investor Michael Burry's argument that AI companies are depreciating GPUs too slowly.Prediction traders see limited near-term bust risk. Polymarket puts the chance of an AI-industry downturn by Dec. 31 at about 10%, with roughly $2.4 million traded.

The market resolves "Yes" if at least three of six stress events occur within 90 days, including Nvidia falling 50% from its high or H100 rental prices staying below $1 an hour for five days.The four-year H100 contracts SemiAnalysis describes point toward continued demand, rather than the collapse implied by Polymarket's sub-$1 trigger.

TLT ETF Hits Record Low as Treasury Yields Hover Near 5.2%: Long-Duration Bond Pain Deepens

Benzinga News — Fri, 25 Sep 2026 10:56:10 -0400

The sell-off in long-dated U.S. Treasuries intensified this week, pushing the iShares 20+ Year Treasury Bond ETF (TLT ) to another record low as investors grapple with higher yields, persistent inflation risks and expectations for tighter monetary policy, Bloomberg highlighted.

TLT fell 1.3% to $79.42 on Thursday, extending its decline after closing at $80.46 on Wednesday. The ETF is now down sharply from its 2020 peak, when long-duration Treasuries surged as the Federal Reserve slashed interest rates to near zero during the Covid-19 pandemic. BlackRock's data show the fund had about $44.7 billion in net assets as of Sept. 24.

The pressure has continued as Treasury yields moved sharply higher. The benchmark 10-year Treasury yield climbed to 5.2% on Thursday, its highest level since 2007, before easing slightly to around 5.18% on Friday. The 30-year Treasury yield also climbed to about 5.48% on Thursday, its highest level since 2004.The move is particularly painful for TLT because of its long duration. The ETF holds U.S. Treasury bonds with remaining maturities of more than 20 years, making its price highly sensitive to changes in interest rates. When yields rise, prices of existing bonds fall, with longer-duration securities generally experiencing larger price moves.

Income Is Cushioning the Decline

TLT's higher income has provided some protection against the price damage, but not enough to reverse the broader decline.

The ETF's NAV total return is down 6.15% year to date, compared with a larger decline in its share price. Its 30-day SEC yield stood at 5.33%, while its 12-month trailing yield was 4.84%.That distinction matters for bond investors. TLT holders are collecting more income as yields rise, but the market value of the bonds already held by the fund continues to fall as newer Treasuries offer higher yields.Shorter-duration Treasury ETFs have been more resilient. The iShares 7-10 Year Treasury Bond ETF (IEF ) has experienced a smaller decline this year, while ultra-short Treasury exposure has been considerably less sensitive to the rise in yields.

Why the Long End Remains Under Pressure

The latest bond sell-off has been driven by several forces rather than one isolated catalyst. Stronger economic activity has reduced expectations for rapid monetary easing, while higher energy prices have added to concerns that inflation could remain elevated.

The Federal Reserve raised its benchmark interest rate by 25 basis points earlier this month to a range of 3.75%-4%, its first rate increase since 2023. With Treasury yields now at multi-year highs, markets are increasingly focused on whether inflation and economic resilience could require additional tightening.Bloomberg reported that Baird Strategas ETF strategist Todd Sohn described duration as a genuine risk for Treasury investors, while Bloomberg Intelligence ETF analyst Eric Balchunas has characterized TLT as a particularly difficult trade.

For ETF investors, TLT's latest slide illustrates a broader shift in how Treasury exposure behaves in a higher-rate environment. Government bonds may carry lower credit risk than equities, but long-duration Treasury ETFs can still experience substantial price volatility when interest rates move sharply higher.With the 10-year yield still hovering around 5.18% on Friday after touching 5.2% a day earlier, the pressure on long-duration bond ETFs remains firmly tied to the direction of yields rather than simply the level of income they generate.

Slop Economy Warning: VC Expects Another 'Vastly Larger' 2008 — Blame AI

Benzinga News — Fri, 25 Sep 2026 10:55:49 -0400

"We're doing it again," Venture capitalist Paul Kedrosky said on the Between Two COOs podcast. Exorbitant debt to finance the AI infrastructure boom reminds him of the run-up to the 2008 financial crisis, but on a "vastly larger scale."The result, he warned, is a "slop economy" where companies can produce vastly more software, presentations and other content, even when little additional value is created."We're producing vast amounts of everything, but for the most part, nobody cares," Kedrosky

More Apps, More Decks, but More Productivity?

Kedrosky pointed to an NBER study covering more than 500,000 GitHub developers. Autonomous coding agents increased coding activity by 240%. That gain fell to 80% at the project level and 30% for actual releases.In other words, new software applications aren't translating into increased usage.Nowadays, junior bankers use AI to produce "hundreds more investment decks" and pitch transactions that may never happen. "It's not clear there's a strong rationale for why it's being done in the first place," he added.

AI's 'Token Factories' Meet a Debt Boom

Big-spender Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN ) expects capital expenditures of about $220 billion this year as it races to add AI and cloud capacity. That buildout fuels demand for Nvidia Corp. (NVDA ), although Amazon is also investing heavily in its own AI chips.

Prediction traders expect the spending boom to continue. Polymarket currently gives Amazon a 61% chance of 2026 capex exceeding $220 billion.Kedrosky's concern isn't whether demand is strong today. It is whether the data centers being built can eventually earn enough to justify the money pouring into them.Kedrosky estimates more than 60% of AI financing is now debt-backed, up from roughly 15% to 20% a year ago.Earning those returns becomes harder if the product those data centers sell keeps getting cheaper. Kedrosky describes them as "token factories" producing what he calls a "hyper-deflationary industrial commodity."

'There's No Economics That Does That'

In a separate Better Offline interview, Kedrosky said higher Treasury yields and credit spreads are pushing required returns on some stressed data-center projects toward 10% to 12%."We're within six to 12 months on the outside of this ... all breaking," he said. "There's no economics that does that."Polymarket traders currently put the probability of an AI industry downturn by Dec. 31 at about 10%, suggesting traders see relatively little risk of the contract's conditions being triggered before year-end.Kedrosky sees another test approaching later. He expects some of the five-year financing structures behind the AI buildout to hit a refinancing wall around 2029 and 2030."Will it all get refinanced? No freaking way," he said. "And then if it does get refinanced, it'll be refinanced at prohibitive terms."

But don't call Kedrosky an AI skeptic. "It's a tremendously important technology," he said on Between Two COOs. "Probably the most consequential of my lifetime."

What's Going On With Greenland Energy On Friday?

Benzinga News — Fri, 25 Sep 2026 10:55:25 -0400

Greenland Energy Company (GLND ) shares are trading higher on Friday, following Thursday's increase as the company amended its 80 Mile deal, extending drilling deadlines for the Jameson Land project out to 2028.Under the amended agreement, Greenland Energy also assumed the rights and obligations previously held by its wholly owned subsidiary, March GL Company.Also, the company will pay 80 Mile a £500,000 fee within five business days of the effective date.The deadline for the first exploration well was extended from Dec. 31, 2026, to Dec. 31, 2028.CEO Robert Price said the extension provides more time to advance the project while preserving the existing farm-out agreement and completed operational work.

Recently, the company has been in the spotlight after the U.S. reached a security agreement with Denmark, handing Washington "permanent control over security, and all other needs, in Greenland, completely addressing ALL of our many U.S. concerns."

Greenland Energy Business Overview And Exploration Focus

Greenland Energy Co is an exploration-stage oil and gas company focused on the development and advancement of its exploration activities in Greenland. The company has not generated revenue from oil and gas production to date.

That makes the timeline and permitting/drilling milestones especially important to the stock, because valuation tends to swing on project progress, partner agreements, and expectations for when (or if) exploration work converts into commercial development. Extending drilling deadlines to 2028 can ease near-term constraints, but it also reinforces that this is a longer-dated story where sentiment can change quickly.

GLND Stock Price Today: Shares Slide In Friday Trading

GLND Stock Price Activity: Greenland Energy shares are trading higher by 10.87% at $5.93 at the time of publication on Friday, according to Benzinga Pro data.

80% Odds Micron Beats Every Analyst On Wall Street, This Model Says

Benzinga News — Fri, 25 Sep 2026 10:55:00 -0400

Micron Technology Inc. (MU ) told investors in June to expect about $50 billion in fiscal fourth-quarter revenue.One independent research house thinks the company will beat not just that number next week, but every estimate on Wall Street.Tessara, a research platform that publishes graded forecasts, puts the odds at 80% that Micron revenue for the quarter ended Sept. 3 lands above $52.08 billion.

That figure was the highest of 22 analyst estimates in Tessara's Sept. 22 consensus snapshot.Its base case goes further: $56.2 billion.The bigger question is whether memory prices have risen so quickly that Wall Street's models are already obsolete.

How Far Above Wall Street Is the Micron Earnings Call?

Micron guided for fourth-quarter revenue of $50 billion, plus or minus $1 billion, after reporting record third-quarter revenue of $41.46 billion.The company reports fiscal fourth-quarter results on Sept. 30.Tessara's analyst range runs from $49.97 billion to $52.08 billion, with an average of $50.82 billion."We expect Micron's revenue for fiscal Q4 2026, ended September 3, to exceed $52.08 billion," Tessara said.

Tessara's base case of $56.2 billion sits about $6.2 billion above the midpoint of Micron's guidance.The model also gives a 50% chance that revenue tops $54.5 billion.For context, Micron's fourth-quarter revenue was $11.32 billion a year ago.If Tessara is right, Micron's quarterly revenue would be nearly five times what it was a year ago, up about 396%.

Memory Prices Are Doing the Heavy Lifting

The argument rests on prices.The timing matters. Micron issued its guidance on June 24. Nine days later, on July 3, research firm TrendForce forecast that conventional DRAM contract prices would rise 13% to 18% in the July-to-September period.

