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US and Indian IPO markets are gearing up for major listings, with AI giants like OpenAI and Anthropic set to capitalize on investor frenzy. In contrast, India's anticipated Jio and NSE IPOs face a less enthusiastic market after years of stagnant returns. While US IPOs may signal market tops, India's offerings are expected to be more sober, potentially reigniting foreign investor interest. View More

Mumbai: Few IPO calendars have looked as momentous as the ones shaping up in the US and India. On one side are OpenAI and Anthropic, two mega companies looking to ride the AI frenzy following the jumbo SpaceX issue's roaring success earlier in June. On the other are India's long-awaited giant IPOs, Jio Platforms and NSE, which have been part of investors' wish lists for years. The biggest difference between the upcoming IPOs in India and the US is not their size but the market mood they are arriving in. OpenAI and Anthropic are preparing to tap the primary market at a time when enthusiasm over AI has pushed US equities to record highs, creating an almost ideal backdrop for IPOs. In contrast, Jio and NSE are heading to the market in a far less ideal IPO milieu. While OpenAI and Anthropic enjoy the luxury of launching their IPOs in a market where investors are looking to lap up anything linked to AI, Jio and NSE must do all the heavy lifting, as appetite for Indian equities is far from its peak. This difference is consequential. Historically, mega IPOs have signalled market tops as issuers look to capitalise on investor frenzy. The logic here is that investors are willing to pay just about anything to be part of the euphoria, ignoring valuation concerns. Live Events This theory, to some extent, resonates with what's happening in the US, where the loss-making SpaceX listed at a record valuation of $1.8 trillion, making it one of the most valuable companies. Though SpaceX shares are stuttering after the blockbuster debut, the strong showing in the IPO has set the stage for OpenAI and Anthropic in the coming months. There is nothing, for now, to suggest that their IPOs would not sail through unless investors lose faith in the AI theme as a whole. Shift focus to India: Jio and NSE are preparing to list at a time when Indian markets have delivered no or marginal returns in the past two years. While foreign investors have fled Indian stocks in large numbers, individual investors-the street's current backbone-are showing less enthusiasm towards equities. Moreover, most recent listings have been far from inspiring. That's good news for investors. The IPO valuations of both these issuances are likely to be far more sober, with fewer deviations from their listed peers and in sync with the overall large-cap space. Early indications suggest that global investors are considering deploying money in these IPOs, judging them on a standalone basis rather than as part of an India portfolio, given their dominant presence in sectors with high entry barriers. Some optimists are counting on the Jio and NSE IPOs to give the secondary market a boost, the way Maruti Suzuki 's IPO in 2003-04 proved to be a turning point for Indian markets. The carmaker's IPO, coming after the dot-com bubble burst and in the aftermath of the Ketan Parekh scam, was credited with reviving retail participation in equities and improving investor sentiment, signalling the start of one of India's best bull runs-between 2003 and 2007. Whether Jio and NSE can have a similar effect is debatable, given the vastly different market and economic conditions prevailing today. Currently, the market is far more mature, with domestic equity ownership at record levels, creating less scope for the entry of a new army of domestic retail investors. The real test for the Jio and NSE IPOs will not be whether they get fully subscribed; it will be whether the issues can rekindle foreign investor interest in Indian markets. Maruti's IPO helped bring domestic investors back to the market. Two decades later, Jio and NSE face a bigger task: persuading global investors to give India another look. .Pbanner{display:flex;justify-content:space-between;align-items:center;background-color:#ec1c40;margin-top:20px;padding:5px 10px;border-radius:4px;color:#fff;line-height:10px;} .Pbannertext{display:flex;align-items:center;font-size:16px;font-weight:600;font-family:'Montserrat';} .Pbannertext img{height:20px;margin:0 6px} .Pbannerbutton a{display:flex;align-items:center;background-color:#fff;color:#ec1c40;text-decoration:none;font-weight:600;padding:4px 8px;border-radius:6px;font-size:15px;font-family:'Montserrat';} .Pbannerbutton img{height:20px;margin-right:6px} .Pbannerbutton a:hover{background-color:#f7f7f7} Add as a Reliable and Trusted News Source Add Now! (You can now subscribe to our ETMarkets WhatsApp channel) (You can now subscribe to our ETMarkets WhatsApp channel)

