1. AI Adoption by Companies with 250 Employees
A trend noted by Apollo’s chief economist, Torsten Sløk, shows that as of the second and third week of August, AI adoption in businesses with more than 250 employees had dropped to 9% from a 15% peak in the first two weeks of June. Only 14% of the companies surveyed in the same period in August expected to use AI in their businesses in the next six months, too, down from 19% in June.
ChartR
2. Goldman Sachs Baskets Performance
Liz Ann Sonders
3. Short-Term S&P 500 Overbought
Bespoke Premium
4. Headlines About Government Shutdown….No Historical Effect on Market
SPX vs. shutdowns. “I have no idea if the Government will shutdown soon. What I can say is if it does, it isn’t a big deal for markets. In fact, up 12 months later more than 85% of the time and up nearly 13% on average a year later says don’t get worked up.”
@RyanDetrick
5. Wall Street Trading Desks are Seeing the Best Numbers in Years
Bloomberg
6. Why the IPO party is happening in New York and Asia, not Europe
Ganesh Rao@IN/RAO-GANESH@_GANESHRAO
KEY POINTS
- A lack of quality companies suitable for public market scrutiny is one reason behind the dearth of IPOs in Europe.
- A lengthy IPO process exposes deals to significant market volatility, making IPOs a relatively unattractive option, compared to an M&A, for risk-averse sellers like private equity firms.
- Some also suggest that capital-intensive industries — such as AI and the energy transition — have no choice but to tap U.S. markets to raise the “tens of billions and hundreds of billions” they need to grow.
https://www.cnbc.com/2025/09/15/ipos-are-booming-in-the-us-and-asia-is-europe-falling-behind.html
7. Chinese BYD Auto -30% from Highs …$45B in Market Cap Lost…See Trendline Going Back to 2012
StockCharts
8. 18-34 Year Olds Gloomier than Rest of Americans ….See Chart 1996-2016 Never Red
The Market Ear
9. US overtakes Israel in spyware investments
The US has overtaken Israel as the largest investor in global commercial spyware, a new report found. The Atlantic Council identified a notable increase in the number of US investors in spyware in 2024 compared with 2023. The US government has tried to curb the technology through trade restrictions, sanctions, and other limits on its use, but the industry has “continued to operate largely without restraint,” Wired wrote. Governments have used spyware to covertly surveil politicians, journalists, and activists, and while US President Donald Trump’s stance on the tech has been less defined, immigration officials recently gained access to Israeli spyware that can hack phones and encrypted apps
Semafor
10. European Demographics
Michael Arouet