Author: arthursheikin@gmail.com

[ad_1] Here are Friday’s biggest calls on Wall Street: Jefferies downgrades Apple to underperform from hold The firm said expectations are too high for a foldable iPhone 18 for Apple . “Better demand for iPhone 17, partly due to a price cut on the base model, is already in the price. That has led to excessive expectations on 18 Fold, and the replacement cycle.” Goldman Sachs reiterates Apple as buy Goldman said App store spending is decelerating but that’s sticking with the stock. “September 2025 Apple App Store spending grew +7% yoy per Sensor Tower, decelerating from +10% yoy in…

[ad_1] Earlier this year, Apple introduced its Foundation Models framework during WWDC 2025, which allows developers to use the company’s local AI models to power features in their applications. The company touted that with this framework, developers gain access to AI models without worrying about any inference cost. Plus, these local models have capabilities such as guided generation and tool calling built in. As iOS 26 is rolling out to all users, developers have been updating their apps to include features powered by Apple’s local AI models. Apple’s models are small compared with leading models from OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, or…

[ad_1] Johnson and Johnson is a buy as executives project strong medicine sales over the next two years and as the company expands its drugmaking operations in the U.S., according to Wells Fargo. The bank upgraded the pharma giant to overweight from equal weight. It also raised its price target for shares to $212 from $170, implying about 14% upside. “Given the potential upside to JNJ’s Pharma business, lower Pharma tariff and pricing risk, and investor confidence that JNJ can grow through the Stelara LOE, we could see JNJ’s valuation move higher,” analyst Larry Biegelsen said Friday in a note…

[ad_1] The future reality of your social feed could be a lot less real.Can I interest you in a video of Sam Altman stealing GPUs? Or a sasquatch terrorizing two of your favorite BI reporters?No? Too bad. AI slop is here whether we like it or not.BI’s Katie Notopoulos, who understands internet culture better than anyone I know, breaks down the rise of short-form, AI-generated videos invading our feeds.If you’re wondering what exactly AI slop is, think of it as weird, nonsensical content that’s quickly generated with artificial intelligence. The concept has been around for a bit — Remember “Shrimp…

[ad_1] Uncertainty in Washington is spilling over across the Atlantic — and Europe’s economy is paying the price.A European Central Bank blog post published on Tuesday warned that rising uncertainty about US economic policy — debates in Washington over tariffs, debt-ceiling showdowns, or sudden changes to rules for banks or businesses — slows lending and investment in the euro area.The post, co-authored by Anastasia Allayioti, an economist in the ECB’s Monetary Policy Strategy Division, Caterina Mendicino, an advisor in the ECB’s Monetary Analysis Division, and several colleagues, used euro-area data going back to 2003 and a statistical model that tracks…

[ad_1] Coinbase is poised outperform as cryptocurrencies become more integrated into financial services, according to Rothschild & Co. Redburn. The investment firm upgraded Coinbase to buy from neutral. Its price target of $417, up from $325, signals upside of 12.1% from Thursday’s close. “The evolving digital asset landscape holds significant opportunities and risks for investors,” analyst Nicholas Watts said Friday in a note to clients. He called the crypto exchange a “well-balanced play on broader digital asset adoption.” Strong digital asset trading volume and token market capitalization growth, particularly as institutional investors’ appetite for cryptocurrencies grows, will also boost the…

[ad_1] Chipotle is betting that bold new flavors can do what burritos and slop bowls alone no longer can: bring customers back.The chain is leaning hard into limited-time proteins, new sauces, and global twists to spice up its slowing business.”Nothing brings new people into Chipotle or reminds existing people to come to Chipotle again, like new items,” Chris Brandt, president and chief brand officer at Chipotle, told Business Insider.This year, Chipotle has launched two proteins as limited-time offerings: new honey chipotle chicken in March and the return of carne asada in September. As for its limited-time sauces, the fast-casual Mexican…

[ad_1] This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Myra Deshmukh, the 39-year-old founder of Leadership Lab and a former Amazon employee living in Montclair, New Jersey. It has been edited for length and clarity.In the 10 ½ years I worked at Amazon, I held many different titles. My last role was senior manager of learning and development programs, and one of my tasks was to teach a business writing course to thousands of Amazon employees.Overall, Amazon has a very heavy writing culture, so we write a lot of documents, emails, memos, press releases, and FAQs.The course I taught…

[ad_1] In May, Andrew Chen couldn’t stop thinking about the ticking clock. He was just weeks away from earning his computer science degree from the University of California San Diego — and still didn’t have a job lined up.Then a glimmer of hope landed in his inbox: an email from Amazon inviting him to interview for a software engineering role in 10 days. He knew he couldn’t waste the opportunity, so he made a plan: hole up in his room to study — and document his preparation for the big day on TikTok to hold himself accountable.”I canceled all my…

[ad_1] Russia’s economy has slowed to a pace that could jeopardize its ability to cover surging defense, security, and social costs, warned a top business leader.”It seems to me that indeed, this cooling or ‘managed soft landing’ is not very soft and not very managed,” Alexander Shokhin, the head of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs, told Rossiya 24 TV channel on Tuesday.Shokhin said that at the start of the year, officials assumed Russia needed at least 2% annual growth to cover defense, security, social spending, and investment. But growth is now expected to fall well short of that…