Bozoma Saint John, former Chief Marketing Offiver of Netflix and former chief brand officer of Uber, discusses the tech and media landscape and the Super Bowl with Romaine Bostick and Katie Greifeld on The Close. She says evolution is key to everything. (Source: Bloomberg)
Bozoma Saint John, former Chief Marketing Offiver of Netflix and former chief brand officer of Uber, discusses the tech and media landscape and the Super Bowl with Romaine Bostick and Katie Greifeld on The Close. She says evolution is key to everything. (Source: Bloomberg)
"He's been the best player on the pitch." On the night Andreas Skov Olsen scored his first Rangers goal, sealing a win that took the Ibrox side to within three points of the Scottish Premiership summit, it was the winger on the opposite flank who staked his claim to become a guaranteed starter in Danny Rohl's side. In the aftermath of Sunday's goalless draw at Hibernian, Rangers' lack of creativit...
"He's been the best player on the pitch." On the night Andreas Skov Olsen scored his first Rangers goal, sealing a win that took the Ibrox side to within three points of the Scottish Premiership summit, it was the winger on the opposite flank who staked his claim to become a guaranteed starter in Danny Rohl's side. In the aftermath of Sunday's goalless draw at Hibernian, Rangers' lack of creativity from open play came into focus again. Teenage Mikey Moore, signed on loan from Tottenham Hotspur in the summer, was the only bright spark in Rohl's attack during a blunt display in Leith. It was a cameo that had sections of the Rangers support questioning why the 18-year-old had not started, but he was presented that opportunity against Kilmarnock three days later. Within three minutes, the teenager had perfectly threaded a pass through for Djeidi Gassama to win a spot-kick, resulting in an early red card for the visitors and a goal from captain James Tavernier. Terrorising the Kilmarnock defence throughout, the Spurs youngster then registered a second-half assist for Olsen before capping off a sublime performance with a goal that proved to be the final kick of a thumping 5-1 win. "It's what he deserves," former Rangers striker Steven Naismith said after Moore's left-foot strike hit the far corner.
The US Supreme Court on Wednesday allowed California to use a new voter-approved congressional map that is favourable to Democrats in this year’s elections, rejecting a last-ditch plea from state Republicans and the Trump administration. No justices dissented from the brief order denying the appeal without explanation, which is common on the court’s emergency docket. The justices had previously al...
The US Supreme Court on Wednesday allowed California to use a new voter-approved congressional map that is favourable to Democrats in this year’s elections, rejecting a last-ditch plea from state Republicans and the Trump administration. No justices dissented from the brief order denying the appeal without explanation, which is common on the court’s emergency docket. The justices had previously allowed Texas’ Republican-friendly map to be used in 2026, despite a lower-court ruling that it likely discriminates on the basis of race. Advertisement Conservative Justice Samuel Alito wrote in December that it appeared both states had adopted new maps for political advantage, which the high court has previously ruled cannot be a basis for a federal lawsuit. Republicans, joined by the Trump administration, claimed the California map improperly relied on race as well. But a lower court disagreed by a 2-1 vote. The Justice Department and White House did not immediately respond to messages seeking comment. Community members rally in Fort Worth in June 2025 to protest against the proposed redistricting of Tarrant County, Texas. Photo: TNS The justices’ unsigned order keeps in place districts that are designed to flip up to five seats now held by Republicans, part of a tit-for-tat nationwide redistricting battle spurred by President Donald Trump, with control of Congress on the line in midterm elections.
Image source: The Motley Fool. Wednesday, Feb. 4, 2026 at 5:30 p.m. ET Call participants Chairman and Chief Executive Officer — Ronald F. Clarke Chief Financial Officer — Peter R. Walker Head of Investor Relations — Jim Eglseder Takeaways Q4 revenue -- $1.248 billion, representing 21% growth and above internal expectations, propelled mainly by cross-border and Alpha segment performance. -- $1.248 ...
