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Remember the AI-generated video of Will Smith shoveling spaghetti into his mouth? In the less than three years since that video was created, AI capabilities have advanced enough to now produce some scarily accurate renderings. So, what's in store for AI video in the next three years? Anthony Wood, CEO of Roku, predicts that we'll see the first "100% AI-generated hit movie." Though the Federal Reserve was served grand jury subpoenas from the Justice Department, the S&P 500 climbed to a second consecutive record close on Monday as traders shook off the threat to Fed independence. The Nasdaq 100 and Russell 2000 also rose. Silver and gold surged to record highs after Fed Chair Jerome Powell explicitly said that the executive branch is attempting to use judicial tools to interfere with the conduct of monetary policy. |
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Apple has selected Google's Gemini model as part of a multiyear partnership to power its revamped, AI-powered Siri, set to launch later this year. |
- Apple first announced a revamped AI Siri back in June 2024 but failed to execute on many of its promises of personalized features and deep system integration. The newest iteration of Siri was expected this spring. Bloomberg previously reported that Apple plans to pay Google $1 billion a year to use its AI model to power Siri.
- "This is what the Street has been waiting for with the elephant in the room for Cupertino revolving around its invisible AI strategy," said analyst Dan Ives, calling the move a "major validation moment for Google as a premier foundation model and for Apple as a stepping stone to accelerate its AI strategy into 2026 and beyond."
- With this news, the iPhone maker has ticked one of the four boxes that Ives said would be integral to the stock's success in 2026.
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Google gets a new business line and Apple gets to be unashamed of its phones' assistants. Everyone's happy, right? Wrong! |
- "This seems like an unreasonable concentration of power for Google, given that the also have Android and Chrome," wrote Elon Musk, who owns an AI company with an AI model that was not picked to be in the iPhone.
- Musk has previously sued Apple, accusing the company of unfairly favoring OpenAI's ChatGPT — with which Apple also has a more limited AI partnership — in its App Store.
- Long considered the AI front-runner, OpenAI, which was also in the running to power Siri, has been facing increased competition from Google.
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Given that Apple is very assiduous about its reputation, the company's lack of interest in xAI's offerings can best be understood in the context of Grok's increasingly serious image problem. Google, which has been riding high on the stellar reception of its latest Gemini model, briefly notched a $4 trillion market cap on the news. Apple hit that notable milestone in 2025 but has since fallen and is currently worth $3.8 trillion. |
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America's collective credit card balance is ballooning, an issue that President Trump is now focused on. Taking aim at credit card providers and banks on social media on Sunday, the commander and Truth-Socialer in chief said that Americans were getting "ripped off," which wasn't great news for credit card giants. A potential cap on interest rates would be a serious upheaval of financial markets, and the 10% cap Trump proposed is far, far below what the average APR has been for the past 30 years, as you can see. For now, the consensus among experts seems to be that the proposal is unlikely to make it through Congress, with analysts at Jefferies noting that there's "no executive authority" to implement such a cap. Nonetheless… |
- Credit card giants Visa and Mastercard dropped on Monday.
- It's casting a pall over this week's bank earnings, with JPMorgan, Citi, Bank of America, and Wells Fargo all ending Monday in the red.
- It "would severely hurt the revenue and profit of Capital One, Synchrony Financial, and Bread Financial, with a smaller impact on American Express," Bloomberg Intelligence consumer finance analysts wrote. "The companies would likely react by raising fees and rapidly reducing credit availability, especially for below-prime customers."
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The bright side? Financial services companies that offer "buy now, pay later" options, such as Affirm and Klarna, could see an uptick as they end up with a bigger piece of the lower-income and less creditworthy American pie. |
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While the intention to stimulate growth and keep more money in the pockets of consumers rather than lenders might be positive, it could unintentionally push vulnerable consumers toward unregulated lenders and limit the availability of credit more generally. Also, it's important to note the president isn't the first to float this idea, and there are people in Congress who would support it from both sides of the aisle. |
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A company tied to massively popular TikTok star Khaby Lame has been purchased for $975 million, and on paper, the Senegalese-Italian influencer's position is worth way more than that. On paper. Important context |
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- 🎬 Oscars: This weekend's Golden Globes saw "Hamnet" defeat "Sinners" and "Sentimental Value" for Best Drama and "One Battle After Another" beat out "Marty Supreme" and "Wicked" in Best Comedy or Musical, dealing a blow to the Oscar chances of the losers. "One Battle After Another" remains the film to beat, with markets* pricing in an 80% chance of victory.
- 🏆 Best Actor: One race where the dust has settled after Sunday's Globes is Best Actor, where the victorious Timothée Chalamet's chances of taking home the Oscar jumped from 63% to 79% following his defeat of Leonardo DiCaprio.
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*Event contracts are offered through Robinhood Derivatives, LLC — probabilities referenced or sourced from KalshiEx LLC or ForecastEx LLC. |
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- December Consumer Price Index
- Earnings expected from JPMorgan Chase, Bank of New York Mellon, and Delta
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