McDonald's is marking Valentine's Day by turning a long-running internet joke into an official product drop: Chicken McNuggets with caviar.
The big picture: The fast-food giant is leaning into ironic luxury — turning internet-native jokes into official products as brands chase cultural relevance, not just customers.
SpaceX made it official on Monday, acquiring xAI ahead of the decade's most hotly anticipated IPO.
Why it matters: Elon Musk is making one of the most audacious moves in the history of business and tech, arguably betting his empire on the idea of orbital data centers that are powered by the sun.
Oracle plans to raise up to $50 billion in cash through equity and debt sales in 2026 to build more capacity in its cloud Infrastructure business, doubling down on spending to serve the AI economy.
Why it matters: Concerns about debt tied to AI projects are billowing as tech giants rush to build the systems needed to fuel their AI ambitions.
A partial government shutdown will delay Friday's planned release of January's employment data, an official said.
Why it matters: Just as the economic data fog created by the October-November government shutdown starts to lift, there is a new delay in getting the latest data on the unemployment rate, payrolls, and other key market-moving statistics.
Retail is in its AI-powered era. From using AI to plan birthday parties to trusting AI agents for product recommendations, consumers are already rewriting the buyer journey.
Balaji Balasubramanian, President & Chief Product Officer for customer experience & consumer industries at SAP,breaks down what "agentic commerce" really means, how retailers can get ahead of the shift — and why structured product data may be your most valuable asset in 2026.
The last few years have exposed some of the fractures in a world currency system dominated by the U.S. dollar. China's leaders see an opportunity — but achieving it will likely prove easier said than done.
The big picture: For all the gripes that nations around the world have about the United States' stewardship of the dollar, displacing the dollar would require China or any other potential rival to build infrastructure and make sacrifices that would be no easy feat.
Prices for everything from gold and silver to bitcoin plunged starting Friday, in what Citi says was the biggest bout of market turbulence since November.
Why it matters: When investor vibes shift this quickly, it can be a turning point in the market. Prepare for unknown waters.
