615 stories mentioning AmazonUpdated 7h ago
Traded amid mixed consumer stocks; its Whole Foods unit lost a US labor board appeal over a Philadelphia store unionization vote.
Amazon.com-backed (AMZN) Anthropic said Monday it is releasing Claude for Financial Advisors, which offers a suite of connectors and workflow skills to assist with research, prep, and documentation tasks.Financial advisors can now connect Claude to custodians, portfolio platforms, and planning tools, the company said.Price: $253.66, Change: $-3.12, Percent Change: -1.22%
Amazon.com (AMZN), Netflix (NFLX) and Alphabet's (GOOG, GOOGL) YouTube have formed a new policy coalition to support shared positions on key issues, Axios reported Monday.The Streaming Access and Choice Alliance is led by trade group TechNet with the big three streamers as its founding corporate members, the report said.The companies didn't immediately reply to requests for comment from.(Market Chatter news is derived from conversations with market professionals globally. This information is believed to be from reliable sources but may include rumor and speculation. Accuracy is not guaranteed.)Price: $253.63, Change: $-3.15, Percent Change: -1.23%
Amazon, Netflix, YouTube Form Streaming Policy Coalition, Axios Reports
The benchmark US stock measures were tracking in the red before the opening bell Monday as traders assess warnings from leading artificial intelligence executives about the rapid pace of AI developments and await a major policy decision by the Federal Reserve later in the week.The S&P 500 declined 0.8%, the Dow Jones Industrial Average decreased 0.3%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq fell 1.8% in premarket activity. All three main indexes finished Friday trading higher, snapping a four-day losing streak.Dario Amodei, chief executive of AI chatbot Claude maker Anthropic, called on the industry Saturday to slow the pace at which it advances AI model capabilities. His three-step plan for ensuring that safety measures keep pace with advances in AI model capabilities includes placing independent evaluators inside leading AI companies with "employee-like access."OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and Tesla (TSLA) and SpaceX (SPCX) CEO Elon Musk supported Amodei's call in posts on X.Shares of Nvidia (NVDA), Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), Micron Technology (MU), SanDisk (SNDK), Intel (INTC) and Qualcomm (QCOM) were down pre-bell. Shares of AI hyperscalers including Microsoft (MSFT), Alphabet (GOOG, GOOGL), Amazon (AMZN) and Meta Platforms (META) also dropped.With no major economic reports scheduled for Monday, traders will focus on the Fed's monetary policy committee meeting scheduled for Tuesday, with a decision on interest rates due the following day. Markets are currently pricing in an 87% probability that the central bank will hike its benchmark lending rate by 25 basis points, with the remaining odds in favor of another Fed pause.In remarks emailed toon Friday, Oxford Economics said it "expects a third consecutive set of moderate inflation readings to tip a narrow majority towards holding rates," although "rising oil prices and still-elevated inflation make a risk-management case for a hike."Last week, official data showed that US consumer inflation hit a three-month high in August as energy prices rose, while the core measure unexpectedly accelerated.Treasury yields were down, with the two-year rate retreating 1.8 basis points to 4.63% while the 10-year rate was off 1.6 basis points to 4.96%.West Texas Intermediate crude oil rose 2.6% to $102.66 a barrel, while Brent gained 2.7% to $107.38.A diplomatic meeting between Iran and several Gulf states to discuss the future of the Strait of Hormuz has been called off, following Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthis' attack on a military airbase in Saudi Arabia, Reuters reported. The meeting was scheduled for Monday.Saudi Arabia's Energy Ministry said Friday that the kingdom shut down its key East-West crude oil pipeline in the Riyadh and Madinah regions as a precautionary measure a day after the facility was targeted in multiple attacks. The pipeline closure leaves the Strait of Hormuz as the kingdom's only route for moving large volumes of crude westward, according to Rystad Energy.Gold slipped 1.9% to $4,327 per troy ounce, while bitcoin edged 0.9% higher to $77,992.
