Business and Finance News - 7.31.24

The UK's Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) is investigating Alphabet's multi-billion dollar investment in AI firm Anthropic for potential antitrust issues, including a $2 billion commitment made last October. The CMA aims to determine if the partnership creates a "relevant merger situation" that could significantly lessen competition, with a decision expected post-comment period ending August 13. (Quartz)

*Anthropic - Anthropic is an artificial intelligence (AI) research company focused on building reliable, interpretable, and steerable AI systems.

*Alphabet (GOOG)- Alphabet Inc. is a multinational conglomerate and the parent company of Google. It operates through various subsidiaries, primarily focusing on technology and internet-related services and products.

Delta Air Lines hired attorney David Boies to seek compensation from CrowdStrike and Microsoft after a major IT outage led to nearly 7,000 flight cancellations and over 176,000 refund requests. CrowdStrike's shares have fallen by one-third since the outage, reaching their lowest level in 2024. (CNBC)

*CrowdStrike (CRWD) - CrowdStrike is a cybersecurity company that provides various services and products to protect businesses and organizations from digital threats.

*Delta Air Lines (DAL) - Delta Air Lines, commonly referred to as Delta, is one of the major airlines in the United States and a global leader in air travel.

JetBlue Airways' stock surged 22% after reporting a better-than-expected profit, despite a 80% decline in net income to $25 million and a 7% drop in revenue to $2.5 billion. The airline is refocusing its strategy post-Spirit Airlines merger, cutting 50 routes to improve profitability while expecting a 5-10% revenue decline this year. (Quartz)

*JetBlue (JBLU) - JetBlue Airways is a major American low-cost airline that operates over 1,000 flights daily and serves more than 100 domestic and international destinations.

Meta has agreed to a $1.4 billion settlement with Texas over a lawsuit concerning its facial recognition software, specifically the "Tag Suggestions" feature, which allegedly violated privacy protections. The settlement, announced by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, marks the largest ever obtained by a single state, with the first payment of $500 million due next month. (TechCrunch)

*Meta Platforms (META) - Meta, formerly known as Facebook Inc., is a multinational technology conglomerate that operates a variety of social media platforms and technology products.

Perplexity launched the “Publishers’ Program” to share ad revenue with partners like Time, Der Spiegel, and Fortune following plagiarism accusations. Under this program, publishers will receive ad revenue for their content, a free one-year Enterprise Pro subscription, and insights via Scalepost.ai, with the initial partners receiving especially favorable terms. (The Verge)

*Perplexity AI - Perplexity AI is a company specializing in AI-powered search and knowledge discovery.

Here’s how the major indexes did yesterday:

• Dow Jones Industrial Average: 40,743.33 +203.40 (+0.50%)

• S&P 500: 5,436.44 -27.10 (-0.50%)

• Nasdaq Composite: 17,147.42 -222.78 (-1.28%)

• Russell 2000: 2,243.14 +7.81 (+0.35%)

• CBOE Volatility Index (VIX): 17.69 +1.09 (+6.57%)

Here’s how leading market ETFs did yesterday:

• SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (SPY): 542.00 -2.76 (-0.51%)

• iShares Core S&P 500 ETF (IVV): 544.82 -2.95 (-0.54%)

• Invesco QQQ Trust (QQQ): 457.53 -6.37 (-1.37%)

• Vanguard S&P 500 ETF (VOO): 498.08 -2.62 (-0.52%)

• Vanguard Total Stock Market ETF (VTI): 268.59 -1.12 (-0.42%)

Here’s how The Magnificent Seven did yesterday:

• Microsoft (MSFT) [3.143T]: 422.92 -3.81 (-0.89%)

• Apple (AAPL) [3.355T]: 218.80 +0.56 (+0.26%)

• Nvidia (NVDA) [2.556T]: 103.73 -7.86 (-7.04%)

• Alphabet (GOOG) [2.116T]: 171.86 +0.73 (+0.43%)

• Amazon (AMZN) [1.891T]: 181.71 -1.49 (-0.81%)

• Meta Platforms (META) [1.175T]: 463.19 -2.52 (-0.54%)

• Tesla (TSLA) [710B]: 222.62 -9.48 (-4.08%)

Here’s how the major cryptocurrencies did yesterday:

• Bitcoin (BTC): $66,285.07 (3:00PM PST on 7/30/24)

• Ethereum (ETH): $3,282.51 (3:00PM PST on 7/30/24)

• Solano (SOL): $179.35 (3:00PM PST on 7/30/24)