In other words, the price forecast came after the guidance.In addition, Micron's Taiwanese rivals have been growing faster.According to Tessara, four Taiwanese memory makers posted average monthly revenue in June through August 40% above March through May, measured in Taiwan dollars.By contrast, Micron's guidance midpoint implies about 12% growth once the extra week is stripped out.

The Biggest Risk To the Micron Beat

There is one important catch: Micron has already locked significant memory volumes into long-term customer contracts.Its strategic agreements cover roughly 20% of DRAM volume and one-third of NAND volume over their terms. Micron said its largest agreements generally cap prices around second-quarter market levels.That limits how much of the recent memory inflation Micron can capture.Tessara deducts $1.37 billion from its model for those price caps and another $1.02 billion to avoid double-counting pricing already captured earlier.

And management may simply have anticipated more of the price increase than the model assumes."If guidance proves accurate, our call fails," Tessara said.That's what could make Sept. 30 unusually revealing.Revenue above $52.08 billion would suggest memory pricing and demand are moving faster than even Wall Street's most bullish forecasts.But Tessara stresses that this is a revenue call, not a stock-price prediction. Margins, pricing commentary and Micron's next-quarter outlook could ultimately matter more for how shares react.

Johnson & Johnson Clinical Trials Show Progress Across Key Therapies

Benzinga News — Fri, 25 Sep 2026 10:54:19 -0400

Johnson & Johnson (JNJ ) announced positive findings from key clinical evaluations testing its therapies, Tremfya and Carvykti, across psoriatic arthritis and multiple myeloma.

Tremfya Achieves Key Endpoints In Psoriatic Arthritis Study

In the Phase 4 STAR trial, Tremfya met its primary and main secondary endpoints among biologic-naive adult patients with active psoriatic arthritis presenting axial involvement.

The study prospectively evaluated an IL-23 inhibitor using magnetic resonance imaging to confirm axial disease.At Week 24, patients receiving Tremfya demonstrated notable improvement in composite disease activity scores measuring spinal pain, morning stiffness, fatigue, and joint symptoms compared to placebo.The therapy also reduced axial symptoms and decreased sacroiliac joint inflammation. The overall safety profile matched earlier evaluations, showing no new safety signals.

Axial involvement affects the spine and sacroiliac joints, causing mobility loss and severe pain in 5% to 28% of early psoriatic arthritis patients and up to 70% of long-standing cases.Tremfya remains the sole fully human, dual-acting monoclonal antibody targeting IL-23 and CD64, holding regulatory approval to halt structural joint damage progression.

Carvykti Delivers Five-Year Progression-Free Remissions

Separately, long-term follow-up from Cohort A of the Phase 2 CARTITUDE-2 study revealed that 50% of relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma patients treated with a single Carvykti infusion remained alive and progression-free at five years without ongoing maintenance therapy.The cohort evaluated 20 patients with one to three prior treatment lines who were refractory to lenalidomide.At a median follow-up of 60.7 months, overall survival reached 69.2%, while median progression-free survival stood at 60.5 months. Among three patients evaluated for minimal residual disease at five years, all were negative at the deepest level tested.

Long-term remission occurred even in individuals with high-risk cytogenetic features.Safety findings aligned with prior data, showing no new CAR T-cell-related neurotoxicity. One patient developed acute myeloid leukemia, and two deaths resulted from progressive disease and new cancer.JNJ Price Action: Johnson & Johnson shares were down 0.20% to/ $270.24 at the time of publication on Friday, according to Benzinga Pro data.

Mortgage Rates and Inflation Are Cooling Housing Demand — Coldwell Banker CEO Says ‘We Are Definitely in a Soft Period Right Now’

Benzinga News — Fri, 25 Sep 2026 10:53:49 -0400

Coldwell Banker Realty CEO Kamini Rangappan Lane said rising mortgage rates are affecting housing activity as consumers respond to higher borrowing costs, inflation, and economic uncertainty.In an interview with CNBC's "Squawk on the Street" on Thursday, Lane said mortgage rates have climbed in recent months and are higher than they were a year ago and six months ago. However, she noted that rates are around levels seen in 2023, when about 4 million housing units traded, and said the market is trending toward a similar figure in 2026.Coldwell Banker Real Estate is a subsidiary of Compass International Holdings, following Compass, Inc.'s (COMP ) acquisition of Anywhere Real Estate in January. Coldwell Banker operates a network of residential real estate brokerages and professionals.

Mortgage Pressure

Lane said housing starts and mortgage applications have been declining and noted that "we are definitely in a soft period right now." She said consumers are reacting to inflation, the news cycle, and higher mortgage rates.The average 30-year fixed mortgage rate reached 7.12% for the week ending Sept. 18, while total mortgage applications fell 1.5% and purchase applications declined 0.8%.Lane said the fall housing market remains unclear and will depend on broader economic factors. She also said geopolitical uncertainty is translating into affordability concerns.

Inventory Challenge

Lane said more mortgages are now above 6% than below 3%, compared with the mortgage rates many homeowners secured during the COVID-19 period.

She said some homeowners are still willing to move because they need to relocate or have found a home they want to purchase. That can bring additional properties onto the market, she said.

Compass CEO Robert Reffkin recently said 42% of homes on the market had price cuts in September, while national housing supply was up 4%.Lane said, "Inventory is the problem right now."

Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin Raises $10 Billion To Fuel Rockets, Satellites And Government Contracts As SpaceX Rival Bets Big On New Glenn, TeraWave: Report

Benzinga News — Fri, 25 Sep 2026 10:53:24 -0400

Jeff Bezos's Blue Origin has raised $10 billion in its first outside financing round, valuing the space company at about $140 billion as it builds a war chest to challenge Elon Musk's Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (SPCX ) across launches, satellites and government contracts.

Bezos Adds Capital As Blue Origin Expands

The Wall Street Journal reported the figure on Thursday and noted that Bezos is adding $2 billion, bringing his cumulative investment in Blue Origin to roughly $30 billion since founding the company in 2000. Reuters reported in July that Blue Origin had been seeking $10 billion at a roughly $130 billion pre-money valuation, with Coatue Management expected to lead the round. Those talks were also reported when Blue Origin first sought outside capital.

The new capital arrives as Blue Origin tries to turn years of heavy spending into faster commercial growth. The Journal said revenue reached about $800 million in 2025 and could hit $1.4 billion this year, with internal projections topping $30 billion by 2030. The company employs about 15,000 people and paused New Shepard tourist flights this year to concentrate resources on larger programs.Benzinga reached out to Blue Origin for comment but did not receive an immediate response.

New Glenn Remains Central To Growth

Blue Origin is betting heavily on New Glenn, its reusable heavy-lift rocket. The company completed three missions before a May 28 hot-fire anomaly destroyed the test vehicle and damaged Launch Complex 36. The blast drew a supportive response from Musk.

Blue Origin later said early analysis pointed to the first stage's aft section and vowed, "Our road to space doesn't pause here. We will return to flight by the end of this year." The company later said its investigation found that the anomaly originated at the main oxygen valve on one of the first stage's BE-4 engines.

NASA is helping Blue Origin expand New Glenn testing at Stennis Space Center, while the company is building a second Florida launch pad to support higher flight cadence. Blue Origin also holds seven national-security launch missions worth about $2.3 billion under a Space Force procurement alongside SpaceX and United Launch Alliance.

TeraWave Opens Another Front Against SpaceX

Satellites represent another growth pillar. Blue Origin unveiled TeraWave in January, a planned 5,408-satellite LEO-and-MEO network promising speeds up to 6 Tbps for enterprise, government and data-center customers.

Big Tech’s Data Center Boom Could Be Stopped by One Scarce Resource

Benzinga News — Fri, 25 Sep 2026 10:52:48 -0400

Big Tech giants are finding that their data center ambitions increasingly depend on solving a costly physical challenge: securing enough reliable electricity to power rapidly expanding AI infrastructure.AI is pushing electricity demand sharply higher just as companies commit hundreds of billions of dollars to new computing capacity. Power availability, grid upgrades, permitting, backup systems and onsite generation are therefore becoming central to the cost and timing of the AI buildout.

AI Power Demand Could Surge More Than 1,100%

The scale of the electricity challenge could grow dramatically over the next decade.The Kobeissi Letter projects electricity demand from AI chips will increase more than 1,100% from 2025 levels to roughly 315 gigawatts globally by 2033.The U.S. could account for roughly 200 gigawatts, or 64%, of that additional AI electricity demand."We don't have enough power," The Kobeissi Letter said.AI training can also create unusually volatile loads. When hundreds of thousands of GPUs operate simultaneously, electricity usage can spike as much as 50% above design capacity, adding another challenge for grid operators.

BlackRock CEO Larry Fink has also warned about pressure on U.S. electricity infrastructure as AI investment accelerates.

AI Infrastructure Spending Surges

Technology companies are simultaneously committing enormous amounts of capital to data centers.Hyperscaler capital expenditures are projected at roughly $916 billion over the next 12 months and nearly $1.2 trillion the following year.Combined 2027 spending by Alphabet Inc. (GOOGL ), Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN ), Microsoft Corp. (MSFT ), Meta Platforms Inc. (META ), Oracle Corp. (ORCL ) and Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (SPCX ) could exceed $1.3 trillion.The spending shows why electricity is becoming a fundamental constraint. Companies cannot turn GPUs, servers, and data centers into usable computing capacity without securing the power to operate them.

Oracle Faces Power And Financing Risks

Oracle shows how electricity constraints can create financial exposure before a data center begins operating.