Shares of major technology companies fell early Monday after leading artificial intelligence executives warned of increasing safety risks and urged the industry to advance AI model capabilities at a more measured pace.Anthropic Chief Executive Dario Amodei called on the industry to slow the pace at which it advances AI model capabilities in an essay published on his personal website Saturday. Addressing the technology's risks requires greater caution, and capabilities should advance at a pace that gives risk-prevention efforts time to keep up, he said."Since roughly this summer, AI has been advancing drastically faster, driven primarily by AI's growing ability to build the next generation of AI," Amodei said. "Left unchecked, it could outrun our ability to understand and control these systems, and so must be pursued very carefully, if at all."Shares of Nvidia (NVDA), Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), Micron Technology (MU), SanDisk (SNDK), Intel (INTC) and Qualcomm (QCOM) were all trending lower in the most recent premarket activity. Shares of major technology companies investing heavily in AI infrastructure, including Microsoft (MSFT), Alphabet (GOOG, GOOGL), Amazon (AMZN) and Meta Platforms (META), also fell.OpenAI CEO Sam Altman supported Amodei's call. "I agree with Dario that we need to pace the frontier," Altman said in a Saturday post on X."We could lose control of the future to AI," Altman wrote separately in a latest post on X, explaining the potential negative consequences of AI progress. "This is unacceptable; we are unapologetically on Team Humanity, and AI must always serve people. To ensure that, we need ways to ensure that alignment and safety techniques stay ahead of progress in model capabilities."Tesla (TSLA) and SpaceX (SPCX) CEO Elon Musk also endorsed Amodei's call, writing on X, "Dario is right."In an interview with Fortune published over the weekend, Altman said OpenAI will not go public this year due to AI safety concerns. Earlier this year, OpenAI and Anthropic confidentially filed for their potential initial public offerings in the US.Amodei proposed a three-step plan to temper AI development without "sacrificing commercial advantage or the United States' lead in AI." The plan calls for placing independent evaluators inside leading AI companies, establishing common safety standards across the industry and coordinating safeguards among governments worldwide.Meanwhile, President Donald Trump on Sunday pushed back on concerns surrounding AI risks. "I think you have a lot of very negative forces that are bringing it up that shouldn't be bringing it up and they're bringing up things that won't happen," Trump told reporters, according to a Reuters report.Trump also reportedly said that the US is "leading China" in the AI industry and that he would like to "keep it that way because whoever wins AI wins."Last month, cybersecurity company CrowdStrike (CRWD) lifted its full-year net new annual recurring revenue, or ARR, outlook amid increasing demand for solutions to address AI risks.Palo Alto Networks (PANW) CEO Nikesh Arora said during an earnings call earlier this month that he expected AI tailwinds driving cybersecurity demand to intensify in the future.Concerns about AI safety intensified last week after Jacob Coxon, an AI researcher at Anthropic, announced that he was leaving the company and warned that leading AI developers were racing to build self-improving systems they might not be able to control.
Skyborn Renewables has reached financial close on its Gennaker offshore wind farm in the German Baltic Sea after securing a 2.1 billion euro ($2.42 billion) non-recourse financing package, it said on Friday.The financing was provided by a consortium of 16 commercial lenders and the European Investment Bank, the leading German offshore wind developer said.The Gennaker project, with a total capacity of 976.5 megawatts, is expected to mobilize more than 3 billion euros of investment and begin commercial operations supplying German households by the end of 2028.Developed alongside Stadtwerke Munchen, the project will now move into its execution phase, with major supply and installation contracts already secured in 2025.The company has also signed long-term power purchase agreements, including a 600 MW deal with Amazon (AMZN) and another 100 MW with Uniper earlier this year, covering a substantial share of its potential future output.
