Stocks

Falling stocks, wounded unicorns and rising interest rates translated into a down year for the world’s wealthiest people.

Companies powering the generative AI rush are the top returners for all three major stock indexes this year.

Twenty-one of the world’s richest people, including Larry Ellison and Rob Walton, have unloaded shares worth more than $9 billion combined in the first half of this year.

Bitcoin miners are surging thanks to a strong year for crypto, while ChatGPT is slamming stocks like online study-help company Chegg.

The Macquarie Technology Group is halting trading whilst it raises $130m to expand its data centres

McDonald’s is the highest-ranked restaurant on the Global 2000, and Chipotle is one of the year’s big winners. Large listed companies predominantly featured in this year’s Forbes list of the world’s largest hotel, restaurant and leisure companies.

The Magic Kingdom has had a roller-coaster year in the middle of a political firestorm but posted strong enough results to remain in the top 100 of the Global 2000.

Innovative firms serving the back office needs of Wall Street and other large enterprises continue to prosper, with promising new startups in a crucial niche–fraud prevention–sprouting.

Nvidia joins Apple, Saudi Aramco, Microsoft, Alphabet and Amazon in the exclusive club.

The agreement, which raises the debt ceiling for two years, still needs congressional approval.