Private equity giant Carlyle is gearing up for significant IPOs in India, planning a $500 million listing for its automotive platform, Highway Roop Precision Technologies, valued at an estimated $2 billion. Concurrently, its healthcare RCM platform is also set for a $400-500 million offering. These major moves are anticipated by mid-2027, signaling substantial growth for Carlyle's Indian ventures. View More

Mumbai: Private equity major Carlyle plans to launch a $500 million initial public offering (IPO) for its Indian automotive platform, Highway Roop Precision Technologies , multiple people aware of the listing proposal told ET. In parallel, Carlyle has also initiated the IPO process for its healthcare revenue cycle management (RCM) platform, investment bankers said. The proposed listings are likely by mid-2027, said the people cited above. The automotive platform is expected to be valued at about $2 billion. The healthcare RCM asset, created through the merger of Knack RCM and EqualizeRCM after their acquisitions by the private equity major, should raise $400-500 million through a combination of primary and secondary share sales, bankers cited above told ET. Investment bankers have begun pitching for mandates on both offerings. One of the most active private equity investors in India, Carlyle has deployed more than $8 billion in the country across investments including PNB Housing Finance , SBI Cards , VLCC, Hexaware Technologies and Nido Home Finance. AgenciesPlans $500-m IPO for Highway Roop at $2b valuation, to also raise $400–500 m at healthcare RCM asset A Carlyle spokesperson declined to comment. Live Events In February 2025, Carlyle Asia Partners acquired controlling stakes in Highway Industries and Roop Automotives, leading manufacturers of forged and precision-machined components, steering system assemblies, transmission parts and other powertrain applications used in electric, hybrid and internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles. To lead the combined platform, Carlyle appointed Dharmesh Arora , former Asia-Pacific CEO of Schaeffler Group, as chief executive officer in June 2025. The founders of Highway Industries and Roop Automotives, Umesh Munjal and Mohit Oswal, respectively, continue to hold a combined 25-30% stake in the merged entity. According to sources, Highway Roop is expected to generate revenue of about ₹3,000 crore and EBITDA of ₹700 crore in FY27. Precision Parts In India, Highway Roop mainly competes with listed precision engineering and auto-component manufacturers such as Bharat Forge (Market cap of ₹97,652 cr), and Sona BLW Precision Forgings ( Market cap of ₹38,180 cr). Separately, Carlyle Asia Partners acquired majority stakes in Knack RCM and EqualizeRCM in May 2026 to create a global, multi-specialty healthcare revenue cycle management platform. The combined business posted revenue of approximately $160 million and EBITDA of $65 million in FY26, sources said. .Pbanner{display:flex;justify-content:space-between;align-items:center;background-color:#ec1c40;margin-top:20px;padding:5px 10px;border-radius:4px;color:#fff;line-height:10px;} .Pbannertext{display:flex;align-items:center;font-size:16px;font-weight:600;font-family:'Montserrat';} .Pbannertext img{height:20px;margin:0 6px} .Pbannerbutton a{display:flex;align-items:center;background-color:#fff;color:#ec1c40;text-decoration:none;font-weight:600;padding:4px 8px;border-radius:6px;font-size:15px;font-family:'Montserrat';} .Pbannerbutton img{height:20px;margin-right:6px} .Pbannerbutton a:hover{background-color:#f7f7f7} Add as a Reliable and Trusted News Source Add Now! (You can now subscribe to our ETMarkets WhatsApp channel) (You can now subscribe to our ETMarkets WhatsApp channel)

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In his Sunday column for Investing Club subscribers, Jim Cramer examines the market's love affair with memory and semi-cap equipment stocks. View More

