Table of Contents

• U.S. Markets

• Amazon

Top Stories Today

Economy & Finance

U.S. Markets

U.S. markets remained steady, with small-cap stocks outperforming large-cap indexes, fueled by strong economic data and optimism over potential policy changes. The Dow and S&P 500 saw modest gains, while the Nasdaq slipped slightly due to Alphabet's continued decline amid antitrust concerns. Investor sentiment leaned positive on expectations of Federal Reserve easing and corporate benefits from President-elect Trump’s policies. Notable stock movements included Tesla's rise, Gap's surge on upbeat forecasts, and Intuit’s drop following weaker-than-expected guidance. Meanwhile, geopolitical tensions and missile exchanges in Ukraine added uncertainty to market dynamics.

Technology

Amazon

Amazon has significantly increased its stake in Anthropic, an AI startup known for its chatbot, Claude, by injecting an additional $4 billion, doubling its previous investment. While remaining a minority shareholder, Amazon will be Anthropic's primary AI training and cloud partner, leveraging its Trainium and Inferentia chips to support the startup's model development. This move highlights the competitive race among cloud giants like Microsoft and Google to dominate the burgeoning AI market. Anthropic, also backed by Alphabet and co-founded by ex-OpenAI executives, has previously secured substantial funding, reflecting the escalating investments in generative AI technologies.

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