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A federal court has ruled that embattled Federal Reserve Gov. Lisa Cook can remain in her position while she fights President Donald Trump’s efforts to fire her.The ruling, which will almost certainly be appealed, is a blow to the Trump administration’s efforts to assert more control over the traditionally independent Fed, which sets short-term interest rates to achieve its congressionally mandated goals of stable prices and maximum employment. Congress has also sought to insulate the Fed from day-to-day politics.U.S. District Judge Jia Cobb late Tuesday granted Cook’s request for a preliminary injunction blocking her firing while the dispute makes its way through the courts. Cobb ruled that Cook would likely prevail in the lawsuit she filed late last month to overturn her firing.Trump, a Republican, said he was firing Cook on Aug. 25 over allegations raised by one of his appointees that she committed mortgage fraud related to two properties she purchased in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and Atlanta in 2021, before she joined the Fed. Cook is accused of saying the properties were “primary residences,” which could have resulted in lower down payments and mortgage rates than if either was designated a second home or investment property.The White House insisted Trump had the right to fire Cook.“President Trump lawfully removed Lisa Cook for cause due to credible allegations of mortgage fraud from her highly sensitive position overseeing financial institutions on the Federal Reserve Board of Governors,” White House spokesman Kush Desai said Wednesday in a statement. “This ruling will not be the last say on the matter, and the Trump Administration will continue to work to restore accountability and confidence in the Fed.”But Cobb ruled that the allegations likely weren’t sufficient legal cause to fire Cook. Under the law governing the Fed, governors can only be removed “for cause,” which Cobb said was limited to actions taken during a governor’s time in office.The “removal of a Federal Reserve Governor extends only to concerns about the Board member’s ability to effectively and faithfully execute their statutory duties, in light of events that have occurred while they are in office,” Cobb wrote. Cobb was appointed by President Joe Biden, a Democrat.“President Trump has not stated a legally permissible cause for Cook’s removal,” the ruling added.The decision means Cook will be able to participate in the Fed’s meeting Sept. 16-17, when it is expected to reduce its key short-term rate by a quarter-point to between 4% and 4.25%.Federal Reserve governors aren’t like cabinet secretaries and the law doesn’t allow a president to fire them over policy disagreements or because he simply wants to replace them. Congress sought to insulate the Fed from political pressure, the court noted, by giving Fed governors long, staggered terms that make it unlikely a president can appoint a majority of the board in a single term.“Allowing the President to unlawfully remove Governor Cook on unsubstantiated and vague allegations would endanger the stability of our financial system and undermine the rule of law,” Cook’s lawyer, Abbe Lowell, said in a written statement. “Governor Cook will continue to carry out her sworn duties as a Senate-confirmed Board Governor.”The court also directed the Fed’s board of governors and its chair, Jerome Powell, “to allow Cook to continue to operate as a member of the Board for the pendency of this litigation.”Lowell had argued in court filings that Cook was entitled to a hearing and a chance to respond to the charges before being fired but was not provided either. The court agreed that she was not provided due process by the Trump administration. Her lawsuit denied the charges but did not provide more details.The case could become a turning point for the 112-year-old Federal Reserve. No president has sought to fire a Fed governor before. Economists prefer independent central banks because they can do unpopular things like lifting interest rates to combat inflation more easily than elected officials.Many economists worry that if the Fed falls under the control of the White House, it will keep its key interest rate lower than justified by economic fundamentals to satisfy Trump’s demands for cheaper borrowing. That could accelerate inflation and could also push up longer-term interest rates, such as those on mortgages and car loans. Investors may demand a higher yield to own bonds to offset greater inflation in the future, lifting borrowing costs for the U.S. government, and the entire economy.If Trump can replace Cook, he may be able to gain a 4-3 majority on the Fed’s governing board. Trump appointed two board members during his first term and has nominated a key White House economic adviser, Stephen Miran, to replace Adriana Kugler, another Fed governor who stepped down unexpectedly Aug. 1. The Senate Banking Committee is scheduled to vote Wednesday on Miran’s nomination.Trump has said he will only appoint to the Fed people who will support lower rates.Trump has repeatedly attacked Powell and the other members of the Fed’s interest-rate setting committee for not cutting the short-term interest rate they control more quickly. It currently stands at 4.3%, after Fed policymakers reduced it by a full percentage point late last year. Trump has said he thinks it should be as low as 1.3%, a level that no Fed official and few economists support.Powell recently signaled that the central bank was leaning toward cutting its rate at its meeting next week.Cook is the first Black woman to serve as a Fed governor. She was a Marshall Scholar and received degrees from Oxford University and Spelman College, and prior to joining the board she taught at Michigan State University and Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government. AP writer Will Weissert contributed to this report. Christopher Rugaber and Lindsay Whitehurst, Associated Press
