Top stories for the morning: AI pressures IBM, bitcoin falls, FedEx demands duty refunds

Bitcoin fell below $63,000, losing 27% YTD and about 50% of its October record. Shipping company FedEx filed a lawsuit against the U.S. government, demanding the return of duties, which the Supreme Court recognized as illegal. These and other topics - in the review of key events by the morning of February 24.

Bitcoin fell more than 5 percent on Tuesday to dip below $63,000 amid rising uncertainty around duties and an escalating geopolitical situation, CNBC writes. Investors are reducing investments in risky assets in general. Since the beginning of the year, the cryptocurrency has fallen in price by 27% and about 50% from its peak above $125,000 reached in October 2025.

Analysts note that the decline looks like a tactical risk reduction rather than a structural exit from the market, but bitcoin remains sensitive to global liquidity and tightening financial conditions. Against this backdrop, gold was losing about 1% and Ethereum was down more than 1%.

Shares of International Business Machines Corp. had their worst day since 2000, falling 13% after AI startup Anthropic announced that its Claude Code tool could modernize Cobol, an outdated programming language used on IBM computers, Bloomberg writes. Since the beginning of February, the company's securities have lost 27%, which could be the strongest monthly decline in decades. A significant part of IBM's revenue is still associated with mainframes, demanded in the financial and public sector.

Investors fear that new AI tools from Anthropic, OpenAI and Alphabet will increase the pressure on traditional software vendors to make it faster and cheaper to create and update applications. Analysts note that IBM clients have had options to migrate from mainframes before, but many continue to use the platform.

Uber announced the purchase of SpotHero - a parking reservation service in city centers, stadiums and airports, CNBC reports. The amount of the deal is not disclosed. The booking function will appear in the Uber app; the deal is expected to close in the first half of the year after regulatory approval.

Against the backdrop of a soft profit forecast, the company continues to expand its ecosystem. Uber's capitalization is about $146 billion (by comparison, Lyft is about $5 billion and DoorDash is over $71 billion). SpotHero has been operating since 2011 and offers parking in more than 400 cities in the US and Canada.

Federal Express has filed a lawsuit against the U.S. government, demanding a full refund of tariffs imposed by Donald Trump under the Emergency Economic Powers Act, CNBC writes. Earlier, the Supreme Court recognized these duties illegal and indicated that the exclusive jurisdiction over such disputes belongs to the Court of International Trade, where the company appealed. The defendants are the U.S. Customs and Border Protection, its head and the federal government.

The amount of the claims was not disclosed, but in September FedEx warned that U.S. trade policy could cut its annual profit by about $1 billion (about 16% of the previous year's profit). The company said it is acting to protect its rights to duty refunds, although no formal compensation mechanism has yet been established.

Anthropic plans to hold a secondary stock sale for current and former employees based on the company's valuation of about $350 billion, Bloomberg writes. The volume of the transaction may amount to $5-6 billion, but the final amount will depend on the number of participants. The buyers will be external investors, and employees who have worked in the company for at least a year will be able to participate.

Earlier this month, Anthropic raised $30 billion at a post-Money valuation of $380 billion. Secondary deals are becoming a popular way to reward employees at a time when large AI startups are staying private longer. Similar practices are also used by OpenAI, Stripe and SpaceX, which, like Anthropic, have recently been making moves toward a possible IPO, the agency points out.

- Japan's broad Topix index was up 0.31 percent, while the Nikkei 225 was up 0.93 percent.

- Hong Kong's Hang Seng index was falling by 2.03%. CSI 300 index of mainland China was rising by 1.06%.

- In South Korea, the Kospi index added 1.98% and the Kosdaq added 1.13%.

- Australia's S&P/ASX 200 was little changed.

- S&P 500 futures were up 0.2%, Nasdaq Composite futures were up 0.33% and Dow Jones Industrial Average exchange-traded contracts were adding 0.12%.

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