Preview of US Stock Market | U.S. stock index futures all rise, oil prices pull back, White House AI tech executive lunch meeting and OpenAI DevDay approach.

**Pre-Market Market Moves** 1. On Tuesday, September 29, ahead of the U.S. stock market open, all three major U.S. stock index futures rose. As of press time, Dow futures were up 0.29%, S&P 500 index futures were up 0.26%, and Nasdaq futures were up 0.45%. 2. As of press time, Germany's DAX index was up 0.74%, the UK's FTSE 100 was up 0.24%, France's CAC 40 was up 0.24%, and the Euro Stoxx 50 was up 0.95%. 3. As of press time, WTI crude oil fell 1.98% to $90.77 per barrel. Brent crude oil fell 1.77% to $96.10 per barrel. **Market News** **OpenAI will not release GPT-6.1 Astra before DevDay due to failure to meet safety standards.** OpenAI has decided not to release its upcoming AI model GPT-6.1 Astra after determining that the model does not sufficiently meet the company's safety standards. CNBC confirmed the news on Monday. The decision comes just one day before OpenAI's annual developer conference, as concerns over the safety of advanced AI models continue to mount across the industry. Leadership at OpenAI's main competitor Anthropic urged AI companies earlier this month in an article to slow the pace of model development, a position OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has supported. Saachi Jain, head of OpenAI's safety systems, said in a statement: "We of course want to ensure model development is safe, both within the company and when delivering to users. But when delivering to users, we set extremely high bars for safety and alignment." **U.S. House Speaker: White House AI summit will focus on finding a balance between innovation and regulation.** U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson said that President Trump's meeting with tech executives on artificial intelligence on Tuesday will focus on how to strike a balance between innovation and regulation, as the federal government seeks to clarify its role in this emerging technology sector. According to people familiar with the matter, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei, OpenAI co-founder Greg Brockman, and NVIDIA Corporation CEO Jensen Huang are among those expected to attend Tuesday's meeting with Trump and Johnson. Other possible attendees include Alphabet Inc. Class C CEO Sundar Pichai and Elon Musk, head of SpaceX and xAI. The White House meeting comes as several leading AI companies are calling for a slowdown in the development of increasingly powerful AI systems, warning of the potential risks to humanity and urging governments to work together to manage this growing technology. **U.S. Treasury yields hit 20-year highs, traders flood into fixed-income ETF options at record pace.** As 10-year and 30-year U.S. Treasury yields rose to 20-year highs, traders are rushing into options tied to fixed-income ETFs at a record pace, eager to readjust their portfolios. Options trading volume in BlackRock, Inc.'s iShares 20+ Year Treasury Bond ETF (TLT) surged, with the 20-day average options volume hitting the highest level in the ETF's history. Open interest, or existing positions held by investors, has more than doubled over the past year and is approaching the record 13.55 million contracts set before last week's monthly expiration. **Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. warns: risk premiums have risen to a five-month high, and investors are starting to "choke."** Amanda Lynam, head of credit strategy at Goldman Sachs Group, Inc., said the surge in corporate bond supply in the U.S. high-yield bond market is starting to overwhelm bond investors and has pushed risk premiums to their highest level in five months. "The market is bracing for the kind of episodic indigestion we saw in the investment-grade bond market earlier this summer. The same thing is now happening in the high-yield bond market," Lynam said Monday in an interview. **A major reversal amid the Treasury selloff! Bond market veteran Bianco turns bullish for the first time in six years, calling 5% yields a "value buying point."** On Wall Street, few are willing to turn bullish at the bond market's darkest moment. But Jim Bianco did. The macro strategist, with more than four decades of experience and stints at First Boston and UBS Group AG, now heads Chicago-based Bianco Research. Since the 10-year Treasury yield hit a record low of 0.3% at the depths of the pandemic in 2020, he has been one of the bond market's most steadfast bears. Now, however, with benchmark yields surging to near 20-year highs, he has unclenched his bearish fist for the first time, gradually building long positions in a posture of "value buying." **Fed Governor Cook: AI productivity gains difficult to curb inflation, Fed may need to tighten further.** In prepared remarks for an event Monday in Oakland, California, Cook said future productivity gains from artificial intelligence may not be enough to offset near-term price pressures and warned the trend could push up inflation across the economy. She expects productivity gains to deliver a modest disinflationary effect in coming years, but said those effects will not arrive in time to offset broadening inflationary pressures later this year. Cook said the Fed's decision to raise rates earlier this month was necessary to address high inflation, and future policy actions will be guided by economic data. **JP Morgan: Valuation reset for the Magnificent Seven may be largely complete.