After a lifetime of spurning would-be business suitors, the late Italian designer Giorgio Armani instructed his heirs to sell an initial 15% minority stake in his vast fashion empire, with priority to the French conglomerate LVMH, the eyewear giant Essilor-Luxottica or the cosmetics company L’Oreal.Armani gave control of 40% of his business empire to his longtime collaborator and head of menswear Leo Dell’Orco, and another 15% each to niece Silvana Armani, the head of womenswear, and nephew Andrea Camerana, according to his business will posted online Friday by the Italian daily La Repubblica.The Armani Foundation, which he established in 2016 as a succession vehicle, will control the remaining 30%.Armani, one of the most recognizable names and faces in Italian fashion, died on Sept. 4 at the age of 91. Two wills, one for his business empire and the other for his private property, were deposited with Italian tax authorities on Thursday, and widely reported by Italian media on Friday.The executive committee of Giorgio Armani said in a statement that the documents confirms “Mr. Armani’s intention to safeguard strategic continuity, corporate cohesion and financial stability for long-term development.”That includes Armani’s wishes for a short- and medium-term path for the brand mission and structure, which will be carried out by Dell’Orco and members of the family, the committee underlined.The foundation’s first priority is to name a chief executive officer, the committee underlined, and it will never hold less than 30% of share, making it “a permanent guarantor of compliance with the founding principals.” The committee said it would support Armani’s wishes to secure “the best possible future for the company and the brand.”Armani remained a rarity in Italian fashion, retaining tight control of his fashion empire in the face of advances from LVMH and Gucci, now part of the Kering group, and from Kering itself, as well as the Fiat-founding Agnelli family heirs.But in his business will, he specified the Armani Foundation should sell a 15% stake not before one year and within 18 months of his death, with preference to LVMH, Essilor-Luxottica or L’Oreal or to a fashion group “of similar standing.”Within three to five years, Armani also stipulated that the same buyer should increase its stake to 30% and 54.9%, or that a similar share be publicly floated through an initial public offering, either in Italy or a similar market.Both wills were rewritten by Armani last spring, partly by hand on the back of a sepia-colored envelope.His niece Roberta, who has long served as a liaison between Armani and his red-carpet clients, and his sister Rosanna, each were allotted a 15% non-voting share in the company.Armani maintained a 2.5% stake in the French-Italian eyewear giant Essilor-Luxottica, worth 2.5 billion euros ($2.93 billion), of which 40% goes to Dell’Orco and and most of the rest to family members just a part of the distribution of his vast personal fortune which included homes in Milan, New York, the Sicilian island of Pantelleria and St. Tropez on the French Riviera.The final Emporio Armani and Giorgio Armani collections designed by Armani will be presented later this month during Milan Fashion Week, which opens on Sept. 23. A special exhibition at the Pinacoteca di Brera will mark the 50th anniversary of the signature fashion house.In his will, Armani specified that future collections should be guided by “essential, modern, elegant and understated design with attention to detail and wearability.”
Colleen Barry, Associated Press
Nostalgia is one of the internets favorite pastimes.
The New York Times recently reported on a new trend built around that feeling: social media accounts posting AI-generated scenes that look as though they were plucked straight from the ’80s, ’90s, and early aughts.
POV: Its summer in 2000 and life felt different, one such post is captioned. A young woman looks into the camera: Long days at the water park, no phones, just fun that never seemed to end. Next, a teenager holds a marshmallow over a campfire. No group chats, no DMs, just stories around the fire until morning, he says.
@the.nostalgia.cat Summer 2000 #summer2000s #2000s #2000sthrowback #2000snostalgia #nostalgia #early2000s aquatic ambience – Scizzie
Idyllic. Of course, none of those people or scenes are real. But that hasnt stopped viewers from aching for a past that feels simpler. Someone please build a time machine so we can go back in time and enjoy our childhood again, one commenter wrote. Another: I miss this so bad. And another: Technology killed everything.
