Stellantis Stock Surges as Jeep Maker’s US Sales Rise for First Time in Two Years
29 minutes ago
Stellantis (STLA) shares jumped Thursday after the Big Three automaker reported that its U.S. sales rose in the third quarter, driven by demand for its Ram trucks, Chryslers and Jeeps.1
The company’s sales increased 6% from the year-ago period to 324,825 vehicles, snapping a streak of eight consecutive quarters of declining sales. Sales in September jumped 16% compared to the same month last year.
Jeff Kommor, head of U.S. sales, said in a press release that September was “our highest monthly market share in the U.S. in 15 months.” He added that the company was “taking deliberate actions” to keep sales momentum going.
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The Job Market Is Slowing Down, Private Sector Data Shows
29 minutes ago
Reports from private companies painted a by-now-familiar picture of the job market in September: few were hiring, few were firing, and the labor market overall looked a little shaky.
Employers announced 54,064 job cuts in September, Challenger, Gray & Christmas, a consulting firm, said Thursday. That was a 37% decrease from August.
However, the September numbers contributed to 202,118 cuts in the third quarter, the most since 2020. Employers planned to add 204,939 jobs in the year through September, the fewest since 2009.
Spencer Platt / Getty Images
Economic uncertainty, tariffs, inflation, federal job cuts, and the adoption of artificial intelligence were all hurting job growth, economists at Challenger said in a press release.
The Challenger report was one of the few pieces of jobs data available to economists, financial markets, and officials at the Federal Reserve in the coming days. A government shutdown that began on Wednesday has delayed the release of the usual official reports on the job market. A weekly report on unemployment insurance claims was delayed Thursday morning, and a monthly report on the job market is unlikely to be published Friday morning.
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There’s New Tax Guidance on Bitcoin. Here’s Why That Matters.
1 hr 21 min ago
Crypto’s numbers are going up. A boost from Washington is helping.
A range of digital assets were rising Thursday. The price of bitcoin (BTCUSD), which has been flirting with record highs, was recently above $120,000. Shares of companies with large digital holdings, including Coinbase (COIN) and Strategy (MSTR), were also rising—they were recently looking at double-digit weekly percentage gains—though part of the reason for that needs a bit of explanation.
Jakub Porzycki / NurPhoto via Getty Images
The Treasury Department and Internal Revenue Service this week issued interim guidance saying paper profits and losses on digital assets were not subject to the 15% corporate alternative minimum tax, a bit of good news that came just as crypto markets pivoted from September-end doldrums. (Public companies would still need to pay taxes on cryptocurrency they sell.)
The clarification around how digital assets would be taxed is especially helpful to Strategy, which has the largest bitcoin stockpile of all publicly traded companies, and Coinbase, which ranks in the top 10. Strategy said it no longer expects to be subject to the CAMT tax, which it anticipated having to pay in 2026 after seeing gargantuan paper gains on its bitcoins, of which it has more than 640,000, according to a recent filing.
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Coinbase, Other Cryptocurrency Stocks Surge Along With Bitcoin
1 hr 36 min ago
Bitcoin climbed back above $120,000 Thursday, and several cryptocurrency-tied stocks are surging as well.
Coinbase Global (COIN), Strategy (MSTR), and MARA Holdings (MARA) advanced roughly 8%, 3.5%, and 2% entering the final hour of trading Thursday, a day that has seen bitcoin climb 2% and several other cryptocurrencies also trade in the green.
Bitcoin, which was up about 2.5% on the day, last traded above $120,000 on Aug. 14, when it hit a record-high $124,496.
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Could AMD Make Intel’s Business as Hot as Its Stock?
2 hr 17 min ago
Intel (INTC) was down and out, and then the White House flipped a switch and made it one of the hottest stocks on Wall Street.
Semafor yesterday reported chip designer Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) was in early talks to become an Intel Foundry customer. The report noted it was unclear how much of AMD’s business would go to Intel instead of its primary manufacturing partner, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSM), or if the deal would include a direct investment.
David Paul Morris / Bloomberg via Getty Images
The agreement would make AMD the latest in a string of entities partnering with or investing in Intel to extend a lifeline to one of the only U.S. companies capable of manufacturing advanced semiconductors. Japanese tech investor SoftBank in August invested $2 billion shortly before the White House converted Intel’s CHIPS Act grants into an approximately 10% equity stake. Nvidia (NVDA) followed suit in September when it said it would invest $5 billion and partner with Intel on new products. Intel has also reportedly discussed a tie-up with Apple (AAPL).
Intel’s stock has soared amid the shows of support. Shares have doubled in value since hitting a year-to-date low in early April, and are up about 80% since CEO Lip-Bu Tan sat down with President Donald Trump in early August. It was shortly after that meeting that talk of the government taking a stake in Intel seemed to turn the tide in its favor.
