☕️ Google's new Gemini agent acts like a coworker

Hi there, this is your daily ☕️ Finpresso.

In today's newsletter:

🤖 Google launches Gemini agent that works like a colleague

🛂 US bars Microsoft from green-card sponsorship

📡 SpaceX buys spectrum to challenge big telecom

📉 OpenAI's revenue runs $20bn below forecast

🚕 Waymo raises first-ever $5B loan for expansion

Plus: 🌍 10 macro stories, 🏢 9 corporate stories, and 📑 6 research & reports.

📊 Before The Bell

• Google launched Gemini Spark, an AI agent for businesses that can take on a full assignment, figure out the steps, and deliver a finished product via Google Cloud, pushing Alphabet into a market OpenAI and Meta are already chasing.
• Alphabet shares rose 2.2% after Thursday's launch, as Google positioned the service to run across Gmail, Docs and Sheets plus Microsoft 365 and Slack, keep working memory across devices, and continue long tasks even after a laptop is switched off.
• In an unusual move, the platform runs on both Google's Gemini and Anthropic's Claude, picking the cheaper or more capable model per task, which Google says lets companies control costs while keeping their data and settings if they switch AI engines.

• The Trump administration has barred Microsoft and Adobe from sponsoring H-1B visa workers for green cards, Vice President JD Vance announced yesterday, accusing the companies of prioritizing foreign hires over Americans.
• Vance, who leads the administration's anti-fraud task force, cited Microsoft's decision to cut thousands of workers earlier this year as evidence of fraud; Labor Secretary Keith Sonderling separately said his department is suspending Adobe from the program.
• The move is part of a wider crackdown on alleged work-visa abuse, with Vance telling Microsoft it must "hire great American workers," signaling tighter scrutiny of how large tech employers staff their US operations.

• SpaceX agreed on Thursday to buy a nationwide airwaves portfolio from digital-infrastructure firm Grain Management, a move to turn its Starlink satellite service into a full mobile carrier in the US and take on the big phone companies.
• The deal, which needs FCC approval, covers up to 14 megahertz of low-band 800 MHz spectrum that SpaceX says fills a key technical gap for Starlink Mobile; the news sent AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile shares lower in extended trading.
• Analysts call the spectrum still limited, noting SpaceX would need ground towers for reliable urban coverage; SpaceX shares rose about 2% after hours, recovering from a 4% drop during the regular session, with Starlink its only profitable unit so far.

• OpenAI's annualized revenue was running near $50 billion in late September, about $20 billion below the figure widely cited by investors and analysts, according to reports from the Financial Times and CNBC.
• The gap reflects accounting, not lost sales: the higher number counted gross revenue from partner companies to make OpenAI comparable to Anthropic, while the business itself grew more than 70% in the third quarter.
• The disclosure dragged down AI-linked stocks, with Oracle off more than 5% and the Nasdaq down 1.4%, as OpenAI pursues a new funding round and eyes a 2027 IPO.

• Waymo, Alphabet's self-driving unit, has closed its first-ever debt deal, a $5 billion loan from lenders including PIMCO, Blackstone, and Sixth Street, to fund expansion in existing cities and new markets.
• The loan, with Goldman Sachs as sole lead bookrunner, marks a shift from Waymo's reliance on parent-company and investor equity; in February it raised $16 billion that lifted its valuation to $126 billion, with Alphabet still majority owner.
• Waymo says the financing strengthens its balance sheet as a "scaling commercial enterprise" now operating in 15 markets, with testing underway in London and Tokyo, even as U.S. regulators probe robotaxi incidents involving school buses and a child struck at about 6 mph.

🌍 Macro News

• WTO lifts its 2026 trade-growth forecast as AI and chip demand offset disruption. LINK
• Waller expects more rate hikes if incoming economic data matches his forecast. LINK
• Trump postpones Iran attack, easing oil prices amid productive peace talks. LINK
• China resumes fuel exports, easing pressure on record-high global diesel markets. LINK
• Blumenthal presses Cantor over Tether ties as Congress weighs crypto regulation. LINK
• NFL wants states, not a federal agency, to regulate prediction markets. LINK
• China denies suppressing the yuan amid escalating EU trade tensions. LINK
• Gold may stabilize as rate-hike bets fall, but yields cap gains. LINK
• ESMA gives crypto platforms three months to remove noncompliant stablecoin exposure. LINK
• Claims remain near a 57-year low, signaling labor-market stability despite weak hiring. LINK

🏢 Corporate News

• Airtel Money lists in London at a £5.3 billion valuation. LINK
• Apple trims iPhone Pro orders as costs and prices weaken demand. LINK
• Firmus Grid struggles to attract investors, exposing unease over AI funding. LINK
• Securitize launches tokenized versions of 12 US stocks on Solana. LINK
• PepsiCo lowers profit outlook as weak demand and costs spur savings. LINK
• Drone-strike fire forces Yandex to shut a major Russian data center. LINK
• Wells Fargo discusses crypto-trading liquidity with Kraken’s parent, report says. LINK
• American Express faces a $350 million penalty over longstanding money-laundering control failures. LINK
• Viatris will acquire Pacira for $1.65 billion, expanding its non-opioid pain portfolio. LINK

📈 Stocks

📑 Research & Reports

• Aleph's FP&A fitness score: scores your planning process and shows where it lags comparable finance teams. Get your free score
• IMF warns tokenized markets’ volatility could amplify financial risks as adoption grows. LINK
• New York Fed finds tariffs drove price increases across 67 everyday-goods categories. LINK
• Rates and bond yields top growth risks for wealthy investors, survey finds. LINK
• JPMorgan says $50 billion entered digital assets this year, strengthening momentum. LINK
• AI-using small businesses are more optimistic about hiring and sales, Fed finds. LINK
• Blockchain fee collectors may benefit more than bitcoin or ether, research says. LINK

📅 Market Calendar

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