On today's podcast:
1) President Trump’s firm control of Washington showed signs of weakening Tuesday as Congress voted to compel the Justice Department to release its files on sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein, whose earlier ties to the president have been the subject of intense scrutiny. The legislation overwhelmingly passed the House in a 427 to 1 vote. Within hours, the Senate agreed unanimously that the bill would be passed without further action once it arrives in the Senate. It will then be sent to Trump, who has said he’ll sign it. Trump late Sunday relented on his prior opposition and directed Republicans to vote to release the files. Senate Republicans ignored calls by Speaker Mike Johnson to give the Justice Department additional leeway to withhold documents.
2) President Trump said he would formally designate Saudi Arabia as a major non-NATO ally in a further strengthening of ties between the two countries, capping a day of dealmaking between the US leader and the kingdom’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. The designation for nations with close strategic relationships with the US provides financing and priority access for purchases of certain military equipment, as well as the ability to participate in joint research efforts. Saudi Arabia will become the 20th ally designated under the status, joining other nations in the Middle East including Egypt, Israel, and Qatar. MBS, as Saudi Arabia’s de facto leader is known, was joined by prominent executives and celebrities including Elon Musk and soccer star Cristiano Ronaldo at the Tuesday evening event, with Apple CEO Tim Cook, Nvidia’s Jensen Huang, and FIFA President Gianni Infantino also in attendance.
3) Wall Street will get a sense of where the billions of dollars being spent on artificial intelligence are going when Nvidia reports its earnings after the bell on Wednesday. Analysts expect the chip behemoth to show more than 50% growth in both net income and revenue in its fiscal third quarter. The reason is fairly straightforward. Microsoft Corp., Amazon.com Inc., Alphabet Inc. and Meta Platforms Inc. — which taken together represent more than 40% of Nvidia’s sales — are projected to increase their combined AI spending by 34% over the next 12 months to $440 billion, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The risk is that these numbers could become unreliable if the big AI spenders, in particular closely held OpenAI, have to pull back on their commitments.
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