Finance

Baidu’s Apollo Go robotaxi unit said fully driverless weekly rides as of Oct. 31 have now surpassed 250,000 orders.
Alphabet’s Waymo reported the same number of paid weekly robotaxi rides in the U.S. back in April.
Apollo Go also said that so far its robotaxis have not been involved in a major accident involving human injury or death.

Chinese tech company Baidu announced Monday it can sell some robotaxi rides without any human staff in the vehicles.

BEIJING — As Baidu ramps up its robotaxi operations worldwide, fully driverless weekly rides as of Oct. 31 have now surpassed 250,000 orders, according to a spokesperson for the company’s driverless car unit Apollo Go.
That’s on par with what Waymo reported in late April for its weekly paid U.S. rides. When contacted by CNBC, Waymo did not have a new specific figure to share. The Alphabet-backed robotaxi operator primarily operates in San Francisco and Los Angeles in California and Phoenix, Arizona. Waymo partners with Uber in Austin and Atlanta.

The ramp up in Baidu’s robotaxi capabilities comes as Chinese and U.S. companies have been competing for leadership in advanced technology, including artificial intelligence, electric cars and autonomous driving.
It was not clear for how long Apollo Go has been operating 250,000 rides a week. For the quarter ended June 30, the company averaged about 169,000 rides a week based on CNBC calculations of the 2.2 million fully driverless robotaxi rides disclosed for the period.
Baidu’s Apollo Go primarily operates robotaxis in Wuhan and parts of Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen in mainland China. The company is also expanding to Hong Kong, Dubai, Abu Dhabi and, most recently, Switzerland. Robotaxis typically must undergo phases of public testing before local regulators allow companies to charge fares.
Apollo Go said it has received 17 million robotaxi ride orders to date, and that its cars have driven 240 million kilometers (149 million miles), with 140 million fully driverless rides.

On safety, Apollo Go disclosed on average there has been one airbag deployment incident for every 10.1 million kilometers driven, but so far there’s has not been any major accident involving human injury or death.

Baidu is scheduled to next release its quarterly results on Nov. 18 before U.S. market open. The company is set to hold its annual tech conference in Beijing on Nov. 13.
Weekly robotaxi figures from Chinese rivals Pony.ai and WeRide were not immediately available. Waymo did not immediately respond to a request for an update to the figures shared in April. More

A lot of assets, warned Jamie Dimon in mid-October, “look like they’re entering bubble territory”. His voice carries because he runs America’s biggest bank, JPMorgan Chase, but also because it is part of a growing chorus. David Solomon, Mr Dimon’s opposite number at Goldman Sachs, talks of “investor exuberance”; Jane Fraser, Citigroup’s boss, of “valuation frothiness”. The Bank of England recently cautioned that “the risk of a sharp market correction has increased.” The IMF worries about a “disorderly” one, since “risk asset prices are well above fundamentals”. More

Bonds may be more than just a safe haven.
BondBloxx ETFs’ Tony Kelly, a former Goldman Sachs Asset Management global ETF head, contends it’s where investors can also play offense due to the market backdrop.

“It’s definitely getting more nuanced,” the firm’s co-founder told CNBC’s “ETF Edge” this week. “Advisors are being a bit more thoughtful because there is more opportunity in fixed income now that rates are no longer… close to zero [percent].”
The Federal Reserve cut interest rates on Wednesday by a quarter point — its second move this year. The decision took its benchmark rate down to 3.75%-4%, a level that’s still far above zero.
Meanwhile, the benchmark 10-year Treasury Note yield ticked back above 4% following the latest decision. The yield has dropped by almost 2% over the past month and is down about 11% so far this year.
Kelly, whose firm specializes in fixed-income exchange-traded funds, finds bonds are evolving into an active source of diversification, income and tactical opportunity. 
Kelly highlights emerging market debt as a standout performer.

“[It’s] one of the top returning asset classes in the fixed income market this year,” he noted.
Kelly finds interest is also growing in private credit ETFs, which allow investors to tap into institutional-style yield with daily liquidity.
“I don’t know if that is something you would necessarily refer to as plain vanilla, but there is a lot of interest in that subset of the fixed income asset class to be in an ETF wrapper for clients,” said Kelly. “We do have a private credit ETF product in the market now. We’ve got one in registration.”

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Berkshire’s operating profit generated from the conglomerate’s wholly owned businesses including insurance and railroads jumped 34% year over year to $13.485 billion in the third quarter.
The gains were driven by a more than 200% surge in insurance underwriting income, which rose to $2.37 billion.
Buffett once again refrained from repurchasing shares despite a significant pullback in the stock.