Oracle's (ORCL) fiscal first-quarter results showed surging cloud growth, but margin pressure and a "modest" earnings guidance raise left Morgan Stanley wanting more visibility on infrastructure buildout and profitability.Oracle reported strong fiscal first-quarter results late Thursday, driven by above-consensus cloud sales that were buoyed by infrastructure revenue growth of 121% year over year.Morgan Stanley said Friday the company's non-GAAP gross profit margin fell to 61% in the three months through August from 68.7% a year ago, missing the brokerage's and Wall Street's estimate of about 62%."Our gross margin did decline as expected, driven by impacts from ramping up our data centers and the acceleration of infrastructure revenue," Chief Financial Officer Hilary Maxson said during Thursday's earnings call, according to a FactSet transcript. "However, this was offset in the quarter by lower operating costs and strong operating leverage tied to simplification and efficiency actions."Oracle expects gross margins to "flatten" over the next couple of years, Maxson told analysts."We'd like to see more evidence of the progress towards gross margin stabilization, more visibility on where and when infrastructure capacity comes on stream and (ideally but less critically) an improving trend in apps to turn more constructive," Morgan Stanley said.Cloud application revenue missed Wall Street's estimates by 1% in the first quarter, the brokerage wrote.Oracle raised its fiscal 2027 adjusted earnings per share guidance to $8.10 from $8.05. Morgan Stanley described the upward revision as "modest."The brokerage reiterated its equal-weight rating on Oracle's stock, with a $210 price target.The company reported capital expenditure of $28.50 billion in the first quarter, resulting in negative free cash flow of $5.40 billion. "Our capex will not be linear throughout the year," Maxson said. "We continue to anticipate $90 billion to $95 billion in capex for the full year, with not more than $70 billion in net cash capex."Oracle's plan to convert nearly half of its $664 billion remaining performance obligations into revenue over the next 36 months without lifting the capex outlook is encouraging, Morgan Stanley added.Shares were down 0.9% in Friday trading. The stock has lost 22% this year.Amazon's (AMZN) second-quarter results showed in July that operating margin increased to 13.7% from 11.4% in the same quarter last year, while Alphabet (GOOG, GOOGL) expanded 2 percentage points to 34%. Microsoft (MSFT) reported that its fiscal fourth-quarter gross margin jumped to $60.48 billion from $52.43 billion in the prior-year period.Price: $151.89, Change: $-1.05, Percent Change: -0.69%
Oracle's (ORCL) fiscal first-quarter results surpassed Wall Street's estimates as cloud infrastructure sales more than doubled year over year.Revenue increased 30% year-on-year to $19.35 billion during the three months through August, above the FactSet-polled consensus of $19.14 billion. Adjusted earnings per share rose to $1.92 from $1.47 a year earlier, compared with the Street's $1.74 view.Cloud sales advanced 62% to $11.61 billion, driven by a 121% jump in infrastructure to $7.39 billion. Wall Street expected $11.51 billion in overall cloud revenue.Oracle's remaining performance obligations -- future commitments arising from contractual relationships -- soared $209 billion year-on-year to $664 billion. The company booked more than $30 billion of AI cloud contracts in the fiscal first quarter."Customer demand for AI cloud training and inferencing services continues to grow faster than supply," the cloud computing company said late Thursday.Oracle delivered more than 300,000 graphics processing units to AI cloud customers since the end of May, nearly triple the capacity shipped during the fourth quarter.Shares were up 6.8% in after-hours trading. The stock is down 22% this year through Thursday close.Oracle's software segment edged 3% lower annually to $5.55 billion.Earlier in the week, Oppenheimer said strong results across enterprise software companies in the most recent quarter point to healthy demand, which should bode well for Oracle's cloud business."Our regression analysis foretells upside in (Oracle cloud infrastructure, or OCI) growth and RPO conversions in (the fiscal first quarter)," the brokerage said in a Tuesday note. "In combination with additional gigawatt capacity coming online, this could support higher (fiscal 2027) guidance while reinforcing the bull case that OCI demand remains supply -- not demand -- constrained."Major technology companies have reported strong annual growth rates for their cloud businesses in the latest earnings season, with Alphabet's (GOOG, GOOGL) cloud revenue surging 82% to $24.77 billion. Microsoft (MSFT) cloud computing platform Azure rallied 43%, while Amazon's (AMZN) Web Services revenue jumped 37%.Oracle expects revenue to grow by 30% to 34% in the second quarter, with cloud sales seen rising 64% and 70%. Non-GAAP EPS is expected to grow between 21% and 25%, reaching $1.85 to $1.91. Markets expect adjusted EPS of $1.89 on consolidated revenue growth of 32% to $21.18 billion.Oracle raised its fiscal 2027 non-GAAP EPS guidance to $8.10 from $8.05. The company expects at least $90 billion in full-year revenue. Analysts expect $8.07 and $89.66 billion, respectively.
