News

In an interview with CNBC’s Jim Cramer, Apple CEO Tim Cook struck an optimistic tone about the iPhone maker’s progress bringing more manufacturing to the U.S.

StubHub is poised to hit the public market after twice delaying its IPO, most recently due to market volatility following President Trump’s sweeping tariffs.

Surely
everyone has dreamed at least once of stepping into the shoes of the hero of
Blast from the Past: you unearth an old baseball card that has been gathering
dust in a box for years, and suddenly you become a millionaire. No investments,
no risky bets on forex pairs like EUR/USD or GBP/USD, no
speculation on stock indices such as the S&P 500 or Dow Jones — just
the pure luck of keeping the right item and, voilà, instant wealth.

That
dream continues to inspire many people, who are constantly hunting for
collectibles, things that may not be cheap to buy today but could sell later
for ten times (or more) their value. For a long time, LEGO sets were among the
most popular and profitable items in this field. More recently, however,
virtual items from Counter-Strike have taken their place.

There
are simpler options for those who don’t want to immerse themselves in either of
these worlds, such as toys. One of the most famous examples was Ty Inc.’s
Beanie Babies. People sincerely believed that certain stuffed animals would
become rare items and their value would skyrocket. In fact, some were resold
for hundreds or even thousands of dollars, driven by artificial scarcity
through limited production and the strategic withdrawal of certain models. But
eventually, the
bubble burst, and today, most Beanie Babies are worth much less than
people expected. That story would have served as a lesson, but apparently, it
hasn’t.

Recently,
the Labubu toy became very popular, pushing the market capitalization of its
manufacturer, Pop Mart, above $45 billion in July of this year. This is,
although the previous year’s revenue was only $1.8 billion and net profit was
$439 million. But after peaking in late August, Pop Mart’s stock began to fall
as interest in Labubu toys cooled.

The company’s situation
did not improve when JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded
its shares to “neutral,” citing a lack of growth catalysts and
excessive valuation: “We believe the valuation is perfect and that any small
fundamental flaw or negative media news (e.g., falling resale prices and
third-party licensing) could lead to underperformance.”

So, has the Labubu era
come to an end?

If the proposals to impose
stricter oversight of toys and surprise cards for children under eight —
including age verification at the time of purchase and parental consent for
online purchases — actually become law in China, the impact on Pop Mart could be
even worse. In general, it seems clear that enthusiasm for these toys is
waning. Something new will have to take its place.

This article was written by IL Contributors at investinglive.com.

• Prior +2.0%
• Core CPI +2.3% vs +2.3% y/y prelim
• Prior +2.4%

The headline estimate is revised lower but there’s no change to the core reading. So, carry on as you will.

This article was written by Justin Low at investinglive.com.

We’ll be adding the best pictures of day two of the state visit here as the day unfolds, so check back for further updates.

The Financial Times reports that China’s internet regulator has told the country’s biggest tech companies to stop buying all of Nvidia’s AI chips and terminate their existing orders. This is seen as an effort to boost Chinese semiconductor industry and compete with the US.

The article notes that “this ban is stronger than earlier guidance from regulators that focused on the H20 chips. Beijing is putting pressure on Chinese tech companies to break their reliance on Nvidia”.

Full report here

This article was written by Giuseppe Dellamotta at investinglive.com.

Even with the drop so far today, gold is up roughly 0.6% on the week and is keeping over 6% gains this month. Not bad for what is supposed to be a soft seasonal month for the precious metal, eh?

For today though, gold is back down to $3,665 currently after briefly clipping the $3,700 mark in overnight trading. This is mostly profit-taking as traders are gearing up towards the Fed decision later in the day.

The chart still points to gold keeping a more bullish momentum in the bigger picture. That especially after the break of $3,500 earlier this month.

As we look to the Fed later, there is scope for a modest pullback and shift in near-term momentum if the dollar manages to bounce back. The 100 and 200-hour moving averages for gold are at $3,658 and $3,636 respectively. So, a break below those levels will see sellers gather back some near-term momentum at least.

However, all of that is still likely to be temporary and short-lived. So long as US data continues to soften and the Fed stays on track to cut rates further, gold will continue to build on that tailwind alongside the many other factors driving the bullish momentum.

I’d be remiss not to point out that there is scope for a sharp and violent pullback in gold prices amid the incessant rally all through this year. But in the bigger picture, I will continue to advocate for dip buying in gold on any major pullbacks/corrections.

This article was written by Justin Low at investinglive.com.

The preliminary data suggests that we should see lower and more stable wage growth in the first half of 2026. Negotiated wage growth was 4.1% in 2024 and is estimated to be 3.8% in 2025 now, once excluding one-off payments. Looking to 2026, the wage tracker finds that negotiated wage growth will fall further to 2.5% in 2026 (excluding one-off payments).

For some added context, it is estimating the first half of this year to be 4.3% and 3.3% in the second half of the year. So, the overall trend looks to be continuing to point to slower and moderating wage pressures.

That will be a welcome development for the ECB, offering them some added flexibility in managing monetary policy now. That especially if they are still worried about consumer prices in general.

The full data can be found here.

This article was written by Justin Low at investinglive.com.

• Negotiated wage growth with smoothed one-off payments of 4.6% in 2024, and 3.2% in 2025.
• For the first half of 2026, the headline ECB wage tracker stands at 1.7%
  (down from 2.1% in the second half of 2025 and 4.3% in the first half
  of 2025).

Stable wage growth is a good thing for the ECB as it helps with keeping inflation stable around their target in absence of shocks.

Full report here

This article was written by Giuseppe Dellamotta at investinglive.com.