Oracle's AI Succession Story

Good Morning…

Oracle just handed its $925 billion AI empire to two insiders barely old enough to remember the dot-com crash — and Wall Street rewarded this generational leap of faith with a 3% stock pop that suggests investors believe experience isn't everything.

🔎 Market Trends → Wall St indexes post record closing highs again, tech shares higher

🖥️ Market Movers from Fintech.tv → [WATCH] Navigating the Crypto Landscape: Insights on Grayscale’s Multi-Token ETF Launch

And now…

⏱️ Your 5-minute briefing for Tuesday, September 23, 2025:

MARKET BRIEF
Before the Open 

Pre-Market

Fear & Greed

Markets in Review

Big Tech & AI Fuel S&P 500’s New Peaks After Nvidia’s $100B OpenAI Push

The S&P 500 rose ~0.44% to close at a record 6,693.75, while the Nasdaq jumped ~0.70% to ~22,789. The Dow Jones eked out a smaller gain (~0.14%) to finish at ~46,381.54.

The Big Picture:

Nvidia’s (NVDA) announced $100B investment in OpenAI—intended to build out roughly 10 gigawatts of AI infrastructure—sent ripples through tech and broader markets.

This is not just hype: it reinforces belief that earnings per share (EPS) growth in AI isn’t just forward-looking—it may be accelerating into 2026.

Apple (AAPL) also got a lift: Wedbush raised its price target, banking on strong demand for the new iPhone.

Meanwhile, macro risks—especially inflation and rate cuts—remain front and center. The Federal Reserve’s recent 25 bps cut is priced, but officials are signaling caution on further easing without clearer data.

On commodities: Crude oil prices remain steady amid mid‐term demand expectations, while inflation‐sensitive sectors continue watching core PCE data. Gold and other safe havens see mild interest; nothing dramatic yet.

Market Movers:

• NVDA surged ~3‑4% on the OpenAI deal, making it the clear leadership in the AI trade. AAPL rose around 4‑5%, boosted by upgraded iPhone forecasts.

• Sectors sensitive to inflation or policy risk—consumer discretionary / staples—were less strong. Any names failing to show “AI or innovation upside” underperformed.

What They’re Saying:

“We believe that earnings should remain the primary driver of equity upside going forward,” said Goldman strategists, noting that the S&P 500’s EPS growth is expected to hit ~7% in both 2025 and 2026.

WHAT WE’RE WATCHING
Events

• Today: S&P Global - Flash Manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI); Flash Services Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) - 9:45am

  Why You Should Care: It's a leading indicator of economic health - businesses react quickly to market conditions, and their purchasing managers hold perhaps the most current and relevant insight into the company's view of the economy.

• Today: Federal Reserve - Fed Chair Powell Speaks - 12:35pm

  Why You Should Care: As head of the central bank, which controls short term interest rates, he has more influence over the nation's currency value than any other person. Traders scrutinize his public engagements as they are often used to drop subtle clues regarding future monetary policy.

Earnings Reports

• Today: Micron Technology, AutoZone, MillerKnoll

• Tomorrow: Cintas, KB Home, Stitch Fix

MARKET INSIGHTS
Leading News 

Oracle's AI Crown Princes Take the Throne — And Wall Street Approves

Why it matters:

Oracle's (ORCL) stock jumped 3% Monday as the enterprise giant handed its $925 billion kingdom to two tech-savvy insiders — a calculated succession that positions Big Red perfectly for the AI gold rush.

Zoom Out:

After 11 years steering Oracle through its cloud transformation, CEO Safra Catz stepped aside for co-CEOs Clay Magouyrk (39) and Mike Sicilia (54) — both proven AI evangelists who "committed Oracle's Infrastructure and Applications businesses to AI," according to founder Larry Ellison.

The timing couldn't be shrewder: Oracle just posted record $455 billion in contracted revenue (up 359%) and projected cloud infrastructure will balloon from $3.3 billion to $144 billion by fiscal 2030. This isn't a desperate Hail Mary — it's a victory lap transition.

The succession rewards Magouyrk, the AWS refugee who built Oracle's Gen2 cloud from scratch, with $250 million in stock options, while Sicilia, the vertical applications mastermind, nets $100 million. Both packages vest over four years — Oracle's way of saying "don't even think about leaving."

Key Insights:

• The AWS Advantage: Magouyrk's six-year stint at Amazon Web Services before joining Oracle in 2014 gives him insider knowledge of the competition's playbook — a strategic asset as Oracle battles Microsoft and Google for AI infrastructure dominance.

• Vertical Virtuoso: Sicilia's expertise spans Oracle's most profitable sectors — healthcare (via the Cerner acquisition), banking, and retail — where AI applications command premium pricing and sticky customer relationships.

• The Ellison Insurance Policy: Larry Ellison isn't going anywhere as CTO and chairman, while Catz transitions to Executive Vice Chair — ensuring institutional memory survives the handoff in a notoriously volatile industry.

Market Pulse:

"Oracle has become the go-to place for AI workloads," Catz told analysts, citing multi-billion dollar deals with OpenAI, Meta, and Nvidia.

Bull’s Take:

With shares up 98% year-to-date and massive AI contracts already inked, Oracle's succession reflects confidence, not crisis. Smart money bets on the continuity of a winning strategy — not a risky reinvention.

Market Stories of Note

Nvidia Powers Up AI Future:

Nvidia's $100 billion investment in OpenAI's data center buildout signals that we're still in the first inning of the artificial intelligence revolution, with the chipmaker essentially betting its own customer will need vastly more computing power than anyone imagined. The partnership calls for deploying 10 gigawatts of power — equivalent to 4-5 million GPUs, roughly what Nvidia ships in an entire year — confirming that AI infrastructure demand has moved far beyond speculative hype into measurable, contractual reality. Smart money should view Nvidia's willingness to finance its own customer base not as desperation, but as the ultimate vote of confidence in a market where supply constraints, not demand skepticism, remain the primary investment risk.

Bank IPO Breaks The Ice:

Commercial Bancgroup's $104 million IPO attempt represents a rare species in today's market — a traditional bank going public in an era where most lenders prefer private capital or merger exits over the regulatory scrutiny of public markets. The Tennessee-based institution's $2.8 billion in assets and conservative loan-to-deposit ratios suggest management believes current market conditions favor patient capital over the quick-fix solutions that have dominated banking strategy since 2008. For investors seeking exposure to old-fashioned relationship banking without the complexity of money-center giants, this small-cap debut offers a compelling test case of whether Main Street lending can still generate public market premiums in an age of fintech disruption.

CRYPTO
Fear & Greed 

Headlines

• Bitcoin shows signs of ‘cycle exhaustion’ as BTC price tumbles to $112K (link)

• BitMine’s Ethereum holdings top 2% of supply with 2.4 million ETH (link)

• CleanSpark Shares Rise After Getting $100M Bitcoin-Backed Credit From Coinbase Prime (link)