Intel-Nvidia Deal Extends Stock Markets’ Good News Rally. Why There’s More to Come.

(Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

Intel has been the ghost at the feast for much of the artificial-intelligence boom, but investors have finally found a reason to load up on shares.

Nvidia said Thursday that it would invest $5 billion in the chip manufacturer. Intel stock soared 23%, its biggest same-day percentage jump in nearly four decades.

The deal solves some problems for Intel, but probably not enough to merit a $28 billion surge in valuation. The company is still lagging behind rival Taiwan Semi in manufacturing, and it’s yet to find the big outside customer needed to move its business forward.

Even so, the news—along with a delayed reaction to Wednesday’s Federal Reserve meeting—helped power the three major U.S. indexes to fresh record highs. It speaks to the market’s positive state of mind.

No wonder Wall Street is feeling cheerful. The Fed has started cutting interest rates and the AI investing craze is still booming, with stocks including Oracle and Micron emerging as new star names.

The Trump administration’s sweeping tariffs are a worry for the market—but there’s optimism on that front, too. U.S. and Chinese negotiators reached a framework agreement to save TikTok this week, and a phone call between President Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping, expected Friday, may pave the way for a broader trade deal.

Intel’s surge is a reminder that investors are currently happy to pile into any bit of good news, particularly now they’ve got over the worst of their fears about the Fed and tariffs.

That means that, barring an unforeseen plot twist, the story for markets the rest of 2025 is likely to be all’s well that ends well.

— George Glover

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Intel Gets a $5 Billion Boost From Chip Rival Nvidia

In a surprise move, AI chip leader Nvidia is taking a $5 billion stake in Intel, which will build custom central processing units that Nvidia will integrate into its artificial-intelligence infrastructure platforms. Intel also plans to build circuits that integrate Nvidia hardware, used to power a range of personal computers.

• Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan told reporters it aims to strengthen its balance sheet. The deal comes after the Trump administration took a 10% stake in Intel, buying $8.9 billion of shares, becoming its largest shareholder. Thursday’s deal solves some problems for Intel, but it doesn’t address its manufacturing technology.
• The first thing Intel gets is more cash that it needs for capital expenditures. The company has put significant delays on planned construction, curtailing capex in 2025 by 25% in the first half of the year. The capex is a necessary ingredient for Intel’s plans to catch up to Taiwan Semiconductor.
• The Trump administration wasn’t involved in the Intel-Nvidia deal, an official told Barron’s. Intel has been struggling with its foundry business, saying in July it had been unsuccessful getting significant external customers.
• The arrangement also helps Intel in the data center business, where the company’s CPUs long dominated inside servers. But AI demand has changed the equation, with hundreds of billions of dollars in new investment going primarily to Nvidia’s GPUs used for AI computing.

What’s Next: Nvidia’s CEO Jensen Huang indicated Nvidia would continue using Taiwan Semiconductor as its primary foundry. But Tan added that the companies would decide whether Intel’s foundry could factor into the partnership at a later date.

— Adam Levine and Mackenzie Tatananni

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Live Nation Sued Over Ticket Resale Practices, Fee Disclosures

Amid a continuing crack down on high event ticket prices, the Federal Trade Commission and seven states sued Live Nation Entertainment over ticket resales and fee disclosures, saying it failed to enforce limits that allowed brokers to scoop up tickets and sell them at significantly higher prices.

• In the lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court in Central California, the FTC and the attorneys general from Colorado, Florida, Illinois, Nebraska, Tennessee, Utah, and Virginia accused Live Nation’s Ticketmaster of deceiving consumers. A Live Nation representative didn’t respond to a request for comment.
• Live Nation is the largest U.S. live entertainment company, and Ticketmaster is the largest seller of concert tickets, controlling 80% of major concert venues’ primary ticketing and a growing share of secondary tickets. Consumers bought more than $82.6 billion in Ticketmaster tickets from 2019 to 2024.
• While publicly saying they prioritize getting tickets to fans and blaming ticket scalpers for high ticket prices, the lawsuit cites internal Ticketmaster communications that acknowledge executives “turn a blind eye” to brokers’ violations of ticket limits.
• The FTC said Ticketmaster failed to disclose mandatory fees of up to 44% until the very end of a transaction, while company executives acknowledged internally that disclosing total costs upfront would make consumers less likely to buy. Those fees totaled $16.4 billion from 2019 to 2024.

