Welcome to Markets Desk, here's what's moving the needle right now.
Berkshire Hathaway's Greg Abel confirmed that Warren Buffett personally drove the decision to build a position in Alphabet, framing it explicitly as an AI play. Abel says he consulted Buffett before participating in Alphabet's stock offering this year, signaling the Oracle of Omaha remains very much in the room on major capital allocation calls despite stepping back from the CEO role.
Shifting to currencies and rates, the dollar index gave back early gains and slipped into negative territory after crude oil retreated from a six-week high and Treasury yields moved lower in tandem. Softer oil prices ease near-term inflation expectations, which the market reads as a dovish signal for Fed policy, and that dynamic took the wind out of the dollar's overnight rally.
And on the social policy front, a new analysis out of MarketWatch puts hard numbers behind something economists have long argued — Social Security remains a critical income pillar across all earnings levels for older Americans, not just lower-income retirees. The takeaway from the data is clear: the program needs calibrated adjustment, not wholesale restructuring.
That's the tape. Markets Desk, signing off the floor.
