Good morning and welcome to Markets Desk.
Meta is writing a seventeen-point-one billion dollar check to settle claims from forty-seven states that Facebook and Instagram were deliberately engineered to addict children. The number that really matters here is ten — the votes Mark Zuckerberg controls for every single share, a dual-class structure that left ordinary shareholders powerless to challenge decisions that ultimately cost them dearly.
Across the Atlantic, the UK economy delivered a genuine surprise, growing zero-point-four percent in July, far outpacing the flat reading analysts had expected. The Office for National Statistics credited a broad-based expansion, with the global artificial intelligence boom providing meaningful lift to services — welcome news for the new government ahead of what promises to be a difficult first budget.
Staying in the AI space, Broadcom reported that its AI chip revenue surged two hundred twenty-one percent last quarter, a staggering figure by any measure. Yet the stock barely moved, which tells you something important — the market had already priced in extraordinary growth, and at these valuations, even exceptional results can leave investors unmoved.
That's the tape. Markets Desk, signing off the floor.
