Raphael Stevens

More stories

  • 163 Shares130 Views

    in Business

    How new professional sports leagues like SailGP are putting women at the fore

    New professional sports leagues with male and female athletes competing alongside and against one another are on the rise as they work to close the experience gap for female athletes.
    Like Formula 1, international sailing league SailGP sees young female fans as a key driver of growth.
    Two-time Olympic champion Martine Grael joined SailGP to skipper the Mubadala Brazil SailGP Team for the 2024-25 season. She’s the league’s first female driver.

    Martine Grael, driver of Mubadala Brazil SailGP Team and Andy Maloney, flight controller, during a practice session ahead of the Emirates Dubai Sail Grand Prix presented by P&O Marinas in Dubai, UAE on Friday, November 22, 2024.
    Courtesy: Ricardo Pinto for SailGP |  Handout image supplied by SailGP

    As women’s sports surge in popularity, professional leagues are increasingly touting the value of female athletes. New professional leagues like SailGP are launching with the advantage of building from the ground up, with gender diversity as part of their DNA.
    Noncontact and noncollision sports are leading the way. Formula 1’s F1 Academy has created a pipeline for women into motorsports, with a goal of increasing female participation and representation on and off the racetrack. At the same time, it’s drawing a more diverse fanbase. Roughly 41% of F1 fans now are female, with women aged 16 to 24 years old making up the fastest-growing fan group, according to Nielsen Sports.

    Professional male and female athletes are already competing alongside and against each other in the United Pickleball Association’s unified league, the Global Mixed Gender Basketball league and in SailGP, the international sailing league co-founded by Oracle founder Larry Ellison and champion yachtsman Russell Coutts. 
    Founded in 2018, the upstart sailing league involves 12 international teams racing on high-speed, 50-foot Catamarans, known as F50s. At speeds of more than 60 mph, SailGP is gaining a reputation as a sort of Formula 1 on the water.
    “The whole goal is to train athletes to be capable of racing on an F50, which is one of the more complex boats in the world – maybe the most difficult boat to race in the world right now,” said Coutts, who is also SailGP’s chief executive officer. 

    The SailGP fleet on Race Day 1 of The Rolex SailGP 2025 Championship ITM New Zealand Sail Grand Prix in Auckland, New Zealand on Saturday, January 18, 2025.
    Courtesy: Bob Martin for SailGP | Handout image supplied by SailGP

    The league didn’t set out with gender equity goals in mind, Coutts said, but simply sought to create the most compelling competition.  
    “We believe that male and female athletes can compete at the top of our sport against each other and with each other, so when we we saw that there was a difference in participation levels – and didn’t really see any logical reason for that – we took some steps to address that and we’ll take further steps in the future,” said Coutts. 

    To bridge the experience gap most female sailors face, SailGP created programs to draw and train talent. In December, its Women’s Performance Camp in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, marked its largest on-the-water women’s athlete training camp to date. 

    The athletes taking part in the SailGP Women’s Performance Camp delivered by DP World stand together for a group photo in in Dubai, UAE on Tuesday, November 26, 2024.
    Courtesy: Simon Bruty for SailGP | Handout image supplied by SailGP

