Oracle issued a force majeure notice regarding its $165 billion Project Jupiter data center, while Bank of Japan rate hike debates pushed Japanese 10-year yields to 3.115 percent. Corporate activity saw Geely buy a stake in Nio Power, Amazon block Meta's AI agent, and Costco deliver strong Q4 earnings.
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Oracle Shares Drop Following Report of Force Majeure Notice on Data Center
Oracle issued a force majeure notice to Blue Owl regarding its 165 billion dollar Project Jupiter in New Mexico. The notice allows Oracle to pause rent payments if the 2.45-gigawatt facility misses its 2028 completion target. Project Jupiter is designed to supply computing capacity for OpenAI under the Stargate initiative, but it faces severe permitting delays and local opposition. Regulatory hurdles have blocked pipeline approvals and air permits for the site's Bloom Energy fuel cells, pushing the timeline toward 2029 or 2030. These delays have stressed 18 billion dollars in loans tied to the campus, which are trading below 90 cents on the dollar. Blue Owl shares fell 4 percent following the report, while Bloom Energy dropped 6 percent before later recovering.
Bank of Japan July Minutes Show Debate Over Faster Rate Hikes
Many Bank of Japan policymakers debated the need for faster increases at their July meeting, CNA reported on Monday, citing newly released minutes that cemented the case for further monetary . After keeping borrowing costs steady at 1 per cent during the July 30-31 policy gathering, the subsequently pushed its policy rate to 1.25 per cent this month, reaching a 31-year high as fuel and raw material import costs climbed. Several members of the nine-member board warned that waiting too long risked severe economic damage if materialized, arguing that the pace of hikes could exceed market expectations of roughly six-month intervals. The policy rate remains below the estimated neutral rate range of 1.1 per cent to 2.5 per cent, creating pressure to normalize policy and nimbly adjust rates. Expectations of further monetary tightening pushed the 10-year Japanese government to 3.115 per cent on Friday, marking a level last seen in August 1996. Analysts expect the central bank to potentially revise up its inflation forecasts and hike again during the upcoming October 29-30 policy meeting.
Geely Takes 30% Stake in Nio Power, Valuing Unit at $2.4 Billion
Geely Holding Group will acquire a 30% stake in Nio Power by contributing its Yiyi Power subsidiary and 640 million yuan in cash. The transaction values Nio Power at roughly 16 billion yuan, or about $2.4 billion, on a post-money basis. Nio China will retain a controlling 63.6% stake in the unit, with Wuhan Guangchuang Emerging Technology Phase I Fund Partnership holding the remaining 6.4%. As part of the reciprocal arrangement, Nio China will acquire a 10% stake in Geely subsidiary Zhejiang Haohan Energy Technology Co Ltd in exchange for cash. Geely's final stake in Nio Power could adjust between 20% and 34% depending on operational milestones and the potential exercise of a further 640 million yuan cash within two years. Nio Power targets operating 10,000 swap stations by 2030, while Geely plans to build over 22,000 charging stations with more than 100,000 connectors by the end of 2027.
Amazon Restricts Internal Use of Meta's Muse AI Agent Over Security Concerns
Amazon blocked Meta Platforms from accessing its retail site with the Muse agent over security concerns. Amazon stated that Muse browsed without identifying itself and raised unresolved issues regarding customer credentials, while Meta countered that the agent cannot view user passwords or payment details. The restriction erects a barrier between Amazon and Meta's fast-growing personal assistant, which has secured commerce integrations with rival retailers including Walmart, Best Buy, and Shopify. Amazon instead opened its seller platform to Anthropic's Claude via a new Selling Partner plugin that grants merchants direct access to inventory and pricing tools. Amazon has invested $13 billion in Anthropic with potential for another $20 billion, while Anthropic has committed over $100 billion to AWS infrastructure over the coming decade.
Costco Reports 14.9% Net Income Growth in Fiscal Q4
Costco Wholesale posted fiscal fourth-quarter of $2.998 billion, or $6.75 a share, topping Wall Street estimates on the back of a non-recurring refund. The result marked a 14.9% increase from $2.610 billion, or $5.87 a share, in the same period a year earlier. Total for the 16-week quarter ended August 30 rose to $95.72 billion from a comparable prior-year level, beating analyst forecasts of $94.86 billion. Net sales grew 11.2% to $93.9 billion. The quarterly figures included a $0.15-per-share benefit from International Emergency Economic Powers Act tariff refunds after Costco received $184 million in refunds and interest. Chief Financial Officer Gary Millerchip stated that the company reinvested part of that sum into lower prices on produce, meat, beverages, and non-food items, with management planning to direct most future refunds into member value. Excluding the net refund, underlying rose 12.4% to $6.60. Comparable sales increased 9.4%, or 6.7% when stripping out gasoline prices and currency fluctuations. Membership fee income climbed 7.3% to $1.85 billion, extending a pattern of decelerating growth following the September 2024 fee increase. Paid memberships reached 84.1 million, an increase of 3.8%. Total expenditures for fiscal 2027 are projected at approximately $7.5 billion as the warehouse club targets 33 new openings, building on a total of 939 warehouses at the end of fiscal 2026. Costco shares traded flat in after-hours sessions following the report.
