October 26, 2026: Anthropic Details IPO Plans, Comey Faces New DOJ Case, More

0:01 News when you want it with Bloomberg News Now. I'm Doug Krisner. Anthropic has filed for its long-awaited initial public offering. This will serve as a litmus test for demand of new equity tied to the AI trade. This IPO filing sets up Anthropic for a stock market debut, perhaps as soon as next month, here is Bloomberg's Ed Ludlow.

0:21 The immediate headline is extraordinary growth, very quickly followed by a stark warning that that growth rate will not continue. So revenue in the first half of this year, $ 16. 3 billion, up from $ 1. 2 billion a year ago, growth of 1,300%. But again, the warning that it cannot last. Growth rates are reflective of this early push into AI. The market is maturing. And so they could not have spelled it out more quickly.

0:45 That is Bloomberg's Ed Ludlow. Meantime, Anthropic is becoming increasingly reliant on Amazon, Google, and Microsoft to sell its AI technology to customers. Anthropic's cloud models can be purchased directly through those companies' cloud platforms. Now the cloud providers collect the payment, keep a fee, and pass the rest on to Anthropic. Chipmaker Broadcom has arranged a $ 63 billion deal to finance AI compute for Anthropic using AI technology from Broadcom.

1:16 Bank of America, together with Blackstone, Citi, and Morgan Stanley, will fund a special purpose vehicle, and the proceeds will be used to buy Broadcom AI accelerators and networking solutions, which will be, in turn, leased to Anthropic. The Department of Justice has criminally charged former FBI Director James Comey for a third time. He's being accused of illegally directing the sharing of secret national defense information 10 years ago.

1:45 Prosecutors allege Comey knowingly provided the information to someone who was not authorized to receive it. Now, this case had been under seal since October the 5th. Here is Comey speaking in a video posted to Substack after the filing was made public.

2:01 It would almost be funny if it weren't such an appalling abuse of the Department of Justice, one that we cannot become numb to. Nothing's changed with me. I'm still innocent. I'm still not afraid of these people, and I still believe in the independent federal judiciary.

2:15 Comey's lawyers say they will fight the charges vigorously and in the open. Microsoft will offer buyouts to about 60,000 workers. It's part of the company's effort to cut costs and reshape its workforce for the AI era. Employees at the vice president level and below in the U.S., Canada, and India, as well as the U.K., will all be eligible. The divisions fully participating in this buyout offer include Xbox, Windows, Copilot, and Finance. Shares in Microsoft were up 1.5% today. The equity market got a boost from news on Anthropix IPO.

2:52 There was also a fair amount of optimism regarding this week's big tech earnings. We'll hear from Alphabet, Microsoft, and Amazon. They're all expected to post double-digit percentage increases in revenue for the quarter. The market is particularly anxious, though, about their spending on AI and the degree to which those investments will prove to be profitable. Here is Jimmy Lee, the CEO of the Wealth Consulting Group.

3:16 If you bet against AI, you're betting against some of the smartest people in the world, if not the smartest, and almost all of them. So think about all the hyperscalers and all the people over there. It seems like they are all in. So I don't know if If you can really argue with the demand for compute, we know the demand is there. We know that these companies have made commitments. I'm in the side of the camp where they're going to follow through and make the investments in CapEx throughout next year and so forth.

3:42 That is Jimmy Lee from the Wealth Consulting Group. There was a rally among chipmakers today with the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index up 2.8%. The overall equity market finished higher. We had the Dow rising three-tenths of 1%. The S & P was up seven-tenths of 1%. and the Nasdaq composite gained 0.8%. The Fed will issue its rate decision on Wednesday.

4:04 Officials are widely expected to hold the policy rate steady. Today in the Treasury market, yields were mixed. At the long end, the 10-year fell a basis point to 4.98%, although at the short end, the two-year added three basis points to 4.71%. The Federal Trade Commission and 20 states are suing Dollar General over deceptive pricing claims. More from Bloomberg's Charlie Pellett.

4:28 Dollar General operates more than 21,000 stores, and according to a lawsuit filed in Tennessee federal court, it overcharged by millions of dollars in violation of federal and state consumer protection laws. Federal and state enforcers say the pricing discrepancies from 2019 through March of 2026 led to almost 30,000 consumer complaints to the company and demonstrating, quote, pervasive and systemic pricing inaccuracies. In New York, Charlie Pellett, Bloomberg Radio.

5:01 President Trump says Brazil's presidential runoff election looked to be rigged. He pointed to a last-minute decision from Brazil's Supreme Court to extend voting hours. And in Sunday's election, President Lula da Silva came from behind to defeat Senator Flavio Bolsonaro. Well, afterward, Bolsonaro said he would seek to have the outcome annulled.

5:23 And now we are learning Bolsonaro is changing strategies, and instead, he is intending to have Lula's ticket disqualified. Bolsonaro is alleging Lula's campaign spread false information and improperly used public funds for measures announced in the final weeks of the campaign. In recent weeks, the Cook Political Report has continued to shift more House seats toward Democratic victories, and now Republicans are shifting their tactics to try to hold back the tide.

5:52 Bloomberg's Amy Morris has more from Washington.

5:55 Erin Covey with the Cook Political Report says the acceleration of voters toward Democratic candidates is less to do with a shifting landscape and more about people beginning to pay attention. as Election Day draws near.

6:07 We have seen the Trump super PACs go into a number of Republican-leaning districts that now look increasingly competitive. We're also seeing Republican incumbents anticipating a blue wave cycle in seats that Trump won by more than 20 points.

6:21 Erin Covey tells Balance of Power that while she does expect a blue wave, it won't hit all areas evenly. In Washington, Amy Morris, Bloomberg Radio.

6:36 Neil Young is suing a political fundraising group for allegedly using his song Rocking in the Free World without permission. The song was played as President Trump took the stage over the weekend at a campaign rally in Ohio. The two-time Grammy Award winner is now seeking $ 10 million in damages and a court order barring the group from using his music. Now, Young sued Trump's presidential campaign over the same song back in 2020. That case was later settled.

7:05 with a campaign agreeing not to use it without a license. And that is news when you want it. With Bloomberg News Now, I'm Doug Krisner, and this is Bloomberg.