Megacap Tech Delivers, Powell Bucks Dissenters, UK High-Rises Delayed

Your morning briefing, the business news you need in just 15 minutes. On today's podcast: (1) Meta is taking advantage of its lucrative advertising business and stepping up spending next year, with executives saying now is the time to seize on investment opportunities in artificial intelligence. (2) Microsoft said it will spend more than $30 billion in the current quarter to build out the data centers powering its artificial intelligence services. (3) Standard Chartered announced a fresh $1.3 billion share buyback as it reported second-quarter earnings that beat expectations amid the tumult caused by US President Donald Trump’s tariff war. (4) Societe Generale increased the amount of money it wants to return to investors and improved its profitability guidance, highlighting how it has turned a corner under Chief Executive Officer Slawomir Krupa. (5) Housing developers are claiming that the UK's tough post-Grenfell checks are making it too complicated to build new high-rise buildings, worsening its housing shortage. (6) US President Donald Trump announced a trade agreement with South Korea that will impose a 15% tariff on imports, while issuing a barrage of new tariff announcements. (7) The global copper market is reeling from President Trump's 50% tariff on imports of the metal as the president exempted key products - including refined metal - from the levy. Podcast Conversation: Wharton Experiment Finds ‘Dumb’ AI Bots Collude to Rig Markets See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.