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Julian Lafarge, Chief Market Strategist at Barclays Private Bank, stated that despite the uncertainty surrounding Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang's future, the uncertain returns on AI investments, and rising financing costs testing market confidence, investors should continue to participate in the AI market. Lafarge believes that AI is not a bubble but a technological revolution that will impact all industries, although its commercialization and infrastructure development cannot happen overnight.Lafarge pointed out that Nvidia is referred to as the "central bank of AI trading," but even if the company changes its CEO, it does not mean that the entire AI industry chain's trading needs to be re-evaluated or renegotiated. He compared the potential leadership transition at Nvidia to previous management transitions at Microsoft, Alphabet, and Amazon, arguing that a successor taking over does not necessarily weaken corporate value.However, Barclays lists interest rates and the financing environment as major risks that could disrupt the market. As the scale of AI infrastructure investment expands, the market's focus is shifting from whether the demand for computing power is real to whether the massive capital expenditures can generate sufficient returns. Data center construction also faces bottlenecks such as power access, equipment installation, and commercial operation cycles, while expectations of tightening Federal Reserve policies may also raise corporate financing costs and depress long-term cash flow valuations.Lafarge emphasized that the trillions of dollars in AI investment commitments cannot quickly translate into actual computing power delivery, and there will be significant divergence in investment returns among companies. Tighter financing conditions may change the pace of industry investment and competitive landscape, but it does not mean that the long-term demand for AI infrastructure will disappear. Barclays still prefers to maintain exposure to AI investments until there are clear signs of a significant slowdown in industry growth momentum.

According to Cointelegraph, Barclays' submitted 13F filing shows that as of September 30, the bank held approximately 3.94 million shares of BlackRock's spot Bitcoin ETF IBIT, an increase of 48% from 2.66 million shares at the end of the second quarter, with a position value of approximately $187 million.Citigroup disclosed a new position in Fidelity's spot Bitcoin ETF FBTC valued at approximately $119 million, with its IBIT holdings also increasing from about 347,000 shares at the end of the second quarter to about 521,000 shares.After comparing 1,389 institutions that submitted third-quarter reports as of last Friday, Bitwise found that the total value of spot Bitcoin ETFs held by these institutions rose from $3.35 billion in the second quarter to $5.25 billion. The report noted that the increase in position value does not necessarily indicate new purchases, as IBIT's price rose by approximately 41% in the third quarter.

Barclays raised the target price for Tesla (TSLA.O) from $370 to $450.

According to the Korea Herald, global investment bank Barclays plans to cut 5,000 jobs, about 5% of the company's total positions, while expanding the application of artificial intelligence. This includes 1,000 positions already cut in the first half of this year, with 60% of the layoffs coming from support departments such as developers. Barclays CEO Venkat Krishnamurthy stated in a conference call that the company will apply AI on a large scale, and said, "AI is not the cake, but the frosting on the cake."Previously, Barclays announced a cost-cutting plan in February, but some investors reacted negatively to the scale of costs shown in its semi-annual report. Among peers, HSBC is considering cutting up to 20,000 jobs over the next few years, while Standard Chartered plans to reduce support department positions by more than 15% by 2030.

According to Cointelegraph, the crypto advocacy organization Stand With Crypto stated that during a 90-day period from May to August 2026, a total of 9,803 individuals submitted 10,092 complaints to UK banks through the organization's online tools, reflecting the restrictions encountered when transferring to crypto platforms.The highest number of complaints came from Lloyds Banking Group, one of the largest banking groups in the UK, totaling 2,297, followed by Barclays with 1,569 and NatWest Group with 1,278. These complaints have raised concerns about the accessibility of crypto services in the UK ahead of the launch of a new regulatory framework for digital assets in 2027.The report shows that UK banks have varying practices regarding restrictions on crypto transfers. Barclays and HSBC UK are listed as limiting crypto transfers to £2,500 (approximately $3,300) per transaction and £10,000 (approximately $13,300) every 30 days. Six banks, including Starling Bank, TSB, and Chase UK, are listed as completely prohibiting transfers related to crypto.Meanwhile, Lloyds Banking Group and Revolut are classified as having not disclosed their restrictions on crypto transfers, despite also receiving customer complaints. Revolut's official support page states that transfers to "certain cryptocurrency exchanges" are not supported, and a spokesperson for Stand With Crypto indicated that this seems to be a technical issue rather than an established policy.Nick Jones, founder and CEO of Zumo, told Cointelegraph that banking restrictions are a common issue faced by crypto founders in the UK, which could undermine the country's ambition to become a global crypto hub. He stated that the issue of limited access to banking services needs urgent resolution so that UK crypto businesses can grow and expand in a fair environment.Jones also warned that the upcoming crypto regulatory framework in the UK may not address this issue. Although businesses are preparing for mandatory approval from the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) by October 2027, obtaining business bank accounts is not included in that framework. He added that without coordinated action, businesses may obtain full authorization but still be unable to open UK business bank accounts.

