Paul Klein

Interactive Brokers continues to attract clients, but trading activity slows

The US online broker Interactive Brokers, known for its competitive pricing and trading platforms aimed at both retail and institutional investors, has reported slightly better-than-expected Q3 results, with adjusted revenue of $1.87bn, up 16% y-o-y, versus the $1.86bn expected. Adjusted EPS came to $0.67, almost exactly in line with the consensus of $0.668. The stock was fairly flat after the close.

October 16, 2026 at 11:56 am

The American consumer is resisting better than concerns about purchasing power suggest

While doubts about the purchasing power of US households regularly fuel the prospect of a slowdown, third-quarter results from the four major banks paint a much more reassuring picture, with card spending up 8% to 13% year over year, depending on the bank.

October 16, 2026 at 10:55 am

A 5% inflation before a return to the 2% target?

In the United States, the prospect of a rapid return of inflation to 2% appears increasingly unrealistic. In September, consumer prices surprised consensus to the upside, rising 0.65% month over month and 3.7% y-o-y, while core inflation increased 0.34%, compared with the 0.22% expected. Admittedly, energy accounts for a large part of the overall acceleration, but inflationary pressures also appear to be spreading to the rest of the economy, with more than half of the CPI subcomponents showing an increase of over 3% y-o-y.

October 15, 2026 at 11:57 am

Memory giants plunge on Chinese CXMT's technological advances

Memory makers came under pressure Monday after Chinese company ChangXin Memory Technologies (CXMT) announced a technological breakthrough that could intensify competition in a market currently dominated by three players. Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix fell 4.4% and 4.5%, respectively, in Seoul, while US-based Micron was down about 4% on Wall Street.

October 13, 2026 at 10:41 am

Brazil's Stock Market Anticipates Its Liberal Revolution

Brazilian financial markets soared Monday after Senator Flavio Bolsonaro outperformed expectations in the first round of the presidential election. The son of former leader Jair Bolsonaro narrowly edged out incumbent President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, while polls had pointed to the opposite result.

October 12, 2026 at 11:49 am

OpenAI: $20bn gap in revenue depending on the scope used

As OpenAI seeks to persuade investors to fund its increasingly costly ambitions in artificial intelligence, its revenue would be significantly below figures recently cited. According to financial documents reviewed by the Financial Times, the creator of ChatGPT reported annualized revenue of nearly $50bn at the end of September, compared with the $70bn previously reported, a gap of nearly 30%.

October 09, 2026 at 11:28 am

Jane Street, Virtu, Flow Traders, ABC Arbitrage: Behind the Catch-All Label of High-Frequency Trading

Almost everyone has heard of high-frequency trading, but it is much more difficult to know exactly what the companies that use it actually do and how they make money. Jane Street, Citadel, Virtu, Flow Traders and ABC Arbitrage are often grouped under the same label, even though their activities, risks and revenue drivers are far from identical.

October 09, 2026 at 11:24 am

The Fed considers another rate hike by December, but is in no hurry

Most Federal Reserve officials believe another rate hike would probably be appropriate by the end of the year, according to the minutes of their September meeting released Wednesday. The committee had unanimously raised its target range by 25 basis points to 3.75%-4% in a bid to bring inflation back to its 2% target more quickly. Officials nevertheless said that their next decisions would depend on incoming economic data.

October 07, 2026 at 11:54 pm

Nikkei 225: Behind AI, another engine of the Japanese rally

AI is driving the Nikkei's heavyweights, but the revaluation of Japan's stock market also rests on reforms that are beginning to produce tangible results.

October 06, 2026 at 01:02 pm

Nike slips despite better-than-expected earnings, China remains weak spot

Nike fell nearly 5% in after-hours trading Thursday as investors punished cautious guidance, despite a quarterly profit that topped expectations.

October 02, 2026 at 11:49 am

France: sovereign risk returns to levels seen during the European debt crisis

The spread, as international market participants call it, has taken an increasingly concerning turn since the beginning of August. The yield gap between French OATs and German Bunds has widened by more than 50 basis points since Aug. 1 to reach around 140 basis points, its highest level since the 2011-2012 European debt crisis.

