Market Beats | Electronic Arts Sells for $55B in Record-Breaking LBO; Huawei to Double AI Chip Output; US Pending Home Sales Climb to Five-Month High; Trump Threatens Tariffs on Foreign Films and Imported Furniture; US Treasury’s Gold Reserves Top $1 Trillion in Market Value; Manhattan Office-to-Residential Conversions Hit Highest Level Since 2008; Anthropic unveils Claude Sonnet 4.5 with extended coding capabilities

—— Electronic Arts Sells for $55B in Record-Breaking LBO; Huawei to Double AI Chip Output; US Pending Home Sales Climb to Five-Month High; Trump Threatens Tariffs on Foreign Films and Imported Furniture; US Treasury’s Gold Reserves Top $1 Trillion in Market Value; Manhattan Office-to-Residential Conversions Hit Highest Level Since 2008; Anthropic unveils Claude Sonnet 4.5 with extended coding capabilities

1. Electronic Arts Sells for $55B in Record-Breaking LBO

Electronic Arts Inc. has agreed to be acquired by a private investor group in a $55billion leveraged buyout, marking the largest such deal on record.

The consortium includes Silver Lake Management, Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, and Jared Kushner’s Affinity Partners. The group will pay $210 per share in cash — a 25% premium to EA’s pre-rumor price. JPMorgan is providing $20billion in debt financing to support the transaction.

Known for franchises like EA Sports FC and The Sims, EA has struggled with slowing industry growth after pandemic-era highs. The $178billion gaming market has shifted toward free-to-play titles with ongoing updates rather than expensive new releases. Taking the company private removes pressure from quarterly earnings and appeals to investors given EA’s reliable revenue from sports titles such as Madden NFL, which ranked among the top 10 sellers last year, according to Circana.

At $55billion, the deal surpasses the $45billion TXU takeover in 2007, making it both the largest buyout ever and the biggest M&A deal of 2025. Founded in 1982, EA remains one of the largest independent game publishers, even as industry consolidation continues. Activision Blizzard was acquired by Microsoft two years ago.

Analysts also point to momentum from EA’s upcoming Battlefield 6, set for release on October 10, which has generated strong early buzz and helped drive the stock up 15% this year ahead of the buyout news.

Silver Lake, already active in tech investments, is also among the bidders for TikTok’s US operations.

______

2. Huawei to Double AI Chip Output

Huawei Technologies Co. is preparing to ramp up production of its most advanced AI chips in 2026, aiming to capture more of China’s semiconductor market as Nvidia faces geopolitical hurdles.

The company plans to manufacture around 600,000 of its flagship Ascend 910C chips next year, roughly double 2025 levels, according to people familiar with the matter. Overall, Huawei expects output of its Ascend line to reach as many as 1.6 million dies in 2026, including inventory and yield projections. Hitting those targets would represent a major technical milestone, signaling progress with partner Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp. in easing production bottlenecks that have long constrained Huawei’s AI business and Beijing’s tech self-sufficiency ambitions.

In September, Huawei broke with tradition by publicly laying out a three-year plan to chip away at Nvidia’s dominance. Rotating Chairman Eric Xu introduced a roadmap of new Ascend processors — the 950, 960, and 970 — scheduled to roll out through 2028. For now, the 910 series remains Huawei’s primary revenue driver.

Chinese firms such as Alibaba and DeepSeek require millions of AI chips to power their services. Nvidia, by comparison, was estimated to have sold about 1 million H20 chips in China in 2024.

______

3. US Pending Home Sales Climb to Five-Month High

Pending sales of previously owned US homes rose in August to the strongest level in five months, boosted by declining mortgage rates that offered relief to a sluggish housing market.

The National Association of Realtors reported Monday that its index of contract signings increased 4% to 74.7, surpassing all economist forecasts. During the pandemic housing boom, the gauge was well above 100. The larger-than-expected rise followed a similar surprise in new-home purchases, suggesting the market may be starting to thaw after years of stagnation. Thirty-year fixed mortgage rates fell to 6.34%, the lowest in a year, enticing buyers back into the market and prompting more listings. Oxford Economics’ chief US economist Ryan Sweet noted that housing “will find its footing” if mortgage rates move closer to 6%.

Regionally, pending sales surged nearly 9% in the Midwest — the biggest jump since early 2023 — while also rising in the South and West.

Still, many Americans are locked into mortgages at rates well below current levels, discouraging them from moving and limiting supply, which has kept prices elevated. Weak hiring trends — among the lowest since the early 2010s — have also capped relocation-related housing demand, according to First American economist Odeta Kushi.

Pending-home sales are a leading indicator, typically preceding actual closings by one to two months. NAR data showed existing-home closings slipped slightly in August, remaining stuck in the lackluster range seen over the past two and a half years.