Barclays expects the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates by 25 basis points in December and January, whereas the previous forecast was for a rate hike in December of this year.

Barclays stated that the merger between Tesla (TSLA.O) and SpaceX (SPCX.O) may be announced before December.

Barclays has initiated coverage on SpaceX (SPCX.O) with an overweight rating and a target price of $254.

Mitul Kotecha, Head of Foreign Exchange and Emerging Markets Macro Strategy at Barclays Asia, stated that the Federal Reserve's interest rate hike decision makes a rate increase by the Bank of Japan almost inevitable. The yen has depreciated by more than 1.1% since the Federal Reserve's decision, while the dollar has appreciated by 0.7% against major trading partner currencies.

Barclays economists stated that the uncertainty surrounding the Federal Reserve's interest rate decision makes this week's FOMC meeting the focus of the market. If the Federal Reserve unexpectedly keeps interest rates unchanged, or if the rate hike is lower than expected, it could lead to a short-term weakening of the dollar.

According to a report by Reuters, enterprise-level AI company Clay announced the completion of a $115 million Series D financing round, led by Wellington, with participation from Sequoia Capital, StepStone, Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), Perennial, Meritech, DST, CapitalG, and others, raising its post-investment valuation to $7.1 billion.Clay stated that its AI agents can create real-time business and customer profiles based on external data such as CRM, and automatically build and execute workflows according to corporate goals. Currently, companies such as Anthropic, Google, OpenAI, and Stripe are using its products.

Barclays raised its S&P 500 index target for the end of 2026 to 7,950 points, up from 7,800 points.

The Barclays strategy team stated that the rapidly expanding AI infrastructure is triggering a backlash among bipartisan voters in the United States, which could pose political risks to the currently popular AI trades.The construction of data centers has made AI a cost of living issue, and voters are dissatisfied with rising electricity costs. Barclays warns investors that AI trades lack new upward catalysts, and related stocks may face policy pressure.

According to Jinshi reports, Barclays stated that 85% of the S&P 500 index constituent companies exceeded earnings expectations in the second quarter, far above the long-term average of 76%. Revenue grew by 11.2% year-on-year, and earnings per share surged by 25.1% driven by large tech stocks. Despite the strong performance, Barclays pointed out that both earnings exceeding expectations and falling short triggered negative reactions in stock prices, indicating that investors have digested most of the positive news.

According to official news, the Solana ecosystem 3D clay dinosaur NFT project Claynosaurz has recently launched an animated short film on the mainstream streaming platform Amazon Prime Video.Its floor price surged to 24 SOL today, currently reported at 23.25 SOL, with a 24-hour increase of 43.59%.

According to Jinshi reports, Barclays has set the 2027 S&P 500 index target at 8,800 points.

According to Jinshi reports, Barclays has raised its target for the S&P 500 index at the end of 2026 to 7,800 points, up from the previous target of 7,650 points.

According to Jinshi, Barclays expects the Federal Reserve to maintain interest rates unchanged in 2027, after previously predicting that the Fed would cut rates by 25 basis points in March.

According to Jinshi, Barclays expects the Federal Reserve to maintain interest rates unchanged in 2026, with a previous forecast of a 25 basis point cut in September.

According to Jinshi reports, Barclays Bank analysts stated in a report that against the backdrop of high inflation, the Federal Reserve is expected to maintain the federal funds target rate range unchanged at this week's meeting, but there is still a possibility of interest rate cuts this year. Analysts said that if inflation falls as expected, the Federal Reserve is expected to gain enough confidence around September to begin easing policy.