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Oracle Corp. started September by making headlines for layoffs. Then, on Tuesday, September 9, it reported first-quarter financial results that missed the mark for revenue and earnings. Yet, you wouldnt guess any of this based on how its stock has rallied. The software companys shares (NYSE:ORCL) rose over 32% through after-hours and into premarket trading on Wednesday. The boost comes down to Oracles revenue projections rather than the lackluster results for fiscal year (FY) 2026s first quarter. The company predicts that Oracle Cloud Infrastructures entire FY 2026 revenue will reach $18 billiona 77% jump year-over-year (YOY). Thats just the start. Oracle further expects revenue for its cloud infrastructure business to reach $32 billion in 2027, $73 billion the following year, and $114 billion and $144 billion in 2029 and 2030, respectively. ‘The who’s who of AI’ Oracle signed four multibillion-dollar contracts during quarter one, stemming from three different customers, it said. CEO Safra Catz stated in the report that the company expects to sign several more multibillion-dollar customers over the next few months. Then there was the July announcement that Oracle is teaming up with OpenAI to create 4.5 gigawatts of Stargate data center capacity in the U.S. Clearly, we had an amazing start to the year because Oracle has become the go-to place for AI workloads. We have signed significant cloud contracts with the who’s who of AI, including OpenAI, xAI, Meta, Nvidia, AMD, and many others, Catz said in an earnings call. At the end of Q1, Remaining Performance Obligations, or RPO, now top $455 billion. This is up 359% from last year and up $317 billion from the end of Q4. Our cloud RPO grew nearly 500% on top of 83% growth last year. Catz predicted that Oracles RPO will likely surpass $500 billion in the coming months. So with these developments in mind, investors dont seem bothered by Oracle reporting $14.93 billion in quarter one revenue, falling short of Wall Streets predicted $15.04 billion, according to consensus estimates cited by CNBC. There was also a slight miss in earnings per share, reaching $1.47 adjusted, rather than the $1.48 expected. Oracle Cloud Infrastructures tremendous predicted growth further overshadowed recent layoffs, which were reported by local outlets in the San Francisco Bay Area, Seattle, Kansas City, and elsewhere.
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Global shares mostly rose Wednesday, echoing record rallies on Wall Street after the latest update on the job market bolstered hopes the U.S. Federal Reserve will cut interest rates.France’s CAC 40 rose 0.8 in early trading to 7,809.80. Germany’s DAX edged up 0.6% to 23,856.74. Britain’s FTSE 100 rose 0.2% to 9,263.14. U.S. shares were set to be mixed with Dow futures down 0.1% at 45,700.00, while S&P 500 futures gained 0.3% at 6,537.75.Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 gained 0.9% to finish at 43,837.67. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 added 0.3% to 8,830.40. South Korea’s Kospi jumped 1.7% to 3,314.53.Hong Kong’s Hang Seng rose 1.0% to 26,200.26, while the Shanghai Composite edged up 0.1% to 3,812.22. Uncertainty is still in the air over U.S.-China tariff issues as bilateral talks continue.U.S. President Donald Trump has raised taxes on imports from China, triggering a tit-for-tat tariff war. The U.S. is currently charging an additional 30% tariff on Chinese goods and China is charging a 10% tariff under a de-escalation deal reached in May.Investors are also watching for the U.S. Federal Reserve possibly cutting its main interest rate for the first time this year at its next meeting in a week, in order to prop up the slowing job market. A report on Tuesday offered the latest signal of weakness, when the U.S. government said its prior count of jobs across the country through March may have been too high by 911,000, or 0.6%.That was before President Donald Trump shocked the economy and financial markets in April by rolling out tariffs on countries worldwide.The bet on Wall Street is that such data will convince Fed officials that the job market is the bigger problem now for the economy than the threat of inflation worsening because of Trump’s tariffs. That would push them to cut interest rates, a move that would give the economy a boost but could also send inflation higher.“The broader narrative is increasingly anchored on expectations that the Fed will deliver a rate cut at next week’s meeting,” said Ahmad Assiri, research strategist at Pepperstone.In energy trading, benchmark U.S. crude added 58 cents to $63.21 a barrel. Brent crude, the international standard, rose 56 cents to $66.95 a barrel.The rise in oil prices came amid escalation of tensions in the Middle East. Israel struck the headquarters of Hamas’s political leadership in Qatar on Tuesday as the group’s top figures gathered to consider a U.S. proposal for a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip.In currency trading, the U.S. dollar inched up to 147.53 Japanese yen from 147.37 yen. The euro fell to $1.1695 from $1.1714. Yuri Kageyama is on Threads Yuri Kageyama, AP Business Writer