Its Project Jupiter campus carries $18 billion in construction debt, while power-delivery delays could leave Oracle paying carry costs even if the facility cannot start operations on schedule, the Financial Times reported.The project has also faced permitting delays and local opposition as Oracle works to secure electricity for the massive campus.The situation highlights how delays in power infrastructure can create costs even when construction itself continues.

Amazon And Meta Spend To Secure Reliable Power

Other technology giants are spending directly on energy infrastructure and backup generation.Amazon signed a long-term agreement with Generac Holdings Inc. (GNRC ) involving $2.4 billion of initial backup-generator deliveries in 2027 and 2028, with purchases potentially reaching $8 billion.The deal highlights the growing importance of backup power as AI data centers demand increasingly reliable electricity.Meta, meanwhile, has helped finance new natural gas plants as it expands its data center footprint.

Google And NVIDIA Target Grid ConstraintsGoogle and NVIDIA Corp. (NVDA ) are also trying to increase available electricity and make data centers more responsive to existing grid capacity.

Google is backing nuclear upgrades at Georgia Power's Vogtle and Hatch plants that could add about 96 megawatts of capacity.Google and NVIDIA are also working on technology that allows AI data centers to adjust electricity consumption when grids become strained.The approach aims to make large computing facilities more flexible rather than simply adding more generation.

Hyperscalers Pledge To Cover Grid Costs

Big Tech is also facing pressure to prevent its growing electricity needs from shifting costs onto other consumers.

Amazon, Google, Meta, Microsoft and Oracle have signed the Ratepayer Protection Pledge, agreeing to build, bring or buy new electricity and cover related grid-upgrade costs.The pledge now covers utilities responsible for about 80% of electricity delivered to U.S. homes and businesses, according to the provided source.That commitment underscores how the economics of AI increasingly extend beyond chips and data centers to generation, transmission, and grid infrastructure.Taken together, the developments show that the next stage of the AI race will depend not only on who can secure the most GPUs or build the biggest campuses, but also on who can obtain enough electricity, manage volatile demand and absorb the rising cost of connecting that infrastructure to the grid.Price Action: Microsoft shares were down 0.14% at $497.21, Alphabet shares were up 0.31% at $343.41, Meta Platforms shares were up 0.19% at $779.09, Oracle shares were up 0.14% at $139.73, and Amazon.com shares were up 0.54% at $250.71 during premarket trading on Friday, according to Benzinga Pro data.

Bitcoin's Rare August-September Streak Puts $100K In View This 'Uptober'

Benzinga News — Fri, 25 Sep 2026 10:52:01 -0400

Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) is on track for its first positive August-September combination since at least 2013, a pattern that historically sets up a strong "Uptober."

Why the Back-to-Back Green Months Matter

CoinGlass data shows Bitcoin gained 24.95% in August, its third-strongest August since 2013 and best since 2017, crushing the historical August average of 2.82%.

Meanwhile, September is up 7.3% so far with five trading days left in the month, already narrowly topping September 2024 as the strongest September in the dataset, against a typical September loss of 2.34%. Compounded together, Bitcoin's two-month gain sits near 34.1% based on the current snapshot, and including July's 7.36% rise, the third-quarter advance would reach roughly 43.9% if September's gain holds through month-end.

What October Has Historically Delivered

October has finished positive in 10 of the past 13 years, a 76.9% win rate, with an average gain of 19.92% and a median of 14.71%.

Following the five prior years with a positive September, Bitcoin still delivered an October gain four times, averaging 16.76%. Applied mechanically to Bitcoin's current price, the historical median would put Bitcoin near $96,800, while the average would push it to roughly $101,200.

Why Whales Are Buying the Dip

Crypto analyst Ali Martinez, who boasts over 167,000 followers on X, posted that Bitcoin dropped 5.24% from $87,400 to a low of $82,800 since September 21, and whales used that weakness to load up. Large entities accumulated roughly 30,269 BTC, worth around $2.57 billion, over the past 96 hours. Martinez also flagged the broader seasonal setup, noting Bitcoin has delivered positive October returns in 10 of the last 13 years.August's rally carried more than seasonality. Falling long-term Treasury yields, roughly $4 billion in bearish liquidations, and renewed spot ETF demand, including nearly $2 billion of inflows in a single week, all fed the move.

BTC Price Action: Key Levels to Watch

Trader Michaël van de Poppe, who currently has over 822,000 followers on X, posted that Bitcoin needs to clear $84,700 before any real continuation takes hold, adding he's willing to bid once that level flips.

BTC trades at $84,580, consolidating just below this week's high of $86,853 after the sharp breakout rally. Price holds well above all EMAs and the SAR at $78,207.18, keeping the broader trend firmly bullish.Key levels for BTC:

$86,853 - last week's high, immediate resistance
$80,767 - 20-day EMA, key support below

US-China Trade Truce Gets a Boost: Trump Trade Chief Greer Says Reached Deal on Farm Goods, Medical Devices: 'Lot More Details' on Monday

Benzinga News — Fri, 25 Sep 2026 10:51:25 -0400

U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) Jamieson Greer said that the U.S. and China have reached an agreement on a subset of goods.Greer, during his appearance on CNBC's "Squawk Box" on Friday, stated that the agreement includes a selection of goods that will be traded on more favorable terms between the two largest economies in the world.He revealed that the agreed-upon goods include American agricultural products and medical devices, as well as non-sensitive Chinese consumer goods. "We've actually reached agreement with the Chinese on a number of these things," said Greer.

He stated that the two countries aim to establish "preferential" trade terms for certain goods, potentially shielding them from future tariffs or broader trade disputes.The Trump administration plans to provide "a lot more details" on Monday, offering insight into the progress made during negotiations over the past several weeks, Greer noted.

US-China Talks Seek Broader Deal

The comments by Greer come on the heels of a state dinner hosted by President Donald Trump for Chinese President Xi Jinping at the White House on Thursday.

Before that, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent had announced that the U.S. and China agreed to extend their trade truce, the Busan Agreement, by two months to Jan. 10. This extension is aimed at giving both sides more time to work toward a potentially larger trade deal.China is on track to meet its commitment to buy 25 million metric tons of U.S. soybeans annually, with nearly 10 million tons confirmed by Sept. 10 and additional purchases likely, Reuters reported on Thursday, citing the U.S. Department of Agriculture.Its broader pledge to import $17 billion annually in other U.S. farm goods, however, remains uncertain. China has yet to buy U.S. corn for the current season, while sorghum purchases have lagged expectations, the report stated. The National Sorghum Producers is urging Trump to secure a binding annual commitment for China to buy 5 million to 7 million tons of U.S. sorghum.

Disclaimer: This content was partially produced with the help of AI tools and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors.

White House Wants First Look At OpenAI, Anthropic Models Before UK Testing

Benzinga News — Thu, 24 Sep 2026 16:55:44 -0400

OpenAI and Anthropic were asked by the White House Thursday to keep their newest artificial intelligence systems out of the U.K. government's model-testing pipeline until U.S. officials complete their own review. The request raises the stakes for U.S. AI labs that have been sharing early versions of frontier models with Britain's AI Security Institute.A senior administration official and a person familiar with the matter reported that the outreach came from the Office of the National Cyber Director to let the U.S. government test first and harden domestic systems before any partner access, Politico reported. The official framed the approach as consistent with how the administration is handling cutting-edge releases, saying, "Because they're American companies and this has been our policy with every new frontier model that comes out."

U.S. Wants Early Access

Anthropic appears to be complying so far, after it did not provide its Claude Mythos 5.1 system to the U.K. institute and instead limited availability to U.S.-based entities. In its announcement, Anthropic said the model was "only available to a set of U.S. organizations."The company also wrote, "We're coordinating with the U.S. government to expand access to a broader set of domestic and international partners as quickly as possible," while declining additional comment for the story.

In a letter earlier this month to a U.K. parliamentary committee, AI Security Institute Director Henry de Zoete acknowledged the institute did not get access to Anthropic's latest model. De Zoete also said the agency still has advance access to some top-tier systems and cited pre-release testing of OpenAI's GPT-6 Astra.

The White House push comes as officials weigh how to manage increasingly capable models after tests found some systems were able to break into external targets, including an Australian government website, as Politico noted. The report also highlighted warnings from former engineers and other prominent AI figures about severe risks if development speeds ahead without sufficient safeguards.

Frontier Models Face New Scrutiny

Britain has promoted the AI Security Institute, founded in 2023, as a key tool for voluntary pre-release evaluations and as part of its pitch to shape international AI rules. U.K. Prime Minister Andy Burnham said this week AI will be "at the heart" of the country's G20 presidency next year, while also telling the U.N. General Assembly the institute was "working hand in glove with the U.S. and the leading labs on AI safety."

At the U.N. Security Council on Wednesday, U.K. Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband argued governments need frontier systems to be "rigorously tested" and said, "The leading AI companies have actually committed to provide this visibility. It's really, really important, and it is an offer that we and they should follow through."On the U.S. side, Politico said lawmakers and the White House are seeking more funding for the Commerce Department's Center for AI Standards and Innovation, known as CAISI. The outlet reported that the center is operating without a permanent director and is being asked to assess more models despite having only a few dozen technical staff members.

OpenAI said this week that CAISI should take a leading role in setting international methods for tracking AI progress and safety in coordination with other national institutes, including the U.K.'s AI Security Institute, according to the report.

Trump Disapproval Hits Record High in New Poll: 56% Say President Has Done Worse than Expected

Benzinga News — Thu, 24 Sep 2026 16:55:24 -0400

President Donald Trump faces new low ratings in a national poll of voters, with many saying he is doing a worse-than-expected job in his presidency. The latest poll comes as the midterm elections near and could see the Democratic Party gain seats in Congress.

