Highlights for this morning: Waymo raises $16 billion, Australia's central bank raises rate

Waymo has raised $16 billion at a $126 billion valuation and is scaling robotaxis. Australia's central bank raised the rate for the first time since 2023 due to persistent inflation. About these and other topics - in our review of key events for the morning of February 3.

Alphabet's drone division, Waymo, has raised $16 billion in investment at a post-money valuation (the company's value including investor money invested in it) of $126 billion, more than double last year's, CNBC reports. The round was led by Alphabet, with Andreessen Horowitz, Fidelity, Silver Lake, Tiger Global, T. Rowe Price and new investors including Sequoia and Kleiner Perkins also participating. The company says its technology has already outperformed human security and is moving from proof of concept to scaling a commercial service.

Waymo operates in Austin, San Francisco, Phoenix, Atlanta, Los Angeles and Miami. In 2025, the company completed 15 million trips. In 2026, it plans to launch in several more U.S. cities and its first overseas expansion, to London. At the same time, the expansion is accompanied by problems: there was a software recall due to violations of rules for school buses in Texas and an investigation after a hit-and-run accident on a child in California, the channel recalls.

Australia's central bank raised its key rate by 0.25 pp. - to 3.85%, reports CNBC. This is the first increase since November 2023 and expected by the market: inflation in the country has accelerated and reached the maximum for a year and a half. The regulator noted that demand in the economy is growing faster than expected, the labor market remains tight, and inflationary pressures increased markedly in the second half of last year.

The central bank management has previously made it clear that it has no plans to reduce the rate in the near future. If necessary, new increases are possible - the decision will be made from meeting to meeting, based on the data. The Australian economy is accelerating: in the third quarter GDP growth amounted to 2.1% - the maximum for about two years.

Uber is launching a ride-ordering service in Macau, the company's first expansion into a new Asian market in years, Bloomberg reports. Starting this Tuesday, February 3, users will be able to order and pay for official cabs through the app in multiple languages. Uber will also offer limousine service between Macau and Hong Kong, but such rides need to be booked at least a day in advance.

Uber previously pulled out of the Chinese market, selling the Didi business and ceding Southeast Asia to Grab, but continues to operate in India, Japan and South Korea. The company has already started to attract drivers in Macau by offering bonuses, although the service is likely to be limited at launch. Macau is a major tourist center and the only region in China where casinos are legal; Uber already operated there but suspended operations in 2017.

Google Cloud and European telecom holding Liberty Global have entered into a five-year strategic agreement to bring Google's Gemini models and cloud tools to Liberty's operations across Europe, Reuters reports. The partnership covers around 80 million fixed and mobile connections and will enable the launch of new services for users - including AI search and recommendations on the Horizon TV platform, as well as customer support automation.

The companies will also expand sales of Google devices - Pixel smartphones, watches and smart home gadgets - through Liberty's assets in the UK, Belgium, the Netherlands and Switzerland. The deal is aimed at improving the reliability and security of networks, developing autonomous management, working with small businesses and finding ways to monetize telecom data while respecting privacy requirements, the agency points out.

- Japan's broad Topix index was up 3.19%, with the Nikkei 225 adding 3.9% in Feb. 3 trading.

- Hong Kong's Hang Seng index rose by 0.22%. CSI 300 index of mainland China - by 0.88%.

- In South Korea, the Kospi index was adding 6.42% and the Kosdaq was up 4.17%.

- Australia's S&P/ASX 200 was up 0.98 percent.

- S&P 500 futures were up 0.27%, Nasdaq Composite futures were up 0.53% and Dow Jones Industrial Average exchange-traded contracts were little changed.

This article was AI-translated and verified by a human editor