Market Beats | CME Hikes Margins for Second Time in a Week Amid Precious Metals Volatility; Trump Administration Freezes Childcare Payments to Minnesota; World’s 500 Richest Add Record $2.2 Trillion to Fortunes in 2025; Chinese AI Firms Lead Record HK IPO Wave as December Deal Volume Surges; Corcept Shares Plunge 47% After FDA Rejects High Blood Pressure Drug; Elon Musk’s xAI Expands Memphis Data Center; Over 200,000 European Banking Jobs at Risk from AI Wave

—— CME Hikes Margins for Second Time in a Week Amid Precious Metals Volatility; Trump Administration Freezes Childcare Payments to Minnesota; World’s 500 Richest Add Record $2.2 Trillion to Fortunes in 2025; Chinese AI Firms Lead Record HK IPO Wave as December Deal Volume Surges; Corcept Shares Plunge 47% After FDA Rejects High Blood Pressure Drug; Elon Musk’s xAI Expands Memphis Data Center; Over 200,000 European Banking Jobs at Risk from AI Wave

1. CME Hikes Margins for Second Time in a Week Amid Precious Metals Volatility

CME Group has raised margin requirements on precious-metal futures for the second time in the space of a week, following a bout of extreme volatility that saw prices spike to record highs before retreating sharply.

The higher collateral requirements, which cover gold, silver, platinum, and palladium, will take effect after the close of business on Wednesday. Silver has been particularly impacted; the exchange has raised its margin requirements more than half a dozen times since late September as intraday price swings grew wider. Earlier this week, silver surged to a record above $84 an ounce before crashing toward $70, marking one of its largest intraday price reversals in history.

Market participants suggested that the CME’s adjustments helped push prices lower this week by prompting bullish traders to reduce their leveraged positions.

On Wednesday, silver futures slumped as much as 9.9% toward $70 an ounce, while platinum and palladium also posted heavy losses. Analysts noted that the margin hikes helped “take some fluff out of the rally” after a dramatic surge that many felt was due for a pullback.

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2. Trump Administration Freezes Childcare Payments to Minnesota

Walmart Inc. customers experienced a temporary disruption to online services early Tuesday, leaving many unable to access the retailer’s mobile ordering and website tools.

According to Downdetector, reports of service issues peaked around 7 a.m. in New York, with over 6,000 users flagging problems. Approximately 70% of the reports were tied to the mobile app, while a quarter focused on the website. Users took to X (formerly Twitter) to report their inability to finalize orders. The volume of complaints dropped significantly about an hour later, suggesting a swift resolution.

The outage coincided with reported disruptions at Microsoft Corp.’s Azure, the cloud computing platform used by Walmart. Both companies did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The technical hiccup comes as Walmart continues to aggressively expand its e-commerce footprint to rival Amazon. In the most recent quarter, Walmart’s US digital sales surged 28%, with e-commerce now accounting for 22% of total company revenue.

This incident follows a similar service disruption experienced by competitor Target Corp. earlier this month.

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3. World’s 500 Richest Add Record $2.2 Trillion to Fortunes in 2025

Tesla Inc. took the highly unusual step on Tuesday of publishing its internal compilation of analyst sales estimates, indicating that upcoming vehicle delivery figures may fall short of broader market expectations.

Data posted to Tesla’s website shows an analyst consensus of 422,850 vehicles for the fourth quarter, representing a 15% year-over-year decline. This figure is notably lower than the average of 440,907 vehicles (an 11% drop) previously compiled by Bloomberg.

While Tesla’s investor relations team has long collected and shared consensus data privately with select analysts, the company has never before made these figures public. “This is highly unusual,” wrote Gary Black, co-founder of Future Fund Advisors, on X. He suggested that Tesla likely wanted to manage expectations downward, speculating that actual deliveries could land around the 420,000 mark.

The published estimates also project full-year sales of 1.6 million vehicles, an 8% decrease from the previous year, setting Tesla on track for its second consecutive annual sales decline.

Furthermore, the company’s internal consensus for the next three years sits below Bloomberg’s independent averages. Tesla shares dipped as much as 1.3% on Tuesday following the news before paring losses.

