Microsoft hits $4 trillion valuation as AI drives stock surge
The tech giant reported $27.2 billion in quarterly profits, with its stock jumping 5.3 percent.
Microsoft is now the second company to cross the $4 trillion mark, trailing AI leader Nvidia.
The Nasdaq Composite Index rose 1.3 percent to 21,396.04, while the S&P 500 gained 0.8 percent to 6,413.89, both setting new closing records.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average also climbed 0.3 percent to 44,584.16.
Market optimism was further boosted by news of a U.S.-South Korea trade deal, which imposed a 15 percent tariff on imports from the Asian nation.
Analysts viewed this as a positive resolution after months of uncertainty.
Despite concerns over rising inflation—June's personal consumption expenditures price index increased to 2.6 percent year-on-year—tech stocks remained resilient.
Meta, Facebook's parent company, soared 12.5 percent after posting $18.3 billion in quarterly profits, driven by advertising growth and AI investments. – AFP
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Malay Mail
5 hours ago
- Malay Mail
Chow Kon Yeow: Penang's RM296m ‘GBS By The Sea' hub fully occupied by global tech firms
GEORGE TOWN, Aug 2 — Penang continued to cement its status as a global business and technology hub with the official launch of 'GBS By The Sea', a landmark RM296 million development located in Technoplex Bayan Lepas. Penang Chief Minister Chow Kon Yeow hailed the project as a bold statement and a clear example of Penang's transition into a knowledge-based, innovation-driven economy. He said GBS By The Sea is the fourth project under the global business services (GBS) initiative, spanning 290,000 square feet (sq ft) of space. 'The GBS By The Sea facility is already fully occupied, with three global industry leaders, namely Advanced Micro Devices Global Services (AMD), Celestica Platform and Cloud Solutions Malaysia and the Microsoft Knowledge Capital Centre. 'These global companies are not only investing in Penang, but they are also creating over 1,000 quality jobs for our local talent in areas like research and development (R&D), engineering, digital services and more. These are the kind of high-value, future-ready jobs that we want for Penangites,' he said during the GBS By The Sea launching ceremony in Bayan Lepas today. Also present at the ceremony were State Infrastructure, Transport and Digital Committee chairman Zairil Khir Johari, Majlis Bandaraya Pulau Pinang (MBPP) Mayor Datuk A Rajendran and Penang Development Corporation (PDC) chief executive officer Datuk Aziz Bakar. Chow elaborated that the facility is not just a workplace but also equipped with a gym, cafeteria and a six-storey car park with 800 bays. He emphasised that GBS would play a vital role in Penang's next chapter, moving from being a manufacturing hub to becoming a knowledge-based and tech-forward economy. 'Projects like GBS By The Sea help us make that transition not just in words, but in real ways that matter to businesses and workers. 'With the announcement of 13th Malaysia Plan (13MP), which puts a strong focus on the transition to 'Made by Malaysia' and aims for higher growth and higher value creation, GBS By The Sea fits perfectly into this big picture — it's local, it's future-focused, and it brings value,' he said. Chow also announced that PDC is already working on its fifth GBS project, namely 'GBS at Technoplex', a RM500 million development offering over 400,000 sqft of space. He said that even though construction has not been completed, 16 per cent of the building has already been pre-booked by tenants, reflecting strong demand and high confidence in Penang's potential. — Bernama
The Star
6 hours ago
- The Star
Behind Trump's South Korea deal, a plan to transform global shipbuilding
South Korea has pledged US$150 billion to help its shipbuilders enter the US market as part of its new trade deal with Washington, a move that could help America revive its shipbuilding industry and counter China's dominance in the sector. US President Donald Trump announced on Wednesday that the United States and South Korea had agreed a 'full and complete' trade deal, which would see the US impose a 15 per cent tariff on South Korean goods and receive US$350 billion of investment from its Asian ally. Shortly after, South Korean President Lee Jae-myung stated that US$150 billion of the promised investment would be dedicated to shipbuilding – an industry where South Korean firms are second only to China in global market share. The capital would provide 'solid support' for South Korean companies entering the US shipbuilding industry, Lee wrote in a Facebook post on Thursday. The wider US$350 billion investment package was intended to solidify bilateral cooperation in strategic industries, including