Investors are celebrating a major shake up in how FICO scores will be shared with mortgage lenders, as shares of parent company Fair Isaac have rallied more than 20% on Thursday.
That stock rally follows FICOs announcement on Wednesday of a new pricing model that will allow mortgage lenders to calculate and distribute credit scores directly to borrowers, thereby eliminating the need to rely on the three nationwide credit bureaus for this information. In addition to its legacy pricing model, lenders can now opt for a direct license option that will save them up to 50% on per-score FICO fees.
The FICO score is one of a few different credit scoring models that help lenders assess how likely a borrower is to pay back a loan. According to FICO, the score is used by 90% of top U.S. lenders.
The new program puts pricing model choice in the hands of those who use FICO Scores to drive mortgage decisions, Will Lansing, CEO of Bozeman, Montana-based FICO said in a statement. A direct licensing program was always a possibility, Lansing said in an interview with CNBC on Thursday, but this move was primarily motivated by a call for increased competition and lower prices by Bill Pulte, director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency.
FICO UNDER FIRE
Beginning in May, Fair Isaac came under fire by Pulte, who said he was extremely disappointed about FICOs announcement of price hike for credit scores, then announced in July that mortgage lenders could use a rival credit score, the VantageScore, to evaluate potential borrowers, and even called FICO a monopoly.
I think we have responded to the call, and so I think there will be a lot of happiness around the idea that the score prices are flat-to-down for next year and we have competing channels of distribution, Lansing said on CNBC. Containing costs throughout the mortgage lending system will ultimately trickle down to consumers, he added.
The surge in Fair Isaacs stock price on Thursday follows a three-month selloff of nearly 41% amid Pultes criticism of FICO scores.
In a post on the X platform on Thursday, Pulte said he genuinely appreciates that FICO responded to constructive criticism with creative solutions that ultimately benefit American consumers. While their decision is a first step, it is appreciated. I encourage the Credit Bureaus [sic] to also take similar creative and constructive actions to make our markets safer, stronger, and more competitive.
CREDIT BUREAUS SLUMP
But whats good seen as news for FICO, at least according to shareholders, isnt so good for the three credit bureaus. Shares of Experian, TransUnion, and Equifax fell between 4.3% and nearly 10% on Thursday.
Direct licensing could eliminate the margin that credit bureaus currently earn on the FICO credit score, according to Citigroup analysts. “Our initial reaction is this is negative for Experian and Equifax,” they wrote in a note.
The Trump administration is canceling $7.6 billion in grants that supported hundreds of clean energy projects in 16 states, all of which voted for Democrat Kamala Harris in last year’s presidential election.
The cuts were announced in a social media post late Wednesday by Russell Vought, the White House budget director: Nearly $8 billion in Green New Scam funding to fuel the Lefts climate agenda is being cancelled.
The move comes as President Donald Trump threatens cuts and firings in his fight with congressional Democrats over the federal government shutdown.
These cuts are likely to affect battery plants, hydrogen technology projects, upgrades to the electric grid, and carbon-capture efforts, among many others, according to the environmental nonprofit Natural Resources Defense Council.
The Energy Department said in a statement Thursday that 223 projects were terminated after a review determined they did not adequately advance the nations energy needs or were not economically viable. Officials did not provide details about which projects are being cut, but said funding came from the Office of Clean Energy Demonstrations, Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, and other DOE bureaus.
The cuts include $1.2 billion for California’s hydrogen hub that is aimed at accelerating hydrogen technology and production, according to Gov. Gavin Newsoms office. The private sector has committed $10 billion for the hydrogen hub, Newsom’s office said, adding that canceling the Alliance for Renewable Clean Hydrogen Energy Systems threatens over 200,000 jobs.
Clean hydrogen deserves to be part of Californias energy futurecreating hundreds of thousands of new jobs and saving billions in health costs, the Democratic governor said.
California Democratic Sen. Alex Padilla called the cancellation of the project vindictive, shortsighted and proof this administration is not serious about American energy dominance.
