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Public sector banks sanctioned 191,000 loans in FY26 for the low- and middle-income sections, against a target of 643,000, underscoring the issues around limited supply of affordable homes, tough credit checks and tedious paperwork. View More

CNBC's Jim Cramer said SpaceX investors are betting on Elon Musk's vision and track record, rather than the company's current earnings power. View More

In this articleSPCXBRK.BFollow your favorite stocksCREATE FREE ACCOUNT watch nowVIDEO2:1602:16SpaceX only gets to this valuation because it is run by Elon MuskMad Money with Jim Cramer CNBC's Jim Cramer said Tuesday that investors flocking to SpaceX are betting on Elon Musk's ability to create transformative businesses — not the company's current earnings power."The stock is called SpaceX, but it might as well be called Elon Musk," the "Mad Money" host said.SpaceX has quickly become one of the world's most valuable companies following its blockbuster IPO on Friday. Shares surged almost 5% Tuesday, pushing the rocket company's valuation above several technology heavyweights, including Amazon, and briefly surpassing Microsoft. The rally has intensified questions about whether SpaceX's roughly $2.5 trillion market value is justified.Cramer argued, however, that conventional valuation methods miss what many investors are buying."There is no way this company, which could see losses for many years, deserves such a high valuation on its own. It only gets there because it's run by Musk," he said.While Musk recently projected that SpaceX could generate $1 trillion in annual revenue by 2030, Cramer argued that the stock's appeal extends far beyond any single forecast. Instead, he thinks investors are assigning value to Musk's track record of building category-defining businesses and his ability to turn ambitious ideas into commercial opportunities."When you buy SpaceX here, you're really buying Elon Musk's brain," Cramer said. "I think the cult of Musk is for real."To support that view, Cramer pointed to the breadth of SpaceX's businesses and growth initiatives, including its Starlink satellite internet network, reusable rocket operations, and long-term data center ambitions. Adding to that opportunity set, SpaceX announced Tuesday that it will acquire AI coding startup Cursor for $60 billion in stock, deepening its push into artificial intelligence and software development tools. While the company currently operates at a loss and many of these opportunities have yet to fully materialize, Cramer said they could ultimately become significant drivers of future growth.Cramer suggested that some investors view SpaceX similarly to how previous generations viewed Berkshire Hathaway under Warren Buffett — a way to gain exposure to a business leader they believe can continue creating value for decades.While skeptics continue to question the stock's valuation, Cramer noted that betting against the rally has been costly so far."While you're sitting here trying to justify SpaceX's valuation, the buyers are relentlessly pushing it up, and I bet they keep going," he said. watch nowVIDEO11:4811:48While you've been busy trying to justify SpaceX's valuation, buyers have been pushing it higher, says Jim CramerMad Money with Jim Cramer Jim Cramer's Guide to InvestingClick here to read Jim Cramer's Guide to Investing at no cost to help you build long-term wealth and invest smarter Sign up now for the CNBC Investing Club to follow Jim Cramer's every move in the market.DisclaimerQuestions for Cramer? Call Cramer: 1-800-743-CNBCWant to take a deep dive into Cramer's world? Hit him up! Mad Money Twitter - Jim Cramer Twitter - Facebook - InstagramQuestions, comments, suggestions for the "Mad Money" website? madcap@cnbc.com Choose CNBC as your preferred source on Google and never miss a moment from the most trusted name in business news.

Top lawmakers reached an agreement on a key housing bill that would limit investor ownership, clearing the way for passage through both chambers of Congress. View More

Family homes line the streets of a neighborhood on May 23, 2026, in Thousand Oaks, California.Kevin Carter | Getty Images An affordable housing bill limiting how many single-family homes major investors can buy is poised to be signed into law before the end of the month after key lawmakers in the House and Senate reached an agreement Tuesday. The bill, which is focused on increasing the supply of homes, would not include a controversial provision requiring major investors to sell any housing units they build within seven years, but would cap the number of single-family homes they could buy at 350. Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., told reporters on Tuesday that the bill could clear the Senate as soon as this week, with an initial vote to begin to advance the measure on Thursday evening. Thune said he hoped the House could take up the bill when it returns next week. Previous versions of the bill have cleared the House with strong levels of support, meaning the House could use an expedited process to get the legislation done. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., who has helped helm the bill as the top Democrat on the Senate committee overseeing housing, said the bill is important not only because of the focus on affordability, but what it means for how Congress handles private equity. "Never before has Congress put any restriction on the ability of private equity to move into whatever industry they want, buy up whatever they want and destroy whatever they want," she told CNBC in a short Capitol hallway interview. "This bill is historic because it puts a big fat 'no' right in front of private equity's growth as it tries to mow through our neighborhoods." Choose CNBC as your preferred source on Google and never miss a moment from the most trusted name in business news.