    The league also requires each team to have at least one female athlete onboard during races and has set targets to have at least two female athletes per race crew in key positions within the next five years. Those key positions are the driver, who steers the boat; the strategist, who advises on tactics; the wing trimmer, who adjusts the 85- to 90-foot carbon-fiber wing sail; and the flight controller, who dictates how high or low the boat flies over the water.
    The next SailGP races take place Saturday and Sunday in San Francisco, the second in back-to-back U.S. weekend races. 
    SailGP has embedded inclusivity and sustainability into the competition via an Impact League that runs parallel to the on-the-water championship. Teams earn points for taking action to make sailing more accessible and to protect the environment in order to reach the podium. Winning teams earn cash prize donations to their partners. The Canadian team is in the lead in the Impact League thanks to its work to offer training opportunities, sailing camps and demo days to introduce foiling to new Canadian athletes.
    “That changes the mindframe of very competitive people to care, and to compete, in a world of impact and sustainability as well,” said SailGP Chief Marketing Officer Leah Davis. “When you challenge the world’s most competitive people to be good at something else, they will turn their eyes to that pretty quickly, and in a pretty impactful way.”
    Off the water, 43% of SailGP’s C-suite is female, up from just 14% in 2021. For comparison, 29% of C-suite roles at Fortune 500 companies are held by women, according to McKinsey’s Women in the Workplace 2024 report. The league last year introduced Apex Group’s accelerator program, aimed at increasing female representation at senior levels of the company. 
    It has also introduced initiatives to train more women on the operations, technology and boat-building side of the business. For example, SailGP Technologies based in Southampton, U.K., offers an apprenticeship training scheme – eight participants join the program each year, four male and four female. Today, 33% of directors at SailGP and 52% of heads of departments are female.
    The overall business strategy is helping to grow the league’s appeal to a new set of fans. For the first time in its history, more than half of the ticket holders in attendance at last season’s New Zealand Championships in March were female, a trend that has held steady this season.
    “This demographic has been underserved in sports,” said SailGP Chief Purpose Officer Fiona Morgan. “A huge part of our headroom in fans is young fans – and actually they’re female fans – who probably didn’t think about sailing, but they like extreme sports or sustainability, or they like sports that have gender equity at the heart.”
    In June, Tommy Hilfiger was announced as the United States SailGP team’s official lifestyle apparel partner, joining brands such as Red Bull, Emirates, Mubadala, Rockwool and Deutsche Bank in sponsoring individual teams. In November, SailGP announced it had signed Rolex as its first title sponsor.
    “I don’t think many brands nowadays will go into sponsorship that doesn’t have diversity or equity at some point in it,” said Morgan. “Their consumers and their investors will ensure they do that.” 

    Mubadala Brazil SailGP Team helmed by Martine Grael in action on Race Day 2 of the Emirates Dubai Sail Grand Prix presented by P&O Marinas in Dubai, UAE on Sunday, November 24, 2024.
    Courtesy: Felix Diemer for SailGP |  Handout image supplied by SailGP

    In September, the league achieved a major milestone, announcing its first female driver. Two-time Olympic sailing champion Martine Grael joined for the 2024-25 season to skipper the new Mubadala Brazil SailGP Team, making history and immediately climbing the leaderboard. 
    After championships in Dubai, Auckland, New Zealand, Sydney and Los Angeles, teams from the UK, Australia and New Zealand are leading the league. Grael has steered her team ahead of the Germany SailGP team, and is proving competitive against the more experienced United States team.
    “In the past — and still nowadays — you see a lot of people say, ‘Girls shouldn’t do that,'” Grael said. Her response is to call out that old way of thinking: “Shouldn’t do what?”
    Grael credits much of her early success to familiarizing herself with the boats using SailGP’s simulator, developing muscle memory before even getting on the water. Unlike traditional boats built with male sailors in mind, SailGP’s modern foiling boats open opportunities for women in roles that do not require as much physical strength, she said. Knowing when to push a button and developing a good feel for the boat are equally important to the more physical functions, said Grael. 
    “Some guys have failed to understand that a girl is very much capable of doing the same role they’re doing,” she said.

    Martine Grael, driver of Mubadala Brazil SailGP Team, runs across the boat on Race Day 2 of the Rolex Los Angeles Sail Grand Prix held in the Port of Los Angeles, on Sunday, March 16, 2025.
    Courtesy: Felix Diemer for SailGP | Handout image supplied by SailGP

    Grael is among a number of top female athletes competing in key positions in SailGP – including Emirates Great Britain Team’s strategist Hannah Mills and the U.S. team’s Anna Weis – and says though women are still in the minority, things are changing.
    Together with women competing in marquee races – like Switzerland’s Justine Mettraux, who took eighth place in the Vendée Globe single-handed, nonstop, nonassisted round-the-world race this year – they are carving a path for a new cohort of women to gain opportunities and make their mark.
    “We have been less limited — I grew up never being told I shouldn’t do something,” said Grael. “There’s a big generation of others looking at us, and they’re going to come out strong.”
    Correction: This story has been updated to correct that SailGP teams from the UK, Australia and New Zealand are leading the league. It’s also been updated to correct the name of SailGP’s Women’s Performance Camp. More

  • 100 Shares122 Views

    in Finance

    Why uncertainty makes the stock market go haywire

    Investor uncertainty have led to volatile trading in the stock market.
    They are unnerved by see-sawing Trump administration policy positions, most importantly on tariffs, experts said.
    Investors don’t know how policy will impact corporate profits, experts said.

