Daily Point
_ Dow Jones 52,487.41 (+0.35%)
_ S&P 500 7,543.64 (+0.81%)
_ Nasdaq 26,206.89 (+0.64%)
_ Bitcoin 64,348.25 (+0.55%)
Topline Signals
- Global Memory Industry: Monthly sales reached a record $74.6 billion, representing a 31.7% month-on-month increase driven by high-bandwidth memory and AI storage demand.
- Federal Reserve: The central bank's balance sheet remains at approximately $8 trillion, with the M2 money supply expanding 1.1% in a single month to $23.05 trillion.
- Apple: The company committed to a multi-year semiconductor supply agreement with Broadcom valued at over $30 billion for the production of more than 15 billion U.S.-made chips.
Good day.
The daily fluctuations of the indices—with the S&P 500 gaining 0.81% and Bitcoin hovering around $64,348—are merely surface ripples. As long-term practitioners, we look deeper at the structural tectonic shifts. The reality of 2026 is defined by a massive, persistent liquidity ocean, anchored by the Federal Reserve's $8 trillion balance sheet and an M2 money supply that recently surged to $23.05 trillion. While the upcoming CPI data and the commencement of major bank earnings next Tuesday will undoubtedly trigger short-term volatility and talk of an October rate hike, the terminal direction of capital remains unchanged.
This wall of liquidity is actively seeking high-conviction, structural sinks, and none is more compelling than the global AI infrastructure buildout. Look at the hard evidence: global monthly memory sales have shattered records at $74.6 billion, and SK Hynix's massive $28 billion Nasdaq ADR offering was over seven times oversubscribed. Meanwhile, Apple’s $30 billion commitment to Broadcom and Micron’s astonishing 87% data center gross margins demonstrate that true pricing power resides with the physical enablers of this technological revolution.
For those committed to absolute financial freedom, the strategy is not to trade the daily noise or panic over geopolitical tensions in the Middle East. Instead, focus on aggressive capital accumulation in these highly concentrated, irreplaceable nodes of the global supply chain. Whether it is sovereign adoption of digital assets or the hardware laying the foundation for artificial general intelligence, the winners of this cycle are those who control the infrastructure. Position your capital where it cannot be disintermediated, ignore the macroeconomic theater, and let the compounding power of structural mega-trends secure your independence.
Weekly Schedule
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)
FOMC Member Bowman Speaks
OPEC Meeting
Fed Waller Speaks
Federal Budget Balance
14 Jul (Tuesday)
ADP Employment Change Weekly
Core CPI
CPI
Core CPI
CPI
Fed Vice Chair for Supervision Barr Speaks
FOMC Member Bowman Speaks
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
FOMC Member Williams Speaks
Crude Oil Inventories
Cushing Crude Oil Inventories
Beige Book
BlackRock Earnings Call
Johnson & Johnson Earnings Call
Morgan Stanley Earnings Call
16 Jul (Thursday)
GDP
Retail Sales
Core Retail Sales
Philadelphia Fed Manufacturing Index
Philly Fed Employment
Retail Control
Initial Jobless Claims
Continuing Jobless Claims
Pending Home Sales
Retail Inventories Ex Auto
Business Inventories
Atlanta Fed GDPNow
GE Aerospace Earnings Call
Intuitive Surgical Earnings Call
Netflix Earnings Call
Prologis Earnings Call
UnitedHealth Group Earnings Call
General
PepsiCo reports that US consumers scaled back on snacks and soda as inflation bites
Adjusted earnings per share came in at $2.20 in the fiscal second quarter, more than the $2.19 Wall Street analysts expected. Both revenue growth and pricing for PepsiCo's snack brands in North America fell by 2% in the quarter, while volume growth was flat in the region. The company reiterated its full-year outlook and said it expects the consumer landscape to improve in the second half of 2026. Organic revenue is expected to increase between 2% and 4%. Core constant currency earnings per share are expected to rise between 4% and 6%. "We are encouraged by the trajectory of our international business and expect its resilient performance to continue," CFO Steve Schmitt said. "Our North America business was softer than we anticipated in the second quarter, and we now expect a more gradual improvement in performance trends for the balance of this year."
The Market Had a Fantastic Second Quarter. But Here's the Warning No One Is Talking About.
