Good Afternoon. It’s National Guacamole Day and the markets are serving up a full plate. Gold at record highs, Meta tripping over its own leak, and Oracle circling TikTok like the last slice of pizza. Let’s get into it.

—Rosie, Wyatt, Evan & Conor

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🥶 What’s Not: 🥶

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1. Oracle’s stock rises on hopes for a TikTok deal

The News: Oracle shares ticked higher Tuesday as investors bet the company could be the U.S. buyer in TikTok’s forced divestiture, now facing a December 16 deadline. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Washington and Beijing had reached a “framework” for a deal, with final terms expected after President Trump and China’s Xi Jinping speak later this week. Oracle, already running TikTok’s U.S. operations on its cloud through “Project Texas,” is viewed as the frontrunner, though deadlines have slipped before and talks have collapsed at the finish line.

Why It Matters: For Oracle, TikTok would be more than a trophy acquisition, it would diversify a business currently dominated by AI contracts, including its $300 billion deal with OpenAI. A TikTok win could secure a marquee non-AI customer and reinforce Oracle’s position in cloud computing, the 21st-century equivalent of railroads: the infrastructure that everything else rides on. But the company has been down this track before, with deadlines slipping and politics stalling the train. Until a deal is signed, Oracle investors are stuck at the station, refreshing headlines like they’re waiting for the last train home.
Source: marketwatch.com

2. Meta Leaks Its Own Smart Glasses Reveal

The News: Meta accidentally spoiled its own big announcement, briefly posting (then deleting) videos of its upcoming Ray-Ban and Oakley smart glasses ahead of this week’s Meta Connect conference. The clips revealed a heads-up display (HUD) that overlays maps and text onto the real world, plus a wristband for gesture-based interaction features that push Meta closer to the futuristic “Orion” prototype it teased last year.

Why It Matters: Smart glasses have long been a “next big thing” that never quite arrived, but Meta is betting hard they’ll be the primary way we interact with AI in the future. If Zuckerberg is right, not wearing them could leave you at what he calls a “cognitive disadvantage.” For now, the real test is whether Meta’s leaked HUD glasses can succeed where Google Glass flopped, by making them practical, affordable, and not too awkward to wear in public. If successful, this would mark a pivot point for Meta from being just another app on your phone to a layer on top of your reality.
Source: businessinsider.com

3. YouTube Bakes AI Right Into Shorts

The News: YouTube just rolled out its most ambitious AI tools yet, including Veo 3 Fast, a DeepMind-powered video generator that lets creators make 480p Shorts with sound from nothing more than a text prompt. Add in AI remix tools that can turn dialogue into music, editing assistants that auto-stitch clips with transitions and voiceovers, and style filters like origami or pop art, and more.

Why It Matters: Expect YouTube to feel different. Shorts will be slicker, faster, and harder to tell apart from pro content, even if they were made in someone’s bedroom on a Tuesday night. That raises the bar for creators who now compete with AI-polished videos at every scroll. For Google, the upside is obvious: better videos mean longer watch times and more ad revenue. For viewers, the app may soon feel less like a casual social feed and more like flipping channels on an endless stream of bite-sized, high-production TV.
Source: techcrunch.com

4. Oklo stock hits all-time high amid nuclear energy surge

The News: Oklo’s stock surged more than 11% Monday to a record $92.48, capping a year where the startup has already soared over 300%. The rally came as the U.S. and U.K. announced a sweeping nuclear energy partnership that includes plans for modular reactors and even data centers powered by nuclear technology, a deal investors see as a windfall for U.S. companies like Oklo. The company has also been riding momentum from its $1.68 billion plan to build America’s first privately funded nuclear fuel recycling facility in Tennessee.

Why It Matters: The U.S. has talked about nuclear as part of its clean energy future for decades, but it has lagged far behind countries like France, where roughly 65% of electricity already comes from nuclear power. Small modular reactors — the kind Oklo is racing to deploy — are seen as the technology that could finally close that gap. By pitching itself as the company that can “turn waste into gigawatts,” it has captured investor imagination, and a $13 billion market cap, despite being years away from revenue. For investors, Oklo’s meteoric rise reflects both the optimism and the risk: if the company delivers, it could mark America’s long-awaited nuclear comeback. If it stumbles, investors may rotate into other nuclear names or clean-tech plays to keep up with the every growing demand for energy, reminding Wall Street that not every shiny reactor core turns into gold.
Source: finance.yahoo.com

5. Gold hits record ahead of Fed rate decision

The News: Gold settled at yet another record on Tuesday, climbing to $3,688.90 per ounce. Futures briefly touched above $3,730 intraday as traders bet heavily on a Federal Reserve rate cut this week. With U.S. inflation still running at 2.9% and the dollar down nearly 11% year-to-date, investors are piling into safe-haven assets. Central banks have also been buying aggressively, while ETF inflows signal strong retail demand. Silver and copper joined the rally, with silver hitting its highest level since 2011 on both rate-cut bets and industrial demand.