    Traders on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange on March 14, 2025, at the opening bell. 
    Timothy A. Clary | Afp | Getty Images

    Uncertainty isn’t in short supply these days — and investors have taken notice.
    See-sawing policy from the White House has given investors whiplash on many fronts — with tariffs being among the biggest question marks, market experts say.

    Coupled with uncertainty around federal job cuts, negotiations to end the war in Ukraine and other issues, the combination has been “disorienting to market sentiment,” Paul Christopher, head of global investment strategy at the Wells Fargo Investment Institute, wrote Wednesday.
    Stocks have wobbled amid the vertigo.
    The S&P 500 entered a correction last week, meaning the U.S. stock index fell 10% from its recent high mark in February. The index has recovered a bit but teetered on the edge of a correction Tuesday afternoon.
    The benchmark is down about 5% in 2025.

    Uncertainty makes investors jittery — and stock markets volatile — because they don’t know how policy and other events will impact companies’ ability to make money, said Barry Glassman, a certified financial planner and founder of Glassman Wealth Services.

    Worried consumers might pull back on spending, crimping profits, for example. Tariffs raise costs for certain companies to import or produce goods — and it’s unclear how other nations might retaliate. While economists generally don’t think federal trade policy and job cuts will push the U.S. into recession, Trump hasn’t ruled out that possibility.
    “All of this comes down to corporate profits,” said Glassman, a member of CNBC’s Advisor Council. “People will put more dollars where they have greater confidence in the investments,” he added.

    Many ‘unanswered’ questions

    There’s always uncertainty in the stock market, but it may feel more acute right now than at other times, experts said.
    A recent (and perhaps counterintuitive) example of that uncertainty came on March 6, when President Donald Trump reversed course and delayed 25% tariffs on many imports from Canada and Mexico by a month. That delay came two days after the tariffs had taken effect.
    Despite that “reprieve,” the S&P 500 sold off sharply during the day’s trading session, BeiChen Lin, senior investment strategist at Russell Investments, said recently.
    More from Personal Finance:Wholesale egg prices have ‘plunged’How to manage your student loan payments after a layoffHarvard announces free tuition for families making under $200K annually
    “There are still a lot of questions that remain unanswered,” Lin said.
    For example, Lin said, what would happen after the 30-day delay? How might Mexico and Canada respond? Will the U.S. impose tariffs on other countries or products?
    National Economic Council director Kevin Hassett warned Monday of “some uncertainty” over Trump’s tariff policy in coming weeks. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said last week that the Trump administration is more focused on long-term health of the U.S. economy instead of short-term volatility.

    ‘It’s all based on emotion’

    Brad Klontz, a certified financial planner and behavioral finance expert, said he thinks the stock market turmoil ties into something more primitive than corporate profits: Human psychology.
    “Quite frankly, it’s all based on emotion,” said Klontz, managing principal of YMW Advisors in Boulder, Colorado, and a member of CNBC’s Advisor Council.
    “We like to feel like we can predict the future. When we feel the future is unpredictable, when we don’t have faith in our leaders, that’s when we start to panic,” Klontz said.
    “There’s a ton of fear” right now, he added.

    Amid fear, it’s important for investors to put the recent market moves into perspective, advisors said.
    A 10% pullback isn’t shocking after two consecutive years of annual stock returns exceeding 20%, Glassman said.
    “This is normal,” Glassman said of the market’s temper tantrums.
    However, investors often make bad financial choices by engaging in catastrophic thinking (believing the markets may never recover, for example), Klontz said. They buy high and sell low, he said.
    Historically, the market has always bounced back higher.
    “If you lost $40,000, you have to ask yourself, did you really lose it?” Klontz said. “If you didn’t sell, I’m not sure you lost it. If you sold, you guaranteed lost that $40,000.”

    Focus on what you can control

    During times of uncertainty, investors should focus on what they can control, Klontz said.
    It’s a good time for investors to look at their asset allocation, and ensure their overall stock-bond holdings haven’t gotten too risky or conservative over time, for example, Klontz said.

