Meta, Microsoft and the tyranny of small differences

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Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.

Good morning. Yesterday morning (New York time), the price of gold fell 7 per cent in less than an hour, only to recover much of that loss in the afternoon. Silver did something similar. Weird! If you know what happened, email us: unhedged@ft.com.

Microsoft vs Meta

Shares in Meta rose 10 per cent yesterday. Shares in Microsoft fell 10 per cent. This presents something of a puzzle. The two companies — both at the centre of the AI boom — reported superficially similar earnings the previous evening. Both increased revenue a lot. Meta had a huge jump in operating expenses, which hit profit hard. Microsoft had a huge jump in capital…