Hi there, this is your daily ☕️ Finpresso.
In today's newsletter:
🤖 Google launches Gemini agent that works like a colleague
🛂 US bars Microsoft from green-card sponsorship
📡 SpaceX buys spectrum to challenge big telecom
📉 OpenAI's revenue runs $20bn below forecast
🚕 Waymo raises first-ever $5B loan for expansion
Plus: 🌍 10 macro stories, 🏢 9 corporate stories, and 📑 6 research & reports.
| 🤖 Google launches Gemini agent that works like a colleague LINK |
- Google launched Gemini Spark, an AI agent for businesses that can take on a full assignment, figure out the steps, and deliver a finished product via Google Cloud, pushing Alphabet into a market OpenAI and Meta are already chasing.
- Alphabet shares rose 2.2% after Thursday's launch, as Google positioned the service to run across Gmail, Docs and Sheets plus Microsoft 365 and Slack, keep working memory across devices, and continue long tasks even after a laptop is switched off.
- In an unusual move, the platform runs on both Google's Gemini and Anthropic's Claude, picking the cheaper or more capable model per task, which Google says lets companies control costs while keeping their data and settings if they switch AI engines.
| 🛂 US bars Microsoft from green-card sponsorship LINK |
- The Trump administration has barred Microsoft and Adobe from sponsoring H-1B visa workers for green cards, Vice President JD Vance announced yesterday, accusing the companies of prioritizing foreign hires over Americans.
- Vance, who leads the administration's anti-fraud task force, cited Microsoft's decision to cut thousands of workers earlier this year as evidence of fraud; Labor Secretary Keith Sonderling separately said his department is suspending Adobe from the program.
- The move is part of a wider crackdown on alleged work-visa abuse, with Vance telling Microsoft it must "hire great American workers," signaling tighter scrutiny of how large tech employers staff their US operations.
| 📡 SpaceX buys spectrum to challenge big telecom LINK |
- SpaceX agreed on Thursday to buy a nationwide airwaves portfolio from digital-infrastructure firm Grain Management, a move to turn its Starlink satellite service into a full mobile carrier in the US and take on the big phone companies.
- The deal, which needs FCC approval, covers up to 14 megahertz of low-band 800 MHz spectrum that SpaceX says fills a key technical gap for Starlink Mobile; the news sent AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile shares lower in extended trading.
- Analysts call the spectrum still limited, noting SpaceX would need ground towers for reliable urban coverage; SpaceX shares rose about 2% after hours, recovering from a 4% drop during the regular session, with Starlink its only profitable unit so far.
| 📉 OpenAI's revenue runs $20bn below forecast LINK |
- OpenAI's annualized revenue was running near $50 billion in late September, about $20 billion below the figure widely cited by investors and analysts, according to reports from the Financial Times and CNBC.
- The gap reflects accounting, not lost sales: the higher number counted gross revenue from partner companies to make OpenAI comparable to Anthropic, while the business itself grew more than 70% in the third quarter.
- The disclosure dragged down AI-linked stocks, with Oracle off more than 5% and the Nasdaq down 1.4%, as OpenAI pursues a new funding round and eyes a 2027 IPO.
| 🚕 Waymo raises first-ever $5B loan for expansion LINK |
- Waymo, Alphabet's self-driving unit, has closed its first-ever debt deal, a $5 billion loan from lenders including PIMCO, Blackstone, and Sixth Street, to fund expansion in existing cities and new markets.
- The loan, with Goldman Sachs as sole lead bookrunner, marks a shift from Waymo's reliance on parent-company and investor equity; in February it raised $16 billion that lifted its valuation to $126 billion, with Alphabet still majority owner.
- Waymo says the financing strengthens its balance sheet as a "scaling commercial enterprise" now operating in 15 markets, with testing underway in London and Tokyo, even as U.S. regulators probe robotaxi incidents involving school buses and a child struck at about 6 mph.
🌍 Macro News
- WTO lifted 2026 goods-trade growth forecast to 3.9%, citing AI demand. LINK
- Waller expects more Fed rate hikes if data matches his forecast. LINK
- Oil fell after Trump ruled out attacking Iran before next month's elections. LINK
- China resumed fuel exports, easing pressure on record-high global diesel prices. LINK
- Senator Blumenthal pressed Cantor Fitzgerald over its ties to Tether. LINK
- NFL urged Supreme Court to let states regulate prediction markets. LINK
- China's central bank rejected claims Beijing suppresses yuan to boost exports. LINK
- Gold outlook remains capped between $4,030 and $4,225 by yields and dollar. LINK
- ESMA gave crypto platforms three months to remove noncompliant stablecoin exposure. LINK
- US jobless claims stayed near 57-year lows for a fourth week. LINK
🏢 Corporate News
- Airtel Money's £5.3 billion London debut is city's largest listing since Wise. LINK
- Apple cut iPhone 18 Pro component orders 15% as costs dampened demand. LINK
- Nvidia-backed Firmus struggles to attract investors ahead of AI data-center IPO. LINK
- Securitize launched Solana-traded tokens representing 12 US stocks, backed by shares. LINK
- PepsiCo cut its profit outlook as weak demand and costs weighed. LINK
- Yandex shut a data center after a drone strike sparked fire. LINK
- Wells Fargo discussed crypto-trading liquidity with Kraken parent Payward. LINK
- OCC fined American Express $350 million over longstanding anti-money-laundering failures. LINK
- Viatris agreed to buy Pacira for $1.65 billion in cash. LINK
📈 Stocks
| ▲ Biggest winners |
| CoStar Group rose 8% after securing platform subscriptions from every major commercial real estate brokerage in Canada. LINK |
| Flutter Entertainment rose 8% after Citi upgraded Flutter to Buy with a $91 price target. LINK |
| PBF Energy rose 7% after Mizuho raised its price target to $89 from $65. LINK |
| ▼ Biggest losers |
| Astera Labs fell 9% after Needham downgraded the stock to Hold from Buy. LINK |
| CoreWeave fell 8% after Blue Owl Capital failed to secure $4 billion in debt financing for their Lancaster data center project. LINK |
| IREN fell 8% after a SemiAnalysis report flagged infrastructure and disclosure concerns. LINK |
📑 Research & Reports
- IMF warned thin, volatile tokenized markets could amplify financial risks. LINK
- Tariffs drove price increases across 67 everyday-goods categories, New York Fed found. LINK
- Investors cited rising rates and bond yields as top global-growth risks. LINK
- Digital assets attracted $50 billion this year as ETF inflows strengthened. LINK
- AI-using small businesses reported stronger hiring and sales optimism than peers. LINK
- Tokenization could benefit blockchain fee-collecting firms more than bitcoin or ether. LINK