Just yesterday, markets celebrated the latest quarter-point cut from the Federal Reserve, which lowered rates to a range of 3.5% to 3.75%. With that, the S&P 500 closed up at 6,886. The SPDR S&P 500 ETF ( SPY) closed at $687.57. The central bank also announced that it would again purchase short-term bonds, thereby driving down short-term yields. It also removed language that the labor market "remained low."
The contract includes a 20% prepayment and positions IREN as a key hyperscaler partner for the first time. Four new liquid-cooled data centers, Horizon 1 through Horizon 4, will support 200 megawatts of critical IT load, while a separate $5.8 billion agreement with Dell Technologies covers the purchase of GPUs, servers, and associated infrastructure. CEO Daniel Roberts said the partnership could generate roughly $1.94 billion in annualized revenue once fully deployed.
Consumer giant Kimberly-Clark, which makes Huggies diapers and Kleenex tissues, is buying the company that makes Tylenol and Band-Aids in one of the biggest mergers of the year. The deal, worth almost $49 billion, comes at a particularly difficult time for Tylenol-maker Kenvue, after the Trump administration linked acetaminophen the active ingredient in this common painkiller to autism. The assertions came despite a lack of clear scientific evidence, and Kenvue has called them simply false.
This article will be updated throughout the day, so check back often for more daily updates. As expected, the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) announced a 0.25% reduction in its target interest rate yesterday, to a range of from 3.75% to 4% - but the stock market reacted almost not at all. The Vanguard S&P 500 ETF ( NYSEMKT: VOO) gained less than 0.1% yesterday, and it's down a sizeable 0.5% in early trading this morning.
Mphasis stock fell despite the company saying in a stock exchange filing that it didn't expect the visa charge to impact its financials or operations. The firm, which has offices in several US states, said it has only made around 130 new applications for H-1B visas this year. It added that it has reduced its reliance on the program through local hiring, acquisitions, and partnerships, and said that it plans to address any challenges on this front with AI tools.