Trinity Rodman, a prominent US women's soccer player, has been attending Wimbledon to support her boyfriend, American tennis player Ben Shelton, who recently advanced to the quarterfinals of the tournament. During Shelton's matches, Wimbledon commentators repeatedly referenced Rodman's estranged father, former NBA star Dennis Rodman, and also mispronounced or incorrectly called her "Tiffany." Trinity Rodman publicly criticized the broadcasters for these remarks and errors, expressing frustration that her family background was overshadowing Shelton's performance. In response, the BBC issued an apology for the repeated name mistakes and the inappropriate mentions during their live commentary.

At Wimbledon 2025, American tennis player Ben Shelton publicly appealed for his sister Emma Shelton to receive additional time off from her job at investment bank Morgan Stanley so she could stay and support him at the tournament. The request came after the crowd booed Emma Shelton when her profession was revealed during a live BBC broadcast. Despite the initial negative reaction from the audience, Ben Shelton's plea was successful, allowing Emma to remain at Wimbledon. Additionally, Brooks Nader received recognition for wearing a skirt at Wimbledon, which was praised for normalizing period-related mishaps.

Former Miami Dolphins safety Reshad Jones was defrauded of $2.58 million by a 49-year-old woman and a former financial advisor, according to court records and law enforcement officials. The financial advisor allegedly stole $1.58 million through 133 wire transfers and used the funds to finance a lavish lifestyle including first-class airline tickets, hotels, nightlife, multiple women, strip clubs, and child support payments. Additionally, $1.03 million was laundered from Jones’ account. The woman involved, Octavia Graham, 52, is currently in jail. Authorities have linked Graham to other financial crimes, including allegations of fleecing $3.6 million from the Jackson Foundation. This case highlights ongoing concerns about financial exploitation involving professional athletes and charitable organizations.

Humanoid robots are moving closer to mainstream adoption, according to a new Morgan Stanley analysis that forecasts about 13 million units in service worldwide by 2035 and as many as 1 billion by 2050. The bank estimates annual ownership costs at roughly $10,000, a price point it says could trigger mass-market demand comparable to the spread of passenger cars a century ago.

Hardware makers are racing to turn those projections into reality. Tesla recently released footage of its Optimus prototype folding laundry and loading dishwashers, while California-based Figure demonstrated a robot capable of kitchen prep and basic cleaning. Agility Robotics’ bipedal ‘Digit’ model is already hauling boxes on U.S. factory floors, illustrating early commercial use cases beyond the home.

Read more

Elon Musk’s artificial-intelligence company xAI has secured a combined $10 billion in fresh funding, split evenly between a $5 billion debt package arranged by Morgan Stanley and a $5 billion strategic equity injection. Barclays, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group and UBS joined the oversubscribed debt syndicate at xAI’s request to deepen banking relationships for future financings, according to people familiar with the matter.

xAI said the proceeds will accelerate work on what it describes as one of the world’s largest data-center projects and support further development of its Grok large-language-model platform. The Memphis-based Colossus supercomputer, which recently doubled to 200,000 Nvidia GPUs and is slated to reach one million, is the centrepiece of the expansion.

The latest round comes seven months after xAI raised $6 billion, lifting total capital raised to roughly $17 billion in less than two years. The new financing highlights continuing investor appetite for AI infrastructure even at double-digit yields; xAI’s valuation climbed to about $80 billion following its March merger with social-media platform X.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. said its board has authorized a new share-repurchase program of up to $50 billion and plans to raise its quarterly common-stock dividend to $1.50 from $1.40 a share, pending board approval at the customary next meeting. The moves underscore the bank’s confidence in its capital position following the Federal Reserve’s latest stress test results released last week.

Peer institutions also moved to reward shareholders. Morgan Stanley announced a renewed multi-year share-buyback authorization of $20 billion and will lift its quarterly dividend to $1.00 a share, up 7.5 cents. Bank of America intends to increase its payout to $0.28 from $0.26. The increases place the largest U.S. lenders on track to return tens of billions of dollars to investors in the coming year.