We are beginning to see the real weaknesses in these hyperscalers. Amazon , Alphabet , Microsoft and Meta Platforms may have the money, but they have run into a brick wall in this stock market. That brick wall is hardware. I should have realized how acute the shortage is when we saw how the memory chip stocks galloped to much higher stock prices. The shortage of chips, stemming from just a handful of players in the high-bandwidth memory (HBM) category — SK Hynix with roughly 60% share, followed by about 20% apiece for Samsung and Micron — is a bottleneck they have not been able to overcome. HBM is a specialized kind of dynamic random access memory (DRAM) crucial for AI computing. We know that because Apple had to own up to price increases , squeezed by the memory makers shifting more of their capacity to HBM from consumer-grade DRAM. The stocks of another class of memory chips — Sandisk , Western Digital and Seagate , which all focus on long-term data storage — seem to have no cap on them either. They are doing their best trying to deliver innovations . I wish they were expanding directly with new fabs, but that seems to be the wrong approach according to these storage companies. The opaque nature of the cost of these chips in a business-to-business context is undeniable. We can't open up online chats to find out. It just seems like one big black box. Perhaps that's why we didn't know how onerous the penalties have become for these hyperscalers shelling out billions upon billions in capital expenditures. We do know that Microsoft and Meta both called out higher component pricing on their earnings calls as one factor behind their big capex numbers. All four hyperscalers have seen their stocks decline over the past month, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq is up almost 1%. A basket of memory stocks , meanwhile, has a one-month surge of 41%. Of the four hyperscalers, only Meta is almost entirely exposed to the consumer with an advertising model. This reliance on ad budgets severely restricts the company in the mind of the market. Meta needs a web services business , just like the other three have. If Meta had one, I could see its stock doubling and many — including us — are hanging on for one. Having a cloud business would make it easier for Meta to show a clear return on investment from all its AI capex. Meta is down 12.55% year to date. MU YTD mountain Micron's year-to-date stock performance. I had thought the HBM tightness would be alleviated by additional chip fabrication plants, known as fabs. But they can't get online fast enough, or they can't get more out of their existing machines quick enough. That's because the real intellectual property in this supply chain is not the hyperscalers, nor the memory chipmakers, but the capital equipment companies: Applied Materials , Lam Research and KLA Corp . We need more of what they produce, but we aren't going to get it in time to sort out which hyperscalers can win. The capital equipment companies are all dual and triple oriented, which is why they are regarded as more dangerous than a Micron or a Sandisk. I think that's probably false, though, because Applied Materials CEO Gary Dickerson told me last month that the company has "unprecedented visibility" from customers because demand is so strong, so I don't think they are going to have shortfalls versus Wall Street estimates any time soon. This whole memory complex has thrown a monkey wrench into the hyperscalers' growth plans. It is no longer whether they have enough Nvidia chips, as we saw at earlier stages of the AI boom. The hyperscalers have tried to tackle the Nvidia stranglehold by teaming up with Marvell Technology and Broadcom to co-design custom AI chips. We picked Broadcom to run with, and we're nearly three years into our ownership. Still, I can't believe how high Marvell has gotten this year, with shares more than tripling. It's interesting to see Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang embracing Marvell, first with a $2 billion investment in March and then, earlier this month, calling it the next trillion company . Why is it so curious? Because Marvell is working with Amazon to defeat Nvidia and build its own semiconductor business. Already, Amazon says that if its chip business was a standalone entity, it would have a $50 billion annual revenue run rate . It's incredible to see how the stock of Broadcom has collapsed, even as it continues to work with Alphabet's Google to try to break the Nvidia stranglehold. While I don't think there's a weakness in that partnership, Broadcom's last conference call confounded us. The stock was at $479 a share before earnings on June 3. It's clawed back some of its 22% post-earnings slide over a few sessions, but still ended Thursday at $411. Thankfully, we booked some profits on June 2 at roughly $480 because the stock had a parabolic move into earnings, and my long-held discipline tells me to trim parabolic moves. Believe me, as a money manager, I wish I had bet on Seagate, Western Digital and Sandisk, or even an exchange-traded fund tracking the Korean market, where Samsung and SK Hynix are by far the