Author: Henry Kanapi

Fundstrat’s Tom Lee warns that the stock market could face a sharp stress test in 2026, before powerful policy backstops set the stage for a strong rebound. In a new CNBC interview, the Fundstrat co-founder says markets are coming off an unusually strong run, with the S&P 500 likely finishing this year around 7,000 after three straight years of roughly 20% gains. But Lee notes that the pace is unlikely to continue uninterrupted. “We’re three years at 20% gains, so I think there’s a deceleration of what the market can do next year.” Lee points to a cluster of political…

Howard Marks is raising a different kind of alarm on artificial intelligence, saying the biggest danger is not mass unemployment but something harder to measure and far more destabilizing to society. In a fresh interview with Bloomberg, the Oaktree Capital co-founder shifts from markets to society, believing that AI could change the nature of work in ways that reach deeper than economics. Marks says his concern stems from the impact of the Internet revolution on society about 25 years ago, when the tech cycle displaced white-collar workers and created new blue-collar roles. He notes that while headline job counts remained…

Macro analyst Luke Gromen is raising alarms about the financial consequences of rapid AI adoption, arguing that white-collar workers are far more exposed to disruption than most analysts acknowledge. In a new interview on The Money Matters Network, the macro guru says AI and automation could undercut labor market and wage stability for millions of white-collar workers, leading to all types of credit delinquency. “Ultimately, AI automating so much information work means AI creating massive amounts of mortgage delinquencies and car loan delinquencies, etc. Because look, white collar people have no idea what’s coming for them.” According to Gromen, banks…

An Apple co-founder is suing an AI consultant who allegedly drew him into a months-long scheme involving false assurances, questionable business activity, among others. Ronald G. Wayne, the Apple co-founder who sold 10% of his stake for $800 in 1976, accuses Joann Coffey and entities KGU International LLC and the JC Coffey Foundation Inc. of elder exploitation and fraud, reports Law.com. According to a lawsuit filed in the U.S. District Court (District of Nevada), Wayne, now 91, alleges he was targeted after being approached during the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas with a proposal to create an AI avatar…

OpenAI is pushing its newest model into the market with a performance jump built for real work, delivering sharper reasoning, stronger task execution and a smoother experience across long documents and multi-step workflows. In a new product release, OpenAI says GPT-5.2 is designed to do better on complex, meaningful work than earlier versions. It scores higher on real-world benchmarks that measure task performance involving spreadsheets, presentations, math, science, logic and reasoning. The company says the model can handle longer inputs—like long reports, big documents, extended code, and multi-step problems—without losing track of what matters. It keeps coherence and accuracy across much…

Disney is pushing into generative video with a multi-year deal with OpenAI that gives Sora access to hundreds of the entertainment giant’s characters. In a new announcement, OpenAI says that it signed an agreement with Disney to become the first major content licensing partner on Sora, the firm’s generative AI video platform. The three-year deal allows Sora users to generate short, user-prompted videos that involve 200 characters from Disney, Marvel, Pixar and Star Wars. The animated characters include costumes, props, vehicles and iconic environments. “Alongside the licensing agreement, Disney will become a major customer of OpenAI, using its APIs to…

Banking giant Citi believes that Q4 will serve as a turning point for the corporate AI cycle, marking the first measurable impact of enterprise adoption at scale. In a new CNBC interview, Heath Terry, Citi’s head of technology and communications, says the current AI surge is unlike any previous technology cycle. “No, I mean there’s never been anything like this. I mean, people make comparisons to 1999. There is no comparison to be made. This is uncharted territory.” He expands his point by noting that this time appears to be different, as real customers are already driving the AI surge.…

Steve Eisman, the investor best known for flagging the hidden fault lines in the US mortgage market over a decade ago, is now watching a different corner of the market with growing unease In a new CNBC interview, Steve Eisman, who is known for nailing the 2008 housing market collapse, says he’s keeping a close watch on the emerging split inside the AI research community and why it matters for markets powering the boom. He cites an argument presented by NYU professor Gary Marcus, who said that large language models (LLMs) will lose their efficacy as they scale, meaning the…

Billionaire Howard Marks believes that the AI boom carries the familiar signatures of a technological bubble, but notes that investors seem to have learned from the mistakes of past cycles. In a new interview with Bloomberg, the co-founder of Oaktree Capital Management highlights that there are two types of market bubbles: unproductive and productive. Marks says the AI boom belongs to the second category. “Well, I think that the unproductive bubbles I would describe as financial fads. Portfolio insurance was one. Subprime mortgages were another, just financial activities that become fashionable, zoom into popularity, get overhyped, and then recede. But…

Blackstone president and COO Jonathan Gray believes that America’s economic backdrop is looking sturdier than the headlines suggest, as the US heads into 2026 continuing to flash resilience. In a new CNBC interview, Gray points to revenue growth across Blackstone’s portfolio of companies, while highlighting that the AI CapEx boom is a major driver of US economic activity. “Our companies in the third quarter [saw] their revenue growth in private equity was up 9%. This AI CapEx boom has really fueled a lot of business activity, particularly in the United States.” According to Gray, signs of easing inflation plus a…