The popularity of this nostalgia-bait reflects a wider mood. More than 60% of Americans report feeling nostalgic right now, per CivicScience data. And for many, nostalgia is actually a sort of coping mechanism: According to a May survey from Human Flourishing Lab, 63% of people reportedly turn to nostalgia when stressed or overwhelmed by modern life, and a similar share lean on it when feeling anxious about the future. In 2025, plenty of people are feeling both.
That helps explain why AI clips can be so persuasive. You know the 80s miss you right? one AI creation says. Let me guess, no one even talks face to face anymore. Here, were out till the streetlights come on. You should stay. The world feels real here.
A message from the 80s #maximalnostalgia pic.twitter.com/B9oaRQjmzg— Maximal Nostalgia (@MaximalNSTLGA) September 2, 2025
A viral Instagram account, Purest Nostalgia, which has more than 794,000 followers, offers a life before social media through retro televisions, softly lit bowling alleys, and sun-soaked malls. The irony that these are social media posts, created with AI, is beside the point.
View this post on Instagram A post shared by Purest Nostalgia (@purestnostalgia)
What a beautiful life, one commenter wrote.
Swiss watchmaker Swatch has begun selling a special edition watch with the numbers three and nine reversed on its face in a play on the 39% tariffs President Donald Trump imposed on U.S. imports from Switzerland last month.
The tariffs among the highest set by Trump worldwide were met with shock and dismay in Switzerland, a leading producer of high-end watches and other luxury goods.
Costing 139 Swiss francs ($175), the watch named “WHAT IFTARIFFS?” went on sale on Wednesday and is only available in Switzerland, a company spokesperson said on Friday.
The spokesperson said the watch was made with a knowing “wink” and sent a wake-up call to the Swiss government, which so far has not managed to secure a reduction of the tariffs.
It aims to be a short-lived product, Swatch said.
“Because as soon as the U.S. changes its tariffs for Switzerland, we will immediately stop selling this watch,” the spokesperson said, declining to say how many watches had so far been sold but calling the model “a huge success.”
The Swatch website said delivery of the beige and blue watch could be delayed by one to two weeks due to what it called “very high demand”. It is also available at nearly a dozen Swatch stores, including those at the airports of Zurich and Geneva.
The government of Switzerland has been seeking to negotiate lower tariffs with the Trump administration ever since the levies were announced.
U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick struck a fairly upbeat tone on the talks on Thursday, telling CNBC that his government would “probably get a deal done with Switzerland.”
($1 = 0.7964 Swiss francs)
Dave Graham, Reuters
President Donald Trump’s push to revitalize American manufacturing by luring foreign investment into the U.S. has run smack into one of his other priorities: cracking down on illegal immigration.Hardly a week after immigration authorities raided a sprawling Hyundai battery plant in Georgia, detained more than 300 South Korean workers and showed video of some of them shackled in chains, South Korean President Lee Jae Myung warned that the country’s other companies may be reluctant to take up Trump’s invitation to pour money into the United States.The detained South Koreans were released Thursday and most were flown home.If the U.S. can’t promptly issue visas to the technicians and other skilled workers needed to launch plants, then “establishing a local factory in the United States will either come with severe disadvantages or become very difficult for our companies,” Lee said Thursday. “They will wonder whether they should even do it.”The raid and subsequent diplomatic crisis show how the Trump administration’s mass deportation goals are running up against its efforts to bring in money from abroad to drive the U.S. economy and create more jobs. Moves like workplace immigration enforcement and visa restrictions could risk alienating allies that are pledging to invest hundreds of billions of dollars in the U.S. to avoid high tariffs.