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Today, one of the most closely watched fintech initial public offerings of the year takes place. Shares of the buy now, pay later (BNPL) juggernaut Klarna Group make their stock market debut. Heres everything you need to know about Klarnas IPO. What is Klarna? Klarna Group is a Swedish fintech company founded in 2005. It’s headquartered in Stockholm. Klarna is one of the largest players in the buy now, pay later (BNPL) space, which has revolutionized the consumer financial landscape over the past few years. BNPL allows consumers to buy itemseverything from computers to burritosin installments, instead of paying a single total fee upfront. The installments are repaid over a period of weeks or months and are interest-free, provided payments are made on time. But while BNPL services allow consumers to fund purchases they may not otherwise be able to afford upfront, the financing option has been met with much criticism, one of the biggest ones being that BNPL can be a debt trap to consumers, particularly younger Gen Z ones who dont have a lot of experience in financial planning or literacy. Klarna by the numbers According to Klarnas Form F-1 filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the companys key metrics include: Gross merchandise volume (GMV) of $105 billion in 2024 (up from a GVM of $53 billion in 2020). Operations in 26 global markets. 93 million active consumers. A network of 675,000 merchants. $2.8 billion in total revenue in 2024 (up from $2.2 billion in total revenue in 2023). Net profit of $21 million in 2024 (up from a net loss of $244 million in 2023). !function(){"use strict";window.addEventListener("message",function(a){if(void 0!==a.data["datawrapper-height"]){var e=document.querySelectorAll("iframe");for(var t in a.data["datawrapper-height"])for(var r,i=0;r=e[i];i++)if(r.contentWindow===a.source){var d=a.data["datawrapper-height"][t]+"px";r.style.height=d}}})}(); When is Klarnas IPO? Klarnas IPO has been a long time coming. The company announced its intention to make its stock market debut in March of this year. But shortly after, President Trumps Liberation Day tariffs wreaked havoc on markets, causing Klarna to postpone its public offering plans. But earlier this month, Klarna began announcing details of its postponed IPO, suggesting a date was near. Klarna priced its shares on Tuesday and is expected to list today: Wednesday, September 10. What is Klarnas stock ticker? Klarnas shares will trade under the ticker KLAR. What exhcnage will Klarna trade on? Klarna shares will trade on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE). What is the IPO share price of KLAR? Klarnas shares were priced at $40 each. Thats well above a target price range of between $35 and $37 that the company originally forecast. How many KLAR shares are available in its IPO? In total, there are 34,311,274 ordinary shares of KLAR available in the IPO. However, a majority of those shares are not being offered by the company itself. As a matter of fact, just 5 million ordinary shares are being sold by Klarna. The remaining 29.3 million shares are being sold by some of the companys existing shareholders. How much will Klarna raise in its IPO? Klarnas IPO raised $1.37 billion, according to Reuters. However, Klarna itself will not benefit from that total sum as the companys existing private shareholders sold a majority of the shares on offer. As Klarna stated in a press release, Klarna will not receive any proceeds from the sale of ordinary shares by the selling shareholders. How much is Klarna worth? Klarna is now worth around $15.11 billion after its IPO price of $40 per share, according to Reuters. While that valuation is nothing to sneeze at, it is still well below Klarnas estimated valuation of more than $45 billion back in 2021. Niklas Kammer, an analyst for Morningstar, sees a 12.5% upside to Klarna’s IPO price, according to a recent note. “We believe the offer price of USD 40 per share undervalues the substantial growth we expect these agreements to drive,” Kammer wrote, citing agreements with payment service providers that will expand Klarna’s reach. “Growth is what it is all about for Klarna. While its platform is currently just breaking even, starting to eke out a marginal operating profit, the company is poised for a big shift.” Klarna is the latest high-profile tech IPO in 2025 While Klarnas stock market debut will no doubt be closely watched by industry insiders and investors today, the tech company is by no means the only high-profile one to go public this year. Other major tech IPOs in 2025 have included Chime, Circle, Figma, eToro, and Bullish. In fact, Klarna isn’t even the only tech-focused company going public this week; others include Via Transportation, Legence Corp, and Gemini Space Station. Yet despite the relative success that some tech IPOs have enjoyed this year, the global tech IPO scene in 2025 is currently a far cry from the busy landscape a few years ago. Recent ata from CB Insights shows that in the second quarter of 2025, global tech IPOs generated $6.3 billion in proceeds. But that pales in comparison to the $34.9 billion that tech IPOs generated in the same quarter of 2021. That also happens to be the same time that Klarna had its sky-high valuation of over $45 billionthree times higher than now. Disclosure: Fast Company is owned by Morningstar founder Joe Mansueto.