** After the Nasdaq 100 hit a new high last week, Wall Street financial giant JPMorgan began following Goldman Sachs Group, Inc., Jefferies Financial Group Inc., Yardeni Research, and other giants in turning bullish on U.S. tech stocks, which has partly driven institutional and retail investors to increasingly focus on buy-the-dip strategies during Monday's U.S. stock market pullback. JPMorgan believes the overall valuation adjustment for the Magnificent Seventhe seven tech giants that carry heavy weight in the U.S. stock marketmay be largely complete, and earnings growth is expected to once again become the main force supporting share prices. JPMorgan said the Magnificent Seven's forward 12-month P/E ratio relative to the broader market has fallen to about one standard deviation below the historical median, at a decade low. **Worse than 2008? Beyond the AI bubble, a new fund backed by "Big Short" Burry targets private credit risk.** While Wall Street is busy searching for bubble signs in AI stocks, a new hedge fund associated with "Big Short" Michael Burry has set its sights on another potentially more dangerous directionprivate credit. Minerva Investment Management, a short-biased fund managed by Laks Ganapathi, has hired Burry as a senior advisor. The fund is looking for short targets in industries including healthcare, retail, restaurants, and small banks. Ganapathi said many companies in these industries have financing tied to private credit and may be quietly "rotting." Short-biased funds are typically set up as hedge funds and mainly profit when stock prices fall. Ganapathi declined to disclose specific short targets or the fund's size. She said the fund will launch later this month. "AI doesn't represent the whole market, even though it looks like it does," Ganapathi said. "For us, credit is the leading indicator and signal for judging where the market is headed." **Consulting giant Bain sounds the alarm: the global AI industry needs $6 trillion in annual revenue to support the data center "cash-burning spree."** Global consulting giant Bain said that by 2031, the global artificial intelligence (AI) industry will need to generate $6 trillion in annual revenue to justify the massive capital investment currently being poured into building data centers worldwide. In its annual global technology report released Tuesday, Bain said existing consumer and enterprise AI services could contribute at most $1.8 trillion of that, meaning $4.2 trillion in new revenue still needs to be created. Bain said this revenue gap could come from areas still in their infancy, such as autonomous driving machines and Siasun Robot&Automation, as well as emerging fields such as drug discovery, mental health, and energy production. **Japan's finance minister reiterates concern: an undervalued yen is a "big problem," will work closely with the U.S. to maintain FX market order.** Japanese Finance Minister Katayama Satsuki said a weak yen remains an ongoing concern, and Japan and the U.S. will continue to maintain close contact in seeking to keep foreign exchange markets operating in an orderly manner. "As Takaichi Sanae said during the recent Japan-U.S. summit in New York, I think that, generally speaking, an undervalued yen is a problem. We will continue to maintain close communication between Japanese and American Financial Group, Inc. authorities and work to maintain orderly operation of the foreign exchange market," Katayama said Tuesday. Katayama made the remarks after a phone call with U.S. Treasury Secretary Bessent late Friday. **Stock News** **AMD (AMD.US), now past a trillion-dollar market cap, begins competing for the "right to define computing power"! Officially announces an $8.2 billion acquisition of Fei-Fei Li's World Labs.** AMD abruptly announced on Monday U.S. Eastern Time that it will acquire World Labs, the AI startup founded by "AI godmother" Fei-Fei Li, for $8.2 billion. It is reported that AMD, led by Lisa Su, plans to acquire Fei-Fei Li's World Labs in an all-stock deal valued at $8.2 billion, bringing one of the most core AI R&D forces in world models and spatial intelligence into the chip supergiant's comprehensive business portfolio. The large-scale acquisition is expected to be completed by the end of 2026 and still requires approval from key regulators. According to a joint statement, after the closing procedures are completed, Fei-Fei Li will serve as AMD executive vice president and chief scientist, reporting directly to AMD CEO Lisa Su. **SpaceX (SPCX.US) Starship reaches orbit for the first time and completes a revenue-generating mission, but an engine failure ends the mission early.** SpaceX's (SPCX.US) next-generation heavy-lift rocket Starship entered orbit for the first time on Monday and deployed new Starlink satellites. Although an engine failure caused the mission to end early, its 14th test flight still achieved a milestone. The uncrewed flight was originally planned to last 10 hours, but after Starship separated from the lower Super Heavy booster, one of the three main engines shut down early, shortening the mission to 3 hours. Monday's engine failure is the latest setback for Starship since test flights began in 2023. It is not yet clear how much this will affect the goal of Elon Musk's newly listed company to put Starship into regular service later this year. Unlike previous Starship flights, Monday's mission was both a high-risk test of the next-generation rocket and an operational mission to send millions of dollars' worth of Starlink satellites into orbit, marking Starship's first revenue-generating mission even as its final design is still under development. **Backed by a $2 billion investment from Astrazeneca PLC Sponsored ADR (AZN.US) and jointly developing drugs! Summit (SMMT.US) surges in response.