- In today’s CEO Daily: Diane Brady talks to Mastercard CEO Michael Miebach and United Wholesale Mortgage CEO Mat Ishbia.
- The big story: President Trump is not a fan of Apple’s plan to skirt tariffs on iPhones made in China by moving production to India.
- The markets: Mixed but calm.
- Analyst notes from Convera on the Fed, Daiwa Capital Markets on inflation, Wedbush on Saudi AI spending, and Goldman Sachs on equities.
- Plus: All the news and watercooler chat from Fortune.
Good morning. One of my favorite ways to shop is waving my palm at the checkout of Whole Foods and out pops the receipt. It’s tied to my credit card, of course, and it’s emblematic of the way that Mastercard CEO Michael Miebach views the future of his company. Whether it’s retinal scans, fingerprints, or tokenization, the days of keying in account numbers is clearly on the wane. “Everybody needs payments in a very different fashion and form,” said Miebach, who spoke with Kristin Stoller and me for this week’s Leadership Next podcast. He talks about how the company is tailoring its approach to different markets, and the close relationship he has with his predecessor, World Bank President Ajay Banga. You can access the full conversation here.
Every week, we speak with a different leader about their journey to the corner office and the philosophy that got them there. Last week, Mat Ishbia, CEO of United Wholesale Mortgage and owner of the Phoenix Suns and Mercury basketball teams, talked about leading in two very different realms. As for the Suns being eliminated from the NBA playoffs last month, he’s optimistic: “I actually prefer where I’m at in the NBA than where I am in the mortgage business, because that’s where I’ve lived my whole life. I’ve always been an underdog. I’ve always been below. I’ve always had less talent but harder work ethic, and I’ve always had to climb a mountain. Nothing comes easy. If it came easy, everyone would do it.” Indeed.
Click here to check out our other interviews, and thanks to all who’ve joined us in conversation. Much more to come.
More news below.
Contact CEO Daily via Diane Brady at diane.brady@fortune.com
Top news
Trump pressures Tim Cook: “I had a little problem with Tim Cook yesterday,” the president said in reference to a conversation he had with the CEO of Apple during their tour of the Middle East. “He is building all over India. I don’t want you building in India.” Cook responded by telling Trump he will be “upping their production in the United States.”
All this political uncertainty has real effects, Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago president Austan Goolsbee said. “It’s just, I think, not realistic to expect businesses or central banks to be jumping to conclusions about long-term things when you’ve got so much short-term variability … It’s just a very difficult environment.”
Controversy surrounds Tesla board chair. Tesla board chair Robyn Denholm has made a total of $530 million selling the EV maker’s stock since she took the role in 2018—and more than $180 million over the past six months. Her gains vastly outweigh other high-paid non-executive board chairs.
Elon Musk’s Grok AI became suddenly obsessed with “white genocide” in South Africa. It is not clear why.
Saudi Arabia is now at “the front of the line” for Nvidia’s AI chips, Wedbush analyst Daniel Ives told Fortune, following the kingdom’s announcement of a deal with the company to supply its Humain AI model.
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang added $12 billion to his net worth on Tuesday after the company announced a deal to send hundreds of thousands of chips to Saudi Arabia. The announcement came as President Donald Trump expanded the kingdom’s access to American AI chips, reversing the policies of the Biden Administration.
Why Qatar is so influential in the U.S. The religious dictatorship has spent billions on lobbyists to influence universities and the military, according to a deep dive from the WSJ.
The Bayesian was sunk by sudden, extreme winds, an inquiry has found. Unexpected 80 mph gusts toppled tech entrepreneur Mike Lynch’s yacht, killing him and six others in Sicily last year, according to the Marine Accident Investigation Branch.
eToro debuts up. eToro stock closed at $67 on Wednesday, up 29% in its first day of trading as a public company. The brokerage platform’s positive performance could turn around the otherwise quiet IPO market.
Putin will not show up for peace talks with Ukraine.
The markets
- Traders appeared to be consolidating their gains from the last few days of trading by engaging in some mild selling today. The S&P 500 rose 0.1% yesterday but S&P futures sunk 0.58% this morning premarket. Reddit was up 11%. India’s Nifty 50 rose 1.72% today, but global markets retreated across much of the rest of the globe: The Stoxx Europe 600 was down 0.2% in early trading. The U.K.’s FTSE 100 was down 0.25%. In Asia, the major indexes in China, Japan, and South Korea all declined this morning.
From the analysts
- Convera on the Fed: “With the US inflation basket dominated by services, the impact of tariffs on goods, just 19.4% of the index, may stay limited for now, especially amid waning price pressures in housing and services. The NFIB small business survey reinforced this, showing a decline in firms raising prices, adding to the case for softer inflation trends. Although it may still be premature to see the impact from tariffs, it opens the door for earlier-than-expected cuts from the Fed,” per George Vessey.
- Daiwa Capital Markets on inflation: “The data provide somewhat limited assistance in formulating a forward-looking view on the trajectory of inflation, although we remain guardedly optimistic that recent trade-related developments (including a preliminary deal with China) will ultimately contribute to far less price pressure in 2025-H2 than would have been realized,” per Lawrence Werther and Brendan Stuart.
- Wedbush on Saudi AI spending: “We believe the market opportunity in Saudi Arabia could over time add another $1 trillion to the broader global AI market in the coming years and this dynamic is not being priced into the market and tech names in our view,” per Daniel Ives et al.
- Goldman Sachs on equities: “Our view remains that we are not likely to experience a structural bear market. While valuations of equities, particularly in the US, are high, they have been largely reflective of strong fundamentals and so there has not been a bubble,” per Peter Oppenheimer et al.
Around the watercooler
Shark Tank’s Barbara Corcoran put her $12 million NYC penthouse for sale—and has found a buyer in just one day, by Emma Burleigh
Banks are sitting on $500 billion in unrealized losses, and stagflation could cause another Silicon Valley Bank-like crisis by Greg McKenna
BP’s chief U.S. economist worries China is winning the global energy war. Here’s why by Jordan Blum
JPMorgan Chase steps beyond ‘walled garden’ to settle transaction on public blockchain by Ben Weiss
CEO Daily is compiled and edited by Joey Abrams and Jim Edwards.