Daily Point
_ Dow Jones 52,348.39 (+0.06%)
_ S&P 500 7,482.71 (-0.22%)
_ Nasdaq 25,870.65 (-1.31%)
_ Bitcoin 62,894.28 (-1.03%)
Topline Signals
- Broadcom: Q2 AI semiconductor bookings reached over $30 billion against $10.8 billion shipped, backing a fiscal 2027 AI revenue target exceeding $100 billion.
- US Macro: May PCE inflation rose to 4.1% year-over-year, with Core PCE at 3.4% and the monthly trade deficit expanding to $77.6 billion.
- Micron: Fiscal Q3 revenue reached $41.5 billion with gross margins expanding to 85% and operating margins at 81%.
Good day.
The daily fluctuations in the Nasdaq and Bitcoin are merely background noise for those of us focused on generational wealth accumulation. Today's minor retreat reflects immediate anxieties over geopolitical friction in the Middle East and a sticky 4.1% PCE inflation print that has nudged December rate hike expectations to 57%. With initial jobless claims tomorrow and critical CPI data and major bank earnings arriving next week, short-term traders are understandably hesitant. However, the structural reality of 2026 remains entirely unchanged: we are living through an aggressive, capital-intensive K-shaped divergence where liquidity flows directly into hard infrastructure and high-margin technology.
Look past the immediate tape and observe where the world's largest pools of capital are committing. Apple's newly finalized $30 billion custom silicon agreement with Broadcom and Micron's sold-out memory capacity through 2027 prove that the AI infrastructure supercycle is not a speculative bubble, but a physical re-architecting of global commerce. Simultaneously, the tokenization of real-world assets is quietly reaching escape velocity, evidenced by tokenized stock transfers surging 105% in a single month to $8.4 billion. As inflation persists and the personal savings rate languishes at 3.9%, holding cash is a guaranteed path to dilution. True financial independence is achieved by aggressively capitalizing on these multi-year capital cycles, using periods of macro-induced volatility to accumulate concentrated positions in the dominant networks of the next decade.
Weekly Schedule
9 Jul (Thursday)
Initial Jobless Claims
Continuing Jobless Claims
FOMC Member Williams Speaks
Existing Home Sales
Existing Home Sales
30-Year Bond Auction
Fed's Balance Sheet
PepsiCo Earnings Call
10 Jul (Friday)
German CPI
IEA Monthly Report
WASDE Report
U.S. Baker Hughes Oil Rig Count
U.S. Baker Hughes Total Rig Count
CFTC S&P 500 speculative net positions
CFTC Nasdaq 100 speculative net positions
CFTC Gold speculative net positions
CFTC Crude Oil speculative net positions
11 Jul (Saturday)
12 Jul (Sunday)
13 Jul (Monday)
OPEC Meeting
Federal Budget Balance
14 Jul (Tuesday)
ADP Employment Change Weekly
Core CPI
CPI
Core CPI
CPI
TIC Net Long-Term Transactions
API Weekly Crude Oil Stock
GDP
Bank of America Earnings Call
Citigroup Earnings Call
Goldman Sachs Earnings Call
JPMorgan Chase Earnings Call
Wells Fargo Earnings Call
15 Jul (Wednesday)
PPI
Core PPI
NY Empire State Manufacturing Index
Beige Book
BlackRock Earnings Call
Johnson & Johnson Earnings Call
Morgan Stanley Earnings Call
General
Mortgage and refinance rates today, Wednesday, July 8, 2026: Rates continue falling
The national average 30-year mortgage rate is 6.34% right now, according to data compiled from the Zillow lender marketplace. But keep in mind that averages can vary depending on where you live. For example, mortgage rates vary by state, and if you're buying in a city with a high cost of living, rates could be higher. Yes, rates are lower today compared to yesterday. The 30-year fixed-rate purchase loan fell 2 basis points to 6.34%, the 15-year fixed purchase loan declined by 7 basis points to 5.76%, and the 5/1 ARM purchase rate fell 8 basis points to 6.23%.
Fed minutes due as analysts debate whether Warsh will curtail them
July 8 (Reuters) - A critical readout on Wednesday of the first Federal Reserve policy meeting overseen by Chairman Kevin Warsh may offer greater insight into the "family fight" the new central bank leader said unfolded over two days last month as officials opted to leave interest rates unchanged and emphasized their commitment to controlling inflation. Inflation is running at roughly twice the Fed's 2% target, while the job market appears to have stabilized following a weakening trend through most of last year.
Market Digest: RCL
June 2026 nonfarm payrolls missed expectations, with a 57,000 gain, below the consensus estimate of 110,000. Given downward revisions to the prior two months, nonfarm payrolls averaged a monthly gain of 110,000 for the June-April period, versus 188,000 for May-March. The unemployment rate was 4.2% in June after three consecutive 4.3% readings. Average hourly earnings for June grew 3.5% annually. For the past few years, annual wage growth stayed ahead of rising prices, but wage growth may now be running behind inflation. About 85% of companies reported results that were above consensus expectations, meaningfully higher than the long-term range of 75%-80%. Companies exceeded calendar 1Q26 EPS expectations in midteen percentages, compared to a historical beat against expectations in the 5%-7% range. Two factors consistently keeping earnings moving forward are revenue growth and margin expansion. The final report of 1Q26 gross domestic product (GDP) indicated annualized growth of 2.1%, accelerating from 0.5% growth in 4Q25 that was impacted by the government shutdown. In broad strokes, the 1Q26 GDP report shows a commercial and industrial economy that appears to be benefiting from aggressive investment in AI. The PCE Price Index within 1Q26 GDP rose 4.6%, up from 2.9% in 4Q25. Excluding energy and food, Core PCE (the Fed's preferred inflation gauge) rose 4.4% in 1Q26. In the Personal Income & Outlays report for May, the annual change of 3.4% in the Core PCE Price Index was the highest in three years.
Trump Says New Accounts Will Make Kids ‘Very Rich.’ We Ran The Numbers.
The government’s $1,000 seed, employer contributions, and nonprofit contributions are fully taxable on withdrawal, along with every dollar of earnings. Only $4,000 comes out tax-free. The remaining $36,000 is fully taxable as ordinary income. For education funding, a 529 plan wins because qualified education withdrawals are completely tax-free. A custodial Roth IRA wins with tax-free growth, tax-free qualified withdrawals, a $7,500 contribution limit, and broader investment choices. Against doing nothing, Trump Accounts win if the child qualifies for the federal $1,000 or the Dell $250.
The Trade Deficit Just Blew Out to $77.6 Billion. Are the Tariffs Even Working?
The May trade deficit surged to $78 billion, the second-worst figure since 1992, as exports fell 3% and imports rose 3% simultaneously. Tariffs generate $29 billion monthly but failed to curb import volumes in May, making June's deficit print the decisive test of whether the policy works. The May U.S. trade deficit came in at negative $77.6 billion, a jarring jump from April's negative $54 billion and the widest monthly gap since March 2025. Close to consensus, sure. But this is the second-worst monthly print in a data series that goes back to 1992, and it lands in a policy environment where tariffs were supposed to be pulling the gap the other way. From January through April 2026, the monthly trade deficit had been parked in the mid-$50 billion range. That was, if you squinted, evidence for the tariff thesis. Then May happened. The mechanical story is simple. Exports fell just over 3% while imports rose just over 3%. When both blades of the scissors move against you at the same time, the gap yawns open. For context, the all-time high since 1992 was negative $132 billion in March 2025, so we are not there. But we are closer to that record than to the boring baseline that held for the first four months of the year. The monthly goods and services balance feeds directly into GDP, and a wider deficit is a mechanical drag on the growth print. It also pressures the dollar, since a country importing more than it exports is, in effect, sending more currency out than it takes in. Bond desks watch it because a weaker dollar can leak into imported inflation, and equity desks watch it because industrials with export exposure lose earnings power when foreign buyers pull back.
Mortgage applications fall 2.2% as rates stay above 6.5%
The Mortgage Bankers Association reported a 2.2% decline in total mortgage application volume for the week ending July 3, 2026, with results adjusted for the Independence Day holiday. Borrowers seeking conforming loans saw their costs tick up slightly, with the 30-year fixed rate climbing one basis point to land at 6.58%, according to the MBA. Rates have remained in a tight range for more than a month, according to CNBC. On a year-over-year basis, refinance volume held 8% above last year's comparable week, even as it slid 4% from the prior week. Purchase applications also retreated, slipping 1% from the week before while still running 5% ahead of where they stood twelve months ago, the MBA said. "Refinance application volume was down 4 percent, as homeowners saw little enticement to act with rates still elevated," Mike Fratantoni, the MBA's senior vice president and chief economist, said in a statement. The average rate on jumbo 30-year fixed mortgages — loans above $832,750 — fell to 6.50% from 6.52%.
This Strategist Sees the S&P 500 Hitting 8,500, and One Thing Changed Her Mind
The S&P 500 could reach roughly 8,500 on 2027 earnings, with 8,200 the more likely landing spot by the end of 2027. Her team had been penciling in 30 to 50 basis points of GDP growth drag and 50 to 100 basis points of inflation upside as live tail risks. The VIX sits at 15.81, down 14.1% on the week and in the 22.6th percentile of the past year, well off the 31.05 peak from March 27. BEA corporate profits hit $4.4 trillion in Q1 2026, up 12.8% year over year, and the information sector alone printed $352.5 billion in profit, up from $270.8 billion in Q2 2025. Vanguard’s outlook pegs the AI scalers at $2.1 trillion in cumulative capital expenditure from Q1 2025 through Q4 2027. The Fed funds upper bound has been parked at 3.75% for seven months, and the 10-year Treasury sits at 4.49%. Core PCE hit 130.08 in May, its highest reading in the 12-month window and in the 90.9th percentile of the trailing distribution.
A 71-Year-Old Nurse Rents Out a Spare Room to Stay Afloat. The Extra Income Taxes Her Social Security and Could Raise Her Medicare Premium.
The personal saving rate has slid to 3.9% in Q1 2026, and the Consumer Price Index has been climbing steadily higher. Fixed incomes are struggling to keep up, even after the 2.8% cost-of-living adjustment for 2026.
Trump Says Iran Ceasefire Is “Over.” Are Fed Rate Hikes Back On the Table?
Overnight, market odds of a Fed rate hike at the December meeting jumped from 48% to 57%, reflecting renewed inflation fears from rising oil. The change in rate expectations was just as notable. Betting markets priced the odds of a Federal Reserve rate hike at its December meeting at 48% yesterday. By this morning, those odds had climbed to 57%, reflecting investors' reassessment of inflation risks. According to the latest data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, consumer prices rose 4.2% year over year, with higher gasoline and other energy costs becoming the primary contributor to inflation.
If You Already Max Out Your 401(k), These Are the 7 Next Money Moves You Should Make
For 2026, the employee contribution ceiling sits at $24,500, up from $23,500 in 2025. Workers age 50 and older can add an $8,000 catch-up contribution on top of that, for a total of $32,500. That catch-up figure itself rose from $7,500 in 2025, making 2026 one of the more generous years for older savers. Under a SECURE 2.0 Act provision now in effect, employees between ages 60 and 63 can make an even larger "super catch-up" of $11,250 instead of the standard $8,000, pushing their total to $35,750 if their plan allows. For 2026, the annual IRA contribution limit is $7,500, up from $7,000 in 2025. Savers age 50 and older can add a $1,100 catch-up, bringing their total to $8,600. That bump to $1,100 is notable: it is the first increase to the IRA catch-up amount since 2006, made possible by SECURE 2.0 now indexing that figure to inflation for the first time. For married couples filing jointly, the phase-out range is $242,000 to $252,000. One additional 2026 development worth knowing: high earners whose FICA wages exceeded $150,000 in the prior year must now make any 401(k) catch-up contributions on a Roth basis under a SECURE 2.0 provision that took effect January 1, 2026. For 2026, you can contribute up to $4,400 with self-only HDHP coverage, or $8,750 with family coverage. Those 55 and older can contribute an additional $1,000 as a catch-up. The Roth IRA income phase-out range for single filers runs from $153,000 to $168,000.
JPMorgan sees the writing on the wall for silver stock investors
Silver rose more than 130% in 2025. It hit an all-time high of $121.78 an ounce on Jan. 29, 2026. Solar panels needed it. Electric vehicles needed it. AI data centers needed it. BloombergNEF estimates silver demand from solar installations will fall to roughly 194 million ounces in 2026, a 7% year-on-year drop, even as global solar capacity keeps growing by around 15%. As TheStreet reported, the Silver Institute expects global silver industrial fabrication to decline about 2% in 2026 to a four-year low. JPMorgan cuts silver price forecast to $60-$65 an ounce Gregory Shearer, head of Base and Precious Metals Strategy at JPMorgan, now sees silver averaging $60 to $65 an ounce through the rest of the year, according to Reuters. That is a significant cut from the bank's earlier call of $81 an ounce for the full year, with a Q4 high of $85. ING commodity analyst Ewa Manthey lowered the bank's forecast in June, citing slowing solar demand, higher yields, a stronger dollar, and weaker investor flows. ING now sees silver at $68 an ounce in the third quarter and $74 in the fourth, down from a previous Q4 estimate of $84. JPMorgan's own Marko Kolanovic has warned silver could fall back to $50 if speculative positioning unwinds before fundamentals can catch up.
$14,000 dog grooming bills and 25% pricier flights: How the K-shaped economy is punishing the middle class
$14,000 dog grooming bills and 25% pricier flights: How the K-shaped economy is punishing the middle class Aditi Ganguly 11 min read Moneywise and Yahoo Finance LLC may earn commission or revenue through links in the content below. In the face of an increasingly K-shaped economy, businesses are abandoning middle-class buyers (1). Instead, they're catering their products and services toward those who can afford to pay. In the June Federal Reserve Beige Book, the Federal Reserve Banks of New York, Cleveland, Richmond and Atlanta all reported solid or increasing demand for luxury products, including luxury goods, travel and real estate (2). Many of them also reported weakening markets for similar lower-end products. JP Morgan sees gold hitting $6,000/oz before 2027 — and a gold IRA lets you hold the physical metal while deferring the tax bill. Get your free guide from Priority Gold Because of that, luxury goods providers such as Rolex have been able to get away with raising their prices, even as middle-class customers increasingly abandon the brands (3). For Rolex, its price increases hinge on the brand's successful pitch that its products are investments, thanks to rising gold prices (4). But these price increases aren't just impacting luxury goods. Everything from flights to animal care has seen similar pivots to luxury, leaving middle-class households increasingly stranded. "Companies are saying, 'Let's just jack up the price as high as we possibly can and extract as much from the small set of wealthy people,'" says former U.S. Department of Treasury director Kitty Richards (5). Here's what's being impacted by what the Fed calls "unapologetic luxury" and what that means for the people who are left behind. Luxury brands and services aren't the only ones raising prices Companies such as Rolex and Cartier already cater to a wealthy clientele. And indeed, overall jewelry prices have increased dramatically (6). As the prices of precious metals have skyrocketed, jewelers have adjusted their prices accordingly and wealthy investors have responded favorably, leaning on jewelry as an investment. "Brands and retailers who cater to a higher-end clientele are doing quite well," says Abe Sherman, chief executive of California-based jewelry consulting firm Buyers Intelligence Group. "There is a clear trend toward higher price points." Pet wellness is trending upward, too. High-income pet owners are paying as much as $14,000 per year on dog grooming, giving their pets peptides and treating them to fur-brightening masks (7). They're also having to deal with mounting vet costs at the same time. But not every market facing a similar problem is luxury-only. Flights have also been getting more expensive (8). Faced with rising oil costs due to the Iran War, airlines have had to raise prices — or fold, as with Spirit Airlines (9). As a result, ticket prices are up 25%. Car prices are also up across both the new and used markets (10). The middle class is "squeezing more life out of every dollar" With the cost of everything increasing, the middle class is having to pick and choose what it can pay for. In the June Beige Book, one of the Kansas Fed's contacts said that "middle-income households are squeezing more life out of every dollar before deciding to spend it," resulting in what the Kansas Fed calls "growing behavioral adjustments (2)." This includes things like skipping restaurants. And when residents do go out to eat, they go for less expensive meals. "In contrast, higher-income households remained largely insensitive to price pressures," the Kansas Fed said. The Atlanta Fed also noted "growing financial stress among middle-class households, particularly those who do not qualify for public assistance or are unfamiliar with available support resources." This indicates a K-shaped economy, where economic conditions cause upper-class people to do very well while lower-class people are increasingly struggling (11). "When people talk about the K-shaped economy, they're talking about an economy that is being experienced very differently across the population," says Joanne Hsu, the director of the Consumer Sentiment Index at the University of Michigan (11). A K-shaped economy isn't necessarily sustainable (12). If the lower half of a K-shaped economy is unable to afford necessities, individuals impacted could start defaulting on loans at higher rates (13). But as long as wealthy consumers keep spending, businesses have little reason to change course. That doesn't mean individual consumers are left entirely helpless. Protect your finances from inflation's bite Just when most Americans thought inflation was finally cooling off, it's heating up again. The conflict in the Middle East has reignited concerns about rising prices, with inflation climbing to 4.2% in May — its highest level in three years (14). As higher energy costs ripple through the economy, middle-class consumers are once again feeling the squeeze every time they fill up their gas tanks, buy groceries, or pay their monthly bills. The financial strain is shifting from a seemingly temporary nuisance to requiring active management. The vast majority of Americans (95%) believe the country is facing an affordability crisis, according to the Harris Poll (15). Even with stable unemployment and the stock market hovering near record highs, consumer confidence has taken a hit. What's more, 57% of Americans now believe the economy is getting worse, up from 46% just a few months earlier, before tensions in the Middle East pushed energy prices sharply higher. The silver lining? A handful of smart money moves can help you stretch your dollars further and position your portfolio to better withstand inflation. Audit your fixed expenses It's easy to focus on cutting little indulgences when money gets tight. But while skipping your morning latte might save a few dollars, the biggest savings opportunities often come from reviewing the bills you pay automatically every month. Recurring bills, like insurance, internet, cell phone plans and subscriptions, can quietly eat away at your budget month after month. Even trimming a single payment can free up hundreds of dollars over the course of a year without requiring major lifestyle changes. Auto insurance is a good place to start. The average American pays $1,084 for six months of coverage as of January 2026. That's an 18% increase from a year ago (16). If you haven't compared rates recently, you could be paying more than necessary. Shopping around and comparing rates through services like Insurify can help you uncover cheaper options so you aren't paying a hidden 'loyalty tax' to your current insurer. Those who shop around and compare car insurance rates from different providers on Insurify and choose the best available deal save an average of $1,100 on annual premiums. One of the most effective long-term ways to stay ahead of inflation is to invest in assets that have historically outpaced rising prices. The benchmark S&P 500 index has generated average annual returns of roughly 10.5% since 1957 (17). So far in 2026, the index has gained more than 9%, more than double the current inflation rate (18). Of course, investing in stocks comes with risks. Concerns over expensive technology stocks, shifting interest-rate expectations and geopolitical uncertainty have triggered sharp swings in the market over the past couple of years. That kind of volatility can be unsettling, especially if you're trying to pick individual winners. That's why many experts recommend keeping it simple
PepsiCo earnings, mortgage rates, jobless claims: What to Watch
The current rate on the 30-year fix sitting at 6.43%. That is the lowest level in seven weeks. We could see volatility ahead as bond yields climb. And finally, we'll be getting weekly initial jobless claims data. Economist expecting new filings to hit 218,000, a slight rise compared to the week prior.
A Positive Outlook as Q2 Earnings Season Gets Underway
Total Q2 earnings for the S&P 500 index are currently expected to be up +24.0% from the same period last year on +11.3% higher revenues, with 11 of the 16 Zacks sectors expected to enjoy positive earnings growth. The Tech sector has been a critical growth pillar since 2023 Q3 and is expected to continue playing that role in 2026 Q2, with expected earnings growth of +48.5%. Excluding the Tech sector's substantial contribution, Q2 earnings growth for the rest of the S&P 500 index would be +12.2% (vs. +24.0% otherwise). Q2 earnings for the 'Magnificent 7' group of companies are expected to be up +28.5% from the same period last year on +24.4% higher revenues. Excluding the 'Mag 7' contribution, Q2 earnings for the rest of the index would be up +22.5% (vs. +24.0%). JPMorgan is expected to earn $5.49 per share on $48.7 billion in revenues in Q2, representing year-over-year changes of +10.7% and +8.5%, respectively. Total Q2 earnings for the Zacks Investment Banks/Managers industry, of which JPMorgan, Bank of America, Citigroup and Wells Fargo are a part, are expected to increase by +11.1% from the same period last year on +11.4% higher revenues, as the table below shows. For context, loan growth has trended below historical averages over the past three years, but the growth pace began improving in 2025, and the trend continued into 2026 Q1. The favorable outlook for loan portfolios bodes well for net interest income in Q2 and beyond, even though the yield curve lost some of its steepness in Q2. The Finance sector is the second largest earnings contributor to the S&P 500 index, behind only the Tech sector, accounting for 16.4% of the index's expected forward 12-month earnings. Full-year 2026 earnings estimates have increased for 11 of the 16 Zacks sectors since the start of March, with the most pronounced gains at the Energy, Basic Materials, Tech, Industrials, Utilities, and Business Services sectors.
