Author: josh
The U.S. economy is still managing to avoid a recession, but just barely, with its fate likely resting on California and New York, according to Moody’s Analytics chief economist Mark Zandi. In social media posts on Wednesday, he reiterated his warning that states representing nearly one-third of nationwide GDP are already in a recession or at high risk of one. Another third is “treading water,” while the rest are still growing but suffering from less momentum. While his latest assessment largely echoes what he said over the summer and earlier this month, Zandi moved the industrial bellwether state of Michigan…
Microsoft will not emulate the strategies of Elon Musk’s xAI or Sam Altman’s OpenAI in creating “simulated erotica” for its chatbot users, according to the company’s CEO of AI, who warned the bots’ capabilities can be “very dangerous.” “That’s just not a service we’re going to provide,” Microsoft AI CEO Mustafa Suleyman said at the Paley International Council Summit in Menlo Park, Calif., on Thursday. “Other companies will build that.” Earlier this year, Musk, CEO of xAI, said in an X post the startup’s AI bot, Grok, could take on the form of a companion, such as a young woman…
The trail of debts — and claims made trying to collect them — that dogged Jim Justice well before he became West Virginia’s two-term Republican governor has ballooned since the former billionaire became a U.S. senator earlier this year. Justice was elected last November to the Senate seat vacated by the retiring Joe Manchin, a Democrat who became an independent in 2024 near the end of his second full term. Justice, who owns dozens of businesses that include coal and agricultural operations, had a fortune estimated at $1.9 billion last decade by Forbes magazine. Forbes stripped his billionaire title in 2021, when Justice’s worth…
Chen ZhaoChen Zhao is the head of economics research, where she produces research on the housing market for public and internal audiences. Previously, she was an executive director leading housing finance and financial markets research at the JPMorgan Chase Institute. Prior to joining JPMCI, Chen was an economics consultant at Analysis Group, Inc., where she worked on financial litigation cases and led teams conducting health economics and outcomes research on behalf of pharmaceutical companies. While in graduate school, Chen was with the Center for Economic Studies and the Social Economic and Housing Statistics Division at the US Census Bureau, where…
Today, Sahil Bloom is a New York Times bestselling author helping everyone from office workers to billionaires redefine their perceptions of success. But being a wealth guru wasn’t what he first set out to do in life; while studying at Stanford University he played for the baseball team, with a promising athletic career ahead of him. After an injury derailed his MLB dreams, Bloom turned to investing, asking rich people in his circle for professional advice. Less than a decade later, his hustle had paid off. “By the time I turned 30, I had achieved every marker of what I…
Inflation may be increasing at a slower pace than expected, the markets might be cheering, and the Fed will likely soon be cutting, but Diane Swonk isn’t popping champagne. The veteran economist says the economy “looks better than it feels” because the very data used to measure it is eroding, and the illusion of resilience could shatter heading into the fourth quarter. “The only groups that feel good about the economy now are making over $200,000 in the surveys and have large stock portfolios,” Swonk said. September’s Consumer Price Index showed a 0.3% monthly rise and a 3% year-over-year rate,…
In This Article The real estate market is hot! No, it’s cold! Interest rates are too high! Rates are the lowest in three years! Sometimes, it’s hard to know what to believe when it comes to the ever-volatile U.S. real estate market. With a seeming myriad of conflicting reports released one after the other, you could be forgiven for ignoring them all and going with your gut and basic math, calculating cash flow versus expenses and making a move. However, there does appear to be one stat that various real estate economists can agree on: Fall 2025 could be the…
Meta’s $30 billion debt-financed deal for a gigantic AI data center in Louisiana is an example of how “the landscape has suddenly gotten a lot, lot, lot more complicated” for tech stocks going forward, Morgan Stanley Chief Investment Officer, Wealth Management, Lisa Shalett told Fortune. The Meta agreement is the largest private debt deal ever, according to The Wall Street Journal. Eighty percent of the Hyperion data center in Richland Parish, Louisiana, will be owned by Blue Owl Capital, with Meta retaining only a 20% stake. The site will technically be owned by a special-purpose vehicle, and thus will not…
As Securities and Exchange Commission defense counsel, we can attest first-hand to the dread our clients experience when we inform them that we have received a “Wells Notice” from the Division of Enforcement at the SEC. The Wells Notice, which serves as the civil equivalent of a criminal grand jury target letter, informs the recipients that the Division is prepared to recommend to the Commissioners that they be sued. The putative defendants then learn that they have only two weeks to submit a written defense or “Wells Submission,” that may or may not be read by commissioners, and that the price of…
Good morning. Intel, once the world’s leading chipmaker, has struggled in recent years to keep pace with the rise of artificial intelligence computing. Under new CEO Lip‑Bu Tan, and bolstered by government and private investment, the tech company is pursuing an ambitious turnaround. “We took meaningful steps this quarter to strengthen our balance sheet, including accelerated funding from the U.S. government and investments by Nvidia and SoftBank Group that increase our operational flexibility and demonstrate the critical role we play in the ecosystem,” Intel CFO David Zinsner said Thursday in a statement accompanying the company’s Q3 2025 earnings report. Intel reported Q3 2025 revenue of $13.7 billion, up about 3% year-over-year, and non-GAAP earnings per…