Fox's stock dropped following its announcement that it will acquire Roku for $22 billion. Analysts still think it's a good deal. View More

In this articleROKUFOXFollow your favorite stocksCREATE FREE ACCOUNT The Fox Corp. headquarters are seen on June 15, 2026, in New York City.Michael M. Santiago | Getty Images The media industry has long been preparing for consolidation and mega deals. And yet Fox Corp.'s acquisition of Roku seems to have taken the market by surprise. On Monday, Fox said it would acquire Roku for $22 billion, bringing a streaming tech platform — in addition to a second free, ad-supported streaming service — into its portfolio of linear TV networks and Tubi. While analysts lauded the deal as a strategic pivot for the legacy media company, Fox shareholders received the news differently. Its stock traded down 16% on Monday, hitting a 52-week low. Shares fell another 4% on Tuesday. "We view this as a strategic fit. Fox marries its strong content with Roku's leading distribution platform and first party data that add scale and can enhance the value proposition with advertisers," Piper Sandler analyst Thomas Champion wrote in a note on Monday. Champion highlighted Fox's long list of sports rights and Roku's position as the leading streaming platform — offered on both dedicated devices and smart TVs — as "highly complementary." "The combined company will be the third largest player in the U.S. by share of viewing, spanning broadcast, cable, local and streaming," he said.Some industry analysts and insiders — who didn't want to comment publicly on market reaction — attributed the sharp stock reaction to the new debt that Fox would be taking on as part of the deal. Still, the company's leverage will be relatively low after the deal's expected close in the first half of next year.One industry insider noted that Fox is also likely to spend more when the NFL reopens media rights negotiations, which have already begun for CBS owner Paramount Skydance. Mike Proulx, Forrester's vice president and research director, told CNBC in an email that it was too early to take this as a negative market reaction and noted that big media deals "often get punished in the short term because they introduce uncertainty.""In this case investors are likely questioning the near-term cost-benefit. But what the market is missing is the long-term strategic importance of this deal. It's a must for Fox," Proulx said. "It's far from just a content play. The long-term value is in owning the platform, the data, and the ad stack. That's what this deal gives Fox and helps the company to future proof." 'Strategic pivot' In a MoffettNathanson note on Monday, the analyst firm called the deal "an unexpected strategic pivot." LightShed Partners called it a "bold move." "Legacy media has long suffered from the innovator's dilemma, with most players allergic to risk," LightShed analysts said in a note. "Fox has repeatedly talked about using its financial strength to make acquisitions and was routinely criticized for being underlevered, but Roku is a far larger acquisition than any Fox investor expected." While Fox's peers have been in the thick of the streaming wars — working to hit profitability for fledgling services, fending off competition and exploring deals to bulk up their content portfolios — Fox has largely stayed on the sidelines. Earlier this year, Paramount, Comcast and Netflix were among the major media players chasing Warner Bros. Discovery's assets in a bid to bulk up and better compete. Paramount emerged the winner, with a pending transaction that's working its way through regulators. But the battle left many in the industry wondering what comes next for competitors. Fox executives have been vocal about looking at deal opportunities, but have said they wouldn't jump at every chance — particularly when it comes to adding the same assets it hived off not too long ago. In 2019, the company offloaded its entertainment assets to Disney in a blockbuster deal that left Fox with live sports and news TV networks. Fox is perhaps best known for its Fox News Channel, one of the highest-rated networks in the cable TV bundle. But that bundle continues to bleed customers, while live sports like NFL games and the FIFA World Cup drive viewership and advertising revenue for Fox. And as more viewing — even for marquee live events and global sports — moves to streaming, Fox has remained largely on the sidelines. The company acquired Tubi in 2020 for less than $1 billion. Since then the free, ad-supported service has been its biggest streaming priority. Tubi touts the largest library of licensed content and has also been building out originals with content creators from social media platforms. Last year the company launched Fox One, a direct-to-consumer option that offers all of Fox's content, including sports and news. But even with Fox One and Tubi, Fox hasn't found itself in the same playing field as subscription-based streamers. And with growing competition for a still-burgeoning segment of digital advertising dollars, Fox has lagged its legacy media peers in establishing a streaming foothold.  The Roku acquisition changes that. On the platform Roku products are displayed for sale at a Target store on June 15, 2026, in New York City.Michael M. Santiago | Getty Images In addition to marrying itself to the top hardware maker in streaming, Fox's acquisition brings in another free, ad-supported streamer with The Roku Channel. MoffettNathanson noted that the acquisition puts Fox in the "upper end of streaming viewership" with Tubi and Roku combined. The combined viewership share edges outs Disney's Disney+, Hulu and ESPN, per MoffettNathanson's estimates. The firm's analysts added that the deal makes sense from a strategic perspective, giving each company "an immediate boost to reposition their future outlooks" — more scale for Fox and more content and ad capabilities for Roku. MoffettNathanson added that the deal helps Fox "better compete for future premium sports rights."The combination also gives Fox more leverage, according to LightShed Partners, when it comes to carriage negotiations.Roku negotiates with media companies to make their apps available on its platform. It also has considerable control over how content and media players are surfaced on its home screen. In addition, other streamers — from Disney+ to HBO Max — share a portion of their ad revenue with Roku when it's viewed on the platform. That gives Fox a much-needed stake in the streaming ecosystem — right at the platform level. For Roku, the deal means a partnership with some of the highest-rated sports and news content in the industry, and a likely boost to engagement. It also puts together two advertising platforms at a time when media companies have leaned heavily into the area as a revenue driver. Roku has recently returned to shareholder favor following a rocky period. It now breaks out revenue specifics that have reinforced its position in the market. Roku shares hit a 52-week high on Friday after initial reports of a potential sale. Its stock was up about 50% for the year through last week, even prior to the deal reports. But its trajectory is not ironclad, and some have questioned the timing of the deal given Roku's current positive momentum. MoffettNathanson called out two specific weak points for Roku — one being industry consolidation, and the second being Walmart's 2024 acquisition of smart TV maker Vizio. Walmart, the top seller of smart TVs like those powered by Roku, has been slower than some expected to expand its market share via Vizio, but that could change sooner than later and Roku would need similar scale on its side. Choose CNBC as your preferred source on Google and never miss a moment from the most trusted name in business news.