The DOE said it has reviewed billions of dollars awarded by the Biden administration after Trump won the presidential election last November. More than a quarter of the rescinded grants were awarded between Election Day and Inauguration Day, the department said. The awards totaled more than $3.1 billion.
President Trump promised to protect taxpayer dollars and expand Americas supply of affordable, reliable, and secure energy. Todays cancellations deliver on that commitment, Energy Secretary Chris Wright said.
The Trump administration has broadly targeted climate programs and clean energy, and is proposing to roll back vehicle emission and other greenhouse gas rules it says cant be justified. The Environmental Protection Agency has proposed overturning a 2009 finding that climate change threatens public health. Many climate scientists have criticized the EPA effort as biased and misleading.
Democrats and environmental organizations were quick to slam the latest cuts, saying they would raise energy costs.
“This is yet another blow by the Trump administration against innovative technology, jobs, and the clean energy needed to meet skyrocketing demand,” said Jackie Wong, a senior vice president at NRDC.
Vought said the projects being cut are in California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Vermont, and Washington state.
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By Michael Phillis and Matthew Daly, Associated Press
U.S. stocks are drifting around their records on Thursday as technology stocks keep rising and as Wall Street keeps ignoring the shutdown of the U.S. government.
The S&P 500 rose 0.1%, coming off its latest all-time high. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 68 points, or 0.2%, as of 1:58 p.m. ET, and the Nasdaq composite was 0.3% higher and hovering above its own record.
Thursdays on Wall Street typically mean investors are reacting to the latest weekly tally of U.S. workers applying for unemployment benefits. But D.C.s shutdown means this weeks report on jobless claims has been delayed. An even more consequential report, Fridays monthly tally of jobs created and destroyed across the economy, will likely also not arrive on schedule.
That increases uncertainty when much on Wall Street is riding on investors hopes that the job market will slow by a precise amount: enough to convince the Federal Reserve to keep cutting interest rates, but not by so much that it leads to a recession.
“The Fed has been on record that they are very data dependent, and the lack of data from public sources is likely to be problematic,” said Brian Rehling, head of global fixed-income strategy at Wells Fargo Investment Institute.
So far, the U.S. stock market has looked past the delays of such data. Shutdowns of the U.S. government have tended not to hurt the economy or stock market much, and the thinking is that this one could be similar, even if President Donald Trump has threatened large-scale firings of federal workers this time around.
That left corporate announcements as the main drivers of trading on Thursday.
Stocks in the chip and artificial-intelligence industries climbed after OpenAI announced partnerships with South Korean companies for Stargate, a $500 billion project aimed at building AI infrastructure.
Samsung Electronics rose 3.5% in Seoul, and SK Hynix jumped 9.9%.
The announcement also sent ripples around the world. On Wall Street, Advanced Micro Devices climbed 3.7%, and Broadcom gained 2.2%. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., a major maker of chips, saw its stock that trades in the United States slip 0.3%.
Excitement around AI and the massive spending underway because of it has been a major reason the U.S. stock market has hit record after record, along with hopes for easier interest rates. But AI stocks have become so dominant, and so much money has poured into the industry, that worries are rising about a potential bubble that could eventually lead to disappointment for investors.
Occidental Petroleum fell 7.8% after it agreed to sell its chemical business, OxyChem, to Berkshire Hathaway for $9.7 billion in cash. It could be the final big purchase for Berkshire Hathaway with famed investor Warren Buffett as its CEO.
Fair Isaac jumped 20.7% after announcing a program that will allow mortgage lenders to access and distribute FICO credit scores directly to their customers, cutting out such big credit bureaus as TransUnion, Equifax, and Experian.
TransUnions stock tumbled 9.5%, while Equifax slid 7.7%. The stock of the United Kingdoms Experian fell 3.6% in London.
Londons FTSE 100 edged down by 0.2%, but indexes were much stronger across Europe and Asia. South Koreas Kospi jumped 2.7%, for one of the biggest gains following the big jumps for Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix.
In the bond market, the yield on the 10-year Treasury ticked down to 4.09%, from 4.12% late Wednesday.
