S&P 500, Dow, Nasdaq Close at Record Highs as Tech Stocks Surge; Intel Jumps as Nvidia to Invest $5B

A Wave of Crypto ETFs Are on the Horizon

18 minutes ago

The Securities and Exchange Commission has paved the way for a flurry of new crypto-related exchange-traded funds.

The SEC late Wednesday announced that it approved generic listing standards for commodity-based exchange-traded products, fast-tracking the approval for crypto funds. By approving the standards across Nasdaq, Cboe BZX, and NYSE Arca, the SEC has eliminated the need for individual approvals under Section 19(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934.

Prior to the new guidance, spot crypto fund issuers were subject to a lengthy application process that required public comment and SEC review, which is why most of the crypto ETFs that have launched to date covered bitcoin and ether, the two largest cryptocurrencies by market cap.

The streamlined approach is expected to shorten launch timelines, cut administrative costs, and and make more cryptocurrencies available to investors in an ETF wrapper. The new standards came with the approval of the first multi-crypto asset ETF in the U.S., the Grayscale Digital Large Cap Fund, or GLDC, which in addition to crypto and ether holds XRP, solana and cardano.

Read the full article here.

–Kyle Torpey and Cyrstal Kim

PayPal and Google Want to Help You Shop Online With AI

1 hr 53 min ago

PayPal and Google are teaming up to help you shop with artificial intelligence.

As part of a multiyear deal, Google will embed PayPal (PYPL) across its platforms for a more seamless payment experience, while PayPal will use Google’s AI to enhance its e-commerce services, the companies announced yesterday.

Google and Alphabet (GOOGL) CEO Sundar Pichai said he expects the tie-up to drive a “better experience across Google products and platforms,” with PayPal CEO Alex Chriss saying it could bring “greater opportunities for merchants and users worldwide.”

The move comes as Google works to expand its role in agentic commerce, with AI agents that can help shoppers find and compare products, as well as make purchases online. Earlier this week, the company unveiled a new software standard that aims to make chatbot-enabled purchases easier, and more reliable.

Shares of Google parent Alphabet were up close to 1% near $152 in recent trading, just below an all-time high set earlier this week. They’ve added roughly a third of their value this year as the tech giant has seen revenues surge and touted signs of success with its AI initiatives. Meanwhile, PayPal’s stock was little changed around $69 Thursday, leaving it down some 20% this year after a disappointing second quarter, with some Wall Street analysts suggesting it could be a while before the partnership stands to make a meaningful difference for PayPal’s results.

Morgan Stanley analysts said in a note to clients Thursday that they view the partnership as a “step in the right direction” for PayPal, though they added it may be “unlikely to meaningfully move the needle near-term.”

They maintained a neutral rating and $75 target for the stock, a bit below the $80 mean of analysts surveyed by Visible Alpha.

–Bill McColl

Cracker Barrel Needs to Get People Coming Back. Here’s How It’s Trying to Do That.

2 hr 51 min ago

A hotly debated rebrand has depressed sales at Cracker Barrel since mid-August. The restaurant chain is trying to move on.

Its efforts include new breakfast specials and soliciting feedback from regulars. And there’s good reason to try: Cracker Barrel Old Country Store (CBRL) traffic has declined 8% since Aug. 19, when the Tennessee-based chain unveiled a streamlined logo that no longer featured a male character, company executives said on a conference call Wednesday.

The updated logo upset some consumers—and caught the eye of President Donald Trump—and fueled debate about whether remodeled stores had an overly modern vibe. Within a week, the company said it would bring back the prior logo. It will also restore the old aesthetic at renovated locations and pause further remodels, CEO Julie Masino said on a Wednesday conference call about the company’s quarterly results.

A number of regulars are sticking by the restaurant, CEO Julie Masino said, and Cracker Barrel is taking steps to include them in the comeback plan. Cracker Barrel will launch an initiative called “Front Porch Feedback” to gauge how rewards members feel after each visit, said Masino, who stepped into the CEO role in 2023. “We will be listening to and actioning initiatives based on their valuable input,” she said, according to a transcript made available by AlphaSense.

The brand has successfully beckoned people back with recent “buy one, get one free” breakfast specials, Masino said. It’s also working to improve its biscuits and update its meatloaf and green beans, part of an ongoing effort to enhance the menu. 

Read the full article here.

–Sarina Trangle

Dogecoin Is Still Here—And Now There’s an ETF That Tracks It

3 hr 42 min ago

An exchange-traded fund that tracks a cryptocurrency created for the fun of it began trading today.

The Rex-Osprey DOGE ETF, which uses the ticker symbol “DOJE,” now trades in U.S. markets.1 It’s the first Dogecoin ETF listed in the U.S. market, and it’s in some ways hard to believe it—or the coin that underpins it—exists at all.