Image source: The Motley Fool. Wednesday, Feb. 4, 2026 at 5:30 p.m. ET Call participants Chairman and Chief Executive Officer — Ronald F. Clarke Chief Financial Officer — Peter R. Walker Head of Investor Relations — Jim Eglseder Takeaways Q4 revenue -- $1.248 billion, representing 21% growth and above internal expectations, propelled mainly by cross-border and Alpha segment performance. -- $1.248 billion, representing 21% growth and above internal expectations, propelled mainly by cross-border and Alpha segment performance. Q4 organic revenue growth -- 11% for the third consecutive quarter, meeting the high end of the company’s midterm range. -- 11% for the third consecutive quarter, meeting the high end of the company’s midterm range. Q4 adjusted EPS -- $6.04, increasing 13%, or 20% on a constant tax rate basis. -- $6.04, increasing 13%, or 20% on a constant tax rate basis. Bookings growth -- New sales bookings rose 29%, while revenue retention remained stable at 92%. -- New sales bookings rose 29%, while revenue retention remained stable at 92%. Cash EBITDA -- Exceeded $700 million in the quarter. -- Exceeded $700 million in the quarter. Full-year 2025 revenue -- $4.528 billion, up 14%, with 10% organic revenue growth. -- $4.528 billion, up 14%, with 10% organic revenue growth. Full-year adjusted EPS -- $21.38, growing 12%, or 17% at constant tax rate. -- $21.38, growing 12%, or 17% at constant tax rate. Alpha acquisition -- Now the company’s second-largest acquisition, contributed $300 million expected revenue, expanded product access to international bank accounts, and positioned Corpay CPAY +2.76% ) -- Now the company’s second-largest acquisition, contributed $300 million expected revenue, expanded product access to international bank accounts, and positioned Mastercard investment -- $300 million invested in Corpay CPAY +2.76% ) Mastercard (NYSE:MA). -- $300 million invested in (NYSE:MA). Expense initiatives -- $75 million targeted in savings; $50 million alrea...
Alphabet NASDAQ: GOOG executives highlighted accelerating growth across Search, Cloud, and subscriptions during the company’s fourth quarter 2025 earnings call, pointing to expanding AI-driven user engagement and a sharp increase in capital investment plans to meet rising demand for compute capacity. Get Alphabet alerts: Sign Up Quarterly results and companywide metrics Alphabet reported consolida...
Alphabet NASDAQ: GOOG executives highlighted accelerating growth across Search, Cloud, and subscriptions during the company’s fourth quarter 2025 earnings call, pointing to expanding AI-driven user engagement and a sharp increase in capital investment plans to meet rising demand for compute capacity. Get Alphabet alerts: Sign Up Quarterly results and companywide metrics Alphabet reported consolidated fourth-quarter revenue of $113.8 billion, up 18% year over year (or 17% in constant currency), with management attributing the acceleration to strength in Search and Google Cloud. For the full year 2025, Alphabet said revenue reached $403 billion, up 15%, marking the first time annual revenue exceeded $400 billion. Net income for the quarter rose 30% to $34.5 billion, while earnings per share increased 31% to $2.82. Operating income increased 16% to $35.9 billion, and operating margin was 31.6%. CFO Anat Ashkenazi noted results were negatively impacted by a $2.1 billion stock-based compensation charge tied to a higher Waymo valuation following a new investment round, with most of that charge reflected in R&D expense. Alphabet generated record operating cash flow of $52.4 billion in the quarter and $164.7 billion for the full year, translating into free cash flow of $24.6 billion for Q4 and $73.3 billion for 2025. The company ended the quarter with $126.8 billion in cash and marketable securities and $46.5 billion in long-term debt. Alphabet also returned capital through $5.5 billion of share repurchases and $2.5 billion of dividend payments in Q4. Search momentum, AI Mode engagement, and early monetization tests CEO Sundar Pichai said Search revenue grew 17% in the quarter and described the period as “an expansionary moment” driven by AI features. Alphabet said it shipped over 250 product launches within AI Mode and AI Overviews in the quarter, including integrating Gemini 3 into Search experiences and upgrading AI Overviews to Gemini 3. Management cited several engagem...
Alphabet generated record operating cash flow of $52.4 billion in the quarter and $164.7 billion for the full year, translating into free cash flow of $24.6 billion for Q4 and $73.3 billion for 2025. The company ended the quarter with $126.8 billion in cash and marketable securities and $46.5 billion in long-term debt. Alphabet also returned capital through $5.5 billion of share repurchases and $2...
