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Recently, Figma CEO Dylan Field assembled employees from throughout the company for a demo of a new-ish tool for generating, refining, and editing synthetic images and videos. Rather than being built around one-off prompts, it allowed users to create visual workflows for comparing and manipulating options created by different AI models. It also facilitated putting imagery through multiple rounds of polishing and remixing, adding a large dose of human taste and quality control to the process. According to Field, they were mesmerized by what they saw. We had it scheduled for 20 minutes, he remembers. And 20 minutes came, and everyone’s like, ‘No, no, please keep going. We’ll cancel the next sessionthis is the most magical thing.’ We went for an hour. The tool that wowed the Figmates, as Figma employees call themselves, was the creation of an Israeli startup. Both were known as Weavybut not for long. Figma had already agreed to acquire the company. Slightly rebranded as Figma Weave, its product will join Figmas growing portfolio of web-based apps for designing interfaces, whiteboarding ideas, creating presentations, AI-assisted coding, and more. [Image: Weavy] Figma isnt disclosing the terms of the acquisition, its first since its July IPO. It will result in around a dozen Weavy staffers joining the company, including cofounders Lior Albeck, Jonathan Alumot, Jonathan Gur-Zeev, and Itay Schiff. Describing its vision as artistic intelligence, the startup was founded in 2024 and announced a $4 million seed funding last June. In its short existence, it had lined up an impressive customer list, including Google, Nvidia, Toyota, Dyson, Panasonic, and HP. Its products interface provides a canvas for connecting building blocks called nodes to create a flowchart-like system of inputs and outputs. One example project starts by feeding a prompt into several still-image generators, then sends the nicest one on to serve as source material for several video generators. Another deconstructs an image into editable layers, allowing for the sort of masking and tweaking that was once solely the province of a product such as Photoshop. A third starts with an actual beauty shot of a dessert taken in a studio, then generates purely synthetic images of other foodstuffs that retain its look and feel. Workflows can accept user input that affects their operation, turning them into mini-apps with ongoing value. [Photo: Weavy] Many tools have long helped users perform programming-like feats via workflow builders with some conceptual similarities to Weave, if not its emphasis on AI and imagery. One you might be familiar with is Apples Shortcuts. Field himself remembers using another called LabVIEW in middle school. But the unusual degree of buzz around Weavys implementation of the idea attracted his attention. I started to hear about it from people who are connoisseurs of product and have good taste, he says. It spiked as something to check out. Meeting with the startups founders, Field bonded over their approach to balancing power and approachability, which struck him as Figma-esque. As he explains it, My job to get right every day, from a product standpoint, is, how do you balance the power of a tool with approachability and simplicity? It’s a constant battle. I just felt like the way that they were thinking about that aspect was extraordinary. [Photo: Figma] Field was also attracted by the fact that their product didnt spit out AI images and videos allegedly ready for use. Instead, it was about making it easier for human creators to slice, dice, and otherwise rework them before they ever appeared anywhere. Its easy to consider AI outputs as the final destination, but that’s not the way you should think about it, he says. Theyre just this new creative starting point. You can use them like clay, and you can figure out how to transform them. And I think [Figma Weave] does a really good job of showing how it’s possible. Field says that Figma is working on integrating Weave with its broader ecosystemboth aking it possible to bring Figma designs into Weave and adding elements of Weave to other products. Its also planning to speed further development through additional hires. Maybe most of all, hes mindful of the delicate work involved in not screwing up what Weavy created on its own. They’ve got the trust of their community, he told me. I think it’s very important for Figma to show that we’ll be a good steward of the team, of this platformand that we’re doing everything we can to help them build.