The Consumer Price Index (CPI) rose 4.1% in May, while the Fed is targeting a 2% rate. The market has been factoring all of this in over the past month, and AI isn't necessarily providing more growth juice right now. In fact, many of the largest AI companies, like Nvidia, Amazon, and Alphabet, are also flat or down over the past month. That preceded a major market crash and three back-to-back years of S&P 500 losses. If you're worried, the worst thing you can do right now is get out of the markets. Historically, successful investors have stayed in the market and benefited from rebounds.
Why the Best Retirement Paycheck May Start Smaller Than You Expect
Core PCE reached an index level of 130.082 in May 2026, and the core PCE inflation rate was 3.4% from a year earlier. Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ) now pays $1.34 per quarter, marking its 64th consecutive year of dividend increases. Procter & Gamble (NYSE: PG) raised its quarterly dividend to $1.0885 in 2026, its 70th consecutive annual increase. McDonald's (NYSE: MCD) now pays $1.86 per quarter, for an annualized payout of $7.44 and a forward yield near 2.8%. Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) yields about 1% today but lifted its quarterly dividend from $0.08 in 2005 to $0.91 in 2026, while its 10-year total return was roughly 725%. Visa (NYSE: V) yields about 0.8%, and its quarterly dividend reached $0.67 in 2026; its 10-year price return was closer to 356% than 392%. NextEra Energy splits the difference: a utility profile paired with company guidance to grow the dividend roughly 10% annually through 2026, then 6% annually from year-end 2026 through 2028.
Home sales stayed muted in June as affordability challenges persisted
Sales of existing homes dropped 2.4% from May to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.09 million, according to National Association of Realtors data released on Thursday. Economists were expecting a modest increase to 4.2 million. The median existing home sales price reached a new high of $440,600 in June.
US existing home sales unexpectedly fall in June
Home sales dropped 2.4% last month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.09 million units, the National Association of Realtors said on Thursday. Sales increased in the Northeast, but declined in the Midwest, South and West. Existing home sales are counted at the closing of a contract. Last month's sales likely reflected contracts signed in April and May. The average rate on the popular 30-year fixed-rate mortgage remains about 45 basis points above its pre-conflict level, data from mortgage financing firm Freddie Mac showed. Home sales increased 2.8% on a year-over-year basis in June. At June's sales pace, it would take 4.6 months to exhaust the current inventory of existing homes, unchanged from a year ago. The median existing home price last month increased 1.8% from a year ago to a record-high $440,600. First-time buyers accounted for 33% of sales, up from 30% a year ago.
Fed minutes expose deep divide over interest-rate outlook
The rate-setting Federal Open Market Committee voted unanimously last month to hold its benchmark Federal Funds Rate target in a range of 3.5% to 3.75%. Federal Reserve Chair Kevin Warsh said July 1 that inflation risks have come down in recent weeks although he didn't offer data or other numbers to support his argument. In a scenario featuring moderating inflation, "most" participants said they expected the central bank would "maintain or eventually lower the target range for the Federal Funds Rate." But "most" participants said that "some policy firming would likely be warranted" if inflation remains elevated. New York Fed President John Williams said July 7 that monetary policy was well positioned and that he expected Headline PCE, the Fed's preferred inflation gauge that's been hitting close to 4%, will dip over the next several months as energy prices stabilize.
U.S. existing home sales fall in June 2026 as prices hit record
The National Association of Realtors reported Thursday that existing home sales slipped 2.4% in June, settling at an annualized pace of 4.09 million units and reversing a five-month high reached the prior month. At the same time, the typical price for a previously owned home reached a record $440,600, a figure 1.8% above where it stood twelve months prior. The number of homes listed for sale totaled 1.56 million at the close of June, a figure that edged down from May by 0.6% while still running 1.3% ahead of the prior year's count. Higher-priced homes continued to lead activity. Properties in the $750,000-to-$1 million range saw transactions climb nearly 14% year over year, while the segment above $1 million posted an 18% gain, according to CNBC. The housing shortage is estimated at roughly 1.2 million units, citing the National Association of Home Builders, according to Reuters. Newcomers to homeownership represented 33% of June closings, gaining ground from the 30% share recorded a year earlier, though still well below the 40% level the NAR views as a sign of a healthy market.