Crypto could benefit if Fed steps in to backstop US stock market: Analysts
The US equity market has grown by 68% over the past five years and has added roughly $6 trillion in market value so far this year. Once the Fed steps in, rate cuts, balance-sheet expansion, even targeted ETF purchases, crypto has historically entered a medium-to-long-term uptrend, similar to what we saw in 2021, as risk appetite returns and capital rotates back into high-beta assets," Bitget Wallet chief operating officer Alvin Kan told Cointelegraph. In 2020, the Fed bought corporate bond ETFs during COVID-19 to act as a "buyer of last resort" to restore liquidity to frozen credit markets. The unprecedented move saw it acquire $8.7 billion worth of ETFs, which helped to limit economic damage from the pandemic. “I think there’s a good chance the Fed will buy equity ETFs in the next major downturn to support [the] market, and it will be common practice going forward,” said Balchunas. This is just one byproduct of the 'Nothing Stops This Train' monetary supply explosion and debt extravaganza sweeping the world, but especially in the US, which at this point feels irreversible.”
No Forward-Looking Guidance Needed: Fed Chair Kevin Warsh Just Dropped an Unmistakable Clue About Interest Rates
BREAKING: US May PCE inflation, the Fed's preferred inflation metric, rises to 4.1%, the highest reading since April 2023. Core PCE inflation rose to 3.4%, its highest since October 2023. US inflation is now officially running at more than double the Fed's 2% target.
Bitcoin
Crypto firms prepare defenses as quantum threat to encryption draws nearer
Most blockchains rely on decades-old elliptic-curve cryptography to generate the public and private keys and digital signatures used to verify ownership of crypto assets and authorize transactions. Roughly 35% of the token's circulating supply could be exposed to a quantum computing attack, according to an unpublished June 2026 working paper by independent researcher Ahmed Raza Muhammad Umer. The Ethereum Foundation, which supports the blockchain that underpins ether, the second-largest cryptocurrency, says it is targeting 2029 for full protection from quantum computing.
Michael Saylor Says Bitcoin Capital Gains Can Fund Dividend Obligations 'Indefinitely' if BTC Grows by This Much Annually—Peter Schiff Pushes Back
Strategy introduced the STRC preferred stock last year to provide a high-yield, lower-volatility income instrument. The proceeds are used to acquire more Bitcoin. It currently pays a 12% annual dividend, which is paid semi-monthly in cash and adjusted periodically to encourage the stock to trade close to its $100 par value. One of the most misunderstood $MSTR metrics is BTC Breakeven ARR. If BTC appreciates faster than 3.3% over time, BTC capital gains can fund $STRC dividends indefinitely. Last week, it offloaded 3,588 BTC for roughly $216 million to fund the dividends
Crypto and stocks tumble after Trump declares ceasefire 'over' following Iran strikes
Derivatives positioning - Despite bitcoin's slide to $62,000, it's still up 6% this month and there is some good news on the derivatives front: Traders don't look to be shorting the rally. Open interest (OI) in futures has dropped to 730K BTC from over 740K BTC a day ago. - Ether is not faring so well. Open interest has held steady at around 13.95 million tokens despite the spot-price drop triggering liquidations of bets worth $90 million. BTC 24-hour liquidations tally just over $100 million. - The sell-off in Canton Network's CC token has accelerated, with the token's price slipping to its lowest level since January just as futures open interest rises to a two-week high. This combination points to the possibility of traders shorting the decline, especially since funding rates remain deeply negative, close to -20%. - Broadly speaking, the bear grip has tightened across major cryptocurrencies, including BTC and ETH, as indicated by their negative 24-hour OI-adjusted cumulative volume delta. A negative reading indicates that price action is being driven by traders placing market orders rather than passive limit orders. - The latest decline in BTC and ETH seems to have spurred hedging demand for options, as their respective 30-day implied volatility indexes, BVIV and EVIV, are up for the second straight day. - Options skew on Deribit confirms that. The one-week skew has jumped to nearly 20% in favor of puts from 16% a day ago. Puts offer protection against a price slide in the underlying asset, in this case, BTC. The same is true for ether. - However, 24-hour volume figures show the highest activity in BTC call options at the $80,000 strike price. Stablecoin market cap fell to $312B in June, its largest monthly drop since TerraUSD, while tokenized equity volumes surged 145% to a record $3.86B.
Perpetual Futures Are Coming to a Popular Solana Crypto Wallet. That's Why I'm Considering Buying Solana Right Now.
In the second quarter of 2026, Solana handled $5.8 billion in tokenized asset spot trading volume, a quarterly record. As of July 6, there was $566 million in tokenized stocks parked on its chain, trailing right behind Ethereum with $642 million.
Strategy Just Unveiled a Brand-New Approach to Bitcoin. Is the World's Biggest Bitcoin Treasury Company in Trouble?
Strategy has done its very best to convince investors that all this is being done to bolster long-term shareholder value and to put the company on a much stronger financial footing. But it's hard not to see that the wheels are coming off the Bitcoin treasury company wagon. The problem, quite frankly, is that the economic flywheel put in place to purchase Bitcoin is now showing signs of slowing. Instead of funding its Bitcoin purchases with cash, Strategy has been funding them with proceeds from its various preferred stock offerings. However, to get investors to bite on these securities, they must offer a sizable dividend. For example, Strategy Variable Rate Perpetual Stretch Preferred Shares Series A ("Stretch") (NASDAQ: STRC) currently pays out an annualized dividend that yields 12%. And that's where the Bitcoin sales come into play -- Strategy obviously needs more cash than originally anticipated to keep paying these dividends in the future. The whole point of the company's new Bitcoin monetization program is to sell Bitcoin and raise cash to keep all the pieces of the flywheel working in unison. Admittedly, there was a brief period of time when Strategy outperformed Bitcoin. But that time has come to an end. Year to date, Bitcoin is down 28%, while Strategy is down 36%. Just look at the price of Strategy stock over the past 12 months. It has completely collapsed in value. Strategy announced the massive sale of 3,558 BTC at a total price of $216 million.
Here’s what happened in crypto today
According to Dune's Digital Asset Brief, USDT settled about $95 billion in identified commerce payments in the first half of 2026 versus $14 billion for USDC, and captured roughly 92% of business-to-business payment volume. USDC, meanwhile, dominates decentralized finance. On Base, it processed around $2.6 trillion in transfer volume in June, with another $1.6 trillion on Ethereum, reflecting heavy use in trading and DeFi. Together, USDT and USDC account for about 83% of the stablecoin market’s $315 billion capitalization.
India crypto tax filings lag trading activity: Report
India's tax department reportedly found that fewer than a quarter of the 645,000 people who made crypto transactions reported them on tax returns. India’s tax department reportedly found widespread gaps in crypto tax reporting, warning that offshore exchanges, private wallets and peer-to-peer (P2P) trades are making crypto activity harder to track. Reuters on Wednesday reported government documents showed that fewer than a quarter of 645,000 individuals who made crypto transactions in the year ending in March 2023 reported the trades on their tax returns. The department also reportedly estimated that India had about 39 million crypto traders holding over $2.1 billion in crypto at the end of May. India was ranked first in Chainalysis' 2025 Global Crypto Adoption Index. The report comes days after the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) backed a containment strategy for crypto assets. On July 3, the central bank urged lawmakers to keep banks and financial institutions insulated from cryptocurrencies and privately issued stablecoins. The RBI reportedly said prohibition remained a recognized policy option and recommended preventing digital asset use in payments and settlements. India is not the only jurisdiction struggling to bring crypto activity into the tax net. In Israel, a voluntary disclosure program aimed at crypto profits fell short of expectations, according to a June 3 report by local business outlet Globes. The Israel Tax Authority (ITA) reportedly expected to collect 2 billion to 3 billion Israeli shekels (about $650 million to $986 million) from the process, which offered criminal immunity to taxpayers who would disclose previously hidden capital. Despite this, only 289 disclosure requests had been submitted since the program was launched in August 2025, with reported capital totaling 676.5 million shekels and estimated tax due of 40.9 million shekels.
The 5 types of real world assets being tokenized fastest onchain
Tokenized Treasury products are the largest and most mature category of RWAs, representing almost $15 billion. DTCC clears and settles almost all US stock trades and custodies over $114 trillion in securities. Ondo Finance now holds roughly 60% of the tokenized equity market through its Global Markets platform. The total value of tokenized private credit is about $6.2 billion. Currently, stocks represent a modest proportion of overall tokenized assets with just $2.19 billion, according to RWA.xyz.
Bull Bitcoin asks French court to strike down DAC8 implementing decree
Under DAC8, crypto service providers must submit their first reports covering the 2026 calendar year by Sept. 30, 2027, after which tax authorities in EU member states will automatically exchange the information. France implemented DAC8's crypto reporting rules through Decree No. 2025-1276, signed Dec. 19, 2025. Wrench attacks increased by 75% in 2025 to 72 verified cases worldwide, according to cybersecurity company CertiK.
BNB Chain is building a new layer-1 for high-frequency trading and AI agents
BNB Smart Chain holds roughly $5 billion in total value locked. Stablecoin market cap fell to $312B in June, its largest monthly drop since TerraUSD, while tokenized equity volumes surged 145% to a record $3.86B. Stablecoin market cap fell to $312B in June, its largest monthly drop since TerraUSD, while tokenized equity volumes surged 145% to a record $3.86B.
Crypto Long & Short: With MSTR concerns assuaged, look to traditional signals around BTC
$5.4 billion of outflows YTD through June 30. BTC’s Coinbase premium has improved considerably since the end of the quarter, signaling investor appetite may be coming back. around 45% of long-term holder supply sitting at a loss, per data from Checkonchain, with levels associated with prior market bottoms. This is showing up in the data, with BTC supply held by long term holders climbing to a record high in recent weeks. Meanwhile, on-chain movements of longer-held BTC have abated from last year, alleviating earlier pressures. Strategy authorizes $1.25 billion in bitcoin sales, lifts STRC dividend to 12%: The firm’s new Digital Credit Capital Framework introduced a series of initiatives to perverse long term bitcoin exposure. Stablecoin market cap fell to $312B in June, its largest monthly drop since TerraUSD, while tokenized equity volumes surged 145% to a record $3.86B.
Schwab Strategist Backs Strategy’s STRC Playbook Amid Bitcoin Weakness
Strategy remains under pressure as Bitcoin hovers near $60,000, but recent capital moves have bought the company time, according to Jim Ferraioli, director of crypto research and strategy at the Schwab Center for Financial Research. That product fell near $70 from its $100 par value before a rebound. To defend the peg, Strategy raised the STRC dividend to 12% and authorized $2 billion in buybacks while unlocking further Bitcoin sales. He cautioned that a lower multiple could limit Strategy’s capacity to issue shares and buy more Bitcoin in the second half of the year. On correlations, Ferraioli described Bitcoin as a low-correlation asset, a trait he traced to the four-year halving that cuts new supply.
Stablecoin-settled TradFi perpetual trading tops $1.1T: Binance Research
The global stablecoin market cap has grown to roughly $311 billion, up from about $254 billion a year ago, according to DefiLlama data. Transaction activity has kept pace with market growth. Visa's Allium-powered stablecoin dashboard showed adjusted stablecoin volume reached a record $1.79 trillion in June, surpassing the previous high set in February. The region's share of Binance stablecoin transfer users more than doubled to 38% in 2026 from 17% in 2025, according to the report, which attributed the increase to growing demand for faster and lower-cost international transfers.
CFTC Chair Says Clarity Act Is ‘So Close’ As August Deadline Nears
Some analysts give the measure even odds of passage before the August 7 recess. Bartiromo also asked Selig about prediction markets, where Kalshi and Polymarket processed a combined $24 billion in volume over the past year.
Tokenized stock transfers surge 105% in a month to $8.4B
The tokenized stock market has grown from roughly $378 million to $2.16 billion over the past year, a gain of about 471%, according to RWA.xyz data. Some of the biggest names in traditional finance have also been accelerating their own tokenization efforts. In May, the DTCC announced plans to launch a tokenized securities service in October after receiving regulatory approval to offer tokenization services on pre-approved blockchains under a three-year pilot. As competition between crypto-native and traditional finance firms intensifies, ICE CEO Jeffrey Sprecher has urged regulators to allow traditional exchanges to offer 24/7 onchain perpetual futures, arguing regulated venues should be able to compete with crypto-native platforms.
Bitcoin Slips to $62,000, Paring Rebound as CryptoQuant Sees Room Higher
Bitcoin demand is turning Demand has turned. The 30-day change in total demand — spot plus perpetual futures — collapsed to some -650,000 BTC in early June, the deepest negative reading since 2022, as Bitcoin fell toward $58,000. It has since recovered toward neutral, with speculative futures demand crossing into positive territory and spot selling easing to its slowest pace since mid-May. A return to positive territory, the report said, would confirm a re-igniting demand engine. U.S. buyers show signs of stabilizing. The Coinbase Premium Index, a proxy for U.S. spot demand, sank below zero in early June as Bitcoin bottomed near $57,000, one of its weakest readings of the year. The premium remains under zero, though its path has tracked Bitcoin’s climb off the low and points to steadier institutional appetite. Valuation added a floor. The on-chain trader unrealized profit/loss margin, for coins held one to three months, dropped below -24% in early June, under the -12% threshold the firm treats as undervalued. Readings at such extremes tend to mark local bottoms as short-term holders capitulate, the report said, and the margin has recovered as price bounced off $57,700. Today’s slip to $62,000 underscores the report’s own hedge. CryptoQuant reads the market as off its lows, with improving internals but a bearish regime intact. A durable rally, it concluded, would require the Bull Score Index to climb above 60. Until then, the firm treats the move as a recovery within a bear market, not a reversal — a framing this week’s give-back does little to challenge.
Bitcoin tumbles back to key $60K support level: What’s behind the sell pressure?
Traders are currently pricing 69% odds of interest rate hikes by September, up from 42% one month prior. This environment weighs heavily on risk assets, with Bitcoin still not widely perceived as an effective hedge. The latest round of Bitcoin sales, totaling $216 million, announced by Strategy (MSTR US) on Monday, negatively surprised many after it was revealed that they occurred outside the core $1.25 billion Monetization Program.
Bitcoin, Ethereum, XRP, Dogecoin Slide as Trump Warns Iran Strikes Could Get 'Much Worse': Analyst Flags Major 'Wall' BTC Bulls Must Break
Over $330 million was liquidated from the cryptocurrency market in the last 24 hours, with $261 million in bullish long positions alone wiped out, according to Coinglass data. Nearly $400 million in Bitcoin longs risked liquidation if the apex cryptocurrency falls to $60,000. Bitcoin's open interest slid 1.40% over the last 24 hours.
Mark Cuban-backed DeFi dashboard Zapper shutters after 7 years
$13 billion in processed transactions at its peak. While crypto VC funding increased 57.6% year-on-year to $4.21 billion in the second quarter, the spread of capital has become far more concentrated, with the overall deal count having now fallen nine times over the last 10 quarters, according to RootData’s VC dashboard.
Bitcoin, ether steady, gold slides as US-Iran tensions escalate again
Bitcoin traded at $62,009, down 1.2% over 24 hours and up 1.6% on the week. Ether was at $1,730, also off 1.2% on the day but up 5.7% over seven sessions. Stablecoin market cap fell to $312B in June, its largest monthly drop since TerraUSD, while tokenized equity volumes surged 145% to a record $3.86B.
Live markets: Bitcoin ETFs slip back to outflows while ether funds extend their streak
U.S. spot bitcoin ETFs lost a net $85 million on Wednesday, ending a three-day inflow run that had pulled in roughly $509 million, per SoSoValue data. Ether ETFs took in about $70 million the same day, a fifth straight session of inflows. Grayscale's mini BTC fund was the only one in the green at nearly $53 million.
Regulators invited Binance to seek new licenses after MiCA setback, co-CEO says
Binance recorded $1.23 billion in net outflows during the week beginning June 29, up 207% from roughly $400 million the previous week, according to DefiLlama data reviewed by Cointelegraph. Of the users in the EU [who] have subsequently withdrawn their funds out of our platform, 70% of those funds went to self-hosted wallets. Only 30% flowed to MiCA-regulated entities, Teng said.
Semiconductor
This $200 Billion Semiconductor Giant Could Be the Next Nvidia
Marvell's Q1 fiscal 2027 revenue landed at $2.418 billion, up 27.6% year over year, with its data center segment contributing $1.833 billion, or 76% of the total, growing 27% year over year and 11% sequentially. Marvell is up 188.99% year to date, from a start-of-year price of $84.88 to $245.29 on July 2, 2026, and 231.25% over the trailing year.
Micron Stock: A Different Cycle, For Better Or For Worse
Micron (MU) stock has surged nearly 8x over the past year, pushing its market capitalization above $1 trillion. Historically, memory has been one of the semiconductor industry's most cyclical businesses, with DRAM moving through boom-and-bust cycles every three to four years. HBM is no longer a commodity memory product. Unlike traditional DRAM, which plugs into separate memory slots, HBM is packaged directly alongside the AI accelerator using advanced chip packaging. It is co-designed and qualified for a specific GPU generation, with much longer qualification cycles than commodity DRAM. Since the HBM is inseparable from the GPU package, each new accelerator generation typically brings a new generation of HBM as well. That changes Micron's customer mix. Instead of selling memory to hundreds of PC makers, server OEMs, and cloud providers, HBM demand is concentrated among Nvidia, AMD, and a handful of hyperscalers developing their own AI chips. The long qualification cycles work in Micron's favor. Once a memory supplier is qualified for a GPU platform, customers are reluctant to switch because validating a new supplier can take years, not quarters. That creates higher switching costs and greater revenue visibility. The flip side is customer concentration. A slowdown in AI infrastructure spending by even one major GPU customer or hyperscaler could have an outsized impact on Micron's HBM revenue. In previous memory cycles, weakness in one end market was often offset by demand from others. With HBM, that cushion is much smaller. What's Genuinely New: Take-or-Pay Contracts The strongest argument that this cycle could be different is something the DRAM industry has rarely had before: long-term take-or-pay agreements. Micron has signed 16 multi-year take-or-pay agreements. Once all planned agreements are finalized, the company expects more than half of its revenue to be backed by these contracts, with about 40% covered by fixed or ceiling pricing. See Micron growth and margins vs. peers
Can Investing in Micron Stock Make You a Millionaire?
Micron told investors it expects market tightness to continue beyond 2027, meaning there are still several quarters' worth of strong growth ahead for Micron. That could lead to strong returns, but will it be enough to achieve 10x returns? Micron's growth has gone parabolic, with its revenue two quarters ago coming in at $23.9 billion, its latest quarter coming in at $41.5 billion, and next quarter expected to be around $50 billion. That's an incredible trajectory, and it could continue for some time. Wall Street analysts project Micron's earnings per share to reach $152.62 in fiscal year 2027 (ending August 2027) and $165.94 in fiscal year 2028.
Stock Split Watch: Are These 4 Mega-Cap Stocks Any Closer to Splitting?
Data center revenue hit $1.467 billion, up 645% year over year, lifting group gross margin to 78.4%. Electrification data-center orders alone hit $2.4 billion in Q1 2026, exceeding all of 2025. ASML (NASDAQ:ASML) trades at $1,747.28. Track extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography as a share of bookings: $8.60 billion of $15.28 billion in Q4 FY25 orders.
Nvidia stock valuation falls to pre-AI boom levels in 2026
At 18 times forward earnings, the stock now sits below the broader market — the S&P 500 fetches more than 20 times and the Nasdaq $NDAQ 100 commands nearly 23 times. Within the Philadelphia Stock Exchange Semiconductor Index — up 74% this year — Micron $MU has emerged as the standout gainer, rising 229% in 2026 on top of a 239% surge in 2025. Elevated prices for high-bandwidth memory chips have fueled Micron's run, with the company's third-quarter gross margin climbing to 84.9% from 39% a year earlier.