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E-Commerce
The Federal Reserve cut its benchmark interest rate by a quarter point Wednesday for the second time since September. Before that, it had gone nine months without a cut.The federal funds rate is the rate at which banks borrow and lend to one another. While the rates consumers pay to borrow money aren’t directly linked to this rate, shifts affect what you pay for credit cards, auto loans, mortgages, and other financial products.“While the full economic impact of such a move will unfold over time, early indicators suggest that even modest rate cuts can have meaningful consequences for consumer behavior and financial health,” said Michele Raneri, vice president and head of U.S. research at credit reporting agency TransUnion.The Fed has two goals when it sets the rate: one, to manage prices for goods and services, and two, to encourage full employment. Typically, the Fed might increase the rate to try to bring down inflation and decrease it to encourage faster economic growth and increase hiring. The challenge now is that inflation is higher than the Fed’s 2% target but the job market has been weak. The government shutdown has also prevented the collection and release of data the Fed relies on to monitor the health of the economy.Still, the Fed has projected it will cut rates once more before the end of the year.Here’s what to know: Interest on savings accounts won’t be as appealing For savers, falling interest rates will slowly erode attractive yields currently on offer with certificates of deposit (CDs) and high-yield savings accounts.Three of the top five high yield savings accounts had rate cuts after the last Fed rate cut in September, according to Ken Tumin, founder of DepositAccounts.com, while two of the big five banks (Ally and Discover/Capital One) cut their savings account rates. The top rates for high yield savings account right now remain around 4.46% to 4.6%.Those are still better than the trends of recent years, and a good option for consumers who want to earn a return on money they may want to access in the near-term. A high yield savings account generally has a much higher annual percentage yield than a traditional savings account. The national average for traditional savings accounts is currently 0.63%, according to Bankrate.There may be a few accounts with returns of about 4% through the end of 2025, according to Tumin, but the Fed cuts will filter down to these offerings, lowering the average yields as they do. A cut will impact mortgages gradually For prospective homebuyers, the market has already priced in the rate cut.“Mortgage rates, in particular, have responded swiftly,” said Raneri. “Just in the past week, they fell to their lowest level in over a year. While mortgage rates don’t always move in lockstep with the Fed’s target rate often pricing in anticipated future cuts, the continued easing of monetary policy may well push rates even lower.”Bankrate financial analyst Stephen Kates said a declining interest rate environment will provide some relief for borrowers over time.“Whether it’s a homeowner with a 7% mortgage or a recent graduate hoping to refinance student loans and credit card debt, lower rates can ease the burden on many indebted households by opening opportunities to refinance or consolidate,” he said. Auto loans are not expected to decline soon Americans have faced steeper auto loan rates over the last three years after the Fed raised its benchmark interest rate starting in early 2022. Those are not expected to decline anytime soon. While a cut will contribute to eventual relief, it might be slow in arriving, analysts say.“If the auto market starts to freeze up and people aren’t buying cars, then we may see lending margins start to shrink, but auto loan rates don’t move in lockstep with the Fed rate,” Kates said.Prices for new cars remain at historically high levels, not adjusting for inflation.Generally speaking, an auto loan annual percentage rate can run from about 4% to 30%. Bankrate’s most recent weekly survey found that average auto loan interest rates are currently at 7.10% on a 60-month new car loan. Credit card rate relief could be slow Interest rates for credit cards are currently at an average of 20.01%, and the Fed’s rate cut may be slow to be felt by anyone carrying a large amount of credit card debt. That said, any reduction is positive news.“While inflation continues to exert pressure on household budgets, rate cuts offer a potential counterbalance by lowering debt servicing costs,” Raneri said.Still, the best thing for anyone carrying a large credit card balance is to prioritize paying down high-interest-rate debt, and to seek to transfer any amounts possible to lower APR cards or negotiate directly with credit card companies for accommodation. The Associated Press receives support from the Charles Schwab Foundation for educational and explanatory reporting to improve financial literacy. The independent foundation is separate from Charles Schwab and Co. Inc. The AP is solely responsible for its journalism. Cora Lewis, Associated Press
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E-Commerce
Shares of Meta Platforms (Nasdaq: META) were down about 9% in premarket trading on Thursday. It follows what can only be described as a mixed bag of a quarter-three earnings report on Wednesday, October 30. On the one hand, Meta announced $51.2 billion in revenue, a 26% increase year-over-year (YOY) from $40.6 billion and a quarterly record for the company. The boost also beat Wall Streets estimate of $49.6 billion, according to consensus estimates cited by Bloomberg. However, Meta also reported a non-cash income tax charge of $15.93 billion. This one-time charge led to a significant decrease83%in Metas net income YOY. It also meant the companys earnings per share dropped to $1.05 from 2024s $6.03. While the parent company of Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, and Threads points out that its earnings per share would have been $7.25 without the tax charge, in reality it severely missed Wall Streets predicted $6.70, according to consensus estimates cited by the Guardian. “Our compute needs have continued to expand” Meta also increased its estimated total expenses for 2025, from between $114 billion and $118 billion to $116 billion and $118 billion. Similarly, its estimated capital expenditures for the year rose to $70 billion to $72 billion, up from a range of $66 billion to $72 billion. Why the higher numbers? It all comes down to AI. In an earnings call, CEO Mark Zuckerberg stated that despite building an aggressive assumption worth of AI infrastructure, the demand keeps increasing in a way that is very likely to be a profitable thing. He claimed that there are more than a billion people actively using Meta AI on a monthly basis. As we have begun to plan for next year, it’s become clear that our compute needs have continued to expand meaningfully, including versus our own expectations last quarter, Zuckerberg stated. We are still working through our capacity plans for next year, but we expect to invest aggressively to meet these needs, both by building our own infrastructure and contracting with third-party cloud providers. Zuckerberg does admit that there could be unnecessary overflow, but he claims that it could be converted into intelligence and better recommendations for Metas family of apps and advertisements. He further shared that capital expenditures and total expenses will be significantly higher in 2026 than 2025, due to infrastructure and employee compensation costs. Notably, Meta laid off 600 people from its AI superintelligence research lab just last week. By reducing the size of our team, fewer conversations will be required to make a decision, and each person will be more load-bearing and have more scope and impact, Meta chief AI officer Alexandr Wang stated in a memo about the layoffs. Zuckerberg only announced the new superintelligence lab in June.
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