Mortgage and refinance interest rates today, Thursday, July 9, 2026: Rates moving upward today
According to Freddie Mac, the lowest-ever 30-year fixed mortgage rate was 2.65%. This was the national average in January 2021. It is extremely unlikely that rates will dip below 3% again anytime soon. Some experts say it's worth refinancing when you can lock in a rate that's 2% less than your current mortgage rate. Others say 1% is the magic number.
Dollar dips as labor market remains stable, US-Iran tensions rise
The dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of currencies, shed 0.09% to 100.93, with the euro up 0.17% at $1.1434. Expectations for a rate hike of at least 25 basis points at the Fed's July 28-29 meeting eased back to 24.1% from 31% in the prior session, but up from 18.2% a week ago, according to CME Group's FedWatch tool. On the U.S. economic front, weekly initial jobless claims dipped by 2,000 to 215,000, below the 218,000 estimate of economists polled by Reuters, indicating the labor market remains on stable footing. The Bank of Japan said the Iran war is likely to goad more firms to raise prices later this year, signaling caution over mounting inflationary pressures that could bolster the case for further rate hikes.
US home prices hit an all-time high as sales slow and mortgage rates rise
Existing home sales fell 2.4% last month from May to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.09 million units, the National Association of Realtors said Thursday. The U.S. median sales price increased 1.8% in June from a year earlier to $440,600, an all-time high on data going back to 1999, NAR said. Home prices have risen on an annual basis for 36 months in a row. Years of soaring home prices, especially in the early part of this decade when rock-bottom mortgage rates fueled a buying frenzy, have left many would-be homebuyers frozen out of the market.
The Fed’s $8 Trillion Balance Sheet Is Sending a Clear Signal
The Fed's $8 trillion balance sheet keeps flooding liquidity as Core PCE and M2 both hit the 90th percentile of their 12-month range. The Federal Reserve is still carrying roughly $8 trillion in assets on its balance sheet, and it is doing so while its preferred inflation gauge climbs and long-term Treasury yields sit near the top of their 12-month range. That is the number that frames every other market signal flashing on July 2, 2026. Look at what has moved alongside this number. M2 money supply has climbed to $23.05 trillion as of May 1, 2026, up $0.25 trillion in a single month, a 1.1% jump that puts the broad money measure at the 90.9th percentile of its 12-month range. At the same time, the Fed's preferred inflation gauge is not cooperating. Core PCE has risen from 126.43 in July 2025 to 130.08 in May 2026, with the most recent monthly reading up 0.3%. That index now sits at the 90.9th percentile of the past year. The bond market is voting with its feet. The 10-year Treasury yield closed at 4.48% on July 1, 2026, up 0.07% on the week and sitting at the 92.4th percentile of its 12-month range.
Platinum and Palladium Have Been Left Behind in the Precious Metals Rally and These 3 ETFs Could Be the Next Catch Up Trade
PPLT gained 18.57% and PALL managed only 13.39%. Year to date the whole complex is red, but the platinum group has fallen hardest: PPLT is off 20.4%, PLTM off 20.22%, PALL off 20.86%, versus GLD down 4.75%.
Average 30-year US mortgage rate rises to 6.49%, pushing up homebuyers' borrowing costs
The benchmark 30-year fixed rate mortgage rate rose to 6.49% from 6.43% last week, mortgage buyer Freddie Mac said Thursday. One year ago, the average rate was 6.72%. Borrowing costs on 15-year fixed-rate mortgages, often sought by borrowers refinancing a home loan, also rose this week. That average rate increased to 5.82% from 5.79% last week. The 10-year Treasury yield was at 4.55% at midday Thursday on the bond market, up from 4.49% a week ago. It was just 3.97% in late February, before the war broke out. Through the first half of this year, seasonally adjusted sales of existing U.S. homes are up only 0.7% compared to the same period in 2025, according to the National Association of Realtors. Still, sales of existing U.S. homes continue to hovering close to a 4-million annual pace, far short of the historic norm that is closer to 5.2-million.