South Korea is already a big investor in the US
Trump’s economic agenda is built around using hefty tariffs on imports, including a 15% levy on South Korean products, as a cudgel to force manufacturing to return to the U.S. He’s repeatedly said foreign companies can escape his tariffs if they produce in America. South Korea, already a top investor, pledged to invest $350 billion in the U.S. when the two sides announced a trade deal in July.It made more investments in new construction, such as factories, on previously undeveloped land than any other country in 2022. Last year, it ranked 12th in the world with $93 billion in total American investment including acquisitions of existing companies, according to the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis.But the dramatic roundup of South Koreans and others working to set up the battery plant threatens to put a chill on the investment push. Indeed, Trump seems to be trying to undo the damage.While demanding that foreign investors “LEGALLY bring your very smart people,” Trump also promised to “make it quickly and legally possible for you to do so.”“President Trump will continue delivering on his promise to make the United States the best place in the world to do business, while also enforcing federal immigration laws,” White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson said in a statement Thursday.For now, the South Koreans are furious and immigration experts are puzzled. It’s been common practice for decades for foreign companies such as the Japanese and German carmakers that have built factories in the American Midwest and South to send technical specialists from their home countries to help open plants in the United States. Most of them train U.S. workers, then go home.“Japanese managers, senior engineers, other technical experts had to come to the United States to set this stuff up,” said Lee Branstetter, a professor of economics and public policy at Carnegie Mellon University who’s studied Japanese auto plants in the U.S.American companies do the same thing, sending U.S. workers overseas temporarily to get operations started.
Some experts call it a baffling, ‘performative’ raid
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement launched the roundup last week at a manufacturing site that state officials have touted as Georgia’s largest economic development project.“It’s really baffling to me why this raid would have occurred,” said Ben Armstrong, executive director of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Industrial Performance Center. “The existence of these workers shouldn’t have been a surprise.”U.S. immigration officials could have audited the workers’ documents without the drama, retired immigration lawyer Dan Kowalski said, adding that “raiding and arresting and putting them in chains and shackles is 100% performative.”It had to do with “wanting to look tough arresting as many foreigners as possible for the photo-op,” said Kowalski, who is now a writer and editor.U.S. work visa categories make it a challenge to bring in foreign workers quickly and easily, said Kevin Miner, an immigration lawyer in Atlanta.Some run on a highly competitive lottery system, are for seasonal workers and have a cap, or are restricted to managers and executives. Other short-term visas have strict limits on employment.After meeting with Secretary of State Marco Rubio this week in Washington, South Korean Foreign Minister Cho Hyun said they agreed to set up a joint working group for discussions on creating a new visa category to make it easier for South Korean companies to send their staff to work in the United States.Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau also plans to visit Seoul this weekend.
Calls for fixes to the US visa system
Hyundai’s “desire to get this thing up and running as quickly as possible ran head-on into the often time-consuming processes that the U.S. government requires in order to issue business visas,” said Branstetter of Carnegie Mellon.U.S. authorities say those detained were “unlawfully working” at the plant. Charles Kuck, a lawyer representing several of the South Koreans who were detained, said the “vast majority” of the workers from South Korea were doing work authorized under a visa program.Julia Gelatt, associate director of the U.S. immigration policy program at the Migration Policy Institute, said work visas like nearly all other aspects of the U.S. immigration system need reform.“Our visa system does not envision this kind of scenario,” Gelatt said, of bringing in skilled foreign workers needed for the initial setup of factories. The U.S. has a few country-specific visa categories that make it easier to bring in certain foreign workers, like those from Mexico, Australia or Singapore.“The goal,” said MIT’s Armstrong, “should be to make foreign direct investment as streamlined as possible.”