China staged its first fully autonomous humanoid-robot soccer tournament in Beijing on 28 June, bringing together four university teams in a three-a-side contest that organisers billed as a breakthrough for embodied artificial intelligence.

Each side fielded identical T1 robots supplied by Beijing-based Booster Robotics, but relied on proprietary algorithms for vision, balance and in-game strategy. The child-sized machines identified the ball, chose passing lanes and attempted to right themselves after falls without any human intervention; several toppled repeatedly and two had to be removed on stretchers.

Read more

The Federal Reserve has proposed easing the enhanced supplementary leverage ratio (ESLR) requirements for large U.S. banks, a key capital rule implemented after the 2008 financial crisis. The proposal aims to reduce aggregate Tier 1 capital requirements for global systemically important banks (GSIBs) by 1.4%, equivalent to $13 billion, and lower subsidiary capital requirements by 27%, or $213 billion. This move is intended to free up capital for banks to hold more Treasuries and better facilitate trading in the $29 trillion U.S.

Treasury market. The plan ties the ESLR buffer to the GSIB surcharge and has drawn some opposition from Federal Reserve officials who caution it could weaken financial safeguards. The proposal has entered a 60-day public comment period ending August 26 and has received approvals from the FDIC and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency. Morgan Stanley and other financial institutions expect the rule change to benefit large banks. Concurrently, the Federal Reserve announced that all 22 major U.S. banks passed the annual stress test, demonstrating they remain well-positioned to withstand a severe recession in 2025 while maintaining capital ratios above minimum requirements and continuing to lend to households and businesses. The stress tests were noted to be less rigorous this year, but the results support the case for easing capital rules. The easing of these post-crisis capital requirements marks one of the most substantial regulatory rollbacks since 2008, reflecting ongoing efforts to balance financial stability with market functioning.

Morgan Stanley expects the US Federal Reserve to begin an extended easing cycle in March 2026, delivering seven interest-rate cuts over the course of the year.

The investment bank projects the moves will bring the federal funds rate down to a terminal range of 2.5% to 2.75%, according to its latest outlook.

Elon Musk's AI startup xAI is undertaking an extensive expansion of its AI infrastructure and operations. The company plans to spend $4.7 billion over the next three months from a recently raised $9.3 billion fund, averaging approximately $1.6 billion per month. By 2027, xAI aims to invest $18 billion in capital expenditures for new data centers. The startup has fully prepaid for Nvidia's Blackwell GPUs and allocated $2 billion for upgrades to its Colossus supercomputer, including liquid cooling and water circulation systems.

Since its Series C funding round, xAI's employee salaries have nearly quadrupled. The company is preparing to bring online an additional 110,000 Nvidia GB200 GPUs at its Memphis, Tennessee facility, increasing its total GPU count for AI training to 340,000 units, making it the largest AI supercomputer globally. The GPU inventory includes 150,000 H100s, 50,000 H200s, and 30,000 GB200s. Musk highlighted the challenges of building this massive AI supercluster, noting the rapid retrofitting of the Memphis factory, sourcing of 100,000 H100 GPUs, and installation of advanced power and cooling systems. These efforts support xAI's work on training advanced AI models and humanoid robots. Musk also recently discussed digital superintelligence, multiplanetary life, and practical applications of AI during a 50-minute interview at Y Combinator's AI Startup School.

Elon Musk’s artificial-intelligence company xAI is negotiating a new $4.3 billion equity round, according to multiple reports, lifting the total financing it is seeking to about $9.3 billion when combined with a $5 billion debt package now in the market.

The debt sale, led by Morgan Stanley, is expected to price this week and has attracted investor orders roughly 1.5 times the amount on offer, Reuters reported. The package comprises $3 billion of bonds yielding about 12%, a $1 billion fixed-rate term loan at the same coupon and a $1 billion floating-rate term loan priced around 700 basis points over the SOFR benchmark.

