Welcome to Markets Desk, here's what's moving the conversation this Sunday.
Carnival and CarMax both delivered stronger than expected third quarter results last weekend, with Carnival shares surging more than thirteen percent and CarMax climbing nearly five. The beats offered a rare bright spot in consumer discretionary, a sector that has struggled all year as higher borrowing costs weigh on big-ticket spending. Challenges remain on the horizon for both names, but the market rewarded the outperformance decisively.
Shifting to infrastructure, Meta is quietly building one of the most ambitious undersea cable networks on the planet. The company just announced Petal, a roughly four thousand three hundred mile cable linking the United States and France, expected to enter service in twenty twenty nine. While data centers grab headlines, Meta's seafloor empire now spans six continents, giving the company direct control over the backbone of its global data flows.
And on the policy front, President Trump hosted leading artificial intelligence executives at the White House, where they signed a safety pledge committing to responsible AI development. Critics are already questioning whether voluntary commitments carry any real teeth, and the agreement contains no enforcement mechanism. The gesture signals Washington's growing attention to AI governance, but the gap between a pinky promise and binding regulation remains wide.
That's the tape. Markets Desk, signing off the floor.