New Mexico Jury Finds Meta Misled Consumers Over Cambridge Analytica
Channelnewsasia.com reports that a New Mexico jury found Meta Platforms misled state residents in a lawsuit stemming from the Cambridge Analytica data scandal. The verdict follows a two-week trial over a 2021 complaint brought by the state attorney general, who accused the tech company of misrepresenting how user data was shared and how it handled hate speech. Judge Francis Mathew will determine the monetary penalties Meta must pay for the violations. The trial follows an earlier March case in which a Santa Fe jury ordered Meta to pay $375 million in civil penalties over youth safety on its platforms. A subsequent judge's ruling in that matter directed the company to pay $567 million into a teen mental health fund. Meta later reached a settlement with 47 US states, agreeing to pay a maximum of about $16.7 billion to resolve claims regarding youth addiction while paying $459 million to a handful of states to resolve privacy claims related to Cambridge Analytica. New Mexico declined to join that settlement, allowing its own case to proceed to trial.
Riot Platforms Repays $200M Credit Facility and Releases Collateral
Riot Platforms completed a voluntary early repayment of its $200 million secured credit facility with Coinbase Credit on September 21, terminating the agreement roughly seven months ahead of its April 2027 maturity date. The payoff unlocked 5,821 BTC valued at around $340.7 million as of June 30, returning the alongside USDC and cash from Coinbase Custody to the company's unencumbered holdings without incurring early termination fees or penalties. Riot originally established the facility in April 2025 as a $100 million -backed loan before upsizing it to $200 million in May 2025 and locking in a 6.15% fixed annual via an April 2026 amendment. The released represented approximately 51% of Riot's total Bitcoin holdings of 11,380 BTC as of June 30, 2026, leaving the miner with fully unencumbered reserves and exceeding $1.2 billion as of the second quarter. Riot reported first-quarter 2026 of $167.2 million, with its newly launched business contributing $33.2 million. The company continues to expand its data center operations in Rockdale, Texas, including a 50 MW deal with AMD and a 191 MW, 20-year lease with Anthropic projected to generate roughly $9.1 billion in revenue over its lifespan.
Payward Pursues $2 Billion Acquisition Push to Expand Kraken
Payward reported second-quarter adjusted of $508 million, marking a 17 percent increase from the previous year. The parent company of digital exchange Kraken is deploying billions of dollars to transition into a unified financial infrastructure platform. Adjusted reached $23 million for the quarter, while total platform transaction volume fell 18 percent year over year to $310 billion as spot activity weakened. Payward is building its strategy around approximately 6.6 million funded accounts holding $40 billion in assets. The expansion includes such as the $1.5 billion purchase of U.S. brokerage NinjaTrader and a $550 million deal for infrastructure provider Bitnomial. also agreed to invest $100 million in Payward to collaborate on tokenized infrastructure. Nasdaq Equity Tokens and London Stock Exchange listings for xStocks are targeted to launch in the second quarter of 2027.
Shopify Rises Following Meta AI Partnership and Tailwind Labs Deal
Shopify shares climbed 7% on Tuesday following an sales partnership with Meta that integrates Shop Pay into the Muse agent and the completion of the Tailwind Labs . The Meta partnership links Shopify's commerce infrastructure directly to Meta's consumer traffic sources to let the Muse agent complete sales behind the scenes. Shopify trades at $142.25 per share, sitting about 21 percent below the average analyst price target of $210.47 while holding a 3-year total shareholder return of 160.67 percent. Recent trading shows a 24.55 percent gain over 90 days, contrasted against a 6.97 percent decline over 30 days and a 9.51 percent drop year to date. Consensus projections model Shopify reaching $26.3 billion in and $3.9 billion in by 2029, yielding a estimate of $171.15 per share. Meanwhile, lower estimates see revenue reaching $25.0 billion and earnings at $3.2 billion by 2029 amid risks that AI tools remain commoditised . The SWS discounted model values Shopify at $115.81 per share, putting the stock above that cash flow mark and raising questions about multiples against rising competition from other AI-enabled retail platforms.
The US Food and Drug Administration approved AbbVie's once-daily Parkinson's pill Juvmo, known generically as tavapadon, for adult patients. AbbVie acquired the selective dopamine D1/D5 receptor agonist through its $8.7 billion purchase of Cerevel Therapeutics in 2023. The regulatory clearance relies on data from the late-stage TEMPO clinical programme. In the TEMPO-2 trial of 304 early-stage patients, tavapadon delivered greater improvements in motor function and daily activities than placebo. A second study, TEMPO-3, tested 507 participants already taking levodopa and found the drug added about 1.1 hours of daily good-on time and reduced off time by nearly an hour. Common side effects in the trials included nausea, dizziness, headache, and, in TEMPO-3, dyskinesia and orthostatic hypotension. More than 11 million people live with Parkinson's worldwide, and AbbVie continues to target over $5 billion in combined sales for its in the . Citi analysts expect the drug to launch in the third quarter of 2026, though uptake will likely depend on coverage negotiations.
Tech expansion, AI commercial friction, and rising global interest rates are reshaping corporate capital strategy simultaneously. Whether tightening liquidity and big-tech disputes will choke off massive infrastructure investments remains the key open debate for markets tomorrow.
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