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<ul class="summary-list"><li>JD.com shares fell 8% on Wednesday after Walmart sold its stake in the Chinese e-commerce company.</li><li>Walmart sold 144.5 million shares for $3.6 billion, ending an eight-year partnership.</li></ul>Shares of Chinese e-commerce retailer <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/stocks/jd-stock">JD.com</a> plunged as much as 8% on Wednesday after <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/stocks/wmt-stock">Walmart</a> disclosed that it sold its stake in the company.Walmart sold 144.5 million shares of JD.com for $24.95 per share, representing a total sale of about $3.6 billion, according to a filing made with the SEC and <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-08-20/walmart-is-seeking-up-to-3-74-billion-in-sale-of-jd-com-stake">a report from Bloomberg</a>.The share sale price occurred at an 11% discount from JD.com's closing price on Tuesday. Shares of JD.com traded at around $26 on Wednesday, still about 4% above the price at which Walmart sold its stake. The share sale by Walmart marks the end of an eight-year partnership between the two retailers, though the retail giant told the FT that it still plans to collaborate with JD.com.Walmart first acquired a 5% stake in JD.com in 2016 when it was seeking to level up its retail business in China, and it eventually grew that stake to about 10%.But the near-decade-long partnership has been plagued by a volatile economic environment in China amid an ongoing slowdown inboth their property market and overall consumption by consumers.Muted returns for Chinese technology stocks over the past few years also haven't helped the situation.The iShares MSCI China ETF is trading at the same level today as it was in 2016, when Walmart struck its deal with JD.com, while the KraneShares CSI China Internet ETF is down about 13% since 2016.Walmart said in a statement that the sale would enable the company to "better focus on the country's strong development of China, including the operation of Walmart Supercenter and Sam's Club, and allocate assets to other priorities."For its part, Walmart's Sam's Club business has seen growing success in China in recent years <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/china-costco-location-shenzhen-hong-kong-shoppers-2024-3">as Chinese consumers gravitate toward deals offered by wholesale club retailers.</a>Walmart opened its first Sam's Club store in China in 1996 and now operates 48 locations in the country.

JD.com plummets after Walmart sells its $3.6 billion stake in the Chinese retailer

