Dutch semiconductor equipment giant ASML on Wednesday looked to calm concerns over 2026 growth as it warned that it expects a “significant” sales decline in China.

The firm said it does not expect 2026 total net sales to be below 2025 and warned that it expects customer demand and sales in China to decline significantly next year compared to 2024 and 2025.

Guidance was key for the firm after shares sank in July when it warned that it could not confirm growth in 2026 due to increasing macro-economic and geopolitical uncertainty.

Here’s how ASML did versus LSEG consensus estimates for the third quarter:

• Net sales: 7.516 billion euros versus 7.79 billion euros expected
• Net profit: 2.125 billion euros vs 2.11 billion euros expected

ASML, which recently became the most valuable listed firm in Europe, is among the companies in the semiconductor industry which have been impacted by both domestic export restrictions in its Dutch homebase, and the U.S.’ tariff policy.

Analysts have recently been bullish on the chip giant with Morgan Stanley, UBS and Jefferies among the banks upgrading the stock. Morgan Stanley analysts said the expansion of AI chip foundries and an increase in semiconductor chip manufacturing in China were expected to drive growth. Meanwhile, ahead of the earnings release, UBS pointed to better-than-expected smartphone and PC sales and AI-led memory growth.

ASML is also expected to benefit from Nvidia and Intel’s $5 billion deal as semiconductor equipment demand increases.

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Adult ChatGPT users can soon access a less censored version of the artificial intelligence chatbot, which will include erotic materials, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has announced in an apparent policy shift.

“In December, as we roll out age-gating more fully and as part of our ‘treat adult users like adults’ principle, we will allow even more, like erotica for verified adults,” Altman said in a social media post on Tuesday. 

Though it remains unclear what material will qualify as permitted erotica, the move could represent a major shift in OpenAI’s policy, which formerly prohibited such content in most contexts.

According to Altman, existing versions of ChatGPT were made “pretty restrictive” to protect users from mental health risks, but that approach made the chatbot “less useful [and enjoyable to many users who had no mental health problems. 

“Now that we have been able to mitigate the serious mental health issues and have new tools, we are going to be able to safely relax the restrictions in most cases,” he said.

Those “new tools” appear to refer to safety features and parental controls rolled out last month to address concerns over how the chatbot was impacting young users’ mental health. 

However, as safeguards for minors expand, it appears that Altman is ready for ChatGPT to take a looser approach for adults. 

OpenAI hinted at a shift in February when language on its “Model Spec” page was updated to clarify that, in order to “maximize freedom” for users, only sexual content involving minors was prohibited. Still, erotica was considered to be “sensitive content” to be generated only in certain permitted contexts.

Besides the rollout in December, Altman also said a new version of ChatGPT will launch in the coming weeks, allowing the chatbot to adopt more distinct personalities — building on updates in the latest GPT‑4o version.

“If you want your ChatGPT to respond in a very human-like way, or use a ton of emoji, or act like a friend, ChatGPT should do it,” he said. “But only if you want it.“

In an August interview, independent tech journalist Cleo Abram asked Altman to give an example of a decision he had made that was best for the world, but not for winning the AI race. 

“Well, we haven’t put a sex bot avatar in ChatGPT yet,” Altman said in an apparent nod to provocative AI companions released by Elon Musk’s xAI. 

Altman’s policy shift comes at a notable time for OpenAI, as it already faces increased scrutiny over its safety practices. In September, the Federal Trade Commission launched an inquiry into several tech companies, including OpenAI, over potential risks to children and teenagers.

That followed a lawsuit from a California couple who alleged that ChatGPT contributed to their 16-year-old son’s suicide.

OpenAI on Tuesday also announced an eight-member expert council on well-being and AI to advise the company on how artificial intelligence affects users’ mental health, emotions and motivation. 

The council will guide OpenAI in defining what healthy AI interactions look like through check-ins and recurring meetings, the company said.

U.S. stocks had a rocky day of trading, swinging from highs and lows like the quality of Game of Thrones across its eight seasons.

At its lowest during the session, the S&P 500 fell as much as 1.5%, but picked up and traded positive for most of the day after U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer gave an indication that China’s next trade move could influence the implementation of President Donald Trump’s tariffs.

The optimism in markets fizzled, however, when Trump said he was considering “terminating business with China having to do with Cooking Oil” and other forms of “retribution” because the country has stopped buying U.S. soybeans since May. Investors seemed to take that threat seriously, sending the S&P 500 down 0.2% for the day.

Developments elsewhere, however, were more positive. U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell suggested that the central bank might stop tightening monetary policy with regard to its bond holdings. Furthermore, big banks — bellwethers for economic activity — such as JPMorgan Chase, Citi and Goldman Sachs, beat earnings expectations, suggesting that fundamentals are still sound.

And while Oracle’s turn to AMD’s artificial intelligence chips — hence diversifying from Nvidia graphics processing units — might not be pleasant news for Jensen Huang, spreading out concentration risk could be a positive outcome for investors banking on AI to continue the market rally.

The question, then, is whether Trump will raze the AI-supported market with his tariffs — or if the Magnificent Seven kingdom will stand.

Trump threatens China with cooking oil embargo. That’s in response to Beijing halting its purchases of U.S. soybeans since May. Whether 100% tariffs on China come into effect depends on how the country reacts, U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said Tuesday.

Powell suggests the Fed might stop tightening policy. The U.S. central bank could cease reducing the size of its bond holdings, which would allow liquidity to be maintained in the economy, Powell said in a prepared speech Tuesday.

Oracle to deploy AMD artificial intelligence chips. Oracle will use 50,000 of AMD’s Instinct MI450 chips beginning in the second half of 2026, in a sign that companies are turning to Nvidia’s competitors for their processing needs.

U.S. stocks were mixed. On Tuesday, the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite fell but recovered from session lows. The Dow Jones Industrial Average, however, closed in the green. The pan-European Stoxx 600 index dropped 0.37% and touched two-week lows in the session.

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Trump says the war is over, but the path to peace in the Middle East is fragile

While most agree that U.S. President Donald Trump deserves credit for helping to bring an immediate end to the devastating war between Israel and Hamas, achieving a long-lasting peace is a different matter. Analysts note that detail is scant in Trump’s 20-point peace plan, meaning there are a number of grey areas and room for discontent and disagreement in the near and long-term.

This is particularly salient when it comes to both immediate matters in the peace proposal, such as the demilitarization of Hamas and withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gazan territory it currently controls, to perhaps the biggest bone of contention: a two-state solution for the Israelis and Palestinians.

— Holly Ellyatt