FTSE 100 held back by AstraZeneca trial setback
The US 10-year Treasury yield traded at 4.55% on Thursday, narrowed from 4.60% on Wednesday, and the US 30-year Treasury yield eased to 5.06% from 5.09% on Wednesday. Gold traded at 4,126.64 dollars an ounce on Thursday, up from 4,022.15 dollars on Wednesday. Silver gained 3.5% and copper 2.7%. Brent crude for September delivery traded lower at 77.03 dollars a barrel on Thursday, down from 80 dollars on Wednesday. The euro traded higher against the greenback, at 1.1432 dollars on Thursday against 1.1398 dollars on Wednesday. Against the yen, the dollar was trading at 162.37 yen, down from 162.68 yen on Wednesday. The pound traded at 1.3397 dollars on Thursday afternoon, up from 1.3358 dollars on Wednesday. Against the euro, sterling eased to 1.1717 euros from 1.1722 euros on Wednesday. The US food and beverage company reported attributable net income of 2.98 billion dollars for the quarter ended June 13, more than doubling from 1.26 billion dollars a year earlier.
Agnico Eagle Mines vs. AngloGold Ashanti: Which Gold Mining Stock Is a Better Buy in 2026?
In FY 2025, revenue reached $11.9 billion, representing growth of roughly 44% over the prior year. The company reported net income of approximately $4.5 billion for the period, more than double that of 2024. As of its December 2025 balance sheet, the debt-to-equity ratio was 0.0x, indicating the company has no total debt relative to its shareholder equity. Free cash flow for the year was close to $4.4 billion, representing cash from operations minus capital expenditures, providing significant capital for reinvestment or shareholder returns. For FY 2025, the company generated revenue of approximately $9.7 billion, a substantial increase of more than 70% compared to the previous year. Net income for the fiscal year reached about $2.6 billion, compared to about $1 billion in 2024. Based on the December 2025 balance sheet, the debt-to-equity ratio is approximately 0.3x, showing that total debt is about 30% of shareholder equity. Free cash flow reached nearly $2.9 billion after accounting for capital expenditures, supporting the company's ongoing development projects in Colombia and the United States. Right now, the strong price of gold will continue to benefit AngloGold's existing operations, with Wall Street expecting $13 billion in revenue and $4.8 billion in net income in 2026. Analysts expect $16.4 billion in sales and nearely $6.9 billion in net income.
Trump Says ‘We Hit Them 20 to 1.’ Wall Street Says That Means a Rate Hike Is Coming in October
U.S. strikes on 90 Iranian targets for a second straight day pushed Brent crude toward $79, markets now pricing an October Fed rate hike. The June Fed minutes showed some officials had already made a case for a hike, though the committee stayed on hold. That is the setup Mark Cranfield seized on. "The market is now pretty much convinced that we will get at least one 25 basis points hike probably in October," he told the program. The rates market is corroborating that view in Treasuries: the two-year yield, the maturity most sensitive to Fed policy, climbed to a 2026 high.
Lower-income wages catching up with fastest growth in 3 years in June
In June, lower-income after-tax wage growth rose to 4.1% from June 2025, the fastest pace since July 2023, according to Bank of America transaction data. "For much of the past few years, higher-income households were pulling further ahead. Now that gap is narrowing," said David Tinsley, senior economist for Bank of America Institute, and one of the authors of the report. Advantages from OBBBA in "their take-home pay growth...could last for a year," they said. Meanwhile wage growth from the abilty to switch jobs in a solid jobs market "may last as long as the improvement in the labor market continues," they wrote.
Bitcoin
Singapore's Temasek investment fund says crypto is off the table, will focus on AI
The $400 billion wealth fund plans to expand AI holdings to 15% of its portfolio by 2031 from the current 6%. Temasek Holdings plans to prioritize artificial intelligence investments over cryptocurrencies, citing regulatory uncertainty and a $275 million loss from the collapse of FTX in 2022. 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.
Latin America’s biggest stock exchange now offers options on bitcoin, ether and solana futures
Brazil's B3 stock exchange has unveiled options on bitcoin The contracts became available for trading on July 6, according to a B3 circular. They include call and put options on bitcoin futures denominated in Brazilian reais, while ether and solana futures are denominated in U.S. dollars. 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.
Pricing houses in bitcoin exposes dollar's loss of value
Near-term recovery prospects in the bitcoin price depend on the return of demand for ETFs, especially BlackRock's IBIT, widely considered a proxy for institutional demand. The fund has pulled in over $200 million this week, ending a record streak of outflows worth billions of dollars.
Will Bitcoin Drop to $50,000 as Saylor’s Strategy Sells $216 Million in BTC?