semiconductors, he added. Seoul clarified in a media briefing on Thursday morning that the promised funds would not come in the form of direct equity investments, but 'will primarily consist of loans and guarantees'. Earlier this week, local media outlets in South Korea reported that Seoul had proposed a multibillion-dollar project to Washington named 'Make American Shipbuilding Great Again' during their trade negotiations, which would involve large-scale investments in the US by Korean shipbuilders and government financial support measures. State-run entities like the Export-Import Bank of Korea and Korea Trade Insurance Corporation were being considered for involvement in the scheme, South Korea's Yonhap News Agency reported on Monday. South Korea's shipbuilding industry is regarded as being uniquely positioned to assist Washington's ambition of reviving American shipbuilding and restraining China's dominance in the sector. Earlier this year, Washington announced plans to begin charging steep port fees targeting China-built or operated vessels from October. The policy appears to already be benefiting South Korea's shipbuilders as companies become nervous about placing new orders with Chinese shipyards. In the first half of 2025, South Korea's share of new vessel orders rose to 25.1 per cent in vessel gross tonnage terms, compared with 15 per cent last year. China's share, meanwhile, slipped to 51.8 per cent from 70 per cent, according to a report released by the Export-Import Bank of Korea on Monday. The report said South Korea's recovery in market share had largely been driven by US-China tensions, but added that the benefits may not last long, as US actions against China were likely to push up freight rates and logistics costs on US routes. However, analysts expressed scepticism about the feasibility of Seoul's investment pledge and cautioned that rebuilding America's shipbuilding capacity would likely be a long and challenging process. 'It is not the foreign country investing in the US. It is individual companies doing it, and the government cannot dictate what they will do,' said Lars Jensen, founder of the maritime consultancy Vespucci Maritime. He added that it was easy to announce a large investment figure over an unspecified time period, but that the actual implementation would be a different matter. Wu Jialu, a chief analyst of industrial research at Citic Futures, said the US$150 billion investment may prompt South Korean shipbuilders to build or acquire shipyards in the US, providing talent and technological support. South Korean firms could help improve the competitiveness of the US shipbuilding industry, particularly in the construction of high-value-added vessels, but reviving the whole industry would still be a protracted process due to supply chain and capacity limitations, she said. The full impact of the US port fees has yet to become clear, and future market trends would also depend on fleet renewal and upgrading demand, Wu added. Hanwha Ocean, one of South Korea's top shipbuilders, made a major investment in December to acquire Philly Shipyard in Philadelphia, which is currently the only US shipyard that is operated by a South Korean company. In late July, Hanwha Ocean's US subsidiary placed an order for a liquefied natural gas carrier at the Philly Shipyard, the first LNG carrier for export to be built in the US in nearly five decades. However, a significant portion of the construction will be carried out at Hanwha Ocean's Geoje shipyard in South Korea, while the Philly Shipyard will be responsible for US regulatory compliance and safety certifications, Hanwha said, noting it was 'laying the foundation for a collaborative production framework'. Japan also finalised a deal with the US in July that will see the creation of a US$550 billion fund to invest in a range of projects, including the construction and modernisation of US-based shipyards. - SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST
The Star
9 hours ago
- The Star
Trump fires US labor official over data and gets earlier than expected chance to reshape Fed
WASHINGTON/NEW YORK (Reuters) -President Donald Trump on Friday fired a top Labor Department official on the heels of a market-shocking weak scorecard of the U.S. job market, accusing her without evidence of manipulating the figures and adding to already growing concerns about the quality of economic data published by the federal government. In a second surprise economic policy development, the door for Trump to make an imprint on a Federal Reserve with which he clashes almost daily for not lowering interest rates opened much earlier than anticipated when Fed Governor Adriana Kugler unexpectedly announced her resignation on Friday afternoon. The two developments further rattled a stock market already reeling from his latest