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CNBC
an hour ago
- CNBC
CCTV Script 24/07/25
The Trump administration's newly released "AI Action Plan" marks a clear policy shift compared to the previous Biden administration. The Trump government advocates for loosening regulations, accelerating the construction of data centers, and supporting the export of AI technologies. Analysts point out that tech companies like OpenAI and Microsoft are clear beneficiaries of this plan. According to the latest guidelines, federal agencies are instructed to remove any regulatory barriers hindering AI development. Additionally, when allocating federal funding, they will consider whether state-level regulations are unfavorable to AI. The U.S. tech industry has been working to build closer ties with the Trump administration. Over the past few months, several companies have announced investments exceeding $1.5 trillion in data centers and manufacturing sectors. According to the U.S. nonprofit organization Issue One, eight American tech companies, including OpenAI, Meta, and NVIDIA, spent a total of $36 million on federal lobbying in the first half of this year. Critics have raised concerns about this lobbying influence. For instance, the executive director of the U.S. nonprofit "Tech Oversight Project" argued that the White House's AI plan seems like it simply rubber-stamped recommendations from big tech CEOs, turning them into official government documents. However, it's important to note that implementing these plans faces significant real-world challenges. Brooke, Vice President of the Atlantic Council, highlighted execution challenges. He questioned whether, given the widespread budget cuts and staff shortages in the federal government, there are sufficient expertise and financial resources to fulfill the commitments and goals outlined in the AI Action Plan. Additionally, experts have pointed out difficulties in energy planning. A former White House Chief Information Officer told CNBC that the government faces tough choices: on one hand, it must ensure stable power supply for data centers handling critical government or corporate tasks; on the other hand, these data centers are often located near residential areas and schools, which complicates planning. "...now you're thinking about, well, who gets powered today? Is it a residential neighborhood? Is it the schools, or is it this data center?... it's really a balancing act on a tightrope." Finally, legal experts have raised concerns about the "AI Action Plan," focusing on two key issues: the unresolved copyright disputes and the vague definition of "ideological bias." Currently, U.S. media and entertainment companies have filed dozens of lawsuits regarding whether tech companies can use copyrighted content to train AI models. The Trump administration has yet to make a clear statement on this issue. What Trump has explicitly stated, however, is his demand for AI models to maintain ideological neutrality. However, Professor Little from the University of California, San Francisco, pointed out that the U.S. government's definition of ideology remains unclear.
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
PayPal Taps New Markets: Will Interoperability Fuel Its Growth?
PayPal Holdings' PYPL launch of PayPal World this fall marks a pivotal shift toward global wallet interoperability. The platform will initially unite PayPal, Venmo, Mercado Pago, NPCI's UPI and Tenpay Global under a cloud native, API framework, facilitating nearly two billion users. By enabling UPI or Weixin Pay users to check out via a familiar PayPal button, the move aims at reducing friction for cross border this seamless Venmo-PayPal interoperability, for the first time, peer to peer transfers can flow globally, and by 2026, Venmo holders will be able to shop in-store and online at PayPal enabled merchants. The move is a smart one as PayPal is blending consumer reach with merchant acceptance, augmenting its 'branded checkout' promise and tapping into Venmo's younger base with real commerce platform's readiness for agentic, AI driven buying (shopping via chat assistants) and future stablecoin support signals forward thinking. Competitors focused solely on wallet-to-wallet payments may struggle to match this breadth, positioning PayPal ahead in emerging commerce is pushing forward with a multi-pronged transformation. The company is transitioning from a transactional payment provider to a holistic commerce partner by consolidating its services into a single PayPal platform to harness the full potential of its two-sided network, supporting both consumers and merchants. Focusing on improving user experience, enhancing merchant relationships and expanding international capabilities are the key moves that could unlock long-term growth. How Are V and GPN Scaling Up Cross-Border Payments? Visa's V network powers more than 4.8 billion credentials and 300 billion transactions annually across 150 million merchant locations, leveraging its 'Visa as a Service" stack to deliver modular APIs for fraud, stablecoins, digital identity, AI driven payments and small seller acceptance. Its Commercial & Money Movement and Value added Services continue to drive growth while expanding in cross border payment Payments Inc. GPN is streamlining its global commerce operations with a renewed focus on omnichannel merchant services. Key efforts of Global Payments include