{"id":47610,"date":"2026-02-11T11:35:14","date_gmt":"2026-02-11T11:35:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/quickassetsmarket.com\/index.php\/2026\/02\/11\/morning-brief-asia-stocks-rise-xai-cofounders-exit-house-tariffs-vote-looms\/"},"modified":"2026-02-11T11:35:14","modified_gmt":"2026-02-11T11:35:14","slug":"morning-brief-asia-stocks-rise-xai-cofounders-exit-house-tariffs-vote-looms","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/quickassetsmarket.com\/index.php\/2026\/02\/11\/morning-brief-asia-stocks-rise-xai-cofounders-exit-house-tariffs-vote-looms\/","title":{"rendered":"Morning brief: Asia stocks rise, xAI cofounders exit, House tariffs vote looms"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Global markets and corporate developments offered a mixed picture on Wednesday as investors balanced resilient Asian equities against political tensions in Washington and mounting corporate upheaval across technology and media sectors. <\/p>\n

A rally in Asia came despite soft US consumer data and artificial-intelligence concerns on Wall Street, while Elon Musk\u2019s artificial-intelligence startup lost key founders, lawmakers prepared a tariff vote, and a high-stakes Hollywood takeover battle intensified.<\/p>\n

Asian markets extend gains despite weak US data<\/h2>\n

Asia-Pacific markets traded mostly higher, continuing their rally even as US investors reacted nervously to weak economic indicators and AI-related risks.<\/p>\n

The US December retail sales report showed consumer spending was flat, missing economists\u2019 expectations for a 0.4% monthly increase. <\/p>\n

Still, regional markets remained resilient.<\/p>\n

Australia\u2019s S&P\/ASX 200 rose more than 1.6%, South Korea\u2019s Kospi gained for a third day, and Hong Kong\u2019s Hang Seng Index edged higher. <\/p>\n

Mainland China\u2019s CSI 300 slipped slightly, while Japan\u2019s markets were closed for a public holiday.<\/p>\n

India’s Nifty 50 gained by 0.08%. <\/p>\n

Chinese inflation data underscored ongoing economic challenges. <\/p>\n

The country\u2019s consumer price index rose only 0.2% year over year in January, below the 0.4% forecast in a Reuters poll and reinforcing signs of lingering deflationary pressure.<\/p>\n

Overnight in the US, the S&P 500 fell 0.33%, and the Nasdaq Composite declined 0.59% amid AI concerns, though the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.1% to a record close of 50,188.14 after recently surpassing the 50,000 milestone.<\/p>\n

xAI loses co-founders amid regulatory scrutiny<\/h2>\n

Elon Musk\u2019s artificial-intelligence venture xAI is facing leadership turnover after two co-founders departed within days of each other.<\/p>\n

Influential researcher Jimmy Ba announced his exit, writing he was \u201cGrateful to have helped cofound at the start.\u201d His departure followed co-founder Tony Wu\u2019s own announcement a day earlier.<\/p>\n

Ba, a University of Toronto professor credited with research influencing the company\u2019s Grok version 4 models, joins several other founders who have already stepped away from the company.<\/p>\n

The exits come after xAI merged with Musk\u2019s aerospace company SpaceX earlier this month. <\/p>\n

The combined entity, valued at $1 trillion for SpaceX and $250 billion for xAI, is reportedly preparing for a public listing.<\/p>\n

The company also faces regulatory probes in Europe, Asia, and the United States following allegations that its Grok AI chatbot enabled the mass creation of non-consensual explicit images. <\/p>\n

Musk launched xAI in 2023 with the stated aim of \u201cunderstand the true nature of the universe.\u201d<\/p>\n

US lawmakers weigh rebuke of Trump tariffs<\/h2>\n

In Washington, House lawmakers could vote as soon as Wednesday on resolutions challenging President Donald Trump\u2019s tariff policies, a move shaped by election-year concerns over rising living costs.<\/p>\n

Speaker Mike Johnson attempted to block the vote through procedural measures, but Democrats and three Republicans opposed the delay.<\/p>\n

Republican Don Bacon wrote, \u201cCongress needs to be able to debate on tariffs,\u201d adding, \u201cTariffs have been a \u2018net negative\u2019 for the economy and are a significant tax that American consumers, manufacturers, and farmers are paying.\u201d<\/p>\n

Democrats have highlighted tariffs as a driver of inflation. <\/p>\n

Democratic Representative Don Beyer said, \u201cIt is heartening that a handful of Republicans finally stood up to Trump to put a stop to this madness, and I hope that more of our colleagues will join them as we move on to consider measures to terminate tariffs on Canada and other key allies and trading partners.\u201d<\/p>\n

Even if passed, the measures would likely be symbolic because the president could veto them.<\/p>\n

Activist investor pressures Warner over Netflix deal<\/h2>\n

Corporate drama intensified in media and entertainment as activist investor Ancora Holdings built a roughly $200 million stake in Warner Bros. Discovery and prepared to oppose its agreement to sell studios and HBO Max to Netflix, reported WSJ.<\/p>\n

Netflix has signed a $72 billion deal, while Paramount Skydance has made a rival nearly $78 billion bid for the entire company. <\/p>\n

Paramount has also agreed to cover Warner\u2019s $2.8 billion breakup fee and added a \u201cticking fee\u201d for shareholders if the transaction is delayed.<\/p>\n

Ancora argues Warner failed to adequately engage with Paramount and is considering a proxy fight if the board does not pursue what it views as a better deal.<\/p>\n

Warner maintains the Netflix agreement offers superior value and a clearer regulatory path, but investors remain divided ahead of a shareholder vote expected next month.<\/p>\n

The post Morning brief: Asia stocks rise, xAI cofounders exit, House tariffs vote looms<\/a> appeared first on Invezz<\/a><\/p>\n

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Global markets and corporate developments offered a mixed picture on Wednesday as investors balanced resilient Asian equities against political tensions in Washington and mounting corporate upheaval across technology and media sectors. A rally in Asia came despite soft US consumer data and artificial-intelligence concerns on Wall Street, while Elon Musk\u2019s artificial-intelligence startup lost key founders, <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":47611,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-47610","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-investing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/quickassetsmarket.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47610","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/quickassetsmarket.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/quickassetsmarket.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quickassetsmarket.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quickassetsmarket.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=47610"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/quickassetsmarket.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47610\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quickassetsmarket.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/47611"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/quickassetsmarket.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=47610"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quickassetsmarket.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=47610"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quickassetsmarket.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=47610"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}