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(Reuters) -Lucid reported a 46.6% jump in third-quarter deliveries on Monday, driven by a rush of demand for electric vehicles before lucrative tax credits expired last week, but it still missed Wall Street expectations. The EV maker and its rivals are bracing for a sharp drop in sales in the last three months of the year without the $7,500 in credits. While some have cut prices and found mechanisms to extend the benefits of the credit, others have cut production plans in anticipation of a slump. The EV industry has already been grappling with high tariffs on imports of vehicles and auto parts into the U.S. While Lucid makes its vehicles in the U.S., it imports some parts from abroad. Lucid vehicles did not qualify for the tax credits on cash purchases, but it used the credits to offer attractive leases. Lucid handed over 4,078 vehicles in the quarter, compared with estimates of 4,286 deliveries seven analysts, on average, were expecting, according to Visible Alpha. This compares with 2,781 vehicles delivered a year ago. EV giant Tesla posted record quarterly deliveries on Thursday, while Rivian also beat sales estimates as consumers rushed to buy EVs ahead of the incentive's September 30 deadline. The company has put in place offers and discounts to boost the appeal of its luxury Air sedans to attract consumers who have pared back big-budget spending because of high interest rates. The EV maker has been aggressively striking deals with North American companies to domestically source critical minerals used in manufacturing. The company's fortunes rely heavily on the success of its newly launched Gravity SUV and the upcoming mid-size car, which targets a $50,000 price point, as the company looks to expand its consumer base.   (Reporting by Zaheer Kachwala, Harshita Mary Varghese in Bengaluru and Abhirup Roy in San Francisco; Editing by Leroy Leo and Alan Barona)

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By Stephen Culp NEW YORK (Reuters) -The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq advanced on Monday, as artificial intelligence-related dealmaking boosted investor sentiment even as the U.S. government shutdown extended through its sixth day. The Nasdaq and the S&P 500 reached record closing highs, while the blue-chip Dow inched lower. Chips took the lead after AMD said it would supply AI chips to OpenAI in a deal that could generate tens of billions of dollars in yearly revenue and would allow the ChatGPT creator to buy a stake of up to 10% in the chipmaker. AMD surged, pushing the broader Philadelphia Semiconductor Index higher. "The market is seeing some strength in areas like technology and consumer discretionary and it's flying in the face of the government shutdown," said Robert Pavlik, senior portfolio manager at Dakota Wealth in Fairfield, Connecticut. "The market is still interested in the AI trade and the companies that support and use it." "It's a wave and waves don't go on forever; it will eventually crest and decline," Pavlik added. "But where are we this cycle of the wave? It's impossible to know." The federal government remained shuttered for the sixth day as lawmakers idled in a partisan impasse. The shutdown has postponed the release of key economic indicators, forcing investors to rely on secondary, non-government data to gauge the timing and extent of Federal Reserve interest rate cuts. Monetary policymakers have cautioned against rushing to lower the Federal Funds target rate as inflation remains high, while others believe signs of softness in the labor market merit rate cuts. Financial markets have priced in an all-but-certain 94.6% chance of a 25 basis point interest rate reduction at the conclusion of the Fed's October meeting. Without new U.S. government data this week, market participants are monitoring reports on outstanding consumer credit, mortgage demand and the University of Michigan's preliminary take on October consumer sentiment. According to preliminary data, the S&P 500 gained 24.52 points, or 0.37%, to end at 6,740.31 points, while the Nasdaq Composite gained 160.69 points, or 0.71%, to 22,941.19. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 63.19 points, or 0.14%, to 46,695.50. Next week, third-quarter earnings will provide market catalysts as the reporting season gets underway with results from large U.S. banks. Analysts estimate aggregate year-on-year S&P 500 earnings growth of 8.8% for the July-to-September period, up 0.8 percentage points from projections at the beginning of the third quarter, according to LSEG data. Tesla advanced after the electric carmaker teased an event scheduled for Tuesday on social media platform X over the weekend. TD Cowen cut its Starbucks price target, citing a weakening labor market affecting Generation Z, sending the coffee chain's shares lower. Bitcoin breached the $125,000 mark on Sunday, sending crypto-related firms Coinbase, Strategy, Riot Platforms and MARA Holdings higher. Regional bank Comerica jumped after Fifth Third said it will buy the company in an all-stock deal valued at $10.9 billion. Verizon shares dipped after the telecommunications company named former PayPal boss Dan Schulman as its new chief executive officer. (Reporting by Stephen Culp; Additional Reporting by Niket Nishant and Sukriti Gupta in Bengaluru; Editing by Richard Chang)