barrage of tariff announcements and the weak jobs data. The benchmark S&P 500 Index sank 1.6% in its largest daily drop in more than two months. Trump accused Erika McEntarfer, appointed by former President Joe Biden, of faking the jobs numbers. There is no evidence to back Trump's claims of data manipulation by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the statistical agency that compiles the closely watched employment report as well as consumer and producer price data. A representative for the BLS did not respond to a request for comment. Friday began with BLS reporting the U.S. economy created only 73,000 jobs in July, but more stunning were net downward revisions showing 258,000 fewer jobs had been created in May and June than previously reported. "We need accurate Jobs Numbers. I have directed my Team to fire this Biden Political Appointee, IMMEDIATELY. She will be replaced with someone much more competent and qualified," Trump said in a post on Truth Social. DATA CONCERNS A Trump administration official who requested anonymity said that while all economic data is noisy, the White House has been dissatisfied with how large the revisions have been in the recent data and issues with lower survey responses. The problem started during COVID and has not been addressed in the years since. "There are these underlying problems that have been festering here for years now that have not been rectified," the person said. "The markets and companies and the government need accurate data, and like, we just weren't getting that," the official said. The BLS has already reduced the sample collection for consumer price data as well as the producer price report, citing resource constraints. The government surveys about 121,000 businesses and government agencies, representing approximately 631,000 individual worksites for the employment report. The response rate has declined from 80.3% in October 2020 to about 67.1% in July, BLS data shows. A Reuters poll last month found 89 of 100 top policy experts had at least some worries about the quality of U.S. economic data, with most also concerned that authorities are not addressing the issue urgently enough. In addition to the concerns over job market data, headcount reductions at BLS have resulted in it scaling back the scope of data collection for the Consumer Price Index, one of the most important gauges of U.S. inflation, watched by investors and policymakers worldwide. Trump's move fed into concerns that politics may influence data collection and publication. "Politicizing economic statistics is a self-defeating act," said Michael Madowitz, principal economist at the Roosevelt Institute's Roosevelt Forward. "Credibility is far easier to lose than rebuild, and the credibility of America's economic data is the foundation on which we've built the strongest economy in the world. Blinding the public about the state of the economy has a long track record, and it never ends well." FED CHANGE SOONER THAN EXPECTED Meanwhile, Kugler's surprise decision to leave the Fed at the end of next week presents Trump an earlier-than-expected opportunity to install a potential successor to Fed Chair Jerome Powell on the central bank's Board of Governors. Trump has threatened to fire Powell repeatedly because the Fed chief has overseen a policymaking body that has not cut interest rates as Trump has demanded. Powell's term expires next May, although he could remain on the Fed board until January 31, 2028, if he chooses. Trump will now get to select a Fed governor to replace Kugler and finish out her term, which expires on January 31, 2026. A governor filling an unexpired term may then be reappointed to a full 14-year term. Some speculation has centered on the idea Trump might pick a potential future chair to fill that slot as a holding place. Leading candidates for the next Fed chair include Trump economic adviser Kevin Hassett, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, former Fed Governor Kevin Warsh and Fed Governor Chris Waller, a Trump appointee who this week dissented with the central bank's decision to keep rates on hold, saying he preferred to start lowering them now. Trump, as he was leaving the White House to spend the weekend at his Bedminster, New Jersey, estate, said he was happy to have the open slot to fill. "I would not read any political motivation into what [Kugler is] doing, although the consequence of what she's doing is she's calling Trump's bluff,"said Derek Tang, an analyst at LH Meyer, a research firm. "She's putting the ball in his court and saying, look, you're putting so much pressure on the Fed, and you want some control over nominees, well, here's a slot." (Additional reporting by Jasper Ward and Trevor Hunnicutt; Writing by Daniel Burns; Editing by Chris Reese and Nia Williams and Anna Driver)