Alphabet generated record operating cash flow of $52.4 billion in the quarter and $164.7 billion for the full year, translating into free cash flow of $24.6 billion for Q4 and $73.3 billion for 2025. The company ended the quarter with $126.8 billion in cash and marketable securities and $46.5 billion in long-term debt. Alphabet also returned capital through $5.5 billion of share repurchases and $2.5 billion of dividend payments in Q4. Net income for the quarter rose 30% to $34.5 billion , while earnings per share increased 31% to $2.82 . Operating income increased 16% to $35.9 billion , and operating margin was 31.6% . CFO Anat Ashkenazi noted results were negatively impacted by a $2.1 billion stock-based compensation charge tied to a higher Waymo valuation following a new investment round, with most of that charge reflected in R&D expense. Alphabet reported consolidated fourth-quarter revenue of $113.8 billion , up 18% year over year (or 17% in constant currency), with management attributing the acceleration to strength in Search and Google Cloud . For the full year 2025, Alphabet said revenue reached $403 billion , up 15% , marking the first time annual revenue exceeded $400 billion. Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) executives highlighted accelerating growth across Search, Cloud, and subscriptions during the company’s fourth quarter 2025 earnings call, pointing to expanding AI-driven user engagement and a sharp increase in capital investment plans to meet rising demand for compute capacity. Google Cloud accelerated sharply—Q4 revenue rose 48% to $17.7 billion with a $240 billion backlog and broad Gemini Enterprise adoption (over 8 million paid seats to 2,800+ companies)—and Alphabet guided to hefty 2026 CapEx of $175–185 billion to scale AI compute and infrastructure. AI is driving product engagement and early monetization tests: Search revenue grew 17% as Alphabet shipped 250+ AI Mode/AI Overview launches (including Gemini 3), U.S. daily AI Mode queries per user doubled, a...
Arm NASDAQ: ARM reported what executives described as a record third quarter for fiscal 2026, citing broad-based strength in royalties and licensing as customers adopt newer architectures and compute subsystems across smartphones, data centers, and emerging AI-driven end markets. Get ARM alerts: Sign Up Record quarter driven by royalties and licensing growth Chief Executive Officer Rene Haas said ...
Arm NASDAQ: ARM reported what executives described as a record third quarter for fiscal 2026, citing broad-based strength in royalties and licensing as customers adopt newer architectures and compute subsystems across smartphones, data centers, and emerging AI-driven end markets. Get ARM alerts: Sign Up Record quarter driven by royalties and licensing growth Chief Executive Officer Rene Haas said Arm’s revenue increased 26% year-over-year to $1.24 billion, marking the company’s fourth consecutive quarter above $1 billion. Royalty revenue rose 27% to a record $737 million, which Haas attributed to record unit volumes and strength “across AI and general-purpose data center.” License revenue totaled $505 million, up 25% year-over-year, as more customers signed high-value agreements for next-generation technologies. Chief Financial Officer Jason Child said royalty revenue exceeded Arm’s expectations. He pointed to two key contributors: smartphones, where Arm is seeing higher royalty rates per chip, and the data center, where he said revenues continue to grow at triple-digit rates year-over-year due to share gains from custom hyperscaler chips. Data center momentum and AI inference trends Haas emphasized a shift in cloud AI from training toward inference, and increasingly “agent-based” inference workloads that are persistent and power-constrained. He argued this trend increases the importance of CPUs for coordination, creating demand for higher core counts and power efficiency—areas where Arm believes its architectures have an advantage. As examples of industry movement toward higher core counts on Arm-based designs, Haas highlighted several hyperscaler and partner CPU announcements discussed on the call, including AWS’s fifth-generation Graviton processor, NVIDIA’s next-generation Vera CPU, Microsoft’s Cobalt 200, and Google’s Axion-powered instances. Haas also said Neoverse CPUs have surpassed 1 billion cores deployed, and Arm’s share among the top hyperscalers is expe...
Clearfield NASDAQ: CLFD reported fiscal first-quarter 2026 results that topped its sales guidance, as management pointed to early signs of stabilization and a rebound in community broadband demand. The company also discussed its newly introduced Nova Platform and provided updates on expected timing for BEAD-related activity, while reiterating full-year revenue guidance. Get Clearfield alerts: Sign...