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Elon Musk's artificial intelligence company, xAI, is seeking to raise $5 billion through debt financing arranged by Morgan Stanley. The financing options include loans and bonds as the company navigates political tensions and concerns related to Musk's 2022 Twitter acquisition. Separately, xAI has secured approximately $250 million in equity investments from around two dozen venture capital firms and other investors, including Fidelity, TPG, and Sequoia. Fidelity alone is purchasing $20 million worth of shares in a tender offer that values xAI at roughly $113 billion. Discussions among investors have also considered a potential $20 billion funding round at a valuation of up to $120 billion. This investment activity reflects strong investor interest in the AI sector amid broader industry growth and aligns with increased emphasis on AI innovation in Europe.

The market outlook for obesity drugs continues to rise, with Morgan Stanley projecting the market could reach $150 billion by 2035. However, recent developments at Novo Nordisk, including a sales reduction and the departure of its CEO, have raised questions about the sustainability of the GLP-1 drug boom. Pharmaceutical valuations are becoming increasingly stretched, with Eli Lilly trading at a price-to-earnings ratio of 59, Novo Nordisk at 42, and Vertex Pharmaceuticals at 27. This valuation trend reflects a scarcity trade driven by a monopoly narrative rather than fundamentals.

Pfizer's stock has seen renewed interest due to optimism around its commitment to obesity treatments, despite past setbacks such as the discontinuation of the Danu program and a market capitalization loss exceeding $100 billion. Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla is urged to make bold strategic decisions akin to his acquisition of Seagen, which has been pivotal for the company, rather than yielding to short-term pressures. Meanwhile, PepsiCo's valuation has declined as earnings growth has become inconsistent, despite the growing market for obesity drugs like Ozempic.

Morgan Stanley Chief Executive Officer Ted Pick told investors this week that the Wall Street firm expects a strong finish to the second quarter, citing a pick-up in equity capital-markets activity. Pick said recent transactions are performing well and that the bank’s deal pipeline is expanding in several regions, positioning the business for increased revenues as the quarter closes.

Speaking at a separate investor event, Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan projected mid-to-high single-digit percentage growth in market revenue for the current quarter, even as he warned that investment-banking fees could fall roughly 25%. Moynihan noted greater uncertainty among small businesses than among core consumers and said many corporations are holding back on spending outside artificial-intelligence projects while awaiting clarity on trade tariffs.

Read more

Precious metals traders at leading banks, including JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Morgan Stanley, achieved their best performance in five years during the first quarter of 2025. This strong showing was partly driven by an arbitrage opportunity that triggered a surge of bullion inflows into the United States. The favorable trading conditions helped these banks capitalize on market inefficiencies, resulting in record profits for precious metals trading activities in the quarter.

Wall Street strategists, including those at Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs Group Inc., have expressed growing optimism about the U.S. stock market, citing a resilient economy as a key factor supporting stock prices. Despite elevated yields potentially reshaping the investment landscape, Goldman Sachs indicates these are not expected to trigger a significant downturn. The positive outlook is reflected in forecasts that the economy's strength could drive stocks to reach new all-time highs before the end of 2025. This sentiment is shared broadly across major market participants, suggesting limited risk of a pullback and fueling discussions of a possible 'melt up' in the S&P 500.

Notable Capital has released its Rising in Cyber 2025 list, recognizing 30 of the most promising private cybersecurity companies as selected by nearly 150 Chief Information Security Officers (CISOs) and security executives. The list highlights startups that are shaping the future of cybersecurity, including those specializing in artificial intelligence and enterprise security. Companies honored on the list include Orca Security, Grip Security, Aembit, Astrix Security, Cribl, Cyera, Chainguard, Sublime Security, and runZero. The recognition reflects the growing importance of cybersecurity in a market valued at $600 billion, with AI playing a critical role in evolving threats and defenses. The list and accompanying report were developed in collaboration with Morgan Stanley and cybersecurity experts, emphasizing the sector's rapid innovation and the need for specialized security tools.