Alibaba Surges 9% Ahead of Earnings, Baidu Gains 5% as Chinese E-Commerce and Tech Stocks Rally
That matters because instant commerce has been the biggest drag on Alibaba's margins. The company's fiscal Q4 2026 report on May 13 showed adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, and amortization (EBITA) dropping 84% to $740 million on a $123 million operating loss, even as revenue grew to $35.3 billion. The AI and cloud story remains the other pillar of the bull case for Alibaba. The company's Cloud Intelligence Group revenue grew 38% last quarter, and AI-related product revenue reached 30% of external cloud revenue for the 11th consecutive quarter of triple-digit AI growth.
Should You Buy ASML Holding Stock Before July 15?
ASML Holding (NASDAQ: ASML) is one of the most important companies in the global semiconductor ecosystem. The Dutch bellwether makes advanced chipmaking equipment used by leading foundries, memory manufacturers, and integrated device manufacturers (IDMs) to print chips that power a range of applications. These advanced chips are made using ASML's extreme ultraviolet lithography (EUV) machines, which allow its customers to print billions of transistors onto a silicon wafer using light patterns. ASML is the only company that makes these EUV machines, which are used to fabricate advanced chips that go into artificial intelligence (AI) data centers, smartphones, personal computers (PCs), and other applications. The good news is that the demand for advanced process nodes is projected to increase at an annual rate of nearly 16% through 2034, according to Fortune Business Insights.
Broadcom’s $200 Billion AI Opportunity Is Drawing New Interest From Investors
$56 billion in AI semiconductor revenue for fiscal 2026, up roughly 180% from fiscal 2025, and reiterating AI semiconductor revenue in excess of $100 billion in fiscal 2027. Q2 bookings for AI semiconductors were over $30 billion against the $10.8 billion shipped, roughly three times coverage in a single quarter. Six core customers now have multi-year, multi-gigawatt commitments: a long-term TPU and AI networking agreement with Google, 5 additional gigawatts of TPU-based compute for Anthropic beginning in 2027, 1.3 gigawatts contractually committed to OpenAI in 2027 within a 10-gigawatt agreement by 2029, and 3 gigawatts for Meta through the end of 2028. Importantly, Tan said visibility now extends into 2028. Broadcom stock has not celebrated the news above. Shares of AVGO stock traded at $495.00 at the Q2 filing on June 3, 2026, and closed at $360.45 on July 2, 2026. That is a one-month change of -25.03%. However, year to date, AVGO stock is still up 4.53%, and up 34.53% over one year and 745.73% over five years. Broadcom’s bull argument rests on a simple gap, in that the company’s pipeline is expanding faster than the stock is willing to price. In the second quarter, Broadcom delivered a record operating margin of 67% and free cash flow of $10.262 billion, or 46% of revenue. Net income rose 87.51% YoY to $9.310 billion, cash and equivalents sit at $19.628 billion, up 107.22% YoY, and AI is now a scale business inside Broadcom, with AI semiconductors representing 49% of total consolidated revenue and networking accounting for roughly 40% of Q2 AI revenue. Tan also flagged a $35 billion first tranche of an AI XPU platform with Apollo and Blackstone intended to deploy more than 20 gigawatts of compute through 2027.
Wall Street Thinks AI Is Slowing. Wall Street Is Wrong
SemiAnalysis projects $11.1 trillion in cumulative AI infrastructure spending through 2029, with annual investment topping $2 trillion by 2028 and still accelerating. AI-related debt backed by GPU contracts and datacenter leases could reach $7.1 trillion by 2029, making it second only to the U.S. mortgage market. Industry wafer fabrication equipment spending is expected to expand more than 30% in 2026. Holds a virtual monopoly on extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography systems required to manufacture leading-edge AI chips. Every layer of the semiconductor ecosystem participates in this spending cycle. Some companies capture demand directly through GPU sales, while others profit from supplying the factories and equipment needed to produce those chips. That creates greater visibility into future revenue across the semiconductor supply chain. Regardless, the current spending trend continues to favor companies supplying the hardware that powers AI. Nvidia remains the most direct beneficiary, but manufacturers like Taiwan Semiconductor, Micron, AMD, and others each occupy critical positions in a supply chain that could enjoy years of demand as the largest coordinated technology investment program in history continues to unfold.
Revenue and Growth Outlook Affirm Why Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSM) is a Top AI Stock on Wall Street’s Radar
On July 6, Citi reiterated that Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (NYSE:TSM) is well-positioned to raise its 2026 revenue growth outlook and long-term growth targets. The research firm has already reiterated a Buy rating on the stock and raised the price target to NT$3,800 from NT$2,875.
$9.3B Japan Factory Expansion Assert Micron Technology Inc. (MU) as a Top AI Stock on Wall Street Radar
$9.3 billion investment is part of the company's push to expand capacity for advanced memory chip production. The expansion will help Micron increase power and transmission efficiency in chips for AI services and self-driving cars. Shipments from the facility are expected to start in the summer of 2028. Micron is also building two leading-edge fabs in Boise, Idaho, to increase DRAM production in the US.
Bank of America Affirms Why NVIDIA Corp. (NVDA) is a Top AI Stock on Wall Street Radar
Consequently, it expects Nvidia to be one of the leading stocks in the near term, capitalizing on global cloud and AI infrastructure capital expenditure, which is expected to soar to $1.5 trillion, representing a 40% to 50% year-over-year increase.
Broadcom Stock: The 1 Number That Could Tell You a Market Turn Is Coming
NVIDIA Data Center revenue surged 92% YoY and Micron jumped 346% YoY, confirming AI capital expenditure remains in full expansion mode. A significant miss on AVGO's $16B Q3 AI semiconductor guide would be the earliest hard data signal that the AI infrastructure cycle is peaking. Q4 FY2025: $6.20B, +74% YoY - Q1 FY2026: $8.40B, +106% YoY - Q2 FY2026: $10.80B, +143% YoY - Q3 FY2026 guide: $16.00B, over 200% YoY That trajectory is accelerating. On the Q2 call, CEO Hock Tan told investors: "The momentum continues and in Q3 we expect semiconductor revenue from AI to grow over 200 percent year-over-year to $16.0 billion."
Wall Street Insider Says SK Hynix IPO Could Overwhelm the Market. Here’s the Risk Beyond Memory Stocks.
Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU) is the cleanest US-listed way to own the HBM cycle, and shares are already reacting to the crowded field. Shares closed at $938.38 on July 7, down 10.82% in a single week. Investors and traders ignored fiscal Q3 revenue hitting $41.456 billion, up 345.72% year over year, with non-GAAP EPS of $25.11 and GAAP gross margin of 84.6%.
Can SanDisk Outperform the Semiconductor Sector in 2026?
SNDK shares surged 635% year to date after Q3 FY26 revenue hit $5.95 billion, up 251% year over year. Q3 FY26 revenue hit $5.95 billion, up 251.03% year over year, with datacenter revenue exploding 645%.
Nvidia backed by Bank of America as analysts see AI leadership supporting further growth
In a note addressing key investor concerns around gross margin pressure, custom AI chip competition, concentrated ownership and capital allocation, Bank of America analysts wrote that Nvidia could sustain a 65% to 70% or greater share of AI capital expenditure over the long term. Bank of America estimated that HBM content per rack could increase by approximately $200,000 to $300,000 from Nvidia's Blackwell platform to its upcoming Rubin architecture, while rack pricing could rise by $2 million to $3 million due to upgrades across computing, networking and software.
Veteran analyst drops massive Micron valuation prediction
At that level, the stock would carry a market value of roughly $2.5 trillion, The Motley Fool noted. That would rank Micron sixth among all U.S. public companies, ahead of Broadcom and TSMC. The demand is already set. Micron's memory capacity is sold out well into 2027, and the company secured about $100 billion in long-term customer agreements. In its fiscal third quarter, Micron posted revenue of $41.46 billion, up about 346% from a year earlier.
Price Prediction: Intel Soared 450% in a Year. Will The Rally Continue?
Intel Foundry lost $2.3 billion in a single quarter while CFO David Zinsner sold shares near $110, raising insider caution flags at current prices. Q1 2026 delivered non-GAAP EPS of $0.29 on revenue of $13.577 billion, beating expectations by 9.22%.
Missed Out on Nvidia's Historic Run? These 2 Winners Are Just Getting Started.
Micron informed investors that tight market conditions will persist beyond 2027, indicating that there is still more growth on the way. Few stocks have the growth upside Nebius offers, making it well positioned to deliver incredible returns over the next few years.
Memory Stock Sell-Off: Is This the Time to Buy Micron Technology and Sandisk Like There's No Tomorrow?
Micron stock has nearly tripled in 2026 already, while Sandisk has clocked a terrific jump of 489%. However, both memory stocks have recently experienced significant pullbacks. While shares of Micron have retreated 22% after hitting a 52-week high on June 25, Sandisk is down 30% since reaching its 52-week high on June 22. Market research firm IDC estimates that smartphone sales in 2026 could drop almost 14%, while PC shipments could shrink by 11.3%. More than half of the DRAM that's manufactured is now used in data centers, according to Counterpoint Research. Also, HBM demand isn't going to slow down any time soon, with Bloomberg Intelligence estimating that this market could clock annual growth of 42% through 2033. According to McKinsey, shipments of NAND flash-based enterprise solid-state drives (SSDs) could increase at an annual rate of 35% through 2030 in a base-case scenario, primarily due to generative AI adoption. Sandisk's latest fiscal 2026 has just ended, and analysts are forecasting that the company's earnings grew by a whopping 2,120% during the year to $66.41 per share. Similarly, Micron's earnings in the ongoing fiscal year are anticipated to jump by 785% to $73.32 per share.
Dow Ends Lower To Record Worst Day In Nearly A Month As US-Iran Jitters Push Oil Prices — TSLA, NVDA, BE, AAPL, WBD In Focus
The VanEck Semiconductor ETF (SMH) added 1.5%, amid gains in chipmaker stocks including Broadcom (AVGO) and Micron Tech (MU). The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index (SOX) rose nearly 2.2%.
Why Broadcom (AVGO) Stock Is Trading Up Today
Broadcom will invest $1.5 billion to expand its Fort Collins, Colorado facility to produce more than 15 billion U.S.-made chips. Apple is estimated by analysts to account for roughly 20% of Broadcom's annual revenue, so locking in its largest customer through 2031 and expanding the relationship from wireless and connectivity parts into custom, AI-capable ASICs speaks directly to the fear that drove June's roughly 20% selloff.
Why Broadcom Stock Fell 15% in June
In the second quarter, Broadcom's revenue grew 48% to $22.2 billion, and adjusted earnings per share increased from $1.58 to $2.44. Both results slightly beat expectations. Broadcom also said that semiconductor revenue from AI grew 143% to $10.8 billion, which was better than the company's forecast. It also said that AI-related revenue would triple in the third quarter to $16 billion, but that was slightly below expectations of around $17 billion. Looking ahead to the third quarter, Broadcom expects around $29.4 billion in revenue, representing 84% growth from the quarter a year ago, and it forecast $19.6 billion in adjusted operating income.
Chip titan SK hynix to set price for mega US listing
SK hynix is expected on Thursday to set the price for its mega US listing that could be one of the world's largest stock sales. As governments and tech firms race to build data centres to train and run artificial intelligence, SK hynix -- a supplier to industry behemoth Nvidia -- has seen profits and its share price skyrocket. SK hynix said this week it hoped to raise a whopping 43 trillion won ($28 billion) by selling American Depositary Receipts (ADRs), which allow shares of foreign companies to be traded on US exchanges. That goal was revised down from an initial target of more than 45 trillion won, but recent volatility in the company's shares make firm estimations difficult. SK hynix is already traded on Seoul's Kospi index, where its market capitalisation soared past $1 trillion in May. Samsung, SK hynix and Micron dominate the global market for the advanced components known as high-bandwidth memory (HBM), used in AI servers alongside other data-crunching semiconductors.
Micron: Strong Buy As The AI Memory Supercycle Accelerates
Q3 revenues surged nearly 75% sequentially to $41.5 billion, with gross margins expanding to 85% and operating margins reaching 81%, reflecting broad-based pricing power. Guidance points to $49–$51 billion in Q4 revenues, supported by long-term Strategic Customer Agreements and persistent supply bottlenecks extending beyond 2027. My updated price target for MU is $1,775 (base case), with upside to $2,200, as free cash flow and margins are set to soar despite elevated CapEx.
AI / Robotics / EV
Tesla (TSLA) Lands $9 Billion In Megapack Orders And Expands Home Energy Push
Tesla (NasdaqGS:TSLA) has reported over US$9b in new Megapack energy storage orders tied to utility scale projects.
SpaceXAI to Launch Grok 4.5 for Public Access, Musk Confirms (SPCX)
Musk described Grok 4.5 as an “Opus-class” model, drawing comparisons with Anthropic’s Claude while claiming it delivers faster performance, greater token efficiency and lower operating costs. The model is built on xAI’s new V9 foundation model, which features 1.5 trillion parameters.
The U.S. Government Is Now Using Anthropic’s AI to Hunt Bugs in Its Own Code
The Pentagon’s FY 2027 budget requests a historic $58.5 billion for AI investment, including $46.0 billion for a multi-year sovereign “AI Arsenal” and explicit line items for AI/ML systems vulnerabilities assessment and mitigation.
Prediction: Tesla Stock Will Reach This Price in July (Hint: It's Going to Plummet)
480,126 vehicles, comfortably ahead of the 406,024 consensus among sell-side analysts. All told, deliveries rose by 25% year over year and 34% sequentially. The company's energy storage deployments of 13.5 gigawatt-hours further underscored its momentum outside the EV business. These figures were positive signals regarding Tesla's top-line automotive revenue. With nearly 74,000 more vehicles delivered than Wall Street expected, even conservative average selling prices should translate to a meaningful beat on automotive revenue. However, the absence of pricing details means investors cannot yet fully judge whether accelerating revenue will translate into expanding gross margins. If a higher proportion of lower-priced vehicles were sold, or if leasing activity increased, that could have diminished the company's revenue upside. Conversely, any talk from Musk that touches on robotaxi deployments, Optimus production, or progress toward Full Self-Driving could trigger another of the familiar narrative-driven surges that have repeatedly lifted the stock by double-digit percentages.
Tesla: Delivery Boom Is A Game-Changer (Rating Upgrade)
Tesla delivered a record 480,126 vehicles in Q2, up 25% year-over-year, surpassing consensus estimates and signaling robust Model 3 and Model Y demand.
Is Rivian Worth Half Of Ford?
RIVN dropped 18% on a dilutive share sale yet still holds a $25 billion market cap while selling just 67,000 vehicles annually. F generates $187 billion in revenue yet holds only twice Rivian's market cap, while TSLA's $1.51 trillion valuation reflects AI and robotics speculation. Rivain will sell about 67,000 vehicles this year. Ford will sell about 4.3 million. What's wrong with this picture? Rvian had $5.4 billion in revenue last year and lost $3.5 billion. Ford's revenue was $187.2 billion, on which it lost $8.2 billion. Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) has a market cap of $1.51 trillion. However, much of this is based on a future that will presumably have the best AI-driven and self-driving cars and an army of tens of millions of robots.
Tesla vs. BYD: Here Is My Pick in This EV Showdown
Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) and BYD (OTC:BYDDF) sit at opposite ends of the electric vehicle capital cycle. Tesla just posted Q1 revenue of $22.39B alongside surging AI spending, while BYD keeps compounding units and cash. The contrast has rarely been sharper, and the market is finally pricing it. Tesla's Q1 FY2026 print showed automotive gross margin expanding to 21.1% from 16.2% and FSD active subscriptions of 1.28M, up 51% YoY. Yet operating expenses jumped 37% year over year on AI R&D and CEO stock-based comp, and free cash flow was just $1.44B against $2.49B in CapEx. That is a company funding a moonshot from a shrinking runway. Tesla's FY2025 capital story tells the tale. Operating cash flow of $14.7B was gutted by $8.5B in CapEx, and net income collapsed to $3.9B, down roughly 46% from 2024. Stock-based comp swelled to $2.8B. Management is now steering into a $25 billion 2026 CapEx budget that pushes free cash flow negative for the balance of the year. Prediction markets are unusually blunt here. Polymarket traders assign only a 10.5% probability that Tesla launches robotaxis in California by December 31, 2026, and just 13% odds on an Optimus release by year end.
BofA extends first $520 million loan to OpenAI ahead of IPO, source says
BofA has helped raise nearly $500 billion in capital for AI-related companies since 2025, accounting for 60% of such fundraising across investment-grade debt, leveraged finance and equity capital markets, according to internal data seen by Reuters.
Palantir Just Hit $300 Billion. The Numbers Say That’s Only the Start.
PLTR's U.S. commercial revenue surged 133% while adjusted operating margins expanded to 60%, forcing a full-year guidance raise to $7.65 billion. PLTR's 145% Rule of 40 score puts it in company Alex Karp claims only NVDA and MU occupy. As a result of these numbers, Palantir raised its guidance considerably. The company now guides for full-year 2026 revenue between $7.650 billion to $7.662 billion, which amounts to roughly 71% year over year growth.
Uno Minda approves Rs3.20bn seating systems plant in Maharashtra
According to the Indian automotive supplier, annual capacity is set at 240,000 seating systems, with production due to start in the fourth quarter of FY2027-28.
This startup thinks robotics is about to have its ChatGPT moment
The startup last month raised $320 million at a $2.3 billion valuation on the back of that thesis. The company has demonstrated that its current model is capable of both playing a video game for hours and powering a quadrupedal robot — the latter after fine-tuning it on just eight minutes of real-world robotics data. “The fact that [the robot] was actually able to zero-shot on just the front camera, with no other sensors, in the office with dynamic objects being introduced and people walking by was a very big surprise to us,” de Witte says. “I think it’s a sign of what’s to come.”
SpaceXAI releases Grok 4.5, which Elon describes as an ‘Opus-class model’
Grok can supposedly do all this for less spend, too, as SpaceXAI says that its model has “twice greater token efficiency” than other leading models. SpaceXAI says that its new model costs $2 per million input tokens and $6 per million output tokens. That’s quite competitive, if Grok’s capabilities match SpaceXAI’s rhetoric. Opus 4.7, by comparison, costs $5 per million input tokens, and $25 per million output tokens.
Tesla Stock Sank 7% Despite Record Deliveries
On July 2, Tesla reported 480,126 vehicle deliveries for the second quarter, a 25% jump from a year earlier and a wide beat of the 406,000 that analysts on Wall Street had modeled. Production reached 451,758 vehicles, and the energy division deployed 13.5 gigawatt-hours of storage, above the 9.6 posted a year ago. Tesla widened its robotaxi service to Miami, its third U.S. market, and the shares rallied, closing near $420 on July 6.
SPCX Stock Records 3-Day Slide: Elon Musk Admits Anthropic’s Fable Is 'Definitely Better' Than Grok 4.5
SpaceXAI said Grok 4.5 is priced at $2 per million input tokens and $6 per million output tokens, making it cheaper than several rival high-end models if its performance holds up. Anthropic’s Opus 4.7 costs $5 per million input tokens and $25 per million output tokens, while OpenAI’s top-tier Sol model is priced at $5 per million input tokens and $30 per million output tokens.
Elon Musk Says Optimus, AI Will Enable 'Excellent' Healthcare—Cathie Wood Sees $50 Billion AI Compute Need
US labor productivity has compounded at ~2.1% annually since the commercial tractor's debut. Real disposable income has grown at a ~3.2% annualized rate over the postwar period. A humanoid robot is 200,000 times more complex than a robotaxi. The firm also said that an investment of approximately $50 billion in compute was needed to help the technology reach "human-level task proficiency."