By Stan Choe, AP business writer
AP Writers Teresa Cerojano and Matt Ott contributed.
Six months after Elon Musk left the Trump administration to the great relief of Tesla investors worried about boycotts, the world’s richest man has announced some good news: Sales of Tesla cars are back.
Well, maybe.
The electric vehicle maker run by Musk reported Thursday that car sales jumped 7% in the three months through September after plunging for most of the year, as people turned off by his embrace of President Donald Trump and far-right politicians in Europe balked at buying his cars.
But the jump comes with a significant caveat: Tesla benefited from consumers taking advantage of a $7,500 tax credit before it expired on September 30, a surge in buying that helped all EV makers.
In fact, many Tesla rivals saw sales jump more. Fellow EV maker Rivian Automotive reported a 32% increase.
Tesla stock rose sharply on the sales news, but then fell into losses as financial analysts expressed skepticism about whether the new number signals a true turnaround, given all the anti-Musk backlash.
I dont think most people are any more enamored with Elon now than they were a few months ago,” said Telemetry Insight’s Sam Abuelsamid. “I expect this is more a blip for Tesla than the restart of growth.
Even a big Tesla bull, Dan Ives of Wedbush Securities, was cautious, noting there are “still demand issues.
Tesla stock dropped 3%, to $446, in early afternoon trading in New York.
Still, it was a blowout number with sales hitting 497,099 vehicles versus 462,890 in the same period last year. Analysts expected sales to fall slightly to 456,000.
Investors cheered Musks decision in April to leave Washington for Austin, Texas, where Tesla is headquartered. But he is still heavily involved in political and social wars, alienating potential car buyers.
On Wednesday, he posted on X that he was canceling his Netflix subscription because of critical comments made by an employee of the streaming services company, which appeared to spark a wave of cancellations in turn.
The sharp fall in Tesla stock Thursday was remarkable, as investors have been surprisingly optimistic about the company in recent weeks despite terrible financial figures.
Investors drove the stock up 34% in September alone in a bet that Musks planned new, cheaper version of his best-selling Model Y will recharge sales. Musk has also been successful in shifting investor attention away from cars to other aspects of the businessthe rollout of its driverless robotaxi service planned for several cities and its Optimus robots for factory work and household chores.
Driving the stock higher has also been Musks apparent renewed focus on the company.
To help keep his attention on the company, Tesla’s board proposed last month a new pay package that would allow Musk to earn $1 trillion over the next several years if he meets certain financial goals. The pay package, unprecedented for U.S. companies already known for outsized CEO compensation, recently drew criticism from Pope Leo in an interview lamenting widening income gaps.
If Musk meets his pay goals, he could be setting a record on top of his own record. He recently became the first person ever to hit $500 billion in net worth, at least according to rich list compiler Forbes magazine.
The 7% sales rise in the last quarter compares with a 13% plunge in the first three months of the year when Musk led Trumps government cost-cutting efforts at the Department of Government Efficiency. In the following three months through June, sales plunged 13% again.
The anti-Musk backlash in Europe had also been fierce, with sales plunging 40% in more than two dozen countries after he publicly supported far-right politicians there.
Musk called the British prime minister an “evil tyrant” who belongs in prison and told Germans that “things will get very, very much worse” in their country if they didnt vote for the anti-immigrant Alternative for Germany party. Protests broke out in several cities, including a hanging of the billionaire in effigy in Milan and posters in London likening him to a Nazi.
For her part, the Tesla head of the board of directors who approved Musks latest pay package recently told Bloomberg that she is not sure if Musks politics have had any impact on the companys finances. Robyn Denholm has earned nearly $700 million in compensation for serving on the board since 2014, a package that itself has drawn criticism.
Tesla reports third-quarter earnings later this month. Profits for the previous quarter fell 16% as the company continued to lose market share to European EV makers and fast-growing Chinese rivals, such as BYD.
Musk’s new robotaxi service launched in Austin in June and has had some hitches, with reports of the cabs stopping suddenly for no reason and driving in the opposing lane in one instance. But Musk has said the driverless rides will be available in several other cities by the end of next year.