Morgan Stanley has developed an in-house artificial intelligence tool, DevGen.AI, built on OpenAI's GPT models, to modernize its legacy software systems. The tool is specifically trained on the bank's own code base, including programming languages that are no longer widely used, such as Cobol.

DevGen.AI enables the automatic translation of old code into modern programming languages and converts legacy code into plain English specifications, assisting developers in rewriting and maintaining critical systems. The tool has processed 9 million lines of legacy code this year, resulting in a reported savings of 280,000 developer hours.

Morgan Stanley's 15,000 developers have been using the tool internally for several months. The company claims DevGen.AI outperforms commercial tools in translating Cobol and other outdated languages, and that productivity rates have reached 32 lines of code per hour.

China is emerging as a leading power in the global race for artificial intelligence (AI), establishing its own 'Big 5' tech companies that rival U.S. counterparts. Morgan Stanley and the South China Morning Post highlight China's advancements in AI and humanoid technology, signaling increased global attention. Analysts Xu Qiyuan and Wang Yaqiang note that Chinese online platforms and social media companies have previously surpassed U.S.

peers, suggesting a similar trend may occur in AI. Commentary from Jim VandeHei and Mike Allen points to China as a key reason behind U.S. resistance to AI regulation, bipartisan downplaying of job threats, and the growing fusion between Washington and Silicon Valley. They argue that former President Donald Trump's approach to AI, while confronting China, has escalated risks with key U.S. allies and may inadvertently push the world closer to China's influence in AI development.

Stephen Roach, former Morgan Stanley Asia chairman, has revised his earlier assertion that Hong Kong's economic and financial prominence was over. Contrary to his previous expectations, Roach now argues that the worsening US-China conflict has unexpectedly benefited Hong Kong by reinforcing its role as China’s most important gateway to international finance. This shift in perspective highlights Hong Kong's unique position amid increasing geopolitical tensions, suggesting renewed vitality for the city in the global financial landscape.

Trinity Rodman, a prominent US women's soccer player, has been attending Wimbledon to support her boyfriend, American tennis player Ben Shelton, who recently advanced to the quarterfinals of the tournament. During Shelton's matches, Wimbledon commentators repeatedly referenced Rodman's estranged father, former NBA star Dennis Rodman, and also mispronounced or incorrectly called her "Tiffany." Trinity Rodman publicly criticized the broadcasters for these remarks and errors, expressing frustration that her family background was overshadowing Shelton's performance. In response, the BBC issued an apology for the repeated name mistakes and the inappropriate mentions during their live commentary.

At Wimbledon 2025, American tennis player Ben Shelton publicly appealed for his sister Emma Shelton to receive additional time off from her job at investment bank Morgan Stanley so she could stay and support him at the tournament. The request came after the crowd booed Emma Shelton when her profession was revealed during a live BBC broadcast. Despite the initial negative reaction from the audience, Ben Shelton's plea was successful, allowing Emma to remain at Wimbledon. Additionally, Brooks Nader received recognition for wearing a skirt at Wimbledon, which was praised for normalizing period-related mishaps.

Former Miami Dolphins safety Reshad Jones was defrauded of $2.58 million by a 49-year-old woman and a former financial advisor, according to court records and law enforcement officials. The financial advisor allegedly stole $1.58 million through 133 wire transfers and used the funds to finance a lavish lifestyle including first-class airline tickets, hotels, nightlife, multiple women, strip clubs, and child support payments. Additionally, $1.03 million was laundered from Jones’ account. The woman involved, Octavia Graham, 52, is currently in jail. Authorities have linked Graham to other financial crimes, including allegations of fleecing $3.6 million from the Jackson Foundation. This case highlights ongoing concerns about financial exploitation involving professional athletes and charitable organizations.

Humanoid robots are moving closer to mainstream adoption, according to a new Morgan Stanley analysis that forecasts about 13 million units in service worldwide by 2035 and as many as 1 billion by 2050. The bank estimates annual ownership costs at roughly $10,000, a price point it says could trigger mass-market demand comparable to the spread of passenger cars a century ago.