Burry argued the company's market capitalization had reached levels that dwarf many established businesses and fortunes. View More

In this articleSPCXFollow your favorite stocksCREATE FREE ACCOUNT Michael Burry attends "The Big Short" New York screening Ziegfeld Theater on Nov. 23, 2015, in New York City.Astrid Stawiarz | Getty Images Michael Burry of "The Big Short" fame said Tuesday he has no position in SpaceX, arguing that options used to wager against the stock remain too expensive even as he questioned the company's nearly $3 trillion market value.The investor, best known for predicting the U.S. housing collapse before the financial crisis, said he had reviewed several bearish options trades tied to SpaceX but ultimately passed on all of them."I am not involved with SpaceX now. Neither short nor, ahem, long," he said in a SubStack post Tuesday.A put option with a $100 strike price expiring in December 2028 was priced at about $25 per contract with the stock trading around $212, Burry said. A similar contract expiring in June 2027 cost roughly $13, while a December 2026 put traded around $6.75."Tempted by that one. But no thank you," Burry said of the shorter-dated option. "With any luck SPCX will settle up here in the mid $200s and vol will drain out of put option chain."Still, Burry questioned the scale of the company's valuation, describing SpaceX as "fundamentally a small space company, a niche telecom, a bedeviled social media company, and a Coreweave-light" generating less than $20 billion in annual revenue.He argued the company's market capitalization had reached levels that dwarf many established businesses and fortunes, noting that SpaceX is now worth more than Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway and exceeds the market value of many industries and national economies."Berkshire Hathaway has been eclipsed 2 1/2 times over in just three days. Berkshire Hathaway, painstakingly assembled over two century-old lives. The two greatest investors of our time," Burry said. Stock Chart IconStock chart iconSpaceX The comments add to a growing debate over whether investors are assigning too much value to SpaceX's businesses, which span launch services, satellite internet and social media, following one of the most closely watched public offerings in recent years.Shares of SpaceX jumped 20% in their first full day of trading after a blockbuster debut, and they have since popped more than 25% week to date. The historic IPO minted Elon Musk as the world's first trillionaire.Last month, Burry urged investors to scale back exposure to surging technology stocks, saying investors should "reject greed" as enthusiasm around artificial intelligence and momentum-driven trades pushes valuations sharply higher. He has been warning for months that the stock market's AI fixation increasingly resembles the final stages of the dot-com bubble.  Choose CNBC as your preferred source on Google and never miss a moment from the most trusted name in business news.

