US Morning News Call | Anthropic Investors Expect $2-3 Trillion Valuation in Potential October IPO

Key Takeaways:

• Trump Announces Tariffs on Drone Imports to Address National Security Concerns

• Anthropic Investors Expect $2-3 Trillion Valuation in Potential October IPO

• Musk Discloses 48.4% Stake in SpaceX

• Reddit to Join S&P 500 Index Replacing AvalonBay Communities on August 18

• Silver Lake in Acquisition Talks with Enterprise Software Company Workday

🔔Before the Bell

Stock futures wavered early Friday following a record-setting session, as two of the three major benchmarks looked poised to notch their third straight weekly gain.

$E-mini NASDAQ 100 Futures (SEP6) (NQmain.US)$ went up by 0.23%;

$E-mini S&P 500 Futures (SEP6) (ESmain.US)$ went up by 0.09%;

$E-mini Dow Futures (SEP6) (YMmain.US)$ went down by 0.12%.

Trump Announces Tariffs on Drone Imports to Address National Security Concerns

President Trump announced tariffs on drone imports, particularly from China, citing national security threats. The White House stated the program aims to protect the U.S. defense industrial base, expand domestic drone production, and create jobs while countering Chinese market dominance.

Anthropic Investors Expect $2-3 Trillion Valuation in Potential October IPO

Anthropic investors anticipate the AI lab seeking a $2-3 trillion valuation in a potential October IPO, exceeding SpaceX's $1.7 trillion record. The company's run-rate revenue reached $47 billion in May, with expectations to double by end-2026.

Musk Discloses 48.4% Stake in SpaceX

Elon Musk reported beneficial ownership of 48.4% of $SpaceX (SPCX.US)$, or 6.42 billion Class A shares, according to a 13G filing. The stake includes shares held by trusts, restricted Class B shares, and options, with Musk holding sole voting and dispositive power over all shares.

Reddit to Join S&P 500 Index Replacing AvalonBay Communities on August 18

S&P Dow Jones Indices announced $Reddit (RDDT.US)$ will replace $AvalonBay Communities Inc(Delisted) (AVB.US)$ in the S&P 500 index effective August 18, 2024, before market open. The social-media platform's inclusion follows months of speculation about its potential addition to the benchmark index.

Silver Lake in Acquisition Talks with Enterprise Software Company Workday

Private equity firm Silver Lake is in acquisition discussions with enterprise software company $Workday (WDAY.US)$, according to reports. The potential deal involves one of the largest enterprise cloud software providers. No transaction terms or timeline have been disclosed.

Apple Develops Custom AI Model for China in Partnership with Alibaba

$Apple (AAPL.US)$ has trained a China-specific large language model in collaboration with $Alibaba (BABA.US)$, marking a shift from its previous reliance on third-party domestic models, according to Reuters. The move paves the way for Apple Intelligence to launch in China in the coming months, following recent regulatory approval from the Cyberspace Administration of China.

Google Launches Gemini 3.7 Flash, Outperforms Rivals in Coding Benchmarks

$Alphabet-C (GOOG.US)$ $Alphabet-A (GOOGL.US)$ released Gemini 3.7 Flash, which outscored Anthropic's Claude Sonnet 5 and OpenAI's GPT-5.6 Terra on the FrontierCode 1.1 Main coding benchmark, at half the price of its predecessor. The launch comes as Google's flagship Gemini 3.5 Pro faces delays, while the Gemini app recently surpassed 1 billion users.

Bill Ackman's Pershing Square Repurchases Position in Netflix

Billionaire Bill Ackman's Pershing Square repurchased a stake in $Netflix (NFLX.US)$ . Two large bullish sell-put options trades on September 18 expiry collected approximately $13 million in premium, signaling confidence the stock will hold current levels.

Applied Materials Reports Fiscal Q3 Earnings Above Estimates

$Applied Materials (AMAT.US)$ reported fiscal third-quarter adjusted earnings of $3.50 per share and revenue of $9.12 billion, exceeding analyst estimates. The company forecast fourth-quarter revenue of $10.25 billion and adjusted earnings of $4.02 per share, both above consensus expectations.

🪙 Crypto News

$Bitcoin (BTC.CC)$ fell -0.99% to 62900.45; $Ethereum (ETH.CC)$ fell -0.60% to 1878.1.

Ethereum Staking Hits 34% as EIP-8361 Proposal Threatens Validator Yields

Ethereum's staked supply has risen to 34%, prompting researchers including the Ethereum Foundation's Justin Drake to file EIP-8361, which would burn a growing share of validator rewards as the staking ratio increases. The proposal could roughly halve consensus yields to 1.2%, significantly impacting ETH treasury firms like Bitmine and Sharplink that rely on native staking rewards.

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