🎭 AI powers Wizard of Oz at Vegas Sphere | 🤝 Wipro buys Harman’s $375M digital arm | 🇨🇳 China eyes yuan-backed stablecoins

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AI hype meets reality as investors slam the brakes

What happened: After months of feverish gains, U.S. tech stocks sold off sharply as investors worried that AI enthusiasm has run ahead of fundamentals. Nvidia slid 3.5%, SoftBank’s Masayoshi Son nevertheless doubled down by backing foundation‑model startups and raising $1 billion for Databricks. A Reuters/Ipsos poll found 77 % of Americans fear AI could be weaponised to create political chaos, while 71 % worry about job losses. A new MIT survey adds fuel to the skepticism: 95 % of generative‑AI projects fail to generate returns because companies lack adoption strategies; specialised tools and partnerships succeed more than twice as often.

Wipro buys Harman’s digital arm to supercharge AI services

What happened: India’s Wipro agreed to buy Harman Digital Transformation Solutions, a division of Samsung‑owned Harman, for $375 million. More than 5,600 employees will join Wipro’s engineering services unit. Wipro says the acquisition accelerates its push into AI‑led product engineering, while Samsung can refocus Harman on automotive electronics and consumer audio.

Wizard of Oz gets an AI makeover inside Las Vegas’s Sphere

What happened: Warner Bros. Discovery and MGM’s Sphere in Las Vegas announced a partnership to reimagine the 1939 classic The Wizard of Oz. Using Google DeepMind’s AI, a team of 2,000 artists and engineers is upscaling each frame, restoring lost detail and out‑painting scenes to fit the venue’s 160,000‑square‑foot LED screen. The Sphere’s immersive tech will simulate wind and debris as Dorothy’s house twirls. Creators stress that the training data remains quarantined and isn’t fed back into Google’s public models. Some purists worry that altering a beloved film sets a dangerous precedent.

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The mood across markets is cautious as investors digest lofty valuations and brace for Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell’s Jackson Hole speech. The S&P 500 tech sector has shed roughly 2.5 % in the past week and the Nasdaq about 2 %, with Nvidia and Palantir bearing the brunt. Analysts view this as a healthy correction rather than a crash, but the price‑to‑earnings multiple for big tech remains near 30×. In Europe, stocks tread water as traders wait for hints of a September rate cut.

Big Tech barometer: FAANG shares dipped as investors rotated out of overheated AI names into defensives. Nvidia’s slump rippled through semiconductor suppliers, while Apple held up thanks to resilient services revenue.

Startup thermometer: Funding activity slowed, but notable deals suggest selective optimism: self‑driving startup Nuro raised $203 million from Uber and Nvidia at a reduced $6 billion valuation, and Wipro’s Harman buy shows established players are willing to pay for domain expertise.

Infrastructure watch: Cloud and AI‑chip providers are under pressure as investors worry about supply gluts. However, demand for AI‑specific hardware remains strong given long‑term adoption trends.

Wild card: Jackson Hole looms. If Powell signals a gentler policy path, risk appetite could rebound; if he doubles down on inflation, expect more volatility.

Asian family offices go long on crypto

What happened: Wealthy Asian families and family offices are boosting cryptocurrency allocations. Hong Kong’s NextGen Digital Venture raised over $100 million for a new long‑short crypto fund in just a few months, and UBS says some overseas Chinese family offices plan to allocate around 5 % of portfolios to digital assets. The surge is driven by record‑high Bitcoin prices—above $124,000—and favourable regulations such as the U.S. GENIUS Act and Hong Kong’s new stablecoin law.

China considers yuan‑backed stablecoins to internationalise its currency

What happened: Sources told Reuters that China’s State Council is drafting a plan to allow yuan‑pegged stablecoins, reversing its 2021 crypto trading ban. The plan, to be reviewed later this month, would set targets for offshore yuan usage and outline regulator duties. Senior leaders will hold a study session on yuan internationalisation, and Hong Kong and Shanghai are expected to fast‑track local implementation. Fintech and “stablecoin concept” stocks surged on the news.

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