Key TakeawaysFederal Reserve officials signaled a "wait and see" approach, maintaining interest rates in the 3.5% to 3.75% range as they evaluate the impact of AI-driven productivity and persistent inflation.Nvidia (NVDA) has yet to ship any H200 AI chips to China, according to U.S. Commerce Department officials, despite a policy shift in December allowing for case-by-case export reviews.HP Inc (HPQ) warned of prolonged memory chip volatility, with rising DRAM and NAND prices expected to impact margins thro ...

Core Insights - Software stocks, including design software, have faced significant declines due to concerns over artificial intelligence impacts, with Adobe's stock down 30% this year [1] - Canva is actively acquiring startups to enhance its competitive position against Adobe, purchasing Cavalry and MangoAI to bolster its animation and video capabilities [2] Company Developments - Canva has acquired Cavalry, which specializes in two-dimensional animation software, and MangoAI, which focuses on short video creation for advertising [2] - The terms of the acquisitions were not disclosed, but both startups are expected to help Canva compete more effectively with Adobe [2] Product Integration - Canva plans to integrate Cavalry's animation technology into its core product and the Affinity application, which was made free after its acquisition in 2024 [4] - MangoAI will be incorporated into the Canva Grow advertisement generator, which is available at $250 per person per year, enhancing video performance tracking and recommendations [5] Market Position and Financials - Canva reported over $4 billion in annualized revenue for 2025, a 36% increase from the previous year, while Adobe's revenue for the November quarter was $6.2 billion, up 10% [7] - Canva's market valuation was noted at $42 billion in August, prior to the recent downturn in software stock prices [7] AI and User Experience - Canva's co-founder emphasized the importance of human input in content creation, stating that while AI can assist, the final touches that ensure brand representation are crucial [8] - The company has not experienced a slowdown in revenue or user growth, attributing improvements in product quality to the integration of AI [9]

TikTok Shop could soon be bigger than Walmart, a new report shows. As e-commerce continues to grow rapidly, a new report from commerce agency Flywheel projects that ByteDance, the Chinese owner of TikTok Shop, could become a top-three global retailer across all categories by 2030. More from WWD The report estimates that TikTok Shop could be responsible for 14.6 percent of global marketplace share by 2030, driving roughly $1 trillion in sales. It also estimates that Amazon will take the number-one spot wi ...

Sprouts has displayed steady growth rates. Over the past 10 years, its revenues and earnings have clocked CAGRs of 9.80% and 15.79%, respectively. It may not be spectacular, but the company has grown sustainably, as evidenced by the manageable amount of debt on its books.What led to this rise, and how come it was able to convince a tech native like Laffont to buy its shares? Let's find out.Valued at a market cap of $6.6 billion, the SFM stock is down 14% on a year-to-date (YTD) basis. Notably, Laffont bough ...

NEW YORK, Feb. 18, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- SunCar Technology Group Inc. (the "Company" or "SunCar") (NASDAQ: SDA), a leader in digitalizing auto insurance in China, integrated ByteDance's Doubao LLM ("Doubao") into its digital auto insurance platform beginning in Q3 2025. SunCar is now expanding this integration with the launch of its Personalized Auto Insurance AI Agent. Recently, US Insurtech company, Insurify, launched its ChatGPT app to provide AI-powered insurance shopping for consumers. SunCar is pur ...

Core Insights - Gaxos.ai Inc. has finalized a partnership with Byteplus, the Enterprise Technology Division of ByteDance, which will provide preferred pricing and significant discounts on video generation models [1][2] - This collaboration aims to enhance Gaxos' flagship AI platform, Art-Gen, by enabling faster deployment of AI capabilities, thereby improving gross margins as user adoption scales [2][3] Company Developments - The partnership positions Gaxos to penetrate the multi-billion-dollar global creator economy by integrating advanced AI video tools into its ecosystem, reducing infrastructure costs and improving scalability [3] - Gaxos anticipates expanded monetization through Art-Gen's subscription and credit-based tiers, alongside improved margins due to rebates and preferred pricing [4] Leadership Perspective - The CEO of Gaxos expressed enthusiasm about the partnership, highlighting its potential to deliver exceptional creative power to users globally while enhancing the company's economic performance [4]