What’s Next: The FTC alleges that the practices violate prohibitions on deceptive marketplace practices and the Better Online Ticket Sales Act, and is seeking civil penalties and monetary relief.

— Janet H. Cho

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FedEx Signals Uncertainties Are Clearing With Return of Guidance

Wall Street will likely use the words better-than-feared, resilient, and relief to describe the U.S. shipping business after FedEx reported fiscal first-quarter numbers on Thursday, topping expectations and returning to giving full-year guidance.

• FedEx reported adjusted earnings of $3.83 a share and sales of $22.2 billion on Thursday. For the full year, it sees 4% to 6% revenue growth, higher than current projections, and earnings are expected to come in around an $18.10 a share midpoint.
• Generating growth has been a struggle for logistics providers lately. Shipping volumes have been affected by a postpandemic slowdown and higher costs because of tariffs. The end to tariff exemptions for small value packages is another pressure point.
• Policy changes appeared to have an effect on FedEx’s international business. FedEx’s international volumes fell 3% from a year ago, but U.S. numbers looked solid. Domestic package volumes rose 5%. Domestic package revenue grew 8% from a year ago.
• Still, FedEx isn’t earning money like it was in fiscal year 2022, when EPS topped $20, but expectations coming into this quarter were low. Coming into Thursday trading, FedEx stock was down roughly 24% over the past 12 months. Shares had declined after the past four quarterly reports.

What’s Next: The return of full-year earnings guidance means that for FedEx, uncertainties are clearing up. The planned spinoff of FedEx Freight into a new publicly traded company continues to advance, the company said, and will aim to be completed by June 2026.

— Al Root

Netflix’s ‘KPop Demon Hunters’ Rivals Disney’s Dominance

Netflix’s surprise animated hit, KPop Demon Hunters, continues its streak as the streaming platform’s most-watched English-language film ever, and has positioned the Netflix as an emerging rival to Walt Disney’s dominance in content, merchandising, and licensing.

• KPDH has racked up 314.2 million views worldwide from June through Sept. 14. It’s the No. 1 movie in 39 countries, including 13 weeks in the top 10 in the U.S. and in South Korea. Wedbush’s Dan Ives calls it a potential growth catalyst for Netflix and “a shot across the bow at Disney.”
• The film’s K-pop star-studded soundtrack topped the Billboard 200 album chart and Apple Music this week. Netflix plans to submit the song “Golden” in the Best Original Song category at next year’s Academy Awards. Some have compared KPDH to Disney’s princess franchise, which London-based Brand Finance values at $4 billion.
• Netflix is rolling out KPDH-branded merchandise, including clothing, accessories, and souvenirs. Funko is taking preorders for Funko Pop figurines, and fans are selling KPDH crafts on Etsy. Nongshim’s KPDH-branded instant-noodle cups are selling for up to $56.99 on eBay.
• Netflix paid Sony Pictures Entertainment $20 million in addition to its nearly $100 million production budget to stream KPDH, and is paying an extra $5 million to keep those rights in perpetuity, The Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar with the deal.

What’s Next: Netflix’s Co-CEO and Director Theodore Sarandos credited KPDH’s “phenomenal” debut to its combination of music, pop culture, storytelling, and animation, adding: “The fact that people are in love with this film and in love with the music from this film, that’ll keep it going for a long time.”

— Janet H. Cho

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—Newsletter edited by Liz Moyer, Patrick O’Donnell, Callum Keown