Clearfield NASDAQ: CLFD reported fiscal first-quarter 2026 results that topped its sales guidance, as management pointed to early signs of stabilization and a rebound in community broadband demand. The company also discussed its newly introduced Nova Platform and provided updates on expected timing for BEAD-related activity, while reiterating full-year revenue guidance. Get Clearfield alerts: Sign Up Quarterly results exceed sales guidance For the fiscal first quarter, Clearfield posted net sales from continuing operations of $34.3 million, above its guidance range of $30 million to $33 million and up 16% from $29.7 million in the year-ago quarter. President and CEO Cheri Beranek said the outperformance reflected a favorable seasonal product mix and solid demand across key customer segments. Gross margin improved to 33.2% from 29.2% a year earlier, which CFO Dan Herzog attributed primarily to improved overhead absorption and better inventory utilization. Operating expenses increased to $13.2 million from $10.7 million year over year, reflecting ongoing investment in technology and customer expansion initiatives. Clearfield reported a net loss per share from continuing operations of $0.02, unchanged from the prior-year period. Herzog noted the company recorded an income tax benefit of $1,000 versus income tax expense of $53,000 in the year-ago quarter, with the quarter’s lower effective rate driven by discrete items and a lower level of pre-tax book loss. Portfolio shift following Nestor divestiture Management emphasized that the company’s results are now presented on a continuing-operations basis following the sale of its Nestor Cables business, which was announced on Nov. 12, 2025. Investor Relations reminded listeners that Clearfield is now reporting only on the Clearfield segment, with Nestor classified as discontinued operations for the first fiscal quarter of 2026 and all prior periods in its financials. For the quarter, net loss from discontinued operations wa...
Japan is preparing for a snap lower-house election that could reshape the country’s political balance at a moment of economic strain and regional uncertainty. Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi — who has only been in the top job for just over three months — has set the election date for Feb. 8 to capitalize on soaring public support to shore up her coalition government. Takaichi has already made a mark...
Japan is preparing for a snap lower-house election that could reshape the country’s political balance at a moment of economic strain and regional uncertainty. Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi — who has only been in the top job for just over three months — has set the election date for Feb. 8 to capitalize on soaring public support to shore up her coalition government. Takaichi has already made a mark by bringing forward an increase in defense spending, unveiling the biggest extra budget since pandemic restrictions were eased, and ruffling feathers in China over her comments on Taiwan . Her forthright approach and a perceived shift to a more nationalist stance have given her the highest opinion poll ratings in more than a decade. At the same time, she’s putting her leadership — and the long-dominant Liberal Democratic Party’s grip on power — to a public test amid voter anger over living costs and a steady exodus of younger voters to other parties. The election outcome will determine not just who governs in Tokyo, but how confidently Japan can pursue its economic, security and diplomatic ambitions at home and abroad. What’s the election about? The election is to vote in the 465 members of the House of Representatives — the lower house in Japan’s legislature, known as the Diet. It is the more powerful of the two parliamentary chambers, with an overriding power to pass budgets and choose the prime minister. Of the 465 seats, 289 are single-member constituencies, where the candidate with the most votes in a particular district wins. The remaining 176 seats are filled by proportional representation, where voters cast a ballot for a particular party and seats are allocated based on the share of the vote across larger regional areas. This allows parties to strategize and form tactical alliances to win seats. What are the main parties? The Liberal Democratic Party: Since it was founded in 1955, the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) has led governing coalitions in one form or anoth...
There have been many AI-driven selloffs in the three years since ChatGPT burst into the mainstream. Nothing, though, quite rivals the rout rippling through stock and credit markets this week. For one, there’s the sheer speed and breadth of it. In the span of two days, hundreds of billions of dollars were wiped off the value of stocks, bonds and loans of companies big and small across Silicon Valle...
There have been many AI-driven selloffs in the three years since ChatGPT burst into the mainstream. Nothing, though, quite rivals the rout rippling through stock and credit markets this week. For one, there’s the sheer speed and breadth of it. In the span of two days, hundreds of billions of dollars were wiped off the value of stocks, bonds and loans of companies big and small across Silicon Valley. Software stocks were at the epicenter, plunging so much that the value of those tracked in an iShares ETF has now dropped almost $1 trillion over the past seven days. For another, this drubbing, unlike many previous ones, was triggered not by fears of a bubble but rather concern that AI is on the verge of supplanting the business models of a wide swathe of companies that doomsayers have long predicted were at risk. “I don’t think it is an overreaction,” said Michael O’Rourke , chief market strategist at Jonestrading. “For two years, we have been talking about how AI is going to change the world and that it is a multi-generational technology. In the past few weeks, we have seen signs of it in practice.” The spark was innocuous on the face of it: Prominent AI startup Anthropic PBC released a new tool to handle legal work like reviewing contracts. But after Anthropic’s coding tools had revolutionized software development over the last year — one of a slew of AI innovations — the four-paragraph product-launch announcement was taken extremely seriously. It’s not that investors and experts think that the Anthropic product, or at least this version of it, is a complete game-changer. But at the same time, the steady drip of releases are potentially just as momentous to investors as ChatGPT’s debut was. “While today it’s legal tech, tomorrow it might be sales or marketing or finance,” wrote Jackson Ader , an analyst at KeyBanc. Selling has spread across many parts of the software sector, from legal software firms to data analytics companies, and even engulfed financial-services s...