Didi Tang and Paul Wiseman, Associated Press
Luxury perfume brands have always poured resources into elaborate packaging with bottles shaped like sky-high stilettos, sculpted torsos, or capped with oversize daisies. Yet for all the creativity devoted to packaging, the mechanics have barely evolved. Nearly every alcohol-based perfume still relies on the same one-finger actuator to dispense the fragrance. While this design mechanism has become synonymous with eau de parfum, it also makes the product inaccessible for anyone with limited hand strength or dexterity.Thats why the debut fragrance from Rare Beauty feels so disruptive. The brand spent more than two years developing the scent and also a custom bottle, collaborating with occupational therapists and hand specialists to make it easier to hold and spray. The design features a rounded silhouette and a cap with a low-resistance twist-lock closure, replacing the industry-standard pull-off lid. Its broad, flat surface eliminates the need for precise, one-finger pressure and instead allows for multiple ways to press the atomizer using several fingers, the palm of a hand, or even the chin. The result is a bottle that looks elegant on a vanity yet functions in ways most perfume packaging has never even considered.[Photo: courtesy Rare Beauty]Avoiding accessibility washingThat focus on purpose-built accessibility was born from earlier lessons. When Rare Beauty launched its makeup line in 2020, customers began sharing online feedback that its packaging was easier to grip and open than most. One standout product was the Soft Pinch Liquid Blush cap design, which minimizes resistance for easy opening. The success of that cap led the brand to carry over the same design into other hero products like the new Positive Light Luminizing Lip Gloss (launched in July) and Soft Pinch Tinted Lip Oil.Accessibility wasnt something we intentionally set out to design for at first, says Joyce Kim, Rare Beautys chief product officer. But our founder, Selena Gomez, who lives with lupus, consistently gravitated toward prototypes that were easier for her to use. Combined with what we were hearing from our community, that pushed us to start building accessibility into our DNA. [Photo: courtesy Rare Beauty]As a disabled person who loves beauty products, Ive unfortunately grown used to seeing inclusive launches that feel more like optics than long-term investments in accessibility. Rare stands out from that pattern with its ongoing commitment to designing inclusive packaging for current and future products. We would never claim to be the experts, Kim says. But if youre going to make accessibility part of your brand ethos, you have to lean into it. It cant just be a compliance checkbox or a passing trend. Consumers are incredibly attuned to whether a brands values are authentic.Despite the dedication to accessible innovation, R&D hasnt been an easy or intuitive process for the team. Unlike other areas of beauty that have clear industry standards, like long-wear claims in lipstick or waterproof mascara, no comparable framework exists for accessibility. When Rare Beauty set out to validate the usability of its packaging, the team quickly realized it was working without a map. Since there wasnt a formal framework, we partnered with occupational therapists at Casa Colina, a research and rehabilitation center in Southern California, to create one, Kim says. That collaboration led to Rare Beautys Made Accessible Initiative, which studies the features that make products easier to open, close, hold, and apply for people with limited dexterity. The brand plans to use those findings to guide its own future packaging, and to share them with the broader beauty industry in hopes that others will follow. Were hoping to start the conversation, to show how meaningful accessibility can be in this space, and to encourage other brands to make it part of their own initiatives, Kim says.[Photo: courtesy Rare Beauty]A big business opportunity The lack of standards is especially striking given the scale of the market. Fragrance is one of the fastest-growing beauty categories, and was estimated to rise from $56.6 billion in 2024 to nearly $75 billion by 2030. Fragrance as a category has been around for so long, and yet there’s just been no innovation in terms of accessiblepackaging, Kim explains. This gap in the market gave us the opportunity to really do our homework, and through research and collaboration with designers, hand therapists, and the disability community, we’ve brought a much-needed yet relatively simple solution to this space.[Image: courtesy Rare Beauty]Ive mostly been limited to using roll-on perfume bottles since traditional eau de parfum atomizers are nearly impossible for me to press with my reduced hand strength. Thats why Rares understated bottle feels so revolutionary. For once, I could mist on fragrance easily, in a fine, even spray. And honestly, its a good thing the scent itself is great because in the thrill of finally getting that satisfying spritz-on-skin moment, I may have overdone it. Full-on smell-maxxing, as the kids would say.Rares flagship fragrance is a creamy vanilla-forward gourmand with notes of pistachio, caramel, and ginger, followed by sandalwood and musk in the drydown. It retails at $75 for a 50-milliliter bottle, but the brand also introduced a deluxe mini version of its full-size bottle, along with a series of layering balms that let consumers customize the fragrance more affordably.Accessibility is about price as much as functionality, Kim explains. We didnt want to bring innovation to our consumers and then make it unaffordable. So we introduced our layering balms to give you more variety from the base scent, and we built the cost of the custom bottle into the back end instead of passing it on to our customers.For a mainstream brand with a celebrity founder, Rare has the scale to absorb the expense of customization. Indie brands, meanwhile, often face prohibitive costs in developing new, more usable packaging. But by proving that inclusive design can sit at the heart of a mainstream launch, Rare is showing whats possible. The hope is that its fragrance will spark broader industry change, encouraging luxury houses and niche labels alike to prioritize accessibility as a design value, not an afterthought. Beauty in itself is an emotional experience, Kim says. With fragrance, the way you interact with the bottle is part of that experience. When designers consider accessibility and create products that work for a wide range of people, thats when consumers feel truly seen and represented.
