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Meta Muscles Into AI With Muse, Turning Data Into Weapon

By Oliver Benns

Meta has launched Muse, a consumer AI agent that books reservations, cancels subscriptions, and schedules appointments by tapping directly into users' Instagram, Facebook, and WhatsApp data. The app is already logging more daily US downloads than Threads, WhatsApp, and Facebook, and has added roughly $170bn to Meta's market cap since its September 8 release. At 25 times earnings, Meta trades below the S&P 500 and well under Apple at 38 times, even as it leans on its 4 billion monthly users and first-party data trove to leapfrog rivals in agentic AI.

Canada Joins EU Orbit as Trump Torches North American Ties

The European Commission has invited Canada to become the bloc's first associate member, a status floated by President Ursula von der Leyen in her State of the Union address. Canadian trade with non-US partners is already up 17% this year, and 41% of Canadians now describe the US as an enemy. The combined EU-Canada economy would top $25tn, larger than China's and closing on the US at roughly $32tn. Washington has threatened additional tariffs in response.

Fed Hikes for First Time Since 2023 as Inflation Bites

The Federal Reserve unanimously raised interest rates by 25 basis points, the first hike since 2023, defying pressure from the White House. Stocks slipped after the decision, with the S&P 500 down 0.5% and the Dow off 1.2%, while the 10-year Treasury yield pushed back above 5%. Thirty-year mortgage rates have climbed above 7%, their highest in more than a year, as the central bank leans on its only lever against inflation stoked by the Iran conflict and $100-plus Brent crude.

Anthropic Loses Enterprise Ground to Upstart Rival

Anthropic's Claude is slipping in the enterprise AI market, with new spending data showing a rival capturing 13% of enterprise AI budgets versus Anthropic's 8%. The shift comes as OpenAI and Anthropic face growing consumer fatigue over public doomerism around their models, opening space for competitors pitching practical utility over existential risk.