______

4. Trump Threatens Tariffs on Foreign Films and Imported Furniture

President Donald Trump announced plans to impose new tariffs aimed at boosting the US film and furniture industries, though the details remain unclear.

On Monday, Trump posted on social media that he would impose “substantial tariffs on any country that does not make its furniture in the United States,” specifically citing the loss of North Carolina’s once-thriving furniture industry to China and other nations. However, trade experts noted that tariffs typically apply to imported goods rather than countries as a whole, raising questions about how such a measure would be enforced.

In a separate post, Trump vowed to levy a 100% tariff on all movies produced outside the US, claiming America’s film industry had been “stolen” by foreign countries. He singled out California as being especially hard hit under what he called “weak leadership.”

Markets largely brushed off the threats. Shares of Netflix and Warner Bros. Discovery were little changed, while Walt Disney Co. gained about 1.1%. Still, the proposals added fresh uncertainty to an already volatile trade regime that has kept businesses wary throughout the year.

Trump had first floated the idea of taxing foreign-made films back in May, sparking backlash from the entertainment sector. Implementation remains highly questionable, given the global nature of film production, which often involves international shoots and post-production work.

On furniture, Trump already imposed a 30% levy on upholstered products and a 50% duty on kitchen cabinets and vanities, set to take effect Wednesday. Several Republican lawmakers have backed tariffs on furniture, citing the need to protect home-state industries.

______

5. US Treasury’s Gold Reserves Top $1 Trillion in Market Value

The US Treasury’s gold holdings have surged past $1 trillion in value, more than 90 times their official balance-sheet figure, as bullion prices hit fresh record highs.

Gold rose above $3,824.50 an ounce on Monday, extending a 45% rally this year. Yet the Treasury still records its reserves at the fixed price of $42.22 per ounce, set by Congress in 1973, leaving their official value at just over $11 billion.

This year’s rally has been fueled by trade war uncertainty, geopolitical tensions, concerns over a potential US government funding crisis, renewed Fed rate cuts, and heavy inflows into gold ETFs. Earlier this year, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent briefly sparked speculation about marking reserves to market — which would create a windfall of hundreds of billions of dollars — but later denied such plans.

Unlike most countries, the US government directly holds its gold rather than the central bank. The Federal Reserve instead holds gold certificates and provides dollars to the Treasury in exchange. If reserves were revalued today, it would theoretically unleash about $990 billion into Treasury coffers, enough to cover roughly half of the $1.973 trillion fiscal deficit through August.

However, such a move could have far-reaching implications for the financial system — boosting liquidity and interfering with the Fed’s balance-sheet unwind.

______

6. Manhattan Office-to-Residential Conversions Hit Highest Level Since 2008

Developers have started converting 4.1 million square feet of Manhattan office space into apartments this year — the most since 2008 (4.8 million sq. ft.), according to Cushman & Wakefield. The trend has become one of the most notable shifts in New York’s real estate market since the pandemic.

New York faces an acute housing shortage, with the vacancy rate for multifamily housing in Manhattan at just around 3%, according to CoStar. Older office buildings deemed “functionally obsolete” are increasingly repurposed. Examples include the Flatiron Building, which will house luxury condos, and the former Pfizer headquarters, which is being redeveloped in what will be the city’s largest conversion ever.

Regionally, Downtown dominated conversions from 2004–2019, but since 2020, Midtown has led with 54.8% of conversions, compared to 35.5% Downtown. Currently, 8.8 million square feet across 25 properties are proposed for conversion, though not all projects may move forward.

Experts caution that Manhattan may be “running out of runway” for additional conversions as most of the easiest opportunities have already been taken.

______

7. Anthropic unveils Claude Sonnet 4.5 with extended coding capabilities

Anthropic on Monday introduced Claude Sonnet 4.5, its latest AI model designed to significantly enhance coding and automation. The model can autonomously code for up to 30 hours, compared with seven hours for its predecessor Claude Opus 4. Sonnet 4.5 also improves on Anthropic’s agent features, enabling it to take actions on a user’s computer more effectively.
Valued at 183 billion dollars, Anthropic has reached 5 billion in run-rate revenue as of August, with much of its momentum driven by adoption of its coding tools. The new release is said to excel in sectors such as cybersecurity and financial services. Co-founder Jared Kaplan called Sonnet 4.5 “stronger in almost every way” than Opus, while noting that a more powerful Opus upgrade is planned for later this year.
Chief Product Officer Mike Krieger emphasized that realizing AI’s full potential requires not only better models but also workflow adaptation and deeper partnerships between frontier labs and enterprises.

The launch comes just a week ahead of OpenAI’s annual developer conference, underscoring intensifying competition in the AI landscape.

______