U.S. Treasury yields fell on Tuesday as the Federal Reserve's two-day policy meeting kicked off. View More

In this articleUS30YUS2YUS10YFollow your favorite stocksCREATE FREE ACCOUNT U.S. President Donald Trump shares hands with Kevin Warsh (L) as they arrive to Warsh's swearing-in ceremony to be the new Chairman of the Federal Reserve in the East Room of the White House on May 22, 2026 in Washington, DC.Anna Moneymaker | Getty Images U.S. Treasury yields fell on Tuesday as the Federal Reserve's two-day policy meeting kicked off, and expectations for inflation and interest rate hikes continued to ease.The yield on the 10-year U.S. Treasury note — the key benchmark for U.S. government borrowing — declined more than 3 basis points to 4.435%.The 2-year Treasury note yield, which more closely tracks short-term Federal Reserve interest rate policy, was less than 1 basis point lower at 4.056%. The longer-dated 30-year Treasury bond yield dropped more than 3 basis points to 4.939%.One basis point is equal to 0.01%, and yields and prices move in opposite directions. Treasury yields have fallen back after a provisional peace agreement between Washington and Tehran was announced on Sunday, opening a path to extend the U.S.-Iran ceasefire for 60 days and reopen the Strait of Hormuz to all shipping.Arriving at the G7 meeting, President Donald Trump said the peace framework with Iran has been signed, adding that the Strait of Hormuz will "completely reopen" on Friday, free of Iranian tolls. Trump said a formal signing ceremony would take place on Friday in Geneva.Elsewhere, investors are watching for the two-day Federal Reserve policy meeting that gets underway on Tuesday, the first to be led by new chairman Kevin Warsh. The central bank is set to maintain its benchmark lending rate of 3.50% to 3.75%, according to implied prices used in the CME's FedWatch tool, while traders have pulled back on expectations for rate hikes later this year.  "A sustained solution to the Middle East crisis would ease a policy dilemma for leading central banks, which have come under pressure to raise rates to head off the inflationary impact from higher energy prices," said Mark Haefele, chief investment officer at UBS Global Wealth Management."While a wide range of central banks hold policy meetings this week, the Fed is likely to set the tone for markets." Economic data on housing and retail sales in May are also due to be reported on Wednesday. — CNBC's Hugh Leask also contributed to this report. Choose CNBC as your preferred source on Google and never miss a moment from the most trusted name in business news.

The central bank's Federal Open Market Committee is set to release its quarterly update of where individual officials expect interest rates to head. View More