TOKYO, Feb 5 (Reuters) - Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co plans mass-production of 3-nanometre advanced chips at its Kumamoto plant in Japan, investing about $17 billion, Japanese newspaper Yomiuri reported on Thursday. Japan, which has subsidised TSMC to boost chipmaking capacity in the southern region of Kumamoto, is considering additional support for the new investment plan, Yomi...
TOKYO, Feb 5 (Reuters) - Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co plans mass-production of 3-nanometre advanced chips at its Kumamoto plant in Japan, investing about $17 billion, Japanese newspaper Yomiuri reported on Thursday. Japan, which has subsidised TSMC to boost chipmaking capacity in the southern region of Kumamoto, is considering additional support for the new investment plan, Yomiuri added, citing a Japanese government source. TSMC did not immediately respond to a request for comment. (Reporting by Kantaro Komiya; Editing by Chris Reese)
"You buy a player for a lot of money and he is not able to play for a rule I don't understand. Hopefully they can change it," he added. City's other January signing, winger Antoine Semenyo, arrived at the club from Bournemouth four days prior to their trip to the north east for the first leg against Newcastle, in which he scored. "Antoine arrived before the first [game] so could play. And now it's...
"You buy a player for a lot of money and he is not able to play for a rule I don't understand. Hopefully they can change it," he added. City's other January signing, winger Antoine Semenyo, arrived at the club from Bournemouth four days prior to their trip to the north east for the first leg against Newcastle, in which he scored. "Antoine arrived before the first [game] so could play. And now it's the final. Why should he [Guehi] not play? Why not? We pay his salary, he is our player," Guardiola added. "I said to the club, they have to ask, definitely. I don't understand the reason why he cannot play in the final in March, when I have been here for a long time. "The rules to buy a player depends on Fifa, Uefa, the Premier League who say, OK the transfer window is open, when you buy a player you have to play, no? It's logic. Of course we are going to try to ask [for] him to play. Pure logic. Asked what he thought the answer will be from the EFL, City's Spanish boss, added: "No. But we will try." City have already benefited from one rule change this season that allowed players to play for two teams in the same competition, instead of being cup tied. That allowed Semenyo and Max Alleyne to feature in the semi-final matches, despite appearing for Bournemouth and Watford respectively in previous rounds.
Just_Super/E+ via Getty Images Listen here or on the go via Apple Podcasts and Spotify Head of Quantitative Strategy at Seeking Alpha, Steven Cress, shares why the AI sector still looks good and which stocks look best for this year. Watch video presentation here. Transcript Rena Sherbill: Welcome back, the man, the myth, the legend, Steve Cress. Always great to have you on Investing Experts. Alway...
Just_Super/E+ via Getty Images Listen here or on the go via Apple Podcasts and Spotify Head of Quantitative Strategy at Seeking Alpha, Steven Cress, shares why the AI sector still looks good and which stocks look best for this year. Watch video presentation here. Transcript Rena Sherbill: Welcome back, the man, the myth, the legend, Steve Cress. Always great to have you on Investing Experts. Always great to talk to you. Welcome back to the show, first of all. Steve Cress: Thank you so much for having me. Always a pleasure to be here and truly appreciate you organizing it. Thank you. Rena Sherbill: Thank you for making the time. We appreciate you. If I can speak for the audience as a whole, which I will. Before we get to the matter at hand, which Steve is generously going to share with us the top AI stocks for 2026 and tell us why the AI sector is worth looking at in the first place. But before he does so, I am going to very quickly read a disclaimer beginning now. We are not advising you personally concerning the nature, potential, value, or suitability of any particular security. You alone are solely responsible for determining whether any investment security strategy or any product or service is appropriate or suitable for you. Based on your investment objectives and personal and financial situation, this presentation is for information purposes only. Content is presented as of the date published or indicated and may be superseded by future events. It represents Steve's opinions, which may not reflect the views of Seeking Alpha as a whole. Past performance is no guarantee of future results. Seeking Alpha is not a licensed security dealer, broker, US investment advisor, or investment bank. Steve Cress: Rena, can you repeat that? Just kidding. Rena Sherbill: Can you hear me now? A little slower for those in the back. Feel free to play this at whatever speed you like. Steve, share with our audience, if you would please, how you're looking at the market these days, ve...
