Top stories for the morning: pressure on Powell, Coinbase record, US prepares IPO simplification

President Donald Trump is seeking a nominee to head the Federal Reserve, increasing pressure on Jerome Powell. Shares of chipmakers in Japan, South Korea and Taiwan rose sharply following Nvidia's new all-time high and growing optimism around AI despite U.S. trade restrictions. Coinbase shares jumped to a one-year high after Bernstein analysts dubbed it the «Amazon of crypto services.» And U.S. authorities are discussing with stock exchanges a possible easing of regulatory requirements for public companies, which could open the way for new IPOs. About these and other topics - in our review of key events for the morning of June 26.

The dollar index tracked by Bloomberg fell 0.4 percent to its lowest level since April 2022 amid speculation that the Federal Reserve may start cutting interest rates earlier and act more aggressively than currently expected, wrote Bloomberg. Sources at The Wall Street Journal reported on June 25 that President Donald Trump could name his nominee to replace Jerome Powell at the head of the Fed as early as September or October. At the same time, Powell's term does not expire until May 2026. 

Traders saw the WSJ report as a signal - there is a growing possibility that the Fed may cut rates sooner than expected, Bloomberg writes. «Traders are putting a Fed rate cut in their forecasts for September, but this possible turn of events makes them pay serious attention to the July meeting and the prospects for a 25 basis point rate cut,» said Bloomberg strategist Mark Cranfield. 

«It actually makes Powell less influential as everyone shifts their attention to the new chairman,» said Matthew Haupt, a portfolio manager at Wilson Asset Management. - So it's a dovish bias.»

The latest news about finding a replacement for Powell also increases risks to the dollar and U.S. Treasuries, which are already losing favor due to uncertainty about the impact of duties and the growing budget deficit, Bloomberg notes.

A federal judge has ruled in Meta's favor in a lawsuit filed by 13 book authors. They claimed that the company illegally trained its AI models on their copyrighted works, reports CNBC.

The judge found that in this case, Meta's use of the books for teaching fell under the doctrine of «fair use» (fair use) and did not infringe copyright.

The decision was preceded by a similar verdict in favor of Anthropic in another similar lawsuit. Together, these cases reinforce the position of technology companies that AI training on copyrighted material is permissible under fair use law.

However, both victories were not complete: the judges emphasized that their decisions were case-specific. The judge in the Meta case noted that his verdict does not mean that any AI training on copyrighted works is legal. In his view, the plaintiffs simply chose the wrong strategy and did not present sufficient evidence. «In cases like this, if more convincing evidence of the harm caused by such use is presented, the plaintiffs are likely to win,» he opined.

The judge found that Meta's use of the books was transformative - that is, the models did not directly reproduce the works. In addition, the plaintiffs failed to prove that Meta's actions harmed the market for their books - a key element in assessing copyright infringement.

Coinbase shares hit a 52-week high after Bernstein analysts called the cryptocurrency platform «the Amazon of crypto services,» reports Yahoo Finance. Securities prices rose more than 3 percent, nearly approaching the record close of $357.39 recorded on Nov. 9, 2021.

«Coinbase is the most misunderstood company in our cryptocurrency analytics,» wrote Bernstein analyst Gautam Chhugani and his team, raising their target price on the stock from $310 to $510 and assigning an Outperform rating (outperforming the market).

Coinbase is the only cryptocurrency company in the S&P 500 index and dominates the crypto trading market in the United States. It operates the largest stablecoin business among exchanges and acts as the asset custodian for most U.S. spot bitcoin ETFs, analysts said.

Coinbase is also developing rapidly growing areas - custodial services for institutions, the Base blockchain network, and the Prime credit desk. All of this makes it the «Amazon of crypto-financial services,» providing much more than just trading.

Analysts added that negative forecasts about Coinbase did not come true: the company maintains its market share, despite increased competition. According to them, the launch of brokerage platforms of traditional players is expected in a few months at the earliest, which is an eternity by the standards of the crypto market.

Since the beginning of the year, Coinbase shares have risen more than 40%. According to Sean Farrell, head of digital assets at Fundstrat, investors who failed to enter the stock earlier still have a chance to make money: «I believe Coinbase still has growth potential despite the recent spike in quotes.

Shares of chip makers in Asia rose Thursday after the securities of Nvidia, the artificial intelligence flagship, closed trading at a record high, reports CNBC.

South Korea's SK Hynix, which supplies memory for Nvidia, rose 3.5%. TSMC, which makes graphics processors for Nvidia, added 0.5%. Taiwan's Hon Hai Precision Industry, also known as Foxconn, rose 0.8%. The company is working with Nvidia to create «AI factories» - data centers using Nvidia chips in electric cars and language models.

Several Japanese semiconductor companies also rose amid general optimism around artificial intelligence. Chip test equipment maker Advantest added 3.9% to hit a record high. Conglomerate Softbank, which owns a stake in British chip designer Arm, jumped 4.4%. Shares of Tokyo Electron (+2.1%), Lasertec (+1.6%) and Renesas Electronics (+2.2%) also rose.

«The recovery in Asian semiconductor stocks reflects confidence in the continued growth in demand for AI,» said Kingsley Jones, CIO of consulting firm Jevons Global. He added that easing fears over duties had brought investor interest back to companies from Japan, South Korea and Taiwan, with Nvidia being the growth driver.

Nvidia shares rose more than 4 percent in U.S. trading Wednesday, hitting a new all-time high of $154.31. The company's market capitalization reached $3.77 trillion, making it the world's most valuable company - just behind Microsoft.

U.S. stock exchanges are in talks with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) about easing regulatory requirements for public companies to encourage highly valued startups to go public. This was reported by four Reuters sources.

The previously unreported discussions are between the SEC, Nasdaq and the New York Stock Exchange. Among the reforms being considered are reducing disclosure, lowering the cost of going public and limiting the influence of minority investors, the sources said on condition of anonymity.

According to the agency's interlocutors, the talks have been ongoing for several months. Their start coincided with a new wave of deregulation under Donald Trump's administration, which declared its desire to loosen regulations for the sake of economic growth.

«The data clearly shows: companies are staying private longer,» Nasdaq President Nelson Griggs told Reuters. He confirmed that Nasdaq is discussing with regulators a way to make public markets more attractive.

NYSE Group Chief Legal Officer Jamie Klima said the exchange «will continue to advocate for its listed companies with regulators and lawmakers.» He added that «effective and rational regulation is key to keeping markets attractive.»

SEC Chairman Paul Atkins said the agency is considering removing barriers to raising capital. He said the SEC wants to make IPOs a desirable step for companies again.

Stocks in Asia-Pacific markets are trading mixed Thursday as investors continue to assess the sustainability of the cease-fire between Israel and Iran, reports CNBC.

- Japan's Nikkei 225 index rose 1.4 percent and the Topix index added 0.5 percent.

- South Korea's Kospi fell 1.3 percent and the Kosdaq small-company index was down 1.4 percent.

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

- Hong Kong's Hang Seng was down 0.5%, while China's CSI 300 was little changed.

- Futures on U.S. indices remained almost unchanged. At the close of trading the day before, the Nasdaq Composite added 0.3% to 19,973.55. The S&P 500 index remained almost unchanged, the Dow Jones index fell 0.3% to 42,982.43.

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