Hardware makers are racing to turn those projections into reality. Tesla recently released footage of its Optimus prototype folding laundry and loading dishwashers, while California-based Figure demonstrated a robot capable of kitchen prep and basic cleaning. Agility Robotics’ bipedal ‘Digit’ model is already hauling boxes on U.S. factory floors, illustrating early commercial use cases beyond the home.

Read more

Elon Musk’s artificial-intelligence company xAI has secured a combined $10 billion in fresh funding, split evenly between a $5 billion debt package arranged by Morgan Stanley and a $5 billion strategic equity injection. Barclays, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group and UBS joined the oversubscribed debt syndicate at xAI’s request to deepen banking relationships for future financings, according to people familiar with the matter.

xAI said the proceeds will accelerate work on what it describes as one of the world’s largest data-center projects and support further development of its Grok large-language-model platform. The Memphis-based Colossus supercomputer, which recently doubled to 200,000 Nvidia GPUs and is slated to reach one million, is the centrepiece of the expansion.

The latest round comes seven months after xAI raised $6 billion, lifting total capital raised to roughly $17 billion in less than two years. The new financing highlights continuing investor appetite for AI infrastructure even at double-digit yields; xAI’s valuation climbed to about $80 billion following its March merger with social-media platform X.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. said its board has authorized a new share-repurchase program of up to $50 billion and plans to raise its quarterly common-stock dividend to $1.50 from $1.40 a share, pending board approval at the customary next meeting. The moves underscore the bank’s confidence in its capital position following the Federal Reserve’s latest stress test results released last week.

Peer institutions also moved to reward shareholders. Morgan Stanley announced a renewed multi-year share-buyback authorization of $20 billion and will lift its quarterly dividend to $1.00 a share, up 7.5 cents. Bank of America intends to increase its payout to $0.28 from $0.26. The increases place the largest U.S. lenders on track to return tens of billions of dollars to investors in the coming year.

China staged its first fully autonomous humanoid-robot soccer tournament in Beijing on 28 June, bringing together four university teams in a three-a-side contest that organisers billed as a breakthrough for embodied artificial intelligence.

Each side fielded identical T1 robots supplied by Beijing-based Booster Robotics, but relied on proprietary algorithms for vision, balance and in-game strategy. The child-sized machines identified the ball, chose passing lanes and attempted to right themselves after falls without any human intervention; several toppled repeatedly and two had to be removed on stretchers.

Read more

The Federal Reserve has proposed easing the enhanced supplementary leverage ratio (ESLR) requirements for large U.S. banks, a key capital rule implemented after the 2008 financial crisis. The proposal aims to reduce aggregate Tier 1 capital requirements for global systemically important banks (GSIBs) by 1.4%, equivalent to $13 billion, and lower subsidiary capital requirements by 27%, or $213 billion. This move is intended to free up capital for banks to hold more Treasuries and better facilitate trading in the $29 trillion U.S.

Treasury market. The plan ties the ESLR buffer to the GSIB surcharge and has drawn some opposition from Federal Reserve officials who caution it could weaken financial safeguards. The proposal has entered a 60-day public comment period ending August 26 and has received approvals from the FDIC and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency. Morgan Stanley and other financial institutions expect the rule change to benefit large banks. Concurrently, the Federal Reserve announced that all 22 major U.S. banks passed the annual stress test, demonstrating they remain well-positioned to withstand a severe recession in 2025 while maintaining capital ratios above minimum requirements and continuing to lend to households and businesses. The stress tests were noted to be less rigorous this year, but the results support the case for easing capital rules. The easing of these post-crisis capital requirements marks one of the most substantial regulatory rollbacks since 2008, reflecting ongoing efforts to balance financial stability with market functioning.

Morgan Stanley expects the US Federal Reserve to begin an extended easing cycle in March 2026, delivering seven interest-rate cuts over the course of the year.