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If the scariest thing for a studio head to contemplate is a flop, executives with plenty of horror flicks in the pipeline have little to fear. Not only did The Conjuring: Last Rites have the largest opening for a horror movie in history over the weekend, earning $194 million worldwide, but it was just the latest example of a scary movie surpassing industry expectations this year. At a time when even superhero tentpoles no longer reliably turn out filmgoers, horror has become the closest thing to a safe bet that studios can hope for these daysthe final girl of the box office. The genres dominance this year wasnt a foregone conclusion back in January. Horror stumbled out of the gate in 2025, with Universals Wolf Man taking in just $34 million worldwide on a $25 million budget. Director Leigh Whannells previous stab at reviving a Universal monster property, The Invisible Man, brought in a much-more-lethal $144 million back in February 2020, making it tempting to view the two films as a case study in pre- and post-pandemic box office. Luckily, it turned out to be a fluke. Other horror movies released in January followed a more typical pattern for the genre of low budget and low risk. Steven Soderberghs experimental haunted house outing, Presence, grossed a paltry $10 million, but avoided flop status because Soderbergh made it for an even-paltrier $2 million. It was followed by the late-January AI-gone-wrong chiller, Companion, which nearly quadrupled its $10 million budget. Of course, these January bright spots were only a sneak preview of where horror was headed this year. Franchises and indie horror thrive The Conjuring: Last Ritesthe ninth film in a multi-headed series that includes Annabelle and The Nun sub-franchisesfollowed a slew of horror hits of all shapes and sizes. There were IP-extending reboots like Final Destination: Bloodlines ($307 million) and 28 Years Later ($150 million); original stories from exciting directors, like Ryan Cooglers Southern-fried vampire opus Sinners ($366 million) and Weapons ($251 million and counting), the follow-up to Zach Creggers surprise 2022 hit, Barbarian; along with pure schlock like Clown in a Cornfield, which made nearly $13 million on a $1 million budget, making it Independent Film Company’s (IFC’s) biggest horror hit in its 25-year history. No other genre is enjoying so much success with both originals and beloved IP. Scary movies have remained a sturdy enticement for moviegoers in the years since COVID-19 and the rise of streaming led to a post-2019 theatrical downturn. Recent hits like Alien: Romulus, Nosferatu, Nope, Smile and Terrifier 3 have regularly lured crowds from their couches over the last few years. What seems different in 2025, though, is how consistently this genre has been overperforming at the box office, confounding industry analysts. The new Conjuring, for instance, was projected to bring in $50 million at the domestic box office this past weekend, and ended up with $83 million. Weapons was tracking for $25 million to $30 million, but opened to $43 million instead, and managed to stay on top for three of the next four weekends. The new Final Destination similarly overshot expectations for its first weekend by about $12 million, and went on to outgross the series previous top entry, 2009s The Final Destination, by about $120 million. The success of Sinners, meanwhile, has become one of the biggest Hollywood stories of the year. After it beat opening weekend estimates of $40 million by $8 million, several insider publications poured cold water on that victory, pointing out that Sinners would have to make somewhere between $185 million and $300 million to break even on its relatively high $90 million budget and complicated back-end deals. The film ultimately blew right past the highest of those projected figures, beating the curse of the second weekend drop-off. These horror movies arent just hitting big relative to their budget sizeslike Februarys The Monkey, which made nearly seven times its $10 million price tagtheyre bona fide blockbusters, surging like superhero movies did in the 2010s. A year of big-budget bombs As for the actual superhero movies, theyre continuing to adjust expectations downward after the 2019 peak of Avengers: Endgame, which made $2.8 billion and remains the second-biggest movie of all time, just behind Avatar. Long gone are the days when the $200 million budgets and $100 million marketing spends for Marvel movies made financial sense, as one or two of them were practically guaranteed to crack a billion dollars each year. Indeed, none of the three Marvel movies released in 2025 surpassed the first Ant-Man movies $519 million take a decade ago, although The Fantastic Four: First Steps came close, with $515 million. At the time of Ant-Mans release, amid Marvels imperial era, it wasnt even considered that big a hit. Former juggernaut Pixar is also a long way from its billion-dollar glory days, with this summers Elio tapping out at $153 million. And while the live-action remake of Disneys Lilo and Stitch was a massive success, becoming the only Hollywood movie this year to cross the billion-dollar mark, another live-action Disney remake, Snow White, was a costly bomb that didnt even earn back its $209 million budget, making the live-action remake subgenre a mixed bag at best. Horror movies, on the other hand, are looking like the only sure thing left for theatrical releases in 2025. Even rare disappointments like the killer robot sequel M3GAN 2.0 ($39 million on a $25 million budget) and slasher reboot I Know What You Did Last Summer ($60 million on an $18 million budget) have an enviably low floor for losses. And with a slate for the remainder of the year that includes sequels for Predator, The Black Phone and Five Nights at Freddysalong with Guillermo del Toros Frankensteinhorror is poised to continue making a killing in 2025.
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