Some Good and Bad News for Tesla Investors
Tesla is behind schedule on its robotaxi rollout. While recognizing that the rollout is not entirely under the company's control, the reality is that investors key in on what management tells them. Unfortunately, Tesla is not a company known for underpromising and overdelivering, especially when it comes to the robotaxi rollout. Back on an earnings call in July 2025, CEO Elon Musk said, "I think we'll probably have autonomous ride-hailing in probably half the population of the U.S. by the end of the year." Furthermore, going back to the fourth-quarter earnings presentation in January, the company said the robotaxi "status" for seven cities was "H1 2026." That was later changed to "ramping unsupervised" for Dallas and Houston, and "preparations underway" for Phoenix, Miami, Orlando, Tampa, and Las Vegas. Having passed the half-year mark, only Miami has been added to the list of cities with unsupervised robotaxis (and only in a limited section of Miami), after Dallas and Houston were added in the first quarter and Austin in the last quarter. Moreover, investors will need to be patient with robotaxi as Musk was clear in the last earnings call in April that "I think it's not going to make sense for us to deploy unsupervised FSD or robotaxi large scale when we know that there are major architectural improvements to the software that can improve safety," and this implies waiting for v15 of its full-self driving (FSD) software, which Musk expects "hopefully by the end of this year, but certainly by early next year." Clearly, the key question regarding the robotaxi during the upcoming earnings call is the current status of v15 FSD. Tesla's second-quarter delivery total of more than 480,000 blew away the Wall Street consensus of about 406,000. While the bears will be quick to remind the bulls that Tesla isn't a car company (a long-held bullish argument), the reality is that it is good news for Tesla. Not only does it confirm that the company has moved past the Model Y refresh issue that slowed sales last year, but it also shows it's retaining its market position even as rivals are scaling back their EV plans after failing to gain market share. Moreover, some back-of-the-envelope calculations show that the 74,000 extra units above Wall Street estimates (assuming an average revenue per unit of $43,000) will result in $3.18 billion in "extra revenue." Given that Tesla's operating cash flow margin was about 15.6% in 2025 and assuming the extra deliveries are capital-spending-neutral, this could result in $500 million in "extra" free cash flow. That will help derisk Tesla's capital spending plans, which include $25 billion in 2026. As such, the good news on deliveries helps derisk the company's plans.
PalmDigitalz Achieves Product Footprint Second Only to IBM in MarketsandMarkets 360Quadrants for Mainframe Modernization, 2026
80% of Fortune 2000 companies rely on MarketsandMarkets, and 90 of the top 100 companies in each sector trust it to accelerate their revenue growth. With a global clientele of over 13,000 organizations, MarketsandMarkets helps businesses thrive in a rapidly evolving and disruptive ecosystem. The B2B economy is witnessing the emergence of USD 25 trillion in new revenue streams that are replacing existing ones within this decade.
Power / Grid
These Nuclear Energy Stocks Slumped in the First Half of 2026. Buy This 1 On the Dip.
Nuclear stocks were on fire in 2025 amid hype over artificial intelligence data centers, rising energy demands, the Trump administration's push to secure energy independence, and growing global support for nuclear energy. Oklo made headlines when it secured a commitment on a power campus project with Meta Platforms. Meanwhile, NuScale is working to build its first power plant in Romania and is in the pre-development planning phase with the Tennessee Valley Authority for up to 6 gigawatts of SMR (small modular reactor) capacity, but has yet to secure a firm commitment. It will be several years before any of these microreactor or small modular reactor technologies go into operation. NuScale has the only SMR design certified by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Meanwhile, Oklo is working with the Department of Energy's Reactor Pilot Program to develop its projects, and hopes to start up its first Aurora Powerhouse by late 2027 or early 2028. Cameco has a more established business Cameco has gotten caught up in the nuclear sell-off, but it has a distinct advantage over upstarts like Oklo and NuScale: It is a mature company that should benefit from growing uranium demand in the coming years. That's because it operates high-grade mines in Canada, giving it a North American presence as the U.S. seeks to secure energy from allies and reduce its reliance on Russian uranium. What's more, Cameco has a 49% ownership stake in Westinghouse, which provides upside exposure to the nuclear energy infrastructure build-out and a share of Westinghouse's high-margin utility services, reactor maintenance, and fuel assembly revenues, complementing its upstream mining operations.
Why Ford Stock Slumped 20% in June, And Why July 28 Could Decide What's Next
Ford has repurposed its existing EV battery manufacturing plant in Kentucky to build grid-scale battery storage, capitalizing on the AI infrastructure boom. Ford also signed a multi-year agreement with EDF power solutions to provide up to 20 gigawatt hours (GWh) of BESS, starting with 4 GWh annually from 2028.
Statkraft backs 280MW Gran Sul wind project in Brazil
Statkraft has been operating in Brazil since 2008 and has a portfolio of 16 hydropower plants, 33 wind farms and 12 solar facilities either in operation or under construction. Together, these assets provide more than 2.4GW of installed capacity across all technologies.
Software
Apple announces chip deal with Broadcom worth more than $30 billion
According to Apple, more than 15 billion chips will be built in the US via the deal as part of the company's American Manufacturing Program (AMP).
Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A) Could Be 20% Below Fair Value As Abel Backs Alphabet
Against this backdrop, Berkshire Hathaway's 30 day share price return of 3.06% and 90 day share price return of 4.93% sit alongside a 1 year total shareholder return of 5.69% and 5 year total shareholder return of 80.08%. This suggests longer term holders have seen stronger compounding than recent momentum implies. The prevailing Berkshire Hathaway narrative pegs fair value at $943,785.74 per share, compared with the last close of $756,000. This implies a sizeable valuation gap for investors to assess.
U.S. Air Force Leverages Missionforce to Modernize Sustainment and Operations for $13.5 Billion Vehicle Fleet
The U.S. Air Force 441st Vehicle Support Chain Operations Squadron (VSCOS) is now using Missionforce National Security to manage its $13.5 billion fleet of over 84,000 vehicles across nearly 389 locations. Simplify Budgeting: When completed,VSCOS personnel will be able to automatically calculate the number of vehicles that can be funded with available budget, based on weighted criteria with no manual calculations required. They can also leverage a new budgeting tool to streamline distribution operations – including maintenance funding and budget distribution across bases – based on factors like average fleet size on site and local conditions. The migration to Salesforce has established a clean, unified data foundation, preparing VSCOS for future AI integrations. The squadron is already exploring AI use cases to automate manual data entry into systems of record, validate VINs, and evaluate vehicle sensor data to predict maintenance needs.
Apple to increase spend with Broadcom to produce billions more U.S. chips
These investments are part of Apple's commitment to invest $600 billion in the U.S. economy over four years, supporting manufacturing, job creation, and technology development across the country. Apple has been working with the administration and businesses across the U.S. to help create an end-to-end silicon supply chain in America, and today's announcement advances those efforts. The new agreement, expected to exceed $30 billion, will lead to the production of more than 15 billion U.S.-made chips and support hundreds of American jobs.
Is AI Unlocking New Pathways for Microsoft Corporation (MSFT)?
Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) has a market capitalization of $2.89 trillion. Azure's long-term growth trajectory, underpinned by approximately $392 billion in remaining performance obligations, provides exceptional multi year revenue visibility.
Polymarket is in a high-stakes race to win back trust as it recommits to the US market
The trading volume across the platforms for Polymarket and rival Kalshi is now $26.6 billion, according to blockchain analytics firm Dune. That's up from $9.75 billion in volume across the platforms in October last year. About two-thirds of that activity is on Kalshi, which dominates the U.S. market on the strength of sports wagering.
Did a New Perpetual Futures Deal Just Make Robinhood a Screaming Buy?
In Q1 2026, it brought in nearly $1.1 billion in revenue, up 15% year over year. The market for perpetuals is expanding quickly enough to be a significant source of growth, as Robinhood can probably market the contracts to its vast trader base of 13.5 million monthly active users without incurring much additional spending. On the same day as the launch of Robinhood's new chain, Lighter also rewrote its tokenomics to be more favorable to holders. About 15.5 million LIT tokens purchased through buybacks by the network -- about 6.3% of its circulating supply -- will now be burned and eliminated, as will tokens in future buybacks. That volume is more than the cumulative total volume of decentralized perpetuals trading just over two years ago, so the segment is growing extremely quickly.
Alta Raises $25M to Redefine the Go-to-Market Architecture for Revenue Teams
Alta hit its first million in revenue within months of commercializing and is on track for 800% revenue growth this year. Industry leaders like Salesforce and HubSpot have introduced agent-enablement layers through APIs, MCP tools, and CLI interfaces, underscoring a broader race to add intelligence to systems originally designed for data storage and workflow management.
ServiceNow: The AI Bear Case Is Falling Apart
Consistent 20% subscription growth, robust free cash flow, and a $30B revenue target support a 26% upside to a $136 price target.
Small Caps Take the Crown for First Half of 2026
The small-cap benchmark gained more than 20% for its best first-half return since 1991. Since 1980, it gained over 20% in the first half just four other times. The large-cap S&P 500 Index (SPX) was no slouch as it posted a return of 9.6% through the end of June. The last time was 1991 and the index continued its strong performance gaining 7.5% in the third quarter of that year and over 13% for the second half. When you look at the returns in the whole second half of the year, the SPX has outperformed compared to other years. It averaged a return of 6.45% and positive 70% of the time. The RUT has tended to underperform it's typical send half return but the average return of 3.3% indicates a strong fourth quarter given the weak third quarter we saw above.
Trump Accounts Just Went Live. Here’s Why You Must Open One Today
$1,000 seed alone could compound to ~$372,000 by age 62; maximizing annual contributions could push the balance to ~$17 million. Historically, the S&P 500 has returned about 10% annually before inflation over long periods. A single dollar invested decades ago has become many times larger -- not because of clever stock picking, but because earnings generated more earnings year after year. The federal contribution is only the beginning. Billionaire Michael Dell and his wife, Susan, pledged $6.25 billion to provide additional funding for children age 10 or under before Jan. 1, 2025, who live in qualifying lower-income ZIP codes. Eligible children can receive a $250 contribution that otherwise would not have existed. In total, 88 companies and individuals have committed funding to the initiative, with rapper Nicki Minaj pledged between $150,000 and $300,000 to help fund Trump Accounts for the children of her fans.
Oracle: The Market Sees A Debt Crisis I See A Cash Flow Inflection
ORCL's AI-driven CapEx is converting into strong cash flow, with $638B in RPO—12% set to convert within 12 months and another 34% over the next 36 months.
Here's Why Oracle Stock Slumped in the First Half of 2026 (Hint: Microsoft Was Also Impacted)
Oracle's decline in 2026 There are two themes to explore here. First, the reality is that forecasts for the construction of artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure have increased throughout the year. That's the main reason AI infrastructure companies like Vertiv and GE Vernova have significantly outperformed the market and the hyperscalers, like Oracle, whose increased capital spending requirements have pressured their stocks in 2026. Oracle, Microsoft, and OpenAI Microsoft is a major investor in OpenAI, owning about 27% of the company as of the end of March, and earlier in the year, management disclosed that "Approximately 45% of our commercial RPO balance is from OpenAI. "As for Oracle, it and OpenAI signed a landmark $300 billion deal in September 2025. The five-year deal starts in 2027 , in which Oracle will build out AI infrastructure and supply OpenAI with computing power. It was initially well received by the market, but, as the chart below shows, bond markets immediately began pricing in an increased risk of default for Oracle's bonds. For reference, credit default swaps are derivatives that insure the buyer from the risk of a bond's default. They are priced in basis points (whereby 100 basis points equals 1%), so the 170bps pricing of its 5-year bond currently means it costs $17,000 to insure $1,000,000 of Oracle's 5-year debt. Assuming a 40% recovery rate, the bond market estimates a 2.8% annual default probability and a cumulative default probability of 13.4%. However, the key point is the increase in implied probability after the OpenAI deal.
Goldman Sachs vs. Interactive Brokers: Which Financial Stock Is a Better Buy in 2026?
In FY 2025, the company reported revenue of approximately $58.3 billion, which represents a 9% increase from the previous year. For FY 2025, revenue reached nearly $6 billion, reflecting a year-over-year growth rate of approximately 20%. As of its December 2025 balance sheet, the company maintains a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.0x, showing that it carries no significant debt relative to its equity. The current ratio is roughly 0.8x, which measures the company's ability to cover short-term liabilities with assets that can be quickly converted to cash. Additionally, the firm reported free cash flow of negative $47.2 billion for the fiscal year. Furthermore, the business generated roughly $15.7 billion in free cash flow, which is the cash remaining after paying for operations and capital investments. The company generated a net income of roughly $984 million, resulting in a net margin of about 70%. Its revenue is also highly sensitive to interest rates and geopolitical stability, and it must compete with other massive institutions like Morgan Stanley and JPMorgan Chase.
Meta Price Prediction: The Case for 30%+ Upside After a Selloff
Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) has been through the wringer. The stock is down 18.05% over the past year and 11.54% year to date, with a brutal 4.9% single-day drop on July 2, 2026. After running the numbers, the selloff looks overextended relative to fundamentals. Our 24/7 Wall St. price target for Meta is $828.63, implying 42.16% upside from $582.90. The recommendation is buy, with high confidence at 90%. Q1 2026 revenue jumped 33.1% YoY to $56.31 billion, ad impressions rose 19%, and price per ad climbed 12%.
AI disruption is the hot topic of earnings calls
The Deutsche Bank team found that mentions of AI disruptions during earnings calls jumped to a record 780 in the first half of 2026, a 310% surge from the second half of 2025.
3 Absurdly Cheap Stocks to Buy With $1,000 in July
Free cash flow at Alcoa surged 1,250% year over year to $567 million after the company set production records at five smelters. Eni (E) raised 2026 cash flow guidance 20% to €13.8 billion and nearly doubled its buyback, while paying a 5% dividend yield. Risk: Q1 2026 is expected to carry a roughly $100 million sequential EBITDA headwind tied to absent CO2 compensation and elevated San Ciprián restart costs, on top of Section 232 tariff exposure on Canadian aluminum imports.
Apple’s $100 Billion Buyback Machine Keeps Wall Street Watching
Apple's Services segment hit an all-time record $31 billion in Q2, providing the high-margin recurring cash flow that makes the massive buyback credible. This announcement represents a reload of the existing program. Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) has now returned over $1 trillion to shareholders since the program began, of which more than $850 billion has come through repurchases. The number matters because this dividend is being funded by an operating machine that just posted its best March quarter on record. Apple's revenue came in at $111.18 billion, up 16.6% year over year, with net income of $29.58 billion and operating income up 21.28% year over year. Shares have moved with the disclosure. Apple traded at $270.84 at the time of the April 30 filing and closed at $308.63 on July 2, 2026, a 13.84% move over that window.
JPMorgan building small-cap M&A team for sub-$500M deals
Annual revenue from the midcap initiative has surpassed $1 billion and is growing at a rate of more than 20% year over year, Richert told the Journal.
3 Reasons We Love Remitly (RELY)
Over the last two years, Remitly's active customers, a key performance metric for the company, increased by 28.4% annually. Remitly's full-year EPS flipped from negative to positive over the last three years. As you can see below, Remitly's margin expanded by 35.2 percentage points over the last few years. Remitly's free cash flow margin for the trailing 12 months was 14.6%.
Mark Zuckerberg's Meta Stock Surged 9% on New Cloud Business Plan
Meta has announced plans to spend up to $145 billion on capital expenditures (capex) this year, largely tied to its AI efforts.
Three Most Valuable Companies at $13 Trillion: Buy, Sell, or Hold
NVIDIA trades at $194.83, down 12.46% over the past month and up only 4.59% year to date, a striking pause after a 854% five-year run. The fundamentals kept moving. Q1 FY2027 revenue hit $81.6 billion (+85.2% YoY), data center revenue reached $75.2 billion (+92%), and networking exploded 199%. Non-GAAP gross margin held at 75% and free cash flow reached $48.6 billion.
SentinelOne (S) Unveils AI That Can Investigate Cyber Threats Without Human Help
With a 5-year EPS growth forecasted at 53.12%, SentinelOne, Inc. (NYSE:S) is among the 12 Best Cybersecurity Stocks to Buy and Hold for the Long Term. On June 17, SentinelOne, Inc. (NYSE:S) announced the general availability of Purple AI Agentic Investigation alongside the introduction of Singularity Credits, a unified consumption model for AI-powered capabilities across the Singularity Platform. Customers can now access a complimentary trial of Purple AI's newest autonomous security reasoning capability, which enables zero-click investigations that automatically detect, investigate, validate, and respond to cyber threats without requiring human intervention. On May 29, Scotiabank analyst Patrick Colville raised the firm's price target on SentinelOne, Inc. (NYSE:S) to $16 from $15 while maintaining a Sector Perform rating on the shares.
Backblaze (BLZE) Lands $335 Million AI Infrastructure Deal
With a 5-year EPS growth forecasted at 37.88%, Backblaze, Inc. (NASDAQ:BLZE) is among the 12 Best Cybersecurity Stocks to Buy and Hold for the Long Term. On June 24, Lake Street analyst Eric Martinuzzi raised the firm's price target on Backblaze, Inc. (NASDAQ:BLZE) to $14 from $11 while maintaining a Buy rating after the company announced a $335 million total contract value agreement with CoreWeave to provide hard-disk-drive cloud storage for AI workloads. The firm believes the multi-year cloud storage agreement with CoreWeave represents a meaningful endorsement of Backblaze's neocloud strategy to become a leading provider of hard-disk-drive storage for AI cloud infrastructure. B. Riley estimates that the CoreWeave partnership could account for approximately one-quarter of Backblaze's B2 business by the end of fiscal 2027, with the potential for further expansion beyond that period. Founded in 2007 and headquartered in San Mateo, California, Backblaze, Inc. (NASDAQ:BLZE) provides essential ransomware protection, data immutability, zero-knowledge encryption, and automated disaster recovery, ensuring businesses and individuals can securely store and recover their critical data.
Calix (CALX) Scores New AI Platform Customer to Drive Growth
On June 10, Rosenblatt analyst Mike Genovese reiterated a Buy rating on Calix, Inc. (NYSE:CALX) with a $70 price target following discussions with management. The firm believes growing customer adoption of the Calix One platform will continue to drive remaining performance obligations and support future revenue growth.
JEPI vs. JEPQ: Which Is the Better Buy in July
JEPI trades around $56.43 and is down 1.55% year to date and less than 1% over the past year. JEPQ runs the same strategy against a Nasdaq-100-oriented book, which means far greater concentration in mega-cap technology. That concentration is a feature when the Nasdaq is running and a bug when it is not. Right now, it is running. JEPQ trades around $58.70, up 1.06% year to date and 8.41% over the trailing year. Distributions have scaled with the ride: JEPQ's July 2026 payout was 63 cents, its highest in the last 12 months, and up from $49 cents in July 2025. Higher tech volatility feeds richer option premiums, which is why JEPQ's headline yield consistently prints several hundred basis points above JEPI's. Income hunters chasing the biggest monthly check will land here. The VIX closed at 15.81 on July 3, 2026, in the 22.6 percentile of the past 12 months, well below the trailing average of 18.088. Low VIX compresses the premiums both funds can harvest. That headwind is universal, but it bites JEPI harder because JEPI's underlying volatility is already lower. For an investor whose primary goal is preserving principal while collecting a reliable monthly check, JEPI remains the cleaner instrument. Diversification across sectors and a top holding of just 1.8% means idiosyncratic blowups do not gut the NAV. For an investor who already owns broad equity exposure, has a longer horizon, and wants the highest monthly cash yield out of the pair, JEPQ has been the stronger performer heading into July. The 23.72% one-year total price move, combined with the largest distribution in twelve months, shows the strategy is working in this tape.
Salesforce vs ServiceNow: One Buys Back Shares, Other Buys Companies
Salesforce funded a $25 billion share repurchase by pushing noncurrent debt to $39 billion, while ServiceNow channels capital into acquisitions targeting agentic security. ServiceNow closed FY25 on January 28, 2026 with $3.568 billion in Q4 revenue and a wave of security-focused acquisitions. Customers processed 3.8 billion Agentic Work Units, with more than 50% of Agentforce and Data 360 bookings coming from existing accounts. NOW's 22.5% cRPO growth and security acquisitions make it the stronger 18-month bet. ServiceNow is playing a wider game. Now Assist net new ACV more than doubled year over year, and the platform closed 244 transactions above $1 million in net new ACV. The Moveworks close, plus pending deals for Armis and Veza, push ServiceNow deeper into security and identity. Salesforce is defending its core with a very expensive fence. The $25 billion accelerated share repurchase cut diluted shares from 970 million to 871 million, but noncurrent debt jumped to $39.3 billion from $10.4 billion.
This Undervalued $40 Billion Company Is Ready To Soar
$40 billion. That is the market capitalization of Celestica (NYSE:CLS), a company that raised its revenue guidance from $17.0 billion to $19 billion recently (now trading right around 2-times sales). Celestica raised 2026 revenue guidance to $19B and EPS to $10.15, while shares trade 19% below April's $413 filing price. The growth mix underneath the number is what makes the guide credible. Celestica's Connectivity and Cloud Solutions segment produced $3.24 billion in revenue, up 76% year over year, at an 8.6% segment margin. Operating cash flow rose 173.45% year over year to $356.3 million. CLS surged 117% over the past year versus SPY's 20%, though a 29% monthly pullback has compressed its multiple even as guidance expanded. Year to date the stock is up 13.73% against SPY's 9.22%, and over one year CLS is up 117.05% versus SPY's 20.04%.