The investment bank projects the moves will bring the federal funds rate down to a terminal range of 2.5% to 2.75%, according to its latest outlook.

Elon Musk's AI startup xAI is undertaking an extensive expansion of its AI infrastructure and operations. The company plans to spend $4.7 billion over the next three months from a recently raised $9.3 billion fund, averaging approximately $1.6 billion per month. By 2027, xAI aims to invest $18 billion in capital expenditures for new data centers. The startup has fully prepaid for Nvidia's Blackwell GPUs and allocated $2 billion for upgrades to its Colossus supercomputer, including liquid cooling and water circulation systems.

Since its Series C funding round, xAI's employee salaries have nearly quadrupled. The company is preparing to bring online an additional 110,000 Nvidia GB200 GPUs at its Memphis, Tennessee facility, increasing its total GPU count for AI training to 340,000 units, making it the largest AI supercomputer globally. The GPU inventory includes 150,000 H100s, 50,000 H200s, and 30,000 GB200s. Musk highlighted the challenges of building this massive AI supercluster, noting the rapid retrofitting of the Memphis factory, sourcing of 100,000 H100 GPUs, and installation of advanced power and cooling systems. These efforts support xAI's work on training advanced AI models and humanoid robots. Musk also recently discussed digital superintelligence, multiplanetary life, and practical applications of AI during a 50-minute interview at Y Combinator's AI Startup School.

Elon Musk’s artificial-intelligence company xAI is negotiating a new $4.3 billion equity round, according to multiple reports, lifting the total financing it is seeking to about $9.3 billion when combined with a $5 billion debt package now in the market.

The debt sale, led by Morgan Stanley, is expected to price this week and has attracted investor orders roughly 1.5 times the amount on offer, Reuters reported. The package comprises $3 billion of bonds yielding about 12%, a $1 billion fixed-rate term loan at the same coupon and a $1 billion floating-rate term loan priced around 700 basis points over the SOFR benchmark.

Read more

Elon Musk's artificial intelligence company, xAI, is seeking to raise $5 billion through debt financing arranged by Morgan Stanley. The financing options include loans and bonds as the company navigates political tensions and concerns related to Musk's 2022 Twitter acquisition. Separately, xAI has secured approximately $250 million in equity investments from around two dozen venture capital firms and other investors, including Fidelity, TPG, and Sequoia. Fidelity alone is purchasing $20 million worth of shares in a tender offer that values xAI at roughly $113 billion. Discussions among investors have also considered a potential $20 billion funding round at a valuation of up to $120 billion. This investment activity reflects strong investor interest in the AI sector amid broader industry growth and aligns with increased emphasis on AI innovation in Europe.

The market outlook for obesity drugs continues to rise, with Morgan Stanley projecting the market could reach $150 billion by 2035. However, recent developments at Novo Nordisk, including a sales reduction and the departure of its CEO, have raised questions about the sustainability of the GLP-1 drug boom. Pharmaceutical valuations are becoming increasingly stretched, with Eli Lilly trading at a price-to-earnings ratio of 59, Novo Nordisk at 42, and Vertex Pharmaceuticals at 27. This valuation trend reflects a scarcity trade driven by a monopoly narrative rather than fundamentals.

Pfizer's stock has seen renewed interest due to optimism around its commitment to obesity treatments, despite past setbacks such as the discontinuation of the Danu program and a market capitalization loss exceeding $100 billion. Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla is urged to make bold strategic decisions akin to his acquisition of Seagen, which has been pivotal for the company, rather than yielding to short-term pressures. Meanwhile, PepsiCo's valuation has declined as earnings growth has become inconsistent, despite the growing market for obesity drugs like Ozempic.

Morgan Stanley Chief Executive Officer Ted Pick told investors this week that the Wall Street firm expects a strong finish to the second quarter, citing a pick-up in equity capital-markets activity. Pick said recent transactions are performing well and that the bank’s deal pipeline is expanding in several regions, positioning the business for increased revenues as the quarter closes.