Kevin Warsh, nominee for chairman of the Federal Reserve, arrives for his Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee confirmation hearing in the Dirksen building, April 21, 2026.Tom Williams | Cq-roll Call, Inc. | Getty Images When the Federal Reserve wraps up its policy meeting Wednesday, one important thing could be missing — a dot.The central bank's Federal Open Market Committee is set to release its quarterly update of where individual officials expect interest rates to head this year and through 2028 and beyond. Markets closely parse the grid, known more commonly as the "dot plot," for information on how Fed officials view the economy and its impact on monetary policy.However, most Fed watchers on Wall Street expect new Chair Kevin Warsh won't participate, either because he feels he's not ready after having only been in office since May 22 — or simply because he doesn't like the dot plot and its implications for "forward guidance."Declining to submit a dot would counter some 14 years of post-financial crisis practice for the Fed, and risk alienating other FOMC officials who favor the way it helps them communicate with the public. However, it also could be an effective first step for a central bank leader who has vowed fundamental changes for how the institution operates."It seems to me fairly likely that he doesn't want to submit a rate forecast," said Bill English, former head of monetary affairs at the Fed and now a professor at Yale. "There may be others on the committee who don't particularly like the dot plot, who might be willing to do that, too." 'The Fed's human' Warsh objects to the dot plot and other methods of forward guidance because he believes they limit the Fed's decision-making capabilities. The dot plot belongs to a larger set of data called the Summary of Economic Projections, which also includes the outlook for unemployment, inflation and gross domestic product. The SEP is updated quarterly and includes the median outlook for each category and as such is not an official forecast but merely the midpoint of the range among FOMC meeting participants.Bank of America economist Aditya Bhave expects Warsh won't submit a dot, while Goldman Sachs economist David Mericle said in a note that, "We assume that Warsh will not submit dots in light of his past criticism of forward guidance, but we are not sure."During his confirmation hearing in April, Warsh cited the SEP as part of a broader problem at the Fed with overcommunication. Specifically, he cited the Fed's mistaken "transitory" call on inflation in 2021-22 that led to a series of aggressive rate hikes to combat the biggest price surge in 40 years."The Fed tells the whole world what their dots are going to be, what their forecasts are going to be," he said then. "Well, the Fed's human. Then they hold onto those forecasts longer than they should. I think if the Fed were to wait until it gets into a meeting before making a decision, that incremental deliberation can keep the central bank from compounding its errors. I think these are big changes that are needed." Markets are watching Still, markets hinge on the dot plot and the rest of the SEP, and may have to learn to live without it if Warsh has his way. "To me it never made a lot of sense that [the SEP] at times was market moving, because its accuracy has been at best middling," said Liz Ann Sonders, chief investment strategist at Charles Schwab. "But it is an avenue through which the Fed expresses a view, and the market tends to move on those views."Economist Claudia Sahm cautioned that should Warsh and others not participate, it could send the wrong message to markets. Specifically, she said investors could take the news to mean that Warsh is trying to "hide the hawkish shift" in the committee to fight inflation with elevated rates."Neutralizing the SEP this week might address some of Warsh's concerns, but it would almost certainly create new ones," wrote Sahm, chief economist at New Century Advisors. "A Fed that appears to be concealing its own debate could look complacent about inflation, which is exactly the credibility it can't afford to lose."This meeting is expected to be an interesting test of Warsh's new communications strategy.In addition to his views on the dot plot and SEP, markets also will be watching for changes to the post-meeting statement and his views on whether he will continue to hold news conferences after each meeting. Choose CNBC as your preferred source on Google and never miss a moment from the most trusted name in business news.

The peace deal announced Sunday is meeting lukewarm reactions from Congress, including some allies of President Donald Trump. View More

