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Capitalist Insider: Nvidia-backed Firmus scraps $30B IPO as Barclays cuts AI enterprise outlook
BofA stock plunges 8.5% after $1.2B money-laundering fine & trading miss
Houthi missile slams Aramco Dhahran HQ as fire guts top floors
Morgan Stanley beats as equity trading surges 41% and wealth hits record
BlackRock AUM hits record $15.5T as $205B floods in on AI rally
Saudi OpenAI engineer charged with bugging executive conference room
SpaceX caps Ukraine Starlink speed at 100 mph, drones lose connection
OCC report: Major banks cut off MAGA sellers and conservative groups
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Bank of America stock plunges 8% after $1.2B money-laundering fine and trading miss
Bank of America shares fell roughly 8.5% Wednesday after third-quarter profit dropped 17% to $6.93 billion on a $1.2 billion Treasury anti-money-laundering penalty and weaker trading that missed forecasts.
Trading results lag: Fixed-income trading fell 17% to $2.55 billion and equities rose 10% to $2.51 billion, together missing StreetAccount estimates by about $750 million.
Adjusted profit light: Excluding the penalty, earnings were $1.08 a share versus the $1.10 LSEG consensus on revenue of $30.12 billion.
Lending income higher: Net interest income rose nearly 8% to about $16.5 billion on higher balances, slightly topping forecasts.
Analyst view harsh: Wells Fargo’s Mike Mayo called the capital-markets results “easily worst in class” for the quarter. At time of publishing the shares had rebounded slightly to down 6%.
Houthi missile slams Aramco Dhahran HQ as fire guts top floors
A Houthi missile struck an administrative building at Saudi Aramco’s Dhahran headquarters Tuesday night, causing a limited fire and extensive damage across multiple floors with no reported casualties.
Damage details emerge: Sources said the fire started on the ninth floor of the south wing and spread between the sixth and tenth floors, with the top three floors severely affected.
Operations continue: The complex’s operations center stayed active, though some staff were asked to work from home and certain functions shifted elsewhere.
Broader escalation: The strike followed repeated attacks on Riyadh’s international airport and came as several Saudi airports were closed amid intensified fighting.
Pipeline expansion plans: Separate reporting said Riyadh aims to raise East-West Petroline capacity from 7 million to 10 million barrels per day within two to three years.
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Morgan Stanley beats as equity trading surges 41% and wealth hits record
Morgan Stanley topped third-quarter estimates as equities trading revenue jumped 41% to $5.8 billion, more than $900 million above forecasts, while its wealth unit pulled in a record $232 billion of net new assets.
Trading strength concentrated: Equities trading cited broad strength with particular gains in Asia; fixed-income trading fell 7% to $2.01 billion.
Wealth inflows standout: Half of the $232 billion in net new assets was tied to IPO-related flows, including SpaceX, with wealth revenue at a record $9.1 billion.
Bottom-line beat: Profit rose to $4.91 billion, or $3.03 a share, versus the $2.91 consensus on revenue of $20.34 billion.
Shares modestly lower: The stock declined about 2% in premarket trading despite the beat.
BlackRock AUM hits record $15.5T as $205B floods in on AI rally
BlackRock reported adjusted third-quarter earnings of $15.93 a share as assets under management reached a record $15.49 trillion, lifted by $205.5 billion of net inflows that beat expectations.
Inflows broad-based: Net new money of $205.5 billion included strong contributions from iShares ETFs, fixed income, and private markets.
Revenue and profit rise: Revenue climbed 19% to $7.75 billion; adjusted operating income rose 27%.
Shares advance premarket: The stock rose about 4% in early trading after the results.
Scale emphasized: Management highlighted 11% annualized organic base-fee growth and continued strength across client types and regions.
Saudi OpenAI engineer charged with bugging executive conference room
Federal prosecutors charged a Saudi national who worked as an OpenAI engineer with installing a concealed recording device in a San Francisco executive conference room used for confidential research and deal discussions.
Device and discovery: The encrypted device, wrapped in toilet paper and plugged into a USB port on the back of a television, was found September 30 after installation around September 28.
Second device found: Security located a similar device in a bag left unattended by the employee on October 5 along with his wallet and ID.
Arrest and charges: Abdulrahman Alfozan, 35, was arrested October 9 and faces a charge of intercepting oral communications that carries up to five years in prison.
Company response: OpenAI said it used its models to identify the source, found no evidence of model weights, source code, or customer data being taken, and referred the matter to the FBI.
SpaceX caps Ukraine Starlink speed at 100 mph, drones lose connection
SpaceX applied a 100-mile-per-hour movement limit to certain Starlink terminals in Ukraine overnight, disrupting military drone operations as Kyiv continued strikes on Russian refineries despite U.S. calls to stop.
Restriction confirmed: Ukrainian presidential adviser Serhii Beskrestnov said the limit applies to the StarShield military package and took effect without prior notice to Ukrainian forces.
Operational impact: Units including the 7th Air Assault Corps reported canceled missions after connections dropped at higher speeds.
Policy context: Starlink’s acceptable-use policy prohibits remote control of aerial drones or military activity unless contractually permitted by SpaceX.
Timing noted: The change came as Washington pressed Ukraine to halt refinery strikes and as Ukraine reported continued use of other communications for some long-range operations.
Major banks cut off MAGA sellers and conservative groups, OCC report confirms
A regulator’s report detailed how nine of the largest U.S. banks used reputation-risk policies between 2020 and 2025 to restrict services to customers and businesses across political lines.
Examples cited: The OCC highlighted a merchant selling Trump and MAGA merchandise whose account was closed, a public-education organization favoring Democratic candidates, and a firearms company seeking IPO assistance.
Banks reviewed: JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, Citibank, Wells Fargo, and five others maintained policies limiting oil-and-gas, firearms, tobacco, digital-asset, and certain other activities.
Regulator statement: Comptroller Jonathan Gould said the report provides “irrefutable evidence” that the largest banks denied, debanked, and discriminated against customers and lawful businesses.
Probe scope: The review examined nearly 100,000 complaints and roughly 50,000 documents totaling about 420,000 pages.