<div type="image" title="For the unversed, trading in futures and options can be akin to setting their hard-earned money on fire" height="900" width="1200" msid="114064202" hostid="261" caption="&amp;lt;p&amp;gt;For the unversed, trading in futures and options can be akin to setting their hard-earned money on fire&amp;lt;/p&amp;gt;"></div> Once upon a time, there thrived a wild, wild land. Here, it was all about super high monetary stakes, lightning-fast trade deals, and bucketloads of money shifting hands every single second. This wilderness lured millions of individuals with the promise of super duper high returns. But, at what cost? Welcome to the unforgiving, ultra-risky wild west of <keyword id="19991165" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Indian-equity-markets" source="keywords">Indian equity markets</keyword> called the <keyword id="145718" type="General" weightage="100" keywordseo="Futures-and-Options" source="Orion">futures and options</keyword>. Here, everyone seems to just fly right through the bright red-flagged warnings of financial risks to earn even a fraction of these promised returns. Most burn themselves in the process, but carry on nevertheless, as if nothing ever happened. <h2>Chasing the cloudy profits</h2>The data conclusively proves that every 9 out of 10 individuals only lost their hard-earned money in this land. But hey, what do the numbers know? Some hide their losses out of shame, some out of fear. The proponents, meanwhile, proudly boast unusually high returns on their investments, some open social media channels while others encourage their friends and family to take the plunge. Naturally, news of this unstoppable and humongous en-masse migration to the F&amp;O (futures and options) town has reached sheriff <keyword id="19901201" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="SEBI" source="keywords" meta.keywordsubtype="org" meta.entityname="SEBI" meta.hostid="261" meta.entityid="SEBI">SEBI</keyword>, galvanising them into action. After all, it was time to put a leash on this madness and save the common man. The inhabitants of this town doubled in the last 2 years, from 51 lakh in FY22 to 96 lakh in FY24—99.8% of whom were small and mid-income traders. But profits? Well, that's a different, rather completely absent story. <h2>Que Sera Sera, much?</h2>A recent report by SEBI (Securities and Exchange Board of India) that studied profits and losses made by traders in the equity derivatives segment between FY22-24 exposed the mad mania of futures and options trading in India, especially since the pandemic. Per the report, 91.1% of individual traders, or about 73 lakh traders had only lost money trading in futures and options in FY24. Between FY 22-24, over 1 crore traders, or about 92.8% of individual traders, had lost Rs 2 lakh each. But once bitten, twice shy? Well, not in this case. More than 75% of individuals, who had only made losses trading in F&amp;O in FY22 and FY23, continued to trade vigorously in FY24 as well, without any changes in the bottom line, which remained deep in red and negative. So, then all these traders must be uber-rich, with tons of cash and not much care to spare? Nope. 76% of traders in the F&amp;O space in FY24 had an annual income of less than Rs 5 lakh. 2 years ago, their share stood at 71%. And their choice of poison? Options! In FY24, 60% of traders made losses trading in futures, but a whopping 91.5% burnt their funds trading in options. Mind you, futures are riskier than options. With futures, which require significant capital investment, the buyer and seller both are contractually bound to adhere to the pre-determined strike price of the futures or options contract, irrespective of whether the prevailing prices are higher or lower (and thus, resulting in losses for either the buyer or seller). With options, since this adherence ain't necessary, individuals end up taking debt to take highly leveraged positions while trading here. <h2>Scale of the explosion</h2>Anyone who trades even infrequently will tell you that a demat account is the mitochondria or powerhouse of the trading cell. As of August 2024, India had over 17.1 crore <keyword id="20957284" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="demat-accounts" source="keywords">demat accounts</keyword>, which are a prerequisite for trading in the markets. India is the 9th biggest country in the world, in terms of total demat accounts. Did you know that our demat accounts are at par with the entire population of Bangladesh? Talk about scale! Just 4 years ago, in March 2020, this number was a mere 4 crore. Naturally, the total F&amp;O turnover on both <keyword id="20004725" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="NSE" source="keywords" meta.keywordsubtype="org" meta.entityname="NSE" meta.hostid="261" meta.entityid="NSE">NSE</keyword> and BSE has hit the roof, and also broken it. As of October 4, 2024, the total futures and options turnover on NSE stood at a massive Rs 4,78,27,27,750.30 crore. Good luck counting the thousands! <table style="border-width: initial; border-style: none;" class="redcator-table-advance"></colgroup><tbody><tr><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">Year </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">Total Turnover (Both Futures and Options) (In Rs Crore) </td></tr><tr><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">2020-21 </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">64,36,03,951.51 </td></tr><tr><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">2021-22 </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">1,69,52,33,134.47 </td></tr><tr><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">2022-23 </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">3,82,23,26,468.06 </td></tr><tr><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">2023-24 </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">7,99,27,67,152.43 </td></tr></tbody><tbody></tbody><tbody></tbody><tbody></tbody></table>Source : NSE Another metric that underlines the meteoric growth of trading in India is the collection of STT or <keyword id="20930760" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Securities-Transaction-Tax" source="keywords">Securities Transaction Tax</keyword>. As of September 2024, India's STT mop-up had gone past Rs 26,000 crore. Traders have to pay STT whenever they buy or sell any security in the market. So, more trading brings in more STT, and hence, more revenue for the government, so they're not really complaining. After all, this is certainly what they'd call enviable growth. As of August 2023, our STT collection stood at about Rs 21,599 crores. And in FY20-21, India's STT collection had been Rs 16,000 crore. If only our salaries also managed to grow at this rate! <h2>So, what's happening?</h2>Two things. One, it's the big bulls who are raking in all the moolah. And it's the younger lot (those aged under 30) who are propping them up for this. In FY24, 43% of individual traders in the market were less than 30 years of age. In just one year, this number has swelled by 12 percentage points from just 31% of individual traders. But who says ageing is bad? Wrinkles and silver hair seemingly have a propensity of incurring lesser losses in the market. In FY24, only 79% of traders aged above 60 years made losses, as compared to 93% of those aged below 30. Small and mid-income traders, which make up 98% of the total trader base, witnessed average losses per person of Rs 65,000 and Rs 1.5 lakh in FY24 in futures and options, respectively. The winner here? Clearly, the big bulls, who declared an annual income of over Rs 1 crore, ended up with average profits of Rs 96,000 per person this year. <h2>What’s the sheriff up to?</h2>The government has finally swung into action, hiking the STT rate for F&amp;O during this year’s budget. Effective October 1, 2024, the STT on futures stands at 0.02%, up from 0.0125%. For options, it was upped to 0.1% versus 0.0625% previously. Small margins, but huge impact oncoming. Says Puneet Sharma- CEO and Fund Manager at Whitespace Alpha, “SEBI aims to enhance market stability while safeguarding investor interests, reflecting the regulator's intent to balance risk management with market participation”. But this might come with its own share of challenges, too. “Stricter norms around leverage, transparency, and capital adequacy could limit the ability of investors to determine their own risk appetite, thereby stifling innovation in trading strategies. Over-regulation in an environment that thrives on strategic flexibility and creativity could dampen the market’s dynamism, affecting India's competitiveness in the global derivatives landscape”, he observes. SEBI recently came out with a set of guidelines that aim to thwart <keyword id="19972907" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="retail-investors" source="keywords">retail investors</keyword>' participation in futures and options and hinder them from taking undue risks. Here's a quick recap of what's to come for the residents of the F&amp;O town Margin Requirements: To battle the high volatility and chaos which is generally seen on expiry days(i.e the last mandated date, post which an option becomes invalid), SEBI will put in place an extreme loss margin (ELM) of 2% for all open short options on the day of expiry. Translation? Traders will need to pony up more cash upfront, leaving them with fewer funds to take on risky bets. It ain't a choice: No more of one expiry every single day! Going ahead, an exchange like BSE or NSE will just be able to offer weekly expiries, that too, only on one benchmark index, as opposed to an entire buffet it currently offers. At present, NSE offers weekly options contracts for its financial index, bank and midcap indices. But say goodbye to this, and hello to derivatives on only 1 index per exchange. Raising the bar: Effective November 30, 2024, the minimum contract value for index derivatives will be upped to Rs 15 lakh, from the present Rs 5-10 lakh. The hope is that by making it ultra-expensive to enter these trades, investors will be dissuaded from taking on risky trades. Pay upfront: Starting February 2025, those trading in options will have to pay the entire options premium upfront, even before their trades are executed. This is because options generally carry very high leverage, and paying a significant sum upfront can force traders to think twice. Invigilation Pro Max: Starting April 1 2025, to make sure that the number of positions for equity index derivatives does not slyly slip over the mandated limit, especially on expiry days when trade volumes are huge, the exchanges will have to take a minimum of 4 position snapshots randomly. The question is, will these injections of sobriety be enough to calm down the steroid-fed bull of the futures and options market in India? Well, only time and market turnover will tell! For more insights into the financial markets and business news, stay tuned to our site and social media handles. And don’t forget to subscribe to Business Insider India’s newsletters for your weekly dose of Simply Put! Disclaimer: The content on this website is for informational purposes only and should not be construed as investment advice. We recommend readers consult certified, qualified and registered advisors for professional and personalised financial advice.

SIMPLY PUT: SEBI is on a mission to take on the wild, wild west of futures and options in India. Here’s why, what, and how