biggest names. Woulda, shoulda, coulda. SK Hynix is planning to list in New York , in a bid to broaden its investor base and boost its overall profile, but the stock has had such a run it feels foolish to chase. Then again, when you consider the passion-versus-rigor argument I laid out Wednesday during our Monthly Meeting, you can buy it. I also regret not owning Applied Materials or Lam Research, as we had them on "Mad Money" and they are extraordinary companies. Of course, buying Arm Holdings this year has been a total home run for us. But with these names in the memory and semi-cap equipment space, we were hemmed in by our decision to embrace the underperforming hyperscalers. They are underperforming precisely because of these shortages and the cost of Nvidia and, most importantly, materials, labor, and siting . It's becoming obvious to me and everyone that, right now, these companies, plus Nvidia, are just in too much of a battle to figure out who is going to win. In the meantime, the memory-and-storage semis, which used to be considered total commodities, are now different enough that they can't be matched to drive down prices. Despite their runs, they are probably better buys than the hyperscalers … for now. I feel the same way about Club names Corning and Qnity Electronics , two around-the-edges winners of the AI trade. Corning's fiber is coveted inside data centers for its data transfer speeds. Qnity's specialty materials are essential to the making and packaging of chips. Both stocks have more than doubled this year. If I had my druthers, I would pick one or even two more of these semi companies we don't have in the portfolio, but that would involve selling Salesforce , which we want to give one more quarter to, and perhaps Microsoft , which is being assassinated by sellers who think that as much as 50% of their business can be disrupted. Here, I'm talking about Microsoft's enterprise software business and its reliance on a seat-based model. It's the same overhang on Salesforce. Stay or go? So, the question becomes why stay with the hyperscalers? There's a couple of reasons. One of these, or maybe two, are going to blink on AI spending. That will cause the other two to roar. I don't think Alphabet will blink because it just raised money and it has a prized partner in Apple, which is using Google's Gemini models to give Siri a much-needed infusion of AI capabilities. Microsoft badly needs to merge with OpenAI. I am beginning to believe it is the only way out for Microsoft, as far-fetched as this idea may seem. Meta needs to build a cloud business, or it becomes pretty much irrelevant in this competition. Amazon is too competitive and won't stop spending. Anthropic, assuming it follows through on plans to go public , will be a huge company filled with hubris, which would normally cause a downfall. It hasn't yet. That makes for a battle among Amazon, Alphabet, Anthropic and OpenAI. Four. Anthropic will have a similar war chest to Alphabet. OpenAI will need far more capital than it will get from an initial public offering because it has more of a consumer-focused revenue base compared with Anthropic, which is heavily skewed toward business-to-business. OpenAI wants to get closer to a 50-50 revenue split , but for now, Anthropic is more loved by the investor class. The key to Amazon is to get its AI business to profitability as soon as possible, something they think can happen next year. Of course, the missing link for all of these companies is precisely that: profitability. It will be the capital markets that determine which of the four will win, as I don't think we need them all. During this period, I no longer see how any of these companies' stocks can outperform the suppliers, which is the intent of this piece. I am laying the ground for the jettisoning of a couple of techs to pick up something in the incredibly lucrative food chain when we get some sort of general market decline caused by the president's erratic behavior. I probably won't have long to wait. It's tough to admit that you are on the wrong horses, even as I thought the Broadcoms, Cornings and Qnitys were enough. That's what made the recent Broadcom decline so painful. Any one of these —Sandisk, Seagate, Micron, Applied Materials, Lam or KLA, and Marvell — were superior to what we own. We need to reposition, and we need to do it shortly given that the hyperscalers are still spending like mad —or until two of them blink and then the pace of building will slow down. I am betting that this slowdown will not occur for sometime, though, because of the ease with which the stock market absorbed the Alphabet stock sale and SpaceX's IPO. As