Warren Buffett steps down as Berkshire chairman

Hi there, this is your daily ☕️ Finpresso.

In today's newsletter:

🎩 Warren Buffett steps down as Berkshire chairman

🤖 Nvidia's Huang sees chip demand doubling in 2026

⚖️ Microsoft called AI scraping the 'largest theft of labor'

🇯🇵 Yen sinks to two-week low as BOJ hike disappoints

📈 SEC clears path for tokenized US stocks

Plus: 🌍 9 macro news, 🏢 11 corporate news, and 📑 6 research & reports.

🎩 Warren Buffett steps down as Berkshire chairman LINK

• Warren Buffett, 96, is stepping down as chairman of Berkshire Hathaway, the roughly $1 trillion conglomerate he ran since 1965, becoming chairman emeritus while staying on the board, with son Howard Buffett taking the chairman role.
• The move deepens the succession begun nine months ago when Greg Abel, 64, became CEO; under Buffett, Berkshire delivered a 19.7% compounded annual return, nearly double the S&P 500, with $44.5 billion in operating earnings last year.
• Berkshire shares are up just 1% in 2026 versus the S&P 500's 11%-plus gain, pressured by rising oil and investor appetite for growth stocks, leaving Abel under pressure to deploy the $365.5 billion cash pile after lifting buybacks to $4.5 billion last quarter.

🤖 Nvidia's Huang sees chip demand doubling in 2026 LINK

• Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang told reporters in Scotland that the company expects to ship twice as many chips over the next year, powered by demand for artificial intelligence across industries and economies.
• The projection lifted Nvidia shares more than 2% to roughly $218 yesterday, part of a tech rally that pushed the S&P 500 up 1.1% and the Nasdaq up 1.6%, with Intel gaining 9%.
• Huang reiterated a forecast for 70% revenue growth in the year ending January 2028, near $673 billion in sales, and said revenue could double if production keeps pace with demand.

⚖️ Microsoft called AI scraping the 'largest theft of labor' LINK

• Newly unsealed filings in The New York Times' copyright suit against OpenAI and Microsoft show a Microsoft executive privately calling the companies' AI training practices "the largest theft of labor in human history."
• The disclosures undercut the "fair use" defense central to the case, citing Microsoft's own data showing its Copilot cut click-through rates to the Times' website by as much as 93% versus traditional Bing search, a decline one internal document called a "doom loop."
• The filings quantify the copying for the first time, alleging OpenAI's datasets held more than 91,692 Times, Daily News, and Center for Investigative Reporting works, plus a separate dataset with at least 160,903 unique publisher works and 2 million documents from nytimes.com.

🇯🇵 Yen sinks to two-week low as BOJ hike disappoints LINK

• The yen dropped to a two-week low against the dollar, with USD/JPY climbing to near 156.95, after the Bank of Japan's quarter-point rate hike failed to satisfy investors betting on tighter policy.
• The BOJ lifted its benchmark rate by 25 basis points to 1.25% in a 7-2 vote, the highest level since April 1995, but the move wasn't enough to reverse the yen's slide against the dollar.
• A wide gap between US and Japanese interest rates, reinforced by the Fed's recent hike, keeps demand tilted toward the higher-yielding dollar, with traders now watching Governor Kazuo Ueda's press conference for signals on further tightening.

📈 SEC clears path for tokenized US stocks LINK

• The SEC issued an order Thursday creating an immediate regulatory pathway for trading platforms to offer tokenized versions of U.S. stocks, using its existing authority after crypto's market-structure bill stalled in the Senate two days earlier.
• The five-year "Innovation Exemption" grants platforms and liquidity providers relief to run tokenized stock trading, on the condition that token holders keep the same rights as regular shareholders and that companies can object to their shares being tokenized.
• Coinbase, Robinhood, Gemini and Kraken already offer tokenized equities offshore but not yet to U.S. customers; wider adoption could enable 24/7 trading, though the SEC warns of thinner liquidity and sharper price swings, plus an unresolved fight over voting rights.

🌍 Macro News

• CFTC declines enforcement against crypto software developers routing users to regulated derivatives markets. LINK
• BoE holds 3.75% for sixth consecutive meeting amid persistent inflation pressures. LINK
• ECB's Vujčić says energy prices dominate eurozone inflation and rate expectations. LINK
• Oil prices slipped as prospects for increased Saudi supply outweighed border strikes. LINK
• US Treasury sanctioned Iranian crypto exchange BitBank over alleged IRGC bitcoin transfers. LINK
• Trump called the Fed's quarter-point hike politically motivated despite persistent above-target inflation. LINK
• US initial jobless claims fell to 196,000, lowest unadjusted level since 1969. LINK
• Venezuela and opposition near deal to move $4 billion gold to New York. LINK
• Binance declined reports Lagarde blocked its Greek license bid, reaffirming MiCA commitment. LINK

🏢 Corporate News

• Huawei will launch Ascend 960DT AI chip in early 2027, ahead of schedule. LINK
• Generac shares surged after Amazon agreed to purchase up to $8 billion generators. LINK
• Crusoe raised $3.9 billion, reaching a $30.9 billion valuation in Series F. LINK
• Anthropic opened biology lab to conduct hands-on drug discovery experiments. LINK
• Bolt and Lucid plan at least 25,000 autonomous vehicles across Europe. LINK
• CoreWeave shares fell after announcing convertible bonds and stock offering for expansion. LINK
• Nebius shares rose after report Nvidia-backed provider plans higher AI computing prices. LINK
• Revolut is considering dual London and New York listings for deeper investor access. LINK
• Tata leadership dispute escalated after Noel Tata called chairman's reappointment illegal. LINK
• S&P Global agreed to acquire OpenZeppelin, expanding blockchain risk assessment capabilities. LINK
• Coinbase and Stablecore will enable banks to offer integrated crypto services. LINK

📈 Stocks

▲ Biggest winners

Generac Holdlings rose 18% after securing a $2.4B Amazon data center generator supply agreement. LINK

IonQ rose 10% after announcing a $100 million strategic investment from Amazon Web Services. LINK

Forgent Power Solutions rose 9% after Q4 revenue rose 94.3% to $461.67 million and EPS of $0.25 beat forecasts, with management guiding fiscal 2027 revenue of $2.4–$2.6 billion and EPS of $1.26–$1.40 well above consensus. LINK

▼ Biggest losers

DaVita fell 6% after Q3 earnings miss and lowered full-year guidance. LINK

CoreWeave fell 4% after short seller Iceberg Research disclosed a new short position. LINK

MasTec fell 8% after Q2 Communications segment EBITDA fell 11.6%. LINK

📑 Research & Reports

• OpenAI and Anthropic generate ten times Chinese AI models' combined revenue. LINK
• Goldman strategist warned technology stocks face an earnings bubble amid costly AI spending. LINK
• Government-backed hackers now produce about half malicious code on public blockchains. LINK
• Credit card installment usage surged, strengthening issuers' lead over buy-now-pay-later services. LINK
• JPMorgan says bitcoin could outperform gold if investors unwind heavy protective hedges. LINK
• JPMorgan abandoned its oil forecast, citing uncertainty over Iran conflict's endgame and Hormuz. LINK