The United States government isn’t holding back when it comes to Big Tech, and <keyword id="19902762" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Google" source="keywords" meta.keywordsubtype="org" meta.entityname="Google" meta.hostid="261" meta.entityid="Google">Google</keyword> is squarely in its sights. After years of concern over the tech giant’s grip on the digital world, the US Justice Department (DOJ) has made a bold demand: sell your Chrome browser. The move comes amid two high-stakes antitrust trials that accuse Google of monopolistic practices. So, what’s at the heart of the government’s case, and why is Chrome a key piece of the puzzle? Let’s break it down. <h3 style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:14.0pt;margin-bottom:4.0pt;">Search, Chrome, and monopoly madness</h3>In one corner, we have the DOJ versus Google in a trial in Washington, D.C., where a judge has already ruled that Google’s search business operates as an illegal monopoly. The DOJ argues that Google’s dominance in search, bolstered by its Chrome browser, gives the company an unfair advantage, effectively locking in users and advertisers. To remedy this, the DOJ has proposed that Google sell off Chrome entirely. This drastic move, they argue, could level the playing field and restore competition to a market where Google currently reigns supreme. <h3 style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:14.0pt;margin-bottom:4.0pt;">The ad tech tug-of-war</h3>Meanwhile, in Virginia, a second trial focuses on Google’s grip on the ad tech market — the engine behind the ads you see while browsing. The government alleges that Google’s trio of advertising software products effectively monopolises the ad tech ecosystem. Publishers like News Corp and Gannett claim they’re stuck using Google’s ad tools to survive. DOJ lawyer Aaron Teitelbaum summed it up bluntly: “Google is once, twice, three times a monopolist.” The DOJ accuses Google of using its financial clout to buy out rivals and control the auction systems that determine which ads appear online. This, they say, allows Google to charge advertisers more while paying publishers less. The government wants Google to divest parts of its ad tech business to dismantle this stranglehold. <h3 style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:14.0pt;margin-bottom:4.0pt;">Google fights back</h3>Unsurprisingly, Google has a different story. The tech giant calls the government’s arguments an attempt to pick “winners and losers” in an already competitive market. “The law simply does not support what the plaintiffs are arguing in this case,” said Google’s lawyer Karen Dunn. Google also argues that the ad tech market isn’t as straightforward as the DOJ claims. The company points out that ads appear across multiple platforms — search engines, social media, and apps — and Google doesn’t dominate all of them. In fact, it says rivals like Meta, Amazon, and TikTok are gaining ground. Dunn warned that forcing Google to sell parts of its business or work with competitors would essentially amount to government interference. “This is central planning,” she said, urging the court to reject the DOJ’s proposals. <h3 style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:14.0pt;margin-bottom:4.0pt;">What’s at stake?</h3>If the court rules against Google, the implications could be seismic. The DOJ’s proposals — selling Chrome or divesting parts of Google’s ad business — would fundamentally reshape how the company operates. But don’t expect a resolution anytime soon. Presiding Judge Leonie Brinkema is expected to issue her opinion swiftly, but any decision will almost certainly be appealed, dragging the case potentially to the US Supreme Court. Even then, the question of enforcement remains murky. While the Biden administration is eager to rein in Big Tech, future administrations could change course. Whether Google will ultimately be forced to sell Chrome or parts of its ad tech business is up to the courts — and potentially years of appeals. For now, the trials highlight a growing unease with the power of tech giants like Google. For Google, the stakes couldn’t be higher. For the rest of us, these decisions will shape the future of the internet as we know it. Stay tuned — this battle is far from over.

Why does the US want Google to sell its Chrome browser?

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Grocery chain Asda is calling workers back to the office three days a week from January.</li><li>The British retailer says it will improve on-site catering and provide better bathrooms for staff.</li></ul>Stuart Rose, chair of grocery store Asda and a veteran of British retail, says the company will improve bathroom facilities and on-site food as it mandates a return to the office for corporate staff.Rose, who has also held leadership roles at major UK retailers Marks &amp; Spencer, Argos, and Topshop, said last week that from January, <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://corporate.asda.com/20241105/a-message-from-stuart-and-rob-putting-ourselves-back-in-the-service-of-our-customers">all Asda corporate staff must be in the office three days a week.</a>After the announcement, Rose said in an interview with <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.theguardian.com/business/2024/nov/09/in-no-great-rush-to-get-back-to-the-office-uk-home-workers-may-not-have-a-choice">The Observer</a> that having too many staff based at home was "not a satisfactory way of working," particularly in a "fast-moving consumer goods industry.""It's not always as efficient with those teams working together in terms of online, in terms of Zoom calls," he told the outlet.Asda said it will "improve the working environment" in its offices as part of the RTO push.That includes "a better catering offer, an on-site Asda Express, a more welcoming atrium, more meeting spaces, quiet-space working pods, upgraded toilets, new chairs and redecoration."A spokesperson confirmed to Business Insider that in November, the grocery chain cut 475 management roles and announced a major restructuring amid slowing sales.Rose has taken on a leading role in Asda's transformation after one of the grocery chain's owners, Mohsin Issa, stepped down from running day-to-day operations in September.In 2021, Issa, along with his brother Zuber and private equity firm TDR Capital, purchased a majority stake in Asda from its previous owner, Walmart.Asda said that its RTO policy, combined with the restructuring and job cuts, would bring the business "in line with our competitors and the wider market, allowing us to build high-performing teams with a collaborative culture and respond to what our business needs the most."Rose is not alone in wanting his employees back in the office. While many bosses are firm advocates for the potential productivity gains of in-person work, some <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" class="c-link" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/rto-policies-dont-improve-employee-performance-company-value-controlling-bosses-2024-1">studies</a> have found that hybrid working does not affect productivity.As the pandemic years fade further into the past, more CEOs have been returning to policies similar to those that existed in most corporate environments pre-2020. In recent months, companies like <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/dell-staff-return-office-order-sparks-panic-parents-childcare-wfh-2024-10">Dell</a> and <a target="_blank" rel="" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/amazon-ceo-return-to-office-mandate-5-days-week-2024-9?utm_source=Iterable&amp;utm_medium=email&amp;utm_campaign=campaign_Insider%20Today,%20September%2017,%202024">Amazon</a> have announced that staff must be back in the office five days a week.Asda's chair told The Observer he thinks demand for hybrid work has swung too far in favor of workers."Hybrid working wasn't invented in the pandemic," Rose said. "It has to fit the business's needs."Experts say workers still have some say in the working culture debate. If RTO policies become too strict, top talent will simply leave to find a system that works for them, Ravin Jesuthasan, a respected future-of-work researcher, <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/ravin-jesuthasan-why-companies-enforce-rto-mandates-future-of-work-2024-8">previously told Business Insider.</a>If the labor market swings back around to favor workers, organizations will be under more pressure to meet their employees on their terms, the author "The Skills-Powered Organization" said.Nick Bloom, a Stanford economist and a leading expert on remote work, previously told <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/wfh-remote-work-findings-rto-nick-bloom-2024-10">BI he believed</a> working from home is "here to stay," citing big steps in technology such as video calls and virtual reality.In a presentation published in September, Bloom shared that surveys in 2021 had shown that, on average, employees regarded the right to work two or three days a week from home as valuable as an 8% pay rise, based on 17,087 responses.