Tech stocks were lower late Thursday afternoon, with the State Street Technology Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLK) falling 1.4% and the State Street SPDR S&P Semiconductor ETF (XSD) decreasing 0.7%.The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index dropped 2.5%.In corporate news, Microsoft-backed (MSFT) OpenAI Thursday launched ChatGPT for Financial Services, a ChatGPT Work product to support projects like equity research and financial models. Microsoft shares were fractionally higher.Advanced Micro Devices-backed (AMD) South Korean AI startup Upstage is considering a pre-listing funding round as one of its capital-market options, Bloomberg reported, citing co-founder and Chief Technology Officer Hwalsuk Lee. The company closed a 560 billion won ($416 million) Series C financing this year, bringing its funding to date to 730 billion won, the report said. AMD shares were down 3.4%.Amazon's (AMZN) Amazon Ads, the tech giant's advertising arm, has entered into a partnership with OpenAI through which it will let its advertisers place ads in ChatGPT, according to media reports. Separately, Amazon-backed Anthropic has granted the EU Agency for Cybersecurity, or ENISA, access to its Mythos 5 AI model, months after first promising access, Bloomberg reported. Amazon shares were decreasing 0.5%.Apple (AAPL) is apparently prioritizing volume gains over margins with its lower-than-expected pricing on the new iPhones, including its first-ever foldable smartphone, Morgan Stanley said in a note. The company set a starting price of $1,999 for the foldable iPhone Duo on Wednesday. Apple's new CEO John Ternus led the launch event that included the iPhone 18 and Watch Series 12. Apple shares rose 3.3%.
Amazon.com's (AMZN) Whole Foods Market said Thursday it will invest more than $230 million over the next year to provide higher pay and expanded benefits to more than 100,000 US workers.Chief Executive Jason Buechel said hourly workers will get a pay increase on Sept. 28, bringing the average store team member's wage to over $21 an hour and total compensation to more than $29 an hour, including benefits.Beginning Jan. 1, 2027, eligible workers will gain access to Amazon's health, family and financial benefits, while nearly 20,000 part-time workers will receive dental, vision and basic life insurance coverage, the company said.Later in 2027, workers will gain access to Amazon's Career Choice program, which prepays tuition for college, skills training and certifications, the company added.Price: $252.25, Change: $-0.15, Percent Change: -0.06%
Tech stocks were lower Thursday afternoon, with the State Street Technology Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLK) falling 1.1% and the State Street SPDR S&P Semiconductor ETF (XSD) decreasing 0.4%.The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index dropped 2.2%.In corporate news, Amazon's (AMZN) Amazon Ads, the tech giant's advertising arm, has entered into a partnership with OpenAI through which it will let its advertisers place ads in ChatGPT, according to media reports. Separately, Amazon-backed Anthropic has granted the EU Agency for Cybersecurity, or ENISA, access to its Mythos 5 AI model, months after first promising access, Bloomberg reported. Amazon shares were fractionally higher.Bending Spoons (BSP) has agreed to buy workspace collaboration platform Miro in an all-cash deal with an enterprise value of about $1.36 billion, as part of the Italian technology company's strategy to purchase digital businesses and optimize them for long-term ownership. Bending Spoons shares jumped 7.7%.Apple (AAPL) is apparently prioritizing volume gains over margins with its lower-than-expected pricing on the new iPhones, including its first-ever foldable smartphone, Morgan Stanley said in a note. The company set a starting price of $1,999 for the foldable iPhone Duo on Wednesday. Apple's new CEO John Ternus led the launch event that included the iPhone 18 and Watch Series 12. Apple shares rose 3.2%.