By Bernard Condon, AP business writer
With the help of generative AI chatbots such as ChatGPT, Googles Gemini, and Anthropics Claude, creating content is easier and faster than ever. Here are a few quick and easy methods you can use to create content, summarize information, and even brainstorm new ideas.
Working with AI as a team isnt about knowing the latest technology. Its about changing your mindset to build skills AI cant replace, focusing on outcomes, not optics, and leaving room for strategic tests.
Organizations are scrambling to keep up with employees using AI tools like ChatGPT, text generators, and automation platforms to help them at work. The phenomenon is known as Bring Your Own AI. And while workers are hitting performance goals faster, theyre also exposing companies to unprecedented legal and security risks.
ChatGPT maker OpenAIs value has soared to a sky-high $500 billion following a secondary sale of its shares held by current and former employees.
Reuters reported Thursday that the group of employees unloaded around $6.6 billion in shares in the deal, pushing OpenAIs valuation well north of its current valuation of $300 billion.
During the secondary sales open window, OpenAI shareholders offloaded their stock to an investor group that included SoftBank, Thrive Capital, T. Rowe Price, Dragoneer Investment Group, and Emirati state-owned AI investment firm MGX, according to a source who described the deals details to Reuters.
While $6.6 billion in shares changed hands during the secondary market sale, OpenAI reportedly authorized the sale of more than $10 billion in stock. The discrepancy suggests that plenty of shareholders are confident holding onto their shares and opted not to sell. CNBC and Bloomberg reported rumors of an upcoming sale in August, noting that the talks were then in early stages but an OpenAI secondary sale could value the company at $500 billion.
Exponential growth, exponential change
OpenAIs trajectory has been uniquely stratospheric since it first launched ChatGPT in 2022just three years ago. In March, OpenAI raised a $40 billion round, led by Japanese investment firm SoftBank, which was joined by Microsoft, Altimeter, Coatue and Thrive Capital. In the six months since, the company has already tacked on an additional $200 billion to its valuation.
With its new valuation, OpenAI easily eclipses SpaceXs $400 billion valuation and takes the lead as the worlds most valuable private company. The secondary sale comes as OpenAI navigates a plan to restructure itself as a for-profit company, moving away from its unusual and complex structure, which sees the company managed by a nonprofit parent company.
OpenAI wants to evolve into a public benefit corporation (PBC), a for-profit company that answers to shareholders while orienting itself toward a stated mission, ostensibly one that benefits society. The shift has caused friction with Microsoft, OpenAIs largest investor, and could eventually clear the way for OpenAI to become a publicly traded company.
Even as it moves toward remaking its corporate structure, OpenAI continues to release new products with unprecedented societal implications at a breakneck pace. Just this week, OpenAI unveiled an app called Sora. Powered by its text-to-video generator Sora 2, the app invites users to upload yourself with a short audio and video sample and drop their own likeness into uncannily realistic AI-generated deepfakes. The result is a kind of synthetic TikTok stocked with AI shortsa novelty to be sure, but, like an AI-generated short story, one that offers little compelling reason to stick around to see what happens.
Hours after launching, social media channels were awash in the hyperrealistic short videos, many of them depicting OpenAIs Sam Altman himself being chased by stampeding animals, swirling around a toilet Skibidi-style, or shoplifting GPUs from Target. Like OpenAIs other innovations, Soras synthetic videos are nearly indistinguishable from real, human-made media, and the $500 billion company is yet again poised to wholly upend the way that people make senseor dontof what they see online.
Truly unlocking the value of AI is about more than new technology; its about leadership. Now that artificial intelligence is giving employees back hours of time every day, organizations must help their workers reimagine their roles beyond routine output and start contributing in ways that AI cant.
AI assistants are incredibly efficient, but they can be a little predictable. Sometimes it takes an unexpected prompt to solicit a useful response. From disaster-movie logic to unusual cross-pollination, here are five techniques you can use to get better answers from your AI chatbot.