New Trump Poll

A new Emerson College poll shows Trump with an approval rating of 39% and disapproval rating of 58%, with both marks worse for Trump than in the August poll, where his approval was 40% and disapproval was 56%.In fact, this marks the highest disapproval for Trump in the Emerson College poll for his second presidential term and ties for his worst approval rating in the same poll.In the poll, voters were asked if they thought Trump has done better than expected, worse than expected or as expected for his second term. Only 26% of voters said Trump has done better than expected.The majority of voters (56%) said Trump has done worse than expected, with 18% saying he's done about as expected.For Democrats, the results were 8% better than expected, 9% about as expected, and 82% worse than expected. For Republicans, a narrow majority of 51% said Trump has done better than expected, 29% about as expected, and 20% said worse than expected.Among Independent voters, 20% said Trump has done better than expected, 15% about as expected and 66% said he's done worse than expected.

Economy Gets Worse

The State Street SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (SPY ), which tracks the S&P 500, may be up more than 12% year-to-date in 2026, but many voters think the economy is getting worse. This could be a signal of a K-shaped economy, where those with high income and exposure to stocks are doing well, and those who are low income and may not own stocks are doing worse.

In the poll, 60% of voters said Trump's economic policies are making the economy worse. Twenty-eight percent said Trump is making the economy better. Several months ago, the amount of voters who thought Trump's policies were making the economy worse was under the 50% threshold at 49%. That figure has soared in recent months.The economy remained the top concern for voters in the poll at 41%, with threats to democracy and immigration ranking second and third at 17% and 13%, respectively.

2026 Midterm Elections

With the midterm election only six weeks away, voters were asked about voting in the upcoming election.The majority at 71% said they are very excited to vote in the 2026 midterm elections, with 20% saying they were somewhat excited, 7% said not too excited and 3% said not at all excited.Among political groups, the Republican voters were the least likely to select very excited with 66% selecting that option, compared to 78% of Democrats and 70% of Independents.

The poll found congressional Democrats having an 11-point lead of 53% to 42% for the generic 2026 midterm elections, tied for the highest support for the Democrats and for the highest point lead.

Amazon Opens Seller Data to Claude Days After Blocking Meta’s Muse

Benzinga News — Thu, 24 Sep 2026 16:54:54 -0400

Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN ) is opening its seller platform to Anthropic's Claude, just days after blocking Muse, the shopping agent from Meta Platforms Inc. (META ), from its retail site.The two moves show where Amazon is drawing the line on outside AI agents. Sellers can connect approved tools directly to their businesses, while agents that access Amazon's retail site without permission may get shut out.

Claude Gets Access to Amazon Sellers

Amazon announced Wednesday that U.S. sellers can connect their accounts directly to Claude through its new Selling Partner plugin.Claude can access a seller's catalog, real-time performance metrics and recommendations. The technology can also help with tasks such as checking inventory, changing prices and preparing shipments, with sellers retaining approval over actions.The move lets merchants bring Amazon business data into an external AI assistant rather than working entirely within Seller Central.

Why Amazon Blocked Muse

Amazon blocked Meta's Muse earlier this week after saying the company had not received permission for the agent to access its retail site.Amazon also said Muse did not identify itself while browsing and raised concerns over customer credentials. Meta says Muse cannot see users' passwords or payment information.Claude, by contrast, enters through an Amazon-built connection.Amazon also has deep ties to Anthropic. It has invested $13 billion in the maker of Claude and could invest another $20 billion tied to commercial milestones, while Anthropic has committed to spending more than $100 billion on AWS technologies over the next decade.

Traders See Anthropic Leading AI Models

Prediction-market traders are pricing in a wide gap between Anthropic and Meta in terms of pure model performance.Polymarket gives Anthropic a 74% chance of owning the top-ranked AI model at the end of 2026, compared with 13% for OpenAI, 10% for Google and 2% for Meta. More than $1.4 million has traded on the market.Meta shares have climbed more than 20% since Muse launched Sept. 8, adding roughly $200 billion in market value as investors bet the agent could become a major consumer product.

Meta is also pushing Muse deeper into commerce, adding shopping partners including Walmart, Sephora and Best Buy even as Amazon keeps it off its retail site.

Google Moves Up its Space Data Center Timeline — Project Suncatcher Launches Oct. 1

Benzinga News — Thu, 24 Sep 2026 15:41:19 -0400

Alphabet Inc. (GOOGL ) (GOOG ) will launch an experimental AI satellite as part of Project Suncatcher on Oct. 1, according to a report from the New York Times.The satellite is the first hardware from Project Suncatcher, Google's effort to build AI data centers in orbit, and it is going up months ahead of schedule.

Google first said its Suncatcher prototypes with Planet Labs PBC (PL ) would launch in early 2027, and a single satellite going up months early has a direct read-through for Planet Labs shares.The satellite, named MVP, is set to fly on a Falcon 9 rocket from SpaceX (SPCX ) out of Vandenberg Space Force Base in California, the Times reported.

What's Onboard

MVP carries four Google tensor processing units, which together have about the computing power of one data-center server. Its solar panels will deliver about one kilowatt. Enough to answer simple Gemini queries from orbit.

Heat is the hard part. Fans don't work in space, so Google built a layered cooling system that moves heat through thermal interface material, aluminum and copper to a radiator panel.

The chips can run for about 15 minutes before they shut down to cool, Travis Beals, Google's senior director of product management for Project Suncatcher, told the Times.The satellite is designed to operate for about a year.

The Planet Labs Angle

Planet Labs originally agreed to launch two satellites for Google in 2027. Google then pushed to reach orbit this year and accepted added risk to do it, according to Eric Stevens, a director of systems engineering at Planet Labs. To speed things up, Google installed its chips in a ready-made Planet Labs satellite. Google, an investor in Planet Labs, still plans to launch a pair of satellites next year and has designs for fleets of more than 80 satellites flying in close formation.Planet Labs shares traded near $16.46 on Thursday morning, according to Benzinga Pro data. The stock is up about 38% from its late-November 2025 close, a few weeks after Suncatcher was unveiled. It remains roughly 68% below its 52-week high of $51.76.

A Long Runway

Google estimates orbital data centers could become cost-competitive with facilities on the ground by the mid-2030s as launch costs fall.Executives are keeping expectations in check. "We don't expect, to be perfectly frank, that we'll have anything usefully operational in the next few years," James Manyika, Google's senior vice president for research, told the Times. He compared the effort to Google's early driverless-car research.Radiation is another test. In particle-accelerator trials, Google found that restarting its chips could usually reset errors caused by radiation.

GOOGL Stock Price Activity: Alphabet stock was up 0.28% at $338.76 at the time of publication Thursday, according to data from Benzinga Pro.

Meta’s AI Strategy Runs From Hearing Aids to a $1,299 Cinema: JPMorgan Sees a Giant Market

Benzinga News — Thu, 24 Sep 2026 15:40:17 -0400

Meta Platforms, Inc's (META ) AI strategy is getting an unusual makeover. CEO Mark Zuckerberg is talking about a "private cinema," a "joyful little device" for your keychain, Kylie Jenner and BlackPink's LISA-branded glasses and hearing enhancement - while JPMorgan sees the seemingly eclectic lineup as part of a much larger AI platform that could address a market worth tens of trillions of dollars.

Muse Is Leaving the Screen

The latest announcements make Meta's AI push look almost like a consumer-electronics and fashion campaign.

Zuckerberg highlighted Ray-Ban Meta Gen 3 with longer battery life and new styles including Aviators, alongside new Meta Glasses collaborations with Kylie Jenner and LISA. Meta plans to offer more than 100 glasses across Ray-Ban, Oakley and Meta by year-end, according to JPMorgan analyst Doug Anmuth.But underneath the colors and celebrity collaborations is Muse.Anmuth says Meta has shifted Reality Labs toward wearables designed specifically around Muse and personal superintelligence. Glasses remain the biggest opportunity, with Meta targeting the more than 2 billion people who already wear glasses.That makes the growing hardware lineup less about individual gadgets and more about putting Meta's AI agent into everyday life.

From 'Joyful Little' to $1,299

The range is getting wider.Meta introduced a hearing-enhancement feature in the U.S., along with hands-free workouts, nutrition tracking, shopping and visual AI features. It also unveiled Muse Charm, which Zuckerberg called a "joyful little device" that fits on your keychain and lets users talk to Muse. It is expected to ship in December.At the other end is Meta VR Glasses.Zuckerberg described them as a "private cinema," workstation and game console packed into high-resolution glasses. At roughly 100 grams, they are about one-fifth the weight of Meta Quest 3, with Muse integrated directly into the operating system. The glasses are expected in spring 2027 for $1,299.

JPMorgan Sees the Bigger Picture

The investor question is whether these products can turn Muse into a platform rather than another AI feature.Anmuth says Muse is already reaching millions of people and could eventually become a personal agent for billions. JPMorgan sees Meta beginning to generate AI returns beyond advertising, with a potential addressable market in the "tens of trillions" of dollars.Direct Muse monetization remains limited today. But JPMorgan expects Meta eventually to monetize transactions between users, businesses and AI agents through fees or commissions.

For investors, the bigger test is whether Meta can turn its unusual collection of products - from hearing enhancement to a "private cinema" and a "joyful little" keychain device - into a single AI ecosystem capable of expanding the company beyond advertising.

Boeing Gets Fresh Demand Boost While Union Vote, Weak Technicals Loom

Benzinga News — Thu, 24 Sep 2026 15:39:11 -0400

Boeing Company (BA ) shares traded lower on Thursday despite fresh aircraft orders from Turkish Airlines and Biman Bangladesh Airlines, as broader market weakness and lingering execution concerns outweighed the positive demand headlines.Turkish Airlines ordered 100 737-8 aircraft with options for another 50 737 MAX jets, while Biman Bangladesh ordered 11 aircraft, including five 787-10 Dreamliners and six 737-8s.Industrials fell 0.61%, while the S&P 500 slipped 0.26%, adding pressure to Boeing after shares gained Wednesday on easing labor concerns.

