President Trump on Monday pushed back against calls to impose stricter oversight on artificial intelligence development, dismissing suggestions for additional guardrails on AI models. In a post on Truth Social, he asserted that the government already possesses "extremely strong criminal and regulatory power!" over these companies, responding to recent appeals from Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei, OpenAI executives, and Elon Musk's xAI to slow down the pace of frontier AI research. Trump wrote, "The only regulation, or 'guardrails,' that AI needs is a strong and smart (high IQ!) president, and America has exactly that!"
A fresh wave of volatility swept through global equity markets as chip stocks tumbled following proposals from top AI executives to decelerate technological advancement, with elevated oil prices further dampening investor sentiment. Semiconductor shares came under pressure across the United States, Europe, and Asia, with an index tracking industry heavyweights including NVIDIA and Broadcom sliding 5%. Despite signs of rotation in capital flows, with roughly 300 S&P 500 components trading higher, the mood remained cautious as Brent crude held near $105 per barrel, stoking inflation concerns ahead of the Federal Reserve's rate decision. The 10-year U.S. Treasury yield briefly breached the 5% threshold.
Apple on Monday released iOS 27, the latest iPhone software update featuring its redesigned Siri AI personal assistant, just ahead of the new iPhone hitting store shelves this week. The tech giant noted that the revamped Siri AI is currently in beta testing, requiring users to actively opt in through the Settings app, with some potentially placed on a waitlist before gaining access. Apple is positioning the upcoming iPhone 18 series as the ideal device for artificial intelligence, leveraging its high-speed chips and personal data stored on-device, such as calendars and messages.
Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan told analysts on Monday that the firm's Wall Street advisory and trading operations are set to cool significantly in the coming months following a stellar second quarter. Speaking at a conference, Moynihan indicated that third-quarter investment banking fees could fall more than 10% year-over-year, while trading revenue is expected to remain largely flat. This compares to a second quarter where investment banking fees surged 50% and trading revenue jumped 33%. Moynihan noted, "We see the overall investment banking market down 10%. We're not in the best position in some of the busier areas, so our decline might be slightly worse than that."
Anthropic PBC is pitching a version of Claude to financial advisors, integrating the chatbot with financial analysis and risk management technology operated by firms such as BlackRock and Vanguard. Executives from Anthropic and BlackRock stated that the system, dubbed Claude for Financial Advisors, is designed to accelerate research, administrative tasks, and portfolio monitoring functions, marking a deeper push into the finance sector.
Major U.S. bank stocks suffered sharp losses on Monday, pressured by Bank of America's outlook and growing concerns over AI-themed trading. Bank of America shares at one point dropped as much as 5.7% after CEO Brian Moynihan stated at the Barclays Global Financial Services Conference that third-quarter trading revenue would be "relatively flat" compared to the same period last year. Leading decliners in the KBW Bank Index included Goldman Sachs down 4.6%, Citigroup falling 3.5%, Morgan Stanley sliding 4.1%, Wells Fargo dropping 3.0%, BNY Mellon down 3.5%, and JPMorgan declining 2.2%.