>>> US After Hours Summary: VIR +65.3% surging on earnings and trial results; MY

After Hours Summary: VIR +65.3% surging on earnings and trial results; MYGN +18.3%, SGHC +18.1%, KEYS +15.5%, MAX +14.8% higher on earnings; UCTT -12.5%, ZD -8.1%, HIMS -6.7%, PAY -5.3%, PRIM -5.2% lower on earnings

After Hours Gainers:

Companies trading higher in after hours in reaction to earnings/guidance: VIR +65.3% (also strategic collaboration with Astelas Pharma (ALPMY); also updated Phase 1 results for PSMA-targeting, PRO-XTEN dual-masked T-cell engager VIR-5500), MYGN +18.3%, SGHC +18.1% (increases dividend) KEYS +15.5%, MAX +14.8% (also increases share repurchase authorization to $100 mln), TARS +10.3%, DHC +8.9%, FWRD +7.8%, ADEA +6.9%, SIBN +6.6%, BWXT +5.4%, AESI +4.5%, IIPR +3.7%, VVX +3%, GLPG +2.2% (also advances cell therapy wind-down), ACVA +2.1%, BBBY +2%, VNOM +1.2% (also increases dividend; also increases share repurchase authorization by $1 bln), RHP +0.4%, SKWD +0.3%, OVV +0.3% (also new shareholder return framework)

Companies trading higher in after hours in reaction to news: BETR +3.7% (strategic partnership with Framework Ventures), EMPD +3.6% (shareholder calls for resignation of CEO and entire Board), IONQ +1.7% (selected to support Missile Defense Agency SHIELD IDIQ contract), ERO +1.5% (results of the preliminary economic assessment on the Furnas Copper-Gold Project), PSKY +1.3% (Paramount Skydance raises its offer for Warner Bros (WBD), according to Bloomberg), RCUS +1% (new data for its HIF-2a Inhibitor Casdatifan), FMC +0.9% (receives dual mode of action herbicide classification for rimisoxafen), BNC +0.6% (YZILabs Management responds to CEA Industries' proposed amendments to asset management agreement), BSX +0.6% (increases share repurchase authorization by $4 bln), CDW +0.5% (mixed shelf offering), DHT +0.4% (entered into a one-year time charter agreement at $105,000 per day for the VLCC DHT Redwood), IVR +0.4% (mixed shelf offering), NFLX +0.4% (Paramount Skydance raises its offer for Warner Bros (WBD), according to Bloomberg), THO +0.2% (to organize its North America RV OEM operations into two operating groups), AAL +0.2% (mixed shelf offering), WBD +0.2% (Paramount Skydance raises its offer for Warner Bros (WBD), according to Bloomberg), CLF +0.2% (appoints new lead Director), UBER +0.1% (to acquire SpotHero, bringing parking reservations onto the Uber app)

After Hours Losers:

Companies trading lower in after hours in reaction to earnings/guidance: UCTT -12.5%, ZD -8.1%, HIMS -6.7%, PAY -5.3%, PRIM -5.2%, CWEN -4.1%, INVX -3.5%, FANG -2.8%, KTOS -2.7%, BMRN -2.5%, EVER -2.2%, ERIE -2%, APLE -1.6%, OKE -1.5%, ALSN -0.7%, GNW -0.6%, BCC -0.2%,

Companies trading lower in after hours in reaction to news: TARA -19.2% (updated interim results from its ongoing Phase 2 open-label ADVANCED-2 trial assessing intravesical TARA-002), MGNX -10.3% (FDA places partial clinical hold on Phase 2 LINNET study of lorigerlimab), WHR -8% (stock offering), TNDM -5% (convertible notes offering), AVAV -1.6% (CFO to retire), ED -1.3% (stock offering), RDN -1% (mixed shelf offering), KDP -0.9% (updated financing plan for JDE Peet's acquisition), XP -0.5% (stock offering by selling shareholders), CRML -0.3% (stock offering by selling shareholders)

TechCrunch : Spotify rolls out AI-powered Prompted Playlists to the U.K. and oth

Spotify rolls out AI-powered Prompted Playlists to the U.K. and other markets

After initially testing its AI-powered “Prompted Playlists” feature in New Zealand and recently launching in the U.S. and Canada, Spotify announced on Monday that it’s rolling out the tool to Premium subscribers in the U.K., Ireland, Australia, and Sweden.

