Good Morning and Happy Friday! The S&P 500 and Nasdaq closed at record highs as rate-cut relief and Nvidia’s $5 billion Intel bet juiced markets. D.E. Shaw is raising money for a new hedge fund that, for the first time, ditches algorithms and puts humans in charge.

Amex is hiking the Platinum fee to $895 a year, but members will see $3,500 in perks. And the world’s largest publicly traded hedge fund is breaking ranks with tradition, rolling out an ETF under its own name.

Plus: Cardlytics soared 93% after a Citron Research tweet said ChatGPT generated its bullish call, how Larry Ellison made $365 billion by breaking every wealth management rule and how to properly bulk and cut.

Learn how BILL can help you eliminate manual and time-consuming tasks from your accounts payable process.

SQUEEZ OF THE DAY

Wall Street’s Parking Lot Era

Wall Street has a new obsession: parking lots. Industrial outdoor storage (IOS), like gravel and asphalt sites near ports, highways, and power lines has become prime real estate as AI construction firms scramble for staging space to park millions of dollars’ worth of tools, tractors, trailers, and generators..

What used to be an obscure, sleepy corner of real estate is suddenly a prime investment as the AI boom fuels demand for data centers and the firms building them.

Institutional money is piling in. J.P. Morgan set up a $700 million JV with Zenith IOS. Blackstone has dropped nearly $200 million with Alterra to buy dozens of sites. Truist and Bank of Montreal financed $344 million into 60-plus lots. Since 2021, institutions have poured $4.7 billion into the sector, nearly 8x the prior five years.

Rents for IOS properties are up 123% since 2020, compared with 58% for warehouses. Vacancy is at 5% and zoning fights keep new supply scarce. Locals hate the gravel moonscapes, but data centers and logistics firms need them. Every generator, trailer, and container needs a base, and every widget off a port makes three to five stops before it hits a Walmart shelf.

The AI angle puts it into overdrive. Data centers don’t just need electricity, they need acres of staging space. Every new server farm requires nearby lots to hold millions of dollars’ worth of generators, trailers, and construction gear. Wall Street isn’t just buying into the servers inside the buildings, it’s grabbing the dirt outside where all that equipment sits.

Takeaway: The AI trade isn’t just chips and cloud contracts, it’s asphalt. The next big infrastructure play is the humble gravel lot, where supply is capped, demand keeps climbing, and returns are outpacing warehouses. Owning IOS is a three-in-one bet on logistics, e-commerce, and AI. Sometimes the smartest trade on Wall Street really is just parking it.

HEADLINES

Top Reads

• S&P, Nasdaq hit fresh records (YF)

• DE Shaw raising $5B in its first hedge fund run by humans (BB)

• Amex unveils refreshed Platinum card with $895 annual fee (CNBC)

• Erika Kirk named CEO of Turning Point USA (CNN)

• Man Group bets big on ETFs with hedge-fund trades for masses (BB)

• SEC allows public companies to block investors from security class action lawsuits (FT)

• Private credit firms eye public companies as next big target (BB)

• Cardlytics stock soars after positive mention from Citron Research (Investing)

• Intel and Nvidia to deepen partnership with $5 billion investment (CNBC)

• Institutional investors are flashing a warning for stocks (BB)

• Larry Ellison made $365B by breaking every wealth management rule (CNBC)

• KKR moving into Boston’s International Place office tower (BG)

• Regulators probe claims of “debanking” bias against conservatives at major banks (WSJ)

• Trump’s tariffs reshape CEO hiring and investment decisions (Axios)

• Apollo weighs $1.5B sale of AOL (NYP)

• Insurance money emerges as latest funding source for AI developers (TI)

• Wall Street investors pile into AI stocks despite risks (WSJ)

• Why private equity needs you more than you need them (WP)

• Trump pushes Supreme Court fight over Fed Governor Lisa Cook (CNBC)

• The FTC is suing Live Nation and Ticketmaster over illegal ticket reselling (CNN)

PRESENTED BY BILL

Cut AP Time by 50%

Accounts payable shouldn’t eat up half your week, but for most finance teams, it still does.

BILL streamlines approvals, automates invoice capture, and centralizes everything in one place, helping companies reduce their accounts payable time by up to 50%, according to a survey of 2,000+ customers.*

See exactly how it works in Brew with BILL, a quick, live demo built for finance leaders who want faster, smarter payables.

CAPITAL PULSE

Markets Rundown

Market Update

• Stocks rise on lower interest-rate hopes – Equity markets rallied as investors digested signals from yesterday’s Fed meeting.

• Small-caps outperform – The Russell 2000 hit a new all-time high, its first since November 2021, on rate-sensitive strength.

• Tech rebounds – The Nasdaq, weak after the Fed meeting, was lifted by a big gain in NVIDIA amid reports of investment in Intel to co-develop chips.

• Global tone positive – European indexes and Japan’s Nikkei moved higher, though Chinese equities lagged.

• Bonds and dollar – The 10-year Treasury yield rose 5 bps to 4.12%. The dollar strengthened, while oil stayed in the $60–$65 range.

