Producer prices rose +0.5% in March, matching February's revised figure and coming in well below the +1.2% consensus, while core PPI climbed just +0.1% MoM against a +0.5% estimate. The headline beat was driven largely by an +8.5% energy spike tied to the Iran war, which analysts say may prove transitory rather than the start of a sustained inflationary cycle. Import prices also undershot expectations, rising +0.8% MoM vs. a +2.1% consensus, while export prices came in roughly in line at +1.6%.
Uber Doubles Down on Lucid AV Partnership
Uber Technologies (UBER) has expanded its partnership with Lucid Group (LCID), raising its total investment to $500M and committing to purchase at least 35K LCID autonomous vehicles. The companies plan to launch AV ride-hail services in the Bay Area in the second half of this year, with analysts flagging additional 2H launches in Las Vegas and Los Angeles as potential catalysts. Analysts say LCID's ability to bring AV unit costs below $50K could prove a meaningful competitive edge against Waymo and Tesla (TSLA).
Google DeepMind Upgrades Gemini Robotics Model
Alphabet's (GOOGL) DeepMind lab introduced Gemini Robotics-ER 1.6, an upgraded reasoning-first model now available to developers via the Gemini API and Google AI Studio. The new version improves on spatial reasoning, multi-view understanding, precise object detection, and motion and success detection, allowing robots to autonomously decide whether to retry a failed task or advance. GOOGL is also inviting the robotics community to submit model failures to further refine the system.
Banks Beat as Trading Boom Powers Q1
Morgan Stanley (MS) and Bank of America (BAC) both topped estimates yesterday, riding a surge in trading activity that overshadowed pockets of weakness. MS posted EPS of $3.43 vs. the $3.02 consensus on revenue of $20.6B, with fixed income up +90% Q/Q and equities up +25% Y/Y. BAC reported EPS of $1.11 vs. $1.02 expected, with sales and trading revenue jumping +12% Y/Y and net interest income up +9%. MS rose +2.6% and BAC +1.0% in premarket trading.
IBM Launches AI-Powered Cyber Defense Suite
International Business Machines (IBM) is up about +1% in premarket trading after unveiling a new cybersecurity assessment framework and a multi-agent service called IBM Autonomous Security, designed to counter threats from AI-weaponized attacks. The tools give enterprises visibility into security gaps, AI-specific exposures, and potential exploit paths, with responses delivered at machine speed. "AI-powered offense demands AI-powered defense," said IBM Consulting's global cybersecurity managing partner.