U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during a bilateral meeting with the Emir of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani on the sidelines of the G7 summit, on June 16, 2026 in Evian-les-Bains, France. Anna Moneymaker | Getty Images President Donald Trump on Tuesday signaled that he's open to sending details of the agreement with Iran to members of Congress, as lawmakers from both parties are raising questions, asking to see the accord and saying they should vote on any final deal.Arriving at a bilateral meeting in France with United Arab Emirates President Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Trump said he wouldn't mind sending the memorandum of understanding to Congress for review. He did not indicate when Congress might receive the details. The framework was announced and signed digitally on Sunday and could bring an end to the hostilities between the U.S. and Iran that began in February."What I would like to do is send it to Congress and say 'you shouldn't approve it.' And they will approve it," Trump said, apparently joking. He is in Évian-les-Bains, France, for the 2026 G7 summit.Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., said at a press conference Tuesday he hadn't been briefed on the agreement. "I certainly have not yet, although we are requesting that, and I assume we at some point will hear from the administration with greater specificity about what's in that memorandum," Thune said. And Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., called on the Senate floor Tuesday for congressional briefings and more information to be shared with the public."Americans need to know what Trump has promised to Iran and what the United States will get out of it," Schumer said. Read more CNBC politics coverageFor Warsh as Fed chair, silence may be the pointTrump denies Iran deal claims, decries new drone attackPirro's losses in Fed investigation should stay on the books, judge rulesTrump family got about $500M from crypto venture — but investors saw steep losses The preliminary deal would extend the U.S.-Iran ceasefire for 60 days and create a framework for future negotiations over Tehran's nuclear program and other issues. The text of the agreement has not been released, though Trump has said he would unveil details on Friday.The news of a deal received lukewarm reactions on Capitol Hill this week, including from some key Trump allies.Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said he was "pleased" about a deal to potentially open the Strait of Hormuz, which was effectively shut down this spring amid the conflict, disrupting international supply chains and sending gas prices soaring. But he said Congress should have an opportunity to weigh in."I am somewhat concerned that Iran's view of the agreement seems different than what the American negotiating team is claiming," Graham wrote in a post to X on Sunday. "Under our law, any nuclear deal with Iran will be sent to Congress for review and a vote. I look forward to reviewing the final product and I believe it is imperative that the architect of the deal, Vice President [JD] Vance and his negotiating partners, be part of the process in presenting the final deal to Congress."Asked Tuesday about Graham's comments, Trump said: "I have to talk to Lindsay. He will be in big trouble."But Graham was not alone in his skepticism."I mean, from what I've heard about it, it sounds like it's just a deal to try to reach a deal, and the only immediate impact will be opening up the strait," Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., told reporters on the Hill on Tuesday.Sens. John Curtis, R-Utah, and Thom Tillis, R-N.C., both said Congress should not only review, but also sign off on any deal."I think it makes more sense because I've said repeatedly [President Barack] Obama made a mistake when he didn't do the work to have it rise to a level of a treaty, and I believe we should here," Tillis said, referring to Obama's 2015 Iran nuclear deal known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, which was not formally codified by Congress. "Otherwise, it's only good for 2½ years. How does [the] market price in any certainty with the uncertainty of the next president accepting the JCPOA in the same way that this president rejected the JCPOA?" said Tillis, who is retiring at the end of this Congress.Others questioned some of the rumored provisions in the deal they haven't seen, including a $300 billion Iran reconstruction fund that Vance and other senior administration officials have said is possible and the release of frozen Iranian assets. Vance, however, said reports that Iran could receive up to $24 billion in frozen assets are false. And Trump on Monday posted to TruthSocial that any claims of the U.S. paying Iran $300 billion to rebuild were "Fake News, put out by the Dumocrats!!!"Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., said he was concerned the deal could contain too many concessions to the Iran."I think this peace agreement could well be a surrender in effect," Blumenthal said. "And the president is very reluctant to make it public. He wants to keep it secret as long as possible, so that he can frame perceptions and potentially deceive people about what's in it."Vance, in an appearance on CNBC's "Squawk Box" on Monday, said many details of the deal still need to be ironed out. The two major provisions, according to Vance, are reopening the Strait of Hormuz and a commitment from Iran not to develop nuclear weapons. Trump has repeatedly said preventing Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons is a key objective of the war."There are a lot of very important details to figure out that we're actually going to sit at the table and discuss together and figure out a path forward on these details," Vance said. An official signing ceremony is scheduled for Friday in Geneva.Trump, on Tuesday, said the Strait of Hormuz was already beginning to open to shipping traffic. "Ships are starting to move now," Trump said. "Oil is starting to go and prices are coming down rapidly."Reuters also reported on Tuesday that in a June 11 memorandum Trump invoked the Defense Production Act, which gives the president broad authority to control domestic industries. Trump cited "systemic constraints" in the munitions industry."There was a lot of valuable equipment that was sent to Ukraine that we could use right now," Sen. Eric Schmitt, R-Mo., said on Tuesday in response to Trump's invocation of the DPA. "But I think, writ large, I've been saying for a long time we have to have a greater sense of urgency, and I think this administration has shown it on rebuilding our industrial base."— CNBC's Emily Wilkins, Garrett Downs, Irit Skulnik and Karen James Sloan contributed to this story. Choose CNBC as your preferred source on Google and never miss a moment from the most trusted name in business news.

AI compute futures could eventually rival some of the world's largest commodity markets, Silicon Data's Carmen Li believes. View More

