Wednesday delivered a mix of sobering and market-moving news.
A tragic school shooting in Minneapolis left communities reeling, while escalating US-India trade tensions saw new tariffs take effect over Russia’s oil purchases.
MongoDB shares exploded 35% on strong AI-driven earnings, and China ramped up plans to triple domestic AI chip production by 2026, reducing Nvidia dependence amid ongoing tech competition.
A glance at the biggest stories capturing attention today.
Three killed in tragic school shooting in Minneapolis
A tragic shooting occurred at Annunciation Catholic School in Minneapolis during a morning Mass on Wednesday, in which three children were reportedly killed while 20 others were injured.
The shooter, described as a man dressed in all black and armed with a rifle, used the windows of the church at the school to fire the shots.
The local authorities confirmed the shooter was deceased from a self-inflicted gunshot wound, and the threat was contained.
The incident marked a horrific start to the school year for the students and staff, with many children seen evacuating the school while holding their parents’ hands.
Emergency responders, including the FBI and local police, quickly arrived at the scene.
Minnesota Governor Tim Walz and other officials expressed their condolences and prayed for the victims, while President Donald Trump urged the public to pray for those affected.
Families were directed to a reunification area at the school to regroup safely after the incident.
Trump’s 50% tariffs on India comes into effect
US President Donald Trump’s 50% tariffs of India came into effect on Wednesday and it’s all because Washington isn’t happy about India continuing to buy Russian oil.
The move hits over $48 billion worth of Indian exports, everything from textiles and clothing to jewelry, seafood, and some cars.
These aren’t just random products either; they’re the backbone of tons of small and mid-sized businesses across India.
India’s calling the whole thing “unfair and unjustified,” as the nation is scrambling to figure out how to deal with the economic fallout.
The Americans are basically using this as leverage to pry open India’s agricultural markets, something New Delhi has been fighting tooth and nail for years.
MongoDB shares surge 35% after Q2 earnings
MongoDB shares went absolutely bonkers on Wednesday, rocketing up 35% after the database company dropped earnings numbers that had investors doing double-takes.
Revenue jumped 24% to $591 million for the quarter, with most of that growth coming from Atlas, their cloud platform that’s now bringing in about three-quarters of total sales.
The $1.00 adjusted earnings per share beat what Wall Street was looking for, and the company managed to bring thousands of new customers into the fold.
What’s really got investors excited is how MongoDB seems to be riding the AI wave as developers building AI applications are apparently flocking to their database services, which explains why growth has been so strong. Read full report here
China pushes domestic chips against Nvidia
China’s making a massive push to cut its dependence on Nvidia by tripling AI chip production over the next couple of years, according to a new Financial Times report.
The plan is pretty aggressive as Huawei wants to get its first dedicated AI chip factory up and running by the end of this year, then fire up two more plants in 2026.
If they pull it off, Huawei could end up with more production capacity than SMIC, which is currently China’s biggest chipmaker.
SMIC isn’t sitting still either. They’re planning to double their 7-nanometer chip manufacturing next year, with most of that extra capacity going to support Huawei’s efforts.
It’s basically an all-hands-on-deck situation as Beijing tries to build chips that can go head-to-head with Nvidia’s H20, which was specifically designed for the Chinese market.
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