you know, I was very concerned that there wouldn't be enough demand for this new supply of stock. I don't know if SpaceX was sui generis — there was money for a special situation such as another Elon Musk venture to own — or that we are more endowed with cash than I thought. I think the coming Nasdaq 100 admission for SpaceX will be an interesting tell and still one more millstone around Nvidia's neck. The good news is that right now, only the looming IPOs of Anthropic, which will be wildly oversubscribed, and OpenAI, which will be far more tepid, stand in the way of the next run for the market, as the coffers seem to be replenishing. Why am I not worried about the impact of a potentially more hawkish Federal Reserve Chairman Kevin Warsh in all this? Don't interest rates determine things? I think they have helped determine the prices of Nvidia, Amazon, Microsoft, Google and Apple. But not as much as the others mentioned here, all of which are about shortages and price increases. The biggest one to worry about is the one I have the most allegiance to: Nvidia. If the stock of Nvidia is going to go higher, it will have to adopt the way of Apple , buying back its own stock by the fistful, as there is just too much supply. I think a hedge fund would abandon Nvidia, Microsoft, Alphabet, Amazon, Meta or even short their stocks on any lift. Just putting it out there. A trust stays the course. (See here for a full list of the stocks in Jim Cramer's Charitable Trust.) As a subscriber to the CNBC Investing Club with Jim Cramer, you will receive a trade alert before Jim makes a trade. Jim waits 45 minutes after sending a trade alert before buying or selling a stock in his charitable trust's portfolio. If Jim has talked about a stock on CNBC TV, he waits 72 hours after issuing the trade alert before executing the trade. THE ABOVE INVESTING CLUB INFORMATION IS SUBJECT TO OUR TERMS AND CONDITIONS AND PRIVACY POLICY , TOGETHER WITH OUR DISCLAIMER . NO FIDUCIARY OBLIGATION OR DUTY EXISTS, OR IS CREATED, BY VIRTUE OF YOUR RECEIPT OF ANY INFORMATION PROVIDED IN CONNECTION WITH THE INVESTING CLUB. NO SPECIFIC OUTCOME OR PROFIT IS GUARANTEED.

SBI on Friday secured a stay from the Telangana High Court on the auction of the land by the Telangana Industrial Infrastructure Corporation (TGIIC), which had earlier allotted the property to the bank. View More

"This is my dream come true," says Tetef, a long-time events producer. "I just want to go to a thing where everyone's sitting down making stuff." View More

An old Joann fabric and craft store is getting new life, if only for a weekend: Hundreds of Southern Californians are expected to visit in search of new art, clothes, decor and an afternoon of communal crafting.That's the mission behind Lauren Tetef's Open House Creative Fest, which will run June 27 and 28 from the old Joann location at the Del Amo Fashion Center mall in Torrance, California.The event is part artisan market, part workshop series where guests can learn new skills directly from the makers behind what they're buying."As an attendee, you get a little taste of what somebody does," says Tetef, 40, a long-time events producer. "You get to sit down and metaphorically break bread with them, have a conversation with them, get to know them. And by doing that, you're so much more invested in their business." A weekend of shopping and crafting Admission to the Open House Creative Fest event is free to walk around and shop from roughly 25 vendors, each of whom will also host their own crafting workshops. The creatively inclined can purchase an activity passport, starting at $40, which will give them access to do each booth's activity.For example, a participating florist plans to host sessions where she'll guide visitors on arranging dried flowers onto a greeting card for people to keep; another vendor who sells clothes plans to show people how to make a keychain by upcycling old selvage material.The activity passport will also give shoppers free range at the event's "activity garden" with tables full of fabric, paper, paints and other art supplies to create their own projects."This is my dream come true," says Tetef, who attended the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising (FIDM) in Los Angeles and was inspired by the campus's free materials library. "I just want to go to a thing where everyone's sitting down making stuff." Saving roughly $24,000 after a layoff Much like the temporarily revived Joann space, Tetef's creative fest is a kind of comeback.In March 2025, Tetef started a corporate marketing job but says the import-heavy business was impacted by the Trump administration's new tariff policy; Tetef