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Traders, gamblers and politicos now have new tools to express their views this election cycle in the form of event contracts, but the new markets still need to win over Wall Street power players and the legal system to become investment stars. Kalshi and Interactive Brokers launched presidential election contracts this month on their nascent platforms after Kalshi won a key round in its legal fight with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. The CFTC is seeking to shut down the markets on appeal, but the presidential election promises to be a big opportunity for the platforms to prove themselves to investors while the process works its way through the courts. The platforms previously consisted mainly of lightly traded contracts around other events, like economic data releases. Those ser...

An icon of ASML is displayed on a smartphone, with an ASML chip visible in the background.Nurphoto | Nurphoto | Getty ImagesShares in semiconductor equipment maker ASML fell 16% on Tuesday after the Dutch company published financial results a day early, issuing disappointing sales forecasts.The move pulled other chip stocks lower, with Nvidia, Advanced Micro Devices and Broadcom all falling after the report.ASML, which is based in Veldhoven, Netherlands, said it expects net sales for 2025 to come in between 30 billion euros and 35 billion euros ($32.7 billion and $38.1 billion), at the lower half of the range it had previously provided.Net bookings for the September quarter were 2.6 billion euros ($2.83 billion), the company said — well below the 5.6 billion euro LSEG consensus estimate. ...

Cars sit in a Chevrolet dealership's lot in Chicago on June 20, 2024.Scott Olson | Getty Images News | Getty ImagesDETROIT — A growing number of Americans with auto loans owe more than their vehicles are worth, according to a report Tuesday from Edmunds.com.The auto data and consumer research company reports the average amount owed on so-called upside-down loans climbed to an all-time high of $6,458 during the third quarter. That compares to $6,255 in the prior quarter and $5,808 a year earlier.Zoom In IconArrows pointing outwardsUpside-down car loans are not necessarily dire on their own, but a growing number of consumers being underwater is another indication of pressure on American consumers.A sign of that strain came last month, when the Federal Reserve reported delinquency rates on au...

Former US President and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump listens during a town hall at the Greater Philadelphia Expo Center and Fairgrounds in Oaks, Pennsylvania, on October 14, 2024. Jim Watson | Afp | Getty ImagesKamala Harris mocked Donald Trump's behavior at an unusual campaign event, where the GOP presidential nominee cut short a question-and-answer session to listen to music with the crowd for nearly 40 minutes."Hope he's okay," Harris, the Democratic nominee, wrote on X early Tuesday morning.The vice president's tweet was replying to her campaign X account's post saying, "Trump appears lost, confused, and frozen on stage as multiple songs play for 30+ minutes and the crowd pours out of the venue early."It was one of many posts by social media users that raised eyebrows...

Republican presidential candidate and former President Donald Trump's social media platform Truth Social is shown on a cell phone in Chicago on March 25, 2024.Scott Olson | Getty ImagesTrump Media shares closed down nearly 10% Tuesday, after a wild trading session that was briefly halted due to volatility when the Truth Social owner's stock suddenly plunged in price.DJT shares, which had been up more than 13% earlier Tuesday afternoon, abruptly turned more than 6% lower on the day at the time the halt occurred. Trump Media continued to fall after the five-minute trading halt lifted at 2:47 p.m. ET.Trump Media settled at $27.06 per share.The stock price whipsawed during an extremely volatile trading session in which more than 97 million shares traded hands — multiple times the company's 30-...