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In less than three weeks, Disney’s “Zootopia 2” becomes the second billion-dollar film of 2025

The global film industry officially has its second billion-dollar film of the year, as Disney’s “Zootopia 2” surged past the $1 billion box office mark in just 17 days. The other billion-dollar film this year, the live-action “Lilo & Stitch,” was also made by Disney.

“Zootopia” was the fastest to reach 10 figures of any animated film. The animated hit, which had the highest-grossing global debut of the year over Thanksgiving weekend, has benefited from massive numbers in China.

Disney also logged two billion-dollar films last year with “Inside Out 2” and “Moana 2.” (The latter also came out over the Thanksgiving holiday.) The only other film to cross the mark in 2024 was “Deadpool and Wolverine,” which featured Disney’s IP.

markets

Data center trade deep in the red

The data center trade is seeing its steepest sell-off since the market rout that was ignited by President Donald Trump’s Rose Garden tariff announcement back in April.

Goldman Sachs’ themed basket of AI data center shares was down more than 6% at around 12 p.m. ET, putting it on track for its worst day since the tariff announcement.

Losses hammered seemingly every form of input needed for the sprawling concrete server warehouses at the heart of the investment boom.

Hardware makers including data storage companies like Sandisk, Western Digital, and Seagate Technology Holdings, as well as DRAM maker Micron — some of the best-performing stocks in the S&P 500 this year — were taking a licking, as were networking stocks Cisco and Arista Networks and data center builders such as Vertiv Holdings and electrical and mechanical contractor Emcor.

Optimism for all things AI has seemed to evaporate throughout the week, as the stock market greeted lackluster quarterly numbers from Oracle and Broadcom with jittery sell-offs and concern about growing debts that could crater cash flows.

Those worries seem to be spreading to ancillary beneficiaries of the AI boom on Friday, gouging a chunk out of charts that retail dip buyers have not — at least so far — stepped in to buy as we head into the weekend.

markets

Oracle denies Bloomberg report that it’s delaying some data centers for OpenAI to 2028 from 2027

Getting a multi-hundred-billion-dollar backlog for cloud computing revenues from data center projects is easy. Building them is hard.

Oracle extended declines to as much as -6.5% on the day on the heels of a Bloomberg report that the cloud giant has pushed back the completion dates for some of the data centers it’s building for OpenAI to 2028 from 2027, citing people familiar with the work. Oracle denied this report, telling Reuters that there have been no delays to any sites required to meet its contractual commitments and that all milestones remain on track.

Shares had fully pared their report-induced drop ahead of Oracle’s reply, but remain in the red for the day.

Bloomberg said the reported postponement was attributed to labor and material shortages.

Oracle has been spending more on capex than Wall Street had anticipated, leading to higher-than-expected cash burn. Management boosted its full-year capital spending plans by $15 billion after reporting Q2 results earlier this week.

Oracle’s cloud infrastructure sales came in short of estimates in its fiscal 2026 Q2, a signal that markets already had reason to doubt its ability to quickly turn its humungous RPO (that is, remaining purchase obligations) into revenues.

Traders also seem to be of the mind that potential delays to data center completions are going to limit sales for what goes into them.

Some of the bigger losers since the Bloomberg headline hit the wires include:

markets

Broadcom’s post-earnings tumble is weighing on Google’s entire AI ecosystem

Broadcom’s post-earnings plunge is prompting a sharp pullback in Google-linked AI stocks, which had been on fire thanks to the warm reception to Gemini 3.

The stocks getting hit hard:

A basket of these Google-linked AI stocks compiled by Morgan Stanley is suffering one of its worst losses of the year. This brisk retreat also follows the release of GPT-5.2 by OpenAI.

markets

Citi initiates coverage of Planet Labs with “buy” rating

Planet Labs was up after aerospace and defense analysts at Citi initiated coverage with a “buy/high risk” rating and $19 price target.

The stock is up more than 40% this week, after a strong earnings result that spotlighted the company’s growing opportunity in linking its core business of capturing daily images of the planet with AI technologies.

Citi analysts noted the potential for a positive flywheel effect for Planet Labs as it deepens its focus on integrating AI into its offerings:

“AI is accelerating the conversion of pixels to decisions, where Planet’s daily scan and deep archive offer a uniquely large training corpus and broad-area foundation for automation. AI-enabled solutions (MDA/GMS/AMS) are gaining traction with customers such as NATO and the U.S. DoW, validating the approach of integrating AI into broad-area monitoring products... These AI moves create a compounding advantage: more coverage generates more training data, which improves models, which in turn increases product utility and addressable demand.”

The stock has also caught the attention of some of the retail trading crowd, with call options activity spiking on Thursday as traders rode the market reaction to the results.

