Market Beats | OpenAI Hits $500 Billion Valuation; Buffett’s Berkshire to Buy Occidental’s Chemical Unit; Tesla Posts Record Deliveries as Buyers Rush Before Tax Credit Expiry; Manhattan Home Sales Surge to Highest in Over Two Years; Trump Considers Cutting Thousands of Federal Jobs; Bridgewater Macro Fund Surges 26.4% in Nine Months; Walmart to Equip 90 Million Pallets With Sensors by 2026

—— OpenAI Hits $500 Billion Valuation; Buffett’s Berkshire to Buy Occidental’s Chemical Unit; Tesla Posts Record Deliveries as Buyers Rush Before Tax Credit Expiry; Manhattan Home Sales Surge to Highest in Over Two Years; Trump Considers Cutting Thousands of Federal Jobs; Bridgewater Macro Fund Surges 26.4% in Nine Months; Walmart to Equip 90 Million Pallets With Sensors by 2026

1. OpenAI Hits $500 Billion Valuation

OpenAI, the creator of ChatGPT, has reached a $500billion valuation following a secondary share sale, overtaking Elon Musk’s SpaceX to become the world’s most valuable startup.

Current and former employees sold about $6.6billion worth of stock to investors including Thrive Capital, SoftBank Group, Dragoneer Investment Group, Abu Dhabi’s MGX, and T. Rowe Price, according to a person familiar with the deal. The transaction pushed OpenAI’s valuation well above the $300billion mark set in a SoftBank-led financing earlier this year.

The sharp increase reflects investor enthusiasm for artificial intelligence companies leading a global push to build data centers and develop AI services, a project expected to cost trillions of dollars. Led by CEO Sam Altman, OpenAI is joining peers like Nvidia in fueling the AI infrastructure boom, despite not yet being profitable. The startup has already secured large-scale agreements with partners such as Oracle and SK Hynix.

The deal puts OpenAI ahead of SpaceX’s $400billion valuation at a pivotal moment for the company. OpenAI is currently in talks with Microsoft to restructure into a more traditional for-profit business. Under the plan, the existing nonprofit entity would retain control over a newly created public benefit corporation.

Founded in 2015, OpenAI began as a nonprofit with the mission of advancing digital intelligence for the benefit of humanity.

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2. Buffett’s Berkshire to Buy Occidental’s Chemical Unit

Employment at US companies unexpectedly fell in September, partly due to a methodological recalibration by ADP.

Private-sector payrolls declined by 32,000 last month following a revised 3,000 drop in August, according to data released Wednesday by ADP Research. The figure came in below all forecasts in a Bloomberg survey. ADP noted that its benchmarking against the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ (BLS) Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages — which draws on unemployment insurance tax records — reduced September’s job count by 43,000 compared with preliminary data. While that may exaggerate labor market weakness, ADP said the broader trend of cooling hiring momentum remains intact. “Despite strong GDP growth in the second quarter, this release reinforces what we’ve been observing — employers remain cautious in bringing on new workers,” said Nela Richardson, ADP’s chief economist.

The report is expected to be the week’s most closely watched labor market indicator since the government’s September employment release, originally due Friday, will be delayed by the federal shutdown. Other recent indicators also point to sluggish job creation, softer hiring appetite, limited layoffs, and modest wage increases.

Still, economists continue to cast doubt on ADP’s reliability, noting its track record of diverging from the government’s “gold standard” data. “We are reluctant to rely on ADP’s report. The rebenchmarking adds to uncertainty,” Morgan Stanley economists led by Michael Gapen wrote, describing the methodology as “opaque.”

ADP said its recalibration used the 2024 BLS census to better capture employment distribution by industry, geography, and company size.

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3. Tesla Posts Record Deliveries as Buyers Rush Before Tax Credit Expiry

Tesla Inc. surprised Wall Street with record quarterly vehicle deliveries, as U.S. consumers rushed to purchase EVs before federal tax credits expired.

The company handed over 497,099 vehicles worldwide in the latest quarter, a 7.4% year-over-year increase and well above the 439,600 consensus estimate compiled by Bloomberg.

Tesla has been working to reinvigorate its core auto business after several sluggish quarters weighed down by an aging product lineup, intensifying competition, and the phaseout of U.S. EV incentives. The company also faced consumer pushback tied to CEO Elon Musk’s political ties with President Donald Trump earlier this year. Still, investors have recently focused on Musk’s long-term growth bets in autonomous driving, AI, and robotics. Shares soared 33% in September, their best monthly gain of 2025, and climbed as much as 4.3% in premarket trading Thursday in New York.

The looming expiration of up to $7,500 in federal EV tax credits after Sept. 30 spurred a wave of buying across the industry, benefiting not only Tesla but also GM, Ford, and Hyundai.

The delivery figures offer an early look ahead of Tesla’s Oct. 22 earnings report. The automaker is also preparing for its annual shareholder meeting next month, where investors will vote on a proposed $1trillion compensation package for Musk.