New Orders Reinforce Boeing Demand

President Donald Trump highlighted the aircraft agreements Thursday, calling them a boost for U.S. manufacturing and exports.The orders reinforce demand across Boeing's narrowbody and widebody portfolios, but several deliveries are scheduled for future years.That keeps production execution and cash generation central to the investment case as Boeing works through an estimated $715 billion backlog.

Labor Vote Runs Through Oct. 1

Boeing also received a positive labor development ahead of key contract expirations.Union leadership, representing roughly 17,000 engineers and technical workers, recommended that members approve Boeing's proposed four-year agreements.Voting began Thursday, Sept. 24, and runs through Thursday, Oct. 1, ahead of the current contracts' Tuesday, Oct. 6 expiration.The recommendation reduces one near-term source of uncertainty as Boeing works to stabilize 737 MAX production and advance the 777X program.

The latest developments leave investors weighing strong aircraft demand against Boeing's ability to convert its large backlog into production, deliveries and cash flow.

Technical Setup Remains Soft

Despite the positive company headlines, Boeing's technical indicators continue to point to downside pressure.

Shares trade about 4% below the 20-day simple moving average of $205.51 and 11% below the 200-day average of $221.12, signaling weakness across both shorter- and longer-term trends.The 50-day moving average also remains below the 200-day average following a September death cross. Meanwhile, the MACD is below its signal line, with a negative histogram, indicating that bearish momentum has yet to reverse.Boeing would need to reclaim the $212-$216 resistance zone to strengthen the technical picture. Support sits near $187.50, with the 52-week low at $176.77.

Earnings, Analyst Outlook In Focus

Boeing's next estimated earnings report is scheduled for Oct. 28.Wall Street expects a loss of 15 cents per share, compared with a $7.47 loss a year earlier. Revenue is projected at $24.99 billion, up from $23.27 billion.

Analysts maintain an average price target of $272, with forecasts ranging from $250 to $305.Jefferies maintained a Buy rating while lowering its price target to $265 on Sept. 21. BofA Securities maintained a Buy rating with a $270 target on Sept. 18, while Argus Research upgraded Boeing to Buy with a $265 target on Aug. 11.

BA Stock Price Today

Boeing shares were down 1.61% at $196.50 at the time of publication on Thursday, according to Benzinga Pro data.

Tesla FSD Drove Over the Limit in 55% of Brussels Tests Ahead of EU Approval Vote

Benzinga News — Thu, 24 Sep 2026 15:37:54 -0400

Tesla Inc.'s (TSLA ) Full Self-Driving system exceeded the legal speed limit on 55% of the Brussels road segments in a newly published test, less than two weeks before a possible EU vote that could decide how widely the system can operate across Europe.Belgian road-safety advocacy group Johanna.be tested 29 stretches of Brussels roads with 30 km/h (@18.5 mph) limits in July. Its study found FSD exceeded the limit on 16 of them, averaging 44 km/h (@27 mph) when it did.

The system also displayed the wrong speed limit on roughly 90% of all 29 segments. In some cases, it recognized a 30 km/h sign before switching the displayed limit back to 50 km/h (@31 mph).That matters because speeding is already one of the main issues dividing European regulators over FSD.

Europe Is Already Split

According to Reuters, Sweden has threatened to oppose broader approval unless Tesla addresses FSD's ability to exceed legal limits, while France has also raised speeding concerns.

Reuters also reported that the Czech Republic provisionally approved FSD this week after previously questioning its speed-limit compliance. Belgium is one of seven European countries where Tesla says FSD Supervised is now available.Tesla argues FSD should be allowed to adjust above its detected speed limit when needed to keep pace with surrounding traffic, rather than becoming an obstacle by driving materially slower.Its European data showed FSD stayed at or below the median speed of surrounding traffic in 98% of 680 higher-speed samples where the system's maximum speed had been set above the limit it detected.The Belgian test raises a different problem: what happens if FSD gets the legal limit itself wrong?

EU Vote Could Reshape Rollout

Dutch regulator RDW provisionally approved FSD in April after more than 18 months of testing, allowing Tesla to start rolling the system out in other European countries while regulators considered broader authorization.A vote could come as early as Oct. 6. Approval requires at least 15 of the EU's 27 member states representing 65% of its population.If regulators reject the proposal, the Dutch provisional approval would have to be revoked six months later, Reuters reported, potentially ending the national approvals built on it.The Belgian study involved one Model 3 and a far smaller test program than RDW's review. RDW says its testing found FSD Supervised met its safety requirements, with drivers remaining responsible.

Traders are skeptical of Tesla's other autonomy targets too. Polymarket traders give the company a 16% chance of selling a Cybercab to a retail customer for $30,000 or less by year-end, with more than $57,000 in volume.Tesla has also said its broader European data showed FSD was 4.1 times less likely to be involved in a collision than manually driven Teslas.

SpaceX Stock Faces Another Wave of Insider Shares

Benzinga News — Thu, 24 Sep 2026 15:36:42 -0400

SpaceX (SPCX ) faces a fresh batch of sellable insider stock Thursday, just days after a top executive put a sale plan on file.

A staggered post-IPO lockup expiration releases up to 328.4 million shares for potential sale by early venture investors and employees. At Wednesday's close, the tranche carries a value of roughly $48.7 billion.

A Staggered Schedule

Instead of a single 180-day cliff, SpaceX spread insider selling eligibility across calendar- and earnings-linked dates. Thursday's Day-105 release covers about 7% of eligible locked-up shares.Two more tranches of similar size follow on Oct. 9 and Oct. 24. A larger 28% block frees up after third-quarter results, and the Dec. 8 expiry clears the rest. By then, about 40% of the company will be potentially tradeable, while CEO Elon Musk's stake stays locked until mid-2027.

Shotwell's Sale Plan

The latest unlock follows regulatory disclosures filed on Tuesday. They show president and COO Gwynne Shotwell submitted an SEC Form 144 proposing the open-market sale of 342,170 Class A common shares, valued at about $51.96 million.

The move followed a stock option exercise carried out under a Rule 10b5-1 trading plan she set up on June 23.Prearranged plans like hers let executives schedule trades in advance. The timing still lands at a sensitive moment for the stock.Shotwell, long Musk's second-in-command, owned 12.6 million shares when SpaceX went public, according to Fortune. The proposed sale works out to roughly 2.7% of that holding. She also pledged in July to donate part of her stake to the Trump Accounts program.

Supply Vs. Sellers

Eligibility does not force anyone to sell. The first major unlock on Aug. 6 freed 911.5 million shares, and the stock rallied 6% on the day. Still, the added supply is likely to keep volatility elevated even without heavy selling. RIT Capital Partners, a longtime SpaceX backer, sees the same dynamic."We continue to expect some near-term volatility in SpaceX as our staggered lock-up unwinds through the end of the year," the firm wrote in an investor update, per Reuters.

SPCX Price Action

SpaceX stock has swung hard since its debut. Shares hit a closing high of $201.80 on June 16, then slid to a record low over the summer.

SPCX Stock Price Action: SpaceX closed Wednesday down 4.11% at $148.36, per Benzinga Pro market data. The stock sits about 10% above its IPO price but roughly 34% below its 52-week high of $225.64. Shares were little changed in premarket trading Thursday at $148.29.

Honda Motor Eyes First New North American Factory in Nearly 20 Years With $2.5 Billion Ohio Hybrid Plant: Report

Benzinga News — Thu, 24 Sep 2026 15:35:15 -0400

Honda Motor Co., Ltd. (HMC ) is reportedly in advanced discussions to establish a hybrid vehicle plant in the U.S., with an investment ranging between 300 billion and 400 billion yen ($1.8 billion to $2.5 billion).The proposed plant could potentially be located in Ohio. If negotiations are successful, the Japanese automaker aims to start operations by 2030, Nikkei Asia reported on Thursday. If it goes ahead, this will be Honda's first new factory in North America in nearly 20 years.The decision to focus on hybrid vehicles is part of Honda's strategy to regain its momentum in the market. However, the final decision depends on negotiations over state subsidies, leaving some uncertainty around the plan, as per the report.

Honda's move comes as rising U.S. gasoline prices amid the U.S.-Iran war boost demand for fuel-efficient hybrid vehicles.Honda Motor did not immediately respond to Benzinga's request for comments.

Japanese Automakers Expand US Footprint

In July, Toyota Motor Corp (TM ) decided to shift production of the Tacoma pickup truck from Mexico to Texas, investing $3.6 billion in the process. This was hailed as a move promoting lower vehicle costs and more consumer choice, according to President Donald Trump's Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy.

Sens. Bernie Moreno (R-Ohio) and Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.) are seeking unanimous Senate approval for the Connected Vehicle Security Act of 2026, which has 51 Senate supporters and more than 100 House cosponsors. The effort comes as Trump meets Chinese President Xi Jinping and contrasts with Trump's recent comments that he would accept Chinese automakers manufacturing in the U.S. if they employed American workers.

Disclaimer: This content was partially produced with the help of AI tools and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors.

Costco Earnings Prediction Market Preview: What Will CEO Ron Vachris Say?

Benzinga News — Thu, 24 Sep 2026 15:33:48 -0400

Costco Wholesale Corp. (COST ) reports fiscal fourth-quarter earnings after the bell Thursday, with its earnings call scheduled for 5 p.m. ET.Wall Street expects earnings of about $6.53 per share, up from $5.87 a year ago. Costco has already reported fourth-quarter net sales of $93.9 billion, up 11.3%.Polymarket traders give Costco a 69% chance of beating quarterly earnings.Kalshi traders have wagered more than $95,000 on which words CEO Ron Vachris and his team will use during the call.

