Taken from CNBC’s Daily Open, our international markets newsletter — Subscribe today
In January, U.S. consumers didn’t feel as inclined to open their wallets, causing retail sales for the month to fall more than expected, which might weigh on gross domestic product given the heavy reliance of the U.S. economy on consumer spending.
By contrast, in the corporate world, purse strings seem looser. A deal between Intel, Broadcom and TSMC is reportedly in preliminary stages of talks, and might see the storied U.S. chipmaker break up its business into two.
Money was also flowing from Elon Musk. The “special government employee” put forth a 97-billion-dollar bid for OpenAI on Feb. 10. However, it was soundly rejected by the artificial intelligence startup on Friday. OpenAI Chairman Bret Taylor said in a statement that the company “is not for sale,” proving that there are some things even money cannot buy.
What you need to know today
Positive week for indexes
Major U.S. benchmarks were mixed Friday. The S&P 500 was little changed and the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.37%. However, the Nasdaq Composite rose 0.41%, helped by double-digit jumps in shares of Roku and Airbnb. All indexes ended the week higher. The pan-European Stoxx 600 index retreated 0.24%, snapping four consecutive days of gains. Nonetheless, the index closed Friday with its eighth consecutive positive week, which has brought it about 9% higher for the year.
OpenAI turns down Musk
OpenAI has rejected Elon Musk’s proposal to buy the artificial intelligence startup’s nonprofit parent for $97.4 billion. OpenAI’s attorney, William Savitt, wrote on Friday to Musk’s lawyer Marc Toberoff that the board concluded the billionaire’s “much-publicized ‘bid’ is in fact not a bid at all.” The “proposal, even as first presented, is not in the best interest of OAI’s mission and is rejected,” Savitt’s letter stated.
TSMC and Broadcom are interested in Intel
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company and Broadcom are reviewing bids for Intel that would split the chipmaker into two, the Wall Street Journal reported on Saturday, citing sources familiar with the matter. Broadcom is interested in Intel’s chip design and marketing business, while TSMC is looking at the U.S. firm’s chip plants, according to the Journal. Neither company is working with each other and the talks are still in early stages.
U.S. retail slump in January
U.S. retail sales in January dropped 0.9% for the month, missing the Dow Jones estimate for a 0.2% decline and coming in much lower than December’s upwardly revised 0.7% gain. All figures are seasonally adjusted but do not factor in inflation. With consumer spending making up about two-thirds of all economic activity in the U.S., the sales numbers indicate a potential weakening in growth for the first quarter.
[PRO] Tech stocks at ‘scene of the crime’
Tech stocks could be in trouble as they approach levels not seen in nearly two months, according to BTIG Chief Market Technician Jonathan Krinsky. The Invesco QQQ Trust, which tracks the Nasdaq-100, is back at “scene of the crime,” Krinsky said, and explains why a return to that point could herald a pullback in stocks.
And finally…
How China’s DeepSeek could boost the already booming data center market
For years now, analysts have forecast exponential growth in data centers — the critical infrastructure required for powering the world’s digital transition and the training of large language models. Data centers often take at least two years to build and orders have largely already been factored in for 2025 — meaning that the launch of DeepSeek’s cost-efficient and disruptive R1 model is unlikely to have any immediate impact.
That said, DeepSeek is unlikely to “substantially reduces demand for power for inference,” Andre Kukhnin, equity research analyst at UBS, told CNBC, referring to the process of running data through an AI model to make a prediction or solve a task. Ryan Cox, head of AI, at consultation firm Synechron, also expects that DeepSeek’s more efficient technology will ultimately lead to more data center demand.