The average rate on a 30-year U.S. mortgage fell this week to its lowest level in nearly a year, reflecting a pullback in Treasury yields ahead of an expected interest rate cut from the Federal Reserve next week.The long-term rate eased to 6.35% from 6.5% last week, mortgage buyer Freddie Mac said Thursday. A year ago, the rate averaged 6.2%.Borrowing costs on 15-year fixed-rate mortgages, popular with homeowners refinancing their home loans, also fell. The average rate slipped to 5.5% from 5.6% last week. A year ago, it was 5.27%, Freddie Mac said.Mortgage rates are influenced by several factors, from the Federal Reserve’s interest rate policy decisions to bond market investors’ expectations for the economy and inflation.Rates have been mostly declining since late July amid growing expectations that the Fed will cut its benchmark short-term interest rate for the first time this year at the central bank’s meeting of policymakers next week.While the Fed doesn’t set mortgage rates, its actions can influence bond investors’ appetite for long-term U.S. government bonds, like 10-year Treasury notes. Lenders use the yield on 10-year Treasurys as a guide to pricing home loans. The yield was at 4% Thursday afternoon.The Fed has kept its main interest rate on hold this year because it’s been more worried about inflation potentially worsening because of President Donald Trump’s tariffs than about the job market.But in a high-profile speech last month, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell signaled the central bank may cut rates in coming months amid concerns about weaker job gains following a grim July jobs report, which included massive downward revisions for June and May.More recent job market data have fueled speculation that the central bank could be preparing to lower rates. The Labor Department said last week that the economy added just 22,000 jobs in August. And on Tuesday, revised jobs data from the government showed the U.S. job market had been much weaker last year and this year than earlier data suggested.Meanwhile, the latest weekly snapshot of unemployment benefit claims shows more U.S. workers applied for unemployment benefits last week, an indication that the number of layoffs could be rising.The housing market has been in a slump since 2022, when mortgage rates began climbing from historic lows. Sales have remained sluggish so far this year as the average rate on a 30-year mortgage has mostly hovered above 6.5%.The average rate is now at its lowest level since Oct. 10, when it was 6.32%.A similar pullback in rates happened last year in the weeks leading up to the Fed’s interest rate policy meeting in September. That’s when the Fed cut its key interest rate for the first time since March 2020, in the early days of the pandemic. Back then, the average rate on a 30-year mortgage got down to a 2-year low of 6.08%, but soon after climbed again, reaching above 7% by mid-January.Mortgage rates could follow a similar trajectory this time, given that expectations of a Fed rate cut have already brought mortgage rates lower.“We should not expect rates to drop much further, and in fact, there is a possibility that mortgage rates could actually increase after the Fed cut,” said Lisa Sturtevant, chief economist at Bright MLS.For now, the recent pullback in mortgage rates has been encouraging to many prospective homebuyers and homeowners eager to refinance.Mortgage applications, which include loans to buy a home or refinance an existing mortgage, jumped to a three-year high last week, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association.Applications for mortgage refinancing loans made up nearly 50% of all applications last week, as homeowners who bought in recent years when mortgage rates surged seized the opportunity to lower their monthly home loan payment.If mortgage rates continue to ease, home shoppers will benefit from more affordable financing. But lower mortgage rates could also bring in more buyers, making the market more competitive, at a time when sellers across the country are having a tougher time driving a hard bargain.
