New GDP and jobless claims data, Boeing strike: Catalysts

On today's episode of Catalysts, Hosts Seana Smith and Madison Mills break down some of the biggest stories of the trading day, from the fresh economic data to the Justice Department's reported probe of Super Micro Computer (SMCI). Pending home sales inched 0.6% higher in August, lower than the 1% rise expected. Fresh economic data was also released Thursday morning, including GDP figures and jobless claims. The GDP data revealed a 3% annualized growth rate, while jobless claims fell to their lowest level in four months. Deutsche Bank Private Bank Americas chief investment officer Deepak Puri describes this data as "a welcome relief," noting it was needed after weak September consumer confidence data rattled markets earlier this week. He points out that the labor market appears to be in better condition than investors believed, although he adds, "there's some softening," but overall, "so far so good." Vice President Kamala Harris has unveiled her economic agenda, an extensive 80-page plan focusing heavily on American manufacturing and addressing various national issues from tariffs to tax credits. Brookings Institution Senior Fellow David Wessel suggests Harris has two main goals with this plan: to "prove" her economic credentials to voters and to "counter the notion" spread by Trump that she's a socialist. He notes a "clear difference" in their approaches to economic issues such as tariffs. While Trump believes in and intends to use tariffs, Wessel explains, "I think both of them are trying to double down on a wear for American manufacturing." Roughly 30,000 Boeing (BA) workers are on strike, with production coming to a halt. Ben Tsocanos, S&P Global Ratings aerospace director, tells Yahoo Finance that he projects the strike, which kicked off on September 13, will cost Boeing around $1 billion a month, saying, “There's no question it's going to be a significant amount of money the longer the strike goes on.” The analyst explains, “The company was under pressure before the strike. And the longer the strike goes on, the more pressure they're under…The strike certainly pushes out recovery in the 737 Max production, probably into next year, and also delays free cash flow generation.” IBM (IBM) and NASA are partnering to develop an open-source AI model for weather and climate analysis. The foundational model trained on NASA's data is now available on Hugging Face, the AI startup platform. Hugging Face CEO Clem Delangue calls the partnership with IBM and NASA an example of "AI for good," explaining, "The number of people who die from our inability to predict weather events is massive, and if you can use AI to reduce that number just by predicting these events, maybe a few hours before, this is a massive positive impact that AI has on the world." According to a report from the Wall Street Journal, the Department of Justice is investigating Super Micro Computer (SMCI) for accounting violations following a critical report by activist short-selling firm Hindenburg Research. Super Micro Computer's trading was briefly halted following the news, but has since resumed trading. This post was written by Melanie Riehl