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Capitalist Insider: Musk locks $30 billion to fund Tesla’s AI arms race
Kalshi’s $40 billion ask tops DraftKings and FanDuel combined
Project Grand Slam: Denny’s will redo 500 diners in 18 months
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Democrats block the stock-trade bill, 53-47, seven votes short
Senate Democrats stopped a House-passed curb on new congressional stock buys Wednesday, falling 53-47, after Republicans attached a photo voter-ID rider that left the bill short of 60 votes.
Cloture, not passage: The tally was a test of whether the Senate would open debate on H.R. 7008, the Stop Insider Trading Act, not a vote on final passage. Every Democrat voted no.
New buys only: Members, spouses and dependent children could not open fresh positions in listed stocks. Current books, widely held funds and sales after 7-to-14-day public notice would have stayed legal. The fine was the greater of $2,000 or 10% of the trade, plus profits handed back. The president and vice president were outside the text.
Schumer’s farce line: The minority leader called the package “skullduggery” and a “theatrical farce” with “no reform, no accountability, and no substance,” and said it still lets members own and sell. Cory Booker called it “weak sauce.” The House had passed the bill July 22, 232-198, with 13 Democrats.
Incumbent life raft: John Thune set the vote beside a data-center ratepayer bill for Pete Ricketts, Jon Husted and Dan Sullivan. Ricketts faces independent Dan Osborn after an estimated $10 million haul around last year’s tariff swings. The 2012 STOCK Act’s 30-to-45-day disclosure lag remains the rule.
Kalshi’s $40 billion ask tops DraftKings and FanDuel combined
DraftKings and FanDuel parent Flutter sank to multiyear lows Wednesday as private rival Kalshi lined up a funding round near $40 billion, above the two sportsbooks’ combined worth.
Kalshi, half off the high: DraftKings is back at prices last seen in April 2023, and three of the past four sessions have set a new 52-week floor. The shares sit almost 50% under the $38.06 level from a year ago, and they have not traded back through that mark since Kalshi rolled out parlay-style NFL contracts on Sept. 30, 2025.
Flutter’s listing low: The FanDuel parent touched $74.35 Wednesday morning, its weakest print since the January 2024 New York listing, then edged green. The stock is about 71% under a 52-week high of $261.22.
Kalshi, week-one volume split: A Sept. 17 Needham note put Kalshi at 76% of prediction-market flow in the NFL’s opening week, and DraftKings’ DKeX at about 3%. The stock fell 7.6% that day. August 6 results missed on sales and profit. The company cited bettor-friendly outcomes, including the Knicks’ title, and kept its full-year outlook.
Targets still coming down: The two books are worth roughly $30 billion together. Kalshi’s spring round was $22 billion, double an $11 billion mark late last year. Citizens cut its target to $35 from $37 on Sept. 24. UBS moved to $48 from $49 on Sept. 18. A Deutsche Bank $28 Hold sits about 45% above where shares trade.
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Core Inflation prints 3.0%, not the 3.3% that was feared
August prices on the Fed’s preferred gauge rose less than forecast, with core inflation at 3.0% from a year earlier after a methods change lowered the July reading.
Headline also missed: The personal consumption expenditures index rose 0.3% on the month and 3.4% on the year. Dow Jones economists had looked for 0.3% and 3.7%. Core rose 0.2% on the month against a 0.3% estimate, and 3.0% on the year against 3.3%. Both annual rates remain well above the 2% target.
July core rewritten: The Bureau of Economic Analysis changed how it prices legal services, software and computer accessories, and portfolio management. That cut the July core level by 0.36 percentage point. Gasoline jumped 4.4%. Transportation services rose 1.4%. Energy goods and services climbed 2.3%.
Spending beat income: Personal income rose 0.2%, short of a 0.4% consensus. Spending rose 0.9%, above an 0.8% forecast. Final second-quarter GDP was revised to 2.2% from 1.5%. Real final sales to private domestic purchasers rose 4.6%, an upward revision of 0.4 percentage point.
Hike odds shift later: Stock futures firmed and Treasury yields fell. Traders pushed the next expected increase from October to December. New York Fed President John Williams said there is “no need for urgency” and that another hike “may be appropriate late this year.” David Russell at TradeStation said the print helps the case against an October move, but does not capture this month’s diesel surge.
China’s mini-stimulus aims to hold a 4.5% growth floor
After the Tuesday close, and before Golden Week, Beijing paired mortgage subsidies with extra central-bank support, its first joint fiscal-and-monetary step in two years, aimed at a 4.5% to 5% growth goal.
Biggest push since 2024: Officials framed the steps as the largest effort since September 2024. Growth last quarter slipped below the reduced annual target of 4.5% to 5%. The package makes that range more reachable, the write-up said, without a broad fiscal expansion.
Target, not a reboot: Bloomberg’s read was that the steps are sized to hit the growth number, not to restart household demand. The weakness underneath is left in place. What has been announced so far is narrow.