Alex Veiga, AP Business Writer
This week has seen a series of initial public offerings from tech companies, including market debuts from the flexible payments fintech Klarna Group and the blockchain lender Figure Technology Solutions.
But today is about the food service industry, with Black Rock Coffee Bar expected to make its debut on the Nasdaq after pricing shares on Thursday.
Black Rock Coffee Bar will offer 14,705,882 shares of Class A common stock under the ticker BRCB.
It will be priced at $20 per share, exceeding its initial prediction of $16 to $18 per share and totaling $294.1 million. Its underwriters have 30 days to buy another 2,205,882 shares of its Class A common stock at a set price of $20 per share.
The coffee chains store revenue for the 12 months ending June 30, 2025, was $179 million.
A humble origin story
Black Rock Coffee Bar started in 2008 in Beaverton, Oregon, as a 160-square-foot drive-thru location.
The company has since moved its base to Scottsdale, Arizona, and runs over 150 stores throughout Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Oregon, Texas, and Washington.
Along with standard coffee and tea, Black Rock Coffee Bar also serves energy drinks and all-day breakfast.
The company is an aspiring rival to fellow coffee chains Dutch Bros. and Starbucks.
The former has a similar model of prioritizing drive-thrus and had a successful IPO in 2021. At the time, Dutch Bros (NYSE: BROS) jumped 70% after opening. In January, the company announced its 1,000th location, and its stock this year has outperformed the S&P 500.
Meanwhile, Starbucks (NASDAQ: SBUX) has seen its stock price drop nearly 10% this year. The worlds largest coffeehouse chain has been struggling to improve its financial picture, recently reporting its sixth consecutive quarter of declining same-store sales.
Another tech-focused company is going public. On Wednesday, the buy now, pay later firm Klarna Group finally made its public debut, one of a number of high-profile listings to take place this week alone.
Now, cryptocurrency exchange Gemini Space Station is expected to begin trading today. Heres what you need to know about Gemini and its initial public offering (IPO).
What is Gemini?
Gemini Space Station, Inc., better known simply as Gemini, is a cryptocurrency exchange platform.
While you may not have heard of Gemini, theres a good chance you know the name of the exchanges founders: Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss. The two twin brothers were immortalized in 2010 film The Social Network, which explored the beginnings of Facebook.
After the Winklevoss twins settled their lawsuit with Mark Zuckerberg, the duo became interested in the then-burgeoning world of cryptocurrency. In 2014, after being dissatisfied with other cryptocurrency exchanges, the brothers decided to launch their own.
Today, Gemini is one of many global cryptocurrency exchanges, offering investors a platform to buy and sell numerous tokens. But Gemini also offers a selection of other financial services, including a Gemini Credit Card, which lets users earn cryptocurrency rewards for spending on the card.
Gemini by the numbers
According to the companys most recent amendment to its Form F-1 filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Geminis key metrics include:
Over $21 billion worth of assets on the platform
1.5 million lifetime transacting users
More than 700 employees worldwide
Over $830 billion worth of transfers on the platform
More than 70,000 credit cards issued
Gemini, like most crypto exchanges, primarily monetizes its platform through fees it collects on various transactions.
For the year ending December 31, 2023, Gemini says it brought in total revenue of $98.1 million. And for the year ending December 31, 2024, the company says it brought in $142.2 million in total revenue.
However, the company still had a net loss for both years. In 2023, the net loss was $319.7 million, and in 2024, the net loss was $158.5 million.
