One more week left in the 2024 regular season and the playoff picture (and first pick in the draft picture) is coming into shape. Nate Tice and Charles McDonald discuss the five biggest results from Week 17's Saturday and Sunday action, leading off with the Minnesota Vikings' well-earned divisional win over the Green Bay Packers. Nate & Charles discuss how Sam Darnold's play and Kevin O'Connor's scheming always kept Green Bay a step behind and why the Packers defense is not quite up to the task of stopping an elite Super Bowl-contending offense. Speaking of elite, the guys look back to Saturday and look at the Los Angeles Rams' 13-9 win over the Arizona Cardinals. Nate explains why sophomore receiver Puka Nacua has entered the top-tier of NFL wideouts and why his play the last two seasons is basically unparalleled from a statistical perspective. Also on Saturday, the Cincinnati Bengals eked out an overtime win over the Denver Broncos, keeping their playoff hopes alive. The guys talk about Joe Burrow's MVP case and how the Broncos still may backpedal into the playoffs against a Kansas City Chiefs team that will likely rest their starters next weekend. Closing out the show, they chat about Drew Lock and the New York Giants extinguishing the Indianapolis Colts' playoff hopes and Saquon Barkley's 2,000-yard season in a Philadelphia win over the Dallas Cowboys. (1:50) - Vikings take out Packers (12:10) - Puka's elite status in Rams win (24:40) - Burrow keeps Bengals playoff hopes alive (30:25) - Drew Lock extinguishes Colts (37:40) - Saquon hits 2k yards over Dallas (40:35) - Week 17 game balls
U.S. stocks tiptoed to more records after a quiet day of trading. The S&P 500 edged up by 2 points, or less than 0.1%, on Tuesday to set an all-time high for the 55th time this year. The Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 0.2%, while the Nasdaq composite added 0.4% to its own record set a day earlier. Treasury yields held relatively steady after a report showed U.S. employers were advertising slightly more job openings at the end of October than a month earlier. The South Korean won sank against the dollar after its president declared martial law and then later said he’ll lift it. On Tuesday: The S&P 500 rose 2.73 points, or less than 0.1%, to 6,049.88. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 76.47 points, or 0.2%, to 44,705.53. The Nasdaq composite rose 76.96 points, or 0.4%, to 19,480.91. The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies fell 17.79 points, or 0.7%, to 2,416.35. For the week: The S&P 500 is up 17.50 points, or 0.3%. The Dow is down 205.12 points, or 0.5%. The Nasdaq is up 262.74 points, or 1.4%. The Russell 2000 is down 18.38 points, or 0.8%. For the year: The S&P 500 is up 1,280.05 points, or 26.8%. The Dow is up 7,015.99 points, or 18.6%. The Nasdaq is up 4,469.56 points, or 29.8%. The Russell 2000 is up 389.27 points, or 19.2%.Wall Street stocks finished a lackluster week on a muted note Friday as concerns about rising Treasury bond yields competed with enthusiasm over artificial intelligence equities. Of the major indices, only the Nasdaq mustered a gain in Friday's session. The tech-rich index was also the only of the three leading US benchmarks to conclude the week higher. "Equities are kind of treading water," said LBBW's Karl Haeling. "A negative influence to some extent is the rise in bond yields." The latest US consumer price index data released this week showed prices ticked higher in November and the wholesale data also showed stubborn inflationary pressures. "Yields rose to their highest levels in over two weeks as markets brace for the Federal Reserve's final meeting of the year, reflecting concerns over sticky inflation," said Chris Beauchamp, chief market analyst at online trading platform IG. There is also growing concern over the inflationary pressures from President-elect Donald Trump's pledges to cut taxes and impose tariffs, as inflation still stands above the Fed's target. "While the markets still anticipate a rate cut from the Federal Reserve next week, the likelihood of a move in January has dropped," said Patrick Munnelly, partner at broker Tickmill Group. The CME FedWatch tool shows the market sees a more than 75 percent chance that the Fed will hold rates steady in January. In Europe, the Paris CAC 40 index ended the day down 0.2 percent after French President Emmanuel Macron named his centrist ally Francois Bayrou as prime minister, ending days of deadlock over finding a replacement for Michel Barnier. Frankfurt also dipped, with Germany's central bank sharply downgrading its growth forecasts on Friday for 2025 and 2026. It predicted a prolonged period of weakness for Europe's biggest economy. London stocks were also lower after official data showed that the UK economy unexpectedly shrank for the second consecutive month in October. The euro recovered after flirting with two-year lows against the dollar following a warning Thursday by ECB president Christine Lagarde that the eurozone economy was "losing momentum", cautioning that "the risk of greater friction in global trade could weigh on euro area growth". In Asia, Hong Kong and Shanghai both tumbled as investors were unimpressed with Beijing's pledge to introduce measures aimed at "lifting consumption vigorously" as part of a drive to reignite growth in the