Why It Matters: Gold is rallying not just on rate cut hopes but on deeper worries about stagflation, a rare combo that historically supercharges demand for the metal. Since 2001, gold has never declined when inflation sat above 2% and the Fed was easing policy. For investors, that makes gold feel less like a speculative bet and more like a hedge against Washington’s inability to thread the needle between inflation and growth. The catch? If Fed Chair Powell sounds less dovish than markets want, gold could see a quick correction. But for now, every record close is reinforcing the idea that in an uncertain economy, cash may be trash and gold is king.
Source: wsj.com

1. Nestlé chairman resigns amid leadership turmoil

The News: Nestlé Chairman Paul Bulcke is stepping down seven months earlier than planned after mounting investor pressure over the company’s leadership turmoil. Pablo Isla, the former Inditex CEO credited with turning Zara into a $100 billion powerhouse, will take over as chairman on October 1. The move follows a messy September 1 firing of CEO Laurent Freixe, who was ousted for failing to disclose a romantic relationship with a subordinate, Nestlé’s second CEO departure in just over a year. Philipp Navratil, a 24-year Nestlé veteran and former head of Nespresso, is now CEO.

Why It Matters: Nestlé is the world’s largest food company, the name behind major brands like KitKat, Nespresso, Purina, Gerber and more, but its boardroom looks more like a revolving door. The abrupt exit of two CEOs and now an accelerated chairman handover has shaken investor confidence at a time when the company is already battling tariffs, inflation, and sluggish growth. Isla’s arrival brings turnaround credibility, but his success in fast fashion won’t guarantee a smooth fix in food and beverage. For investors, the real question is whether this new team can restore stability or whether Nestlé risks becoming better known for boardroom drama than for chocolate bars and coffee pods.
Source: reuters.com

2. India's Jindal bids for Thyssenkrupp's German steel unit

The News: India’s Jindal Steel International has submitted a non-binding offer to acquire Thyssenkrupp Steel Europe (TKSE), Germany’s largest steelmaker, in a move that could reshape Europe’s industrial landscape. Thyssenkrupp shares jumped nearly 8% on Tuesday after the news, with the bid estimated between €3 billion and €4 billion. TKSE has been losing money for years under the weight of high energy costs and cheap Asian imports, announcing last year it would cut 11,000 jobs and shrink production. Jindal has pledged over €2 billion to complete TKSE’s green steel projects in Duisburg and link them to its hydrogen-ready plant in Oman, aiming to turn the German giant into Europe’s leading low-emissions steel producer.

Why It Matters: Europe’s steel industry is at a crossroads, squeezed by imports, energy prices, and climate rules. Germany, long the continent’s industrial backbone, risks losing its steel crown unless it can reinvent production around green technologies. Jindal’s bid could provide the capital and raw materials to accelerate that shift, offering a lifeline to thousands of workers and an answer to Europe’s decarbonization goals. But the politics are fraught: unions, rival bidders like Czech billionaire Daniel Kretinsky, and Berlin itself will all weigh in. For investors, it’s a test of whether India’s steel champions can succeed where German management has stumbled or whether Europe’s steel future ends up forged elsewhere.
Source: timesofindia.indiatimes.com

3. Bessent says US-China trade deal close as TikTok talks advance

The News: Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Tuesday he’s confident the U.S. and China are nearing a trade deal, following a fresh round of talks in Spain. The negotiations come as reciprocal tariffs are set to hit in November, and as the Supreme Court weighs whether President Trump even has the authority to impose his sweeping duties under a 1977 emergency law. Bessent also reiterated that a TikTok deal could be finalized after Trump and Xi speak Friday, with Oracle shares up on hopes it will anchor the app’s U.S. future.

Why It Matters: The U.S.-China economic relationship hangs on two fronts: tariffs and TikTok. A trade deal could cool tensions that have rattled supply chains and markets, but the looming Supreme Court ruling adds uncertainty, if Trump’s tariffs are struck down, Washington may have to refund billions in revenue. For investors, the near-term story is TikTok and Oracle, but the bigger picture is whether the world’s two largest economies can dial down confrontation or if businesses should brace for another round of tariff whiplash.
Source: finance.yahoo.com

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