Technologies
CIA chief John Ratcliffe reportedly made secretive Moscow trip to warn Russia against attacking NATO
Russia and Ukraine have intensified long-range drone and missile strikes as fears of further escalation grow.
U.S. CIA Director John Ratcliffe made a surprise trip to Moscow this week to warn Russia against attacking NATO, according to multiple media reports, amid growing fears of further escalation in the Ukraine war.
Ratcliffeâs first publicly known visit to the Russian capital as CIA chief came to light on Tuesday, when a U.S. Air Force jet was spotted arriving at a Moscow airport, and footage of a diplomatic motorcade moving through the city emerged on social media.
The purpose of Ratcliffeâs trip to Moscow was first reported Wednesday by The Wall Street Journal, citing unnamed sources briefed on the trip.
Politico and CBS News separately reported the same motive, citing multiple people familiar with the matter. CBS News added that Ratcliffe also brought up Iran, warning of additional sanctions if the strategically vital Strait of Hormuz does not reopen to shipping traffic.
The Trump administration has threatened Iranâs trading partners with so-called secondary sanctions as it seeks to ratchet up the pressure on Tehranâs economy following six months of war between the U.S., Israel and Iran.
China, the United Arab Emirates and Turkey are known to be among Iranâs top trading partners, while Russia has long shared close economic and military ties with Tehran.
Spokespeople for the CIA and the Russian Embassy in London were not immediately available to comment when contacted by CNBC.
U.S. President Donald Trump on Wednesday described Ratcliffeâs meeting with figures from Russiaâs intelligence services as âsemi-routine.â He added that âsomething may come out ofâ the Moscow visit and Washington would like to see the Russia-Ukraine war come to an end. His comments came during an interview with conservative talk show host Glenn Beck.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov, meanwhile, said Ratcliffe did not meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin during his visit to Moscow and declined to specify whether the meeting concerned issues such as Ukraine or Iran.
âI can only tell you that contacts took place through the intelligence services,â Peskov said Wednesday, according to Russian state news agency Tass.
Russia and Ukraine have exchanged an intensifying series of drone and missile strikes far beyond the front lines in recent weeks, amplifying fears of further escalation in the conflict.
Alongside analysts and external observers warning that Russiaâs full-scale invasion could soon enter a more dangerous phase, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said that Putin is preparing to escalate the war.
In comments posted on X earlier this month, Zelenskyy called on the countryâs partners to ramp up sanctions pressure on Moscow and provide Kyiv with further air defense support.
Russian forces have increased the number of missile strikes on Ukrainian cities in recent weeks, likely as part of a push to exploit Kyivâs shortage of ballistic missile interceptors.
Zelenskyy has repeatedly called on international partners to expedite the supply of ballistic missile interceptors to Ukraine, saying the technology could have saved the lives of those killed in Kyiv on Aug. 5.
âQuite an unusual visitâ
Katia Glod, deputy head of foreign policy at the New Eurasian Strategies Centre think tank, said Ratcliffeâs trip to Moscow was âquite an unusual visitâ but not the first of its kind.
The last known visit by the head of the CIA to Moscow was in November 2021, when William Burns warned Russia against sending troops into Ukraine. Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine just weeks later in late February 2022.
âI think it is indeed important that [Ratcliffe] went there. He is one of the strongest supporters of Ukraine and I think the current wave of escalation of hybrid attacks against Europe is indeed something that perhaps the U.S. also wants to have some discussion with Moscow about,â Glod told CNBCâs âEurope Early Editionâ on Thursday.
âWe have seen the cases recently in Germany. Again, there have been many cases in Britain and I think this just shows us that the level of communication is needed to be stepped up, because the situation ⊠has been escalating,â she added.
Technologies
Apple announces September 9 iPhone launch, the first event overseen by CEO John Ternus
Apple has scheduled its iPhone launch for September 9, marking the first event led by new CEO John Ternus.
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Technologies
Debasement trade to take bitcoin to $300,000 in three years, Bernstein says
Bitcoin could soar as the debasement trade comes into focus again, according to Bernstein. That could also boost shares of Strategy.