Warren Buffett and Greg Abel walkthrough the Berkshire Hathaway Annual Shareholders Meeting in Omaha, Nebraska on May 3, 2025.
David A. Grogen | CNBC

Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway reported a sharp rebound in operating profit on Saturday, while its cash pile swelled to a new high with no buybacks.
Berkshire’s operating profit generated from the conglomerate’s wholly owned businesses including insurance and railroads jumped 34% year over year to $13.485 billion in the third quarter. The gains were driven by a more than 200% surge in insurance underwriting income, which rose to $2.37 billion.

Buffett once again refrained from repurchasing shares despite a significant pullback in the stock. The company said there were no share buybacks during the first nine months of 2025. Class A and B shares of the conglomerate are up 5% each in 2025, while the S&P 500 is up 16.3%.
Without any buybacks, Berkshire’s cash hoard swelled to a record $381.6 billion, surpassing the previous high of $347.7 billion set in the first quarter of this year.
Berkshire also didn’t find other stocks attractive, net selling equities in the third quarter for a taxable gain of $10.4 billion.

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Berkshire Hathaway class A shares year to date

The 95-year-old Buffett in May announced he’s stepping down as CEO at the year-end after six legendary decades. Greg Abel, Berkshire’s vice chairman of non-insurance operations, is set to take over as chief executive, while Buffett will remain chairman of the board. Abel will also start writing annual letters in 2026.
The Omaha-based conglomerate’s shares have tumbled double digits from all-time highs following the announcement. The sell-off partially reflects the so-called Buffett premium, or the extra price investors are willing to pay because of the billionaire’s unmatched record and exceptional capital allocation skills.

Last month, Berkshire announced a deal to buy Occidental Petroleum’s petrochemical unit, OxyChem, for $9.7 billion in cash. The deal marks Berkshire’s largest since 2022, when it paid $11.6 billion for insurer Alleghany.
Overall earnings, which include gains from Berkshire’s investments in other publicly traded companies, rose 17% to $30.8 billion year on year. More

Retirees and near retirees have seen market portfolios balloon after a record run for stocks in recent years.
But now they are looking to diversify their assets with the S&P 500 Index concentrated in a handful of tech stocks.
Buffered ETFs use options to offer downside protection but the tradeoff is capping upside potential. Still, more investors are gravitating to this “good enough” performance” approach.

Retirees and investors near retirement are in a tough spot. They need growth from their stock market portfolio to fight inflation and rising health care costs, but another major market drop could leave stocks in a “lost period” which they don’t have the time to wait out.
As a general rule in the current investment era, many financial firms tell recent retirees to keep more than half of their portfolio in stocks and then dial it down as they get older. Once upon a time, a 65 year-old with 50% in stocks would have been seen as aggressive. But with a record concentration of the U.S. stock market in a handful of big tech stocks — roughly a third of the S&P 500 — concerns about an AI bubble and major market correction are warranted.

According to research from Harvard economist Jason Furman, a former Obama White House advisor, chip sales represented roughly 92% of GDP growth in the first half of the year, and without chip sales, the U.S. economy would have grown 0.1%. Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell said on Wednesday at the latest FOMC meeting that AI is a major source of growth for the U.S. economy, unlike the dotcom bubble. While that could be a good thing long-term, it could also ratchet up the risk in the short-term for investors if the return on investment from AI doesn’t materialize quickly.
The U.S. stock market’s recent success leave retirement investors sitting on big portfolio gains, but looking for ways to trim stock exposure and to stay invested without taking on too much equity risk. More retirees are placing their money in equity income-generating ETFs to create what fund managers in the space argue will be a smoother path forward.
Buffered ETFs, also called defined outcome ETFs, use options to protect against a set level of losses while still capturing a portion of the upside. They have grown exponentially since the pandemic as an additional way for investors who have always used bonds and short-term treasuries to buffer downturns in the stock market and generate income.
“It’s gone meteoric,” said Mike Loukas, TrueShares ETFs CEO, on CNBC’s “ETF Edge.”
According to a Morningstar report from April, the buffered ETF category has returned about 11% per year over five years. Assets in the category have ballooned to more than $30 billion, with billions in new inflows each year.

“A great deal of wealth is moving from the accumulation phase to the distribution phase. Now a lot of those investors still need growth, but they need growth with risk protection and the defined outcome space,” Loukas said.
That also means there is a big shift in investor mindset, with less investors focused on keeping up with or beating the S&P 500. Now, according to Loukas, retirees are aiming for what he called “performance that’s good enough” — steady, predictable returns that match their comfort level.
But there is another tradeoff in addition to the lagging in strong bull markets as a result of their structure: higher costs. Buffered ETFs usually charge around 0.75% to 0.85% in annual fees, compared with 0.03% for a plain equity index ETF like Vanguard’s VOO or the SPDR S&P 500 SPY. But for retirees focused on capital preservation, diversification, and peace of mind, the extra cost may be worth it.
“These are essentially math-based products,” Loukas said. “They typically will deliver on what they’re supposed to deliver on.”
Biggest buffered equity ETFs