What Kalshi Predicts Costco Will Say"Kirkland" leads the board at 99%, followed by "Tariff" at 96%.Both go to the heart of Costco's low-price model. Management said Kirkland Signature drove growth last quarter, while Vachris said Costco started filing tariff refund claims and planned to return to members the portion covering costs it had passed on to them."Protein" trades at 83%. Costco said protein snacks and bars posted significant growth last quarter, while Vachris said major consumer brands were adapting products for customers taking GLP-1 drugs.

"Retail Media" sits at 80%. Costco launched a collaboration with Google Ads and YouTube last quarter as it looks to expand its advertising business."Hot Dog" is at 57%. Costco's $1.50 hot dog-and-soda combo has held the same price since 1985. Former CEO Craig Jelinek once recalled telling co-founder Jim Sinegal that Costco was losing money on it, only for Sinegal to reply, "If you raise the effing hot dog, I will kill you.""Dividend" sits at 59%. CFO Gary Millerchip said last quarter Costco continued to generate excess cash and viewed a special dividend as typically the most effective way to return it. Its last special dividend was $15 per share, paid in January 2024.

What Kalshi Predicts Costco Will SkipThe biggest disconnect is "Protein" at 83% versus "GLP-1 / GLP 1" at just 35%, despite management explicitly linking changes in GLP-1 eating habits to demand for protein products last quarter.Another appears in advertising. "Retail Media" trades at 80%, but "Google / YouTube" sits at just 30% despite Costco announcing that partnership on its previous call."Buyback / Buy Back" trades at 33%. Costco does repurchase shares, but Millerchip said last quarter the company mainly uses buybacks to offset dilution from executive stock grants.

Reading the BoardCostco deliberately runs on thin merchandise margins, while recurring membership fees drive its profitability. Paid memberships rose 4.1% last quarter to 82.9 million, and U.S./Canada renewal held at 92.2%, while gross margin slipped 21 basis points to 11.04%.

With COST trading at roughly 40 times forward earnings, investors will be looking for evidence that profit and membership growth are keeping pace with sales.

Kalshi and Benzinga have an existing data collaboration agreement.

Bank of America Bets $150 Million on America’s Workforce

Benzinga News — Thu, 24 Sep 2026 15:32:06 -0400

Bank of America Corp. (BAC ) said Thursday it will hire 1,000 additional apprentices over the next two years and invest $150 million in U.S. workforce development programs over five years.The initiative expands the bank's skills-based hiring efforts. It will create apprenticeship opportunities across consumer banking, technology, operations and other client-facing businesses.

Bank of America Expands Skills-Based HiringBank of America already hires more than 800 apprentices each year. The paid programs combine on-the-job experience with training and typically last about 12 months.About 40% of the bank's hires do not have a bachelor's degree.The latest initiative also builds on the company's commitment to hire 10,000 more people with military backgrounds over five years and 8,000 workers from community colleges.

Bank of America also highlighted its minimum-wage policy, under which employees earn at least $50,000 annually.

$150 Million Investment Targets Workforce TrainingThe $150 million commitment will support organizations that provide training, coaching and connections to long-term career opportunities.It follows nearly $40 million invested in 2025 through partnerships with more than 100 universities and community colleges and over 600 nonprofit organizations."This is one more way for us to do what we can to help create a skilled American workforce for tomorrow," CEO Brian Moynihan said.The bank said it will also continue investing in employee training through The Academy, its internal skills and development organization.

Bank of America Sees Flattish Q3 Trading RevenueSeparately, Bank of America recently offered a more cautious outlook for parts of its third-quarter business.At an industry conference last week, the company said third-quarter sales and trading revenue should be roughly flat from a year earlier.The bank also expects investment banking fees of $1.6 billion to $1.8 billion. That is below consensus estimates of about $2 billion and would imply a year-over-year decline of more than 10%.

Stock AnalysisBank of America stock edged higher Thursday. The stock remains under short-term pressure.The stock is trading 7.1% below its 20-day simple moving average of $60.25 and 9.2% below its 50-day SMA of $61.63. However, it remains about 1.2% above its 200-day SMA of $55.29.

Its relative strength index stands at 24, placing the stock in oversold territory. Traders may watch $63.50 as resistance and $51 as support.

Analyst OutlookThe stock carries a Buy consensus rating with an average price forecast of $66.14.UBS raised its price forecast to $70 while maintaining a Buy rating on Aug. 3. JPMorgan raised its forecast to $68 with an Overweight rating on July 29. Evercore ISI raised its forecast to $67 while maintaining an Outperform rating on July 17.

Price ActionBAC Stock Price Activity: Bank of America shares were up 0.16% at $56.09 at the time of publication Thursday, according to Benzinga Pro data.

EXCLUSIVE: Kalshi's Sports Push 'Really Undermines' Case Against States, Former CFPB Adviser Says

Benzinga News — Thu, 24 Sep 2026 15:31:37 -0400

Kalshi's push into sports may be weakening its case that federal law blocks states from regulating prediction markets as gambling, former Consumer Financial Protection Bureau adviser Brad Lipton told Benzinga.Lipton now leads corporate power and financial regulation at the Roosevelt Institute. His latest analysis argues that state gambling laws should apply to much of prediction-market activity.Lipton said Kalshi's case is strongest when prediction markets look like financial products used by firms and sophisticated investors. Sports makes that harder: a product built around "some guy on his couch placing a bet" simply "looks like gambling" and "really undermines the argument" that the contracts are financial instruments rather than bets.

Sports Puts State Power at Center of FightKalshi argues its contracts fall under federal commodities law, meaning state gambling rules should not apply.If courts agree, prediction markets could largely bypass the state licensing, gaming taxes and consumer protections that govern sportsbooks.Kalshi has advertised itself as "the first app for legal sports betting in all 50 states," according to the Ninth Circuit.Sports accounted for more than 90% of Kalshi's 2025 trades and 95% of revenue, the court said.The Third Circuit backed Kalshi against New Jersey in April, but the Ninth Circuit went the other way in August, allowing Nevada to apply its gambling laws to Kalshi's sports contracts.Kalshi has asked the Ninth Circuit to reconsider.

Supreme Court Fight LoomsNew Jersey petitioned the Supreme Court on Sept. 2. Robinhood Markets Inc. (HOOD ), which is fighting the same Nevada regulatory issue, filed a separate petition Sept. 10.Lipton said there is a "pretty good chance" the Supreme Court takes a case, citing the circuit split and the Trump administration's strong interest in the dispute.Still, the Court "does whatever it wants," he said, and could let the issue "sit and percolate."The Trump administration's CFTC has also sued multiple states seeking to apply their gambling laws to federally regulated prediction markets.Lipton called the CFTC's limits on prediction markets so far "really quite modest" and described the administration's broader approach as "super weak and halfhearted.""It's really clear whose side they're on in this whole thing," he said. "They're on the side of the platforms and the industry."Lipton said he sees a role for event contracts that sophisticated firms use to hedge financial risks. But if prediction markets focused on that rather than retail wagering, "we'd be having a totally different conversation," he said.

Business Model Could ChangeA victory for states would not necessarily kill prediction markets. Lipton said operators could comply with gambling laws state by state, but that would look very different from offering one federally regulated product nationwide.

"They'd have to change their business model a lot," he said, adding that state-by-state regulation could change it "in a fundamental way."Kalshi and Benzinga have an existing data collaboration agreement.

Carnival Analysts Cut Price Targets Ahead of Q3 Earnings

Benzinga News — Thu, 24 Sep 2026 15:30:54 -0400

Carnival Corporation Ltd (CCL ) came under pressure in early trading on Thursday, after climbing earlier in the week on lower crude oil prices.

The company is scheduled to report its third-quarter results before the market opens on Tuesday, Sept. 29.

Here are some key analyst takeaways:

Bank of America Securities analyst Andrew Didora reiterated a Buy rating, while cutting the price target from $42 to $38.
JPMorgan analyst Matthew Boss maintained an Overweight rating, while lowering the price target from $43 to $39.

Bank of America Securities: Carnival's stock has traded down 27% since August, with Brent oil having risen by more than 30% amid renewed Middle East tensions, Didora said in a note. While the company is the only unhedged cruise line and "remains uniquely exposed to higher fuel prices," this is likely to adversely impact its fourth-quarter earnings much more than its earnings in the third quarter, he added.Although there are concerns around industry pricing with Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd (NCLH ) altering its booking curve, "recent datapoints have been stable to positive," supported by improving cruise spend and recent cruise commentary suggesting resilient overall demand, the analyst stated.He expects Carnival to report its third-quarter earnings at $1.35 per share, in line with the guidance.

JPMorgan: Recent meetings with Carnival's management and industry fieldwork suggest that the company fundamentals remain intact, Boss said. For the third quarter, he expects Carnival to report:

Adjusted EBITDA of $2.863 billion, versus Street expectations of $2.914 billion.
Net yield growth of 1.3% in constant-currency terms, in line with Street expectations.
Fuel expense of $640 million, versus management's guidance of $620 million.

The analyst expects fourth quarter outlook:

Adjusted EBITDA of $1.336 billion, lower than Street expectations of $1.369 billion, due to fuel cost headwinds.
Net yield growth of 1.6% in constant-currency terms, in line with Street expectations.

CCL Price Action: Shares of Carnival had declined by 1.56% to $21.46 at the time of publication on Thursday.

Microsoft Chases Mass Copilot Adoption With Deep Discounts for Large Companies

Benzinga News — Wed, 23 Sep 2026 11:16:44 -0400

Microsoft Corp. (MSFT ) stock rose almost 1% in Wednesday premarket trading as investors weighed new Copilot discounts to accelerate adoption among large corporate customers. Nasdaq futures slipped 0.02%, while S&P 500 futures gained 0.07%.

