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TLDR

MARKET RECAP → Stock rose Thursday, with the S&P 500 only a hair off from a new record. Markets comeback from lows hit in April as they overcome the negative expectations from tariffs, wars, and sticky inflation rates.

WALL STREET CLIMBS THROUGH CHAOS → The S&P 500 keeps climbing past records thanks to AI optimism and resilient earnings, even as risks like inflation, geopolitics, and Fed limbo loom large.

CHINA’S ZHIPU AI ENTERS THE CHAT → OpenAI just named Chinese firm Zhipu AI, backed by Beijing, as one of its top global rivals, marking a rare public acknowledgment of China’s growing AI prowess. The move also strengthens OpenAI’s case against UK antitrust scrutiny by emphasizing international competition.

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Finance

Wall Street Climbs Through Chaos

New Highs, Same Fears: The S&P 500 hit a fresh record despite a backdrop of stubborn inflation, Fed uncertainty, global conflicts, and political risk. What’s driving the rally? A resilient economy, corporate profits holding steady, and optimism around AI-fueled productivity gains.

Big Tech, Big Fuel: Mega-cap tech stocks, especially Nvidia (NVDA), Microsoft (MSFT), and Apple (AAPL), shoulder much of the rally. Their growth narratives around AI and cloud computing have kept investors hooked, even as rate cuts remain elusive.

Investors Shrug Off Risks: Geopolitics, election drama, and lingering inflation haven’t scared investors away. Instead, markets are pricing in soft-landing hopes, slower inflation ahead, and central banks eventually easing. Translation: bad news keeps becoming "good enough" news for stocks.

Tech

China’s Zhipu AI Enters the Chat

OpenAI quietly names a top rival: In a new filing to the UK’s antitrust authority, OpenAI identified Chinese firm Zhipu AI as one of its “top competitors” globally, alongside Anthropic, Google DeepMind, and Meta (META). Zhipu, backed by Chinese state-linked investors and spun out of Tsinghua University, builds large language models like GLM-4 and openly seeks to rival GPT-4.

Geopolitics meet generative AI: While OpenAI has largely focused its competition narrative around U.S.-based firms, its decision to spotlight Zhipu signals growing concerns about China’s rapidly maturing AI sector. Zhipu raised over $340 million last year, in part from government-affiliated funds, and plays a key role in Beijing’s push for AI independence.

Why this disclosure matters now: The admission came as part of OpenAI’s effort to quash UK scrutiny of its partnership with Microsoft (MSFT), arguing that the AI market remains highly competitive. Including a Chinese rival helps OpenAI portray the market as global and fragmented, not Big Tech–dominated, potentially defusing antitrust concerns.

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