Geminis finances before that are been is a bit of a mystery. As the firm notes in its prospectus, it currently qualifies as an emerging growth company, which means it can follow less stringent financial disclosure requirements.
As a result, we are permitted to, and intend to, rely on exemptions from certain disclosure requirements that are applicable to other companies that are not emerging growth companies, the company states.
When is Geminis IPO?
Gemini priced its shares on Thursday at $28. It is expected to list its stock today, Friday, September 12.
What is Geminis stock ticker?
Geminis shares will trade under the ticker GEMI.
What exchange will Geminis shares trade on?
Gemini shares trade on the Nasdaq Global Select Market.
What is the IPO share price of GEMI?
Geminis shares will begin trading at $28 each. As noted by CNBC, this is well above the share price range Gemini had originally forecast, which was between $17 and $19 apiece. The higher offering price was the result of more demand than originally expected in Geminis shares.
How many GEMI shares are available in its IPO?
Over 15.1 million shares of Class A common stock are being offered in Geminis IPO. But whats interesting is that this number of shares is actually below the initial planned offering of 16.67 million shares.
The reduction is due to the fact that Gemini decided to cap the proceeds of its IPO at $425 million, which Reuters noted is unusual.
But due to that cap limitand with shares priced at $28 apieceGemini needed to reduce the amount of shares it offered from its initially planned 16.67 million shares to fewer than 15.2 million.
How much will Gemini raise in its IPO?
Gemini raised just over $425 million in its IPO. As noted above, this was a limit the company itself set on the proceeds.
How much is Gemini worth?
with its IPO share price of $28, Gemini is now worth around $3.3 billion, according to CNBC.
Gemini is the latest high-profile tech IPO in 2025
Geminis IPO today will be closely watched by Wall Street to see how investors react to the newly listed shares once they begin trading.
While theres no predicting which way GEMI shares will move in the days and weeks ahead, Gemini likely does stand to benefit from investor enthusiasm in the crypto and fintech space.
The company is far from the only crypto and fintech firm to go public this year.
In March, crypto and stock trading platform eToro went public on the Nasdaq Global Select Market.
Then, in June, Circle Internet Group went public on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE).
That offering was followed in August by cryptocurrency exchange Bullishs IPO on the NYSE.
However, not all these IPOs have seen their shares rise in the weeks after their listings.
As of yesterdays market close, eToros shares are down more than 14% since their debut, according to Yahoo Finance data. Bullish shares have taken a worse beatingdown more than 43%.
The story is better for Circle Internet Group, whose shares are up 93% so far.
In short, Gemini and its investors are hoping the stock will perform more like Circle. But only time will tell whether that ends up being the case.
Trading on Wall Street was quietly mixed early Friday as markets near the end of another record-setting week ahead of the Federal Reserve’s interest rate decision on Wednesday.Futures for the S&P 500 were flat, while futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average shed 0.2% and Nasdaq futures ticked up 0.1%.Following a mixed set of U.S. data on Thursday, markets are banking that the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates next week, which should give the economy a boost.The Fed has been hesitant to cut interest rates throughout 2025 because of the threat that President Donald Trump’s tariffs could make inflation worse. Lower interest rates could exacerbate inflation. The Fed’s inaction has infuriated Trump, who has threatened to fire Fed Chair Jerome Powell and has escalated his attempt to fire Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook, accusing her of mortgage fraud.On Thursday, the Trump administration asked an appeals court to remove Cook from the Federal Reserve’s board of governors by Monday, before the central bank’s votes on interest rates. Trump initially sought to fire Cook Aug. 25, but a federal judge ruled late Tuesday that the removal was illegal and reinstated her to the Fed’s board.In equities trading, RH shares slid 7% after the company formerly known as Restoration Hardware missed sales and profit targets and lowered its full-year guidance