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Buffett’s Berkshire Is Making Its Biggest Acquisition in Years—What You Need to Know
3 hr 5 min ago
Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A, BRK.B) has struck a $9.7 billion all-cash deal to buy the petrochemical division of Occidental Petroleum (OXY), in the largest acquisition by Warren Buffett’s conglomerate since 2022.1
The two companies announced the transaction by Berkshire Hathaway for OxyChem early Thursday. Berkshire is already the largest shareholder in Occidental, and a pending deal had been widely reported ahead of the announcement.
“Berkshire is acquiring a robust portfolio of operating assets, supported by an accomplished team,” said Greg Abel, Buffett’s successor. Abel, who is vice chair of non-insurance operations at Berkshire, is taking over as CEO at the end of the year.
The transaction is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2025.
The deal is the largest by Berkshire since its 2022 purchase of insurer Alleghany for $11.6 billion and will be closely watched by investors. The conglomerate has been growing its cash pile lately by unwinding shares in companies like Apple (AAPL) and Bank of America (BAC), rather than making big-ticket acquisitions.
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Fair Isaac Stock Is Soaring. Credit Bureau Shares Are Dropping. Here’s Why.
3 hr 59 min ago
Shares of two credit-score providers sank after data provider Fair Isaac (FICO) said it would offer its scores directly to firms that sell consolidated credit reports to mortgage providers.
Equifax (EFX) and TransUnion (TRU) were recently off 9% and 12%, respectively. The companies did not respond to Investopedia’s request for comment in time for publication. Fair Isaac shares soared on the news, recently rising about 20%.
Frederic J. Brown / AFP via Getty Images
Fair Isaac said its FICO Direct Mortgage License Program would give the information to tri-merge resellers—those that combine data from the major credit bureaus into one report—and give them the ability to calculate and distribute the FICO scores directly to customers, “eliminating reliance on the three nationwide credit bureaus.”
Fair Isaac said the move “streamlines score access, saving lenders up to 50% on per score FICO fees.” CEO Will Lansing called the change “a turning point in how credit scores are delivered and priced across the mortgage industry.”
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Tesla Stock Is Down Today After Upbeat Deliveries News—And a Long Upward Run
4 hr 30 min ago
Tesla’s stock isn’t having a big day today. Given its recent performance, it can probably be excused.
Shares of the Magnificent Seven stock and electric vehicle maker were down about 3% in recent trading as the broader tech sector rose, and after reporting third-quarter deliveries that, at 497,000, exceeded Wall Street’s expectations as measured by Visible Alpha. (The mean forecast was around 440,000; it’s generally believed that the expiration of federal subsidies has pulled some EV demand forward.) Tesla’s third-quarter earnings are now set to land Oct. 22.
Justin Sullivan / Getty Images
Given the outperformance, one might have expected a more dramatic reaction to the deliveries news—though Tesla’s (TSLA) shares have been delivering for a while now. The stock has powered off 2025 lows seen in March, turning in the best third-quarter performance of any Magnificent Seven stock with a 40% climb.
That’s happened as CEO Elon Musk has encouraged investors to look toward its developing business lines, including robotaxis, autonomous driving systems, and robotics, as the more important drivers of the company’s value than auto sales. (Some of the incentives in Musk’s massive proposed pay package point in that direction, too.) Reports indicate that Tesla will expand its robotaxi trials to another state.
Read the full article here.
OpenAI Is World’s Top Startup With $500B Valuation After Employee Share Sale
5 hr 10 min ago
OpenAI has reportedly finalized a secondary share sale that values the artificial intelligence company at $500 billion, making the ChatGPT owner the world’s most valuable startup ever.
The share sale, which allows employees to cash out, comes just months after OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said that Meta Platforms (META) was poaching the company’s AI staff with signing bonuses as high as $100 million.
According to Bloomberg, OpenAI’s current and former employees sold about $6.6 billion in stock in a deal that has has vaulted the company past Elon Musk’s SpaceX to become the world’s largest startup. OpenAI had a $300 billion valuation earlier this year. Rocket company SpaceX is valued at $400 billion, Bloomberg said.
Tomohiro Ohsumi / Getty Images
Investors that bought into the secondary share sale—where investors buy from other investors rather than the company—included Japan’s SoftBank, which put forth $30 billion in a funding round earlier this year. Thrive Capital, Dragoneer Investment Group, Abu Dhabi’s MGX, and T. Rowe Price also snapped up shares, the report said.