These AI startups are growing revenue at faster and faster rates
Mercor: On Monday, Brendan Foody, co-founder and CEO of Mercor, announced that the company has crossed $2 billion in gross annualized revenue as of June — just four months after reaching the $1 billion milestone. Anthropic: In recent months, this model maker’s revenue has been at such a historic velocity that it has mesmerized the entire AI sector. In late May, Anthropic announced that it crossed $47 billion in revenue run rate, a milestone that came less than two months after the company reported that the same metric surpassed $30 billion. The company said it reached a $9 billion revenue run rate in late 2025, up from a reported $4 billion in July 2025. Glean: In May, Glean announced that it crossed $300 million in ARR. Gusto: The 14-year-old HR tech startup announced in May that its revenue accelerated in each of the last five quarters. The company, which was last valued at $9.3 billion in early 2022, also reported that it surpassed $1 billion in trailing 12-month revenue. Clio: This 18-year-old provider of legal practice management software saw its revenue take off sharply after embedding AI into its offering in 2023. The company surpassed $200 million in ARR in mid-2024, doubled that figure by late last year, and recently announced that its ARR reached $500 million.
Oracle Corporation (ORCL): A Beaten Down Technology Stock to Buy on AI Buildout Opportunities
According to the research firm, the company has emerged as a major beneficiary of the artificial intelligence buildout as hyperscale cloud commitments continue to drive strong revenue visibility. Hyperscalers are increasingly signing multiyear cloud capacity commitments, thereby strengthening Oracle's revenue base. In June, Oracle's total workforce declined by 13% as the cloud computing giant continued restructuring its business, driven by the adoption of AI across its operations.
Datadog, Inc. (DDOG) A Top AI Stock on Wall Street’s Radar Downgraded at Bernstein SocGen
Non-AI revenue is expected to slow down, which accounts for about 85% of revenue. Bernstein believes it is expected to peak in the third quarter, followed by a potential 100-basis-point decline in the fourth quarter. It would be a significant decline, given the investor consensus growth estimate of 30% to 40%.
Can Meta Platforms Become a Neocloud? Don't Hold Your Breath.
Meta Platforms signed a bunch of deals last year to obtain more computing power to support its AI ambitions, and that trend continued this year. It has already inked extended agreements with CoreWeave and Nebius. Anthropic recently secured 401 megawatts of capacity from Terawulf via a 20-year, $19 billion contract.
Prediction: Oracle Will Be the Next Trillion-Dollar Tech Giant
ORCL trades 25% below its 52-week high at just 15x forward earnings, backed by a $638B revenue backlog and 93% IaaS growth. Reaching $400 by 2028 demands 178% gains and EPS near $15, but -$24B free cash flow and $70B in planned CapEx risk dilutive equity raises. The bull scenario stretches to $350.29 and the bear stops at $184.26. The Street's $252 target underrates the RPO. When 31% long-term revenue CAGR through FY2030 is management's reconfirmed target, a $252 tag is oddly polite. That is achievable if earnings inflect. Safra Catz projected OCI revenue climbing to $144 billion by FY2030. Q4 IaaS grew 93% YoY, and Multicloud database revenue jumped 404%. Co-CEO Clay Magouyrk told analysts, "Everything we see shows this market size is in the trillions of dollars per year.
Tim Cook’s Final Move as Apple CEO: The Biggest American Manufacturing Deal in Company History
Tim Cook's final act as AAPL CEO locks in a $30 billion AVGO deal producing 15 billion US-made chips through 2031. Memory chip costs have surged 500% since August 2025, forcing Apple to raise MacBook and iPad prices 17-25% while sparing iPhones. Cook grew Apple from $300 billion to $4 trillion, representing the most value creation in corporate history, before handing off to John Ternus.
The Street is divided over Meta's latest gamble. Here's where we land
Meta's revenue in fiscal 2025 rose 22% to nearly $201 billion. Meta has made it known that — for now — it needs all the compute it can get. JPMorgan estimated that every gigawatt of Meta compute capacity offered in a cloud business could generate $20 billion of annual revenue and several dollars of earnings per share (EPS). That's a capex increase from the prior range of between $115 billion and $135 billion, and above the $122.64 billion expected, even on the low end, according to FactSet. Meta is the second-worst stock performer year-to-date among its hyperscaler peers, down more than 8%.
Broadcom Vs. Apple: AVGO Just Locked in Apple Through 2031 Which is Why You Should Buy it Over AAPL
Broadcom’s newly finalized custom silicon extension with Apple runs through 2031, hard-wiring roughly 20% of AVGO’s annual sales to the world’s largest device maker. AVGO trades at a forward P/E of 20 against a PEG of 0.4. AAPL sits at a forward P/E of 32 with a PEG of 2.5. Broadcom targets AI semiconductor revenue “in excess of $100 billion” in 2027, with over $30 billion in Q2 AI bookings already backing that math.
Estee Lauder Raises Restructuring Charges to $1.75 Billion
Estee Lauder Companies (NYSE:EL), a global cosmetics company, has increased the estimated cost of its restructuring program to as much as $1.75 billion in cumulative charges, up from its previous projection of about $1.55 billion, according to an amended regulatory filing released Tuesday. The additional charges are expected to cover workforce reductions, asset-related costs, contract terminations, and other restructuring expenses as the company continues working to improve efficiency and strengthen its operating performance. Shares were little changed in extended New York trading following the filing, although the stock had declined 19% this year through Tuesday's close, while the S&P 500 Index (SPY) had gained nearly 10% over the same period.
Commvault (CVLT) Stock Has Cheap Cash Flow But Expensive Earnings
A 96.4% return over three years suggests Commvault Systems has already rewarded patient shareholders, so any further upside case rests on whether current expectations for the business prove conservative. Commvault Systems only passes 2 of 6 valuation checks, which means that on the broader set of metrics it leans expensive rather than presenting as a clear bargain, even if the intrinsic value estimate points to a 23.9% discount. The Discounted Cash Flow (DCF) model here takes Commvault Systems' projected cash flows and discounts them back to today. On this view, the company's latest twelve month free cash flow is about $238.7 million, with analysts and internal estimates assuming growing cash flows rather than a shrinking profile. That stream is capitalised into an estimated intrinsic value of about $193 per share. This intrinsic value implies the stock screens around 23.9% undervalued relative to the current share price. P/E is a useful lens for Commvault Systems because the company has positive earnings that can be compared directly with peers. On this metric, Commvault Systems trades on a P/E of about 86.1x, well above both the software industry average of 28.8x and the peer group average of 23.5x. The tailored fair P/E ratio for Commvault Systems, which takes into account its sector, margins, size and risk profile, is estimated at 35.7x. Set against the current multiple of 86.1x, the stock screens as overvalued on earnings, even after considering its positioning in AI driven cyber resilience and partnerships with large cloud providers. Overall, Commvault Systems looks overvalued on its current P/E multiple compared with what this framework would suggest as a fair level. One of the top community narratives on Commvault Systems: 9% overvalued "Heavy reliance on expanding existing customer subscriptions and lumpy large deals, alongside evolving revenue models and integration risks, could challenge Commvault's future growth, margin stability, and market position..."
AirPods maker Luxshare slides over 5% in Hong Kong debut
Apple accounts for approximately 70% of Luxshare's revenue, according to PitchBook. Luxshare's revenue hit 332.34 billion yuan in 2025, up from 268.79 billion yuan in 2024, as per its prospectus, with consumer electronics accounting for 79.5%, automotive electronics 11.8% and communications and data centers at 7.4%.
UnitedHealth Is Emerging From Its Worst Crisis in Decades. Here's What History Says Is Coming Next.
The company also raised its earnings guidance for this fiscal year to greater than $17.35 per share, up from the previous guidance of $17.10. That would be up from $13.23 per share in 2025. The strong earnings were one tailwind, but the company also received good news from the federal government, which boosted Medicare Advantage plan rates by 2.48% for 2027. Those rates should directly benefit UnitedHealth by providing it with more money to cover medical costs, potentially increasing profits.
PlayStation says it will stop making physical games – and that should worry us all
Across the board, video game publishers and console manufacturers are seeing game sales dominated by digital – on PlayStation it seems that about 80% of games are bought via the online store (although surely that figure is complicated by the fact that many hundreds of titles are only available as digital downloads). Abandoning discs will cut manufacturing and distributing costs for games, and it will clear the route to a disc-free PS6 console, which would be cheaper to produce. Sony controls all digital sales through the PlayStation Store so it gets to set its own prices, too. The problem is, there are very few customer benefits. Choice is generally good for consumers, and PlayStation owners won't have it from 2028 onwards. They won't be able to buy cheaper games in retailer sales, they won't be able to share games with friends or purchase them secondhand. Sony can and often does run sales on its digital store, but generally back-catalogue titles are full price. The company is facing multiplelawsuits over its monopoly on digital PlayStation game sales. Last year, Goldman Sachs published a report on the music industry (where Sony is also active) in which it identified superfans as a vital element of the modern business, bringing in $4.5bn in revenue in 2024. Covering the report, Music Business Worldwide wrote: "What defines a superfan isn't just spend. It's social signalling, identity alignment, emotional investment and community. These people don't just consume, they contribute, create and amplify."
Aerospace
Boeing 737 MAX: Fourth Line Accelerates $53 Billion Growth Opportunity
By 2035, 737 MAX program revenues could exceed $53 billion annually, with cumulative revenues boosted 10% by an accelerated ramp-up on the new line.
Cathie Wood Buys $7 Million of SpaceX Stock After Unloading Alibaba
Official filings show that Wood added $7 million worth of shares across a handful of Ark funds, including ARK Innovation ETF (NYSEMKT: ARKK), ARK Next Generation Internet ETF (NYSEMKT: ARKW), and ARK Fintech Innovation ETF (NYSEMKT: ARKF). Wood is very bullish on SpaceX, believing that the company could reach an enterprise value of $3.1 trillion by 2030, as it builds out its aerospace, AI, and data center businesses. Ark has projected that Starlink could generate $300 billion in annual revenue by 2035. Wood's funds are also bullish on SpaceX's orbital data center prospects -- SpaceX eventually wants to launch data centers into space -- and the business has said that this market could be up to 20 times larger than the satellite communication market.
Wells Fargo cautious on AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile as Starlink looms
Across all three names, Wells Fargo expects Starlink's capacity expansion from Starship V3 launches to pressure fixed wireless access net adds industry-wide by 2028.
Fi expands Starlink direct-to-device capability into dog-tracking
He declined to disclose how many customers currently subscribe to Fi’s dog-tracking service, but said the company shipped its millionth product last year.
Can Rocket Lab Stock Become the Next SpaceX-Like Success Story?
RKLB grew revenue 63% in Q1 to $200 million, with a $2.2 billion backlog fueling 78% Wall Street bullish sentiment and a $114 consensus target. Rocket Lab (NASDAQ:RKLB) is doing something rare in aerospace. It is building a fully vertically integrated space platform while still burning cash. Q1 revenue hit $200.35 million, up 63.5% year over year, backlog reached $2.20 billion, and management just announced an $8 billion acquisition of Iridium Communications. Shares are up 33.44% year to date to $93.09. Can this stock hit $175 in 2027 and truly become the next SpaceX-caliber story? Let's do the math. The near-term picture is ugly. RKLB is down 5.02% over the past week and 15.43% over the past month, well off its May peak. Consensus target price sits at $114.10, with 3 strong buys, 11 buys, 4 holds, and zero sells. Bullish sentiment stands at 78%. Our base case lands at $124.25, implying 33.48% upside, with an optimistic scenario of $156.80 and a bear case at $97.12. I think the sell-side is behind the curve. Most targets were struck before the Iridium deal, and Roth Capital has already raised to $130. If Neutron flies in Q4 and Golden Dome contracts start converting, the consensus will follow. Reaching $175 from today's $93.09 requires a gain of 88%. With forward EPS at -$0.34, a $175 price implies a forward P/E of -515x, a meaningless figure because Rocket Lab remains unprofitable.
Cathie Wood Goes Bargain Hunting: 3 Stocks She Just Bought
Revenue soared 112% to top $2 billion in its latest quarter, comfortably ahead of the 101% increase analysts were expecting. CoreWeave had a revenue backlog of $99.4 billion by the end of the first quarter. It landed nearly $40 billion in new orders during the quarter, including a $21 billion commitment for Meta Platforms (META 1.79%) in March. In the meantime, top-line growth should be stellar through at least the next few quarters. The $12 billion to $13 billion it's currently modeling for 2026 means another year of revenue that more than doubles for CoreWeave.
3 Forgotten Space Economy Stocks That Could Deliver Colossal Gains Over the Next 10 Years
The space economy is a popular investing topic right now, as Space Exploration Technologies completed its record-setting initial public offering. SpaceX stock remains a hot commodity, with the company sporting a market capitalization of more than $2 trillion. AST reported first-quarter revenue of $14.7 million, up from $718,000 a year ago, with a net loss of $191.01 million, or $0.66 per share. But it's growing quickly -- management projects full-year revenue of $150 million to $200 million. The company ended the quarter with $3.5 billion in cash and cash equivalents. The company reported revenue of $97 million in the first quarter, up 57.9% year over year, and projected revenue of $450 million to $500 million for the full year. Redwire had a backlog of $498.1 million at the end of the quarter. Redwire is also set up for success over the next decade, as it was one of 14 companies selected by the Space Force to compete for contracts under the 10-year Andromeda program that tracks and identifies objects in Earth orbit. The task order's size increased from $1.8 billion to $6 billion, giving Redwire plenty of opportunities to win work against a limited field of competitors. AST announced that BlueBirds 11, 12, and 13, each measuring about 2,400 square feet, are scheduled to launch in August. The company successfully achieved a soft landing on the lunar surface in 2024 during its IM-1 mission, which carried the Odysseus lander.
Blue Origin Raises $10 Billion at a $130 Billion Valuation
Bezos' rocket company, Blue Origin, is raising $10 billion at a whopping $130 billion valuation, reports CNBC. Bezos will personally plow $2 billion into the deal. Another $4 billion will come from Coatue, and the company is actively seeking investors to fill the rest of the round. Musk's SpaceX went public in June, raising $86 billion in the largest public offering to date. The stock launched up to $225 per share before gravity pulled it back down to $148. Still, the company boasts a near-$2 trillion valuation, larger than South Korea's GDP. Rocket Lab also recently acquired Iridium Communications, a satellite communications provider, in an $8 billion deal. It's a bet that the newly combined company can chew into some of Starlink's dominance.
Elon Musk Could Get a $165 Billion Payday, But There’s Just One Problem: Traders Say It’s Never Going to Happen
$116 billion in gains, the largest equity event in history, even as TSLA trades 10% below its year-start price. The package is worth about $165 billion at the SpaceX share price referenced in the filing. Prediction market traders give SpaceX under 20% odds of sending humans to Mars by 2030, far short of the million-person colony required for vesting. SPCX listed on June 12, 2026 and closed at $149.47 on July 7, 2026, down 7.13% since debut and 12.52% over the past week. Tesla cites "CEO award SBC" as a driver of operating expenses in its Q1 2026 filing, with the stock at $402.90 on July 7, 2026 and the stock down 10.41% year to date.
Europe Launches $50 Billion NATO Long-Range Weapons Initiative
Europe currently relies mainly on Germany's Taurus missile and the British-French Storm Shadow/SCALP cruise missile, both of which can reach targets up to 500 kilometers away.
Better Space Stock to Buy Before 2026 Runs Out: SpaceX vs. Rocket Lab
SpaceX dominates launches, while competitor Rocket Lab (RKLB +0.01%) is carving out its own place in the space economy. McKinsey & Company estimates that the global space economy could reach $1.8 trillion by 2035. Driving this growth is innovation in the private sector, notably reusable launch systems and technological improvements that drastically lower the cost of launching infrastructure into space. This enables satellite developers to launch more satellites into space and capitalize on the growing demand for satellite data and connectivity. SpaceX has made a whopping 255 launches, illustrating its dominant position in the space launch industry. Rocket Lab's Electron rocket is a small-lift launch vehicle that can carry payloads of around 300 kilograms (660 lbs) into low Earth orbit (LEO). In contrast, SpaceX's Falcon 9 can carry massive payloads of 22,800 kg (50,000 lbs) into LEO. SpaceX is also developing Starship, a super heavy-lift, fully reusable rocket capable of carrying 100,000 kg (220,000 lbs) into LEO. To compete with SpaceX for larger launches, Rocket Lab has developed its medium-lift rocket, Neutron, which can carry payloads of 13,000 kg (28,600 lbs) into space. Starlink boasts 12 million active subscribers worldwide and generates $11 billion in annual revenue. SpaceX's revenue last year was $18.7 billion, dwarfing Rocket Lab's revenue of $602 million. Despite the revenue difference, both companies trade at hefty price-to-sales ratios: SpaceX at around 110x and Rocket Lab at 82x, suggesting investors are paying a steep premium in anticipation of strong future growth.
Jeff Bezos's Blue Origin is looking to fuel growth. What does that mean for rival SpaceX?
The New Glenn has launched three times. The Falcon 9 or variants of it at SpaceX have launched 673 times.
ispace to send larger payloads to the moon on SpaceX’s Starship
The Mobile Cargo System is a rover that ispace will develop to carry payloads from the Starship lander up to a few kilometers away. The company will be responsible for integrating the payloads on the ground before launch and their operations after landing. For the first mission, ispace has purchased 500 kilograms of payload space on a SpaceX Starship lunar lander scheduled to fly no earlier than 2030. The companies did not disclose financial details of the agreement. “High-capacity, relatively low-cost lunar transport, such as that provided by Starship, is essential to realizing the sustainable lunar economy that ispace aims to create,” said Takeshi Hakamada, founder and chief executive of ispace. The 500 kilograms that ispace reserved on the Starship lander include both the mass of the Mobile Cargo System itself and the payload.
SpaceX Stock Falls 35% From Peak Even After Nasdaq-100 Inclusion
The company posted about $18.7 billion in revenue in 2025, up about 33% year over year. That puts its valuation at roughly 100 times sales. Starlink drove much of that growth. SpaceX’s satellite internet unit generated more than $11 billion in 2025, about 61% of total revenue.
CAT Stock Heads For Second Weekly Loss: Is Caterpillar's AI Rally Fading?
Bio
Is IQVIA Holdings (IQV) Resilient to AI Concerns?
IQVIA Holdings Inc. (NYSE:IQV) posted a one-month return of 14.31%, and its shares gained 28.52% over the past 52 weeks. We believe its Technology & Analytics Solutions segment—anchored by proprietary prescription and patient data—provides a durable competitive moat, deeply embedded in pharma workflows, while the CRO business benefits from scale, long-term outsourcing trends and complex trial demand.
Kalohexis confidentially files IPO to back obesity and cachexia portfolio
Kalohexis is yet to determine how many shares it will offer and at what price upon its potential public market debut. The most developed is mifomelatide, a dual MC3R/MC4R agonist that's currently in Phase II for the treatment of cancer cachexia in patients with advanced disease. Kalohexis is also testing its oral dual MC3R/MC4R agonist, 710GO, in a Phase I trial to determine if it can encourage durable weight loss in obesity, as a report from GlobalData, parent company of Pharmaceutical Technology, estimates that sales in this market alone will reach $173.5bn across the seven major markets (7MM: the US, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, the UK and Japan) by 2031. In April, fellow obesity biotech, Kailera Therapeutics, secured $625m through a record-breaking upsized public offering to help fund the late-stage programme for its lead obesity injectable, ribupatide – which William Blair analysts say "could compete with Zepbound".
Prediction: Eli Lilly Stock Will Hit This Price by the End of 2026
Most coverage of Eli Lilly (LLY +2.87%) focuses on one number: how much weight its drugs help people take off. The question that matters more for the rest of 2026 is a different one. How many people can now access those drugs in the first place? That shift, from a science story to a drug access story, is the reason I think the stock has room to climb before the year is out. A weight loss pill changes who Eli Lilly can reach In April, the FDA approved Foundayo (orforglipron), the first GLP-1 pill for weight management that a person can take at any time of day with no food or water restrictions. That last detail carries more weight than it seems. Injectable treatments need refrigeration, needles, and a comfort with self-injection that keeps a lot of would-be patients on the sidelines. A daily pill strips away those barriers. Eli Lilly started shipping Foundayo through its own LillyDirect platform within days of approval, with self-pay pricing that starts near $149 a month for the lowest dose. For newer investors, here is why the format is such a big deal. An oral drug is cheaper to make and far simpler to ship at scale than an injection. That means Eli Lilly can serve markets where cold-chain logistics have made injectable versions hard to distribute, including large parts of the world that the current obesity drug boom has barely reached. Eli Lilly committed $27 billion to four new U.S. manufacturing sites, a plan its leadership called the largest pharmaceutical expansion in the country's history. Three of the four focus on small-molecule production, the category that includes pills like Foundayo. Most companies wait for demand to prove itself before they pour concrete. Eli Lilly is doing the reverse. Eli Lilly also reached an agreement to lower costs for Medicare beneficiaries, who can pay as little as $50 a month for Zepbound and Foundayo. Pair that with commercial savings cards near $25 a month, and the company is going straight at the loudest complaint about this entire drug class: the price. Every dollar of friction removed turns a hesitant patient into a filled prescription, and filled prescriptions are what compound into revenue. Shares changed hands in early July near $1,213, not far below an all-time high close to $1,230 set in late June. My prediction is that Eli Lilly finishes 2026 near $1,400, a gain of about 15% from that level.