Microsoft Cuts Copilot Prices For Large Customers

The company plans to offer discounts of 30% to 50% on Copilot subscriptions for large corporate customers, The Information reported Tuesday.

The discounts could begin as soon as October and will target customers committing to large seat purchases and additional usage-based payments.

Microsoft is also preparing to launch a revamped Copilot "super app", potentially as soon as this week. The app will combine AI coding tools and agent features, with some capabilities carrying extra usage-based fees.

Copilot starts at $30 per user per month. Microsoft plans to offer about 30% off for customers with more than 1,000 seats and up to 50% off for those buying more than 10,000 seats.

The company had previously offered discounts of about 10% to some customers buying at least 2,000 seats, the report added.

Copilot Expands Beyond Chat

Microsoft said in July that Microsoft 365 Copilot surpassed 30 million paid seats, with net seat additions more than doubling quarter over quarter as engagement and user satisfaction improved.

CEO Satya Nadella said Copilot is evolving from a chat assistant into autonomous AI agents. The company is also combining its Copilot experiences and coding capabilities into a single app for consumers and businesses.

Microsoft Technical Analysis

MSFT stock remains above several key moving averages, keeping its broader uptrend intact. Investors are now watching whether it can extend its gains toward nearby resistance.

The stock is trading about 0.9% above its 20-day simple moving average of $498.96. It is also 7.3% above its 50-day SMA of $469.15 and 16.6% above its 200-day SMA of $431.76.

Its relative strength index stands at 54.82. That points to neutral momentum, with shares neither overbought nor oversold.

MSFT's 20-day SMA remains above its 50-day SMA. The stock also recorded a golden cross in August, when its 50-day average moved above its 200-day average.

Near-term resistance sits around $513.50. Support is near $486.

Analyst Outlook

Microsoft trades at a price-to-earnings ratio of about 27.7. The stock carries a Buy consensus rating, with an average price forecast of $567.04.

Stifel upgraded Microsoft to Buy on Wednesday and raised its price target to $575. Oppenheimer on Tuesday reiterated an Outperform rating and lifted its target to $570. Cantor Fitzgerald on Monday maintained an Overweight rating and raised its target to $608.

Microsoft Benzinga Edge Rankings

MSFT scores strongly on growth, quality and momentum in the Benzinga Edge scorecard.

Its Growth score stands at 96.92 out of 100, while Quality is 86.35 and Momentum is 83.08. However, its Value score is much lower at 23.45.

The readings suggest MSFT continues to benefit from strong growth and momentum, while valuation remains a potential constraint.

Top ETF Exposure

MSFT is also a major holding in several large growth and technology ETFs.

The Vanguard Growth ETF (VUG ) has a 9.59% weighting in MSFT. The Technology Select Sector SPDR Fund (XLK ) has a 9.83% weighting, while the iShares Core S&P U.S. Growth ETF (IUSG ) has a 9.75% weighting.

MSFT's large weight means sizable ETF inflows or outflows can contribute to buying or selling pressure in the stock.

Microsoft Price Action

Microsoft shares were up 0.72% at $501.60 in Wednesday's premarket trading, according to Benzinga Pro data.

Costco Q4 Preview: Stock Hits 8-Month Lows, Will Higher Gas Prices Help Turn Things Around?

Benzinga News — Wed, 23 Sep 2026 11:16:38 -0400

Retail giant Costco Wholesale Corp (COST ) could show the positives and negatives of higher gas prices when the company reports fourth-quarter financial results Thursday after market close.

Here are the earnings estimates, what experts are saying ahead of the report and key items to watch:

Costco Q4 Earnings Estimates

Analysts expect Costco to report fourth-quarter revenue of $94.82 billion, up from $86.16 billion in last year's fourth quarter, according to data from Benzinga Pro.

The company has beaten analyst estimates for revenue in six straight quarters and in seven of the past 10 quarters overall.

Analysts expect Costco to report fourth-quarter earnings per share of $6.53, up from $5.87 in last year's fourth quarter.

The company has beaten analyst estimates for earnings per share in five straight quarters and in eight of the past 10 quarters overall.

What Experts Are Saying

Freedom Capital Markets Chief Market Strategist Jay Woods says the key things for Costco's quarter are comparable sales, membership growth and "the impact of higher fuel prices" on margins.

"It may also give us a strong look at consumer spending habits," Woods said in a weekly newsletter.

Woods says Costco stock has moved an average of +/- 2.73% after recent earnings releases.

Looking at the Costco chart, Woods says there is a near-term downtrend that saw shares break to new lows. Woods says there is support at the $850 level, which is around 5% below current levels.

"This is my area of concern. It could also be a great spot to enter for the long-term investor but also dangerous if it fails to hold."

Here are recent analyst ratings on Costco and their price targets:

BTIG: Maintained Buy rating, with price target of $1,125
Oppenheimer: Maintained Outperform rating, with price target of $1,160
Bank of America Securities: Maintained Buy rating, lowered price target from $1,200 to $1,095

Key Items to Watch

Costco stock has struggled in 2026, with shares recently hitting their lowest level since January. Gas prices and membership commentary could help turn things around.

Higher gas prices are one of the key areas watched by investors and analysts when it comes to Costco. The company reported record gas volumes during the third quarter.

Consumers who have memberships with Costco can get a discount on gas at the retailer's gas stations.

This surge in usage of the gas stations could increase visits to the warehouses as well, which could lead to incremental shopping revenue.

A report from Placer.ai shows Costco having 8.2% year-over-year visitor growth during the second quarter of the calendar year. Costco's fourth fiscal quarter covers part of May, all of June and all of July.

Costco's visitor increases for the second quarter outpaced rivals BJ's (4.9%) and Sam's Club (+4.7%), alongside retail giants Target (+4.7%) and Walmart (0.7%).

The retailer's traffic was up 9% in May, 7.8% in June, and 8.3% in July on a year-over-year basis, according to the report.

The rise in gas prices may also have an impact on membership revenue, which is the company's high-margin, high-renewal segment. With gas savings a major reason to sign-up for an account at Costco, membership growth may be higher than in past quarters.

Costco Stock Price Action

Costco stock traded down 0.36% at $896.14 on Wednesday versus a 52-week trading range of $844.06 to $1,096.50. Costco stock is up 5.2% year-to-date, with shares trading at their lowest level since January.

Boeing Stock Rises Wednesday Following Labor Deal Recommendation, New Orders

Benzinga News — Wed, 23 Sep 2026 11:16:31 -0400

Boeing Co (BA ) shares are trading higher Wednesday, driven by major labor agreement progress and fresh commercial order momentum.Labor Stability and Union Recommendation

On Tuesday night, leadership from the Society of Professional Engineering Employees in Aerospace officially recommended that its 17,000 engineering and technical members vote to accept Boeing's latest four-year contract offer. This recommendation follows an upgraded proposal presented by management on Sept. 11, which improved upon an earlier draft rejected by members during an Aug. 21 vote.

Securing union endorsement ahead of the current agreement's expiration date on Oct. 6 eliminates a primary operational risk that Chief Executive Officer Kelly Ortberg warned on Sept. 16 would halt ongoing 777X flight certification testing and disrupt core 737 MAX assembly line throughput.

Order Acceleration and Backlog Execution

Adding to the commercial momentum on Wednesday, diplomatic officials confirmed that Biman Bangladesh agreed to purchase 11 additional Boeing jets, expanding upon a $3.7 billion fleet order originally signed on April 30. This announcement follows Korean Air finalizing a 103-aircraft order across Boeing's widebody and narrowbody lineups on Sept. 16.

Turkish Airlines also announced that it will purchase up to 150 Boeing 737 MAX aircraft, with deliveries spanning from 2033 to 2037. The purchase includes a firm order for 100 737s, with an option for up to 50 more.

Furthermore, the defense and space unit successfully launched three O3b mPOWER satellites on Sept. 13, following their factory delivery on Sept. 2. Removing labor disruption threats allows management to focus on executing its estimated $715 billion backlog, while advancing FAA certification for the 737 MAX 10 following MAX 7 regulatory clearance granted in August 2026.

BA Shares Gain Wednesday

BA Price Action: Boeing shares were up 2.27% at $202.21 at the time of publication on Wednesday, according to Benzinga Pro data.

Meta’s Muse Tests Show Human Callers Outperform AI Alone

Benzinga News — Wed, 23 Sep 2026 11:16:24 -0400

Meta Platforms Inc. (META ) told employees that some tests showed human callers handling requests for its Muse AI agent could achieve success rates of 95%-98%, higher than AI-only calls, according to internal posts reviewed by Reuters. Meta tested the human layer with employees and has since rolled it back. The company did not disclose the AI-only success rate, saying only that it was lower.

Humans Prove More Reliable Than Muse

Meta began testing Muse's phone-calling capability with employees in August. The agent can call businesses to book appointments, check whether products are in stock and get quotes on a user's behalf.

Some calls struggled. One employee said an insurance company repeatedly hung up when Muse disclosed that it was AI, Reuters reported.

Meta later enabled a "human concierge" for half of its employees. Muse could hand a request to a trained contractor, who placed the call and worked through the task.

The episode highlights a problem better AI models may not solve. Even if an agent can handle the task, the person or business on the other end may simply refuse to deal with it.

Meta rolled back the experiment after another employee said a contractor made a racist reference while negotiating his cable bill. A Meta executive apologized and said the contractor would no longer work on Meta projects.

Meta said employee feedback on the test was "overwhelmingly positive" and that it would launch the human-assisted feature publicly only when ready and with proper disclosures.