Better catering and nicer bathrooms will help get workers back to the office, says this retail CEO

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Costco is selling one-ounce platinum bars online for $1,089.99.</li><li>The move comes about a year after the retail giant started selling gold bars and silver coins.</li></ul><a target="_blank" class="" href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/stocks/cost-stock">Costco</a> is diversifying its precious metals business by selling one-ounce bars of platinum for $1,089.99.The retailer is selling the item online, according to <a target="_blank" href="https://affiliate.insider.com?h=ef9cb8cd654578e3c4c3611256f0b6589e8af43472c34663bcc156149e535bcf&amp;postID=66feb7b30c43543ec7a71a97&amp;postSlug=costco-starts-selling-platinum-bars-gold-silver-retail-success-2024-10&amp;site=bi&amp;u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.costco.com%2F1-oz-platinum-bar-pamp-suisse-lady-fortuna-veriscan-new-in-assay.product.4000284790.html">a web listing</a>. According to the listing, the item, which is only available to Costco members, is 999.5 pure platinum and Swiss-made. The bar features an image of Lady Fortuna, the goddess of chance, luck, and fate.While the price of platinum is about flat year-to-date, it is up 14% over the past year, with futures trading at about $1,000 per ounce on Thursday.Costco sales of the one-ounce platinum bar appear to have begun sometime in the past two months, with the product already racking up 14 five-star reviews from verified purchasers."Great addition to any precious medals collector. I have purchased gold coin and bars, this is 1st I spotted the platinum bar on here. It seemed to be fair priced and good deal with the cash rewards back!" one buyer said in their review.Costco imposes a limit of one transaction per membership, with a maximum purchase of five bars.The sale of platinum bars comes about a year after Costco started selling gold bars and silver coins, and it's grown into a big business for the company, as it typically sells out of its gold inventory in just a few hours once the product goes online."I've gotten a couple of calls that people have seen online that we've been selling gold - 1-ounce gold bars. Yes, but when we load them on the site, they're typically gone within a few hours and we limit two per member," Costco CFO Richard Galanti said in an earnings call last year.Costco's gold and silver sales <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/costco-gold-bars-silver-coins-monthly-sales-wells-fargo-bullion-2024-4">have surged to $200 million a month</a>, Business Insider previously reported.But while the company is selling a lot of precious metals, it's probably not making much of a profit from them, which is not unique to its operating model of relying on its membership fees for profits."Pricing at that level and shipping costs suggests it's a very low profit business at best," Wells Fargo retail analyst Edward Kelly <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/costco-gold-bars-silver-coins-monthly-sales-wells-fargo-bullion-2024-4">said earlier this year.</a>

Costco is selling platinum bars as it expands its precious metals business after huge success selling gold

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Stocks rose Thursday as investors digested strong retail sales data and more earnings.</li><li>Retail sales data showed US consumer spending remains robust, with monthly spending up 0.4%.</li></ul>US stocks climbed on Thursday as traders saw better-than-expected retail sales data and continued to digest strong corporate earnings reports.The Dow Jones Industrial Average added to record levels achieved at Wednesday's close. Bond yields rose, with the 10-year Treasury up six basis points to 4.075%. September's retail sales report showed consumer spending remains strong, with monthly spending up 0.4% from August, just above a Dow Jones consensus estimate of 0.3%.Retail sales climbed 1.7% compared to a year ago, according to Commerce Department data released Thursday.The strong spending data comes on the heels of a <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/september-jobs-report-unemployment-rate-nonfarm-payroll-growth-federal-reserve-2024-10">blockbuster September jobs report</a>, and further solidifies assessments that the US economy is strong and that the Federal Reserve may not need to cut rates as steeply or quickly as previously thought. Weekly jobless claims were lower than expected at 241,000, a 19,000 decline from the week before, according to Labor Department data released Thursday. Economists had forecast 260,000 weekly claims. Here's where US indexes stood shortly after the 9:30 a.m. opening bell on Thursday:<ul><li><a target="_blank" href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/index/s&amp;p_500?utm_source=markets&amp;utm_medium=ingest%3Futm_source%3Dmarkets&amp;utm_medium=ingest&amp;utm_medium=ingest&amp;utm_source=markets&amp;utm_medium=ingest&amp;utm_source=markets">S&amp;P 500</a>: 5,873.45, up 0.53% </li><li><a target="_blank" href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/index/dow_jones?utm_source=markets&amp;utm_medium=ingest%3Futm_source%3Dmarkets&amp;utm_medium=ingest&amp;utm_medium=ingest&amp;utm_source=markets&amp;utm_medium=ingest&amp;utm_source=markets">Dow Jones Industrial Average</a>: 43,279.21, up 0.47% (+201.51 points)</li><li><a target="_blank" href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/index/nasdaq_composite?utm_source=markets&amp;utm_medium=ingest%3Futm_source%3Dmarkets&amp;utm_medium=ingest&amp;utm_medium=ingest&amp;utm_source=markets&amp;utm_medium=ingest&amp;utm_source=markets">Nasdaq composite</a>: 18,523.24, up 0.85% </li></ul>Meanwhile, a <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/tsmc-stock-price-q3-earnings-chip-stocks-asml-nvidia-amd-2024-10">highly anticipated report</a> from chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company came in strong, showing net income surpassed estimates while net revenue for the quarter rose 36% compared to the same last year."We have talked to our customers all the time, including our hyperscaler customers who are building their own chips. And almost every AI innovator is working with TSMC," TSMC chairman and CEO C.C. Wei said.Shares of TSMC rose 7% after the opening bell, pulling other chip stocks higher. Nvidia was up almost 2%, and AMD was up over 1%.TSMC's optimism about demand for AI tech follows a <a target="_blank" href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/chipmakers-tumble-asml-guidance-semiconductor-nvidia-chip-growth-2024-10?_gl=1*1isprkj*_ga*MTY3OTgyNjg0MS4xNzIxMDE2MDM2*_ga_E21CV80ZCZ*MTcyOTE2NTYwMS4yODIuMS4xNzI5MTY3OTk1LjM0LjAuMA..">chip sector sell-off</a> earlier this week when chip machine maker ASML slashed its sales guidance on weaker demand from chipmakers.TSMC joins a string of strong earnings reports this week. Morgan Stanley and United Airlines posted strong results on Wednesday. Netflix will report third-quarter results after the close on Thursday. Here's what else is going on Thursday:<ul><li>A number of bank research desks are <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/stock-market-outlook-sp500-targets-bull-market-goldman-ubs-bmo-2024-10?_gl=1*njfdt3*_ga*MTY3OTgyNjg0MS4xNzIxMDE2MDM2*_ga_E21CV80ZCZ*MTcyOTE2NTYwMS4yODIuMS4xNzI5MTY2MzczLjYwLjAuMA..">boosting their S&amp;P 500 price targets</a> in recent weeks as the bull market charges on.</li><li>China could raise nearly <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/china-economy-beijing-stimulus-1-trillion-debt-package-fiscal-deficit-2024-10">$1 trillion of fresh debt</a> in the next 3 years to revive its economy, according to a report from Caixin Global.</li><li>The US freight recession is showing <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/author/filip-de-mott">early signs of recovery</a> as trucking company JB Hunt posted a rare earnings beat on Tuesday.</li></ul>In commodities, bonds, and crypto:<ul><li>Oil futures fell. <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/commodities/oil-price?type=wti">West Texas Intermediate crude</a> dipped 0.2% to $70.22 a barrel. <a target="_blank" href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/commodities/oil-price?utm_medium=ingest&amp;utm_source=markets">Brent crude</a>, the international benchmark, fell 0.3% to $74.01 a barrel.</li><li><a target="_blank" href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/commodities/gold-price?utm_medium=ingest&amp;utm_source=markets">Gold</a> rose 0.33% to $2,700.4 an ounce.</li><li>The 10-year Treasury yield was up six basis points to 4.075%.</li><li><a target="_blank" class="" href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/currencies/btc-usd">Bitcoin</a> dipped 1.5% to $66,761.</li></ul>