Prompted Playlists allows users to create custom playlists by simply describing what they want to listen to in their own words. Instead of searching for individual songs or artists, users can describe the vibe, scenario, or inspiration they want, and Spotify will take care of the rest.

To access the feature, users tap “Create” and then select “Prompted Playlist,” then enter any prompt in English. The feature is designed to interpret themes including moods, aesthetics, and even memories.

Prompts can be as broad or specific as the user wants, referencing musical eras, genres, activities, lyrics, instruments, or even requesting a playlist inspired by a TV show, movie, or personal milestone. Users can also specify whether they want the playlist to include mostly new music or just music from their library in the prompt.

Once a prompt is submitted, Spotify’s AI generates a customized playlist tailored to the request. The system draws on the user’s listening history and incorporates current music and cultural trends. Plus, each song comes with a short explanation that offers insight into why it was chosen for that particular playlist.

Users can refine their playlists by adjusting their prompts or starting over. For those whose musical tastes constantly evolve, playlists can be scheduled to automatically refresh on a daily or weekly basis.
Image Credits:Spotify
Since this is still in beta, Spotify noted that there might be changes as the company gets feedback, and that there are currently usage limits in place. Some users have reported hitting limits after roughly 20 or 30 prompts.

Spotify has recently expanded AI features throughout its platform, including Page Match, which lets users scan a physical book page to jump to the corresponding spot in the audiobook, and About This Song. The platform also updated its song lyrics feature to provide global translations and offline access. Last week, SeatGeek partnered with Spotify to help listeners easily find ticket links for concerts on an artist’s page or upcoming tour dates within the app.
Internally, the company has implemented AI throughout its workflows, with co-CEO Gustav Söderström saying earlier this month that Spotify’s best developers haven’t written a line of code since December, thanks to AI.

Spotify is also expanding its audiobook business by venturing into physical book sales. Soon, users in the U.S. and U.K. will be able to buy physical copies directly from the app.

The Information : What OpenAI’s Stargate Issues Could Teach Anthropic

What OpenAI’s Stargate Issues Could Teach Anthropic

Over the past year, the running joke in the data center industry—even inside OpenAI—has been that the $500 billion Stargate initiative was less of a master plan than a “vibe.”

My reporting this weekend showed how little Stargate resembles the $500 billion effort touted at a White House event just over a year ago. Stargate now has no staff, nor does it have any obvious role in data center development. It has ended up as a flexible umbrella for OpenAI’s compute partnerships. Longtime readers may remember that in March 2024, we reported that “Stargate” then referred to OpenAI’s plan to build a $100 billion supercomputer with Microsoft.

This all reflects a deeper tension between AI labs’ ambitions and the costly realities of building and funding infrastructure. OpenAI’s evolution might offer lessons for its rivals, such as Anthropic, as they chase their own multigigawatt build-outs.

Vision First, Financing Later

When Stargate was announced, its three partners, OpenAI, Oracle and SoftBank, threw out a big number: $500 billion of investment for 10 gigawatts of computing capacity. But the companies didn’t yet know how the build-out was going to be funded. As the plan evolved, OpenAI leaned more heavily on Oracle, whose investment-grade balance sheet allowed its projects to borrow money at better terms than the AI lab could have managed on its own.

While the public proclamation about Stargate generated excitement and momentum, eventually the project had to figure out how it could finance that vision.

Anthropic, which has privately discussed its ambitions to secure roughly 10 GW of capacity over the next several years, is likely running similar calculations. It is sharing its goals with partners and potential investors to test their willingness to fund those efforts.

We expect Anthropic is trying to line up an Oracle-like financial partner to help it secure favorable borrowing terms. (Unlike OpenAI, Anthropic didn’t declare its vision at a White House event, so it can work out these details behind the scenes.)