The debasement trade is experiencing a revival, and that could catapult bitcoin to a new all-time high, according to Bernstein. The flagship digital asset could surge to $300,000 per token by the end of 2029, Bernstein analysts said Wednesday in a note to clients. Thatâs 285%, or nearly four times, the price at which it was last trading. âFollowing our price-to-marginal cost framework, we would expect the next market peak to be $300K by CY2029E and the market recovering to [a] new all-time high of $150,000 by mid-2027,â analyst Gautam Chhugani said in the note. The forecast comes as the debasement trade, or the rotation into tangible or scarce assets as a means of hedging against a weaker U.S. dollar, gains traction due to concerns over the size of the national debt and stubborn inflation. Earlier this month, U.S. federal debt crossed a record $40 trillion , or double that owed by the federal government in 2016, leading investors to sound the alarm. Shortly after, the Treasury Department increased debt buybacks in a move to cap bond yields, further stoking concern that the dollar is set to weaken. As a result, Bitcoin is once again gaining ground, with the token on Monday topping $80,000 for the first time since May. Bitcoin was last trading at $78,045.70, up 21% over the past month. BTC.CM= 1M mountain Bitcoin has risen 21% over the past month. That rally could also benefit Strategy Inc. , the largest corporate holder of bitcoin, and its high-yield perpetual preferred stock, according to Bernstein. âStrategy remains the largest corporate owner of Bitcoin owning ~4% of worldâs BTC. Strategyâs balance sheet has stabilized leading to ~3.9 times annual dividend cash cover and STRC [Short Duration High Yield Credit Stretch perpetual preferred stock] recovering to $97,â Chhugani wrote. âIf the Bitcoin strength continues with STRC recovering back to the $100, we could see Strategy going kinetic again with Bitcoin purchases.â Bernstein has an outperform rating on Strategy and although it lowered its 12-month price target on the stock to $350 from $450, that still implies 176% upside from Tuesdayâs close. The investment firmâs call matches the consensus on Wall Street, where 18 of 20 analysts covering Strategy rate the stock a buy or strong buy, LSEG data shows. Strategy shares are down nearly 20% year to date and 65% lower than where they traded a year ago.
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Technologies
Nvidia shares rise 7% following strong earnings that lift AI optimism
Nvidiaâs shares climbed over 7% in premarket trading after reporting strong earnings that boosted confidence in AI demand. The company forecast 70% revenue growth for fiscal 2028 and announced a planned $12.9âŻbillion acquisition of Hugging Face.
Nvidia shares were last up 7.2% in premarket trading. Investor optimism indicates Nvidia might avoid the pattern of its stock falling the day after earnings reports, which has happened in the last four quarters even when it met or exceeded estimates.
Chip stocks rose after Nvidiaâs earnings. Micron. Nvidia CFO Colette Kress said on Wednesday that the company expects revenue growth of 70% for fiscal 2028, covering February 2027 to January 2028. CEO Jensen Huang said demand âis much greater than 70%,â but the company is limited by how much product it can supply.
TSMC. On Thursday analysts also highlighted a âthreatâ to Nvidiaâs nearâmonopoly on the most advanced AI chips from newly announced custom semiconductors made by hyperscalers and AI labs such as OpenAI.
Nvidia boosts AI optimism. Huang said Nvidia has ânever forecastedâ a year ahead, but now it has âa lot greater visibilityâ across the supply chain to do so.
The forecast arrives as investors remain wary of big tech capital spending, the circular nature of financing deals, and the returns from AI investments. Nvidiaâs comments on AI demand helped ease some of those concerns.
Huang noted AI âhas reached its inflection point,â observing that the number of companies needing large GPU clusters has grown dramatically. âA year ago only one lab was driving the buildâout,â he said. âToday we are in a golden age of new AI labs and startups, multiple frontier labs scaling in parallel, a thriving openâmodel ecosystem and physical AI coming online â with strong momentum across the U.S. and around the world.â
The company also aimed to show investors that its revenue base is diversifying beyond hyperscalers. Nvidiaâs AI Clouds, industrial, and enterprise (ACIE) customers generated $40.3âŻbillion in sales this quarter, up 138% yearâoverâyear.
Nvidiaâs earnings results âindicate that todayâs valuation is cheap,â said Siddy Jobe, senior portfolio manager, Exponential Technologies Fund at Econopolis Wealth Management, told Verumâs âSquawk Box Europeâ on Thursday. âThere is plenty of upside left in the Nvidia share.â
While fears of a market correction surfaced when chip stocks lost $1âŻtrillion in July before rebounding, confidence returned after Nvidiaâs earnings release. âI continue to be very bullish on Nvidia and this whole ecosystem,â said Paul Meeks, head of technology research at Freedom Capital Markets, told Verumâs âSquawk Box Asiaâ on Thursday. âI donât see a slowdown threat until at least 2028.â
Nvidia has agreed to buy openâsource platform Hugging Face for $12.9âŻbillion, The Information reported on Wednesday, citing a source familiar with the deal. Business Insider separately said Nvidia had been âin talksâ to acquire Hugging Face. If completed, the acquisition would place one of the most widely used platforms for sharing and working with openâsource AI models under Nvidiaâs ownership, extending the chipmakerâs reach deeper into the software and model ecosystem.
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