Stock market today: Indexes gain after strong retail sales data

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Nvidia's Rev Lebaredian leads simulation and omniverse efforts for robotics development.</li><li>Lebaredian's career parallels Nvidia's evolution from graphics to AI and robotics.</li></ul>The year <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/jensen-huang-nvidia-robots-huamanoid-self-driving-cars-2024-9">Nvidia</a> was founded, the World Wide Web came online, and "Jurassic Park" was released in theaters. The 1993 smash-hit film opened the floodgates for computer graphics in movies, and soon, Rev Lebaredian got into the movie business. He was instrumental in building the technology that brought to life the fictional gorilla Mighty Joe Young and made the children's classic Stuart Little lifelike. Today, he works in three dimensions for the biggest name in artificial intelligence.Lebaredian is vice president of omniverse and simulation technology at Nvidia, <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nvidia-power-players-leaders-ai-chip-giant-success-2024-7">reporting directly to CEO Jensen Huang</a>. Put simply, Lebaredian is in charge of building robot brains.Lebaredian explained that if Nvidia wants to enable technology, it essentially has to build it first, but that doesn't mean it'll sell everything it builds. Nvidia's most recent LLM, NVLM <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://research.nvidia.com/labs/adlr/NVLM-1/">released in September</a>, for example, is extremely competitive in performance benchmarks. But it's licensed for research purposes only and not for commercial use.Lebaredian's career trajectory parallels the company's. Graphics technology eventually morphed into simulations for self-driving cars and, for the last seven or so years, robots.The technologies, it turns out, <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/jensen-huang-nvidia-robots-huam">aren't that different</a> in the age of modern machine learning. "AI is essentially bridging this computing to physical world divide, and that essentially is robotics," Lebaredian told Business Insider.The Nvidia veteran is building a virtual world faithful to the real world so that robots can use it to practice tasks and learn. Simulations and Nvidia's artificial environment, "Omniverse," are key in developing thinking, perceiving, safe, and productive robots. Yet, the stakes are higher than in the movies."The key here is that the simulation that we use has to match the real world as closely as possible so that what it learns inside that virtual world is transferable to the real world. If it learns inside a cartoon world with cartoon physics, it's not going to behave properly when it gets into the real world," he said. Simulations allow billions of repetitions and lots of mistakes in a safe environment where no humans, robots, or property is harmed.<h2 id="bcc92923-3766-4054-ad09-c5bbb0b33eb6">Embracing ambiguity</h2>Nvidia has a habit of seeing colossal tech trends coming early, building a suite of tools, and waiting for the rest of the world to show up. That's how Lebaredian described what happened with large language models over the last decade."We built all these computers. Nobody was asking for it, and everybody was skeptical. Then we went and trained the world's largest model at the time," Lebaredian said. The model was called Megatron and Nvidia rolled it out in 2021."There's a direct line from Megatron, to GPT," he said. The release of ChatGPT spurred the current boom in generative AI. The company is looking to replicate that formula, this time for robots."I've been working on a simulation for robotics in anticipation that the technology to create a proper robot brain was eventually going to come," Lebaredian said. Generative AI was that moment. But robotics hasn't had its ChatGPT moment yet. The robotic equivalent of Megatron is called Project Groot, a foundation model for robotics, which the company announced in March. It won't be commercial either, according to Lebaredian. The goal, he said, is for others to rush in as soon as possible and build on top of what Nvidia offers.Though bringing the physical world into generative AI raises the bar far beyond language generation, and <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nvidia-praises-tesla-ai-optimus-robot-remote-control-concerns-2024-10">skepticism</a> is to be expected, Lebaredian said Nvidia is essentially following a tested playbook."I watched Jensen make these kinds of bets that are far-reaching, where there's a lot of ambiguity as to when it's going to happen or not, and just kind of navigate — believing on first principles that it's going to get there. We're not quite sure where it is, but when it does happen, we want to be there," Lebaredian said. "So we invest as much as we can without us dying in the process for that period of time so that we're ready."Got a tip or an insight to share? Contact BI's senior reporter Emma Cosgrove at <a target="_blank" href="mailto:ecosgrove@businessinsider.com">ecosgrove@businessinsider.com</a> or use the secure messaging app Signal: 443-333-9088.

