Blockbuster Startup Departure Rocks AI Wars

Trump calms market jitters

AI startup shakeup blockbuster

Remaining Israeli hostages free

Dow Jones futures rose 434 points, nearly 1%, while S&P 500 and Nasdaq-100 futures gained 1.3% and 1.9%, respectively.

Tech leaders Apple and Meta each climbed over 1%, with AMD up 4.2% and Nvidia up 3.4%.

Trump’s post suggested no immediate “massive” tariffs on China, calming fears of renewed trade war escalation.

Vice President JD Vance reinforced a willingness to negotiate with Beijing, emphasizing U.S. leverage.

Last week’s market rout erased $2 trillion in value, with the S&P 500 dropping 2.7% on Friday alone, its worst day since April.

⭐ Editor’s Pick: The Trump administration issued thousands of layoff notices to federal workers across seven agencies like Treasury and Health and Human Services amid the protracted government shutdown. (FOX)

China's rare earth export controls counter Trump's 100% tariff threats, potentially allowing Beijing to "forbid any country on Earth from participating in the modern economy," former White House advisor Dean Ball said. (FM)

Economists project stronger U.S. GDP growth of 1.8% for 2025, up from 1.3%, driven by surging business investment in AI and computing. (RTS)

Joel Mokyr, Philippe Aghion, and Peter Howitt won the 2025 Nobel Prize in Economics for research on how technological innovation drives economic growth. (AAAS)

⭐ Editor’s Pick: Bill Ackman’s $1.3 billion Amazon stake, with 5.82 million shares, bets on AI-driven cloud and robotics growth, backed by 95% Wall Street buy ratings and 17% upside potential, Motley Fool says. (MF)

Wall Street analysts are bullish on Snowflake, AMD, and Dell Technologies for their AI-driven growth, with raised price targets of $270, $300, and $170, respectively. (CNBC)

With more Fed cuts expected, heavily shorted stocks Etsy, SoundHound AI, and NuScale Power could surge due to short squeezes in e-commerce, AI, and clean energy sectors, according to MarketBeat. (MB)

Morningstar spotlights two undervalued dividend growers—Microsoft and Accenture—which hiked payouts in September. (MS)

⭐ Editor’s Pick: U.S. intelligence has aided Ukraine for months in long-range drone strikes on Russian energy infrastructure like oil refineries. (FT)

The U.S. Treasury imposed sanctions on over 50 entities, vessels, and individuals, including a Chinese crude oil terminal, for facilitating Iran's illicit oil exports. (ST)

Venezuela’s Maduro offered Trump access to oil and gold reserves to ease tensions, but U.S. rebuffed talks, potential military moves. (OP)

Gold prices surged to a record high near $4,100 per ounce amid escalating U.S.-China trade tensions. (INV)

⭐ Editor’s Pick: A Hyperliquid trader, fresh off a $150 million windfall from shorting Bitcoin and Ether before Trump's tariff announcement, has doubled down with a new $160 million leveraged short on Bitcoin. (TB)

Binance paid $283 million to compensate users for losses from USDe, BNSOL, and WBETH depegging on its Earn platform, vowing better safeguards after Friday's market rout. (TB)

Trump is considering pardoning Binance founder Changpeng Zhao, recently jailed for AML violations. (NYP)

Trump now holds an $870 million indirect Bitcoin stake through Trump Media, ranking him among the world's largest Bitcoin holders. (CC)

Tulloch’s departure, reported by the Wall Street Journal, follows Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s failed attempt to acquire Thinking Machines Lab, with Tulloch reportedly offered a compensation package potentially worth $1.5 billion over six years.

A Thinking Machines Lab spokesperson confirmed Tulloch left for “personal reasons,” while Meta has also targeted over a dozen of the startup’s engineers.

Meta’s recent $14.3 billion acquisition of half of Scale AI secured its founder Alexandr Wang, now leading Meta’s new Superintelligence Labs, alongside 11 senior engineers hired from rivals.

⭐ Editor’s Pick: OpenAI's Sora AI video generator has sparked outrage by enabling hyper-realistic deepfakes of deceased celebrities like Robin Williams peddling fake products. (WAPO)

Elon Musk's xAI is developing advanced "world models" for gaming and robotics, which are AI systems trained on video and robot data to simulate real-world physics. (FT)

The Dutch government took temporary control of Chinese-owned chipmaker Nexperia, citing governance issues threatening Europe's chip supply. (CNBC)

⭐ Editor’s Pick: San Francisco's underground Silicon Colosseum robot fight club drew hundreds to watch robots battle in a caged octagon, with the next event planned for November at a secret venue. (KRON)

Chinese robotics firm Deep Robotics unveiled the DR02, touted as the world's first all-weather humanoid robot with dust-and-rain resistance. (IE)

Engineers developed a 108-arm cotton-topping robot that trims buds 120 times faster than humans. (XIN)

Hong Kong-based MangDang Technology revealed HeySanta, the world's first AI-powered Santa Claus robot. (IE)

⭐ Editor’s Pick: Trump said he may deliver advanced Tomahawk cruise missiles to Ukraine to counter Russia's invasion if Putin spurns peace talks. (FOX)

The U.S., China, Canada, India, and the European Union are advancing quantum-powered radar systems that harness entangled photons for superior stealth detection and jamming resistance. (WION)

Anduril Industries and General Dynamics Land Systems will partner to embed Anduril's advanced Spark Radar and battle management software into military vehicles. (DN)

SpaceX plans to launch Flight 11 of its Starship megarocket on Monday evening. (SP)

⭐ Editor’s Pick: NYU dropout Shayne Coplan became a billionaire as his 11% stake in Polymarket soared past $1 billion after Intercontinental Exchange's $2 billion investment at a $9 billion valuation. (FOR)

Dallas-based fintech Yendo, backed by Mark Cuban, raised $50 million in Series B funding to scale its vehicle equity-backed credit card platform amid booming demand for auto-linked lending. (DBJ)

Prezent, an AI-powered enterprise presentation builder, raised $30 million at a $400 million valuation to acquire AI services firms. (TC)

Foundation Health, developer of an AI assistant streamlining patient communication and prior authorization workflows for pharmacies, secured $20 million in Series A funding. (FH)

The hostages, all men including IDF soldier Matan Angrest, 22, and father-of-two Omri Miran, 48, were handed over to the Red Cross and transported by the Israeli army, following pre-release video calls to their families.

Emotional scenes unfolded at Tel Aviv's "Hostages Square," where 65,000 gathered before giant screens, erupting in cheers as the first seven were freed at 8:15 a.m. local time and helicopters circled overhead with the captives aboard.

As part of the deal, Israel approved the release of 1,718 Palestinian prisoners, with Hamas also set to return the remains of 28 deceased Israeli hostages.

Herzog welcomed the milestone, vowing to secure "every last one," while Trump, arriving on Air Force One, declared the war "over" and received a standing ovation at the Knesset.

⭐ Editor’s Pick: The European Commission is ramping up enforcement of the Digital Services Act, demanding details from tech giants like Snap, Google, Apple, and YouTube on protections. (RTW)

A University of North Carolina-Asheville Democrat joined Turning Point USA alongside the College Democrats in spring 2025, finding the conservative group open to civil debate while enduring bullying from his own party. (CF)

Harvard University is under fire for offering a DEI training program priced at $13,000, focusing on issues of bias and privilege. (FOX)