Spreading Out Risk

Stargate’s biggest contribution to the AI build-out might be the unusual deal OpenAI has struck with Oracle to share some of the economic risk of their 4.5 GW data center development. That essentially means OpenAI will pay more if projects are delayed or exceed the original budget—and if they turn out to be less expensive, OpenAI benefits from that too. (Given what we know about the cost of building AI, as well as how common delays are becoming, it’s likely OpenAI’s compute is only getting more expensive over time.)

Such a deal structure is not typical. Cloud providers’ customers are rarely on the hook for volatility in data center construction prices, but this deal is unprecedented in scale. It’s not clear how OpenAI could afford to share the burden of these costs or how much they could potentially rise.

The structure is likely a relief for Oracle investors, who have been closely watching how its fast-growing cloud business is affecting its margins—as we have reported here and here.

Anthropic will likely be watching that relationship closely. It faces a similar choice about how it will spread out risk as it inks more compute deals in coming years.

Going It Alone

OpenAI’s experience suggests Anthropic should proceed cautiously when it comes to outright ownership of projects. Given all of the starts and stops in OpenAI’s plan to build its own data centers, Anthropic may want to kick those thoughts down the road a few years from now.

We’ve reported that Anthropic is looking to increase its long-term direct leases of data center capacity (rather than just renting chips from cloud providers) in coming years to gain more control over its compute footprint. Direct leasing offers a sort of middle ground, as it can provide a business more influence over location and capacity without requiring in-house data center development capabilities.

Owning infrastructure may eventually make financial sense for AI labs, but in the race to secure compute quickly, it might not be the best first option.

Musk’s Turbine Trouble

Elon Musk’s xAI is facing stiff opposition to its strategy of powering its data centers in Mississippi and Tennessee with dozens of small turbines burning natural gas. A public environmental hearing in Southaven, Miss., last week to consider a state air permit drew hundreds of opponents who urged the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality to deny the request.

The dispute could serve as an early test of whether big tech can sidestep traditional utilities by rapidly assembling off-grid power plants from clusters of so-called temporary turbines.

FT : US evacuates staff from Lebanon embassy as fears rise of war with Iran

US evacuates staff from Lebanon embassy as fears rise of war with Iran
President Trump has threatened to strike the Islamic republic unless a deal is reached on curbing its nuclear programme

Washington ordered the departure of non-essential diplomats and their family members from Lebanon on Monday as concerns mount of a potential US military conflict with Iran.

A senior state department official said an assessment of the regional security environment determined it was now “prudent” to reduce the embassy’s footprint in the country.

The move was only a “temporary measure’’ intended to ensure the safety of personnel, the official said. They added the embassy would continue to operate with core staff.

Dozens of staff were reportedly evacuated via Beirut airport on Monday, according to local media.

The evacuations come amid heightened tensions in the region. Washington has built up one of its largest military forces in the Middle East since the 2003 Iraq war, raising the prospect of a weeks-long military campaign against Iran.

President Donald Trump has threatened to strike Iran unless the regime swiftly meets his demands for a deal aimed at curbing Tehran’s nuclear programme.

On Thursday, he said the Islamic republic had a “maximum” of 15 days to reach a deal or “bad things will happen”. He also said he was considering limited strikes designed to press Tehran into making a deal.

The US build-up has continued as Iran’s foreign minister Abbas Araghchi told CBS on Sunday that Tehran was still working on a proposal for Washington to consider. Araghchi said Iran would “probably” submit the proposal during potential talks with special envoy Steve Witkoff in Switzerland this week.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio is expected to travel to Israel later this week. A state department official said the plans were still in place “but remain subject to change”.

Lebanon is home to the Shia militant group Hizbollah, long one of Iran’s most potent forces in its regional network of allied proxies.

In the 1980s, US assets in Lebanon were repeatedly targeted during the country’s brutal civil war.

The US marine headquarters and the embassy in Beirut were both bombed in 1983 in attacks that killed 241 servicemen and 49 embassy staff — casting a long shadow over US diplomacy in the region.

Hizbollah has been subject to near-daily air strikes by Israel, despite a US-brokered ceasefire in 2024 intended to end more than a year of cross-border fire that culminated in a full-blown war at the end of that year.