(Updates with Anthropic's response in the fifth paragraph.)Amazon-backed (AMZN) Anthropic has granted the European Union Agency for Cybersecurity, or ENISA, access to its Mythos 5 AI model, months after first promising access, Bloomberg reported Thursday.European Commission spokesperson Thomas Regnier confirmed that ENISA has been granted access and is currently testing Mythos 5, which Anthropic first previewed in April and initially restricted to vetted institutions under Project Glasswing, according to Bloomberg.Anthropic proposed giving ENISA access in late May following discussions with the EU, but negotiations over the scope and terms of access continued for months, Bloomberg reported.However, both ENISA and the UK's AI Safety Institute have not received access to the latest Mythos 5.1 version, and are currently only limited to Mythos 5, a person familiar with the matter told Bloomberg.In a statement emailed to, Anthropic said, "We do not comment on individual access due to security and confidentiality but self-disclosure is typically allowed under Glasswing partner comms guidelines."(Market Chatter news is derived from conversations with market professionals globally. This information is believed to be from reliable sources but may include rumor and speculation. Accuracy is not guaranteed.)Price: $252.63, Change: $+0.23, Percent Change: +0.09%
All three major US stock indexes were down in late-morning trading Thursday, as oil prices continued to rise amid the ongoing conflict between the US and Iran.In company news, Macy's (M) reported fiscal Q2 adjusted earnings Thursday of $0.63 per diluted share, up from $0.35 a year earlier and above the FactSet consensus analyst estimate of $0.37. Fiscal Q2 net sales were $4.87 billion, up from $4.81 billion a year ago and above the FactSet consensus of $4.81 billion. For fiscal Q3, the company expects an adjusted diluted loss of $0.23 to $0.19 on net sales of $4.65 billion to $4.70 billion. Analysts polled by FactSet expect an adjusted loss of $0.06 on sales of $4.65 billion. For fiscal 2026, Macy's expects adjusted diluted EPS of $2.15 to $2.35, up from its prior outlook of $2 to $2.20 and compared with the FactSet consensus of $2.24. The company expects fiscal 2026 net sales of $21.675 billion to $21.825 billion, up from its previous guidance of $21.50 billion to $21.75 billion and compared with the FactSet consensus of $21.72 billion. Macy's shares were down 2.9% around midday.Amazon (AMZN) Ads, the technology giant's advertising arm, has entered into a partnership with OpenAI through which it will let its advertisers place ads in ChatGPT, according to media reports. Amazon shares were up 0.1%.Cooper Companies (COO) reported fiscal Q3 adjusted EPS late Wednesday of $1.15, up from $1.10 a year earlier and above the FactSet consensus of $1.12. Fiscal Q3 revenue was $1.07 billion, up from $1.06 billion a year ago but below the FactSet consensus of $1.10 billion. For fiscal Q4, the company expects adjusted EPS of $1.05 to $1.09 on revenue of $1.06 billion to $1.08 billion. Analysts polled by FactSet expect $1.19 and $1.11 billion, respectively. For fiscal 2026, Cooper expects adjusted EPS of $4.51 to $4.55 on revenue of $4.23 billion to $4.25 billion. Previously, it expected adjusted EPS of $4.58 to $4.66 on revenue of $4.29 billion to $4.32 billion. Analysts expect $4.63 and $4.31 billion, respectively. Cooper shares were down 13.6%.Bending Spoons (BSP) said Thursday it has agreed to buy Miro at an enterprise value of about $1.36 billion. The all-cash deal implies an equity value of $1.79 billion, the company said. Shares of Bending Spoons were up 8.4%.Redwood Trust (RWT) plans to offer $150 million of convertible senior notes due 2030 in a private offering to institutional buyers, the company said Thursday. Redwood shares were down 17.8%.Grab (GRAB) is in talks to potentially acquire a majority interest in Singapore-based buy-now-pay-later firm Atome Financial, Bloomberg reported Thursday, citing people familiar with the matter. The acquisition could price Atome at over $2 billion, the report said, citing the people. Grab shares were down 0.5%.Price: $20.82, Change: $-0.70, Percent Change: -3.23%
Amazon (AMZN) Ads, the technology giant's advertising arm, has entered into a partnership with OpenAI through which it will let its advertisers place ads in ChatGPT, according to media reports.Price: $252.22, Change: $-0.18, Percent Change: -0.07%
Amazon to Reportedly Let Its Advertisers Run Ads on OpenAI's ChatGPT
Automatic Data Processing (ADP) is unlikely to see a meaningful valuation boost from its expanded cloud partnership with Amazon.com's (AMZN) Amazon Web Services, as macro and industry concerns continue to weigh on the human-resources software sector, UBS Securities said Tuesday in a report.ADP and AWS broadened their collaboration to move more of ADP's core payroll and tax systems onto AWS, including upgrades to its AI-driven tools and data platform. UBS said the initiative is strategically useful, though not enough to shift investor sentiment.Labor-market indicators point to low churn, with muted hiring and separations, UBS said. The firm continues to prefer Paycom Software (PAYC) on product-driven share gains and stronger capital return.UBS rates ADP stock neutral with a $290 price target.ADP shares fell 0.9% in Wednesday trading, Amazon dropped 2.1%, and Paycom declined 1.1%.Price: $265.66, Change: $-2.31, Percent Change: -0.86%