Two Cat Businessmen Holding Drinks

The most outlandish tech CEO quotes from 2025

Tech CEOs have been nuttier than ever.

markets

After a good night’s rest, investors decide they liked Rivian’s AI Day event, sending the stock surging

Wall Street didn’t seem to care very much about Rivian’s AI news when it dropped yesterday, but today is a new day.

Shares of the EV maker are up more than 16% on Friday morning, with call volumes already at about 70% of their 20-day average just 20 minutes into the trading session. The price action propelled Rivian stock to its highest level since January 2024.

Following Rivian’s Thursday event, in which it said it would replace Nvidia chips with its own and hinted at a robotaxi plan, Needham & Co. sharply hiked its price target on the company from $14 to $23. Analyst Chris Pierce wrote that the AI event “strengthened [Needham’s] conviction in RIVN’s longer term autonomy roadmap and points of differentiation vs legacy OEMs.”

markets

Fermi drops after tenant terminates $150 million contract

Fermi fell in early trading on Friday after it disclosed that its first tenant for its planned Project Matador power grid site has terminated its $150 million contract.

Fermi, which was cofounded by former Energy Secretary Rick Perry, plans to build nuclear energy infrastructure to power data centers. In September, Fermi announced that it had entered into a nonbinding letter of intent with a tenant to lease a portion of Project Matador. That contract was terminated on Thursday, Fermi said in a Friday regulatory filing.

Fermi, which currently generates no revenue, said it is talking to other potential tenants for the Project Matador Site and “remains confident that it will be able to meet its expected power delivery schedule at Project Matador as the demand for behind-the-meter power for AI remains robust over the near and long term.”

Fermi, which went public in October, is now down more than 70% since its IPO. Last month the company had its first quarterly earnings report, in which it reported steeper-than-expected losses.

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markets

JPMorgan downgrades Roblox, says hits like “Steal a Brainrot” are past their peak

Shares of kid-focused gaming platform Roblox fell about 3% in premarket trading on Friday following a downgrade by JPMorgan to “neutral” from “overweight.”

As part of the firm’s 2026 outlook, analyst Cory Carpenter cited key headwinds that could dampen Roblox’s prospects next year. Among them: the need for more viral hits like “Grow a Garden” and “Steal a Brainrot,” which Carpenter says are past their peaks.

According to JPMorgan, further engagement hits could also come from Russia’s ban of the platform (the bank noted that Russia’s ban could affect up to 10 million daily active users, as it’s a top five market) and the facial age estimation rollout coming next month, which Roblox has said may “negatively impact platform engagement in the short term.”

Also looming for Roblox and the entire gaming industry is Take-Two’s expected mass hit “Grand Theft Auto VI.” Per Carpenter, the rollout of the Fornite and Unity Software partnership could also create more noise for Roblox.

tech

Trump AI executive order is a “major win” for Open AI, Google, Microsoft, and Meta, says Ives

President Trump’s new executive order aiming to keep states from enacting AI laws that inhibit US “global AI dominance” is a “major win” for OpenAI, Google, Microsoft, and Meta, according to Wedbush Securities analyst Dan Ives. Big Tech companies have collectively plowed hundreds of billions into the technology, while seeing massive stock price gains, and Ives believes they stand to gain much more.

“Given that there have been over 1,000 AI laws proposed at the state level, this was a necessary move by the Trump Administration to keep the US out in front for the AI Revolution over China,” Ives wrote, adding that state-by-state regulation “would have crushed US AI startup culture.” The presidential order would withhold federal funds from states that put in place onerous AI regulations.

This morning, Whitehouse AI adviser Sriram Krishnan said in a CNBC interview that he’d be working with Congress on a single national framework for AI.

Despite Ives’ rosy read-through on the order, with the exception of Nvidia, which jumped on a report of boosted Chinese demand, many AI stocks are in the red early today. The VanEck Semiconductor ETF is down nearly 1% premarket, as the AI trade struggles thanks to underwhelming earnings results from Oracle earlier this week.

“Given that there have been over 1,000 AI laws proposed at the state level, this was a necessary move by the Trump Administration to keep the US out in front for the AI Revolution over China,” Ives wrote, adding that state-by-state regulation “would have crushed US AI startup culture.” The presidential order would withhold federal funds from states that put in place onerous AI regulations.

This morning, Whitehouse AI adviser Sriram Krishnan said in a CNBC interview that he’d be working with Congress on a single national framework for AI.

