ASEAN Summit 2025 in Kuala Lumpur: Tariff issues hog the spotlight
CNBC's JP Ong leads our coverage at the ASEAN Summit in Malaysia's capital Kuala Lumpur, interviewing ASEAN Secretary-General Kao Kim Hourn on the upcoming trilateral meetings with officials from China and the Gulf nations, plus discussions on finding ways to ride out the disruptions caused by U.S. tariffs.
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Miami Herald
25 minutes ago
- Miami Herald
Tesla robotaxi launch hits major speed bump
Once its launch in Austin, Texas, proves successful, Tesla plans to expand its robotaxi program to multiple cities. Self-driving Teslas have already been spotted on city streets with a human riding shotgun ahead of the program's official launch. "It's prudent for us to start with a small number, confirm that things are going well, and then scale it up," Musk told CNBC's David Faber last month. Related: First look: Tesla's biggest bet in years makes street debut However, once it proves its concept in Austin, Tesla plans to expand the robotaxi program to Los Angeles and San Francisco soon after. With Tesla's plan to expand in the state, Musk will be heading back into that regulatory environment, except now the rules governing autonomous driving are much stricter. But first things first. Tesla must first prove that its camera-based Full Self-Driving software is capable of navigating complex urban environments in Austin. "Consumers are skeptical of the full self-driving (FSD) technology that undergirds the robotaxi proposition, with 60% considering Tesla's full self-driving 'unsafe,' 77% unwilling to utilize full self-driving technology, and a substantial share (48%) believing full self-driving should be illegal," the May 2025 edition of the Electric Vehicle Intelligence Report (EVIR) said. Tesla has some work to do to convince the public that it is ready to drive U.S. roads without human assistance. Image source: vanTesla offers users a different suite of driver assistance programs based on their subscription level. The most advanced supervised FSD features include automatic lane change, navigation, traffic light and stop sign recognition, autoparking, and the ability to "smart summon" your vehicle to you from miles away. But a new video circulating on X, which Tesla CEO Elon Musk owns, suggests that the software undergirding the system isn't ready for prime time. One user who says he uses FSD for over two hours of travel daily in the Philadelphia area showed a video that should concern any driver who shares the road with these vehicles. Related: Tesla takes drastic measures to keep robotaxi plans secret The Cybertruck makes a blind left turn and ends up on the wrong side of a two-lane roadway. The onboard display shows that the vehicle's computer recognizes that it is in the wrong lane. Still, it drives along anyway for a good 10 seconds before the driver takes control of the vehicle, just seconds before oncoming traffic arrives. Respondents under the post shared unverified accounts of similar incidents with their Tesla. One Cybertruck owner said, "Exact same thing happened to me yesterday, just shifted into wrong oncoming lane and started logging down the street." Another Cybertruck owner said, "The Cybertruck we just picked up two days ago is our 7th Tesla and have been using FSD from the far I'm pretty disappointed in the FSD for CT. It consistently drifts over the yellow line when in the left lane on the highways." The original poster responded to this comment by saying, "Yea it really does hug the left lane." Piper Sandler analyst Alexander Potter and his team don't think FSD version 13 is advanced enough to handle the challenge. Piper Sandler had an overweight rating on Tesla, and FSD is the most significant contributor to the company's long-term $400 price target as of May. Despite its bullish outlook, the firm says that FSD version 13 cannot support truly autonomous vehicles without human control. More on Tesla: Tesla claims rival startup is built on stolen trade secrets10,000 people join crazy Tesla class action lawsuitTesla execs question Elon Musk over controversial X post The video above suggests the firm is right. Still, Piper Sandler came to this conclusion after a recent call with Elias Martinez, the creator of the FSD Community Tracker, which monitors FSD's progress. Tesla hasn't had a public update to version 13 since it debuted nearly five months ago. Piper Sandler speculates that the company has been focusing on making the Austin launch a success during that time. Piper Sandler reaffirmed its overweight rating and $400 price target based on Tesla's commitment to launching its robotaxi program in the coming weeks. The firm said Tesla's push forward with robotaxi was "the most important Q1 takeaway." However, the firm now believes Tesla's technology can't handle the task and still retains its bullish outlook. Related: Tesla's robotaxi rollout is alarming the public, new report shows The Arena Media Brands, LLC THESTREET is a registered trademark of TheStreet, Inc.