the rollout of its Genius POS platform, integration of Worldpay and unified API capabilities. These efforts of Global Payments aim to modernize commerce infrastructure, improve scalability, and expand global reach across in-person, online and omnichannel payment experiences. PYPL's Price Performance, Valuation and Estimates Shares of PayPal have declined 10.2% year to date, underperforming both the broader industry as well as the S&P 500 composite. Image Source: Zacks Investment Research From a valuation standpoint, PayPal shares are trading cheap, as suggested by the Value Score of A. In terms of forward 12-month P/E, PYPL stock is trading at 14.14X compared with the Zacks Financial Transaction Services industry's 22.13X. Image Source: Zacks Investment Research PayPal's estimate revisions reflect a positive trend. Estimates for second-quarter and full-year 2025 and full-year 2026 EPS have been revised upward over the past month. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2025 EPS suggests 9.5% growth year over year, while the same for 2026 calls for 11.5% growth year over year. Image Source: Zacks Investment Research At present, PayPal carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today's Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here. Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report PayPal Holdings, Inc. (PYPL) : Free Stock Analysis Report Visa Inc. (V) : Free Stock Analysis Report Global Payments Inc. (GPN) : Free Stock Analysis Report This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research ( Zacks Investment Research Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Asian markets turn lower as trade war rally fades
Asian stocks fell Friday as their latest rally ran out of legs, with sentiment weighed by strong US jobs data that saw investors row back their expectations for interest rate cuts. With Japan's trade deal with Washington out of the way for now, attention was also turning to European Union attempts to reach an agreement to pare down Donald Trump's threatened tariffs before next Friday's deadline. Equities have enjoyed a strong run-up for much of July on expectations governments will hammer out pacts, pushing some markets past or close to record highs. However, while Wall Street hit new records Thursday -- S&P 500 chalked up its 10th in 19 sessions -- another round of strong jobs data suggested the Federal Reserve might have to wait longer than hoped to cut borrowing costs. The 217,000 initial claims for unemployment benefits in the week to July 19 was the lowest since mid-April and suggested the labour market remains tight. The figures followed forecast-topping non-farm payrolls in June and come as inflation shows signs of picking up as Trump's tariffs begin to bite. Traders are now betting on 42 basis points of rate cuts by the end of the year, according to Bloomberg News. That's down from more than 50 previously. Meanwhile, a manufacturing survey showed US business confidence deteriorated in July for the second successive month, with companies worried about tariffs and cuts to federal spending. Trump continued to press Fed chief Jerome Powell to slash interest rates during a visit to its headquarters on Thursday, where they bickered over its renovation cost. The president, who wants to oust Powell over his refusal to cut, took a fresh dig during the trip, telling reporters: "As good as we're doing, we'd do better if we had lower interest rates." Trump's anger at the Fed and his calls for officials to lower rates has raised concerns about the independence of the central bank. "While unlikely to yield anything concrete, the optics of a president storming the temple of monetary orthodoxy is enough to put Powell watchers on edge," said SPI Asset Management's Stephen Innes. "The risk isn't immediate policy change -- it's longer-term erosion of independence, and the signal that Powell may not be sitting as comfortably as markets assume." Trade hopes remain elevated, with Brussels and Washington appearing close to a deal that would halve Trump's threatened 30 percent levy, with a European Commission spokesman saying he believed an agreement was "within reach". The bloc, however, is still forging ahead with contingency plans in case talks fail, with member states approving a 93-billion-euro ($109-billion) package of counter-tariffs. With few positive catalysts to drive buying, Asian markets turned lower heading into the weekend. Tokyo dipped after putting on around five percent in the previous two days, while Hong Kong retreated following five days of gains. There were also losses in Shanghai, Sydney, Singapore, Manila and Jakarta. Seoul and Wellington edged up. The dollar extended gains against its peers as investors pared their rate forecasts. - Key figures at around 0230 GMT - Tokyo - Nikkei 225: DOWN 0.6 percent at 41,570.24 (break) Hong Kong - Hang Seng Index: DOWN 0.7 percent at 25,487.95 Shanghai - Composite: DOWN 0.2 percent at 3,597.77 Dollar/yen: UP at 147.40 yen from 146.94 yen on Thursday Euro/dollar: DOWN at $1.1742 from $1.1756 Pound/dollar: DOWN at $1.3498 from $1.3507 Euro/pound: DOWN at 86.99 pence from 87.01 pence West Texas Intermediate: UP 0.6 percent at $66.43 per barrel Brent North Sea Crude: UP 0.6 percent at $69.61 per barrel New York - Dow: DOWN 0.7 percent at 44,693.91 (close) London - FTSE 100: UP 0.9 percent at 9,138.37 (close) dan/amj Sign in to access your portfolio