Nvidia robotics executive tells BI how the company is predicting the future of robotics by building it

<ul><li><keyword id="19896380" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="reliance-industries" source="keywords">Reliance Industries</keyword> is expected to launch an IPO for <keyword id="6354504" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="reliance-jio" source="Orion">Reliance Jio</keyword> in 2025.</li><li>Reliance Retail is expected to go public after <keyword id="19906886" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="jio" source="keywords">Jio</keyword>, with no date fixed yet.</li><li>The <keyword id="7784314" type="General" weightage="100" keywordseo="reliance-jio-ipo" source="Orion">Reliance Jio IPO</keyword> will emerge as the country’s biggest IPO, beating the Hyundai IPO.</li></ul>Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries is reportedly gearing up to launch the initial public offering (IPO) of its telecom arm, Reliance Jio in 2025. The telco will join its competitors, Bharti Airtel and Vi, which are already public. According to a<a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/india/ambanis-reliance-jio-ipo-set-2025-retail-debut-much-later-sources-say-2024-11-04/"> report</a> by Reuters, Reliance Jio is expected to go public in 2025 and the IPO for the retail arm is planned later. As per two sources familiar with the matter, <keyword id="19916798" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="mukesh-ambani" source="keywords">Mukesh Ambani</keyword> plans on sticking to the timeline he mentioned in 2019, where he said he will “move towards” listing in five years. <div type="Article" hostid="261" msid="114931927" title="October auto sales – Maruti Suzuki and Tata Motors report a decline, Mahindra continues to grow" mstype="2" mssubtype="0"></div> The company has firmed up plans of taking the telecom arm public as it feels the company has achieved a stable business and revenue stream. Jio is currently the biggest telecom operator in India, with over 471 million subscribers as of August 2024. Reliance Industries has raised over $25 billion for the company’s digital, telecom and retail businesses from investors like KKR, Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, General Atlantic and more. <h2>Reliance <keyword id="6059106" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="jio-ipo" source="Orion">Jio IPO</keyword> to be India’s biggest</h2>Existing rules state that companies that are valued at ₹1 lakh crore or more need to sell at least 5% of total shares during an IPO. Jio is currently valued at $112 billion (₹9.42 lakh crore) as per Jefferies. A 5% stake sale would put the IPO at around ₹47,100 crore, beating the recently concluded IPO of Hyundai Motor India, which raised ₹27,870.16 crore. <h2>Retail IPO further away</h2>While no timeline has been mentioned, the retail arm’s IPO has reportedly been pushed further away, as the company feels it needs to address internal business and operational challenges. Not only this, the company reportedly wants to avoid two big IPOs hitting the Dalal street in the same year. With Jio’s IPO planned for 2025, we might see the retail arm going public in 2026 or later. Reliance Retail operates over 3,000 supermarkets and also deals in the e-commerce segment. The company feels the retail arm has grown “too fast” and needs some stability before the IPO. SEE ALSO: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/stock-market/news/upcoming-ipos-this-week-swiggy-niva-bupa-health-insurance-and-more/slidelist/114937405.cms">Upcoming IPOs this week – Swiggy, Niva Bupa Health Insurance and more</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/auto/news/october-auto-sales-maruti-suzuki-and-tata-motors-report-a-decline-mahindra-continues-to-grow/articleshow/114931927.cms">October auto sales – Maruti Suzuki and Tata Motors report a decline, Mahindra continues to grow</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/tech/mobile/news/oneplus-13-announced-with-snapdragon-8-elite-6000mah-battery-and-more/articleshow/114842638.cms">OnePlus 13 announced with Snapdragon 8 Elite, 6,000mAh battery and more</a>

Reliance Jio IPO – India’s biggest telco to go public in 2025, retail IPO further away