TechCrunch
an hour ago
- TechCrunch
Amazon expects to reduce corporate jobs due to AI
In Brief Amazon CEO Andy Jassy is betting that generative AI will change how the company thinks about its workforce in the future. Jassy said that as the company continues to roll out more AI agents, and thus change how the company's work is done, he expects Amazon will reduce the number of corporate jobs needed in the future, according to a memo that was first covered by CNBC. 'We will need fewer people doing some of the jobs that are being done today, and more people doing other types of jobs,' Jassy wrote in the memo. He added that the size of this future reduction of workforce is hard to estimate. A recent survey from the World Economic Forum found that potential reductions in workforce due to AI may already be happening. The survey found that 40% of employers plan to cut staff that are doing roles that can be automated by AI.
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Fidelity: 7 Investments To Get To Inflation-Proof Your Portfolio
According to U.S. Labor Department data published on June 11, the annual inflation rate (measured by the consumer price index) for the U.S. was 2.4% for the 12 months ending in May. This was up 0.1% from the 12 months ending in April. Inflation remains much lower than it was at this time last year and has been hovering just above the Federal Reserve's target of 2% for several months. 'It was a very good report. Basically, it says inflation has finally gotten back to the Federal Reserve's annual inflation target,' Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody's, told CNBC. However, many economists are predicting that President Donald Trump's tariff strategy may have a detrimental effect on inflation in the months ahead. 'I think it's the calm before the inflation storm,' Zandi told CNBC. 'This [report] still reflects the disinflation that began a few years ago and continued on through the month of May.' Read Next: Learn More: With consumer price and inflation worries constant and recession fears cooling but refusing to go away completely, it's a shrewd move to place some defensive investments in your portfolio. Here are seven ways that Fidelity recommended defending against inflation through diversifying your portfolio. Stocks can be negatively affected in the short term by sudden inflation increases or economic downturns. However, long-term equity investments have typically produced returns that are significantly higher than inflation, according to Fidelity. If you're invested for the long haul, don't hurry to change your financial plan. 'In a growing economy, companies that issue stock can grow earnings in real terms during inflationary environments by raising prices in response to higher input costs,' said Anu Gaggar, Fidelity's vice president of capital markets strategy. Find Out: Home country bias — the tendency to invest primarily in one's own country's companies — is a global phenomenon, but not all of the world's economies trend the same. If near-term U.S. prospects worry you, investing in emerging foreign markets can help spread out a portfolio over-dependent on U.S. stocks. 'Many U.S. investors have this misguided notion that the S&P 500 Index is the be-all and end-all of the stock market,' said Jeffrey Kleintop, Schwab's chief global investment strategist. 'But if you're not investing abroad, you're missing out on more than half the global market.' Fidelity cautioned, however, that international stocks can be more volatile. According to Fidelity, investors concerned about inflation could look into investing in Treasury Inflation-Protected Securities (TIPS), which are government bonds whose face value and interest rate payments rise and fall with inflation. According to TreasuryDirect, TIPS are available for five-, 10- and 30-year terms, and at the time of maturity, you'll get back either the original principal or an increased price based on inflation. However, you won't get a lower principal than what you paid. Although Fidelity pointed out that gold shouldn't occupy a significant part of your portfolio (because it doesn't pay out income through interest or dividends), it has a strong historical record as a broad inflation hedge in times of economic turmoil. However, although it's been a hot commodity recently, gold seems to perform best when inflation is significantly higher than it is now. For unexpected changes in the inflation rate, or shocks, it might be wise to look at other commodities. Commodities besides gold (agriculture, energy, metals, etc.) have proved to be extremely resilient to inflation and have been an important hedge for stocks and bonds during periods of rising prices and wages. According to Goldman Sachs Research, during inflation shocks, commodities returned real gains of 7 percentage points, compared with a decline of 3 and 4 percentage points for stocks and bonds, respectively. Like gold, real estate has proved to be a sought-after investment with significant protective and potentially lucrative value, per Fidelity. Having a fixed-rate home mortgage is a good hedge against inflation, but investing in income-generating real estate might be the best protection against rising prices. Investing in real income properties — through either directly purchasing single- or multi-family homes or passively investing in syndications sponsored by private equity firms — can increase your income as inflation and rents rise. Floating-rate loans can serve as a hedge against inflation because their interest rates vary along with current rates. Borrowers pay higher interest on loans as market rates rise, protecting their primary market value. This provides an edge over standard fixed-rate bonds, which typically see price losses as interest rates rise. 'Floating-rate debt has one of the best 'hit rates,' or historical odds, of outperforming inflation,' Gaggar said. More From GOBankingRates How Much Money Is Needed To Be Considered Middle Class in Every State? This article originally appeared on Fidelity: 7 Investments To Get To Inflation-Proof Your Portfolio Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