The war severely weakened the group, but Israel continues to accuse Hizbollah of trying to rebuild its capabilities and says efforts by Lebanon’s government to disarm Hizbollah have been inadequate.

Israel has intensified its aerial campaign in recent weeks, an indication of its increasing concerns that the militant group could join Tehran in a new conflict against Israel should a US attack on Iran spiral into a regional conflagration which could draw in the proxy forces. Hizbollah did not participate in the 12-day war between Israel and Iran last June.

On Sunday, Israel said it hit Hizbollah “command centres” in Lebanon’s eastern Bekaa Valley linked to the group’s missile force, which it said had been working recently to improve its ability to launch rockets at Israel.

The strikes killed 10 people and wounded dozens more, according to Lebanese authorities who did not distinguish between militants and civilians. Hizbollah confirmed that at least eight of its members had been killed, including a senior field commander.

FT : Maersk and MSC to take temporary control of key Panama Canal ports

Maersk and MSC to take temporary control of key Panama Canal ports
Decision follows Supreme Court ruling which ejected ports’ operator, Hong Kong’s CK Hutchison

Danish shipping giant Maersk and Swiss-based MSC are to take over the operations of two key ports on the Panama Canal after their Hong Kong-based operator was ejected last month, the Panamanian government said on Monday.

Panama’s Supreme Court last month annulled a contract with conglomerate CK Hutchison Holdings as operator of the Balboa and Cristóbal ports on the famous waterway after legal challenges.

The case stemmed from lawsuits dating back to 2021 and a government audit in 2025 alleging irregularities.

On Monday, the Panamanian government formally assumed control of the port facilities, including cranes, vehicles, computer systems and software, under a decree intended to guarantee their smooth operation until a new concession is awarded within 18 months.

Under the plan, two shipping groups will temporarily operate the ports. A unit of AP Møller-Maersk will oversee the Balboa port on the Pacific side of the canal while the port wing of MSC will run the Cristóbal port on the Atlantic side.

Maersk and MSC did not immediately respond to requests for comment. CK Hutchison’s Panama Ports Company unit said it had no immediate comment.

MSC was part of a consortium, also including BlackRock, that struck a deal last year to take a 90 per cent stake in the unit that runs the two ports.

The $23bn deal won praise from US President Donald Trump, who hailed it as a sign his administration was “reclaiming” the canal. But Beijing later insisted that China’s state-owned shipping giant Cosco should have a majority stake, prompting the buyers to reconsider.

Alberto Alemán Zubieta, a former administrator of the canal who has been appointed to lead a technical team to oversee the transition period, said the arrangement did not imply an expropriation of the machinery and equipment at the two ports.

“This is what is known as an occupation to guarantee that the ports can continue operating. We recognise that the equipment belongs to [a unit of Hutchinson],” he added.

Hutchison has taken Panama to arbitration following the Supreme Court ruling and Beijing has warned that the Central American country will pay a “heavy price” for the decision.

Beijing has invested substantial sums in Panama since the country switched diplomatic recognition from Taiwan in 2017.

Labour minister Jackeline Muñoz said there would be “no lay-offs”.

WSJ : Anthropic Accuses Chinese Companies of Siphoning Data From Claude

Anthropic Accuses Chinese Companies of Siphoning Data From Claude
The allegations mirror those of OpenAI, which told House lawmakers that DeepSeek used ‘distillation’ to improve models

  • Anthropic accused three Chinese AI companies of creating over 24,000 fraudulent accounts to siphon data from its Claude model.
  • The companies prompted Claude over 16 million times, using distillation to train their own products faster and at lower cost, Anthropic said.
  • Anthropic said the alleged activity by the Chinese developers raises U.S. national-security concerns regarding military and intelligence systems.

U.S. artificial-intelligence startup Anthropic said three Chinese AI companies set up more than 24,000 fraudulent accounts with its Claude AI model to help their own systems catch up.

The three companies—DeepSeek, Moonshot AI and MiniMax—prompted Claude more than 16 million times, siphoning information from Anthropic’s system to train and improve their own products, Anthropic said in a blog post Monday.

