Here's a quick overview of today's main events:
Nvidia connects its AI infrastructure with Wall Street
Goldman Sachs and BlackRock will support GPU financing
H&R REIT distributes assets worth $4.81 billion
GO Residential acquires a US residential portfolio
IBM and Together AI signed a contract for $240 million
York Space is acquiring solar technology manufacturer Solestial
Oil and gold rose ahead of US inflation data
Markets are waiting for the July CPI index
Foreign Investments
US chipmaker Nvidia has announced a partnership with six major financial institutions to create platforms for financing computational infrastructure for artificial intelligence. According to the company's announcement and Reuters, Goldman Sachs, Apollo Global Management, BlackRock, Blackstone, Brookfield, and KKR are involved in the initiative. The goal is to mobilize more than $500 billion from third parties for data centers, chips, energy, and other infrastructure needed for AI. This is important for Nvidia because demand for its GPUs is growing faster than some customers' ability to finance purchases from their own resources. At the same time, the agreement brings computational power closer to infrastructural assets, similar to power plants, networks, or transportation hubs.
In real estate, Canadian H&R Real Estate Investment Trust announced a major transaction worth $6.7 billion Canadian dollars, or approximately $4.81 billion US dollars. According to Reuters, the portfolio will be divided: GO Residential REIT will acquire US residential assets, specifically 27 apartment buildings with a value of around $2.8 billion. Another portion of the assets will be acquired by a consortium including Blackstone, PSP Investments, Crestpoint, and entities associated with H&R CEO Tom Hofstedter. The transaction is intended to simplify the structure of H&R and focus capital on the residential real estate market, which continues to benefit from a long-term housing shortage in the US.
Technology investments continue beyond outright acquisitions. IBM and startup Together AI have signed a multi-year contract worth $240 million to build a large AI cluster within the IBM Cloud environment. The cluster will utilize Nvidia systems and is intended to support the training and operation of open models, such as DeepSeek, MiniMax, or Kimi. Together AI, recently valued at $8.3 billion, is thus gaining corporate infrastructure for customers seeking a cheaper alternative to closed-source models.
In the space industry, York Space Systems announced the acquisition of Solestial, which develops solar technologies for satellites and space platforms. The value of the agreement has not been disclosed. According to Business Wire, the acquisition will secure US manufacturing capacity for critical solar cells and panels. For York Space Systems, this is a strengthening of the supply chain at a time when demand for satellites for communication, defense, Earth observation, and data services is growing.
Significant Events with Global Impact
On August 12th, global markets were primarily focused on US inflation and geopolitics. Oil and gold prices rose ahead of the release of the July Consumer Price Index (CPI) in the United States. Economists polled by Reuters expected a month-over-month increase of 0.1 percent for the CPI and an annual inflation rate of around 3.4 percent. Core inflation was estimated to rise by 0.2 percent month-over-month and 2.5 percent year-over-year. The result is important for the Federal Reserve's September meeting, as the market is reassessing whether the central bank will leave interest rates unchanged or implement further increases.
The energy sector remained under pressure from developments in the Middle East. The US dollar held steady, while investors reacted to new attacks on shipping traffic in critical routes and uncertainty surrounding negotiations between the United States and Iran. Higher oil prices could again complicate the fight against inflation and increase insurance and transportation costs. This combination of expensive energy, high investments in AI, and uncertain monetary policy has created another day of heightened caution for the global economy.
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