** After Astrazeneca PLC Sponsored ADR announced an investment in U.S. biotech company Summit Therapeutics and a collaboration on a new cancer drug, Astrazeneca PLC Sponsored ADR rose about 2% in Tuesday pre-market trading, while SMMT extended gains, rising about 23%. Analysts at JPMorgan and Citi welcomed the deal, saying it aligns with Astrazeneca PLC Sponsored ADR's cancer strategy. **Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (JEF.US) Q3 equity trading jumps 29%, but dragged down by asset management missteps.** Jefferies Financial Group Inc.'s latest quarterly results were sharply divided: equity trading and investment banking delivered record results, but bad bets in the asset management division continued to weigh on performance and keep the market wary about its platform restructuring prospects. In the third fiscal quarter ended August 31, net revenue in Jefferies Financial Group Inc.'s asset management business fell to $85.6 million, down more than 50% from nearly $177 million a year earlier; fee and investment return revenue plunged to $34 million from $84 million. The problem mainly stemmed from Leucadia Asset Management's Point Bonita fund's exposure to First Brands Group and Radiant World. First Brands is a bankrupt auto parts supplier, while Radiant World faces fraud allegations. According to previous reports, Jefferies Financial Group Inc.'s exposure to Radiant World is less than $300 million. **U.S. relaxes fuel standards, sharply cutting automakers' technology costs: General Motors Company (GM.US) could save $20.4 billion, with per-vehicle prices potentially falling by nearly $1,300.** According to NHTSA, because the fuel economy standards finalized this week were significantly reduced, General Motors Company's technology costs are expected to fall by $20.4 billion by 2031. Similarly, Stellantis (STLA.US) technology costs will fall by $6.2 billion, Ford (F.US) by $5.1 billion, Hyundai Motor (HYMLF.US) by $5.3 billion, Toyota (TM.US) by $4.5 billion, and Honda (HMC.US) by $4.1 billion. Overall, NHTSA expects automakers' technology costs to fall by $60.6 billion by 2031. The agency predicted, "If the cost savings are passed on to consumers, NHTSA estimates that the average cost per new vehicle in model year 2031 will be reduced by $1,289." **Samsung steps up AI infrastructure push! Invests $1 billion in KKR (KKR.US)-backed Helix Digital.** Several companies under Samsung Group, including Samsung Electronics, agreed to invest a combined $1 billion in U.S. company Helix Digital Infrastructure, backed by private equity giant KKR, further expanding the South Korean conglomerate's footprint in the rapidly growing AI infrastructure market. According to a statement released by Samsung on Tuesday, Samsung Electronics, Samsung C&T, Samsung SDS, Samsung SDI, Samsung Life Insurance, and Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance will participate in the investment. The investment will give South Korea's largest industrial group a stake in a company whose business spans multiple sectors where Samsung already has significant operations, including semiconductors, construction, data centers, cloud computing, and finance. Helix was jointly founded in June by KKR, the Kuwait Investment Authority, NVIDIA Corporation (NVDA.US), and American Electric Power Company, Inc. producer Vistra (VST.US), and has secured more than $10 billion in long-term capital commitments. **Tesla, Inc. (TSLA.US) Roadster unveiling rescheduled to October 15 as severe weather halts event.** Tesla, Inc. has rescheduled the unveiling event for its next-generation Roadster, originally set for this week, to October 15. The company said in an update on social media platform X: "We have been closely tracking weather conditions with local meteorologists, but given the severe weather forecast and the fact that the event can only be held outdoors, we made the difficult decision to reschedule." The event is still expected to take place at SpaceX's test site in McGregor, Texas. The electric vehicle maker has not yet announced final pricing, production timelines, or customer delivery dates for the highly anticipated Roadster. **Key Economic Data and Events Preview** 22:00 Beijing time: U.S. August JOLTs job openings (in ten thousands), U.S. September Conference Board consumer confidence index 23:00 Beijing time: Fed Governor Bowman speaks Time TBD that day: U.S. President Trump, House Speaker Johnson, and several tech company CEOs hold a meeting on artificial intelligence 00:00 Beijing time the next day: OpenAI CEO Altman interviewed by CNBC 00:40 Beijing time the next day: Fed Governor Barr speaks 01:00 Beijing time the next day: 2027 FOMC voter and Chicago Fed President Goolsbee speaks; OpenAI CEO Altman delivers keynote at OpenAI DevDay 01:30 Beijing time the next day: 2028 FOMC voter and St. Louis Fed President Musalem speaks at the London School of Economics 02:00 Beijing time the next day: Permanent FOMC voter and New York Fed President Williams delivers keynote at the University at Buffalo 03:00 Beijing time the next day: Fed Governor Waller speaks 04:30 Beijing time the next day: U.S. API crude oil inventory change for the week ending September 25 (in ten thousand barrels), U.S. API gasoline inventory change for the week ending September 25 (in ten thousand barrels)