Major headlines drawing global financial media attention overnight and this morning include the following.
Trump: Final US troops preparing to leave Iraq. The Federal Reserve inspector general found errors in renovation work but no grounds for criminal referral. Google launched its most advanced AI model, Gemini 4 Argon. Micron's Q4 revenue exceeded $54.2 billion in a single quarter, with forecasts of continued supply shortages in memory from 2027 to 2028. Meta shares posted their best monthly performance since 2022 on AI momentum. The Fed's preferred inflation gauge showed August core inflation at 3.0%, well below market expectations.
Trump: Final US troops preparing to leave Iraq
Trump announced that the final batch of US troops is about to withdraw from Iraq. He said the process had been long, that a series of poor decisions at the outset had mired the United States in this quagmire, and that this chapter of history would soon be turned. He called it a momentous day for the United States, noting that as US forces withdraw, Iraq welcomes its new prime minister, al-Zaidi, whom Trump had supported and fully endorsed from the beginning, and who won an overwhelming victory in an election that had originally been seen as unpromising. Trump said Operation Inherent Resolve began in 2003 under the Bush administration, continued under the Obama administration in 2014, and then proceeded under the Biden administration, and that the operation would be declared over in 2026, led by the Trump administration. He considered this day a victory for the United States, a victory for Iraq, and a decisive victory over ISIS; ISIS was completely destroyed by his administration during his first presidential term, and other dangerous extremist forces were likewise struck.
Fed inspector general finds renovation errors but no grounds for criminal referral
A report released Wednesday by the Federal Reserve's inspector general concluded that management and oversight failures led to significant cost overruns in the central bank's headquarters renovation project, but found no grounds for criminal referral. The inspector general's report said: "During our evaluation, we never found reasonable grounds to believe that a violation of federal criminal law occurred that would require referral to the US Attorney General under the Inspector General Act." The findings of this independent oversight body may defuse one line of attack against former Fed Chair Powell. President Trump and other critics had accused Powell of mismanaging the project and misleading Congress about it.
Google launches its most advanced AI model, Gemini 4 Argon
Alphabet (GOOGL) on Wednesday launched Gemini 4 Argon, its most advanced artificial intelligence model to date, with major improvements in coding, cybersecurity, and complex professional work. The company said the model set a new record in real-world software engineering, tied for first in cybersecurity, and led in another benchmark measuring performance on finance, legal, and other professional tasks. The company said Argon has already been used internally to optimize memory in Google data centers, freeing hundreds of terabytes of memory without purchasing additional hardware. Quantum computing researchers have also used the model.
Micron's Q4 revenue exceeds $54.2 billion in a single quarter, forecasts continued memory supply shortages in 2027-2028
Micron Technology (MU) reported results for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2026, with all core metrics exceeding the upper end of guidance. Fourth-quarter revenue reached $54.23 billion, up 31% quarter over quarter and up 379% year over year; non-GAAP gross margin was as high as 87.0%. Non-GAAP net income for the quarter was $38.398 billion, with diluted earnings per share of $33.42; operating cash flow reached $43.973 billion, adjusted free cash flow was $33.20 billion, and the company's liquidity reserve at period-end was as high as $75.48 billion. For the full fiscal 2026 year, Micron's total revenue surged to $133.188 billion, up 256% year over year; DRAM full-year revenue broke through the $100 billion mark, reaching $100.679 billion.
Meta shares post best monthly performance since 2022 on AI momentum
Meta Platforms, Inc. (META) shares have just wrapped up their best monthly performance since 2022, as investors cheered the social media giant's recent momentum in artificial intelligence. The stock closed at $725.18 on Wednesday, up 27% from its end-August close of $572.34. Since the launch of its Muse personal AI agent app on September 8, Wall Street has been optimistic about the company's business, as the app became a major success and surpassed rival OpenAI's ChatGPT in Apple iOS downloads. Meta's last stronger monthly performance was in November 2022, the month OpenAI launched ChatGPT. At that time, Meta was rebounding after a brutal year and had launched an efficiency drive.
Fed's preferred inflation gauge shows August core inflation at 3.0%, far below market expectations
The US Commerce Department released data on Wednesday: based on the Fed's main inflation measure, consumer prices in August rose less than expected year over year. The personal consumption expenditures (PCE) price index rose 0.3% month over month after seasonal adjustment, with a 12-month year-over-year increase of 3.4%. Economists surveyed by Dow Jones had previously expected 0.3% month over month and 3.7% year over year. Excluding food and energy, the core PCE price index rose 0.2% month over month, with annual core inflation reaching 3.0%; the market had previously expected 0.3% month over month and 3.3% year over year.