Core Insights - Alibaba has launched its latest AI model series, Qwen3, which integrates traditional large language model capabilities with advanced dynamic reasoning to enhance its competitive edge in the Chinese AI market [1] Model Features - The Qwen3.5 AI model is available in an open-weight version for users to download, run, fine-tune, and deploy on their own infrastructure, alongside a hosted version on Alibaba's servers [2] - Qwen3.5 features improvements in performance and cost, with native multimodal capabilities that allow it to process text, images, and video simultaneously [3] - The model supports new coding and agentic capabilities, compatible with popular open-source AI agents like those from OpenClaw [3] Competitive Landscape - Local competitors such as ByteDance and Zhipu AI have also released upgraded models aimed at enhancing agent capabilities [5] - Qwen3.5 has 397 billion parameters, which is fewer than its predecessor, but it has shown significant performance improvements based on self-reported benchmarks [5] - Benchmark tests indicate that Qwen3.5's performance is comparable to leading models from OpenAI, Anthropic, and Google DeepMind, although these comparisons are self-reported [6] Language Support and Future Developments - The new Qwen3.5 models support 201 languages and dialects, an increase from the previous generation's 82 [7] - Alibaba is expected to release more open-weight models during the Chinese New Year, as indicated by the technical lead of Alibaba Cloud's Qwen team [7] Industry Trends - The release of Anthropic's Claude AI agent tools has prompted other American AI companies to accelerate the development of agentic capabilities [8] - Industry leaders, including OpenAI and Google DeepMind, acknowledge that Chinese AI models are rapidly advancing and are only months behind their Western counterparts [8]

Group 1: U.S. Political and Economic Developments - President Trump expresses optimism about a potential nuclear agreement with Iran, predicting a deal could be reached within the next month [2] - Trump warns of "very traumatic" consequences for Iran if negotiations fail, indicating a "phase two" escalation that may include deploying a second aircraft carrier to the Middle East [3][10] Group 2: Corporate and Economic Trends in China - Chinese corporations are significantly reducing year-end bonuses due to squeezed profit margins and economic challenges, with 26% of white-collar workers expecting no bonuses for 2025 [4] - Despite the overall trend of cost-cutting, high-growth companies like JD.com have increased their bonus pool by 70%, while tech firms such as ByteDance and CATL continue to offer competitive incentives [5] Group 3: Forex and Commodities Market Insights - The U.S. Dollar maintains a strong position, putting pressure on major currency pairs, with the Pound Sterling approaching the 1.3600 support level ahead of key UK labor data [6][10] - Spot gold prices have fallen over 1% to approximately $4,988 per ounce, affected by low trading volumes due to the closure of Chinese exchanges for the Lunar New Year [7][10] Group 4: Environmental Policy and Aviation Industry - Environmental advocates are pressuring Brussels to reform the EU's aviation climate policy, particularly regarding long-haul flights that account for over 50% of European aviation emissions [8] - Airlines like Ryanair and EasyJet argue that current exemptions for long-haul flights unfairly disadvantage short-haul operators, while legacy carriers are adopting "Green Fares" and sustainable aviation fuel initiatives [9][10]

Core Viewpoint - The UK government is implementing new measures to regulate AI chatbots and social media platforms, particularly in response to concerns over the spread of sexually explicit content and the protection of children's wellbeing [2][3][4]. Group 1: Regulatory Measures - The UK government is closing a "loophole" in the Online Safety Act, making AI chatbots like OpenAI's ChatGPT and Google's Gemini subject to regulations against illegal content [2][3]. - New measures will require social media companies to retain data after a child's death unless the online activity is clearly unrelated to the death [4]. - The government is setting minimum age limits for social media platforms and restricting harmful features such as infinite scrolling [3][4]. Group 2: Industry Impact - The announcement reflects a shift in the UK government's approach to regulating technology, focusing on the design and behavior of technologies rather than just user-generated content [5][6]. - There is increased scrutiny on children's access to social media, with other countries like Australia and Spain implementing similar age restrictions [6][7]. - The House of Lords has voted to amend the Children's Wellbeing and Schools Bill to include a social media ban for under-16s, which will be reviewed by the House of Commons [8][9].

Group 1 - Seedance 2.0 has generated a significant amount of AI-generated videos featuring popular actors and characters, indicating a growing trend in the use of AI in content creation [1] - Disney is reportedly targeting its owner ByteDance in response to the proliferation of these AI-generated videos, suggesting potential conflicts between traditional media companies and emerging AI technologies [1] Group 2 - The rise of AI-generated content poses challenges for established companies like Disney, as they navigate the implications of intellectual property and content ownership in the digital age [1] - The situation highlights the broader industry trend of integrating AI into entertainment, which may reshape how content is produced and consumed [1]