The Rundown

A close look at Meta's strategic U-turn from the metaverse to an AI-first focus. Big spending on AI infrastructure and hiring clashes with recent layoffs and Reality Labs cutbacks. Legal verdicts and regulatory risks loom over ad revenue. Hardware experiments like smart glasses get weighed against product setbacks and investor worries.

Markets skid as the Nasdaq slides into correction territory while tech names lead losses. Netflix hikes prices across all plans and doubles down on live sports and big-content spending. JetBlue explores a potential sale amid rising fuel and airfare pressures. Unity lifts guidance on Vector AI momentum. Bitcoin cools off after a brief rally. Apple quietly earns big revenue from AI app subscriptions.

Legal rulings against a major social platform over child safety and addiction set new precedent risks. A tech giant’s TurboQuant compression sparks a selloff in memory chip stocks. Oil spikes on Middle East tensions, pushing gas prices higher. A beauty brand is sold for a steep markdown and the NBA weighs $7–10B expansion moves for Las Vegas and Seattle.

Markets wobble as new regulation threatens stablecoin yields and shakes crypto stocks. OpenAI pulls the plug on Sora, canceling a potential billion‑dollar Disney tie‑up. Arm unveils plans to sell its own AI chips for data centers. Pop Mart tumbles over dependence on a single toy line. Costco rolls out a Kirkland energy drink aiming at Celsius.

Market moves and gold’s sharp drop dominate the opening. A major shift toward AI agents and Anthropic’s Claude controlling computers takes center stage. Nintendo reportedly trims Switch 2 production after weak holiday demand and pricing issues. Private credit liquidity concerns surface as Apollo limits withdrawals. Apple Maps may soon show ads, signaling expansion of services revenue.

A tense political standoff with a last-minute pause on strikes and market relief. The Pentagon formalizes Palantir's AI platform as a military backbone. Legal and regulatory drama unfolds around prediction markets and sports-betting proposals. A surprise box-office hit for Project Hail Mary rounds out the day's headlines.

Jeremy Fox-Geen, Circle CFO who led USDC’s growth through Circle’s public listing, explains why digital dollars keep expanding even as crypto dips. Short takes cover cross-border payments, remittances, and everyday payments running under the hood. He also outlines agentic commerce where AI agents transact and how stablecoins could power an internet-native financial stack.

A breakdown of agentic AI and how autonomous agents differ from chatbots. Examples of current agent tools and live demos that can perform transactions. Why inference spending may overtake training and the hardware changes that requires. How big companies are already deploying agents and what that could mean for jobs, payments, and corporate capex.

Market moves and economic signals from FedEx set the scene. Amazon's plans for an AI-powered smartphone and Alexa integration make tech headlines. Super Micro faces legal turmoil over alleged NVIDIA server smuggling to China. Firefly Aerospace's strong launch and Tesla Semi adoption by truckers also grab attention.

Market fallout from a surprise PPI print and Fed comments that dim rate-cut hopes. Uber’s new $1.25B move into Rivian and plans for robotaxis. Micron posts massive revenue and margin beats yet the stock still slips. Oil spikes after regional supply disruptions and fallout for energy markets. Meta pulls the plug on its metaverse project.