Finance

Banks are fueling a hiring surge for AI engineers who are good at "agent orchestration" - the ability to coordinate teams of specialized agents.

Burger King is refranchising hundreds of its company-owned restaurants as part of its turnaround, while prioritizing local operators.

The Labor Department offers an update Friday on the strength of the U.S. job market. The news comes as long-term interest rates have been climbing.

San Francisco leaders say AI-powered cameras helped drive a dramatic decline in car crime. We examine the evidence - and whether the city can keep its high-tech dragnet without sacrificing civil liberties. (Image credit: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

Soaring borrowing costs spurred experts to warn of a gathering fiscal crisis, particularly in Europe. France remains at the epicenter of the storm, after a proposed budget yesterday failed to quell investors anxiety over its fast-rising borrowing. But worries are growing elsewhere: UK 30-year yields hit 6% , the first time a G7 member has faced such high interest rates since the 2012 eurozone crisis, while other indebted countries such as Italy and Greece saw bond yields widen sharply compared to those of the European benchmark, Germany. “European bond markets are showing the first signs of broader contagion,” ING economists said, while one portfolio manager told The Wall Street Journal, “markets have the faint smell of a crisis in the making .” - Prashant Rao

Shares of toymaker Mattel rose Thursday after the Wall Street Journal reported that Authentic Brands Group had expressed interest in buying the toymaker.

Banks are fueling a hiring surge for AI engineers who are good at "agent orchestration" - the ability to coordinate teams of specialized agents.

Suno is branching out from the world of AI music, launching a new feature that generates spoken voices based on scripts or prompted descriptions. Speech is now available in public beta across Sunos web and mobile platforms, and allows you to simultaneously generate voiceovers and background music to accompany them. "Music will always be at the heart of Suno and what we build. At the same time, our vision has always extended to other forms of human expression," Suno chief product officer, Jack Brody, said in the announcement. "Today, were expanding whats possible in Suno with Speech: the first audio model that generates voice and music to … Read the full story at The Verge.

MIAMI - Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders is sending the Florida Democratic Party $250,000. Its a relative pittance in the Sunshine State - but the check signals a big political shift. Why it matters: The state partys moderate leaders have resisted the rising tide of democratic socialists elevated by Sanders for years. But political changes and financial need have brought the two together like never before: The Florida Democratic Party is essentially broke after decades of being out of power, and national establishment Democratic organizations have so far refused to help. Angie Nixon , who joined the Democratic Socialists of America this summer, is the state partys U.S. Senate nominee. Sanders endorsed her and has long wanted to help, an aide said. Zoom in: Despite being vastly outraised and outspent in Florida, Nixon and Democratic gubernatorial candidate David Jolly are stubbornly close in polling to their respective Republican opponents, Sen. Ashley Moody and Rep. Byron Donalds. Until now, national Democrats have been hesitant to spend in Florida due to years of soul-crushing defeats -especially at the hands of President Trump and Gov. Ron DeSantis - that made the state and its 10 expensive media markets look like a bad investment. This year, with Republican fortunes sagging nationwide, Texas, Ohio, Iowa and Alaska look more promising for Democrats. That could change soon. Nixon told a liberal podcaster Thursday that the chair of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, held a fundraiser for her. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), whom Nixon called out last week for not helping, also might make money available. "Folks are a little gun-shy because, unfortunately, Vice President [Kamala] Harris lost as a Black woman. And so people are being very hesitant in terms of funding Black women, especially in the South," Nixon told MS NOWs "Clock It with Symone & Eugene." Behind the scenes: Florida Democratic Party chair Nikki Fried has been constantly working national donors for money, allies say, but she never asked Sanders for help because of their ideological differences and resistance within the state party. Socialists - and Sanders associated views - have long been regarded as political liabilities in a state where so many Hispanic voters hailed from countries associated with leftist violence. But when Sanders signaled he was ready to give to a " victory fund " that joins the state party and Nixons campaign, Fried didnt stand in the way. "Angies going to turn out our base," Fried privately told skeptical allies in the party. "Every dollar that helps Angie, helps Jolly and helps the candidates down ballot." Friction point: Establishment Democrats are divided between those who dont want to be associated with Sanders and those who wanted him to give more of his $23 million campaign fund than just $250,000. "Thats it? He should send more," said Florida Rep. Lois Frankel, who has been critical of Sanders and doesnt agree with Sanders and Nixons criticisms of Israel. "Republicans are going to kill us for taking Bernie socialist money and were not even getting enough of it," one Democratic candidate groused. "But yeah, strange bedfellows." Said Javier Fernandez, a Democratic mayor of the city of South Miami: "The more we rally around Bernie, the more we hurt our long-term prospects." "Its a Faustian bargain: The party captures the energy and dynamism of the Bernie/DSA that are trying to use the party, but it compromises core values of moderate and progressive Democrats and puts us further out of step with the views of mainstream voters." The big picture: The Democratic Party is evolving as progressives and socialist-aligned candidates and activists energize its base. Nationwide, 65% of Democrats now have a favorable view of socialism, according to a Gallup survey released last week that also found support rising among independents. Nixon is the Democratic engine drawing enthusiastic crowds in Florida. Her rallies double as organizational events to harness volunteers to knock on doors, make phone-bank calls or volunteer. She also has a notable social media presence and a stable of influencers. Its a stark contrast with Jollys low-key candidacy, which has a small social-media footprint and events. Between the lines: After some initial tension , Nixons campaign is aligned with the state party, which is providing additional organizational support. Statewide, the state party reports an army of 6,000 volunteers who helped Democrats flip 46 seats in legislative, school-board and local-government races across Florida in two years. Florida Democrats are now keeping pace with the GOP in voter registration gains. Sanders has sent his staff and organizers to Florida to help Nixon with literature, texting and phone-banking. Yes, but: Florida Republicans still have far more registered voters, an edge of more than 1.5 million. And the Florida GOP has a well-oiled turnout machine and a stable of political pros who have consistently helped keep the state reliably red. "We dont lose Florida," one of them said, noting Moody and Donalds are marginally ahead of Nixon and Jolly in most polls. Still, there are jitters in the GOP as gas prices rise along with interest rates and the real estate market cools. "Im not going to say Angie or Jolly are going to win," said one GOP consultant. "Its hard to see a DSA candidate winning a general [election], but could I see a world where she turns out the base and falls short but Jolly benefits from it and ekes it out? Nobody knows." What theyre saying: Nixons campaign manager, Eunic Ortiz, said the money from Sanders helps, but big money is less salient nowadays. Republicans "billionaire donors will likely outspend us, but we know we will out-organize them," Ortiz said. "Were going to win with people on the ground, neighbors talking to neighbors, and the kind of energy and excitement money cant buy." "Did we see a world where Bernie led the way in getting national money to Florida? No," said an ally of Frieds. "But national donors are starting to give to Florida. And Bernie was the first nod the nation is paying attention." Axios Holly Otterbein contributed to this story.