Amazon.com (AMZN) said Wednesday it will work with Taiwan-based data center infrastructure provider Wiwynn to expand a new advanced manufacturing facility in Socorro, Texas, expected to create around 1,000 new manufacturing jobs by the end of 2027.The server rack facility will boost Wiwynn's manufacturing operations in the US, and is part of Amazon's effort to bolster its supply chain by bringing custom hardware production to the US, according to a statement.Wiwynn has invested $1.6 billion in the facility, which is expected to employ 4,000 people at full capacity, the company said.Financial terms of the collaboration between Amazon and Wiwynn were not disclosed.Price: $251.83, Change: $-5.14, Percent Change: -2.00%
The broad market exchange-traded fund SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (SPY) was down 0.4% and the actively traded Invesco QQQ Trust (QQQ) was 0.6% lower in Wednesday's premarket activity as front-month North Sea Brent crude-oil futures exceeded $100 a barrel for the first time since July.US stock futures were mixed, with S&P 500 Index futures down 0.4%, Dow Jones Industrial Average futures slipping 0.6%, and Nasdaq futures losing 0.5% before the start of regular trading.Mortgage applications fell by 2.7% in the week ended Sept. 4 as a further increase in 30-year fixed mortgage rates depressed both refinancing activity and new home applications, according to Mortgage Bankers Association data released Wednesday.In premarket activity, bitcoin was up by 1.2%. Among cryptocurrency ETFs, the cryptocurrency fund ProShares Bitcoin Strategy ETF (BITO) was 1.2% higher, Ether ETF (EETH) advanced 0.7%, and Bitcoin & Ether Market Cap Weight ETF (BETH) was flat.Power Play:TechnologyThe State Street Technology Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLK) retreated 0.6%, the iShares US Technology ETF (IYW) was inactive, and the iShares Expanded Tech Sector ETF (IGM) was down 0.5%. Among semiconductor ETFs, the State Street SPDR S&P Semiconductor ETF (XSD) was down 1.3%, while the iShares Semiconductor ETF (SOXX) dropped by 1.2%.Alphabet (GOOG, GOOGL) shares were down more than 2.2% in premarket activity after the company reported it will invest at least 13 billion euros ($15.10 billion) into AI infrastructure in Finland in 2027 through 2028.Winners and Losers:Health CareThe State Street Health Care Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLV) advanced 0.2%, the Vanguard Health Care Index Fund (VHT) was up 0.3%, while the iShares US Healthcare ETF (IYH) was inactive. The iShares Biotechnology ETF (IBB) dropped by 0.2%.InnovAge Holding (INNV) stock was up more than 14% premarket after the company swung to fiscal Q4 earnings following stronger-than-expected revenue growth.ConsumerThe State Street Consumer Staples Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLP) was down 0.4%, the Vanguard Consumer Staples Index Fund ETF Shares (VDC) was inactive, and the iShares US Consumer Staples ETF (IYK) was inactive. The State Street Consumer Discretionary Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLY) lost 0.8%. The VanEck Retail ETF (RTH) was inactive, while the State Street SPDR S&P Retail ETF (XRT) was down 0.5%.Amazon.com (AMZN) shares were down 1.6% pre-bell after the company launched its first sterling bond sale Wednesday, with a four-part offering expected to price later in the day, according to a Bloomberg report.IndustrialThe State Street Industrial Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLI), the Vanguard Industrials Index Fund (VIS) remained inactive, and the iShares US Industrials ETF (IYJ) were inactive.Alamos Gold (AGI) stock was up more than 1.4% before the opening bell after closing down 1.4% Tuesday.EnergyThe iShares US Energy ETF (IYE) was inactive, while the State Street Energy Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLE) was up by 0.9%.TotalEnergies (TTE) stock was up more than 1.3% before market open after Bloomberg News reported that TotalEnergies-backed NEO Next+ is among potential suitors considering buying BP's (BP) North Sea operations, the news outlet quoted people familiar with the matter as saying.FinancialThe State Street Financial Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLF) retreated 0.3%. Direxion Daily Financial Bull 3X Shares (FAS) was 1.1% lower, while its bearish counterpart, Direxion Daily Financial Bear 3X Shares (FAZ), was 0.9% higher.HSBC Holdings (HSBC) shares were down 1.2% in early-hours activity after the company reported it is shutting down its transaction services operations in Germany, leading to more than 300 job cuts, Reuters reported Wednesday, citing a company spokesperson.CommoditiesFront-month US West Texas Intermediate crude oil rose by 2.8% to $95.66 per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Natural gas was down 2% at $2.86 per 1 million British Thermal Units. The United States Oil Fund (USO) increased by 1.8%, while the United States Natural Gas Fund (UNG) was 1.8% lower.Gold futures for November advanced by 0.1% to $4,446.10 an ounce on the Comex. Silver futures lost by 0.4% to reach $66.77 an ounce. SPDR Gold Shares (GLD) was up by 0.8%, and the iShares Silver Trust (SLV) rose by 0.6%.