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4. Manhattan Home Sales Surge to Highest in Over Two Years

Manhattan’s housing market saw its busiest quarter in more than two years as affluent buyers with ample liquidity pressed ahead with purchases.

There were 3,158 completed condo and co-op transactions in Q3, a 13% increase from a year earlier, according to data from Miller Samuel Inc. and Douglas Elliman. The median sale price rose 5.8% to $1.18million.

The rebound has been fueled by stock market gains and hefty Wall Street bonuses, allowing many high-net-worth buyers to sidestep elevated borrowing costs. Roughly two-thirds of all sales were all-cash purchases, while over 90% of deals above $3million involved no financing. “The greater your wealth or income, the easier it is to bypass high mortgage rates,” said Jonathan Miller, president of Miller Samuel. “The jump in activity is skewed toward the upper end of the market.”

Luxury demand was also evident in new developments, which made up 18% of closings — the highest share in more than six years — with a median price of $1.75million.

Inventory climbed to 7,733 units by the end of the quarter, up 7% from a year earlier, but sales are rising faster, keeping upward pressure on prices, Miller said.

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5. Trump Considers Cutting Thousands of Federal Jobs

President Donald Trump is weighing plans to eliminate “thousands” of federal jobs as part of a strategy to pressure Democrats into reopening the government, now in its second day of shutdown.

“It’s likely going to be in the thousands,” White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters Thursday, adding that “the entire team at the White House” is working to identify potential cuts. Earlier in the day, Trump posted on social media that he would meet with budget director Russell Vought to “determine which of the many Democrat Agencies — most of which are a political SCAM — should be cut, and whether those cuts will be temporary or permanent.”

Republicans see the threat of permanent reductions in the federal workforce as leverage to force Democrats to agree on funding. The White House has warned that firings could begin soon, though some budget experts argue it is illegal to carry out permanent layoffs during a shutdown.

House Speaker Mike Johnson defended Trump’s stance, saying the president has the authority to dismiss workers and reduce spending in a shutdown. He blamed Democrats for the lapse in appropriations.

“If they keep the government closed it will get more and more painful,” Johnson said, adding that the White House would ensure resources flow to “the administration’s priorities.”

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6. Bridgewater Macro Fund Surges 26.4% in Nine Months

Bridgewater Associates’ flagship Pure Alpha II macro fund gained 26.4% in the first nine months of this year, benefiting from tariff-driven market turbulence that revived opportunities for macro hedge funds.

The performance puts the fund on track for its strongest year since 2010, according to a person familiar with the results, who requested anonymity as the figures aren’t public. Hedge funds broadly have thrived in 2025, fueled by a 14% rise in the S&P 500 through Q3 and heightened volatility in bonds and currencies triggered by President Donald Trump’s trade conflicts.

That marks a sharp reversal from the prior decade, when historically low interest rates suppressed volatility and weighed on macro strategies. Between 2012 and 2024, Pure Alpha II delivered annualized returns of less than 3%. A Bridgewater spokesperson declined to comment on the recent numbers.

The 50-year-old firm has been undergoing a major overhaul since 2023 under sole CEO Nir Bar Dea, who has cut assets and reshaped leadership to boost performance. Founder Ray Dalio fully exited earlier this year, selling his remaining stake and stepping down from the board.

In January, Bridgewater promoted veteran macro trader Ben Melkman — a rare external hire — to deputy chief investment officer, underscoring its renewed focus on trading talent.

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7. Walmart to Equip 90 Million Pallets With Sensors by 2026

Walmart Inc. is ramping up automation by installing sensors on 90million pallets of groceries shipped annually to its U.S. stores, aiming to better track location and condition while cutting manual work.

The company, together with supply-chain tech provider Wiliot, said Thursday that the devices will be rolled out across its 4,600-store U.S. network by the end of 2026. The sensors will monitor factors such as temperature for perishables and overall condition of goods in transit.

The initiative comes as Walmart has grown revenue by $150billion over the past five years without adding staff. With 2.1million employees worldwide — including 1.6million in the U.S. — the Arkansas-based retailer is the country’s largest private employer.

Analysts said the investment could strengthen Walmart’s dominance as a low-cost food retailer, even as rivals like Costco and Aldi expand their U.S. presence. Walmart accounts for more than 20% of grocery sales nationwide, according to research firm Numerator.

“This tackles one of the hardest problems in retail — knowing exactly what we own and where it is at any given moment,” said Greg Cathey, Walmart’s senior vice president of transformation and innovation.

The sensors, provided by San Diego-based Wiliot, use 0.7-square-millimeter microchips embedded in shipping labels attached to shrink-wrapped pallets. They send Bluetooth signals reporting location, dwell time, condition, and temperature.

Walmart began testing the technology in a Texas warehouse in 2023 and now uses it in 500 facilities. Full deployment will extend to its U.S. store network and 40 distribution centers.

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