Robinhood to launch crypto perpetual contracts, US stock weekend trading, and AI trading agents

Beating AI News (via Bloomberg): AMD’s acquisition of AI startup World Labs at an $8.2 billion valuation will push co-founder and CEO Li Feifei’s net worth to at least $1.6 billion upon deal closure, a rise of over 50% from her previous fortune. Li Feifei became a billionaire in February this year after World Labs secured a funding round that valued the startup at more than $5 billion. The Bloomberg Billionaires Index estimates she holds roughly 19% of World Labs’ shares. Founded in early 2024, World Labs specializes in spatial intelligence and physical intelligence, using AI to develop physical space simulations applicable to design and robotics. Post-acquisition, Li Feifei will serve as AMD’s Chief Scientist, and World Labs’ research team and models will gain access to AMD’s computing resources. After AMD’s acquisition of World Labs, Li Feifei’s net worth is projected to rise to at least $1.6 billion.

According to Reuters, people familiar with the matter said prediction market platform Kalshi is in advanced negotiations for a new round of roughly $1 billion funding, with new and existing investors including Tiger Global Management and Dragoneer Investment Group set to participate. Sequoia Capital and Wellington Management are in talks to co-lead the round, which is expected to close in the coming weeks and could value Kalshi at around $40 billion. This funding comes just months after Kalshi completed its previous $1 billion round in May this year, when the company was valued at $22 billion. Kalshi and Tiger Global both declined to comment, while Sequoia, Wellington, and Dragoneer did not respond to requests for comment. Kalshi aims to expand from a prediction market platform covering sports and election events into a one-stop trading platform for more asset classes, and has begun competing with CME Group and Intercontinental Exchange, parent company of the New York Stock Exchange. The sources also added that Kalshi has recently held preliminary discussions about a potential IPO in the coming years. Its competitor Polymarket is also separately in talks for a $1 billion funding round.

According to HTX market data, Lighter (LIT) plunged over 14% in a short period, now trading at $3.89. Behind the move: Robinhood is integrating Bitstamp to offer cryptocurrency perpetual contracts to eligible U.S. users. Robinhood had previously partnered with Lighter for its on-chain perpetual contract operations, but when launching the U.S.-focused perpetual contract offering, it opted to integrate Bitstamp instead of continuing with Lighter. The market is interpreting this as Lighter failing to secure the primary order flow for Robinhood’s new perpetual contract business, prompting downward revisions to expectations for Lighter’s trading volume, fee revenue, and LIT buyback and burn scale, which in turn triggered a sell-off of LIT.

According to BIT (bit.com) market data, after Tuesday’s U.S. stock market close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.26%, the S&P 500 declined 0.17%, and the Nasdaq dropped 0.09%. Optical communication concept stocks led gains, with Lumentum (LITE) up 5.66%, Corning (GLW) up 4.70%, Marvell Technology (MRVL) up 4.51%, Applied Optoelectronics (AAOI) up 3.98%, and Coherent (COHR) up 3.46%. Most semiconductor stocks advanced: Applied Materials (AMAT) rose 5.19%, Marvell Technology (MRVL) gained 4.51%, KLA (KLAC) climbed 3.89%, Arm (ARM) increased 3.65%, and ASML Holding (ASML) rose 3.56%. Storage stocks mostly rose: SK Hynix (SKHY) was up 2.62%, Micron Technology (MU) gained 1.05%, SanDisk (SNDK) climbed 0.99%, Western Digital (WDC) edged up 0.06%; Seagate Technology (STX) fell 0.88%.

Insight Beating AI Flash News: OpenAI unveiled its AI agent product Dots during its 2026 Developer Day keynote, positioning it as an always-on AI assistant that connects to apps and executes tasks in the background. OpenAI stated that Dots can "do almost anything" and learns user preferences over time. Powered by the GPT-6Astra model, Dots has its own cloud computing environment, access to a web browser, and support for over 4,000 apps. Users can interact with Dots via a text-message-like interface, or through voice on ChatGPT’s web, desktop, and mobile platforms. OpenAI added that Dots integrates with Microsoft Teams and Slack, and maintains context across different apps and devices. For example, developers can have Dots build and test app updates based on user feedback, while content creators can use it to analyze interview transcripts, find video clips, generate show summaries, and create social media content. Currently, users can only create one Dot, though OpenAI plans to support deploying multiple agents simultaneously in the future. OpenAI noted that Dots has autonomous action rules, allowing users to set restrictions requiring authorization before specific operations, and includes an "auto-review" feature to check if tasks meet safety requirements. The launch is seen as OpenAI’s response to Meta’s recent release of the MuseAI assistant. OpenAI has made Dots available to ChatGPT Pro and Business Premium users, and is testing a feature for enterprise users to create dedicated "expert" Dots. The company said that in the future, users will be able to add more Dots, and boost each agent’s operating speed and task processing scale.

New York Federal Reserve President John Williams said there is no need for the Fed to rush into further action after its September interest rate hike, noting policymakers can wait for more economic data to determine the next policy direction. Williams added that if economic developments align roughly with his expectations, the Fed may need to raise the federal funds rate target range further before the end of the year to push inflation back to the 2% target more promptly. He emphasized this is only his personal forecast, with final decisions dependent on future data performance. Williams stated that amid solid economic growth and a strong labor market, inflationary pressures will remain a core focus of monetary policy. The Fed must ensure inflation does not stay persistently high due to shocks and avoid the formation of second-round inflation effects, he added. Williams pointed out that this year’s inflationary pressures stem from factors including former President Trump’s tariff policies, rising energy prices driven by the Middle East conflict, and AI investment which has also amplified some price pressures. He projected U.S. inflation will hit around 3.5% by the end of this year, then gradually decline and return to the Fed’s 2% target by 2028. Williams also forecast U.S. economic growth will come in at roughly 2.25% this year, with the unemployment rate hitting around 4% next year. He noted that immigration, an aging population, and limited productivity growth have constrained the economy’s long-term growth potential. (Jinshi)