says she was laid off just six months later in August. Despite the unexpected turn of events, she says, "it was a good opportunity for me to figure something out: What do I do next?"She started brainstorming Open House Creative Fest and sees it as an amalgamation of everything she's done in her career.Tetef had previously worked as a director of events and produced dozens of meet-ups, from large-scale pop-up markets to intimate influencer events. About two years ago, she also started her own business, Flourish Locally, which hosts networking events for small businesses and creative workshops like charm-making sessions.Tetef says she and her family lived off her severance check and her husband's income. She took on events clients through her own business and put aside all of her earnings to go toward the creative fest, saving roughly $24,000 in just a few months. 'It was such a special place to all of us' When Tetef was scouting for a location, she says a leasing agent at the Del Amo Fashion Center pitched her the old Joann fabric and crafts store space.In February 2025, the company announced it would close all of its nearly 800 of the fabric and craft stores after it failed to find a buyer to stay in business.Tetef paid $3,000 in rent, plus a $1,000 security deposit, to rent the Torrance mall space for a month, and got the keys on June 1. Tetef says she's spent an additional few thousand dollars on expenses like a cleaning crew, a construction crew to work on some of the store fixtures, decor and rugs, vinyl to wrap the store front, a photographer, supplies for the activity garden and more.The event has seen nearly 500 RSVPs across Eventbrite and Partiful and 70 pre-sale passport purchases, Tetef says, and she's hopeful weekend foot traffic to the mall could entice other visitors.The significance that Tetef's event is posting up in an old Joann store isn't lost on her."It was such a special place to all of us," Tetef says, "where you would just get your shopping cart and you would wander the aisles and something would spark your imagination," she says. "If [people] were in a creative roadblock, they could come here and find a solve for it. Everybody has been touched by this space."Want to get ahead at work? Then you need to learn how to make effective small talk. In CNBC's new online course, How To Talk To People At Work, expert instructors share practical strategies to help you use everyday conversations to gain visibility, build meaningful relationships and accelerate your career growth. Sign up today! Take control of your money with CNBC Select CNBC Select is editorially independent and may earn a commission from affiliate partners on links.Chase launches limited-time business card offers: Earn up to 200,000 bonus pointsMortgage rates will likely stay high amid the Iran war, experts say. Here’s how to get the best deal anywayIPO investing: What are IPO stocks and the best brokers for IPO access?Reverse mortgage scams: How to spot them, avoid them and lenders you can trust

Raising the minimum wage has been a progressive policy winner at the ballot box, but recent losses suggest an economic mood slowing its political momentum. View More

Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Chairman Bernie Sanders (I-VT) holds a news conference regarding the federal minimum wage at the Capitol in Washington, May 4, 2023.Kevin Lamarque | Reuters Oklahoma voters on Tuesday rejected a ballot measure that would have raised the state's minimum wage to $15 an hour by 2029, marking a rare loss for the issue on a statewide level. State Question 832 would have immediately lifted the state's minimum wage from $7.25 an hour, a figure it has remained at for nearly two decades, to $12 an hour starting in 2027. Incremental $1.50-per-hour annual raises would take place over the following two years, leading to the eventual $15 hourly rate.Residents who showed up to cast their votes in the state's primary elections, however, had other ideas. SQ 832 failed by a margin of a little over 10 percentage points, with "No" receiving around 55% of the vote, and "Yes" getting around 45%. Just three counties — Oklahoma, Tulsa, and Cleveland — voted "Yes," with each county based around one of Oklahoma's two largest cities, Oklahoma City and Tulsa. Rural counties statewide soundly opposed the measure. Those who stood firmly against SQ 832 celebrated Tuesday's results. "Government doesn't need to get involved in private businesses," Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt, who previously expressed his own opposition to the measure, stated. "The phrasing of this state question would have put Oklahoma on a path to