Can a tenured professor be fired for making porn? That's the question, perhaps unprecedented in the annals of higher education, that the University of Wisconsin set out to answer last month. On September 27, the system's board of regents sat down to rule on whether <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/professors-turned-porn-stars-free-speech-campus-battle-wisconsin-2024-6">Joe Gow</a>, who taught communications at UW-La Crosse, should be stripped of his tenure and dismissed for producing porn videos with his wife, a fellow academic named Carmen Wilson, and uploading them to <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/pornhub-is-awash-in-lawsuits-unverified-videos-2024-7">Pornhub</a>. The productions — with titles like "Juicy Anniversary" and "Vacation Sex" — featured Gow and Wilson having sex in a variety of racy scenarios, often with big-name porn stars.Gow had been fired from his position as chancellor of UW-La Crosse, a school of 11,000 students on the banks of the Mississippi River, after someone saw the videos and forwarded them to his boss. But dismissing a tenured professor is far more complicated than firing a top executive. Academic tenure is one of the strongest job protections you can get in America. It's effectively a lifetime appointment, designed to enable professors to teach views that might be unpopular or controversial. "It allows professors to speak truth to power, without fearing that they may lose their jobs for offending <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-college-sports-change-donor-fatigue-nil-recruiting-student-athletes-2024-6">donors</a> and the university and lawmakers," says Zach Greenberg of the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression. "It's unprecedented whenever a tenured professor gets fired. It's only happened a couple times in the history of Wisconsin."The university, calling Gow's behavior "abhorrent," went all out to make the case that he should be fired. "We don't want to be known as Porn U," said Betsy Morgan, who replaced Gow as interim chancellor. The university hired a white-shoe <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/mass-torts-lawsuits-lawyers-settlements-strippers-hard-partying-money-2024-9">law firm</a> to scour 11 hours' worth of Gow and Wilson's videos and their self-published memoirs, "Married with Benefits" and "Monogamy with Benefits: How Porn Enriches Our Relationship." The firm produced a 318-page report brimming with detailed descriptions of the sexual techniques Gow enjoyed, along with pages of sex-toy ads that were sent to his work email. In March, Morgan started proceedings to dismiss Gow, charging him with unethical conduct, refusal to cooperate with the investigation, and violation of workplace policies. (Gow, the investigation revealed, had used a campus copier to print a vegan cookbook.)Gow was unapologetic. He declared that he had no plans to stop making porn and argued that the university was violating his <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/tiktok-ban-bill-is-first-amendment-disaster-may-survive-courts-2024-4">First Amendment</a> rights. By the time the board of regents met to hear the case and issue its decision, the battle had devolved into a rancorous, often surreal showdown over the future of academic freedom in America. With private and state universities embroiled in debates over "woke indoctrination" and <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/university-overreaction-pro-palestinian-protests-police-arrests-dissent-expert-2024-5">campus protests</a>, many academics feared that Gow's case could set a sweeping precedent that tenured professors can be fired over anything in their private lives that universities find inappropriate."It's a violation of academic freedom," says Tom Ginsburg, a law professor and faculty director of the Forum for Free Inquiry and Expression at the University of Chicago. "He's being fired for embarrassing behavior outside the workplace, but there's no end of such behavior. So once we go down this route, universities can find a pretextual reason for firing almost anyone."The opening round in the battle over Gow's professorship took place at a hearing in June. The session, held in a windowless conference room of a sports arena in Onalaska, began with the bang of a gavel wielded by a UW-La Crosse biology professor. Gow was being tried not before a judge or jury but by a faculty committee made up of five of his colleagues.The university began by arguing that Gow, as a state employee, enjoyed no right to freedom of speech. Wade Harrison, the <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/guide-moving-abroad-for-college-according-to-university-advisors-diploma-2024-9">university's</a> general counsel, cited San Diego v. Roe, a case in which a police officer was fired for selling videos of himself masturbating while wearing his police uniform, in effect profiting from his position.Donald Downs, a First Amendment scholar and emeritus professor at the university, told me after the hearing he found that argument alarming. The San Diego case shouldn't apply to Gow, he said, for one big reason: Police officers don't have academic freedom. "If our job is going to be seen as no different from the police officer or any other regular job out there," Downs argued, "then we're not going to be able to do our job."<div type="image" title="Joe Gow and wife" height="1822" width="2763" msid="114188637" hostid="261" sizebytes="723682"></div>The university tried to prove that Gow had damaged its reputation, claiming that several top donors had threatened to stop giving if the star of "Bedroom Shenanigans" was allowed to teach undergrads. Harrison also placed Gow's memoirs on trial. He recited a passage in which Gow — under the nom de plume Jay Hart — hires "Tom," a male stripper, "to perform sex acts" with his wife."In 'Monogamy with Benefits' you wrote that all events described are true," Harrison said. "Do you stand by that statement?""No," Gow retorted. "We should have said 'based on a true story.'"Harrison displayed several ads Gow had received from sex-toy companies. "Do you ever get email messages you never asked for? I believe we call it spam," Gow responded. "So you would fire someone for junk email?"The university then trotted out Jerry Bui, a forensic investigator who had raked through Gow's and Wilson's work computers. The strongest evidence of misconduct he could find was that the couple had "automatic logins" to a couple of porn sites. Though he couldn't find any browsing history of the sites, Bui speculated that Gow may have used "incognito mode" while watching porn at work or erased his browser history to cover his tracks.Gow, in his closing argument, dismissed the trial as a sham. "Tenure is based on the quality of one's teaching, research, and service," he told the committee. "This fruitless exercise has nothing to do with that."The committee, unswayed, voted unanimously that Gow should be fired. They argued that Gow had used his academic position to promote his porn, because in some videos, during foreplay, he mentioned his "Midwestern location" and "academic career." They also accused him of exploiting his public ouster as chancellor to boost his profile as a porn star.But the committee's decision was only a recommendation. More than two months later, Gow faced a second tribunal, before the board of regents for the state's university system: 17 executives, attorneys, and public servants and one dairy farmer who gathered in Madison to hear the case. The regents had made their position clear in a brief filed before the hearing. "The survival of a public university is dependent on legislative funding, grant funding, tuition revenue, and donations," they wrote. "Gow's behavior, left to continue, could negatively affect all four."At his first hearing, Gow had defended himself. Before the regents, he was represented by Mark Leitner, a partner at a top Milwaukee law firm. Leitner argued that the university was committing a textbook violation of free-speech rights. "We don't need the First Amendment to protect 'The Star-Spangled Banner,'" he said. "We need the First Amendment precisely when the danger of stifling controversial, unpopular speech is at its highest."But what's the danger of stifling porn? Leitner presented Gow's videos as part of his broader advocacy of nonmonogamy. "There is no doubt that sexual conduct is a matter of importance to people," Leitner told the regents. "Simply because Dr. Gow's views on what promotes a healthy and stable marriage do not comport with the views of the majority of society — that doesn't matter." Harrison, the university's counsel, dismissed the point: "Dr. Gow would love to, you know, try to rely on a hypertechnical First Amendment argument to get around his bad conduct.""It's not a hypertechnical argument," Leitner said. "It goes to the heart of what we're all about in this state and in this country."After Leitner concluded, the regents were given a chance to ask questions. They had none.Aweek later, the regents met again to decide Gow's fate. After deliberating in private for half an hour, they cast their votes one by one. Seventeen supported firing Gow. One abstained.Gow's 40-year career in academia was over. He also forfeited some $300,000 worth of accrued sick leave and other benefits.<div type="image" title="Joe Gow and wife" height="1536" width="2308" msid="114188633" hostid="261" sizebytes="93022"></div>As Gow left the hearing, walking hand in hand with Wilson, a phalanx of photographers snapped pictures as if they were the Bennifer of Wisconsin. Gow pulled out a prepared statement. Calling the regents a "board of hypocrites," he accused them of breaching the university's commitment to academic freedom and of caving to pressure from Republican state senators who had called for his dismissal. The regents, Gow said, "are willing to fire me for the short-term goodwill they get with the far right."On his two-hour ride home, Gow elaborated on the wider issues he believes are at stake. "There are many faculty who would say: Well, this guy, he's not one of us," he told me. "And that's unfortunate. Because if they can do this to me, they could do it to any tenured professor. Academia is not a law firm or a bank or an insurance company. We're in the truth business. We are dedicated to the fearless sifting and winnowing of the truth, and that's what this is supposed to be about."Gow's colleagues apparently didn't consider his porn videos the kind of expression that tenure is designed to protect: During his fight to remain on the faculty, none of them came to his defense in public. But Keith Whittington, a Yale law professor and founding chair of the Academic Freedom Alliance, sees Gow's case as setting a dangerous precedent. "University trustees are now going to be faced with the problem of explaining why it is that we're going to tolerate other members of the faculty posting controversial content," he says. He puts Gow's online porn in the same category as "posting inflammatory personal, political opinions on social media." In the wake of Gow's dismissal, he says, making such distinctions "is going to be a hard line to maintain."But the fight may not be over. Gow plans to file a federal lawsuit against the university, alleging a violation of his First Amendment rights. And in the meantime, he and Wilson plan to keep exercising those rights. Since being outed, they've released adult videos like "Top 10 Squirting Orgasms and Cumshots" and "Our Honeymoon with the Porn Stars," as well as tamer cooking-show fare like "Making Plant-Based Egg Salad." The videos pull in as much as $3,000 a month on OnlyFans, and the couple is getting requests to create customized content, including foot-fetish videos and gay scenes with Gow. But thrilling as their middle-aged sexual awakening has been, they say, it doesn't compensate for the loss of Gow's professorship."This is 2024," Gow says. "We thought we had come a ways in Wisconsin from the McCarthy era. Apparently not."<a target="_blank" rel="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/author/hallie-lieberman">Hallie Lieberman</a> is a sex historian and journalist. She's the author of Buzz: A Stimulating History of the Sex Toy.

