SoftBank Group shares fell as much as 10% Wednesday after the company said it sold its entire stake in U.S. chipmaker Nvidia for $5.83 billion, as the Japanese giant looks to capitalize on its “all in” bet on ChatGPT maker OpenAI. In its earnings report, SoftBank said it sold 32.1 million Nvidia shares in October, and also trimmed its T-Mobile position, raising $9.17 billion. Asia-Pacific markets mostly rose Wednesday, after Wall Street traded mixed on hopes that the record-setting U.S. government shutdown could be nearing an end and AI trade stumbling. Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 fell 0.26%, while the Topix added 0.35%. South Korea’s Kospi was flat, while the small-cap Kosdaq added 0.62%. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.13%. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index added 0.25%, while mainland’s CSI 300 was flat.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rallied to a fresh closing record Tuesday, while the Nasdaq Composite struggled as investors moved money away from technology stocks into other parts of the market that traded at lower valuations. The 30-stock Dow rose 559.33 points, or 1.18%, to close at 47,927.96, with those on Wall Street buying up shares of various blue-chip names, including health care giants Merck, Amgen and Johnson & Johnson. The S&P 500 also rose 0.21% to finish at 6,846.61. However, the tech-heavy Nasdaq lost 0.25% to settle at 23,468.30.
Gold prices edged above $4,130 per ounce on Wednesday, rising for the fourth straight session, supported by mounting expectations of an imminent Federal Reserve rate cut. Private data showed that US companies shed an average of 11,250 jobs per week in the four weeks ending October 25, highlighting ongoing labour market weakness and giving more room for further rate reductions. Traders currently price in roughly a 68% chance of a 25-bps rate cut next month. Investors are also awaiting a wave of official data as the US government moves to end its longest-ever shutdown. The restart, expected within days after the Senate approved a temporary funding measure, could ease some economic uncertainty and reduce demand for safe-haven assets.
Oil prices were little changed on Wednesday after rising in the previous session amid expectations that an end to the longest-ever U.S. government shutdown could boost demand in the world’s biggest crude consuming nation. Brent crude futures slipped 8 cents, or 0.12%, to $65.08 a barrel by 0106 GMT after gaining 1.7% on Tuesday. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude was down 7 cents, or 0.11%, to $60.97 a barrel, after climbing 1.5% in the previous session. The U.S. Republican-controlled House of Representatives is set to vote on Wednesday afternoon on a bill, already signed off by the Senate, that would restore funding to government agencies through January 30.
U.S. President Donald Trump faces a fresh test of his political diplomacy with India as longtime loyalist Sergio Gor takes up his post as ambassador in New Delhi, amid tension over trade and Russian oil imports, which have weighed on the two countries’ strategic ties. At Gor’s swearing-in ceremony on Monday, Trump said Washington may soon lower tariffs on Indian goods, suggesting both sides are moving closer to a trade deal. “The tariffs on India are really high because of the Russian oil [imports], but they have now substantially reduced Russian oil [imports], so we will be bringing the tariffs down,” Trump said. Trump said Gor’s priorities would include promoting investment in key U.S. Industries, increasing American energy exports and expanding security cooperation. “I am looking at Sergio to strengthen one of most important relationships and that is the strategic partnership with the Republic of India,” Trump said.
The Supreme Court on Tuesday extended until late Thursday night a pause in a federal judge’s order that the Trump administration pay full SNAP benefits for November. The two-day delay, which was objected to by Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, gives Congress time to pass a short-term funding bill that would reopen the U.S. government, which has been shut down since Oct. 1, and fund the SNAP program that provides 42 million Americans with food stamps. The Trump administration had argued in a filing Monday with the Supreme Court that the tangled legal dispute over the benefits could soon be rendered moot by Congress passing that bill this week.
The U.S. and Switzerland are getting close to signing a trade deal to lower tariffs of 39% that President Donald Trump slapped on the country in August. The president confirmed on Monday that White House officials were “working on a deal to get the tariffs a little lower.” “I haven’t set any number, but we’re going to be working on something to help Switzerland,” he told reporters in the Oval Office. “We hit Switzerland very hard. But we want Switzerland to remain successful,” he added, saying the country had been a “very good ally.” The tariff on Swiss exports could be cut to 15%, matching the rate that was imposed on EU exports to the U.S., according to various media reports citing sources close to the talks. Bloomberg reported that a deal could be finalized within weeks.
The U.S. economy should return to growth of 3% to 4% by the first quarter of 2026, White House economic adviser Kevin Hassett said on Tuesday. Hassett cited economists’ estimates that the government shutdown would knock about 1 percentage point to 1.5 percentage points off growth rates that had reached close to 4% during the past year. "The question is, when does it all come back. And I think that some of the stuff is lost forever, and some of it isn’t. But I would guess that by the first quarter of next year, we’ll be back at the 3% or 4% growth pace," Hassett said in an interview. Economists have warned that weaker growth in consumption and global trade, along with slow job growth, higher unemployment and stickier inflation are marring the U.S. economic outlook, although surging business investment could provide a key offset.