FT Vest Laddered Buffer ETF (BUFR): $7.9 billion in assets/0.95% net expense ratio
Innovator Defined Wealth Shield ETF (BALT): $1.9 billion in assets/0.69% net expense ratio
FT Vest Laddered Deep Buffer ETF (BUFD): $1.5 billion in assets/0.95% net expense ratio
Innovator Equity Managed Floor ETF (SFLR): $1.2 billion/0.89% net expense ratio

Source: ETFAction.com More

Pony.ai is the first firm cleared to run robotaxis throughout Shenzhen.
The move expands autonomous taxi services beyond pilot zones in Chinese cities.
Pony.ai will start rolling out the self-driving taxis in parts of Shenzhen before expanding coverage.

A logo of the autonomous driving technology startup Pony.ai is seen on a screen during an event in Beijing, China May 13, 2021.
Tingshu Wang | Reuters

China’s Silicon Valley, Shenzhen, is about to allow self-driving taxis to operate throughout the city, ending years of pilot zones and tight limits.
Pony.ai announced Friday it was the first company to receive a robotaxi permit for the entire city, though the coverage area will be rolled out in phases.

The news marks a milestone for China’s push to integrate autonomous vehicles into everyday transport.
Until now, self-driving taxis in China have been restricted to specific areas on the outskirts of major urban areas, rather than the entire city.
Pony.ai’s rollout is part of a partnership with local taxi firm Xihu Group. The two companies formed a strategic partnership in June and plan to deploy over 1,000 of Pony.ai’s seventh-generation robotaxis across Shenzhen in the coming years.
Pony.ai unveiled its seventh-generation taxi in April this year and said it was able to cut materials costs by 70% compared with earlier models. The robotaxi operator said it developed the car together with Toyota and state-owned local operators BAIC and GAC. More

Chinese President Xi Jinping spoke at the Asia Pacific-Economic Cooperation (APEC) Economic Leaders’ meeting on Friday.
“The more turbulent the times, the more we must work together,” Xi said in a Chinese state media readout, translated by CNBC.
He emphasized the need for the countries to join together and “extend” supply chains, rather than disconnect from each other.

Chinese President Xi Jinping met with U.S. President Donald Trump on Oct. 30, 2025, in South Korea ahead of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Economic Leaders’ Meeting.
Andrew Harnik | Getty Images News | Getty Images

A day after securing a deal for rollback of U.S. tariffs, Chinese President Xi Jinping called on Asia-Pacific countries to support free trade, and maintain supply chain stability.
“The more turbulent the times, the more we must work together,” Xi said in a Chinese state media readout Friday, translated by CNBC. He was speaking at the first session of the Asia Pacific-Economic Cooperation (APEC) Economic Leaders’ meeting that runs through Saturday.

Xi arrived in South Korea Thursday and met with U.S. President Donald Trump for the first time since 2019.
China and U.S. agreed to grant 1-year concessions over tariffs, export controls, and other issues in a relative thawing of relations impacted by tit-for-tat trade measures. U.S. cut tariffs on Chinese goods by 10 percentage points, while Beijing agreed to allow exports of critically needed rare earths.
Trump returned to the U.S. Thursday, while Xi stayed on for the summit. In his speech, the Chinese leader reiterated his view that the world was undergoing changes not seen in a century, and emphasized how Beijing was offering global opportunities in the face of growing instability and uncertainties in the Asia-Pacific region.
Xi, who did not directly mention the U.S. or tariffs, shared five suggestions for cooperation at the APEC summit: safeguarding the multilateral trading system, creating an open economic environment, maintaining supply chain stability, promoting green and digital trade and fostering inclusive development.
He emphasized the need for the countries to join together and “extend” the supply chain, rather than disconnecting from each other.

That could run up against the U.S. emphasis on reshoring manufacturing, even as Xi highlighted in his meeting with Trump that “China’s development and revitalization goes hand in hand with President Trump’s vision to ‘Make America Great Again.'”
Over the last two decades, Chinese companies have doubled down on production and the country now accounts for about 27% of global manufacturing net output. As labor costs and tariffs have risen, the Chinese factories have spread to the Asia-Pacific region, while local demand has also grown.

Trump has sought to use tariffs and other policies to encourage companies to bring the factories back to the U.S. New U.S. tariffs announced this year have also sought to reduce transshipments — exports of Chinese goods made through other countries.
Since the first round of trade tensions with the U.S. about seven years ago, the Association of Southeast Asian Countries has become China’s largest trading partner, surpassing the European Union.
China will keep “opening up” its market to foreign business, and keep providing new opportunities for Asia Pacific and the world, Xi said Friday.
Asia was the top destination for Chinese outbound investment in the third quarter, followed by Africa and Europe, Rhodium Group said in a report Thursday. Chinese companies announced $15.4 billion in investments in Asia during that time, the most since the pandemic, with deals including data centers and battery materials. More

Fed Chair Jerome Powell will have to steer his way through a suddenly very contentious atmosphere among policymakers that will make whichever direction the Fed chooses divisive.
While Wall Street economists were split over whether the FOMC will in fact approve another reduction at the Dec. 9-10 meeting, they were in agreement that this is a pivotal moment for Powell.
Despite Powell’s comments, traders are still expecting another cut in December.

