Welcome to Markets Desk, your midday read on what's moving markets and the headlines behind them.
The global tech sell-off is deepening, with Asian markets taking a hard hit overnight as AI-related names in South Korea and Japan followed Wall Street lower. The catalyst was hotter-than-expected US inflation data, reminding investors that rate relief may still be further out than priced in, and risk appetite is thinning fast.
Turning to AI earnings, Anthropic is reporting third-quarter annualized revenue of sixteen point eight billion dollars ahead of its anticipated IPO. That's a striking figure for a company that wasn't generating meaningful commercial revenue just two years ago, and it puts serious pressure on valuation benchmarks across the private AI landscape heading into what could be a landmark public offering.
And on the OpenAI front, the attorney for former employee Abdulrahman Alfozan is pushing back hard against espionage-adjacent speculation, insisting the one-way flight to Saudi Arabia with his wife and child was pre-booked and calling the allegations wholly out of character. Alfozan faces charges tied to an alleged recording device planted at OpenAI's San Francisco headquarters, and the legal team is urging caution before conclusions are drawn.
That's the tape. Markets Desk, signing off the floor.
