Alphabet (GOOG, GOOGL)

The US government has said it is considering whether to recommend that Alphabet's Google should be broken up, in a case centered around concerns about the company's monopolisation of the online search market.

In a court filing on Tuesday, the Department of Justice (DOJ) said it was "considering behavioral and structural remedies that would prevent Google from using products such as Chrome, Play, and Android to advantage Google search and Google search-related products and features — including emerging search access points and features, such as artificial intelligence — over rivals or new entrants".

In response, Lee-Anne Mulholland, vice president of regulatory affairs at Google, said in a blog post that the company was "concerned the DOJ is already signalling requests that go far beyond the specific legal issues in this case".

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"Government overreach in a fast-moving industry may have negative unintended consequences for American innovation and America’s consumers," she said.

A US judge ruled back in August that Google had acted illegally to build a monopoly in the online search industry.

The DOJ said in Tuesday's court filing that it would provide a further refined proposed final judgement in November.

Alphabet shares were flat in pre-market trading despite these latest developments.

Palantir Technologies (PLTR)

Shares in data analytics software firm Palantir surged on Tuesday to close the session up nearly 7%, as investors remained positive about the company's ability to benefit from the artificial intelligence (AI) boom.

Palantir's share price closed at an all-time high of $41.45 on Tuesday, with a market capitalisation of $92.83bn (£71bn), taking it closer to becoming a $1tn company.

Rahul Bhushan, managing director of Ark Invest Europe, told CNBC that Palantir was well placed to disrupt the dominance of big tech firms.

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Shares climbed last week following reports that Peter Thiel had completed selling stock in his latest trading plan.

Year-to-date Palantir is up 141%, with the stock having jumped in August on the back of the company's second-quarter results.

Palantir posted second-quarter revenues of $678.1m, a 27% increase year-on-year, against expectations of $652.8m.

Nvidia (NVDA)

Chipmaker Nvidia notched a fifth straight day of gains on Tuesday, closing the session up 4%, as Wall Street analysts said they remained bullish on the stock.

Analysts at KeyBanc, Citi (C), Bernstein, and several other investment firms reiterated their Buy ratings on the stock this week.

At the company's AI summit in Washington DC on Tuesday, the Nvidia vice president of Enterprise Platforms Bob Pette delivered an address providing greater insights into the company’s various software platforms.

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Nvidia says companies ranging from AT&T (T), Deloitte, and Quantiphi to research centres like the National Cancer Institute and the SETI Institute are using its software technologies for a wide range of tasks.

The chipmaker has overtaken Microsoft (MSFT) as the world's second most valuable company, with a market capitalisation of $3.26tn.

Robinhood Markets (HOOD)

Trading platform Robinhood soared nearly 10% in the previous session, after announcing 4 December as the date of its first investor day event.

The company said it would share more about its outlook for the next decade and how this can "drive customer and shareholder value".

Devin Ryan, director of financial technology research at Citizens JMP, told Yahoo Finance on Monday that he believed Robinhood would be able to withstand lower interest rates "pretty well".

He noted that during last quarter's earnings call, Robinhood said that a 25-basis-point interest rate cut amounts to a $40m impact on the company.

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However, he highlighted that there were some factors that would offset this impact.

Ryan said: "Margin balances are going to accelerate quite a bit because risk-on behavior is going to have people take out more margin. Securities lending, when capital markets pick up, generally that recovers. That's an area that I actually think will largely offset that even $40 million that I just mentioned."

The US Federal Reserve announced a bigger-than-expected 0.5% interest rate cut in September but the central bank's chair Jerome Powell has said it is in no rush to lower rates.

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (2330.TW)

Chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) posted quarterly revenues on Wednesday that beat forecasts.

Reuters reported that the revenue in the July-September period for 2024 came in at T$759.69bn ($23.62bn), versus an LSEG SmartEstimate of T$750.36bn.

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TSMC is set to release its full results for the third quarter on Thursday 17 October.

The company is the world's largest contract chipmaker and considered to be another beneficiary of the AI boom.

While shares in the Taiwan-listed chipmaker only closed Wednesday's session just less than 1% higher, the company is up 72% year-to-date.

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