MARKET WRAPS
STOCKS: Stocks fell as Treasury yields tested multidecade highs, stoking concerns about credit costs.
TREASURYS: U.S. Treasury yields finished mixed, with the yield on the 30-year bond ticking up and the yield on the 10-year note falling in the wake of a surprisingly strong auction.
FOREX: The U.S. dollar rose against rivals as traders weighed Federal Reserve minutes and bond-market moves.
COMMODITIES: Oil futures fell as traders weighed the outlook for Middle East exports and shrugged off storm-related production shut-ins in the Gulf of Mexico.
HEADLINES
Fed Minutes Signal Further Rate Increase This Year, but No Urgency for
October Hike
When Federal Reserve officials met to raise interest rates last month,
most expected a further increase later this year, but minutes of the
meeting, published Wednesday, didn't show that policymakers made an
urgent case that such a follow-on move should come at the next meeting in
October.
Officials were unanimous in backing the September rate increase to
respond to persistent inflation. Many officials believed the rate
increase was justified to address the risk that inflation will run above
expectations, while some thought that the current outlook for price
increases was itself enough reason to raise rates, according to the
minutes.
Most officials filed projections at the September meeting showing one
more rate increase across the Fed's two remaining policy meetings this
year, in October and December. A small handful penciled in increases at
both meetings.
Canada's Weston Family to Buy British Pharmacy Chain Boots for $8.9
Billion
Canada's Weston family has reached a deal to buy U.K. pharmacy chain
Boots from Sycamore Partners for $8.9 billion including debt.
Wittington Investments, the Weston's holding company, said Wednesday
it reached a definitive agreement to buy Boots and its associated
businesses from majority-owner Sycamore, in partnership with Stefano
Pessina, the former executive chairman of Walgreens Boots Alliance which
once owned the Boots business, and his family.
The move will see Wittington buy Boots' retail operations in the U.K.
and Ireland, the Boots Opticians chain, No7 Beauty Co., and its Thailand
and franchised businesses. Sycamore Partners, along with Pessina and his
family, will retain ownership of Boots's interests in Farmacias Benavides
in Mexico and Alliance Healthcare Deutschland.
Regulators Investigate Potential Anticompetitive Conduct in Agricultural
Equipment Markets
The Federal Trade Commission and U.S. Department of Agriculture have
launched a probe into potential anticompetitive practices in the
agricultural equipment markets, sending shares for farming machine makers
lower.
The regulators on Wednesday said they opened a joint public inquiry
seeking information into the manufacturing and distribution markets for
agricultural equipment amid a growing number of complaints to the USDA.
They invited comments from the public, saying farmers across the
country are facing barriers to acquiring agricultural equipment and the
services required to keep the equipment operating.
U.S. Treasury Pays Highest Borrowing Costs Since 2000
The U.S. Treasury paid the highest yield in a 10-year notes auction
this century, as investors demand increasingly higher returns to finance
spendthrift governments.
The department auctioned $39 billion in 10-year notes Wednesday at a
yield of 5.300%, the highest since an auction held in November 2000,
which had a high yield of 5.865%.
Demand indicators were robust and the auction cleared at a lower cost
than market yields at the time.
Microsoft and Nvidia Unveil AI-Centric Laptop and Cost-Cutting "Hybrid
Intelligence"
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella took to the stage in San Francisco on
Wednesday afternoon to announce what he called "the birth of the next
generation of Windows agentic platforms." Nadella and the Microsoft team
demonstrated new AI capabilities in Windows alongside fresh hardware
designed to harness them.
The beginning of the event focused on artificial-intelligence updates
to Copilot for developers, including the ability to distinguish between a
user and AI's actions in every project, and at every step of it. The
company also announced that Muse, Meta Platform's personal AI agent, is
coming to Windows.
Microsoft also showed off the Surface Laptop Ultra, it's answer to the
Apple MacBook Pro-and something of a look-alike-and a device its billing
as the most powerful Windows laptop to date. It was first announced in
May, and developers and creative consumers have been waiting for updates
from the company about pricing and availability.
Frasers Nets Stake in Under Armour in Latest Push Into Sportswear
Frasers Group bought up a stake in embattled sportswear brand Under
Armour, the latest deal in the British retailer's expansion strategy.
The group-founded by billionaire Mike Ashley-bought 16.6 million
shares in Baltimore-based Under Armour, representing 8.8% of the company,
according to a filing.
Through Frasers, Ashley has bought up stakes in other sportswear and
fashion retail chains.
Zuckerberg's Biohub Partners With DOE, NIH to Invest $1.8 Billion in
Biological Data for AI Models
A nonprofit co-founded by Mark Zuckerberg is working with the Energy
Department, the National Institutes of Health and other funding partners
to invest $1.8 billion in building biological data ready for
artificial-intelligence models.
Biohub said Wednesday the investment will go toward funding, data,
computation, and new measurement technology, with the goal of providing
datasets that allow researchers to use AI models to find new ways of
preventing and treating diseases.
As part of the investment, the DOE will invest more than $500 million
across five years in lab measurement, modeling and computation to build
an AI-ready open data resource.
OpenAI's ChatGPT for Teens Poses 'Unacceptable Risk,' Nonprofit Says
ChatGPT's guardrails for underage users fall short of OpenAI's
commitments to child safety, a nonprofit group said Wednesday,
designating the company's ChatGPT for Teens offering as an "Unacceptable
Risk."
The Youth AI Safety Institute, part of the nonprofit Common Sense
Media, called on the artificial-intelligence lab to restrict usage of
ChatGPT to people over the age of 18 until it can improve the guardrails.
OpenAI released ChatGPT for Teens in mid-August, saying the experience
would include automatic interventions for conversations around self-harm
or other sensitive topics, a "study mode" for homework, and protections
against language that could create emotional dependency. The bot also
would predict users' ages and automatically route underage users to
ChatGPT for Teens, OpenAI said.
Disney+ to Stream 2027 Super Bowl
Disney said its streaming platform will livestream the Super Bowl in
2027.
All Disney+ subscribers in the U.S. will be able to stream the
traditional game presentation airing on ESPN and ABC, as well as the
Spanish-language telecast on ESPN Deportes.
The Super Bowl was broadcast on NBC, Telemundo and Peacock in 2026.
TALKING POINT Hightower Expands One of Its Biggest Practices With $1.1 Billion Acquisition Hightower is merging a $1.1 billion financial advisor team in Naples, Fla., that operates under the Hightower brand into The Bahnsen Group, also known as TBG, a large wealth manager that Hightower acquired earlier this year. Hightower has made TBG the first so-called franchise on its platform, meaning that it intends for it to grow through additional in-house acquisitions. Bahnsen plans to absorb the Florida-based Hightower Naples team by the end of the year, at which point it will operate under the TBG brand, according to Hightower.
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