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By Dawn Chmielewski and Helen Coster LOS ANGELES (Reuters) -Paramount Skydance CEO David Ellison has named Bari Weiss editor-in-chief of CBS News, the news division of U.S. broadcaster CBS, as part of a deal to acquire the online news site she founded, The Free Press. The appointment is seen as Ellison's bet that Weiss, a successful entrepreneur and outsider with billionaire connections, can modernize and turn around the powerful but third-placed broadcast news network.   The companies did not disclose the deal value in Monday's announcement. A source familiar with the matter said it was for $150 million.  In an essay announcing the transaction on Monday, Weiss, 41, said the deal provides "a chance to help reshape a storied media organization—to help guide CBS News into a future that honors those great values that underpin The Free Press and the best of American journalism." Ellison, the son of Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison, took over the CBS network and other Paramount properties earlier this year when his company Skydance Media merged with Paramount Global in a $8.4 billion deal. He helped secure regulatory approval for the deal with the promise that the CBS network would reflect "a diversity of viewpoints from across the political and ideological spectrum." Monday's announcement capped months of talks between Ellison and Weiss. The newly minted media baron first floated the idea at July's Allen & Co conference in Sun Valley, a frequent staging ground for major media mergers, according to media reports. Weiss previously worked in the opinion sections of the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal, describing herself as the most right-wing person at the Times and the most politically progressive at the Journal. Defying easy characterization, she has been critical of diversity initiatives, defended gay marriage, supported reproductive rights, and described herself as proudly pro-Israel. She resigned as opinion writer for the Times in July 2020, in a 1,500-word open letter in which she said she had been the subject of "constant bullying" by colleagues who disagreed with her views. She went on to launch an independent media company, The Free Press, which she began as a newsletter in 2021. FROM NEW YORK TIMES TO START-UP, AND BACK TO LEGACY MEDIA In 2022, she wrote that The Free Press was founded on a credo of "honesty, doggedness, and fierce independence." In a letter to Paramount employees on Monday, Ellison wrote that the company is a steward of one of the world's most iconic news organizations. “We are challenging ourselves to do better – recognizing that we have the ability to reach a broad audience and demonstrate constructive, respectful, and bipartisan dialogue in our own work,” he wrote. Weiss “brings a passion for reaching broad audiences through rigorous, fact-based reporting and a relentless commitment to amplifying voices from all corners of the spectrum,” he wrote. In a letter to CBS News employees, Weiss said that CBS was part of her family tradition. "Whenever I hear that tick, tick, tick or that trumpet fanfare, it sends me right back to our den in Pittsburgh,"  Weiss wrote in the letter seen by Reuters. "The opportunity to build on that legacy with you — and to renew it in an era that so desperately needs it — is an extraordinary privilege." Weiss said she wanted to hear from the staff at CBS News about what was working and what was not, with the goal of making CBS News the most-trusted news organization in America. She promised to listen with "an open mind, a fresh notebook and an urgent deadline." The clock is ticking for the traditional nightly newscast, whose audience is dwindling in an era of instant access to information online and on social media. The "CBS Evening News" show attracts an average of nearly 3.8 million viewers, fewer than its broadcast rivals, according to the most recent Nielsen data.  "Bari Weiss runs a small passionate team that truly understands how to build a brand and engage their followers," said LightShed Partners media analyst Richard Greenfield. "CBS News outside of '60 Minutes' does not mean much to the average consumer in 2025. (It) will be fascinating to see if and how Bari can change that." FREE PRESS CHALLENGES CONVENTIONAL NARRATIVES The Free Press has earned a reputation for challenging conventional narratives. Notable articles include a first-person essay from a then-senior editor at NPR, who accused the public radio network of liberal bias that cost it listeners' trust.  Another offered a whistleblower account of the Washington University Transgender Center at the St. Louis Children's Hospital, which reported vulnerable teenagers with mental health problems rushed into life-altering treatments. In a 2023 essay in Tablet magazine, Weiss argued for the dismantling of institutional diversity, equity, and inclusion programs, writing that the movement "threatens not just Jews— but America itself."  The reaction to her hiring has been mixed. Judy Marie Muller, a former correspondent for CBS and ABC News, and a professor emerita of journalism at the USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism, called Weiss’ appointment a “sad shift.” "We can say what we want coming in — yes, let's stick to these high standards — and then we'll just see what happens," said Muller. "I think we have to watch what she does, not what she says." Weiss had never been a reporter and had "zero news experience," said Nikole Hannah-Jones, a reporter covering racial injustice for The New York Times Magazine. Weiss will report directly to David Ellison and help set an editorial course for CBS News.  The Free Press, which has about 1.5 million subscribers including 170,000 paying members, will remain independent, retaining its brand and operations, and will continue to publish, the companies said.  Prior to the Paramount-Skydance deal being cleared, Paramount paid $16 million to settle a 2024 lawsuit filed by U.S. President Donald Trump. The Federal Communications Commission has said the settlement and regulatory review were unrelated. (Reporting by Dawn Chmielewski in Los Angeles and Helen Coster in New York, Aditya Soni and Jaspreet Singh in Bengaluru; Editing by Sriraj Kalluvila, Nick Zieminski and Rosalba O'Brien)

(The article has been published through a syndicated feed. Except for the headline, the content has been published verbatim. Liability lies with original publisher.)