Cabinet pledged first: The State Council, a day before the unveiling, promised “a package of practical and effective additional policies” to meet this year’s economic and social development goals.
Golden Week timing: The agencies moved after markets closed Tuesday, ahead of the holiday. The package names mortgage subsidies and wider central-bank support.
Luxury listings stall as California’s billionaire tax looms
Christie’s Southern California chief Aaron Kirman says the mere threat of Proposition 40, a one-time billionaire tax, is freezing luxury deals as voter support slips below 50%.
Five percent, once: The measure, backed by SEIU-United Healthcare Workers West, would levy 5% on certain assets above $1 billion for people who were California residents on Jan. 1, 2026. Real estate, pensions and retirement accounts are generally excluded. The bill would come due in 2027, and payers could spread it over five years at an added cost.
Support slips under half: A UC Berkeley Citrin Center–Politico poll of likely voters put support at 45%, opposition at 43% and undecided at 12%, down from 50% support earlier this year. Support fell further among voters who doubted the levy would stay a one-time tax. Separately, 44% said billionaires do more harm than good.
Mansion-tax caution: Kirman pointed to Los Angeles Measure ULA, a 4% transfer tax above $5.4 million and 5.5% above $10.9 million. He said transactional volume is down 60% and apartment building is down 70%, even as billions have been collected.
Exits already under way: Kirman, who cites more than $26 billion in career sales, said a mass departure would follow if the tax passes, on top of multimillionaire and billionaire moves already made. Census estimates show the state population edged down from July 2024 to July 2025.
Apple job cuts land as memory swallows the iPhone margin
New Apple chief John Ternus is preparing small-scale layoffs and project cuts to run leaner, Bloomberg reported, as memory-chip costs squeeze the company and raise the risk of 2027 price hikes.
No headcount given: The plan is limited reductions inside large teams, plus canceled projects, not a published job-cut total. Bloomberg said Apple wants to avoid steeper price increases in 2027 if the shortage continues. Shares edged higher Wednesday.
Cook’s flood quote: On his final earnings call, Tim Cook said Apple “reluctantly raised prices” in what he called a “100-year flood” of memory pricing, with “exponential increases.” Late-July guidance was cautious because the company could not source enough chips to meet demand. Margins were already under pressure versus the prior quarter.
Apple, services slipped in June: Commentator Rohan Paul split the squeeze in two: dearer components, and a services book that in June posted its first quarter-to-quarter drop since 2022.
Sold out into 2027: SK Hynix, Samsung and Micron have largely sold premium AI memory through much of 2026 to buyers including Nvidia, Microsoft, Amazon and Meta. Experts expect the constraint to last into 2027.
Muse is winning users. StoneX still won’t buy Meta
StoneX kept a Hold on Meta, arguing the Muse assistant’s heavier computing load adds to spending pressure just as OpenAI moves to sell paid agents called Dots.
Hold stays in place: Analyst Mark Zgutowicz did not upgrade the stock. He said Muse’s higher infrastructure intensity adds to the return-on-capital debate rather than relieving it. A Dow Jones reprint of the note put return on invested capital at 23%.
Meta’s month-long Muse run: Wednesday’s close was $734.42, off 0.6% on the day. Over the prior month the stock has gained 25%, a run that started after Muse took the top App Store slot.
Capex set to double: To match rival AI buildouts, Meta has said this year’s capital outlay will be about $140 billion, roughly twice last year’s.
Paid Dots launch Tuesday: OpenAI said it would sell agents called Dots to individuals and businesses, with enterprise pilots. Meta the same day extended Muse to small firms, including ties to Shopify, QuickBooks, Stripe and Slack. Zgutowicz expects OpenAI to add a usage-limited free Dot tier later.
Project Grand Slam: Denny’s will refurb 500 diners in 18 months
Denny’s chief Christopher Bode said about 500 restaurants will get asset upgrades over 12 to 18 months as the diner chain uses AI for pricing, staffing and food forecasts.
Grand Slam timeline: The queue sits inside Project Grand Slam, a five-part, 24-month turnaround covering menu, facilities, catering, technology and operations. It follows more than 200 remodels since the pandemic. Bode took the South Carolina-based company earlier this year.
Local price tools: AI is also being used to read customer behavior, schedule labor, forecast food and speed internal notes. Bode said a $6.99 breakfast plate in Raleigh cannot carry the same price in Los Angeles, and that prices can differ by neighborhood.
Catering already live: More than 1,000 restaurants have joined a national ezCater partnership. New point-of-sale systems, table-side tablets and an updated app are rolling out alongside the dining-room work.
Heroes through October: The chain is marking 50 years of the Grand Slam breakfast with a “Denny’s Heroes” nomination drive through Oct. 30. Thirty winners get a catered celebration for up to 50 guests. Bode said price alone no longer fills seats. Guests now want the visit to justify leaving home.
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