    The recent volatility has also shown the value of diversification among different asset classes in an investment portfolio, Glassman said.
    For example, international stocks in both developed and emerging markets are up this year, even though U.S. stocks are down, Glassman said. Bond returns have also been positive, he said.
    Ultimately, investor behavior is the biggest threat to stock returns, not the federal government, Klontz said. More

  • 150 Shares114 Views

    in Finance

    Santander says 750 jobs at risk as it pursues UK branch closures

    The British unit of Spanish lender Santander on Wednesday said 750 of its staff were at risk of redundancy as it targets 95 branch closures in the U.K.
    Questions have risen over the future of Santander’s international footprint, amid reports earlier in the year that the lender could be considering an exit from Britain.
    “The UK is a core market for Santander and this has not changed,” a Santander spokesperson told CNBC on Wednesday.

    Jonathan Nicholson | NurPhoto | Getty Images

    The British unit of Spanish lender Banco Santander on Wednesday said 750 of its staff were at risk of redundancy as it targets 95 branch closures in the U.K.
    The decision is part of the bank’s broader plans to update its presence from June 2025 and will bring Santander UK’s network to 349 branches, including 290 that are full-service, 36 operating with reduced hours and 18 that are counter-free and five Work Cafes.

    “Closing a branch is always a very difficult decision and we spend a great deal of time assessing where and when we do this and how to minimise the impact it may have on our customers,” a Santander UK spokesperson said.
    The bank further noted a “a rapid movement of customers choosing to do their banking digitally,” flagging it has observed a 63% boost in digital transactions versus a 61% decline in dealings done at physical branches since 2019.
    Santander said it was consulting unions over the proposed changes. The bank employs around 18,000 full-time staff in the U.K., according to the annual report of the British unit.
    Questions have risen over the future of Santander’s international footprint, just two decades since its acquisition of Abbey National brought it to the front of Britain’s high street. At the start of the year, the Financial Times reported that the lender could be considering an exit from its U.K. operations, which Santander Executive Chair Ana Botin has since repeatedly refuted.
    “The UK is a core market for Santander and this has not changed,” a Santander spokesperson told CNBC on Wednesday.

    In October, Reuters reported Santander CEO Hector Grisi forecast the lender would trim more than 1,400 jobs from its British business by the time it finalizes a cost-cutting drive, without specifying a timeline.
    The lender has faced some tumult in Britain, setting aside £295 million ($382.7 million) in November to cover possible payouts linked to a broader industry probe into motor finance commissions.
    Back in February, Spain’s largest lender reported record fourth-quarter profit up 11% year on year to 3.265 billion euros ($3.56 billion), further announcing plans for 10 billion euros ($10.89 billion) in share buybacks from 2025 and 2026 earnings and anticipated excess capital. More

  • 113 Shares137 Views

    in Finance

    China is tackling weak consumption with child care subsidies

    Among the top five priorities China has laid out for boosting consumption is child care subsidies.
    A national-level policy of 100 billion yuan ($13.84 billion) for child care subsidies could come soon this year, Jianguang Shen, chief economist at Chinese e-commerce company JD.com, said in Mandarin, translated by CNBC.
    In a glimpse of what is already being rolled out, the Inner Mongolian capital of Hohhot, last week announced subsidies of up to 100,000 yuan for children of registered locals who live and work in the city.

    Customers browse children’s clothing at a wholesale store in Chongqing, China, on March 1, 2025.
    Cheng Xin | Getty Images News | Getty Images

    BEIJING — Among the top five priorities China has laid out for boosting consumption is child care subsidies.
    It’s an effort to tackle the country’s rapid drop in births, while freeing up cash for discretionary spending.

    As with many Chinese policies, the plan released Sunday only lays out a framework: “Strengthen support for childbirth and raising children. Research and establish a system for subsidizing child care.” That’s according to a CNBC translation of the Chinese.
    Beijing is moving relatively quickly, however.
    The National Health Commission is already drafting an operational plan for subsidizing child care, Li Chunlin, deputy director of the economic planner, the National Development and Reform Commission, told reporters Monday.

    A national-level policy of 100 billion yuan ($13.84 billion) for child care subsidies could come soon this year, Jianguang Shen, chief economist at Chinese e-commerce company JD.com, said in Mandarin, translated by CNBC.
    That’s based on his estimate of around 9 million births this year, and monthly handouts of around 800 yuan to parents, regardless of income, Shen said. He noted half of the cash could come in the form of vouchers for baby products to prevent households from saving the money.

