Market Beats | OpenAI Moves to Dismiss xAI Lawsuit; US Service Sector Stalls in September as Activity Contracts; BlackRock’s GIP in Talks to Buy Aligned Data Centers; Bitcoin Nears Record High as Shutdown Sparks Risk Rally; Harvard Business School Retains Title as Most Desired MBA Program; Jeff Bezos Calls AI Investment Boom a “Good Bubble”; Hamas Agrees to Release All Israeli Hostages

—— OpenAI Moves to Dismiss xAI Lawsuit; US Service Sector Stalls in September as Activity Contracts; BlackRock’s GIP in Talks to Buy Aligned Data Centers; Bitcoin Nears Record High as Shutdown Sparks Risk Rally; Harvard Business School Retains Title as Most Desired MBA Program; Jeff Bezos Calls AI Investment Boom a “Good Bubble”; Hamas Agrees to Release All Israeli Hostages

1. OpenAI Moves to Dismiss xAI Lawsuit

OpenAI Inc. has asked a federal judge to throw out a lawsuit filed by Elon Musk’s xAI, calling the claims baseless and a diversion from xAI’s own struggles.

“Unable to match OpenAI’s innovation, xAI has filed this groundless trade secret lawsuit,” the company’s lawyers wrote in a Thursday filing in San Francisco federal court. “To be clear: OpenAI does not need or want anyone’s — much less xAI’s — trade secrets.”

Musk’s startup sued OpenAI last week, alleging the firm led by Sam Altman poached at least eight employees and stole intellectual property. The case marks the latest front in the escalating legal battles between Musk and Altman, who co-founded OpenAI together a decade ago but have since become rivals.

In its filing, OpenAI argued that the lawsuit is designed to generate publicity and intimidate employees who chose to leave xAI and join other AI companies, while discouraging further departures.

Representatives of xAI did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The case is X.AI Corp. v. OpenAI Inc., 3:25-cv-08133, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, San Francisco.

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2. US Service Sector Stalls in September as Activity Contracts

The U.S. services industry came to a standstill in September, with business activity shrinking for the first time since the pandemic and new orders barely advancing.

The Institute for Supply Management said Friday its services index fell two points to 50, signaling stagnation and coming in weaker than all forecasts in a Bloomberg survey.

The business activity sub-index, comparable to ISM’s factory output gauge, dropped more than five points into contraction territory for the first time since May 2020. The measure of new orders slid 5.6 points to 50.4, nearly wiping out the previous month’s gain, while export orders also declined. “Overall commentary pointed to moderate or weak growth, with some isolated supply delivery challenges,” said Steve Miller, chair of ISM’s services survey. “Employment remains in contraction, driven by delayed hiring and difficulty finding qualified workers.”

The disappointing snapshot of services — the largest segment of the economy — follows data earlier in the week showing manufacturing contracted for a seventh straight month.

Among individual sectors, 10 industries including accommodation, food services, health care, and social assistance reported growth, while seven industries registered declines.

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3. BlackRock’s GIP in Talks to Buy Aligned Data Centers

BlackRock Inc.’s Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP) is in advanced negotiations to acquire Aligned Data Centers, a fast-growing beneficiary of AI-related demand, in what could rank as one of the year’s largest transactions, according to people familiar with the matter.

Aligned, backed by Macquarie, could be valued at around $40billion in a potential deal, one of the people said, with an agreement possibly announced within days. MGX, an AI-focused investment platform established by Mubadala Investment Co., is also expected to participate independently in the transaction. Mubadala has previously invested directly in Aligned.

GIP has been exploring other large acquisitions as well, including U.S. power producer AES Corp., which carries an enterprise value of about $38billion including debt, amid expectations of soaring electricity demand from AI-driven data centers.

The move highlights a broader wave of mega-deals since the launch of ChatGPT, as investors rush to gain exposure to the backbone of artificial intelligence. Capital has flowed into infrastructure providers, driving up the valuations of chip giants like Nvidia and SK Hynix, AI startups such as OpenAI and Anthropic, and the broader ecosystem of suppliers powering the AI boom.

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4. Bitcoin Nears Record High as Shutdown Sparks Risk Rally

Bitcoin surged toward its all-time peak as a broad market rally tied to the U.S. government shutdown fueled demand for the world’s largest cryptocurrency.

The token climbed above $123,000 for the first time since August, supported by rising U.S. equities and renewed inflows into Bitcoin-linked ETFs. Investors increasingly view the shutdown as a catalyst for the so-called “debasement trade,” in which capital flows into perceived safe-haven assets such as Bitcoin.