October 02, 2026 at 10:23 am

Oil, deficits, AI: the cocktail pushing long-term rates higher

The rise in long-term bond yields continues to accelerate worldwide, driven both by renewed inflationary fears and by ever-larger financing needs. In the US, the 10-year Treasury yield hit 5.28% on Tuesday, its highest level since 2007, while the 30-year yield topped 5.6%, returning to levels last seen in 2002.

September 30, 2026 at 11:53 am

US rates: the 5% threshold breaks, what now?

The yield on the 10-year US Treasury jumped Wednesday to its highest level since 2007, at 5.05%, clearly pushing through the 5.00% threshold around which it had stabilized in recent days. The move was driven by a modest rebound in oil after six straight days of declines, but above all by PMIs that came in well above expectations.

September 24, 2026 at 11:38 am

Wall Street: the 10-year yield spike brings the stock market rally to an end

US indexes fell sharply on Wednesday, weighed on by a fresh rise in oil and bond yields, while semiconductors gave back part of their early-week gains. At the close, the S&P 500 lost 0.75% to 7,706.3 points, the Dow Jones slipped 0.68% to 51,512.4 points and the Nasdaq 100 dropped 0.85% to 30,470.2 points. The decline was broad-based, with more than three decliners for every advancer on both the NYSE and the Nasdaq.

September 24, 2026 at 11:17 am

Diesel: why banning US exports could worsen the crunch

With diesel prices hitting record highs in the United States less than two months before the midterm elections, several politicians are considering a temporary ban on exports to ease the burden on consumers. The move could backfire, however, according to Patrick De Haan, an oil analyst at GasBuddy, because of the unique structure of the US refining market.

September 23, 2026 at 11:30 am

Alibaba sends its stock soaring with an AI chip three times more powerful

Alibaba rose as much as 5% on Tuesday in Hong Kong after unveiling its new artificial intelligence chip at its annual Apsara conference. The Chinese e-commerce giant aims to strengthen its position in semiconductors and cloud computing, as US restrictions on exports of advanced chips accelerate the search for Chinese alternatives to Nvidia.

September 23, 2026 at 11:28 am

Muse pushes Meta to the top of the App Store and reignites Wall Street's enthusiasm

Meta Platforms is getting an especially strong reception for Muse, its new artificial intelligence agent launched on September 8 in the United States. Unlike traditional chatbots, Muse can act directly on a user's behalf, including planning a trip or making purchases after being connected to their apps and personal accounts. Ten days after launch, the app climbed to the top of the US App Store, ahead of ChatGPT, Gemini and Claude, with more than 730,000 downloads, according to Sensor Tower.

September 22, 2026 at 10:42 am

Late September remains a trap for Wall Street

Selling pressure on US stocks could intensify further through the end of September, according to Citadel Securities, which says several technical factors continue to tilt clearly toward downside risk despite the pullback already seen in the indexes.

September 21, 2026 at 11:23 am

Meta steps up subscriptions after a promising start

Meta is ramping up its paid-subscription strategy after encouraging early results on Instagram and Facebook. According to Appfigures data cited by TechCrunch, Instagram's global daily revenue averaged $1.2m during the week of September 9, up 475% in one week, while Facebook's climbed 143% to $528,000 a day.

September 21, 2026 at 11:21 am

The SEC Paves the Way for Tokenized Stocks After the Clarity Act Failed

Just two days after the Clarity Act failed in the Senate, the SEC chose to speed up the tokenization of US markets by adopting an "Innovation Exemption". This move will allow certain platforms to trade blockchain-based tokenized representations of US-listed shares, bringing Wall Street a step closer to continuous trading, potentially 24/7.

September 18, 2026 at 11:30 am

Markets price in three more rate hikes after Warsh's press conference

Kevin Warsh used his press conference to further toughen his assessment of inflation, while offering a clearer rationale for the rate increase decided on Wednesday.

September 17, 2026 at 10:53 am