This $1,200 Stock Could Be the Next Massive Stock Split Opportunity
$8.662 billion. That is what Mounjaro alone generated for Eli Lilly (NYSE:LLY | LLY Price Prediction) in the first quarter of 2026, a single product, a single quarter, up 125% year over year. Non-GAAP EPS of $8.55 beat consensus of $6.7921 by a 25.88% margin, the biggest surprise in the four-quarter streak of beats. The company’s management team recently raised its full-year 2026 revenue guidance to $82.0 billion to $85.0 billion from the prior $80.0 billion to $83.0 billion, lifted non-GAAP EPS guidance to $35.50 to $37.00 from $33.50 to $35.00, and pushed performance margin guidance to 47.0% to 48.5%.
Novo Nordisk shares dip as latest prescription data points to GLP-1 pill slowdown
Four-week rolling total prescriptions for injectable Wegovy were up 37% to 38%.
Is Genmab A/S (GMAB) Stock Undervalued After Positive Epkinly DLBCL Trial Results?
The EPCORE DLBCL-4 trial achieved its primary endpoint. The revision followed the company's announcement that the EPCORE DLBCL-4 trial achieved its primary endpoint. Based on the trial outcome, the firm raised its estimated likelihood of regulatory approval for Epkinly to 70% in the first-line setting and 95% in the second-line setting. Genmab A/S (NASDAQ:GMAB) announced that the European Commission approved marketing authorization for TEPKINLY in combination with lenalidomide and rituximab for adults with relapsed or refractory follicular lymphoma. The approval was supported by findings from the Phase 3 EPCORE FL-1 trial, which evaluated a fixed-duration TEPKINLY plus R2 regimen against the standard R2 treatment. GMAB highlighted that the results demonstrated the therapy's potential to deliver durable responses through a chemotherapy-free approach for patients with limited treatment options.
Is Crinetics Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (CRNX) Stock a Buying Opportunity After a 44% Pullback?
The firm expressed the highest confidence in the Phase 3 atumelnant program for congenital adrenal hyperplasia and projects peak sales potential of approximately $2.0 billion. Vertex stated that CRNX's endocrine-focused portfolio, including PALSONIFY and atumelnant, aligns with its strategy of developing transformative medicines for diseases with significant unmet needs. The acquisition is expected to support Vertex's revenue growth, with the combined assets projected to provide more than $5 billion in potential peak annual revenue. Crinteics Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:CRNX) is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on developing oral, non-peptide therapies for endocrine diseases and tumors by targeting G-protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs). Its key programs include PALSONIFY (paltusotine), an FDA- and EMA-approved oral treatment for acromegaly; atremelnant, a Phase 3 therapy for congenital adrenal hyperplasia and Cushing's syndrome
Is It Too Late to Buy Eli Lilly?
Lilly dominates the market, and its drugs have been bringing in blockbuster revenue. With the obesity drug market on track to reach nearly $100 billion by the end of the decade, the success story may be far from over. Lilly's oral weight loss drug, Foundayo, launched just recently, so it's in the early days of its growth story. On top of this, Lilly has a strong weight loss drug pipeline, with a very promising candidate in phase 3 studies. This is retatrutide, which acts on three hormonal pathways involved in weight loss and has demonstrated its ability to help people who need to lose a significant amount of weight. Retatrutide delivered strong phase 3 results, and the company plans to share more phase 3 data later in the year. So, is it too late to buy Lilly after its gains in recent years? Not at all. The company's weight loss portfolio is driving growth, and the pipeline could reinforce this well into the future.
Will New KEYTRUDA Breast and Bladder Cancer Approvals Redefine Merck’s (MRK) Post-Exclusivity Narrative?
In late June 2026, Merck reported multiple oncology milestones, including U.S. FDA approval of KEYTRUDA and KEYTRUDA QLEX plus Trodelvy for first-line PD-L1–positive advanced triple-negative breast cancer and EU approval of KEYTRUDA plus Padcev for cisplatin-ineligible muscle-invasive bladder cancer. Merck's narrative projects $76.5 billion revenue and $23.7 billion earnings by 2029. This requires 5.1% yearly revenue growth and a $14.8 billion earnings increase from $8.9 billion today.
2 Fast-Growing Pharmaceutical Stocks to Buy Now
Incyte reported Jakafi sales of $758 million, up 7% year over year, and Opzelura had sales of $143 million, up 20% over the same period last year. Overall revenue was $1.27 billion, up 21% year over year, and earnings per share (EPS) were $1.47, up 83.7% over the first quarter of 2025. Adjusted EPS was $1.81, beating the analysts' consensus of $1.34. CEO Bill Meury said Incyte has 10 phase 3 studies underway and anticipates four new approvals and launches in cancer and immunology through early 2027. Management recently raised its full-year revenue guidance to $925 million after the drug brought in $194.8 million in first-quarter U.S. sales alone. The company also raised full-year Briumi guidance to $885 million to $900 million in sales. TG Therapeutics has a powerhouse gross-margin profile sitting around 83%. In the first quarter, the company reported revenue of $204.9 million, up 69.5%, year over year.
This Stock Is Up 74% This Year: Is It Too Late to Buy?
In the first quarter, Iovance Biotherapeutics' revenue (mostly from this product) increased 45% year over year to $71.4 million. Iovance Biotherapeutics could obtain approval for Amtagvi in several other countries, including across the European Union.
AstraZeneca tumbles as heart drug trial misses main efficacy goal
AstraZeneca (AZN) shares tumbled nearly 10% in London after a late-stage trial for an experimental heart disease failed to meet its target.
Consumer / Retail
Caterpillar or Walmart: Which Transforming Icon Is Better for Your Portfolio?
Caterpillar's AI power pivot drove Power Generation revenue up 41%, while Walmart's advertising jumped 37% and eCommerce reached 23% of net sales. A $1,000 CAT investment a decade ago grew to $15,242, tripling WMT's return, though a recent 9% weekly drop signals high volatility. Caterpillar (NYSE:CAT) spent much of the past decade being labeled a cyclical industrial bellwether tied to construction, mining, and commodity prices. That story has changed. The company is now riding an unexpected tailwind: AI data center power demand. In Q1 2026, Power Generation revenue within Energy & Transportation jumped 41%. Construction Industries sales rose 38%, with segment margins expanding to 21.4%. Walmart (NYSE:WMT) has quietly transformed from big-box retailer to omnichannel platform. In Q1 FY27, global eCommerce grew 26% and now makes up 23% of net sales, while global advertising jumped 37%. U.S. comps rose 4.1% excluding fuel, with the strongest share gains coming from upper-income households. A $1,000 stake in Caterpillar a decade ago would be worth roughly fifteen times that today, far outpacing both Walmart and the broader index. Most of that outperformance is recent: the stock is up 64.1% year-to-date on the AI power thesis.
New EU green rules pressure growing bamboo apparel industry
Persistence Market Research forecasts the industry to reach $4.1bn by 2033, with regulatory scrutiny and demand for verifiable environmental credentials driving changes in operations and marketing. The EU's Strategy for Sustainable and Circular Textiles is at the core of these developments. Its measures push for greater durability, recyclability, and repairability across textile products entering the EU market. According to Persistence Market Research, the trend towards stricter claim verification is forcing companies to invest in traceability and certification programmes to meet both regulatory and market demands. Companies including Boody Bamboo Clothing and Thought Clothing are emphasising transparent sourcing and responsible manufacturing across their European operations, aiming to demonstrate compliance and build stakeholder trust. The regulatory shift responds directly to concerns about greenwashing, putting pressure on firms that have previously relied on vague marketing or unverified assertions about their products' environmental benefits. Companies supplying to EU countries must adapt to shifting compliance and transparency norms or risk being excluded from a significant growth market.
How A 2.5% Yield Can Turn Into A Retirement Paycheck That Keeps Growing
The average American household spent $78,535 in 2024, according to the latest Bureau of Labor Statistics Consumer Expenditure Survey. Round that to $80,000, and you have a useful starting point for the retirement paycheck many households may need to replace. A conservative 2.5% starting yield from a basket of Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ), Procter & Gamble (NYSE: PG), Coca-Cola (NYSE: KO), McDonald's (NYSE: MCD), and Lowe's (NYSE: LOW) requires $80,000 divided by 0.025, or $3.2 million in capital. Realty Income (NYSE: O), at a recent yield of about 5.2%, would require roughly $1.55 million to produce $80,000 in annual income. Johnson & Johnson's quarterly dividend rose from $0.25 in 1999 to $1.34 in 2026. Lowe's lifted its quarterly payout to $1.25 in 2026, up from a much smaller payout in 1999. Coca-Cola raised its quarterly dividend from $0.51 to $0.53 in 2026, marking its 64th consecutive annual dividend increase. Procter & Gamble raised its dividend for the 70th consecutive year in 2026 and has paid a dividend for 136 consecutive years since its incorporation in 1890. A static 10% distribution that never grows still pays $80,000 in year 30. With the CPI-U at 335.123 in May 2026, up 4.2% over the prior 12 months, that flat paycheck loses purchasing power when inflation persists. Run a total-return comparison before chasing yield. Compare a dividend-growth basket against a 10%-plus distribution fund over the same period, with dividends included. Total return includes price, and a high payout can still leave an investor worse off if the principal erodes.
Domino's Pizza Stock Is Down 32% and Still the Dominant Player. Here's Why I'd Buy Now.
Domino's Pizza has the largest market share in the quick-service restaurant pizza category, with 23.3% of the U.S. market in 2025, up from 22.5% the previous year. It had leading 32.9% and 19.6% shares in delivery and takeout, respectively. Recent sales have been sluggish, however. First-quarter U.S. same-store sales (comps) grew 0.9%, and international comps dropped 0.4%. But it's important to remember that consumer spending has been squeezed by macroeconomic pressures, such as higher tariffs and energy prices. And competitor Papa John's International also saw sales struggle, with North American comps dropping 6.4% in the first quarter, although international locations saw a 3.6% increase. Over the last year, through the end of March, the company added 964 locations, bringing the total to over 22,300. The majority of additions, 790, were international restaurants.
Shopify to Announce Second-Quarter 2026 Financial Results
Shopify's management team will host a conference call to discuss second-quarter results at 8:30 a.m. ET on Wednesday, August 5, 2026.
WHOOP Names Dirk-Jan "DJ" van Hameren Chief Marketing Officer as Member Base Surpasses 3 Million
Over more than a decade, WHOOP has earned the trust of the world's highest-performing athletes by helping them understand, train, and improve their performance. That momentum is reflected in the company's growth. WHOOP recently surpassed 3 million members worldwide after adding its latest million members in just seven months. International membership has grown more than 11x since January 2023, and today 58% of members live outside the United States.
Macroeconomic Headwinds Weighed on Pinterest (PINS) in Q1
-4.93%, Advisor Class: APDQX declined by -4.90%, and Institutional Class: APHQX fell by -4.97%, all trailing the Index's 3.68% gain. Pinterest, Inc. (NYSE:PINS) is a social media and visual discovery platform that enables users to find ideas, such as recipes, home, and style inspiration. One-month return of Pinterest, Inc. (NYSE:PINS) was 2.99%, and its shares lost 37.53% over the past 52 weeks. Pinterest, Inc. (NYSE:PINS) has a market capitalization of $12.56 billion. "Among the biggest decliners were ICON, Humana, Gartner and Pinterest, Inc. (NYSE:PINS), each of which dropped by 30% or more during the quarter." "Pinterest's recent results have been impacted by macroeconomic headwinds, particularly tariffs, which have weighed on advertising spending by large retail customers."
Gartner (IT) Declines Amid Signs of Slowing Growth
Among the biggest decliners were ICON, Humana, Gartner, Inc. (NYSE:IT) and Pinterest, each of which dropped by 30% or more during the quarter. Gartner, a technology and business advisory firm, declined following signs of slowing growth and a weaker-than-expected outlook for 2026. Its core research business has been affected by several cyclical headwinds, including US government cost-cutting, uncertainty around trade policy and longer sales cycles.
The ‘Magic Number’ To Retire Comfortably Just Rose 15%. Most Americans Aren’t Even Close.
Americans now believe they need $1.46 million to retire comfortably, up $200,000 from $1.26 million from the year before, according to the Northwestern Mutual 2026 Planning & Progress Study. That matches the 2024 record high. The trend: 2022 at $1.25 million, 2023 at $1.27 million, 2024 at $1.46 million, 2025 at $1.26 million, and 2026 back to $1.46 million. The gap is wide between actual savings and what people believe they need to retire comfortably. Median retirement savings for Americans ages 55-64 sits at just $185,000, about 13% of the $1.46 million target. Ages 65-72 hold roughly $200,000, also around 13%. Across all American workers, the median is $955, per the National Institute on Retirement Security. In the BlackRock survey, 62% had less than $150,000 saved, about 7% of what they believe they need.
Amazon.com vs. Shopify: Comparing Revenue Trends and Scale for These E-Commerce Giants
It reported a net income margin of 17% for the quarter ended March 31, 2026. Shopify boasts the higher growth rate with first-quarter sales soaring 34% year over year compared to Amazon's 17%. Amazon has extended beyond its e-commerce roots to become a provider of artificial intelligence for other businesses. Rather than Shopify's approach of baking in a set of AI features into its solutions, Amazon has constructed a proprietary AI model that differentiates it from competitors. The move has been costly, as the company builds up its AI infrastructure. It turned to offering $25 billion in bonds recently to fund its AI expansion. Shopify focuses on being a technology provider to smaller enterprises interested in selling online. With the rise of artificial intelligence, it is adding functionality that can further galvanize merchant sales on its platform.
This 4.5%-Yielding Dividend Stock Is Beating the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq. 3 Reasons That Can Continue in the Second Half of 2026
Kimberly-Clark's margins have been under pressure due to rising costs and inflationary pressures on consumer spending. In Kimberly-Clark's first-quarter 2026 earnings call, it forecasted $150 million to $170 million in additional costs if oil remained around $100 per barrel. Oil prices have come down significantly since that late April earnings call, but the months when oil was elevated will affect its full-year margins. I'd also remind everyone that we've got a solid track record over the last four years of recovering any input cost inflation and actually expanding margins. If you look at 2023 through 2025, we expanded both gross margins and operating profit margins beyond the levels pre-pandemic. So we're confident in our ability to cover all these input costs over time. Kimberly-Clark expects the combined company to deliver $2.1 billion in annual run rate synergies by the second year following the acquisition, unlocking operating leverage and boosting margins.
Heartland Express (HTLD) Rallied Amid Anticipation of Trucking Industry Recovery
In its second-quarter 2026 investor letter, Palm Valley Capital Management highlighted Heartland Express, Inc. (NASDAQ:HTLD). Heartland Express, Inc. (NASDAQ:HTLD) is a trucking company that provides short-to-medium and long-haul truckload carrier and transportation services. On July 7, 2026, Heartland Express, Inc. (NASDAQ:HTLD) closed at $14.89 per share, reflecting a market capitalization of $1.15 billion. Heartland Express, Inc. (NASDAQ:HTLD) posted a one-month return of -5.64%, while its shares gained 59.42% over the past 52 weeks. Palm Valley Capital Management stated the following regarding Heartland Express, Inc. (NASDAQ:HTLD) in its Q2 2026 investor letter: "We sold our position in Heartland Express, Inc. (NASDAQ:HTLD) during the quarter. The stock rallied to our valuation in anticipation of a trucking industry recovery."
How Target’s (TGT) Dividend Increase Highlights the Difference Between Income Reliability and Tax Deferral
The company said the payment would be its 236th consecutive dividend since becoming publicly held in 1967, and that 2026 was on track to mark its 55th consecutive year of annual dividend increases. Target Corporation (NYSE:TGT) is a general merchandise retailer that operates stores across the United States and sells products through digital channels.
Goldman Sachs Sees a $2 Trillion Opportunity in Private Markets
Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS | GS Price Prediction) is chasing a private markets opportunity measured in the trillions, and the firm has put a hard number on how much of it it wants to own – $750 billion in alternative assets under supervision by 2030. The gap between where the firm is and where it wants to be is the story (roughly $2 trillion in private markets). Goldman raised $26 billion in gross third-party alternatives in Q1 2026, of which $10 billion went into private credit strategies. Full-year 2025 gross alternatives fundraising hit a record $115 billion, and cumulative alternatives raised since 2019 now total $464 billion. Firmwide assets under supervision hit a record $3.65 trillion, with $62 billion of long-term fee-based net inflows marking the 33rd consecutive quarter of positive flow. Goldman Sachs management and other fees rose 14% year over year. This is a capital-light annuity business being layered on top of a capital-markets franchise. The bank’s CET1 ratio sits at an impressive 12.5%, 110 basis points above requirement. Long-term holders own a firm converting a cyclical capital-markets engine into a fee-based alternatives platform, at scale, on a stated glide path from $429 billion to $750 billion by 2030. Goldman's Q2 2026 earnings are the next catalyst, with the Street modeling EPS of $13.95 on revenue of $15.9 billion.
Seagate’s 485% Run Isn’t Over and Our Target Proves It
Seagate’s most recent report was a statement quarter. Fiscal Q3 2026 revenue hit $3.11 billion, up 44.1% year over year, and non-GAAP EPS came in at $4.10 versus a $3.50 consensus. Non-GAAP gross margin expanded to 47% from 36.2% a year earlier, and free cash flow jumped to $953 million. Management guided Q4 revenue to $3.45 billion and EPS to $5 at the midpoint. The thesis is straightforward. Nearline capacity is fully allocated through calendar year 2026, with orders for the first half of 2027 opening soon. HAMR-based Mozaic drives are qualified with all five of the largest cloud customers, and CEO Dave Mosley told investors that “Seagate is entering a new era of structural growth as AI applications amplify data creation.” Agentic AI and video workloads sit at the center of that demand. YouTube alone now sees 20 million uploads daily, up from 2 million three years ago. These projections assume Seagate executes on its HAMR roadmap toward 5 TB per disk by 2028 and that hyperscale storage demand holds. Meaningful upside or downside will hinge on 2027 contract pricing and the durability of AI-driven data growth.
M&S to outline shareholder returns plans this year – report
M&S finished its 2025/2026 financial year with net funds, excluding lease liabilities, of £338.2m ($451.4m). For 2026/2027, the retailer plans capital expenditure of £650m to £750m, with around two-thirds allocated to long-term growth in its food business. Chairman Archie Norman told investors the business had entered its new financial year in "fighting fit form", adding: "We'd like to be a business that delivers consistently high single-digit revenue growth and double-digit profit growth." According to the report, M&S has a 4.1% share of Britain's grocery market, which rises to 4.6% when M&S products sold through Ocado are included. The retailer's long-term aim is to double food sales.
Study Reveals Medicare Comes With a $688,996 Price Tag for Retirees
According to HealthView Services' 2026 Retirement Healthcare Costs Data Report, health-related cost inflation is expected to be very high, with the anticipated long-term inflation rate coming in at 5.6%. Based on how much costs are expected to rise, an average 65-year-old couple retiring in 2026 can expect to pay Medicare premiums totaling $688,996 over their lifetimes, and when you factor in extra costs like hearing care, vision care, copays, deductibles, and dental care, the total cost ends up averaging $955,411.
Price Prediction: iQIYI Could Be One of the Market’s Biggest Comeback Stories
Q1 2026 revenue came in at $913.32M, down 13.4% year over year, with an operating loss of $33.51M. EPS of -$0.0352 still beat the consensus estimate of -$0.2174 by 83.81%, and SG&A fell 20%.
Price Prediction: Can Costco Stock Double by 2032?
Membership renewals hold near 90%, comparable sales hit 9.8%, and Costco targets 30+ new warehouses annually to sustain its earnings growth engine. Costco (NASDAQ:COST) keeps quietly compounding while the stock market debates AI and rate cuts. Membership fees hit $1.37 billion last quarter, worldwide renewals sit at 89.7%, and comparable sales just accelerated to 9.8%.