watch nowVIDEO7:2107:21Is GPU power the new oil?Markets and Politics Digital Original Video For decades, companies have turned to futures markets to manage uncertainty. Airlines hedge fuel costs. Farmers hedge crops. Manufacturers hedge metals.Now a startup wants to bring that same financial machinery to artificial intelligence.Silicon Data, a company that tracks pricing across cloud providers and GPU marketplaces, has partnered with CME Group to launch what could become the world's first futures contracts tied to the computational power needed to run AI, allowing companies to hedge against fluctuations in the cost to train and run AI models. The contracts are still awaiting regulatory approval.Early signs suggest investor interest is quickly emerging. Within days of Silicon Data's announcement with CME Group, asset managers including ProShares and Rex Shares filed proposals for exchange-traded funds tied to the proposed contracts, including leveraged and inverse products.Founder and CEO Carmen Li believes the market could eventually rival some of the world's largest commodity markets."I think it will be larger" than oil futures, Li said in an interview, adding that energy demand tied to running artificial intelligence will eventually surpass all other energy uses, combined.Like jet fuelThe idea stems from a simple observation: AI companies increasingly depend on compute in the same way airlines depend on jet fuel. Most companies don't own the high-end graphics processing units, or GPUs, that power modern AI systems. Instead, they rent access through cloud providers and a growing ecosystem of so-called neoclouds. As demand for AI infrastructure surges, the cost of that compute can fluctuate, making it difficult for businesses to forecast expenses."Right now we're at a high point of uncertainty," said Seoyoung Kim, a finance professor at Santa Clara University. "A lot of people don't know how much computing power they'll need in the next year, and a lot of suppliers of that computing power right now don't know how many GPUs and to what capacity they should order and the manufacturers, like Nvidia, they don't know how much they should produce." Zoom In IconArrows pointing outwards Silicon Data has built a series of GPU price indexes that track the hourly rental cost of specific chips across providers. The company hopes those benchmarks can serve as the foundation for a futures market, much as West Texas Intermediate crude oil underpins energy derivatives.Like any futures market, compute contracts will need both buyers and sellers. Companies worried about rising compute costs would seek protection from higher prices, while providers with large amounts of capacity could hedge against the risk of prices falling.Silicon Data's benchmarks have already begun appearing in high-profile corporate disclosures. SpaceX, for example, referenced the company's GPU rental-rate data in its prospectus to go public.Speculators coming inNot everyone in the market would be looking to hedge risk. As with other futures markets, compute contracts would also draw speculators — traders with no direct need for GPU capacity but a view on where compute prices are headed.Proponents argue that speculators play an important role in building liquidity and improving price discovery. Critics counter that speculation can amplify volatility and disconnect prices from underlying demand."Speculators are a very important piece of the ecosystem as well," Li said. "You need natural hedgers. You need market makers. You need speculators. They have opinion. They want to express their opinion, which is perfectly fine."The Harvard MBA said traders who believe they have insight into future supply and demand dynamics should be able to express those views through the market, helping establish prices for the broader industry.The ProShares and Rex Shares filings for ETFs are contingent on regulatory approval of the futures market. Still, they suggest some investors already view AI compute as a potentially tradable asset class rather than simply a technology input.Benchmarking AI compute costUnlike a barrel of oil, AI compute is not a standardized physical commodity. Silicon Data said there are more than 50 different configurations of Nvidia's H100 chip alone, with prices varying based on processors, memory, networking, utilization rates and data center location.For the proposed futures market to work, traders need confidence that a single benchmark can accurately represent those variations."What we do is normalize the prices coming to our platform every day to a base H100 case," Li said. "It's a very complicated normalization step, even before the index calculation step."Kim, the Santa Clara finance professor, noted that standardization has always been a challenge for futures markets. Corn futures, for example, specify the exact grade of corn that can be delivered under a contract. Compute markets face a similar task: defining precisely what buyers and sellers are trading. The Commodity Futures Trading Commission "is going to want to know exactly what the product is," Kim said. Contract specifications, settlement procedures and benchmark construction are all likely to face scrutiny before the market can launch, she said.— CNBC's Charlotte Morabito contributed to this story. Choose CNBC as your preferred source on Google and never miss a moment from the most trusted name in business news.

FBI Director Kash Patel said multiple people are in custody after law enforcement disrupted an alleged plot targeting Sunday’s UFC event at the White House. View More