OpenAI, which is backed by Microsoft (MSFT), is the latest of a string of AI startups to have seen valuations soar as investors are eager for exposure ahead of potential market entries. Nvidia (NVDA) also said last month that it plans to invest up to $100 billion in OpenAI to build out AI data centers. Nvidia, the chipmaker at the heart of the AI boom, has a market capitalization of well over $4 trillion, making it the world’s most valuable publicly listed company.
OpenAI didn’t immediately respond to an Investopedia request for comment.
Intel’s Stock Price Has Doubled Since Hitting Its 2025 Low—Watch These Key Levels
5 hr 53 min ago
Intel (INTC) shares are trading at their highest level in 18 months, with the latest gains sparked by a report the company is in early-stage talks to manufacture chips through its foundry business for rival Advanced Micro Devices (AMD).1
Shares of the struggling chipmaker surged nearly 40% in September and have gained about 80% since the start of the year, boosted by news of a flurry of high-profile investments in the chipmaker—from the U.S. government, AI Favorite Nvidia (NVDA), and Japanese investment company SoftBank (SFTBY). Gains accelerated late last month after reports surfaced that that the chipmaker has solicited investments from Apple (AAPL) and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSM).
The investments have renewed hopes that the once storied chipmaker will be able recapture market share under CEO Lip-Bu Tan, who assumed the role in March.
Intel shares were down 0.4% at $35.80 in early trading Thursday, after gaining 7% yesterday following news of the possible deal with AMD. The stock, which is trading at its highest levels since April of last year, is up from a 2025 low of $17.67 set in April.
Since the 50-day moving average (MA) crossed above the 200-day MA in August to generate a bullish golden cross signal, Intel shares have continued to trend higher on above-average volume.
Meanwhile, the relative strength index (RSI) confirms upward price momentum, though the indicator sits in overbought territory, which could potentially lead to near-term profit-taking.
Read the full technical analysis piece here.
Nike Stock Continues Post-Earnings Surge
6 hr 26 min ago
Nike (NKE) investors evidently continue to be impressed with their latest quarterly results.
Nike was the best-performing stock in the Dow Jones Industrial Average in the opening hour of trade Thursday, with shares up about 2.5%.
Shares of the sneaker giant have advanced more than 9% since the company surprisingly recorded a fiscal first-quarter sales increase after the bell Tuesday.
With the two-day surge, Nike shares have moved into positive territory for the year.
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Education Department Restarts Student Loan Forgiveness Process
8 hr 19 min ago
After months of waiting, federal student loan borrowers are seeing progress on their forgiveness.
The Department of Education sent mass emails to student loan borrowers Tuesday night, informing many that they have made the number of payments required to receive loan forgiveness under the Income-Based Repayment plan.
“The U.S. Department of Education (ED) will work with your loan servicer to process your IBR discharge over the next several months,” the email told borrowers.
Photo by Wesley Lapointe/For The Washington Post via Getty Images
Student loan borrowers who make 20 to 25 years of qualifying payments under an income-driven repayment plan can have their remaining loan balance discharged. After a lawsuit blocking the Saving for a Valuable Education plan earlier this year, the Department of Education paused loan forgiveness under SAVE and all other income-driven repayment plans.
Borrowers who had already made more than enough payments to qualify for forgiveness were stuck waiting. Many wanted their loan discharged before a key tax break that makes forgiveness tax-free ends on Jan 1, 2026. After this year, the average borrower will have to pay thousands in taxes if their student loan is discharged.
Read the full article here.
Government Shutdown Leaves Fed Without Data at Crucial Moment
9 hr 9 min ago
The federal government shutdown will delay key reports on the job market and inflation, making it harder for officials to decide whether to cut interest rates later this month.
The shutdown affects the government agencies that produce data the Fed relies on to set interest rates. That includes the Bureau of Labor Statistics, which will “completely cease operations” in the event of a shutdown, according to a memo dated Sept. 26 from its parent agency, the Department of Labor. The bureau produces the most comprehensive and widely watched measures of the job market and inflation, including a highly anticipated monthly jobs report due Friday that will now be delayed.
Kevin Dietsch / Getty Images
The lack of job market data could be especially vexing for the Fed, which cut interest rates in September to lower borrowing costs and stabilize a shaky job market. The Fed is scheduled to meet Oct. 28 and 29, and its policy officials are divided about whether to cut rates in the coming months, or keep them higher to tame inflation.
“[A prolonged shutdown] would greatly complicate the Federal Reserve’s deliberations on whether to cut interest rates again at its October … policy meeting,” Nationwide economists Kathy Bostjancic and Oren Klachkin wrote in a commentary.
Read the full article here.
Stock Futures Point Mostly Higher as Investors Downplay Government Shutdown
9 hr 30 min ago
Futures tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Average were down 0.1%.
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S&P 500 futures were up 0.2%.
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Nasdaq 100 futures rose 0.4%.
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