    China recorded 9.54 million births last year, up by 520,000 from the prior year, as many locals considered 2024 an auspicious year for births based on the Chinese zodiac’s year of the Dragon. However, World Bank data showed that the fertility rate, defined as births per woman, was 1.2 in China in 2022, down from 1.8 in 2012.
    “The key is to increase fiscal resources,” Shen said, noting that in the context of 300 billion yuan for trade-in subsidies, 100 billion yuan for child care isn’t too much to ask for. He forecasts around 3.5% to 4.5% growth in retail sales this year.
    China’s retail sales grew by a modest 3.5% last year, according to official data. The January to February period, which covers the annul Lunar New Year holiday, saw a modest pick up to 4% year on year, the statistics bureau said Monday.

    How much is enough?

    In a glimpse of what is already being rolled out, the Inner Mongolian capital of Hohhot, last week announced subsidies of up to 100,000 yuan for children of registered locals who live and work in the city.
    The couple can enjoy a one-time subsidy of 10,000 yuan upon the birth of their first child. Their second child is eligible for 10,000 yuan in annual subsidies until the age of five. If the couple have a third child, the city will provide 10,000 yuan each year until the child turns 10.
    The tech hub of Shenzhen this month said it is considering a smaller-scale subsidy. State media noted that National Health Commission data as of October showed several local governments in more than 20 provinces were already offering some kind of child care subsidy.
    “If the childcare subsidy in Hohhot can be extended to the whole country, it could amount to another 0.2% of retail sales in the initial year,” Citi analysts said in a report Tuesday. They said the subsidy could be most meaningful for low-income families and “could become more significant if the central government steps in to share the burden.”
    “It remains to be seen if it will be effective in boosting fertility rate in the longer term,” the Citi analysts said, noting the total cost of raising a child in China is reportedly around 538,000 yuan, not to mention the opportunity cost for working mothers.
    The per capita disposable income of rural residents was 23,119 yuan in 2024, while that of urban residents was more than two times higher at 54,188 yuan, according to official figures.
    Short-term subsidies for child care could still significantly ease financial pressure on Chinese households.
    When Beijing resident Song Jingli, now 41, gave birth to her daughter nearly 10 years ago, there was no child care support. Song said she made 8,000 yuan a month at the time, and day care cost 4,000 yuan.
    “We didn’t have a choice,” she said. My husband “needed to go to work, I needed to go to work, and my parents-in-law were not able to take care of her.”
    By the time her daughter was in kindergarten, Song said, she was able to benefit from a relatively new policy that halved the cost to around 2,000 yuan. The new policies on child care are “right to the point,” she said. “The only pity [is] it’s too late for us who were born in the 1980s. Hopefully younger generations can benefit from these policies.”

    What to watch next

    China’s efforts to boost consumption also include calls for increasing the minimum wage, stabilizing the stock market, boosting farmers’ income and resolving payment delays for businesses.
    “The direction of [China’s] consumption-boosting measures is correct,” Goldman Sachs analysts said in a report Monday, “but both funding and implementation matter for the effectiveness of China’s consumption stimulus.”
    “The announcement of a nationwide childcare subsidy and the April Politburo meeting are key to watch in coming months,” the analysts said, referring to a high-level policy meeting typically held in late April. More

  • 175 Shares87 Views

    in Business

    Watch NASA astronauts return to Earth on SpaceX capsule after months on the ISS

    [The stream is slated to start at 4:45 p.m. ET. Please refresh the page if you do not see a player above at that time.]
    NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams are set to splash down on Earth on Tuesday evening after spending more than nine months in space.

    They were originally supposed to be at the International Space Station for a little over a week, but their stay was extended after the Boeing Starliner capsule that they took in June experienced issues.
    Instead, Wilmore and Williams are returning on a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft with fellow NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov.
    Subscribe to CNBC on YouTube.  More

  • 188 Shares159 Views

    in Business

    Taco Bell parent Yum Brands partners with Nvidia to speed up its use of AI

    Yum Brands and Nvidia are teaming up to bring artificial intelligence to Taco Bell, Pizza Hut and KFC restaurants.
    Restaurant companies such as McDonald’s and Wendy’s have been investing in AI to save on labor and improve their operations.
    Yum has used a series of acquisitions to build up its internal tech operations, now integrated under its Byte platform.

    A Taco Bell fast-food restaurant and drive-thru at dusk in Gastonia, North Carolina.
    Jeff Greenberg | Universal Images Group | Getty Images

    Two chipmakers are teaming up.
    Yum Brands is partnering with tech giant Nvidia to accelerate the use of artificial intelligence in its restaurants.