Speaking at a separate investor event, Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan projected mid-to-high single-digit percentage growth in market revenue for the current quarter, even as he warned that investment-banking fees could fall roughly 25%. Moynihan noted greater uncertainty among small businesses than among core consumers and said many corporations are holding back on spending outside artificial-intelligence projects while awaiting clarity on trade tariffs.

Read more

Precious metals traders at leading banks, including JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Morgan Stanley, achieved their best performance in five years during the first quarter of 2025. This strong showing was partly driven by an arbitrage opportunity that triggered a surge of bullion inflows into the United States. The favorable trading conditions helped these banks capitalize on market inefficiencies, resulting in record profits for precious metals trading activities in the quarter.

Wall Street strategists, including those at Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs Group Inc., have expressed growing optimism about the U.S. stock market, citing a resilient economy as a key factor supporting stock prices. Despite elevated yields potentially reshaping the investment landscape, Goldman Sachs indicates these are not expected to trigger a significant downturn. The positive outlook is reflected in forecasts that the economy's strength could drive stocks to reach new all-time highs before the end of 2025. This sentiment is shared broadly across major market participants, suggesting limited risk of a pullback and fueling discussions of a possible 'melt up' in the S&P 500.

Notable Capital has released its Rising in Cyber 2025 list, recognizing 30 of the most promising private cybersecurity companies as selected by nearly 150 Chief Information Security Officers (CISOs) and security executives. The list highlights startups that are shaping the future of cybersecurity, including those specializing in artificial intelligence and enterprise security. Companies honored on the list include Orca Security, Grip Security, Aembit, Astrix Security, Cribl, Cyera, Chainguard, Sublime Security, and runZero. The recognition reflects the growing importance of cybersecurity in a market valued at $600 billion, with AI playing a critical role in evolving threats and defenses. The list and accompanying report were developed in collaboration with Morgan Stanley and cybersecurity experts, emphasizing the sector's rapid innovation and the need for specialized security tools.

Morgan Stanley has developed an in-house artificial intelligence tool, DevGen.AI, built on OpenAI's GPT models, to modernize its legacy software systems. The tool is specifically trained on the bank's own code base, including programming languages that are no longer widely used, such as Cobol.

DevGen.AI enables the automatic translation of old code into modern programming languages and converts legacy code into plain English specifications, assisting developers in rewriting and maintaining critical systems. The tool has processed 9 million lines of legacy code this year, resulting in a reported savings of 280,000 developer hours.

Morgan Stanley's 15,000 developers have been using the tool internally for several months. The company claims DevGen.AI outperforms commercial tools in translating Cobol and other outdated languages, and that productivity rates have reached 32 lines of code per hour.

China is emerging as a leading power in the global race for artificial intelligence (AI), establishing its own 'Big 5' tech companies that rival U.S. counterparts. Morgan Stanley and the South China Morning Post highlight China's advancements in AI and humanoid technology, signaling increased global attention. Analysts Xu Qiyuan and Wang Yaqiang note that Chinese online platforms and social media companies have previously surpassed U.S.

peers, suggesting a similar trend may occur in AI. Commentary from Jim VandeHei and Mike Allen points to China as a key reason behind U.S. resistance to AI regulation, bipartisan downplaying of job threats, and the growing fusion between Washington and Silicon Valley. They argue that former President Donald Trump's approach to AI, while confronting China, has escalated risks with key U.S. allies and may inadvertently push the world closer to China's influence in AI development.

Stephen Roach, former Morgan Stanley Asia chairman, has revised his earlier assertion that Hong Kong's economic and financial prominence was over. Contrary to his previous expectations, Roach now argues that the worsening US-China conflict has unexpectedly benefited Hong Kong by reinforcing its role as China’s most important gateway to international finance. This shift in perspective highlights Hong Kong's unique position amid increasing geopolitical tensions, suggesting renewed vitality for the city in the global financial landscape.