(Updates with economic data, recent oil price movement, world markets' overview and corporate stock movements.)US equity futures were edging lower pre-bell Wednesday as oil prices continued to rise amid escalating attacks between the US and Iran in the Middle East, with Brent crude futures surpassing $100 per barrel for the first time in over a month.Dow Jones Industrial Average futures were 0.7% lower, S&P 500 futures were down 0.4%, and Nasdaq futures were 0.6% lower.US Central Command said in a post on X Tuesday that it had destroyed five Iranian oil carriers. In response, Iran said it had attacked 10 ships in the Strait of Hormuz, Reuters reported. Iran-backed Houthi forces have also struck four cities in Saudi Arabia, causing fires at oil installations.The US is moving to block some Canadian imports of alcoholic beverages, motorcycles and dairy products in an escalation of the trade war between the two nations after Canada's retaliatory tariffs took effect on Tuesday. The import bans go into effect on Sept. 29.Oil prices were higher, with front-month global benchmark North Sea Brent crude up 2.9% at $100.78 per barrel and US West Texas Intermediate crude 3% higher at $95.83 per barrel.The Q2 Census Bureau services survey is slated to be released at 10 am ET.In other world markets, Japan's Nikkei closed 0.2% lower, Hong Kong's Hang Seng ended 0.2% lower, and China's Shanghai Composite finished 0.3% higher. Meanwhile, the UK's FTSE 100 was down 1.1%, and Germany's DAX index was 1.7% lower in Europe's early afternoon session.In equities, Meta Platforms (META) shares rose 5.2% after the company said it launched a new personal artificial intelligence agent to help users complete tasks and pursue goals. ASE Technology (ASX) stock was up 1% after the company reported net revenue of 82.25 billion New Taiwan dollars ($2.61 billion) in August, up 45.7% from a year earlier. BP (BP) shares were 1.7% higher after a Bloomberg report that the company has attracted interest from several potential buyers for its North Sea operations.On the losing side, Amazon (AMZN) stock was down 1.5% after a Bloomberg report that the company launched its first sterling bond sale Wednesday, with a four-part offering expected to price later in the day. HSBC (HSBC) shares dropped 1.6% after a Reuters report citing a company spokesperson that the company is shutting down its transaction services operations in Germany, leading to more than 300 job cuts.
Tech stocks were higher late Tuesday afternoon, with the State Street Technology Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLK) up 0.4% and the State Street SPDR S&P Semiconductor ETF (XSD) adding 1%. The Philadelphia Semiconductor index climbed up 1.5%.In corporate news, Intel (INTC) is expected to raise personal computer central processing unit prices by another 10% in early October, Digitimes reported, citing supply chain sources. Intel shares jumped past 9%.Palantir (PLTR) and Nebius (NBIS) agreed on a strategic partnership that will give Palantir commercial customers access to Nebius' AI-native compute infrastructure and cloud platform, the companies said Tuesday. Nebius shares gained past 7%, and Palantir was down 2.4%.Soluna (SLNH) shares popped past 5% after the company said it has energized the final 14 megawatts at Project Kati 1 in Willacy County, Texas, completing the 83-megawatt site.Qualcomm (QCOM) issued a warrant to an Amazon.com (AMZN) affiliate last week to acquire up to 25 million shares at $161.26 each, the chipmaker said. Qualcomm is also collaborating with Amazon to produce customized silicon for AI data centers and optical connectivity products. Qualcomm shares rose 2.4%, and Amazon was shedding 0.6%.
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