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Markets

The Dow had a rougher day than the officer who arrested Scottie Scheffler, as stocks plummeted despite Nvidia's impressive earnings report earlier this week. Investor concerns persist due to remarks from Federal Reserve officials indicating no imminent plans to lower interest rates. As usual, Boeing's stock declined after revealing its free cash flow was lower than anticipated.

• Nasdaq: 16,736.03 (-0.39%)

• S&P: 5,267.84 (-0.74%)

• Dow: 39,065.26 (-1.53%)

• 10-Year Treasury Yield: 4.475% (+4.0 bps)

• Bitcoin: $67,565.45 (-2.32%)

• Boeing: $172.21 (-7.55%)

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Antitrust

DOJ Breaking Up Ticketmaster & LiveNation

The US government made a strong statement yesterday: Live Nation and Ticketmaster must separate. The Department of Justice (DOJ) and 30 state and district attorneys general filed a lawsuit against Live Nation, the self-proclaimed "largest live entertainment company in the world." The 120-page complaint accuses Live Nation of intentionally stifling competition, harming consumers, and unfairly raising ticket prices.

The lawsuit claims that Live Nation retaliated against venues that didn't use its ticketing service and that artists who didn't use Live Nation's tour promotion services were barred from performing at its venues.

According to the DOJ, Live Nation controls over 70% of ticket sales at major concert venues nationwide. Additionally, Live Nation owns 265 venues in North America and 60 of the top 100 amphitheaters in the US. "This is a travesty!" declared the Justice Department, which had approved the merger 14 years ago despite industry warnings that it would lead to the current issues.

Then came Taylor Swift…

The chaotic ticket-buying process for her Eras Tour led to a bipartisan group of senators summoning Live Nation executives to Capitol Hill last year to question them about the company’s practices. The DOJ's investigation was announced shortly after the Swift debacle, although the agency stated the probe was already underway.

Live Nation dismissed the lawsuit as "baseless." In a blog post, an executive argued that the suit overlooks factors like artists' popularity and scalpers. The post also noted that Live Nation's net profit margin was only 1.4% last year, too low to suggest a monopoly.

A long legal battle lies ahead, as the case is expected to take years to progress through the courts, especially since the DOJ has requested a jury trial, which is uncommon for such cases.

Politics

U.N. Court Orders Israel to Halt Some Military Operations

Technology

Big Tech Moves More AI Spending Abroad

As Big Tech ramps up spending on artificial intelligence, companies are increasingly investing billions of dollars overseas to build AI infrastructure.

So far this year, Microsoft and Amazon have collectively earmarked over $40 billion for AI-related and data center projects worldwide.

Big tech companies are expanding into international markets, according to Wedbush analyst Daniel Ives, who told The Wall Street Journal, "This is an AI arms race as Microsoft, Amazon, and others move to capitalize on this tidal wave of spending."

DA Davidson analyst Gil Luria predicts that these companies will spend more than $100 billion on AI infrastructure this year, with spending continuing to rise alongside demand.

Ives anticipates significant investment in AI infrastructure by tech companies over the next decade, calling it "a $1 trillion spending opportunity over the next ten years."

Microsoft plans to invest more than $16 billion over the next several years across France, Germany, Japan, Malaysia, Spain, and Indonesia.

Amazon, meanwhile, has announced infrastructure investments of $15 billion in Japan, $9 billion in Singapore, $5 billion in Mexico, and $1.3 billion in France.

"As the rest of the world migrates more to the cloud, there's a growing need for data centers in regions where this shift is occurring," Luria explained.

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