“This shutdown matters,” said Geoff Kendrick, Standard Chartered’s global head of digital asset research. He added that unlike the 2018–2019 episode, Bitcoin now trades more closely with traditional risk assets. Bolstering sentiment is Bitcoin’s strong seasonal track record in October, nicknamed “Uptober,” with gains in nine of the past 10 years.

Bitcoin advanced for an eighth straight day, rising as much as 2% to $123,261. The token’s record of $124,514 was set on Aug. 14. It is now up more than 30% year-to-date.

The rally reflects a yearlong climb driven by friendlier U.S. policy under President Donald Trump. Public companies, led by Michael Saylor’s Strategy, have accelerated adoption by adding Bitcoin to their balance sheets, a playbook that has spread to other digital assets such as Ether.

Bitcoin’s market capitalization now stands at about $2.45trillion, while Ether’s is close to $545billion. Ether traded at around $4,545 on Friday, just shy of its August record.

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5. Harvard Business School Retains Title as Most Desired MBA Program

Harvard Business School (HBS) has once again been ranked the most coveted MBA program in the world, according to Bloomberg Businessweek’s Best B-Schools survey.

For the third consecutive year, more than 20% of students and alumni named HBS as their top choice if cost and admission barriers were removed. Stanford Graduate School of Business, which holds the No. 1 spot in this year’s U.S. ranking, came in second with 15%. No other school garnered more than 5% of the vote.

The enduring appeal of HBS stems from its century-old brand prestige and the career influence its diploma continues to carry. “A vast majority of grads believe they have a strong chance of landing a great job simply by having Harvard on their CV,” said Andrew Crisp, partner at CarringtonCrisp, a branding and consulting firm that works with schools including Insead and Columbia Business School.

Still, employment data from the Career Services & Employer Alliance shows that just 77% of recent Harvard MBA graduates secured jobs within three months of graduation in 2024 — the standard measure for MBA program effectiveness.

Even so, the confidence and perception of opportunity associated with Harvard remain powerful drivers of its popularity.

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6. Jeff Bezos Calls AI Investment Boom a “Good Bubble”

Amazon founder Jeff Bezos argued that the surge of capital flowing into artificial intelligence represents a “good kind of bubble,” one that will ultimately benefit society even if stock prices tumble as sharply as Amazon’s did two decades ago.

Speaking at a tech conference in Turin on Friday, Bezos drew parallels with the fiber-optic buildout during the dot-com boom and the biotech wave of the 1990s — both of which left enduring innovations despite financial busts. Unlike financial bubbles such as the 2008 banking crisis, he said, “industrial bubbles” are not as damaging and can in fact be positive for society once winners emerge.

“This is real. The benefits to society from AI are going to be gigantic,” Bezos said.

In a rare public appearance, Bezos — now Amazon’s executive chair after stepping down as CEO in 2021 — was interviewed on stage by John Elkann, chairman of Stellantis and Ferrari. He predicted that millions of people would be living in space “within the next couple of decades,” largely by choice, as robots prove more efficient than humans in off-world environments. He also envisioned vast AI data centers powered by solar energy being built in orbit.

Reflecting on Amazon’s stock collapse from $113 to $6 in 2000, Bezos noted that investor panic was disconnected from the company’s fundamentals, which remained sound. Today’s AI boom is similar, he suggested: “Every experiment gets funded, every company gets funded. Investors struggle to distinguish the good ideas from the bad. But that doesn’t mean the excitement isn’t real. AI is real, and it will change every industry.”

At the same event, Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon cautioned that much of the capital now pouring into AI may not generate returns, though he stopped short of declaring the current environment a bubble.

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7. Hamas Agrees to Release All Israeli Hostages

Hamas said it will release all Israeli hostages captured during its Oct. 7 attack and accepted parts of U.S. President Donald Trump’s plan to end the Gaza war, ahead of a Sunday evening deadline set by Washington.

In a statement, Hamas said it agreed “to release all Israeli prisoners — both living and deceased — in accordance with the exchange formula outlined in President Trump’s proposal, and contingent upon the necessary field conditions for carrying out the exchange.”

The group added, however, that some provisions of Trump’s 20-point proposal “require a unified national stance and must be addressed in line with relevant international laws and resolutions.”

Trump had warned that Hamas had until 6 p.m. Sunday to accept the plan he announced earlier in the week with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Otherwise, he said in a social media post on Friday, “all HELL, like no one has ever seen before, will break out against Hamas.”

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