Is Abbott Laboratories (ABT) Stock Still a Healthcare Growth Opportunity After Analyst Target Cut?
sector conditions remain supported by relatively healthy procedure volumes and capital spending trends, according to a research note shared with investors. The company expects to broaden availability to more European markets, including Belgium, the Netherlands, and Germany, during 2026.
American Express: Upgrading To Buy Ahead Of Earnings
Sequential acceleration in billed business and plummeting delinquencies signal strong underlying credit quality and operational momentum for AXP. Guidance for 9-10% revenue growth and EPS of $17.30-$17.90 appears achievable, with potential for a 3% EPS guidance raise post-Q2.
Amazon vs. Walmart vs. Costco: Which Is the Smartest Buy for the Second Half of 2026?
Amazon's focus on fast delivery, its broad range of products, and its global presence should keep customers coming back and earnings climbing. What I like most about Costco's business model is that you, as a customer, generate revenue for the company before you even set foot in a warehouse to shop. This is through membership fees, and these fees are high-margin for the company -- and they actually drive Costco's profit growth. In the recent quarter, worldwide e-commerce sales rose 26%, and membership fee revenue advanced 17%. This retail giant also has benefited from its advertising business, offering brands the ability to advertise to gain attention for their products across Walmart's digital platforms and in stores. The business generated 37% growth in the latest quarter. At the same time, Amazon may benefit from the AI boom, but it also could be a winner during times of slower economic growth, thanks to its e-commerce business and focus on value for the customer.
Could You Afford to Retire in America’s Quietest Beach Town on $700,000?
$700,000 covers Ocracoke's $46,000 annual retirement budget only if the cottage arrives paid off. Buying it from the portfolio creates a $10,000 annual shortfall. Flood and wind insurance can climb from $8,500 to $18,000 by mid-retirement, and every $2,000 increase demands $50,000 more in portfolio assets. The nearest hospital sits four hours away, forcing retirees to budget an extra $3,000 to $5,000 yearly for medical logistics that a mainland retiree never faces. A $700,000 portfolio can buy a quieter coastal retirement, but only if the house is already paid for and the island costs are treated honestly. Ocracoke has the empty-beach feeling, the ferry horn, and the distance from resort-strip noise. It also has barrier-island insurance, salt-air maintenance, hurricane evacuations, and limited medical access. Those costs decide whether the quiet stays affordable or becomes another expensive coastal fantasy. Assume you arrive with a paid-off cottage. A realistic annual budget for one retiree on the island: Property tax on a $538,000 cottage: about $4,950 Flood, wind, and hazard insurance: $8,500 to $12,000 Home maintenance and salt-air replacement: $6,000 Utilities, propane, internet: $3,600 Groceries and household (USDA moderate plan, plus ferry markup): $6,500 Medicare Part B, Medigap G, Part D, dental, vision: $6,000-$7,500 Vehicle, gas, ferry runs to mainland: $4,000 Miscellaneous, gifts, travel, income taxes on withdrawals: $8,000 That totals roughly $50,000 to $55,000 a year in current dollars, depending mainly on insurance and medical costs. The average retired-worker benefit in January 2026 is $2,071 a month after the 2.8% COLA, or about $24,850 a year. Against a $50,000 to $55,000 Ocracoke budget, Social Security covers a little less than half the spending plan. The portfolio must cover the remaining $25,000 to $30,000 a year before any unusual repairs, insurance jumps, or extended medical travel. Call the portfolio gap $25,000 to $30,000 a year. At a traditional 4% initial withdrawal rate, that requires about $625,000 to $750,000. At a more conservative 3.5%, the target rises to about $715,000 to $860,000. A $700,000 portfolio is therefore workable only near the low end of the spending range, and only if the house is already yours, insurance stays manageable, and withdrawals can flex in bad market years. If you buy the cottage from the $700,000, the math collapses. Spend even $400,000 on a modest place, and the remaining $300,000 supports only about $12,000 a year at 4%. Against the Ocracoke budget above, that can leave the retiree $13,000 to $18,000 short annually before inflation compounds. A cottage that looks affordable on the purchase date can become less affordable as flood, wind, and hazard premiums rise. Private wind coverage on a barrier island can be thin, deductibles can be large, and storm damage can trigger costs that insurance does not fully absorb. Every additional $2,000 of annual insurance cost requires about $50,000 more portfolio support at a 4% withdrawal rate. Ocracoke does not evacuate every year, but it has faced mandatory evacuation orders several times in the last decade, including for Florence, Dorian, Isaias, and Erin. Even storms that stay offshore can flood Highway 12, disrupt ferries, knock out power, and trigger costs a standard budget will not show. Budget at least $12,000 to $17,000 a year for the combined reality of insurance and mainland medical logistics. That is what keeps the quiet affordable. Ocracoke can work for a retiree with $700,000, but it is not a cheap beach retirement. It is a paid-off-house plan with unusually high insurance, maintenance, storm, and access costs.
3 Reasons to Buy Coca-Cola Stock in July
1. It's a recession-resistant winner This is an interesting time to be in the market. Investors woke up on Wednesday to news that the ceasefire in Iran has been called off, sending crude oil prices higher and stock prices -- initially -- lower. The possibility of inflationary-battling rate hikes later this year is starting to feel more like a probability. Consumer sentiment is dragging near a historic multi-year low. It's against this backdrop that Coca-Cola is often at its best. It's a high-margin business doling out a liquid escape for pocket change. The beverage stock provides a creature comfort at an uncomfortable time for market creatures. 2. Dividend, we stan Coca-Cola stock is a money machine. All it does is sell high-margin syrup and bottling rights to local distributions that bear the grunt work of production and fulfillment. Its trailing net margin of 27.8% -- meaning that nearly $0.28 of every dollar in revenue makes it to the bottom line after taxes -- is at a 15-year high. 3. And the beats keep coming If you need one final reason to own Coca-Cola this month, you may want to circle July 28 on your calendar. Coca-Cola will announce its second-quarter results that morning. Earnings season is often a time for investors to brace for volatility, but it's already established that Coca-Cola -- while not a risk-free investment -- has historically been less volatile than the market. Coca-Cola's full-year guidance announced back in April calls for adjusted organic revenue growth of 4% to 5% for all of 2026. Adjusted earnings per share should clock in slightly higher. Analysts see that playing out in the second quarter later this month, with revenue rising 4% to $13.1 billion and adjusted earnings per share climbing 7% to $0.93. It's a fair bet that the bottom line will come in a couple of pennies above that. Just see how reality has consistently exceeded expectations for more than two years. Period EPS Estimate Actual EPS Surprise Q1 2024 $0.70 $0.72 3% Q2 2024 $0.81 $0.84 4% Q3 2024 $0.75 $0.77 3% Q4 2024 $0.52 $0.55 6% Q1 2025 $0.72 $0.73 2% Q2 2025 $0.84 $0.87 4% Q3 2025 $0.78 $0.82 5% Q4 2025 $0.56 $0.58 3% Q1 2026 $0.81 $0.86 6%
Tesco May Finally Leave the Continent Behind
The Central Europe arm runs more than 560 stores and generated sales of about £4.5 billion (about $6 billion) in the 2025 to 2026 financial year. Adjusted operating profit was £115 million, down slightly at constant exchange rates. That compares with group sales of £66.6 billion and profit of £3.15 billion. The business contributed about 4% of group profit last year, which explains why analysts have long seen it as an odd fit inside a company now focused on its core markets. Tesco has roughly 28% of Britain's grocery market, a powerful loyalty engine in Clubcard and enough scale to pressure suppliers while fighting discounters.
Can a $14,000 Golf Cart Help Stellantis Turn Things Around?
Dutch automaker Stellantis needs a desperate win as it works through a €22.3 billion (about $25 billion) net loss last year and with its stock hovering near 52-week lows. The company is betting on the Fiat Topolino and Topolino Dolcevita, its first American micro-mobility product. The vehicle weighs just over 1,000 pounds, runs about 8 feet long, and draws on a 5.4-kWh lithium-ion battery for up to 46 miles of range, with a full charge taking roughly five hours on a standard outlet. American shipments rose 17%. U.S. sales grew just 4% in the first quarter against a company target of 25% retail growth for the year. Stellantis booked over $460 million in tariff cost adjustments after the Supreme Court struck down certain Trump-era import taxes. It's a vehicle priced like a golf cart, while undercutting every conventional new car sold in the U.S., where the average transaction price exceeds $48,000.
What It Takes to Retire to Minnesota at 62 on $950,000 With the Best Care in America
A realistic annual budget for a single retiree who owns a modest home outright in Rochester, Duluth, or one of the outer Twin Cities suburbs falls between roughly $52,000 and $55,000. At a 33-year retirement horizon, a 3.5% initial withdrawal rate is generally more conservative than the traditional 4% rule. On a $950,000 portfolio, that produces about $33,250 during the first year. The state's cost of living index sits at 98.621, slightly below the national baseline of 100 and well under California at 110.720 or New York at 107.921.
Morgan Stanley (MS) Buyback And Dividend Move Put Valuation Back In Focus
Morgan Stanley last closed at $222.04, compared with a widely followed fair value estimate of about $206.67, which frames today's debate on how much upside is already in the price. The analysts have a consensus price target of $206.67 for Morgan Stanley based on their expectations of its future earnings growth, profit margins and other risk factors.
American Express (AXP) Reports Solid Spending Growth, Is It Still Below Fair Value?
American Express (AXP) is back in focus after reports of solid spending growth, rising revenues, and expanding digital capabilities, even as investors weigh AI disruption risks, higher expenses, and mounting credit-loss provisions. At a share price of $349.58, American Express has given investors a 12.53% 30 day share price return, while its 1 year total shareholder return of 11.46% and 3 year total shareholder return above 100% point to momentum that markets are now reassessing in light of AI disruption concerns, rising costs, and credit risk headlines. American Express now trades around 6% below the average analyst target and at a larger implied discount to some intrinsic value estimates, even after its recent run. Is this caution a sensible buffer against AI and credit risks, or a potential mispricing that the numbers may clarify next? Most Popular Narrative: 17% Overvalued Compared with the last close at $349.58, the most followed narrative for American Express pegs fair value near $300, implying a meaningful premium in the current price. American Express is a company with a wide moat and its competitive advantages are reflected in its high operating margin. Its solid EPS growth along with the massive reduction of shares makes it a good investment, however the fact that the cost of capital is greater or at least in line with its average last 5 Years ROIC can be something to watch out for. According to andre_santos, the valuation work leans on several models, including discounted cash flow, earnings growth projections, dividend based estimates, and checks against historical valuation ranges, all blended into one figure. While some methods point to upside relative to the current share price, others come in far lower, and the final fair value of about $299.60 sits between those poles as a weighted view of what American Express might be worth using those inputs. Another View: American Express Through the SWS DCF Lens While the popular narrative argues American Express is around 17% overvalued at $349.58 versus a fair value near $300, the SWS DCF model presents a different view. It assigns a fair value of $405.78, with the stock trading about 13.8% below that level. That kind of gap raises a practical question: are markets overpaying for today's earnings multiple, or underappreciating the cash flows that American Express could generate over time?
Will Ace Hardwire RedVest Into An AI Retail Media Network?
Ace Hardware advertisers now have options to manage and run retail RedVest Media campaigns alongside Amazon, Walmart and other major retail media networks following an integration with a commerce network. The partnership with Pacvue and integration through Epsilon gives brands a simpler way to activate, optimize, and measure campaigns. Epsilon Retail Media, CitrusAd is RedVest Media's onsite ad-serving platform. Pacvue receives an API from Epsilon. Ace Hardware’s platform can connect the reporting view with cross-retail dashboards to compare results and identify trends. It can also reduce the burden of managing another retail media channel through an integrated campaign-management system that can connect brands to more than 70 million Ace loyalty members. Fifty percent of Americans live within 3 miles of an Ace Hardware store and 75% live within a 15-minute drive, where they can shop for brand power tools, paint supplies, grills, lawn and garden products, and related categories. Ace tracked a 129% increase in net income year-over-year during the first quarter. RedVest Media's underlying programmatic infrastructure and multichannel audience segment tools went through tests and brand trials for roughly 10 months leading up to the official July 2026 Pacvue platform integration.
Victoria's Secret, Lululemon, and Urban Outfitters Shares Plummet, What You Need To Know
Apparel is among the most discretionary lines in a household budget, so it suffers first when energy costs climb. With WTI up 7.1% to $75.41, higher gasoline and utility bills leave shoppers less to spend on clothing, and retailers rarely pass those pressures through without denting demand. The pain is compounded on the cost side: apparel is import-heavy, and a renewed threat to the Strait of Hormuz raises ocean-freight rates, bunker-fuel surcharges, and war-risk insurance on the very shipping lanes that move inventory from Asia. Rising bond yields add a third weight, pressuring the valuations of growth-oriented retail names. Caught between a strained consumer and costlier supply chains, the group traded broadly lower.
Blue Tokai Targets 800 Stores, Sees Revenue Jump Over 50%
Blue Tokai expects revenue to rise more than 50% to 8 billion rupees, or $93.9 million, this financial year after a near sevenfold increase over the past four years. Research firm IMARC Group projects India's cafe market, valued at $425 million in 2025, to grow at an annual rate of 11.14% and reach $1.15 billion by 2034, supported by demand from affluent consumers, wider digital availability, and quick-service chains.
This $20 Billion Sector Is Flashing Signals of a Breakout
The U.S. copper industry is valued at around $20 billion, and is one of the key market indicators many market participants watch closely. However, I think one of the most important numbers that’s also within this sector is negative eleven cents. That is what it cost Southern Copper (NYSE:SCCO | SCCO Price Prediction) to produce a pound of copper in the first quarter of 2026, on a net basis after by-product credits. The largest publicly traded pure-play copper miner reported an operating cash cost of -$0.11 per pound, down from +$0.77 a year earlier. Southern Copper flagged the swing as a -114% year-over-year improvement in its Q1 2026 release filed April 29, 2026. The company posted net income of $1.577 billion, up 66.7% year over year, on revenue of $4.251 billion, up 36.2%. SCCO stock started the year at $144.57 and closed at $172.01 on July 2, 2026, a 23.31% year-to-date gain. Management is committing more than $20.5 billion in capital across the decade to lift output toward 1.6 million tonnes of copper by 2033. Cash and equivalents sat at $4.915 billion at quarter end, with shareholders’ equity up 23.19% year over year. Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) posted its fourth straight EPS beat with Q1 net income up 154.62% year over year. Newmont (NYSE:NEM) delivered record FY2025 free cash flow of $7.299 billion. MP Materials (NYSE:MP) beat EPS estimates by 182.19% in Q1 with magnetics revenue up 306%.
BlackRock is getting ready to report, and UBS likes what it sees
UBS expects strong ETF demand to more than make up for weaker cash and institutional flows this quarter, with organic base fee growth landing around 7.8%. That would put BlackRock at the high end of its own "6-7% or higher" guidance. The bank's EPS estimate comes in a bit below consensus, but it sees operating income and other key metrics, including long-term flows, fee rate, and management fees, all coming in ahead of the Street. Management fees are pegged at $5.6 billion, ahead of the Street's $5.5 billion, on the back of a higher average fee rate and AUM. UBS is modeling average AUM of $14.5 trillion, above consensus of $14.3 trillion. Flows are where things get interesting. UBS is calling for $110 billion in iShares equity inflows, which would be one of the strongest quarters ever for the segment and a step up from $88.1 billion last quarter. Fixed income ETFs look even stronger on a relative basis, with an estimated $66 billion in inflows marking a record quarter. On the back of all this, UBS bumped up its 2026 and 2027 EPS estimates to $53.87 and $60.48.
Gotta collect 'em all: Trading card market could be worth up to $20 billion
Mizuho Americas estimates that the US trading card market could be worth anywhere between $10 billion to $20 billion, as more consumers go all in on collectibles like Pokémon cards. Based on our estimates, this could be anywhere from 10 to 20 billion dollars. Within our coverage, Target sells over a billion dollars of trading cards a year. Last year they grew that about 70%. so so a big number. Yeah, private company, but a real game changer. They acquired the the Topps brand back in 2022, added a ton of innovation innovation into the category. We think they're selling somewhere around $5 billion dollars of collectibles, which is more of an overarching definition of collectibles with trading cards fit into that. They've introduced some items like the MLB debut patch. So that they work with Major League Baseball, other other leagues, but rookies in their first game will wear a designated MLB debut patch. It's on their sleeve, whether they go for five or five strikeouts or they hit three home runs. They'll they'll cut that patch off, put it on a card, have the player autograph it. It's a one of one unique card, the ultimate rookie card. You see some of these selling for tens of thousands of dollars.
Honeywell Technologies raises profit guidance after one-for-two reverse stock split
Honeywell Technologies expects second-half adjusted earnings per share in the range of $4.40 to $4.70, compared with $2.20 to $2.35 earlier. For the full year, it raised its adjusted EPS target to $7.90 to $8.30, compared with an earlier forecast of $3.95 to $4.15.
JPMorgan (JPM) Ranks Among the Most Profitable Stocks
According to Morgan Stanley, revenue momentum continues to build across the industry. McDonald noted that late-May guidance for total markets revenue growth of 11% or more year-over-year and investment banking fee growth of at least 10% or more year-over-year was not updated in early June.
Why Did Palo Alto Networks Stock Drop Today?
Palo Alto Networks (PANW 4.72%) stock closed down 4.9% on Wednesday -- which is kind of surprising, because according to one Wall Street analyst, the stock should go up as much as 30% over the next year. Evercore loves Palo Alto Networks This morning, you see, Evercore ISI analyst Peter Levine raised his price target on Palo Alto Networks from $320 to $415. Instead of rising, however, Palo Alto stock fell... to almost precisely $320! That works out to about $338 billion, or $415 per share. If Palo Alto achieves such a result next year, it's going to surprise a lot of investors, me among them. If Palo Alto fails to grow as fast as Levine is projecting, though, 52x FCF is going to look like an awfully high price to pay for this stock. According to S&P Global Market Intelligence data, puts Palo Alto at $5.2 billion in 2027. Levine believes Palo Alto, which generated $3.5 billion in free cash flow last year and $3.8 billion over the past 12 months, will continue to grow into 2027, and is worth 52 times next year's projected FCF.
McDonald's (MCD) Registers a Bigger Fall Than the Market: Important Facts to Note
McDonald's (MCD) ended the recent trading session at $278.25, demonstrating a -1.4% change from the preceding day's closing price. The company is expected to report EPS of $3.34, up 4.7% from the prior-year quarter. For the full year, the Zacks Consensus Estimates are projecting earnings of $12.93 per share and revenue of $28.42 billion, which would represent changes of +5.98% and +5.71%, respectively, from the prior year. McDonald's is holding a Zacks Rank of #4 (Sell) right now. From a valuation perspective, McDonald's is currently exchanging hands at a Forward P/E ratio of 21.83. This signifies a premium in comparison to the average Forward P/E of 20.29 for its industry. The Retail - Restaurants industry was having an average PEG ratio of 1.95.
Teladoc Health (TDOC) Lands Walmart Partnership As Profitability Push Comes Into Focus
Teladoc Health sits at an interesting point, with the stock trading around $9.07 and showing mixed recent performance. The share price is up 28.1% over the past 30 days and 28.7% year to date, but longer term returns have been weak, with the stock down 63.1% over 3 years and down 93.9% over 5 years. Teladoc's large member base of more than 100 million users and access to institutional partners give it scale that can support better unit economics if engagement and pricing improve. The Walmart integration increases Teladoc Health's reach into retail and cash-pay channels, which may help diversify away from weaker segments and broaden its customer funnel.
Costco Wholesale Corporation (COST) Period Ending/ Trading Statement Call Prepared Remarks Transcript
Comparable sales for the month were as follows: U.S., 10.6%; Canada, 3.7%; Other International, 4.7%; total company, 8.8%; digitally enabled 20.9%. Comparable sales for the month, excluding the impacts of changes in gasoline prices and foreign exchange were as follows: U.S., 7.6%; Canada, 4.9%; Other International, 5.6%; total company, 7.0%; digitally enabled 21.5%. Net sales for the month came in at $29.24 billion, an increase of 10.6% from $26.44 billion last year.