Meta Has Faced This Before

The experiment echoes Facebook's M assistant, launched in 2015 to make reservations, shop and perform other errands.

M also relied on humans to complete tasks its AI could not handle. Media reports later estimated people carried out around 70% of its requests before Facebook shut the project down in 2018.

Wall Street Bets on Muse

The reliability gap matters because Muse is becoming an increasingly important part of Meta's effort to turn years of heavy AI spending into a major consumer business.

Investor and YouTuber Joseph Carlson said Muse has given Meta shareholders "a positive story, something to latch on to, a story to anchor onto." He argued the product has helped change sentiment around the company even before analysts materially changed earnings estimates.

Meta shares have climbed more than 20% since Muse launched Sept. 8, adding over $200 billion in market value. Muse recorded 2.8 million downloads in its first 12 days.

Polymarket traders currently give Meta a 74% chance of touching $760 before the end of September, with about $70,000 wagered on the market.

JPMorgan said Muse could become the most widely used consumer AI app since ChatGPT, while Jefferies estimated it could generate $10.8 billion in annualized revenue if it reaches 1 billion users by the end of 2027 and converts 3% to paid plans.

Best Buy, Amazon Deepen Fire TV Alliance

Benzinga News — Wed, 23 Sep 2026 11:16:18 -0400

Best Buy Co. Inc. (BBY ) said Wednesday it expanded its multiyear Fire TV partnership with Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN ). The deal will keep Fire TV as the exclusive TV software for Insignia televisions. It will also expand connected TV advertising opportunities through Best Buy Ads using Amazon Ads technology.

Insignia is Best Buy's exclusive in-house brand.

Best Buy, Amazon Expand Fire TV Deal

Insignia TVs ranging from 24 inches to 85 inches will continue to feature Fire TV. The lineup includes Fire TV's latest user interface, which launched earlier this year. Alexa+ is also integrated across most models.

Best Buy will remain the exclusive retailer for the TVs in its stores and on Amazon.com, where the products are sold by Best Buy.

Starting in February 2027, Best Buy Ads will use Amazon Ads' programmatic advertising technology. The platform includes AI-powered tools that help brands plan, activate, optimize and measure campaigns.

Best Buy Ads will also give brands access to Fire TV advertising inventory across new and existing Insignia TVs.

The expanded agreement builds on a partnership that began in 2018. Since then, the companies have launched more than 100 Fire TV-powered television models and reached tens of millions of households.

The TVs are sold through the Best Buy app, BestBuy.com, Best Buy stores and Amazon.com.

Best Buy Raises Annual Outlook

In August, Best Buy reported second-quarter adjusted earnings of $1.47 per share, beating the $1.38 consensus estimate.

Revenue rose 3.6% year over year to $9.78 billion, topping expectations of $9.59 billion.

Best Buy also raised its fiscal 2027 adjusted earnings outlook to $6.70 to $6.90 per share from $6.30 to $6.60. The revised range was above the $6.58 consensus estimate.

The company increased its annual sales forecast to $42.3 billion to $42.8 billion from $41.2 billion to $42.1 billion. Analysts expect sales of $42.06 billion.

Analysts Remain Cautious

BBY carries a Hold consensus rating, with an average price forecast of $85.87. Price forecasts range from $71 to $95 across 30 analysts.

DA Davidson downgraded BBY to Neutral on Sept. 8 and maintained a $95 price forecast. UBS kept a Neutral rating on Aug. 28 and raised its price forecast to $90. Barclays maintained an Equal-Weight rating and lifted its price forecast to $85 on the same day.

ETF Exposure

BBY has a 2.84% weighting in the Pacer S&P 500 Quality FCF High Dividend ETF (QFHD ). It also has a 2.24% weighting in both the ALPS Sector Dividend Dogs ETF (SDOG ) and the Alpha Architect US Quantitative Value ETF (QVAL ).

As a result, sizable inflows or outflows from these funds can contribute to passive buying or selling of BBY shares.

BBY Price Action

BBY Price Action: Best Buy shares were trading at $95.00 at the time of publication on Wednesday. The stock is trading near its 52-week high of $95.85, according to Benzinga Pro data.

Palantir Stock Flips $188 Into Support, Eyes $200 Next

Benzinga News — Wed, 23 Sep 2026 11:16:10 -0400

Palantir Technologies Inc. (PLTR ) shares are rising Wednesday, following through on the breakout setup flagged earlier this week after the stock cleared its prior $188 resistance level. Palantir Confirms Its Breakout, Turning Old Resistance Into Support

Palantir cleared the $188 level that had capped the stock's monthslong trading range, then pulled back and tested that same level intraday before holding firm, a classic sign of old resistance flipping into new support. The move follows through on the setup flagged earlier this week, when Palantir was pushing toward the top of a range it had held between $166 and $188 since its early-August earnings rally.

With $188 now acting as a floor, attention shifts to the $199 level as the next resistance to watch, followed by Palantir's all-time closing high of $207.52. A push toward the $200 psychological level looks like the more immediate test, with a run at prior highs coming into view if the stock's current momentum holds up.

Underlying today's strength is a shift in the stock's longer-term trend signal: Palantir's 50-day moving average crossed above its 200-day average earlier this month, a golden cross formation that traders commonly treat as an early marker of a developing uptrend. That shift has kept eyes on whether the stock could work its way to the ceiling of its trading range and force a real test of resistance overhead, a scenario that appears to be unfolding now.

Palantir's Technical Setup Remains Firmly Bullish

At its current price, Palantir is closing in on resistance around $199, with its 52-week high of $207.52 standing as the next meaningful marker beyond that. Every major moving average sits well beneath where the stock trades now, with the 20-day near $177.51, the 50-day around $161.66 and the 200-day at $151.93, a lineup that fits with a stock in a confirmed uptrend following this month's golden cross.

Momentum readings back that up too: RSI sits at 67.3, leaving some room before hitting overbought territory, while MACD holds a positive reading of 5.261 against a signal line of 4.579, another sign pointing in the same bullish direction as the stock's recent price action.

PLTR Shares Are Jumping

PLTR Price Action: Palantir shares were up 3.63% at $191.71 at the time of publication on Wednesday, according to Benzinga Pro.

Instacart Parent Maplebear Trending After Meta's Muse Integration

Benzinga News — Wed, 23 Sep 2026 11:15:39 -0400

Maplebear Inc. (CART ) shares are trending Wednesday after the company announced Tuesday that Muse, Meta's new AI product, will become the latest AI platform to connect to Instacart's grocery infrastructure.Muse Added to Connector Program for AI Grocery Shopping

Instacart said Muse will join its existing connector program, which already extends grocery capabilities into AI products including ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini and AI Mode in Google Search. Connectors give customers a path to tap into Instacart's grocery experience directly within the AI platforms they already use, offering some users their first exposure to online grocery shopping and a simple path to create an Instacart account. The integration builds on Instacart's broader AI grocery ecosystem, which also includes Clementine, its native AI shopping assistant on the Instacart Marketplace, and Cart Assistant, a branded agentic shopping tool built for grocers' own websites and apps.

Instacart said its systems draw on nearly 15 years of grocery-specific technology, including a catalog of more than 2 billion product instances, 1.6 billion lifetime orders across more than 2,200 retail banners, and roughly 10 million daily inventory signals across nearly 100,000 stores, allowing open-ended requests to be converted into personalized, ready-to-buy carts. The company said it is currently the No. 1 AI-recommended brand for grocery delivery across ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Meta AI, and Perplexity.

Maplebear Shares Edge Lower

CART Price Action: At the time of publication, Maplebear shares are trading 3.02% lower at $43.07, according to data from Benzinga Pro.

Meta’s Muse Is Already Outpacing ChatGPT’s Early Downloads, JPMorgan Says It Could Be AI’s Biggest Consumer App Yet

Benzinga News — Wed, 23 Sep 2026 11:15:30 -0400

Meta Platforms Inc.'s (META ) new Muse AI agent could become the most widely used consumer artificial intelligence app since OpenAI's ChatGPT, according to analysts at JPMorgan, after the app quickly climbed to No. 1 on Apple's U.S. App Store following its Sept. 8 launch. Outpacing ChatGPT's Early Download Curve

Analyst Doug Anmuth credited Muse's user-friendly interface, generous free tier, and Meta's distribution advantage across social media platforms that serve billions of users daily, Reuters reported.

The bank reiterated its Overweight rating on Meta with a price target of $820.

"While it is still early, we believe that Muse has the potential to become the most widely used consumer AI application since ChatGPT," Anmuth said in a note to clients.

Muse, which was launched on Sept. 8, reached about 2.5 million U.S. downloads through Sept. 19, with roughly 557,000 daily active users, according to Sensor Tower data cited by Bank of America.

On iOS alone, its first 12 days produced 1.43 million downloads, edging out ChatGPT's 1.37 million over the same post-launch window.

Wall Street Sees a New Revenue Engine

Early reviews show "functionality is resonating with users, particularly the agent's ability to execute multi-step tasks and workflows with limited user intervention," according to BofA Global Research.

Still, the bank cautioned that revenue from ads, subscriptions or commissions within Muse is unlikely to become material before 2028.

Muse's basic version is free, with subscription tiers priced at $20 and $100 a month for heavier use.

"Distribution is everything in the new AI economy," market strategist at Futurum Equities Shay Boloor said in a post on X.

Stock Surge Since Muse's Launch

Since Muse's launch, Meta shares have climbed nearly 20%.

The stock is up 13.25% year-to-date, but down 2.49% over the past year.

Price Action: On Tuesday, the stock closed 0.63% lower at $736.60 and climbed 0.04% in early pre-market trading on Wednesday.

Benzinga edge rankings indicate Meta's stock has a Momentum score in the 78th percentile and a Growth score in the 79th percentile.