Bloomberg - Evening Briefing - These chips are rising

Tech industry standout Nvidia gave another stunningly strong quarterly revenue forecast, fueled by surging demand for its AI processors in data centers. Faced with a surge in demand for chatbots and other tools, data center operators are stocking up on the company’s processors, which are adept at handling the heavy workloads required by artificial intelligence. That’s helped Nvidia quickly pull out of an industrywide chip slump and accelerate sales growth to its fastest rate in years. 

Broader markets cheered the company’s good fortune. Stocks climbed the most since June while bond yields fell. A $200 billion exchange-traded fund tracking the Nasdaq 100 (QQQ) gained after Nvidia’s bullish revenue outlook. Its shares jumped about 9% in extended trading. The highly anticipated results are expected to impact investment decisions over the next few months. Quincy Krosby, chief global strategist at LPL Financial, says “there’s been an ongoing debate on whether Nvidia is even more important to the broad trajectory of markets than Fed Chair Powell’s comments from Jackson Hole on Friday.” —David E. Rovella

Even if he’s second fiddle to Nvidia, Powell is nevertheless expected to map out the final steps in the central bank’s campaign to finish off inflation. While his address may not contain the same drama as keynotes in recent years, the speech at the Fed’s annual meeting of global central bankers in Wyoming comes as policymakers enter what he’s called the most difficult stage of the inflation fight: knowing when to stop.

According to Ralph Schlosstein, chairman emeritus at Evercore ISI, the party is over on Wall Street. The Fed’s rate-hike campaign has brought an end to a “golden age of investing,”’ he says. Wall Street traders may want to “rethink how they allocate their portfolios.” 

Russian mercenary boss Yevgeny Prigozhin, whose Wagner Group has been accused of perpetrating war crimes including rape, torture and the mass execution of civilians in Ukraine and Africa, was reportedly aboard a plane that crashed in Russia Wednesday. Kremlin-controlled media said no one survived. Exactly two months ago today, Prigozhin staged a mutiny against his long-time patron, Russian leader Vladimir Putin.

Dead civilians lay on a street in Bucha, where Russian forces including mercenaries led by Yevgeny Prigozhin were alleged to have killed scores of Ukrainians early in Russia’s war. Photographer: Ronaldo Schemidt/AFP

The Biden administration is trying to move the needle in America’s chilly relations with Venezuela. The US is in talks with the South American country to explore a temporary lifting of crippling sanctions in exchange for allowing fair elections next year. Washington has floated the idea of sanctions relief to persuade the regime of Nicolás Maduro to hold a competitive presidential vote in 2024—and to free political prisoners. 

Regulators invited public comment on whether the US broadcast license for Fox Corp.’s TV station in Philadelphia should be renewed after a grassroots organization asked that it be denied, saying the media company knowingly broadcast false news about the 2020 election.

Wednesday night is the first debate of the 2024 US presidential campaign. The Republicans gathered will be watched not only for how they address the issues but how they talk about the one candidate not appearing with them in Milwaukee. The missing man is of course Donald Trump, who refused to face his rivals. On Thursday, the twice-impeached former president will appear in Atlanta, where he is to be arrested on state charges of masterminding a sprawling racketeering conspiracy, one of four felony indictments he currently faces. 

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday suggested the creation of a BRICS space consortium. It was just hours before a spacecraft from his nation landed near the moon’s south pole, a first. Modi was speaking at the plenary session of the BRICS bloc in Johannesburg. A few days ago, Russia failed in a similar attempt, watching helplessly as its craft slammed into the moon’s surface.

Students surround a replica of the Chandrayaan-3 in Chennai. Photograph: R.Satish Babu/AFP/Getty

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Bloomberg New Economy’s 2023 class of Catalysts recognizes 20 talented individuals solving intractable problems—everything from subpar schooling in developing countries to the difficulties of financing startups in poor communities and outdated agricultural methods that contribute to global warming. They show how courage and determination, combined with cutting-edge technology can help heal a world imperiled by climate change and riven by vast divides in wealth, education and quality of life. 

Illustration: Luis Mazón

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