    The restaurant company, which owns Taco Bell, KFC and Pizza Hut, said on Tuesday that the collaboration will allow Yum to roll out AI order-taking, Nvidia-powered computer vision and restaurant performance assessments fueled by AI.
    As tech giants compete in an AI arms race, restaurant companies have also been using the technology to stay ahead of rivals by improving their operations and saving money on labor. Fast-food chains have been testing AI to take drive-thru orders, check the accuracy of orders, decide how to schedule workers effectively and place supply orders.
    Many restaurant chains besides Yum have sought partnerships with tech giants. McDonald’s teamed up with Google Cloud and Wendy’s supply chain co-op partnered with Palantir, among other deals. But not all partnerships have been successful. McDonald’s ended its collaboration with IBM on voice AI in June, although the burger giant said IBM remained a “trusted partner.”
    The partnership is Nvidia’s first with a restaurant company. It also marks a shift in strategy for Yum, which has used a slew of acquisitions to build up its internal tech operations, now housed under its Byte platform. Yum will own the intelligence from the partnership, allowing the company to customize it as needed, like integrating more advanced AI models.
    Yum has already been piloting Nvidia technology in some Pizza Hut and Taco Bell locations. A broader rollout of the technology is expected to hit more than 500 restaurants across Yum’s portfolio during the second quarter.

    The terms of the Nvidia partnership were not disclosed, but Yum said it was “subject to mutually agreeable definitive agreements.”
    Shares of Nvidia have climbed 35% over the past year, while Yum’s stock has risen 14% during the same period. Investors have largely remained bullish on AI, although Nvidia’s stock has lost some steam over concerns about competition and the broader economy.
    Nvidia’s market cap of $2.9 trillion dwarfs that of Yum, which has a market cap of $43.8 billion.

    Don’t miss these insights from CNBC PRO More

  • 113 Shares103 Views

    in Finance

    Retail investors ditch buy-the-dip mentality during the market correction

    Spencer Platt | Getty Images

    Individual investors, whose assets are more tied to the stock market than ever, have abandoned their tried-and-true dip-buying mentality as the S&P 500 recently fell into a painful, 10% correction.
    Retail outflows from U.S. equities rose to about $4 billion over the past two weeks as tariff chaos and mounting economic concerns caused a three-week pullback in the S&P 500, according to data from Barclays. During March’s sell-off, 401(k) holders have been aggressively trading their investments, to the tune of four times the average level, according to Alight Solutions’ data going back to the late 1990s.

    “If people were trying to buy the dip and get their stocks on sale, maybe you would see people actually buying large-cap equities. But instead we see people selling from large cap-equities,” said Rob Austin, director of research at Alight Solutions. “So this does appear to be a bit of a reactionary trading activity.”

    Arrows pointing outwards

    The increased selling came as American households are more sensitive than ever to the turbulence in the stock market. U.S. household ownership of equities has reached a record level, amounting to nearly half their financial assets, according to Federal Reserve data.
    Dip-buying had served investors well over the past two years as Main Street rode the artificial intelligence-inspired bull market to record highs. At one point, the S&P 500 went more than 370 days without even a 2.1% sell-off, the longest such stretch since the global financial crisis of 2008-09.
    But lately, markets began to sour as President Donald Trump’s aggressive tariffs and sudden changes in policy stirred up volatility, stoking fears of dampened consumer spending, slower economic growth, weaker profits and maybe even a recession. The S&P 500 officially entered a correction late last week, and is now sitting some 8.7% below its February all-time high.

    Stock chart icon

    Still, retail traders are far from throwing in the towel. For example, the net debit of margin accounts, a “popular proxy for retail investors’ sentiment,” continues to stay elevated, according to Barclays data.

    “There is plenty of room for retail investors to further disengage from the equity market,” analysts led by Venu Krishna, Barclays head of U.S. equity strategy, said in a note Tuesday to clients. “We are of the view that retail investors have in no way capitulated.”
    Barclays’ proprietary euphoria indicator shows sentiment has been brought down to levels similar to where it was around the time of the U.S. presidential election in November, but is still high by historic standards.
    “It’s not like everybody is going out there saying the sky is falling. Most people, it looks like, are not making any sort of reactions,” Austin said. More

  • 125 Shares119 Views

    in Business

    Nvidia, GM announce deal for AI, factories and next-gen vehicles

    General Motors and Nvidia agreed to a strategic collaboration that includes the automaker utilizing several products and artificial intelligence services.
    GM has been using Nvidia graphics processing units, or GPUs, for training AI models across various areas, including simulation and validation. The new business expands to in-vehicle hardware, automotive plant design and other operations, the companies said.
    GM declined to disclose a cost for the new tools with Nvidia, which has been attempting to diversify its automotive business.