Shares of SoftBank Group plunged as much as 10% Wednesday after the Japanese giant said it had sold its entire stake in U.S. chip giant Nvidia for $5.83 billion. The capital will be used to fund SoftBank’s $22.5 billion investment in ChatGPT parent OpenAI, a person familiar with the matter said. Shares of SoftBank Group last traded more than 6% lower. In its earnings report, SoftBank said it sold 32.1 million Nvidia shares in October. It also trimmed its T-Mobile position, raising $9.17 billion. “We want to provide a lot of investment opportunities for investors, while we can still maintain financial strength,” said SoftBank’s chief financial officer, Yoshimitsu Goto, during an investor presentation. While the decision to unload Nvidia shares may have caught some investors off guard, it isn’t SoftBank’s first exit from the U.S. chip heavyweight.
AMD CEO Lisa Su said on Tuesday that the company’s overall revenue growth would expand to about 35% per year over the next three to five years, driven by “insatiable” demand for artificial intelligence chips. Su said that much of that would be captured by the company’s AI data center business, which it expects to grow at about 80% per year over the same time period, on track to hit tens of billions of dollars of sales by 2027. “This is what we see as our potential given the customer traction, both with the announced customers, as well as customers that are currently working very closely with us,” Su told analysts. Ultimately, Su said that AMD could be able to achieve “double-digit” share in the data center AI chip market over the next three to five years.
Michael Burry, the investor made famous by “The Big Short” who recently roiled the market with a tech short bet, is accusing some of America’s largest technology companies of using aggressive accounting to pad their profits from the artificial intelligence boom. In a post Monday on X, the Scion Asset Management founder alleged that “hyperscalers” — the major cloud and AI infrastructure providers — are understating depreciation expenses by estimating that chips will have a longer life cycle than is realistic. “Understating depreciation by extending useful life of assets artificially boosts earnings - one of the more common frauds of the modern era,” Burry wrote. “Massively ramping capex through purchase of Nvidia chips/servers on a 2-3 yr product cycle should not result in the extension of useful lives of compute equipment. Yet this is exactly what all the hyperscalers have done.”
Paramount Skydance shares rose 8% on Tuesday in a vote of investor confidence for new CEO David Ellison’s pitch on remaking the storied media house for the streaming era. In its first set of results since the merger of Paramount and the production firm behind Mission: Impossible and Top Gun, the company announced job cuts and laid out plans to invest $1.5 billion in its streaming and studio divisions, with $30 billion in revenue expected by 2026. Ellison, founder of the tech-focused Skydance Media, has been rushing to make sure Paramount Skydance is at the forefront of the "generational transformation" in media - he has secured a Timothee Chalamet-led heist film, signed "South Park" creators Matt Stone and Trey Parker to a five-year agreement and struck a deal with Activision to bring "Call of Duty" to theatres.
Papa John’s stock fell 6% on Tuesday after a report suggesting the pizza chain was nearing a deal to be taken private disappeared from ABC Money’s website. The pizza chain’s shares had surged as much as 19% on Monday following circulation of a report from ABC Money UK claiming Papa John’s was close to an all-cash acquisition by a consortium led by TriArtisan Capital Advisors. The report, which cited "individuals familiar with the negotiations," stated that the investor group had offered $65 per share, valuing Papa John’s at approximately $2.7 billion. However, the report is no longer available on the outlet’s website as of Tuesday, contributing to the stock’s decline. A person familiar with Papa John’s who spoke to Bloomberg News on condition of anonymity indicated there were no discussions with TriArtisan, contradicting the original report’s claims.
Xiaomi Corp shares rose on Wednesday after recent government data showed the company’s electric vehicles outsold those of Tesla Inc in China in October, even as broader Chinese EV sales weakened. Xiaomi rose as much as 4% to HK$44.62, helping drive a 0.5% rise in the Hang Seng index. Xiaomi sold a total 48,654 units of its SU7 Sedan and YU7 SUV in October, data from the China Passenger Car Association showed this week. This was far greater than the 26,006 vehicles sold by Tesla in the month. The U.S. EV maker’s sales also slumped to their lowest level in three years, as its recent attempts to cut prices and update an ageing lineup yielded few results. Xiaomi’s EV sales rose to a record high, showing strength after the electronics giant marked a strong debut in the EV sector in 2024. Its two models are also aimed at directly competing with Tesla’s Model Y and Model X.
Airlines cancelled 1,200 flights on Tuesday as air traffic control staffing improved significantly ahead of an expected end to a record-setting government shutdown as soon as Wednesday. After airlines cancelled 2,400 flights and delayed 9,600 on Monday, airlines delayed just 1,700 on Tuesday, the best performance for the industry in recent days. Last week, the Federal Aviation Administration instructed airlines to cut 4% of daily flights starting on Friday, November 7, at 40 major airports because of air traffic control staffing issues. Reductions in flights rose to 6% on Tuesday. Flight reductions were set to hit 8% on Thursday and 10% on Friday, November 14. Airlines and the FAA are in discussions about when and how the cuts will be reduced and eventually eliminated as a record-setting 42-day government shutdown nears an end.