In other news, Cathie Wood's ARK funds are experiencing increased outflows, Microsoft is blocking employee access to Perplexity AI, and Threads has overtaken X in daily US users. The US is struggling to manage its plastic waste after China stopped accepting its imports, and a bill that could ban TikTok has passed in the Senate.
Key takeaways:
- Tesla's earnings report was worse than expected, with a shocking 674% year-over-year drop in free cash flow. However, Elon Musk's plans for robotaxis and an affordable model have boosted investor confidence, leading to a nearly 11% increase in premarket trading.
- Outflows for Cathie Wood's ARK funds are increasing, with net outflows of $2.2 billion this year, triple the amount from last year.
- Microsoft is blocking employee access to Perplexity AI, one of the largest customers of Microsoft's Azure OpenAI service. Other AI tools, like Google's Gemini chatbot, are also blocked on Microsoft's employee devices.
- The US is struggling to find alternatives for the 40 million tons of plastic it produces each year, after China stopped taking its plastic imports in 2018.