Jerome Powell, chairman of the US Federal Reserve, during a news conference following a Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting in Washington, DC, US, on Wednesday, Oct. 29, 2025.
Al Drago | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell faces if not the most difficult challenge of his time in office at least the trickiest in his final months as head of the all-powerful U.S. central bank.
Fresh off his surprisingly tough talk Wednesday on the potential for another interest rate cut in December, Powell will have to steer his way through a suddenly contentious atmosphere among policymakers that will make whichever direction the Fed chooses divisive.

While it’s not the existential economic threat posed by the Covid pandemic in 2020, it nevertheless indicates a level of peril uncommon for the institution.
“December could get messy,” Bank of America economist Aditya Bhave said in a client note. “We still think the Fed won’t cut rates again under Chair Powell. But barring a clear signal in either direction from the data, the December decision will likely be even more contentious than October.”
The Fed on Wednesday approved a widely anticipated quarter percentage point rate reduction that took its benchmark rate down to 3.75%-4%. However, Powell warned that another cut in December “is not a foregone conclusion,” something the market was not expecting.
While Wall Street economists and strategists were split over whether the committee will in fact approve another reduction at the Dec. 9-10 meeting, they were in agreement that this is a pivotal moment for Powell and the legacy he ultimately will leave when his term runs out in May.
“Even in a situation without much additional data due to the shutdown, it can actually make sense to push against market pricing to keep optionality going forward,” wrote Michael Gapen, chief U.S. economist at Morgan Stanley. “A 95% probability assigned to a December cut does not seem consistent with a data-dependent Fed.”

Markets react

For their part, traders weren’t buying the hawkish rhetoric. Fed fund futures pricing Thursday still indicated a 75% probability of a cut in December, though that was down from around 90% the day before, according to the CME Group’s FedWatch.
But Powell went to great lengths in his post-meeting news conference Wednesday to dispel the notion that the reduction, which would be the third since September, is a slam dunk.
The thrust of his argument was multi-pronged: What data there is available during the government shutdown blackout has largely showed a stable economy though the labor market is a risk; inflation is still above target; and, in an unusual development, there are “strongly differing” views on the FOMC for where policy should move.
Markets were clearly caught off guard by the move, with stocks slipping and Treasury yields surging. The 10-year Treasury yield was solidly above 4% Thursday while the policy-sensitive 2-year note climbed over 3.6% to its highest level in about a month.
“The reaction of the bond market should certainly give Fed officials pause,” wrote Ed Yardeni, head of Yardeni Research and coiner of the term “bond vigilantes” to describe buyers’ strikes in the fixed income markets. “The bond market isn’t buying the Fed’s cover story that interest rates were too restrictive.”
For Powell, the statement regarding December was an unusual step considering markets had been expecting a more neutral tone. Asked whether he was bothered by the strong anticipation of another cut, Powell said markets should take his statement that a reduction “is not a foregone conclusion” should be “taken on board.”
“You’ve got get right in front of that, because you don’t want to surprise the market a couple weeks down the road. Now is the time to do it,” said Dan North, senior economist for North America at Allianz Trade. “He doesn’t usually use words quite so forcefully. So that was interesting, and he’s clearly trying to squash speculation about December. We feel the same way, December is going to be a pause.”

Political overhang

The developments come at a ticklish time for the Fed.
Powell, a favorite target for President Donald Trump’s criticism, has only seven months or so left in his term. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has been busy interviewing potential successors — among them current Governors Christopher Waller and Michelle Bowman, both of whom voted in favor of the cut.
In addition, Governor Stephen Miran, a hand-picked Trump appointee who will only serve through January, again dissented from the vote in favor of a half-point.
At the other end of the spectrum, Kansas City Fed President Jeffrey Schmid voted “no” as well, but because he wanted to not cut. Between them run a range of views on the normally consensus-driven FOMC.
Whether Powell’s tip of the hat to the doves reflects merely a courtesy or deeper misgivings about cuts will be central to Fed analysis in the coming weeks.
“While the press conference played out somewhat differently than we expected, we have not changed our Fed forecast and continue to see a December cut as quite likely,” Goldman Sachs economist David Mericle wrote. “We suspect that there is substantial opposition on the FOMC to the risk management cuts and that Powell thought it was important to voice other participants’ concerns today in his press conference. But we still think that the arguments for a December cut remain intact.” More