a minimum wage higher than in California. That would destroy Oklahoma small businesses and our rural economies.""Voters chose to protect Oklahoma's economic momentum and one of our greatest competitive advantages: affordability," Chad Warmington, president and CEO of the State Chamber of Oklahoma, stated in a press release. "Oklahomans sent a clear message: we can grow our economy, create opportunities, and keep life affordable without one-size-fits-all mandates that make it harder for businesses to hire and grow."Warmington's sentiment reflects the central consideration driving opposition to SQ 832 — concern that an encompassing minimum wage hike could curb statewide employment while increasing inflationary pressures. Oklahoma currently has the lowest overall cost of living in the entire nation, 14% lower than the U.S. average. This fact became a focal point of anti-832 messaging leading up to the election, with discourse surrounding a feared increase in the costs of goods and services. Those who supported the measure argued that there wasn't much that could be afforded to begin with on a $7.25 hourly wage."I want you to think about how much groceries, gas, and all of those things have gone up [since 2009] ... you absolutely cannot pay the gas to get to a job, have an apartment, and live extremely frugally," Oklahoma Labor Commissioner Leslie Osborn told KWTV in an interview endorsing SQ 832 earlier this month. "We're not talking about uber-wealth, we're talking about dignity, and I just don't think it has a downside," she said. Groups that championed the initiative voiced their dissatisfaction with the results and frustration surrounding Stitt's decision to hold the election during party primaries, where voter turnout historically tends to be lower, rather than the November general election. A little over 630,000 Oklahomans weighed in on SQ 832, around 26% of the state's registered voters. "Last night's loss was not indicative of the will of all Oklahoma voters rejecting a gradual increase to the minimum wage, but it was politicians, and the monied interests that control them, picking the election date and the voters they wanted to show up," Raise the Wage Oklahoma, a group at the forefront of the efforts told CNBC. "Those same politicians and special interests turned on their political machine and spent more than $2 million in dark money – an unprecedented sum spent against a statewide minimum wage ballot initiative – spreading misinformation that ultimately was too much for our grassroots movement to overcome."The organization promised to keep fighting for a minimum wage increase after Tuesday night's loss.Throughout the past decade, increasing the minimum wage has remained a consistently popular progressive policy, one that, historically, has prevailed at the ballot box. From 1996 through 2022, 25 state ballot initiatives increasing the minimum wage were voted on across the country. Every single one of them passed. In recent years, even states that have skewed more conservative in their political leanings, such as Missouri, Nebraska, and Florida, have voted overwhelmingly to increase their minimum wage to $15 an hour. This trend, however, has waned in recent years. In 2024, voters in California and Massachusetts, two of the most leftward-leaning states in the nation, spurned ballot measures that would have resulted in minimum wage increases. These rejections were, in large part, attributed to the same fears surrounding high inflation and increased cost of living that SQ 832 opponents capitalized on. Could the results in Oklahoma further indicate a brewing countermovement? Oklahoma is one of the most conservative states in the nation, with voters that have been hesitant to break for broadly popular progressive issues in past ballot initiatives. In 2023, the state overwhelmingly rejected a State Question that would have legalized recreational marijuana, and in 2020, it barely passed a measure expanding Medicaid. As of June 2026, there are no future ballot initiatives surrounding the minimum wage set to be voted on. However, the frequency in which they have appeared in recent years, with an average of about one statewide minimum wage ballot referendum a year since 2016, suggests that the next attempt might not be far off. Whichever state chooses to do so will come into the national spotlight, as its decision may well serve as indications of how workers feel about the surrounding economic climate.  watch nowVIDEO1:4001:40High-income workers outpace lower earners in wage growthThe Exchange Choose CNBC as your preferred source on Google and never miss a moment from the most trusted name in business news.