    Jensen Huang, co-founder and chief executive officer of Nvidia Corp., speaks during the Nvidia GPU Technology Conference (GTC) in San Jose, California, US, on Tuesday, March 18, 2025. 
    David Paul Morris | Bloomberg | Getty Images

    General Motors and Nvidia have agreed to a strategic collaboration that includes the automaker using several products and artificial intelligence services from the tech giant for its next-generation vehicles, advanced driver-assistance systems and factories.
    The companies on Tuesday announced that the new initiatives include building custom artificial intelligence systems using Nvidia compute platforms, including “Omniverse with Cosmos,” for optimizing GM’s factory planning and robotics.

    The Detroit automaker also said it will use “Nvidia Drive AGX” for “in-vehicle hardware for future advanced driver-assistance systems and in-cabin enhanced safety driving experiences.”
    GM declined to disclose a cost for the new tools with Nvidia. The tech company has been attempting to diversify its automotive business, which has notably included substantial work in data centers and GPUs.
    “The era of physical AI is here, and together with GM, we’re transforming transportation, from vehicles to the factories where they’re made,” Jensen Huang, Nvidia founder and CEO, said in a release. “We are thrilled to partner with GM to build AI systems tailored to their vision, craft and know-how.”

    GM has been using Nvidia graphics processing units, or GPUs, for training AI models across various areas of its business, including simulation and validation. The new business expands to in-vehicle hardware, automotive plant design and operations, the companies said.
    The automaker also had been testing Nvidia’s Omniverse since at least 2022. Some of GM’s testing was in designing a “digital twin,” or replica, of its new design center and processes to assist virtual vehicle development. It also acted as a single digital environment for employees to work and collaborate in, according to a video last year featuring GM for Nvidia’s GTC developer conference in 2023.

    Jensen Huang, co-founder and chief executive officer of Nvidia Corp., speaks during the Nvidia GPU Technology Conference (GTC) in San Jose, California, US, on Tuesday, March 18, 2025.
    David Paul Morris | Bloomberg | Getty Images

    Nvidia anticipated it would strike a deal with GM mid-last year for Omniverse, according to an internal company email viewed by CNBC. At that time, two sources with GM signaled the automaker wasn’t sure Nvidia’s software and GPUs were worth the high cost compared with other companies.
    It wasn’t immediately clear what sealed the deal for GM. But since that time, both companies have experienced increased competition from China and uncertain regulatory changes such as tariffs. GM’s stock is off roughly 8% during in 2025, while Nvidia is off about 12% this year.
    “AI not only optimizes manufacturing processes and accelerates virtual testing but also helps us build smarter vehicles while empowering our workforce to focus on craftsmanship,” GM CEO Mary Barra said in Nvidia’s release. “By merging technology with human ingenuity, we unlock new levels of innovation in vehicle manufacturing and beyond.”

    Stock chart icon

    GM and Nvidia stock prices

    The companies announced the new initiatives in connection with Nvidia’s GTC AI conference this week in California.
    Nvidia describes Omniverse as a platform for “developing and deploying physically based industrial digitalization applications.” It’s essentially connecting a physical environment with a digital, or software, world to optimize processes using a “digital twin” of a physical environment such as a GM design facility or plant.
    Users of Nvidia’s Omniverse have included BMW, Amazon Robotics and Samsung, Rev Lebaredian, Nvidia vice president of Omniverse and simulation technology, said during a media briefing a year ago. He said the company was licensing Omniverse for $4,500 per GPU, per year.
    It’s unclear how many GPUs GM will need. But given the amount of robotics, sensors and other systems needed to operate a modern assembly plant, it would likely be quite a bit.
    More than 20 other automakers have used Nvidia’s “system on a chip” hardware in the central computing units of their smart vehicles, including Mercedes Benz, Volvo, Audi, Volkswagen and BYD, according to an industry equity research note from Jeffries in November 2023.
    In recent years, Nvidia has seen soaring demand for its GPUs, which are used for everything from bitcoin mining to AI inference and training. More