Economic Data Highlights

• Jobless claims reverse recent spike – Initial claims fell to 231,000, down sharply from the prior week’s 264,000.

• Continuing claims ease – Dipped to 1.92M, below the 1.97M high earlier this year.

• Labor-market signals – While payroll gains remain weak, layoffs appear contained.

• Policy balance – The Fed faces the challenge of weak hiring and still-above-target inflation as tariffs pressure consumer prices.

Reported Earnings

• Darden Restaurants (DRI) – Same-store sales growth helped offset margin pressure.

• FedEx (FDX) – Cost cuts supported results; guidance reiterated.

• Lennar (LEN) – Housing demand soft, with deliveries and margins under pressure.

Earnings Today

• No significant earnings

Movers & Shakers

• (+) Intel ($INTC) +23% after announcing a $5B investment from Nvidia.

• (+) Novo Nordisk ($NVO) +6% because the company’s Ozempic data beats Eli Lilly.

• (–) Cracker Barrel ($CBRL) -8% after the restaurant chain cut its outlook.

Private Dealmaking

• Groq, an AI chipmaker, raised $750 million

• Ollin Biosciences, an ophthalmology biotech, raised $100 million

• Imagine Pediatrics, a provider of virtual special needs care, raised $67 million

• CodeRabbit, a code review startup, raised $60 million

• Tabs, a developer of AI agents for finance teams, raised $55 million

• AllRock Bio, a biotech focused on cardiopulmonary and fibrotic diseases, raised $50 million

For more PE, VC & M&A deals, subscribe to our Buysiders newsletter.

BOOK OF THE DAY

The Art of Spending Money

Description: A reflective guide that turns the usual money advice on its head. Instead of telling you how to build wealth, Housel helps you understand how to spend it wisely, balancing desire, identity, and values. It’s about choosing what’s worth it, resisting status traps, and using money to create contentment rather than obligation.

Release Date: October 7

Book Length: 256 pages
Audible / Audio Length: 5 hrs 53 mins

Ideal For: Anyone who feels stuck between saving too much and spending too fast—people wanting to align their financial decisions with their true priorities.

“This book isn’t about getting rich. It’s about getting the most out of what you already have—and learning to want what’s worth wanting.”

DAILY VISUAL

US Leads The Way

Want more? Visualize the markets with Carbon Finance

PRESENTED BY MEANWHILE

Life Insurance That Preserves Your Wealth

Every dollar today buys just 3 % of what it did a century ago. That’s why your savings account isn’t saving; it’s slowly bleeding value to inflation.

Meanwhile offers a life insurance policy denominated entirely in Bitcoin (premiums, reserves, and payouts in BTC) designed to preserve purchasing power rather than erode it.

• What it does: Meanwhile is the world’s first fully regulated Bitcoin‑denominated life insurer, licensed in Bermuda.

• Why it matters: While inflation has erased over 96 % of the dollar’s value since 1915, Bitcoin holds potential to maintain value across generations.

• The benefit: Meanwhile enables Bitcoin holders to protect their family’s future and savings in BTC, insulating them from fiat‑currency decay.

Protect your legacy in an asset that isn’t losing value every year.

DAILY ACUMEN

Attention

Capital is abundant. Talent is abundant.

The scarcest resource in the modern market is focused attention.

Social feeds fragment it, endless meetings waste it, anxiety hijacks it.

The winners are those who can marshal attention into a single beam, whether it’s building a startup, compounding wealth, or writing a book.

Attention compounds like capital: reinvest it, and you build mastery.

Scatter it, and you build nothing.

The question isn’t just, “What am I working on?” but, “What am I willing to ignore?”

Every “yes” dilutes the beam. Every “no” sharpens it.

ENLIGHTENMENT

Short Squeez Picks

• A map shows when fall foliage will peak in your state

• 75% of Gen-Zers report bringing a parent to job interviews

• The U.S. private colleges with the best ROI

• How to properly bulk and cut

• NYU professor on whether Gen Z is really lazy

MEME-A-PALOOZA

Memes of the Day

📣 Partner With Us: Get in front of an audience of over 1 million finance professionals, business leaders, and policy influencers. Submit a partnership inquiry.

📈 Grow With Us: Work directly with the Overheard on Wall Street team to scale your finance brand. Schedule your free consult.

🔒 Short Squeez Premium – Insiders: Access exclusive content, including investment analysis, wellness features, career tools, and our full recruiting resource library. Upgrade to Premium. 

🧢 Wall Street Shop: Explore our collection of finance-themed apparel and merchandise. Visit the shop.

📬 Deals Newsletter – Buysiders: A curated roundup of major M&A, private equity, and VC activity. Plus access to private deal flow. Subscribe here.

🏠 Real Estate Newsletter – City Squeez: Latest news and exclusive listings for those looking to buy, rent, or invest in real estate around the world. Sign up here.

📚 Courses: Level up with our excel, modeling, and private equity courses. View offerings.