Opening Bell: 8.6.25

Blackstone Begins ‘Climb Back to Normalcy,’ Returns to Office After Shooting [WSJ via MSN]
The call began with a montage of photos of [murdered executive Wesley] LePatner, accompanied by Bruno Mars’s “Count on Me,” one of her favorite songs. Blackstone Chief Executive Stephen Schwarzman, President Jonathan Gray and Chief Administrative Officer Vik Sawhney shared stories of acts of bravery by various employees during the shooting and its aftermath…. The firm on Friday told employees they could return this week to the New York office, a skyscraper at 345 Park Avenue, while also offering the option to continue to work remotely.

The jobs report that enraged Trump was flashing a recession warning sign [CNN]
Hiring over the past three months slowed dramatically, creating problems for the economists and statisticians at the Bureau of Labor Statistics whose job is to make sense of the payroll data they get from thousands of businesses across the country. As new data came in about May and June’s employment, the BLS was forced to sharply lower those months’ job totals from their preliminary estimates…. That massive revision gave economists some serious agita. Larger revisions have happened before, but every time changes that large have taken place over the course of at least two months, the US economy has been in a recession – at least since records began in 1968.

Trump Says Banks Discriminate Against Conservatives—Including Him [WSJ]
Trump said in the interview Tuesday he was dropped by JPMorgan after his first term as president.
“I was loaded up with cash and they told me, ‘I’m sorry, sir, we can’t have you, you have 20 days to get out,’” Trump said. “I was never in this situation before.”.
A JPMorgan spokeswoman said the bank doesn’t close accounts for political reasons.

Uber beats on revenue, announces $20 billion stock buyback [CNBC]
“At this point, we’re not seeing weakness in the consumer,” CEO Dara Khosrowshahi told CNBC’s “Squawk Box” Wednesday. “It’s steady as she goes, and for Uber, that’s great news….”
The company also recently started testing a new feature in the U.S. that allows women riders or drivers to avoid being paired with men in their ride when possible.

Tiger Cub Maverick Looks to Raise Money After Trouncing Rivals [Bloomberg]
Lee Ainslie’s Maverick Capital is raising money for a new semiconductor fund and seeking to boost assets in its hedge funds, a rare expansion for the $10 billion firm that opened more than three decades ago…. That Maverick would launch a semiconductor fund makes sense given its early and consistent investments in the industry even as other hedge funds shifted to software companies in recent years. The firm was an early backer of Sam Altman even before he founded OpenAI, which helped Maverick get an early look at the potential for his ChatGPT product.

Berkshire shares tumble as Warren Buffett prepares to step down [FT]
Berkshire’s class A shares have tumbled 14 per cent since May 2, the last trading day before 94-year-old Buffett said he would hand control of Berkshire to top executive Greg Abel…. The “Buffett premium” on Berkshire… may not immediately pass to his successor.