Teladoc Health (TDOC) Stock May Be 40% Undervalued As Insurance Coverage Expands
Teladoc Health shareholders have seen the stock fall 93.9% over the past five years, which means even a modest shift in market expectations can have a large impact on perceived value. The Discounted Cash Flow (DCF) model values Teladoc Health by projecting its future free cash flows and discounting them back to today. On this view, the company generated about $148.1 million of free cash flow over the last twelve months and is modeled with growing cash flows over time, which feeds into the intrinsic value estimate. Based on these projections, the DCF model suggests an intrinsic value of about $15.08 per share, implying the stock trades at roughly a 39.9% discount and screens as undervalued relative to that estimate. P/S can be a useful cross check for Teladoc Health because revenue is currently more stable than earnings. On this measure, the stock trades on a P/S of about 0.7x, compared with roughly 2.6x for the wider Healthcare Services industry and about 5.0x across close peers. Simply Wall St's fair P/S ratio for Teladoc Health is about 2.0x, based on factors such as its sector, margins, size and risk profile. Against that benchmark, the current 0.7x multiple sits well below what the model suggests investors might usually pay for this level of business quality. On the P/S multiple, Teladoc Health stock currently screens as undervalued relative to both its industry and the modelled fair ratio. Teladoc's investments in advanced AI-driven care orchestration, leveraging its proprietary tech stack and millions of annual engagement points, are poised to shift its platform from transactional virtual care to continuous, proactive health management... The transition from higher-margin cash pay users to lower-margin insurance-based revenue in the BetterHelp segment is expected to depress overall gross margins, and management acknowledges insurance margins are a lot lower with no clear visibility on future equilibrium...
COST Stock Retreats After Hours On Decelerating Comparable Sales After Strong May Performance
Costco reported net sales of $29.24 billion for the five weeks ended July 5, 2026, a 10.6% increase from $26.44 billion a year earlier. Comparable sales for the five-week period rose 8.8% company-wide, compared to a much stronger 12.5% growth recorded in May.
Texas Instruments (TXN) Following Russell Index Changes Is The Valuation Story Still Intact
At a share price of US$301.32, Texas Instruments has seen a 40.16% three-month share price return and a 69.74% year-to-date share price return, while the 5-year total shareholder return of 81.58% points to gains that extend beyond the current AI and index reclassification headlines. Texas Instruments is in the midst of a multiyear capacity-expansion cycle that is temporarily suppressing free cash flow but materially enhancing the company's long-term competitive position. The buildout of U.S.-based 300mm analog manufacturing is expected to structurally improve cost efficiency, support higher gross margins, and increase supply-chain resilience. While the user narrative sees Texas Instruments as 30.8% undervalued, current pricing tells a tighter story. At a P/E of 51.4x, TXN trades above its fair ratio of 44.5x and above peers at 45.9x, even though it sits below the broader US semiconductor average of 61.3x.
Sherwin Williams (SHW) In Focus As Cost Cutting Narrative Meets Valuation Questions
Sherwin-Williams has just bounced over the past month even as 1 year returns are still lower, so the next question is whether to accept today's price or wait for a pullback as valuation comes into focus next. The company's sustained focus on cost control, broad and deep restructuring (doubling annual savings targets to ~$80 million), and disciplined SG&A management is structurally improving fixed cost leverage and expected to yield improved net margins and earnings power as sales volumes recover.
Others
EONX Announces Board Changes and Appointment of New Group CFO
EonX announces effective immediately changes to its Board, with the resignation of Mr Justin Hanka, and appointment of Mr John Dinan, currently CFO of the Company, as a new Non-Executive Director of the EONX Board. In conjunction with Mr Dinan's appointment to the Board, the Company appoints Mr Carlos Dubra as new group CFO to the Company.
Rivian Shares Drop After News Of 75 Million Share Public Offering
Rivian stock dropped around 10% after it announced the public offering. The proceeds from the stock sale will go toward paying off a government loan.
Here’s What Boosted Permian Resources (PR) in Q1
Permian Resources Corporation (NYSE:PR) has a market capitalization of $15.98 billion. Our energy holdings were well represented among our top contributors, benefiting from higher energy prices. Permian Resources Corporation (NYSE:PR), an independent oil and gas company, and NOV, the largest manufacturer of oilfield equipment, led the way.
UniCredit Nears Control of Commerzbank After Takeover Push
UniCredit said it upped its stake in Commerzbank to nearly half, taking it close to majority control of the bank following a takeover push.
How Morgan Stanley’s (MS) Dividend Increase and Buyback Plan Create a Cleaner Tax-Efficiency Example
Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) is one of the dividend stocks picked by financial media as investors ask whether dividend stocks are tax-efficient. On June 24, Morgan Stanley said it would increase its quarterly common stock dividend to $1.15 per share from $1.00, beginning with the dividend expected to be declared in the third quarter. The firm also reauthorized a multi-year common equity share repurchase program of up to $20 billion without a set expiration date.
Why JPMorgan’s (JPM) Dividend Hike and $50 Billion Buyback Make It a Strong Capital-Return Tax Case
JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE:JPM) is one of the dividend stocks picked by financial media as investors ask whether dividend stocks are tax-efficient. On June 24, JPMorgan said its board intended to raise the quarterly common stock dividend to $1.65 per share from $1.50 beginning in the third quarter. The board also authorized a new $50 billion common-share repurchase program effective July 1.
United Parcel Service vs. FedEx: What Their Revenue Trends Tell Investors
United Parcel Service (UPS +1.85%) primarily generates revenue by offering time-definite package delivery, international logistics, and specialized supply chain services to clients worldwide. In the first half of 2026, it announced plans to close additional distribution centers while reporting a 4% net income margin for the quarter ended March 31, 2026. FedEx (FDX +0.95%) primarily earns revenue by providing rapid package shipping, heavy cargo transport, and integrated supply chain management services across international borders. It finalized the spin-off of its freight business into an independent public company in June 2026, and reported a 6% net income margin for the quarter ended May 31, 2026. For its 2026 fiscal year ended May 31, the company’s $94.7 billion was a strong increase over the prior year’s $87.9 billion.
Why General Mills’ (GIS) Long Dividend Record Still Leaves Investors With Current-Year Taxable Income
General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) is one of the dividend stocks picked by financial media as investors ask whether dividend stocks are tax-efficient. On July 1, General Mills reported fiscal fourth-quarter results and said its board declared a quarterly dividend at the prevailing rate of $0.61 per share, payable August 3 to shareholders of record on July 10. The company also said General Mills and its predecessor company have paid dividends without interruption for 127 years. The tax angle is not that a high-yield food stock avoids taxes. A regular corporate dividend can generally qualify for preferential dividend tax treatment when holding-period rules are met, but the cash still becomes taxable income when received. That makes General Mills a useful example of the tradeoff. The distribution has a simpler tax structure than many pass-through income vehicles, but a larger cash yield can also create more current-year taxable income than a lower-yield stock that returns more value through price appreciation or buybacks. General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) manufactures and markets branded consumer foods, including meals, cereal, snacks, yogurt, baking products, and pet food.
Why Verizon’s (VZ) Income Appeal Shows the Limits of Qualified Dividend Tax Efficiency
On June 4, Verizon said its board declared a quarterly dividend of 70.75 cents per outstanding share, consistent with the prior quarter's rate. The dividend is payable August 3 to shareholders of record at the close of business on July 10. Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) provides wireless, broadband, communications, and technology services to consumers, businesses, and public-sector customers.
How Pfizer’s (PFE) Dividend Record Separates Tax Treatment From Business Momentum
Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE) is one of the dividend stocks picked by financial media as investors ask whether dividend stocks are tax-efficient. On June 24, Pfizer said its board declared a $0.43 third-quarter dividend on the company's common stock, payable September 1 to holders of record at the close of business on July 24. Pfizer also said the third-quarter cash dividend would be its 351st consecutive quarterly dividend. Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE) is a biopharmaceutical company that discovers, develops, manufactures, and sells medicines and vaccines.
Why McCormick’s (MKC) Dividend History Gives It a Cleaner Income-Tax Profile
On June 23, McCormick said its board declared a quarterly dividend of $0.48 per share on its common stock. The dividend is payable July 20 to shareholders of record on July 6. The company said this marks its 102nd consecutive year of dividend payments.
Why Best Buy’s (BBY) Dividend and Buyback Mix Puts It in the Middle of the Tax-Efficiency Spectrum
On May 28, Best Buy reported Q1 FY27 results and said it returned $202 million to shareholders through dividends during the quarter. Best Buy added that it still expected to spend about $300 million on share repurchases during FY27.
Why Caterpillar’s (CAT) Dividend Hike and Buybacks Make Capital-Return Mix Central to Its Tax Profile
Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE:CAT) is one of the dividend stocks picked by financial media as investors ask whether dividend stocks are tax-efficient. On June 10, Caterpillar said its board raised the quarterly dividend by 12 cents, or 8%, to $1.63 per share, payable August 19 to shareholders of record at the close of business on July 20. The company also said it expects to continue returning substantially all Machinery, Power & Energy free cash flow to shareholders over time through dividends and share repurchases.
2 High-Yield Dividend Stocks to Buy in 2026
Verizon Communications (VZ 0.61%) is a wireless carrier and one of only three companies that dominate the U.S. communications market. Verizon has approximately 146.8 million wireless retail connections and 16.8 million broadband connections. Management expects the business to earn at least $21.5 billion in free cash flow this year, which is cash profits left after capital reinvestment. That covers approximately $10 billion of Verizon's total dividend expenditures over the past year. Analysts currently expect Verizon to grow earnings by an average of 8% annually over the next three to five years. Realty Income has raised its dividend 135 times since going public in 1994, over 31 consecutive years. It also pays a monthly dividend, giving investors steady income year-round. Last but not least, Realty Income's 2026 guided funds from operations (FFO) per share of $4.41-$4.44 easily covers the $3.25 it has paid out over the past year.
Fathom Entertainment Names Jason Brenek New Chief Executive Officer
Fathom Entertainment is co-owned by the world's three largest theatrical operators: AMC Entertainment Holdings, Inc., Cinemark Holdings, Inc., and Regal Global Entertainment, which collectively represent more than 19,000 screens across the U.S. Brenek brings more than two decades of senior executive experience across theatrical marketing and distribution, cinema technology, and global content production and releasing strategy. Most recently, he served as Founder and CEO of MetaMedia, the world's first global cloud-based platform for delivering movies, live events, and premium content to cinemas at scale, including Garth Brooks, Coldplay, Metallica, Bon Jovi, Blake Shelton, live sports from ESPN, NCAA , WWE, UFC, and esports from Activision Blizzard and Epic Games.
Sino Biopharma receives Chinese rights to two GSK respiratory drugs
A unit of Sino Biopharmaceutical (SBMFF) has obtained commercialization rights to market two GSK (GSK)-owned respiratory drugs in mainland China, the Hong Kong-listed drugmaker announced on Wednesday.
Qnity Electronics Inc (Q): Dividend Is Coming. And That’s Not All
Qnity Electronics Inc (NYSE:Q) said that its board approved a quarterly dividend of $0.08 per share. The company also raised its full-year 2026 outlook. In Q1 2026, the company's net sales rose 18% YoY to $1.3 billion and adjusted earnings jumped 33% to $226 million. Looking ahead, Qnity expects full-year 2026 net sales in the range of $5.23 billion to $5.38 billion.
U.S. Crude Oil Stockpiles Post Unexpected Build
U.S. crude oil inventories rose for the first time in 11 weeks, increasing by 3 million barrels, as production and imports increased and exports fell.
How Andrea Orcel Did an End Run Around Germany to Build a Banking Giant
UniCredit on Wednesday said it likely won voting control of Commerzbank shares, after building its stake to just under 50% in an open tender offer.
Procter & Gamble (PG) Extends Its Dividend Appeal, Is The Stock Already Fully Valued?
Procter & Gamble's momentum appears quietly positive. The company has a 30-day share price return of 4.24% and a 3-year total shareholder return of 11.50%, even though the 1-year total shareholder return is slightly down 0.47%. At a last close of $152.75 versus a narrative fair value of $121.06, Procter & Gamble is framed as materially rich on price by one detailed valuation write up that leans heavily on cash flow, dividend and multiple based work. Procter & Gamble despite being within a very competitive industry still has some competitive advantages shown on its higher operating margin above the ~20% mark and the Morning Star Wide Moat. Also the fact that the ROIC is double the Cost of Capital means its capital allocation is being well managed. That 26.2% overvalued narrative sits awkwardly beside Simply Wall St's own P/E work on Procter & Gamble. On 21.8x P/E, the stock trades below an estimated fair ratio of 25.1x and under a 26.5x peer average, yet above the 18.2x global household products industry level.
Cash App owner Block to pay $45 million after states say it made false security promises
Block Inc. has agreed to pay $45 million to settle allegations brought by regulators in nearly every U.S. state.
What ExxonMobil (XOM)'s Texas Move and Governance Overhaul Means For Shareholders
ExxonMobil Holdings' narrative projects $369.2 billion revenue and $46.2 billion earnings by 2029. Uncover how ExxonMobil Holdings' forecasts yield a $169.91 fair value, a 20% upside to its current price. Some of the most optimistic analysts were already penciling in ExxonMobil revenue of about US$427.2 billion and earnings near US$55.8 billion by 2029,
Mastercard Incorporated to Host Conference Call on Second Quarter 2026 Financial Results
On Thursday, July 30, 2026, Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE: MA) will release its second quarter 2026 financial results. The company will host a conference call to discuss these results at 9:00 a.m. Eastern Time. The financial results will be posted on the company's website at investor.mastercard.com. The company will issue an alert over a news wire when the earnings materials are publicly available, including a link to those documents. Mastercard powers economies and empowers people in 200+ countries and territories worldwide.
3 High-Yield Dividends That Pay You Soon (But You Must Act Quickly)
The quarterly payment of $0.7075 was raised from $0.69 earlier this year, extending a streak that Wells Fargo recently flagged as 21 consecutive years of dividend increases. For a capital-heavy telecom, free cash flow is the right coverage lens. Management is guiding to free cash flow of $21.5 billion or more in 2026 alongside $3.0 billion-plus in share repurchases, comfortably above dividend commitments. The dividend has held at $0.2775 per quarter for eight consecutive quarters, and management has publicly committed to maintaining that payout through 2028. Coverage here also runs through free cash flow. Guidance calls for $18 billion-plus in FCF against the dividend plus $8 billion in planned 2026 buybacks, part of a $45 billion-plus shareholder-return program through 2028. Full-year 2026 guidance of $2.80 to $3.00 in adjusted EPS against an annual dividend of $1.72 leaves the payout ratio in a workable range, even after the company paid $2.4 billion in dividends in Q1 alone.
Don't Buy UnitedHealth Group (UNH) Stock Before Reading This
Its market value was recently $389 billion, and it has averaged annual gains of 15.8% over the past 15 years (as of July 6). Healthcare spending making up 18% of the entire U.S. economy (as of 2024), or because it's widely expected to grow by about 5.4% annually, between 2024 and 2034, per the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
The Bull Case For Goldman Sachs Group (GS) Could Change Following Value Shift And Bond Issuance Pivot
Goldman Sachs Group has launched and completed multiple fixed-rate, callable senior notes offerings across maturities from 2027 to 2046, including issues such as US$50,000,000 of 4.25% Notes due August 2, 2027 and several longer-dated MTNs priced at 100% with small discounts per security. At the same time, Goldman Sachs has been reclassified in several Russell indices from growth benchmarks into more value and defensive indices, while analysts highlight an improving earnings outlook and rising full-year estimates that are drawing increased attention ahead of the upcoming July 2026 results. Goldman Sachs Group's narrative projects $68.3 billion revenue and $20.3 billion earnings by 2029. This requires 3.6% yearly revenue growth and a $3.2 billion earnings increase from $17.1 billion.
American Express (AXP) Sees a More Significant Dip Than Broader Market: Some Facts to Know
American Express (AXP) was down 3.77% at $336.39. Shares of the credit card issuer and global payments company witnessed a gain of 9.8% over the previous month, beating the performance of the Finance sector with its gain of 5.35%, and the S&P 500's gain of 1.64%. The company's earnings per share (EPS) are projected to be $4.39, reflecting a 7.6% increase from the same quarter last year. At the same time, our most recent consensus estimate is projecting a revenue of $19.61 billion, reflecting a 9.82% rise from the equivalent quarter last year. Regarding the entire year, the Zacks Consensus Estimates forecast earnings of $17.65 per share and revenue of $79.25 billion, indicating changes of +14.76% and +9.72%, respectively, compared to the previous year. With respect to valuation, American Express is currently being traded at a Forward P/E ratio of 19.81.
Here's Why Airbnb, Inc. (ABNB) Fell More Than Broader Market
Airbnb, Inc. (ABNB) closed at $142.95 in the latest trading session, marking a -3.93% move from the prior day. The company's stock has climbed by 13.28% in the past month, exceeding the Consumer Discretionary sector's gain of 1.44% and the S&P 500's gain of 1.64%. Our most recent consensus estimate is calling for quarterly revenue of $3.58 billion, up 15.69% from the year-ago period. ABNB's full-year Zacks Consensus Estimates are calling for earnings of $4.91 per share and revenue of $13.97 billion. These results would represent year-over-year changes of +21.84% and +14.16%, respectively. Airbnb, Inc. presently features a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold). In the context of valuation, Airbnb, Inc. is at present trading with a Forward P/E ratio of 30.28. This expresses a premium compared to the average Forward P/E of 16.34 of its industry. Also, we should mention that ABNB has a PEG ratio of 1.6.
Freeport-McMoRan (FCX) Declared A Cash Dividend, Is It Still 19% Undervalued?
Freeport-McMoRan (FCX) is back on income investors radar after the Board declared a cash dividend of $0.15 per share, which combines its base and variable components under the performance-based payout framework. The recent dividend decision comes as Freeport-McMoRan's share price has eased, with the stock down 3.1% over the last day and 10.0% over the past month, yet still showing a 10.7% year to date share price return and a 27.6% 1 year total shareholder return. Against Freeport-McMoRan's last close at $57.50, the most widely followed narrative points to a fair value of about $70.68, implying meaningful upside based on its long term copper and earnings thesis. Freeport's new Indonesian smelter, starting up ahead of schedule and expected to reach full capacity by year-end, will make the company a fully integrated global copper producer, lowering operating costs, capturing more downstream value, and reducing exposure to export duties, directly supporting higher future margins and cash flows.
Nyxoah SA (NYXH) Analyst/Investor Day Transcript
Nyxoah SA (NYXH) Analyst/Investor Day July 8, 2026 10:00 AM EDT
Why Kingsoft Cloud Holdings Stock Jumped Today
Intriguing expansion prospects Morgan Stanley analyst Yang Liu views Kingsoft as an excellent way for investors to profit from the long-term growth of China's nascent artificial intelligence (AI) industry. Liu believes the cloud services provider will be a prime beneficiary of the surging demand for AI infrastructure. In turn, he estimates that Kingsoft will increase its revenue by 35% annually through 2028. Liu predicts the company's adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) could rise by an even more impressive 79% per year during that time. All told, Liu thinks Kingsoft's shares could be worth as much as $15, signifying potential gains of more than 42% for investors who buy its stock today.
PepsiCo (PEP) Could Be 23% Overvalued As Investors Eye Q2 Margins And Volumes
PepsiCo (PEP) heads into its second quarter earnings report under close scrutiny as investors weigh Frito Lay's North American snack volumes, international sales trends, and margin pressures from inflation and higher energy costs. At a share price of $142.50, PepsiCo's recent 1 day share price decline of 1.71% contrasts with a modest 30 day share price return of 1.29%. The 1 year total shareholder return of 10.15% sits against a weaker 3 year total shareholder return, suggesting momentum has been relatively muted even as attention builds around the upcoming earnings update and options markets price in a potential 4% swing. The user narrative argues PepsiCo is 22.5% overvalued at $142.50 versus a fair value of $116.35. Our DCF model points in the opposite direction, indicating the stock trades about 48.9% below an estimated future cash flow value of $278.93.
F5 (FFIV) Could Be 13% Below Fair Value As Equinix AI Tie Up Builds
F5's latest AI-focused announcements come after a strong share price run, with a 30 day share price return of 5.79%, a 90 day share price return of 42.28%, and a 1 year total shareholder return of 38.66%. This suggests momentum has been building over both shorter and longer periods. F5 last closed at $419.14, a touch above the most followed fair value estimate of $409.00, which is built on detailed revenue and margin forecasts. The ongoing shift to high-margin, recurring software and SaaS subscription revenue, along with strong renewal and expand activity from existing customers, is improving revenue visibility and predictability while supporting operating margin and EPS growth. F5 at $419.14 is trading about 12.9% below an estimated future cash flow value of $481.23, which frames the stock as undervalued.
Swift launches blockchain ledger for tokenized deposit pilot with 17 banks
Swift launched a blockchain-based ledger that enables 17 banks to pilot 24/7 cross-border payments using tokenized deposits.