Despite Ives’ rosy read-through on the order, with the exception of Nvidia, which jumped on a report of boosted Chinese demand, many AI stocks are in the red early today. The VanEck Semiconductor ETF is down nearly 1% premarket, as the AI trade struggles thanks to underwhelming earnings results from Oracle earlier this week.

markets

Nvidia gains after report that there’s so much demand from China it’s considering boosting H200 output

Shares of Nvidia caught a bid in premarket trading after Reuters reported that the chip designer has told customers in China that it is considering adding more capacity to produce H200 chips in light of a deluge of demand.

The report cites two sources briefed on the matter, one of whom added that Nvidia is “leaning toward adding new capacity,” per Reuters.

The outlet recently reported that Alibaba and ByteDance were eager to buy H200 chips, which were previously subject to export curbs and banned from being sold to the world’s second-largest economy. US President Donald Trump announced an end to these export restrictions on Monday, in exchange for 25% of the proceeds from their sale going to the US government.

The chip designer’s stock jumped on that revelation, but pared gains following a report from the Financial Times that “regulators in Beijing have been discussing ways to permit limited access to the H200,” according to two people familiar with the matter.

If Nvidia wants to boost H200 production, it’ll face stiff competition for memory and packaging from both other chip designers as well as internally from its own new top offering, Blackwell.

The H200 is the top chip from Nvidia’s Hopper line, the generation preceding Blackwell. Analysts indicate it’s more powerful than anything Chinese buyers can get their hands on from domestic sources.

It’s also certainly much more advanced than the H20, a nerfed version of the premier Hopper offering. That chip had an on-again, off-again relationship with China: it was tailor-made for sale there, but then subject to export restrictions. Once those were lifted, China pushed its tech champions to forgo purchases of these processors, preferring they buy from domestic alternatives, and major purchases “never materialized,” per Nvidia CFO Colette Kress.

markets

Lululemon trading higher after posting better-than-expected Q3 results, with CEO set to exit in January

Lululemon was up more than 9% in premarket trading after the athleisure brand yesterday posted better-than-expected Q3 results, lifted its full-year outlook, and announced the departure of its CEO following over a year of slowing sales growth.

In the third quarter, net revenue increased 7% year over year to $2.57 billion, topping the $2.48 billion estimate compiled by LSEG, while earnings per share of $2.59 also beat expectations of $2.25. The results were driven largely by international markets, where comparable sales rose 18%, offsetting a 5% decline in the Americas.

The company also raised its full-year revenue guidance to $10.96 billion to $11.05 billion, roughly in line with expectations at the lower end, per LSEG as reported by CNBC. Management reiterated that tariffs — including the end of the US de minimis exemption — are expected to cut 2025 operating income by $210 million, down from the previous $240 million hit the company had projected in September, thanks to vendor negotiations and other cost-saving efforts.

tech
Rani Molla

Epic scores two victories as “Fortnite” returns to Google Play and appeals court keeps injunction against Apple

“Fortnite” maker Epic Games notched two wins Thursday in its drawn-out battle against Big Tech’s app stores. “Fortnite” returned to the Google Play app store in the US, Reuters reports, as Epic continues working with Google to secure court approval for their settlement.

Meanwhile, a US appeals court partly reversed sanctions against Apple in Epic’s antitrust case, calling parts of the order overly broad, but upheld the contempt finding and left a sweeping injunction in place — keeping pressure on Apple to allow developers to steer users to outside payment options and reduce its tight control over how apps can communicate and monetize on iOS.

tech
Jon Keegan

Report: AI-powered toys tell kids where to find matches, parrot Chinese government propaganda

You may want to think twice before buying your kids a fancy AI-powered plush toy.

A new report from NBC News found that several AI-powered kids toys could easily be steered to dangerous as well as sexually explicit conversations in a shocking demonstration of the loose safety guardrails in this novel category of consumer electronics.

A report out by the Public Interest Research Group details what researchers found when they tested five AI-powered toys for kids bought from Amazon. Some of the toys offered instructions on where to find matches and how to start fires.

NBC News also bought some of these toys and found they parroted Chinese government propaganda and gave instructions for how to sharpen knives. Some of the toys also discussed inappropriate topics for kids, like sexual kinks.

The category of AI-powered kids toys is under scrutiny as major AI companies like OpenAI have announced partnerships with toy manufacturers like Mattel (which has yet to release an AI-powered toy).

A report out by the Public Interest Research Group details what researchers found when they tested five AI-powered toys for kids bought from Amazon. Some of the toys offered instructions on where to find matches and how to start fires.

NBC News also bought some of these toys and found they parroted Chinese government propaganda and gave instructions for how to sharpen knives. Some of the toys also discussed inappropriate topics for kids, like sexual kinks.

The category of AI-powered kids toys is under scrutiny as major AI companies like OpenAI have announced partnerships with toy manufacturers like Mattel (which has yet to release an AI-powered toy).