Dogecoin, or “DOGE,” is a meme-based cryptocurrency created in 2013 as a lighthearted alternative to bitcoin. Dogecoin’s most notable backer is Elon Musk, who has in the past influenced the price of the asset by posting about on the social-media network now known as X.

Now the coin has inspired an exchange-traded product. Dogecoin currently changes hands at around 28 cents; it has risen some 15% over the past week as traders awaited the listing of the ETF, according to Tradingview. The joke, it seems, has legs: The market cap of Dogecoin is above $42 billion, according to CoinMarketCap.

Rex-Osprey has a number of other crypto ETFs live or in the works; one that follows XRP also began trading today. A Rex-Osprey TRUMP ETF currently under review at the SEC, which is for the controversial meme coin associated with current U.S. President Donald Trump.

The ETF arrives as investors have lately flocked to a range of new crypto- and crypto-linked assets, from IPOs—among them Bullish (BLSH) and Circle (CRCL)—to bitcoin and altcoin Treasury stocks and tokens.

There could soon be a rush of new exchange-traded products in particular, with Bloomberg analyst James Seyffart earlier this year telling Investopedia to expect a spate of crypto products to get regulatory approval in the second half.

–Kyle Torpey

FactSet Stock Drops on Weaker-Than-Expected Q4 Profit, Soft Revenue Outlook

4 hr 4 min ago

FactSet Research Systems (FDS) was the worst-performing stock in the S&P 500 Thursday afternoon, with shares dropping more than 8%.

The Norwalk, Conn.-based financial data firm reported fiscal 2025 fourth-quarter adjusted earnings per share of $4.05. Analysts polled by Visible Alpha expected $4.15.

FactSet’s fiscal 2026 revenue projection of $2.423 billion to $2.448 billion was a tick shy of estimates.

FactSet shares have fallen more than 35% year-to-date.

Forget Sports Betting—Americans Found a New $300M Game: The Fed Meeting

4 hr 21 min ago

Americans wagered more than $300 million on the Fed’s quarter-point interest rate move this week—not through complex derivatives or bond trades, but on platforms that work like DraftKings for monetary policy.

The Federal Reserve’s expected 25 basis point cut was anticlimactic—experts had expected it for weeks—so the real drama unfolded on prediction market platforms where you can bet yes/no on cultural, political, and economic questions.

Is this sophisticated hedging, or has America’s gambling problem found a new game? Wall Street quants still have intricate ways to speculate on the Fed’s moves, but with platforms already lining up to take bets on October’s meeting, it’s clear that the dryness of monetary policy jargon and Jerome Powell’s pressers haven’t stopped them from joining the Super Bowl as spectacles Americans are ready to bet big on.

While the hundreds of millions wagered on this week’s Fed decision pales next to Polymarket’s $3.2 billion presidential election bonanza, it still represents serious money—and serious growth.

Kalshi’s $91 million nearly doubled their previous two Fed meetings combined.

Polymarket’s volume topped $208 million.

Read the full article here.

–Peter Gratton

Meta Wants Its Glasses—Not Phones—to Be Your Tool for Using AI Technology

5 hr 3 min ago

Meta Platforms unveiled new smart glasses with a built-in screen at its annual developer conference, a bet that new devices can challenge the smartphone as the key device for accessing AI.

The “Meta Ray-Ban Display” glasses, introduced by Meta (META) CEO Mark Zuckerberg in a speech Wednesday night, were well-received by Wall Street analysts, who have previously said they could help position the tech giant as an early leader in a new category of devices.

“Glasses are the only form factor where you can let AI see what you see, hear what you hear, talk to you throughout the day—and, very soon, generate whatever AI you need right in your vision in real time,” Zuckerberg said. He took to the stage at the company’s Menlo Park, Calif., headquarters wearing the glasses. 

“It is no surprise that AI glasses are taking off,” he added.

Meta has been making smart glasses with Ray-Ban and Oakley owner EssilorLuxottica for the past three years. The European eyewear maker said in July that first-half revenue for the earlier generation of RayBan Meta glasses had more than tripled year-over-year.

Read the full article here.

–Nisha Gopalan

Netskope Stock Soars in Nasdaq Debut

5 hr 44 min ago

Netskope shares surged more than 20% in their public debut on the Nasdaq.

The cybersecurity firm’s stock opened at $23 after it priced its initial public offering of 47,800,000 shares at $19, the top of its range, on Wednesday.

The stock traded as high as $24 and recently was at $23.70.

Peter Thiel-Backed Crypto Platform Bullish Swings to a Profit; Stock Surges

6 hr 24 min ago

Shares of Bullish (BLSH) surged Thursday after the cryptocurrency exchange backed by billionaire Peter Thiel reported that it posted a profit on higher sales and trading volume.