Ken Griffin Torches Trump Over 'Distasteful Favoritism' And Conflicts Of Interest, Opens Door To Political Run Citadel CEO Ken Griffin raised eyebrows this week when he left the door open to future public service or even running for office, while issuing some of his sharpest criticism yet of President Donald Trump. “ I’d like to believe that at a future point in my life, I will be involved in publ...
Ken Griffin Torches Trump Over 'Distasteful Favoritism' And Conflicts Of Interest, Opens Door To Political Run Citadel CEO Ken Griffin raised eyebrows this week when he left the door open to future public service or even running for office, while issuing some of his sharpest criticism yet of President Donald Trump. “ I’d like to believe that at a future point in my life, I will be involved in public service ,” Griffin said during an interview at the WSJ Invest Live event Tuesday. “I’ve been able to have my voice heard on important issues, and I’d like to think that I’ve nudged the country and in small ways in good directions.” Ken Griffin, speaking at WSJ Invest Live, didn’t say no when @emmatuckerWSJ asked if he would run for office. (Read president) pic.twitter.com/vntp9BTL4B — Jack Otter (@JackOtter) February 3, 2026 Griffin, a prominent Republican donor who contributed more than $100 million to conservative candidates and causes in the 2024 election cycle but did not back Trump’s re-election bid directly also took aim at the administration's approach to business, saying the business leaders are tiring of what he sees as appeasing the president. “ When the U.S. government starts to engage in corporate America in a way that tastes of favoritism, I know for most CEOs that I’m friends with, they find it incredibly distasteful, ” the billionaire hedge fund manager said. “Most CEOs just don’t want to find themselves in the business of having to, in some sense, suck up to one administration after another to succeed in running their business.” Griffin also ripped Trump and members of his inner circle for business dealings riddled with conflicts of interest , including the Trump family’s crypto company World Liberty Financial. The Wall Street Journal recently reported that Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed Al Nahyan, UAE national security adviser, brother of the president, and often called the "Spy Sheikh," secretly acquired a 49% stake in World Liberty Financial for $500 million...
US stock futures edged higher late Wednesday as investors digested another batch of corporate earnings and assessed fresh signals from Alphabet, following a sharp sell-off that hit technology stocks earlier in the day. Dow Jones Industrial Average futures (YM=F) were little changed, hovering modestly in positive territory. Futures tied to the S&P 500 (ES=F) rose about 0.3%, while Nasdaq 100 future...
US stock futures edged higher late Wednesday as investors digested another batch of corporate earnings and assessed fresh signals from Alphabet, following a sharp sell-off that hit technology stocks earlier in the day. Dow Jones Industrial Average futures (YM=F) were little changed, hovering modestly in positive territory. Futures tied to the S&P 500 (ES=F) rose about 0.3%, while Nasdaq 100 futures (NQ=F) gained roughly 0.4%. Alphabet (GOOG) shares slipped more than 1% in late trading after the company reported results and outlined a significant ramp-up in artificial intelligence investment. The Google parent said it expects expenditure to climb, projecting spending as high as $185 billion in 2026. But that outlook helped lift shares of tech names such as Nvidia (NVDA) and Broadcom (AVGO), as investors renewed optimism around long-term demand tied to AI infrastructure. Elsewhere, Qualcomm (QCOM) shares tumbled nearly 9% after the chipmaker issued a softer-than-expected forecast, citing headwinds from a global memory shortage. Software names bore the brunt of a decline Wednesday as Anthropic AI tools led to fears of disruption in traditional business models. Crypto markets were also rattled following a comment from Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, who said the government would not bail out bitcoin (BTC-USD) amid an over 13% drop over the past five days that has pushed the token to around $73,000. Looking ahead, earnings remain in focus, with Amazon (AMZN) taking focus Thursday. Investors will also be watching weekly jobless claims data due in the morning for fresh clues on the health of the labor market.