Earlier this month, an Anthropic rival, OpenAI, sent a memo to House lawmakers accusing DeepSeek of using the same tactic, called distillation, to mimic OpenAI’s products.

Anthropic said distillation had legitimate uses—companies use it to build smaller versions of their own products, for example—but it could also be used to build competitive products “in a fraction of the time, and at a fraction of the cost.”

The scale of the different companies’ distillation activity varied. DeepSeek engaged in 150,000 interactions with Claude, whereas Moonshot and MiniMax had more than 3.4 million and 13 million, respectively, Anthropic said.

Representatives from DeepSeek, Moonshot and MiniMax didn’t respond to requests for comment.

Many Chinese companies including Moonshot and MiniMax have recently released their latest AI models, many of which feature enhanced reasoning and coding capabilities. DeepSeek is preparing to roll out its next-generation model soon.

When DeepSeek first captured the attention of AI enthusiasts last year, it raised concerns that China might be able to quickly catch up with U.S. AI companies even without having access to the most powerful AI chips. AI observers speculated that DeepSeek might have used distillation.

In a research paper updated in September, DeepSeek said that during a late stage of pretraining its flagship V3 model, it exclusively used plain webpages and ebooks, without incorporating any synthetic data. However, it said some webpages contained “a significant number of OpenAI-model-generated answers.” DeepSeek said its base model might have acquired knowledge from other powerful models indirectly by drawing on such webpages.

Synthetic data, often using distillation, has been increasingly adopted for training large foundation models as developers face a shortage of high-quality data and focus on giving models so-called agentic capabilities, meaning allowing them to take action proactively to complete tasks on behalf of users. In a technical report in July, Moonshot said it used synthetic data for training its Kimi K2 model.

Anthropic said the activity by the Chinese developers raised national-security concerns for the U.S. “Foreign labs that distill American models can then feed these unprotected capabilities into military, intelligence, and surveillance systems,” the company said.

WSJ : European Private Lenders’ Shares Tumble as Selloff Intensifies

European Private Lenders’ Shares Tumble as Selloff Intensifies
Fears around the strength of their underlying holdings increase

European private-equity firms sold off steeply Monday as fears around the strength of their underlying holdings intensified.

Shares in Stockholm-based EQT Group slid 8.85% to close at 269.70 Swedish kronor after a day of choppy trading. In Switzerland, Partners Group fell 8.4% to 850 Swiss francs, with the stock trading at its lowest level since July 2023. Asset managers CVC Capital Partners and ICG also fell Monday, dropping 7.1% in Amsterdam and 4.95% in London to the close, respectively.

The sector has fallen steeply so far in 2026, with shares in EQT now down 26% for the year. A selloff in software stocks spurred by fears over competition from artificial intelligence-powered agents raised concern around the quality of asset managers’ portfolios.

“The underlying holdings get hit, and as a result EQT, Partners Group and others all get hit, too,” Panmure Liberum strategist Joachim Klement said.

Knocks to software companies are particularly relevant to private credit fund managers given “software’s longstanding role in both public and private credit markets,” BlackRock credit strategist Dominique Bly wrote in a note to clients.

Selling accelerated last week when alternative asset management behemoth Blue Owl Capital said it would liquidate $1.4 billion in assets to pay out unhappy investors. The move shook confidence in the sector, as traders questioned whether investors in asset managers’ funds are willing to ride out a difficult spell.

Moreover, private asset funds aren’t helped by renewed uncertainty surrounding President Trump’s tariff regime following the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to strike down levies issued under emergency powers, Allianz analysts wrote in a note.

“For private equity and private credit, trade policy uncertainty introduces material risk at a critical juncture for distribution recovery and credit pricing,” they said.

Not everyone is worried, however. Fear around the health of private credit portfolios “stems from a lack of understanding of what private credit is,” analysts at Bank of America wrote.

In a statement last week, Partners Group sought to address investor concerns around the quality of its holdings. While acknowledging investor concerns around “a potential bubble in the technology sector,” the group said its exposure to software is half that of the industry average.