world's number two economy. President Xi Jinping and other key leaders said at the annual Central Economic Work Conference they would implement a "moderately loose" monetary policy, increase social financing and reducing interest rates "at the right time". The gathering came after Beijing in September began unveiling a raft of policies to reverse a growth slump that has gripped the economy for almost two years. "We're still not convinced that policy support will prevent the economy from slowing further next year", said Julian Evans-Pritchard, head of China economics at research group Capital Economics. Among individual equities, chip company Broadcom surged nearly 25 percent after reporting a 51 percent jump in quarterly revenues to $14.1 billion behind massive growth in AI-linked business. New York - Dow: DOWN 0.2 percent at 43,828.06 (close) New York - S&P 500: FLAT at 6,051.09 (close) New York - Nasdaq Composite: UP 0.1 percent at 19,926.72 (close) London - FTSE 100: DOWN 0.1 percent at 8,300.33 (close) Paris - CAC 40: DOWN 0.2 percent at 7,409.57 (close) Frankfurt - DAX: DOWN 0.1 percent at 20,405.92 (close) Tokyo - Nikkei 225: DOWN 1.0 percent at 39,470.44 (close) Hong Kong - Hang Seng Index: DOWN 2.1 percent at 19,971.24 (close) Shanghai - Composite: DOWN 2.0 percent at 3,391.88 (close) Euro/dollar: UP at $1.0504 from $1.0467 on Thursday Pound/dollar: DOWN at $1.2622 from $1.2673 Dollar/yen: UP at 153.60 yen from 152.63 yen Euro/pound: UP at 83.19 pence from 82.59 pence Brent North Sea Crude: UP 1.5 percent at $74.49 per barrel West Texas Intermediate: UP 1.8 percent at $71.29 per barrel burs-jmb/st
While shoppers can’t get enough of their holiday deals , Amazon is making bold moves in the world of AI. The tech giant revealed a lineup of innovative AI tools and services at its annual re:Invent conference, including Nova. As stated in the company's blog , Nova is "a new generation of state-of-the-art foundation models (FMs ) that deliver frontier intelligence and industry leading price performance, available exclusively in Amazon Bedrock . You can use Amazon Nova to lower costs and latency for almost any generative AI task." For example, Nova Reel was used to create this advertisement for a fictional pasta brand, showcasing the AI's ability to help retailers bring their products to life. Generative AI takes center stage Among Amazon's announcements is the launch of new AI models under its proprietary "Titan" family. These models will power various applications, from content generation to personalized recommendations like Rufus . This marks Amazon's bid to compete with industry leaders like OpenAI ’s ChatGPT and Google’s Gemini . Amazon also introduced Amazon Q, a generative AI-powered assistant capable of summarizing documents, enhancing collaboration, and troubleshooting cloud applications. With its ability to integrate into business environments, Amazon Q aims to redefine productivity across industries. Doubling down on AI infrastructure To support its AI efforts, Amazon has also expanded its AI infrastructure. One of the standout developments is the upcoming "Rainier" AI supercomputer, built using Amazon’s Trainium chips . Set to become one of the most powerful AI clusters globally, Rainier is expected to handle large-scale training workloads for cutting-edge AI models. This focus on infrastructure extends to Amazon's strategic partnership with Anthropic , the prominent AI startup behind the very human-like chatbot Claude . Amazon recently announced an additional $4 billion investment in Anthropic, bringing its total funding to $8 billion. Anthropic will use Amazon Web Services (AWS) as its primary cloud platform, further strengthening Amazon’s position as a go-to resource for AI innovation. Video and image AI Another highlight of today's announcement is Amazon's development of Olympus, a generative AI model specifically designed for video and image applications. Olympus promises to make video analysis and editing as simple as entering text prompts, allowing users to find and modify video scenes effortlessly. The model aims to compete with existing tools while setting a new standard for visual AI capabilities. AI-designed carbon solutions Amazon is also leveraging AI for sustainability . The company plans to pilot a material for carbon removal in its data centers, designed using AI by the startup Orbital Materials. This innovative material, functioning as a CO2 sponge, reflects Amazon's commitment to tackling climate change through technology. The pilot is scheduled to begin in 2025, aligning with Amazon’s broader goal of achieving net-zero carbon emissions by 2040. The road ahead As competition in the AI sector heats up, Amazon’s latest advancements underline its aim to remain at the forefront of technological innovation. From expanding infrastructure to introducing cutting-edge models, Amazon is investing heavily in AI, making AI central part of its business strategy. With these developments, Amazon has set the stage for a transformative year in AI, creating tools and solutions that promise to reshape industries, boost productivity, and inspire creativity. For the future of AI being built, it’s looking like Amazon wants to lead the way. More from Tom's GuideChris Pratt feels 'grateful' to have married Katherine Schwarzenegger
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