Governor Mikie Sherrill is a former Navy pilot, federal prosecutor, and a member of the U.S. House of Representatives. She was elected New Jerseys governor in November 2025 in a campaign dominated by the states surging electricity prices. For this episode of Shift Key, Governor Sherrill joined Heatmap correspondent Matthew Zeitlin for a live conversation at our Heatmap House event, part of New York Climate Week. She reflected on electricity inflation, power markets, and what a data center developer would need to do to build in New Jersey. Shift Key is hosted by Robinson Meyer, the founding executive editor of Heatmap News. Subscribe to “Shift Key” and find this episode on Apple Podcasts , Spotify , Amazon , YouTube , or wherever you get your podcasts. You can also add the shows RSS feed to your podcast app to follow us directly. Here is an excerpt from their conversation: Matthew Zeitlin: So obviously - we were talking about this backstage - New Jersey has this great history of innovation technological development. And right now you have a lot of advanced industries in New Jersey - a pharmaceutical industry, financial services you have a lot of research around the Princeton National Lab. When youre trying to attract these kind of next generation industries, how do you kind of assure them that they can set up large energy-consuming facilities that anchor those industries? Mikie Sherrill: Its kind of interesting, twofold. I would say to a large extent, we dont need to attract some of these innovators, we need to keep them. Innovation starts in New Jersey. We have a million different spinoffs. We were talking about, theyll do fusion, and theyve already got the magnets that are found few places in the world. I mean, they come and spun off from the National Lab at Princeton. We have companies like that all over the state. And we have states like New Mexico that are constantly saying, you know, here, come here. And people in New Jersey - and if youre not from New Jersey, this may surprise you - but people in New Jersey love New Jersey, and we want to stay there. And we want our kids to go to the great schools there and we want to continue to grow businesses. So companies dont want to leave New Jersey. We just have to make sure they have enough, you know, that theres not some other incentive driving them away. At the same time, when you say, how can I assure that people are going to have all the power they want? We are creating a structure so that people can make sure that they have clean power generation. Thats why something like a virtual power plant is so interesting. But it is not on the state to kind of assure you can do whatever the heck you want in power generation. It is up to the companies to work with us to say, okay, I want to invest in this. This is going to be a net good for the people of New Jersey. So for example, Im going to build a virtual power plant. Im going to have battery packs in everyones basement. Im going to pay them to do that. And were going to generate new clean power for this entity. That is how they need to come to work. And I would again say that that was what was so interesting at the table, because there are people who get that. In some of the most innovative power generating companies, in some of the most innovative technological companies, they get that. They know where this is all going. Some of the old school companies are still sort of coming to the table saying, what can you do for me? Thats not where we are right now. We need to understand what benefit can you bring to the people of New Jersey. You can find a full transcript of the episode here . Mentioned: Matthew on Governor Sherrills electricity rate freeze Previously on Shift Key: Energy Secretary Chris Wright on Trumps Pro-Nuclear, Pro-Fossil Fuel Agenda Previously on Shift Key: Al Gore on AI, ‘An Inconvenient Truth, and the Biggest Surprises of the Past 20 Years t 20 Years This episode of Shift Key is sponsored by ... Formed through a joint venture between Wärtsilä and RCT Solutions, Valo helps utilities, independent power producers, and developers navigate market and grid complexity without sacrificing system performance. Learn more at valoenergy.com . RE+ 26 is the largest clean energy event in North America, happening November 16th through 19th at the Las Vegas Convention Center. Register at re-plus.com and use code SHIFTKEY20 to save 20% off a Full Conference pass. Every year Giving Green researches the top climate nonprofits and sends 100% of every dollar donated to its Giving Green Fund straight to them. Make your first gift before the new year, and it will be matched up to $500. Go to GivingGreen.earth/Shift .

Bitget has frozen a tiny fraction of the $387.5 million stolen in last weeks hack, and restored much of its protection fund.

Nike is expected to post another quarter of declining sales as the company tries to turn around its business and regain growth in China.