There must be greater accountability in the enforcement of biopiracy rules View More

"No matter how talented or prepared you are, self-doubt can get in your way," says therapist Amy Morin. Here's how to channel your alter ego so you can do your best. View More

When Beyoncé walked on stage early in her career, she didn't do it as Beyoncé. She became "Sasha Fierce" — an alter ego she created to cope with nerves. The strategy behind it can work for the rest of us, too.As a therapist for nearly 25 years and the author of "The Mental Strength Playbook," I've watched smart, capable people choke under pressure. They stumble over sales calls even though they've memorized the script. Or they stay quiet in meetings even when they have the best idea in the group. No matter how talented or prepared you are, self-doubt can hold you back. I teach clients to channel an alter ego because it's one of the fastest ways for them to move past it and perform at their best. What an alter ego actually does for you When self-doubt hijacks your brain, you start thinking about everything that might go wrong, which distracts you from the task at hand. Your first reaction might be to talk yourself out of feeling nervous. But that often backfires and makes it even harder to keep your head in the game. Channeling an alter ego instead is like stepping into the mindset of someone who doesn't get nervous. "It's kind of like when I do a movie, becoming the character, [and] once you put on the wig and once you put on the clothes, you walk different," Beyoncé told Oprah in a 2008 interview. Though Beyoncé said a few years later that she'd retired Sasha Fierce as a separate persona, there was a time when the alter ego would show up whenever she performed. "Usually when I hear the crowd, when I put on my stilettos, like the moment right before when you're nervous," Beyoncé told Oprah, "then Sasha Fierce appears, and my posture and the way I speak and everything is different."Other artists and athletes have also talked about creating alter egos to help them perform at their best, including Adele and the late Kobe Bryant.  The science behind the alter ego Channeling your alter ego is based on a psychological strategy called self-distancing. When you take on the persona of someone else, you create space between yourself and your anxious thoughts. Your brain activity shifts away from the regions that drive emotional reactivity and toward the prefrontal cortex, which is responsible for logical thinking. In one study that tested this idea with kids, researchers gave 4- and 6-year-olds a boring task to complete and an iPad they could play with whenever they wanted to quit the task. One group was told to ask themselves, "Am I working hard?" while trying to complete the task. Another group was told to use their own name, like "Is Hannah working hard?" And a third group was able to pick a character, like Batman, and asked, "Is Batman working hard?"The kids who channeled their favorite fictional characters persisted the longest. The further they stepped outside themselves, the more grit they showed. How to channel your own alter ego Whether you want to appear more confident during presentations, ask for a raise, or work up the nerve to talk to a stranger:1. Pick your persona Your alter ego could be a real person you admire, a fictional character, or even a version of yourself on your best day. Think of someone who has the quality and energy that matches the situation. If you need boldness, maybe you channel Serena Williams. If you need someone who stays calm and kind under pressure, maybe it's Mr. Rogers. 2. Create a physical anchor Tying your alter ego to a physical anchor, like a piece of clothing, makes this strategy even more powerful, whether it's a watch that makes you feel like James Bond or red boots that remind you of Wonder Woman. The meaning you attach to the object is what does the work. So find something small that represents your alter ego — a piece of jewelry, a pair of socks, a specific sweater. Put it on before you enter your high-stakes situation to shift your brain into their mindset. 3. Study and embody your alter ego Ask yourself, "What would my alter ego do in this situation?" Notice how they'd stand. How they'd speak. Then do those things.One warning: If channeling your alter ego causes you to feel like you're impersonating someone, you've taken it too far. The goal is to amplify your own qualities that often get buried by self-doubt, not to feel like you're losing yourself completely.If you're concerned about how stress management is affecting your well-being, consult a mental health professional.4. Start small Don't wait for a high-pressure situation to test this strategy. Practice it when the stakes are lower. Test it during a team meeting before trying it at a big all-hands. With practice, you'll discover how to fine tune this play so it works best for you.Then you can think of it as a secret trick that brings the most confident version of you forward right when you need it.Amy Morin is a psychotherapist, clinical social worker, and host of the Mentally Stronger podcast. She is the author of several books including "13 Things Mentally Strong People Don't Do.″ Her TEDx talk "The Secret of Becoming Mentally Strong" is one of the most viewed talks of all time. Follow her on Instagram and LinkedIn.Want to get ahead at work? Then you need to learn how to make effective small talk. In CNBC's new online course, How To Talk To People At Work, expert instructors share practical strategies to help you use everyday conversations to gain visibility, build meaningful relationships and accelerate your career growth. Sign up today! Take control of your money with CNBC Select CNBC Select is editorially independent and may earn a commission from affiliate partners on links.Chase launches limited-time business card offers: Earn up to 200,000 bonus pointsMortgage rates will likely stay high amid the Iran war, experts say. Here’s how to get the best deal anywayIPO investing: What are IPO stocks and the best brokers for IPO access?Reverse mortgage scams: How to spot them, avoid them and lenders you can trust

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