due to the impacts of tariffs.Microsoft rose modestly after European Union regulators accepted the tech giant’s proposed changes to its Teams platform, resolving a long-running antitrust investigation.The European Commission said in a statement Friday that Microsoft’s final commitments to unbundle Teams from its Office software suite, including further tweaks following a market test in May and June, are enough to satisfy competition concerns.Microsoft shares rose 1% before the opening bell.Elsewhere, in Europe at midday, Germany’s DAX edged down 0.3%, the CAC 40 in Paris fell 0.5% and Britain’s FTSE 100 added nearly 0.3%.Japan’s Nikkei 225 closed 0.9% higher to 44,768.12, with Japanese stocks hitting fresh records. Shares in semiconductor company Tokyo Electron, Sony Group and Fast Retailing were among the movers.In Chinese markets, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index rose 1.2% to 26,388.16. Tech shares led gainers on AI optimism, while property stocks climbed as Beijing moves to help cover unpaid bills of local governments. The Shanghai Composite index slipped 0.1% to 3,870.60.In Seoul, the Kospi climbed 1.5% to 3,395.54 while Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 added 0.7% to 8,864.90. India’s BSE Sensex rose 0.5% while Taiwan’s Taiex was up 1%.In energy trading early Friday, benchmark U.S. crude gained 1.5% to $63.29 per barrel.
Teresa Cerojano and Matt Ott, Associated Press
You dont have to be a gamer to know who Mario of Super Mario Bros. fame is. The plumbers presence has permeated popular culture since the Nintendo video games release in Japan on September 13, 1985. It reached the United States about a month later.
Ahead of the game’s big 40th anniversary, Nintendo is hosting a Nintendo Direct live stream event today (Friday, September 12) at 9 a.m. ET. It’s expected to last around an hour.
Lets take a look at the history of this popular gaming franchise before we get into how to watch Fridays event.
Mario could have been Popeye
In 1977 Marios creator, Shigeru Miyamoto, was hired by Nintendo when he was 24 years old, having recently finished a degree in industrial design, as the New Yorker reported. He started out working in the planning department.
After a game called Radar Scope failed to be a commercial success, he was tasked with creating a new one. Miyamoto wanted to use the characters from the popular comic Popeye, but when Nintendo could not secure the rights, he was forced to get creative.
Mario made his debut in ‘Donkey Kong’
Instead Miyamoto came up with characters of his own. His final product was called Donkey Kong, which was released in 1981. Players were transformed into the avatar of Jumpman, who was on a mission to get his girlfriend back from his pet gorilla. Eventually, Jumpman would evolve into the Mario that fans know and love today.
Mario got his name thanks to American executives
Nintendo executives in America were skeptical of Miyamotos platform game. They didnt think it would be a hit. They also couldnt help but notice that Jumpman looked similar to their landlord, so they started to call the character Mario. The execs might have been wrong about Donkey Kongit was a huge successbut the new moniker stuck. Miyamoto even gave his seal of approval.
‘Super Mario Bros.’ reinvigorated video games
In 1985, the gaming industry was in shambles, due to a crash two years earlier caused by market saturation and too many lackluster games.
Instead of getting out of the business, Nintendo doubled down by releasing the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES). Super Mario Bros. was the console’s calling card.
About a year after the release of the NES, the Super Mario Bros. game was bundled with the system, meaning the two products were sold together. This only strengthened Marios popularity.
Mario was now a plumber with a brother named Luigi on a mission to rescue Princess Toadstool, the ruler of the Mushroom Kingdom, from the evil Bowser. This one game has inspired over 200 spinoffs in the Nintendo catalog alone. There are also three movies with a fourth one set to be released on April 3, 2026.
How to watch Fridays Nintendo Direct live stream
Fans are already speculating about what Nintendo is going to announce during its live stream. It is safe to assume that there will be some Mario news ahead of the big anniversary.
Its simple to catch Nintendo Direct and see for yourself. You can watch it on Nintendo’s YouTube or Twitch channels. It will also be available on the Nintendo Today app. Finally, we’ve embedded the stream below.
