Meta Unveils Text-to-Video AI Generator

MARKET MOVERS

• Meta announced a new AI text-to-video generator. Machine learning engineers at Meta announced a new AI tool called Make-A-Video that produces videos from users’ text prompts. Currently, Make-A-Video clips are audio-free and last less than five seconds. As with other recent AI tools, Make-A-Video comes with risks: It could one day threaten the jobs of artists.
  
  
• Porsche IPO completed with a $72 billion valuation. Porsche shares climbed on their debut in Frankfurt, as the German carmaker defied a global economic slowdown and febrile markets to pull off one of Europe’s largest initial public offerings. “The high level of demand demonstrates investors’ confidence in Porsche’s future,” said VW’s chief financial officer Arno Antlitz.

• Mortgage rates inch closer to 7%. The large dispersion in rate offerings among lenders could amount to several hundreds of dollars, Freddie Mac says. Home buying is 12% more expensive than just a month ago. Fast-rising mortgage rates—up one percentage point in September alone—have added an extra $250 more to monthly mortgage payments over the past month. Read more here.

• Nike shares tumble after it reports a 44% surge in inventories. Inventories rose 44% to $9.7 billion in the latest quarter, and higher discounts and freight costs squeezed profit margins. Executives said they would mark down more goods, especially apparel, heading into the holidays. The results are the latest sign of how rapidly retailers and manufacturers of everything from fertilizer to furniture have found themselves with a surplus of goods. Read more here.

• Meta freezes hiring, signals that we've entered a recession. The social media company is warning now of a restructure. Jason Calacanis and Molly Wood think that the real test of whether there's a recession or not is if there's an absolute bloodbath in the ad market for companies like Alphabet and Meta. These companies are starting to see headwinds for their topline so cutting cost is their response to preserve good earnings. Source(22:04)
  

WHAT TO WATCH

• An iron ore bust is imminent, UBS says. Demand for iron ore in China may have risen earlier this month, but the Swiss bank UBS says it’s a “short-lived” lift that will soon collapse. The investment bank said it believes earlier demand was partly driven by restocking ahead of a weeklong national holiday in China which begins on Oct. 1, when industrial activity is expected to fall off. Read more here.
  
  
• Fed’s preferred gauge shows inflation accelerated even more than expected in August. Core inflation rose 4.9% from a year ago in August and 0.6% on a monthly basis. Personal income rose 0.3%, the same as July and in line with the estimate. Spending rose 0.4% after declining 0.2% the month before. Headline inflation, including food and energy, also accelerated, despite a sharp drop in gasoline prices.

• Altria to invest in rival vaping products. Ends noncompete agreement with Juul. Altria, which invested in Juul about four years ago, said in an 8-K filing to the Securities and Exchange Commission that it has exercised its option to permanently terminate its non-competition obligations to JUUL. This will give the maker of Marlboro cigarettes a chance to start up its own vaping brand.

• SoftBank plans at least 30% staff cuts to Vision Fund. At least 150 out of 500 Vision Fund workers will be impacted by the cuts, according to Bloomberg, which first reported the news. SoftBank founder Masayoshi Son had foreshadowed cost-cutting this summer after the company posted a $21.6 billion quarterly loss for the Vision Fund. Read more here.

• Exxon CEO warns the Biden administration against limiting fuel exports. Exxon is pushing back against reductions of U.S. fuel exports urged by the Biden administration in August, arguing that restricting shipments would further squeeze global supplies and lift pump prices at home. Exxon told the Energy Department this week that the oil industry should not slow fuel shipments in favor of putting more in storage tanks.