Filed under capital-markets.

The Rate Ford Can Absorb and Waymo Cannot

Ford raised its full-year profit guidance twice over the summer on $2.5 billion of quarterly operating income; Waymo, in the same fortnight, reported a loss five times its own segment revenue. The Federal Reserve's first rate hike since 2023 — 25 basis points on 16 September — does not reprice either company overnight, but it widens the asymmetric downside on long-duration AV bets funded by someone else's balance sheet.