The professor made porn. His firing may shape the future of free speech.

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Indexes rose Thursday as investors cheered in a surprise increase in retail sales and lower jobless claims. </li><li>Retail sales jumped 1% in July, surpassing analyst expectations of 0.3%.</li></ul>Indexes rose Thursday as investors priced in an influx of new data on retail sales and jobless claims following the week's encouraging data on inflation. Retail sales were up 1% in July, the Commerce Department said Thursday. That increase, led by spending in the auto and electronics sectors, surpassed expectations of 0.3% from analysts surveyed by Dow Jones."Today's retail sales numbers were a blowout versus consensus, but more importantly it should lay to rest (at least for the moment) all of the doom and gloom that was expressed at the beginning of this month," Chris Zaccarelli, head of investments at Independent Advisor Alliance, said in a Thursday note.Meanwhile, jobless claims last week came in below estimates at 227,000, a 7,000 fall from the week prior. The reading should continue to soothe fears of a coming wave of unemployment after July's jobs data was weaker than expected. Treasury yields rose on the new data, with the 10-year bond yield up 12 basis points to 3.947% as investors dialed back expectations for a jumbo 50 basis point rate cut from the Fed next month. The rebound in retail and upbeat labor data follows a day after consumer inflation figures released Wednesday showed inflation cooled to 2.9% in July, its lowest level in over three years. The Bureau of Labor Statistics said that <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/housing-costs-inflation-cpi-consumer-price-index-shelter-real-estate-2024-8#:~:text=Housing%20costs%20are%20the%20big,its%20lowest%20level%20since%202021.">sticky housing inflation accounted for 90% of the rise in core CPI</a>, making it the biggest factor keeping inflation high.The inflation numbers are still above the Fed's 2% target, but steady progress is being made as it looks to cool the economy without causing a dramatic spike in the unemployment rate. Investors see a 100% chance that the Fed cuts rates in September, with a 65% chance of 25 basis points and a 36% chance of 50 basis, according to the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.cmegroup.com/markets/interest-rates/cme-fedwatch-tool.html">CME FedWatch tool</a>.Here's where US indexes stood shortly after the 9:30 a.m. opening bell on Thursday:<ul><li><a target="_blank" href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/index/s&amp;p_500?utm_source=markets&amp;utm_medium=ingest%3Futm_source%3Dmarkets&amp;utm_medium=ingest&amp;utm_medium=ingest&amp;utm_source=markets&amp;utm_medium=ingest&amp;utm_source=markets">S&amp;P 500</a>: 5,512.09, up 1.04%</li><li><a target="_blank" href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/index/dow_jones?utm_source=markets&amp;utm_medium=ingest%3Futm_source%3Dmarkets&amp;utm_medium=ingest&amp;utm_medium=ingest&amp;utm_source=markets&amp;utm_medium=ingest&amp;utm_source=markets">Dow Jones Industrial Average</a>: 40,476.15, up 1.17% (+468 points)</li><li><a target="_blank" href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/index/nasdaq_composite?utm_source=markets&amp;utm_medium=ingest%3Futm_source%3Dmarkets&amp;utm_medium=ingest&amp;utm_medium=ingest&amp;utm_source=markets&amp;utm_medium=ingest&amp;utm_source=markets">Nasdaq composite</a>: 17,415.29, up 1.3%</li></ul>Here's what else is going on today:<ul><li>After selling half its stake in Apple, Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway is <a target="_blank" href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/warren-buffett-berkshire-hathaway-ulta-beauty-heico-apple-stock-portfolio-2024-8">betting on a glow-up for Ulta Beauty</a> with a $266 million stake.</li><li>China's population decline is having a <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/china-population-falling-aging-demographic-economy-slowdown-marriage-birth-rates">widespread impact on the world's second largest economy</a> as marriages, diamond sales, and retail spending drop.</li><li>Borrowers are rushing to <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/mortgage-rates-30-year-refinance-applications-real-estate-housing-market-2024-8">refinance their mortgages</a> as rates tumble to their lowest level in over a year.</li></ul>In commodities, bonds, and crypto:<ul><li>Oil futures rose. <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/commodities/oil-price?type=wti">WTI crude</a> increased 1.6% to $78.17 a barrel. <a target="_blank" href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/commodities/oil-price?utm_medium=ingest&amp;utm_source=markets">Brent crude</a>, the international benchmark, rose 1.5% to $80.95 a barrel.</li><li><a target="_blank" href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/commodities/gold-price?utm_medium=ingest&amp;utm_source=markets">Gold</a> rose 0.32% to $2,487.50 per ounce.</li><li>The 10-year Treasury yield rose 12 basis points to 3.947%.</li><li><a target="_blank" class="" href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/currencies/btc-usd">Bitcoin</a> rose 0.37% to $57,592.39.</li></ul>

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