Fireworks during the UFC Freedom250 fight on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, DC, US, early on Monday, June 15, 2026. Saul Loab | Bloomberg | Getty Images The FBI disrupted an alleged plot targeting Sunday's UFC cage-fight event at the White House, FBI Director Kash Patel said Tuesday. Newly unsealed court documents detailed a plan investigators said involved explosive-laden drones and shooters targeting crowds fleeing the event.Tycen Proper, a 19-year-old Ohio man, has been charged with multiple felony counts in connection with the alleged plot, including conspiracy to commit an offense against the U.S. and attempted murder of an officer or employee of the country, according to a criminal complaint unsealed Tuesday.The complaint was signed June 12, two days before President Donald Trump hosted the UFC showcase on the White House South Lawn as part of his 80th birthday celebration.A preliminary search of Proper's iPhone revealed encrypted group chats that "laid out detailed plans to conduct an attack in Washington, D.C. with several unidentified confederates," according to the complaint.Investigators said the alleged plan involved flying small drones carrying explosives near the UFC arena, forcing spectators and "high value targets" to evacuate. Members of the group would then shoot at the fleeing crowd, according to court documents."According to Proper, this attack was designed to 'jumpstart' a revolution in the United States," an FBI affidavit said.Patel revealed the alleged plot in a post on X Tuesday morning."On June 10, FBI and our law enforcement partners became aware of a potential threat to the UFC America 250 event in Washington, D.C. involving individuals outside of the National Capital Region," Patel wrote in the post.Patel said the FBI, the Justice Department and other law enforcement partners moved quickly in a multistate operation, putting "multiple individuals" in custody and stopping "allegedly planned attacks" before they were carried out.Patel's post on X angered some Secret Service officials, who believed he "jumped the gun" by disclosing details of a sealed and ongoing criminal investigation, MS NOW reported, citing three people familiar with the matter.Secret Service and FBI agents had been working together on the case and had discussed unsealing it and making a joint announcement later Tuesday, according to the report. But when Patel posted about the alleged plot, the case was still under seal and roughly 10 suspects had not yet been arrested, the outlet reported."We all woke up this morning to see this on Twitter," one administration official told MS NOW, speaking anonymously to discuss a sensitive law enforcement matter. US President Donald Trump, First Lady Melania Trump, Dana White, president of Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), and guests in the Octagon during the UFC Freedom250 fight on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, DC, US, early on Monday, June 15, 2026. Bloomberg | Bloomberg | Getty Images Investigators said the case began when Proper's mother contacted law enforcement June 10 out of concern over her son's conduct, including firearms purchases and online communications with certain individuals, according to the complaint.When law enforcement went to the family's home in Ohio, they found thousands of rounds of ammunition, an assault-style rifle and a bullpup rifle that had been purchased June 5 and painted with an American flag, according to court documents. Proper's family voluntarily turned over the equipment, investigators said.Proper had allegedly joined a TikTok messaging group called "Vanguard of the Old" in March, according to the complaint. Members of the group believed the U.S. was headed in the wrong direction and "needed to be torn down so that it could be rebuilt," the complaint said.According to investigators, the group shifted communications to encrypted apps like Signal. Proper allegedly discussed targeting lawmakers he believed received donations from pro-Israel political action committees."I got a possible target Marsha Blackburn is senator for Tennessee," Proper allegedly wrote in a May message, according to the complaint. Asked by an unnamed co-conspirator why he was planning to target Blackburn, a Republican, Proper allegedly replied, "she's taken money from the Israel pro Israel lobby and supports them."In other messages, Proper allegedly listed Republican lawmakers from West Virginia's congressional delegation as "the people we're going to focus on," including Sen. Jim Justice, Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, Rep. Carol Miller and Rep. Riley Moore, all of whom are Republicans.Proper also allegedly made sympathetic comments about Adolf Hitler in the group chat, according to the complaint. US President Donald Trump, First Lady Melania Trump, Dana White, president of Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), and guests in the Octagon during the UFC Freedom250 fight on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, DC, US, early on Monday, June 15, 2026. Evan Vucci | Bloomberg | Getty Images Asked about the alleged plot Tuesday at the Group of Seven summit in France, Trump said, "I haven't heard about it.""The attack that I watched was the fighters," he added.A spokesperson for the FBI referred CNBC to Patel's post. The Justice Department declined to comment. "President Trump and the entire Administration are grateful to the FBI [and] Secret Service, and every heroic member of law enforcement who works tirelessly to keep us safe. Thanks to their efforts, UFC Freedom 250 will be remembered as one of the greatest sporting events in history," White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt posted on X.Secret Service Director Sean Curran said in a statement on X that his agency "worked closely with the FBI throughout this investigation.""In the days leading up to this weekend, our special agents, mission support personnel, and technical security teams worked around the clock to identify those responsible and hold them accountable," Curran wrote.The Secret Service's formal comments on the details of the alleged plot would come through court filings, Curran said.The UFC event brought thousands of people to the White House complex and drew an enormous law enforcement presence in and around the area. Roads near the White House were blocked off, fencing was used to control crowds and federal, state and local law enforcement officers were deployed around the event.The alleged plot adds to a run of security threats and political violence involving Trump, elected officials and high-profile public events.In April, a man allegedly armed with guns and knives ran through a security checkpoint at the White House Correspondents' Association dinner. He later pleaded not guilty to charges of attempting to assassinate the president.Trump also faced two assassination attempts during the 2024 campaign: one at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, and another at his Mar-a-Lago club in Florida. Choose CNBC as your preferred source on Google and never miss a moment from the most trusted name in business news.