[00:00] Cole Mercer: From Neural Newscast, I'm Cole Mercer.
[00:03] Cole Mercer: And I'm Daniel Brooks. Today is Tuesday, February 24th, 2026.
[00:08] Cole Mercer: U.S. markets find relief today as meta strikes a massive AI deal with AMD.
[00:14] Cole Mercer: This comes just as new global tariffs go into effect.
[00:18] Cole Mercer: We also look at the human toll of the war in Ukraine as the conflict enters its fifth year.
[00:25] Cole Mercer: Plus, we analyze the latest data in the race for weight loss drug dominance.
[00:30] Cole Mercer: New findings suggest Eli Lilly is pulling ahead of Novo Nordisk.
[00:34] Cole Mercer: We start on Wall Street. Equities rose today as investors moved past recent fears of AI-driven disruption in the tech sector.
[00:42] Cole Mercer: The S&P 500 climbed nearly 8 tenths of a percent.
[00:46] Cole Mercer: The NASDAQ led the session's gains.
[00:49] Cole Mercer: Advanced MicroDevices was the clear standout. Its shares jumped 8%.
[00:54] Cole Mercer: This followed an announcement that Meta will use AMD graphics processing units for its AI data centers.
[01:01] Cole Mercer: This is a multi-year deal. Meta plans to deploy up to 6 gigawatts of power through this partnership to support its growing infrastructure.
[01:09] Cole Mercer: This deal provides stability for AMD.
[01:12] Cole Mercer: Last week, Meta confirmed it is also using millions of NVIDIA chips.
[01:17] Cole Mercer: The move suggests there is plenty of room for multiple players in the hardware space.
[01:21] Cole Mercer: It also alleviates concerns that one manufacturer would monopolize the supply chain.
[01:26] Cole Mercer: We are also seeing a relief rally in enterprise software.
[01:30] Cole Mercer: Salesforce shares rose 4%.
[01:32] Cole Mercer: DocuSign added 2%.
[01:35] Cole Mercer: This follows an announcement from Anthropic.
[01:37] Cole Mercer: Its Claude Co-Work tool can now integrate directly with existing office software suites.
[01:43] Cole Mercer: Analysts suggest the sell-off earlier this week was premature.
[01:47] Cole Mercer: Large companies are unlikely to replace established software with unproven AI tools in just a few quarters.
[01:54] Cole Mercer: Significant liability risks and integration hurdles remain.
[01:57] Cole Mercer: Most firms are choosing to augment their current tools rather than replace them.
[02:02] Cole Mercer: The Dow is further supported by Home Depot.
[02:05] Cole Mercer: Shares rose nearly 2%.
[02:07] Cole Mercer: This marks the first time in a year that the home improvement retailer has beaten earnings expectations.
[02:13] Cole Mercer: Consumer spending in the home sector appears to be stabilizing despite high interest rates.
[02:17] Cole Mercer: While we see optimism in tech, the geopolitical scene is more complex.
[02:23] Cole Mercer: A 10% global tariff takes effect today.
[02:26] Cole Mercer: President Trump had previously threatened these hikes during his campaign.
[02:30] Cole Mercer: They are now an official reality for international traders.
[02:34] Cole Mercer: Those tariffs are being felled immediately.
[02:38] Cole Mercer: Combined with ongoing tensions between the US and Iran,
[02:42] Cole Mercer: they have kept a lid on some of today's market gains.
[02:45] Cole Mercer: Investors are still weighing how these costs will filter through to the broader economy
[02:50] Cole Mercer: and affect inflation targets.
[02:52] Cole Mercer: In other news, Ukrainians are marking four years of full-scale war this week.
[02:57] Cole Mercer: The anniversary is a somber reminder of the toll on civilians.
[03:02] Cole Mercer: Many have transitioned into roles they never expected when the invasion began in 2022.
[03:08] Cole Mercer: One such story is Tatiana Himion.
[03:11] Cole Mercer: She was once an international ballroom dance judge.
[03:15] Cole Mercer: After the invasion, she trained in Europe and now serves as a sniper in the Ukrainian army.
[03:22] Cole Mercer: She says she uses her creative background to master the complex mathematics required for her new role.
[03:29] Cole Mercer: Others are dealing with the physical and emotional scars of drone warfare.
[03:34] Cole Mercer: Ruslan Kinch is only 20 years old.
[03:37] Cole Mercer: He lost both his arms and legs in an attack last October.
[03:41] Cole Mercer: He is now preparing to travel to the United States.
[03:45] Cole Mercer: He will receive specialized prosthesis and begin a long road of rehabilitation.
[03:50] Cole Mercer: The loss of life remains staggering.
[03:53] Cole Mercer: Yaroslav Nahoda recently lost his wife, their six-month-old daughter, and his niece.
[04:00] Cole Mercer: They were killed in a singly drone strike on their home in the Kyiv region.
[04:04] Cole Mercer: These civilian casualties continue to mount as the front line remains static.
[04:10] Cole Mercer: These portraits show a population that has lost limbs and livelihoods, but remains determined.
[04:17] Cole Mercer: Families like Oksana Osipenko's are still grappling with the long-term impact
[04:23] Cole Mercer: Their children are growing up without fathers who were killed in the earliest days of the conflict four years ago.
[04:30] Cole Mercer: Next, we look at a different kind of competition in the pharmaceutical sector.
[04:34] Cole Mercer: Deutsche Bank is naming Eli Lilly, the likely winner in the race for weight loss drug dominance.
[04:41] Cole Mercer: The firm is expected to outperform its primary rival, Novo Nordisk.
[04:46] Cole Mercer: Recent data shows that patients using Eli Lilly's Tirzapatide saw a 25.5% weight loss over 84 weeks.
[04:56] Cole Mercer: That outperformed Novo Nordisk's Cagri-Sema.
[05:00] Cole Mercer: That drug saw a 23% weight loss in the same period.
[05:04] Cole Mercer: While both numbers are significant, the gap is enough to sway market sentiment.
[05:09] Cole Mercer: Analysts now believe the market will likely coalesce around the Eli Lilly portfolio.
[05:15] Cole Mercer: Despite the bullish long-term outlook, both companies saw their stocks dip slightly today.
[05:21] Cole Mercer: The market appears to be processing the high expectations already priced into these shares.
[05:27] Cole Mercer: And I'm Daniel Brooks.
[05:28] Cole Mercer: Neural Newscast is AI-assisted, human-reviewed.
[05:33] Cole Mercer: View our AI transparency policy at neuralnewscast.com.
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