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4. Chinese AI Firms Lead Record HK IPO Wave as December Deal Volume Surges

Chinese artificial intelligence companies are driving a massive listing boom in Hong Kong, capitalizing on a late-year surge in market momentum. At least 25 companies have debuted in the financial hub this month—about half of them tech firms—making December the busiest month for IPOs since November 2019. Another 10 companies are set to start trading next month.

The AI firm MiniMax Group Inc. has seen its offering already several times subscribed since orders began on Wednesday. Other major players, including image sensor manufacturer OmniVision and memory device maker GigaDevice, are also slated for January debuts. Trading performances for recent listings have been mixed: while software producer Nuobikan Artificial Intelligence Technology has surged over 360% since its Dec. 23 debut, crypto exchange Hashkey Holdings Ltd. fell on its first day of trading despite being nearly 400 times oversubscribed.

Analysts predict that interest in these AI names will persist into early 2026. The trend is fueled by investors rotating out of US AI stocks amid bubble fears, as well as high expectations for favorable Chinese government policies targeting the technology sector.

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5. Corcept Shares Plunge 47% After FDA Rejects High Blood Pressure Drug

Shares of Corcept Therapeutics Inc. plummeted on Wednesday after US regulators rejected the company’s drug, relacorilant, designed to treat a form of high blood pressure caused by hypercortisolism.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) stated it “could not arrive at a favorable benefit-risk assessment” for the drug without further evidence of its effectiveness, the company said in a statement. In response, Corcept’s stock dropped 47% in early New York trading, wiping out nearly $3.5 billion in market capitalization. The sharp decline reversed much of the stock’s 39% gain recorded throughout 2025.

CEO Joseph K. Belanoff expressed disappointment, stating that the company was surprised by the outcome and plans to meet with the FDA to discuss a path forward. While some analysts had previously voiced concerns regarding the small study size and design of the late-stage trial, many expected the drug’s safety profile and met primary goals to secure approval.

Corcept continues to study relacorilant for other conditions, including ovarian cancer.

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6. Elon Musk’s xAI Expands Memphis Data Center

Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence venture, xAI, is significantly expanding its massive data center complex in the Memphis area. Musk announced on Tuesday via X that the company has purchased a third building, a move that will bring xAI’s AI computing capacity to nearly 2 gigawatts (GW).

The company has already completed its first data center, known as “Colossus,” and is currently constructing a nearby facility called “Colossus 2.” According to The Information, the newly acquired third building is located in Southaven, Mississippi, adjacent to the Colossus 2 site. Musk confirmed the acquisition, jokingly referring to the building as “MACROHARDRR” and noting that it will bring training compute to almost 2GW—enough electricity to power approximately 750,000 US homes.

Musk continues to pursue his goal of building the world’s largest AI training hub. He previously stated that Colossus 2 will eventually house 550,000 Nvidia Corp. chips, an investment worth tens of billions of dollars.

To fund these ambitious projects, xAI has been fundraising aggressively throughout 2025, reportedly seeking up to $20 billion in debt and equity earlier this year.

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7. Over 200,000 European Banking Jobs at Risk from AI Wave

Sony Group is taking a majority stake in the brand behind Snoopy and Charlie Brown, acquiring an additional 41% of Peanuts Holding from Canada’s WildBrain for C$630 million (US$460 million). The deal increases Sony’s total ownership to 80%, turning the beloved American cartoon franchise into a Sony subsidiary.

The Schulz family, descendants of creator Charles Schulz, will retain the remaining 20% stake. Sony first began investing in the Peanuts brand in 2018, and this latest move aligns with the group’s broader strategy to prioritize entertainment and original content creation. Shunsuke Muramatsu, CEO of Sony Music Entertainment, stated that the group aims to elevate the brand’s value by leveraging Sony’s vast global network.

The acquisition is part of Sony’s effort to bridge its gaming, anime, film, and music divisions to build powerful global franchises. The company has seen recent success with adaptations like the TV series “The Last of Us” and the animated blockbuster “Demon Slayer.”

Snoopy has a deep historical connection with Japan and was notably one of the inspirations for Sanrio’s Hello Kitty. By taking full control of Peanuts, Sony looks to further monetize the iconic comic strip—which debuted in 1950—across various platforms including toys, films, and theme park attractions.

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