Bullish, which also operates the CoinDesk crypto information site, reported second-quarter net income of $108.3 million, or $0.93 per diluted share, compared to a loss of $116.4 million, or $1.03 per share, the year before. Digital asset sales rose 18% to $58.6 billion, while trading volume jumped 35% to $179.6 billion.

It was the company’s first financial report since becoming a publicly traded company in August. CEO Tom Farley said the company was pleased with the results, and that “the work we did in the second quarter is already directly contributing to strong business momentum in the third quarter and beyond.” 

Bullish sees current quarter non-IFRS adjusted net income of $12 million to $17 million, and trading volume of between $133 billion and $142 billion.

Shares were up 12% in recent trading. After popping when they hit the market last month, shares of Bullish have tumbled about 10%. 

–Bill McColl

Darden Restaurants Stock Sinks as Olive Garden Parent’s Profit Comes Up Short

7 hr 9 min ago

Darden Restaurants (DRI) was the worst-performing stock in the S&P 500 Thursday morning, with shares sinking 9%, after the company reported weaker-than-expected fiscal 2026 first-quarter profit.

The Olive Garden parent posted adjusted earnings per share of $1.97, while analysts surveyed by Visible Alpha were looking for $2.01 per share. Sales came in slightly better than expected.

With today’s sharp declines, shares of Darden Restaurants now are up just 1% this year.

Logo, Restaurant Change Backlash Hurt Cracker Barrel’s Profit, Outlook

7 hr 41 min ago

Cracker Barrel Old Country Store (CBRL) shares fell Thursday as the blowback from the restaurant chain’s location updates and logo change hit its results and guidance.

Shares of Cracker Barrel were recently down about 3%, extending year-to-date losses. The company reported fourth quarter fiscal 2025 adjusted earnings per share of $0.74, $0.06 less than analysts surveyed by Visible Alpha were looking for.

Revenue fell 3% to $868.0 million, better than estimates. Comparable store restaurant sales rose 5.4%, but comparable store retail sales dropped 0.8%.

Cracker Barrel recently backed away from a rebranding plan after facing a firestorm of criticism from customers. CEO Julie Masino said the company listened to the complaints, “switching back to our ‘Old Timer’ logo, hitting pause on remodels, and placing an even bigger emphasis in the kitchen and other areas that enhance the guest experience.”

In a call with analysts Thursday, Masino said that since the date of the initial logo change, on August 19, store traffic has declined approximately 8%. Assuming similar trends for the rest of the quarter, she said, the company expects a fiscal first-quarter traffic decline of as much as 8%.

–Bill McColl

Novo Nordisk Stock Surges on Positive Ozempic Data

8 hr 10 min ago

U.S.-listed shares of Novo Nordisk (NVO) surged 5% after the Danish firm said its blockbuster weight-loss treatment Ozempic outperformed a drug from rival Eli Lilly (LLY).

Novo Nordisk said Ozempic “was associated with a 23% reduced risk of heart attack, stroke and death in people with type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease on Medicare” compared with dulaglutide, commonly known as Trulicity, which is manufactured by Eli Lilly.

Investors in Eli Lilly stock appeared to take the news in stride, as shares advanced 1% soon after the opening bell.

Nvidia Bets Big on Intel With $5B Investment

9 hr 8 min ago

Nvidia (NVDA) is investing $5 billion in Intel and will jointly develop chips for PCs and data centers, the companies announced Thursday.

Nvidia, the chip designer at the heart of the AI boom, said it will buy Intel common stock at $23.28 a share—around 7% below where they closed yesterday. The news of the tie-up between the two American chipmakers sent shares of government-backed Intel soaring 28% in premarket trading, while Nvidia shares climbed 3%.

Intel will build custom data-center chips that Nvidia will “integrate into its AI infrastructure platforms and offer to the market,” and also make PC chips that will integrate “Nvidia RTX GPU chiplets,” the companies said.

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang called it a “historic collaboration” that fuses two “world-class platforms,” adding “together, we will expand our ecosystems and lay the foundation for the next era of computing.”

Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan, meanwhile, said the company’s “leading data center and client computing platforms, combined with our process technology, manufacturing and advanced packaging capabilities, will complement NVIDIA’s AI and accelerated computing leadership.”

Once a leading chipmaker, Intel has fallen behind rivals like chip manufacturer TSMC (TSM) and struggled to keep up with technological advancements in the space. The Trump administration is pushing to make the company a national champion in the production of AI chips, however, and last month said it would take a 10% stake in the company.

–Nisha Gopalan

US Stock Futures Point Higher on Expectations of More Fed Rate Cuts

10 hr 3 min ago

Futures contracts connected to the Dow Jones Industrial Average were up 0.6%.

S&P 500 futures were 0.8% higher.

Nasdaq 100 contracts were up 1.1%.