Unknown Executive

Let me start the explanation meeting. My name is Hiraoka from Public Relations Department of KDDI. I serve as MC. Today’s meeting, as is disclosed on a timely basis to present preliminary results of the third quarter of the year ending in March 2026 of KDDI. Today’s presentation is being distributed on YouTube and other media in addition to the on-site. And we have put up three related materials on the KDDI website. Please refer to the materials at hand. This is the message for the people in the outside audience.

Today’s attendees are as follows: Hiromichi Matsuda, President, Representative Director, CEO; Senior Managing Executive Officer, CFO, Executive Director, Corporate Sector, Nanae Saishoji; Managing Executive Officer, Director, CSO and CDO, Executive Director, Corporate Strategy Division, Tomohiko Katsuki; Executive Officer, Executive Director, Corporate Management Division, Corporate Sector, Kenji Aketa. These four are in attendance.

President Matsuda, please.

Hiromichi Matsuda
President, CEO, Exe. Director of Corporate & Marketing Comm. Sector and Representative Director

Thank you very much for gathering here today despite your busy schedules. First and foremost, we sincerely apologize for the significant inconvenience and concern caused to our customers, business partners, shareholders, investors and many other stakeholders, including our employees due to the suspected improper transactions at our subsidiary. We recognize this matter as a serious issue that could potentially undermine the trust in the entire KDDI Group. As the top management, I feel a profound sense of responsibility for the occurrence of this matter and

By Jennifer Nash

Consumer sentiment rose for a third straight month in January, reaching its highest level since August. The Michigan Consumer Sentiment Index inched up 0.9 points (1.6%) to 57.3 this month, performing slightly better than the forecasted 55.0. However, this

The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed above 50,000 points for the first time on Friday as stocks rallied in response to a rout in tech shares earlier in the week.

The closely watched index rose above 50,000 for the first time after 2 p.m. during Friday’s trading session, advancing 1,206.95 points, or 2.47%, to close at 50,115.67.

The S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite also closed in the green, up 1.97% and 2.18%, respectively.

President Donald Trump celebrated the news in a Truth Social post on Friday afternoon.

STELLANTIS TAKES MASSIVE $26B HIT AFTER MOVING AWAY FROM EVS

“The Dow Jones Industrial Average just hit 50,000 for the first time in History. CONGRATULATIONS AMERICA!” Trump wrote.

The president said in a separate post, “The ‘Experts’ said that if I hit 50,000 on the Dow by the end of my Term, I would have done a great job, but I hit 50,000 today, three years ahead of schedule — Remember that for the Midterms, because the Democrats will CRASH the Economy!”

Chip stocks surged on expectations they would benefit from increased spending on artificial intelligence (AI) data centers by Amazon and Google parent company Alphabet.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average topped 50,000 points for the first time Friday. (Michael Nagle/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

Shares in Nvidia, Advanced Micro Devices and Broadcom all rose by more than 7%. Amazon’s stock fell nearly 7% after announcing it planned to ramp up capital expenditures by more than 50% this year amid the AI race after a similar announcement by Alphabet Wednesday.

Friday’s rallies in the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq followed three consecutive days of losses amid worries about AI.

“Market sentiment improved after today’s positive report out of the University of Michigan,” said Jeffrey Roach, LPL Financial chief economist. “Median 1-year inflation expectations hit the lowest since January 2025, providing some comfort for investors eager to see improving inflation metrics.”

Several software companies saw stock declines amid investors’ concerns that competition in the AI space could hurt their margins as well as questions about whether valuations have become excessive amid the AI boom.

SEC CHAIRMAN WARNS OF CHINA-LINKED RAMP-AND-DUMP ACTIVITY

“This trade has been volatile, and there have been selloffs at times, but I think there’s enough evidence that there’s real demand for AI products, real promise with what they can do and a necessity of a lot of spending to get there,” said Ross Mayfield, investment strategy analyst at Baird.

“So, when there’s this kind of a sell-off, I think there’s a floor where there’s going to be a certain set of investors that steps in and starts buying these names.”

DEI DISCLOSURE PARTICIPATION PLUMMETS AMONG MAJOR COMPANIES AS CORPORATE PULLBACK CONTINUES

Shares in Nvidia and other chipmakers surged amid expectations of continued investment in AI. (Loren Elliott/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

Nine of the 11 S&P 500 sector indexes rose, led by the information technology index’s gain of more than 3.7% and a nearly 2.7% gain by the index for industrials.

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Reuters contributed to this report.

This article was written by

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To quote President Trump’s Truth Social post, “Congratulations America” on Dow 50,000.

And the widely known index didn’t just crawl above 50,000, it rocketed by 1,100 plus.

And all those techie moaners and groaners have had their day in court, but they lost because they were up almost 2 percent and the broad based S&P is up almost 2 percent.

There’s always a frothy selling period, kind of a cleansing. And it’s healthy. Yet as I’ve believed for so many decades, you buy stocks for the long run. You buy the indexes or the ETFs and you hold them for the long run. And right now we have a market which is backed by very strong fundamentals.

Yes, that’s right, profits are the mothers’ milk of stocks. And profits are strong. Future earnings estimates continue to show double digit profit gains. And this is a productivity-driven profitability,

where unit labor costs are barely above one percent, that is wages minus productivity.

It’s a decent proxy for low inflation and for that matter, for the whole Trump economic boom.

The success of the One, Big, Beautiful Bill of tax cuts, deregulation, “drill, baby, drill,” and reciprocal fair trade, is backing up the stock market.

There’s a business investment boom, called capital deepening, which is driving up productivity and real wages for middle class working folks.

And please remember there’s something like 135 million Americans invested in stocks, through 401ks or IRAs, or brokerage accounts, or even union pension funds.

And hopefully the success of the Trump savings accounts for newborns will create a generation of children who will come to appreciate not only the workings of the stock market, but also business and the entire economy and for that matter free-market capitalism.

From poverty to millionaire status, it’s all very possible. Treasury Man Scott Bessent spoke about it earlier today, noting that “Trump accounts are a generational down payment on the American dream.” He added that “each eligible American child will receive a $1,000 seed contribution invested in the U.S. stock market, giving them a tangible stake in the most powerful economy in the world.” 

Mr. Bessent concluded: “As children see their the accounts grow, they learn how markets work, how patience pays off, and how financial stability builds independence”

Part of today’s stock market rally could be traced to the third straight increase for consumer confidence and a six month high.

I’m not crazy about that survey because it’s heavily weighted to Democrats. Yet maybe some of them have seen the light and will stop bellyaching about tariff inflation, and other economic evils that have not come to pass.

And even more, a good piece by Kim Strassel at the Wall Street Journal notes a sizable reduction on the outlook for a federal budget deficit.

The Office of Management and Budget director, Russell Vought, is re-estimating a near $12 trillion reduction in the deficit outlook.

That includes $2 trillion from the One, Big, Beautiful Bill, and $5.6 trillion attributable to 3 percent or better economic growth. There is also $290 billion from tariff revenues in 2025, which comes to $4 trillion over 10 years. And all of that reduces interest expense by $1.8 trillion.

So anyway the spending curve is starting to come down for a change.

It’s all good and it’s all captured by a roaring stock market.

Congratulations, America. Enjoy it.