Strategy has cleared itself to sell up to $1.25 billion more if it needs to. Bitcoin trades around $25 billion worth of coins every day, so Strategy's $216 million is under one percent of that, absorbed in minutes without the market even noticing. The company is also holding $2.55 billion in cash, enough to cover its dividend payments for more than two years. Strategy would still own every one of its 843,775 coins, and nothing automatically forces it to sell. Even if Bitcoin fell to $50,000 tomorrow, Strategy would wake up owning the same pile of Bitcoin it holds today. The bigger test is the company's $1 billion debt payment due in 2027, and that's a problem for another day.
Morning Minute: Paradigm Raises $1.2B Fund as Crypto’s Top VC Pushes Into AI
Paradigm raised a $1.2 billion fund to invest in what it calls the "technical frontier," expanding beyond crypto into AI and robotics. BNB Chain unveiled a second-half 2026 roadmap centered on a new Layer-1 blockchain purpose-built for "agentic trading," meaning autonomous AI agents that execute trades, manage portfolios, and provide liquidity on their own. The bet is on a market that barely exists yet, since autonomous agents settled just $73 million across 176 million blockchain transactions over the past year.
‘Bottom building in progress’: Analysts say bitcoin holder capitulation signals late-stage bear market
Bitcoin has traded below its True Market Mean and Short-Term Holder Cost Basis for five straight months, one of the longest deep-value stretches in its history, according to Glassnode's latest onchain report. Long-term holder loss realization now accounts for 43% of total realized value onchain, up from 15% in early February, and recently peaked at $280 million per day, the highest reading since December 2022. The 30-day average of spot bitcoin exchange-traded funds net flows shifted into a monthly outflow regime in mid-May, peaked at negative $193 million per day in early June, and has since eased to roughly negative $89 million per day, according to Glassnode. Spot bitcoin ETFs recorded $84.86 million in net outflows on July 8, per SoSoValue data.
Sony To Set Up U.S. Stablecoin Trust Bank
Stablecoin transaction volume hit a record $1.79 trillion U.S. in June of this year, according to data from Visa (NYSE: $V).
Securitize (SECZ): Leading the Charge in Tokenization and Digital Securities
Securitize Corp. (NYSE:SECZ) posted a one-month return of -36.99%, while its shares lost 31.58% over the past 52 weeks. In 2025 alone, Securitize outpaced the broader tokenization market, growing its tokenized assets from $1B to $3.4B and delivering more than $3B in net inflows — the largest in the tokenization industry. The tokenized real-world asset market grew from roughly $23 billion at the end of 2025 to $31 billion as of March 2026 — approximately 35% growth in one quarter alone — and, we believe, Securitize is squarely positioned at the center of that expansion.
Ethereum's newest nonprofit wants to become Wall Street's guide to crypto
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 for Advisors: Q2 2026 Digital Asset Review
Bitcoin spot ETFs captured the quarter’s dynamics in sharp relief. April’s $2.02 billion in net inflows reversed decisively; outflows of $2.41 billion in May and $4.29 billion in June brought Q2 net redemptions to $4.67 billion, the largest quarterly outflow since spot products launched in January 2024, with June alone marking a record month for redemptions. Ethereum ETFs followed suit with $690 million in net outflows. The pattern points to institutional profit-taking and capital rotation into traditional markets rather than a structural exit from the asset class; a sustained return to positive net flows in Q3 remains the key signal to watch. The growth of deep, liquid options markets on regulated bitcoin ETFs gives structured product issuers a reliable exchange-traded tool for income and hedging strategies. This is why covered call, buffered and other derivatives-based approaches are being used to generate income from bitcoin ETFs, which do not pay cash distributions or dividends. Just a 1% allocation from the $22 trillion US 401(k) and Defined Contribution system would generate $90-$130 billion of inflows, roughly matching the size of the current bitcoin ETF market size.
Prediction: Bitcoin’s Next Move Could Make or Break MicroStrategy Stock
MSTR has fallen 75.39% over the past year from $395.67, tracking Bitcoin's own 41.65% one-year drawdown. Q1 2026 was ugly on the surface: EPS of -$38.25 against a $18.98 estimate, driven by a $14.46 billion unrealized loss on Bitcoin under fair-value accounting. CEO Phong Le noted that "traditional finance and major banks including Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs, and Citi" are now launching Bitcoin services, a structural tailwind Reddit largely ignored while dunking on Saylor's $225 million Bitcoin sale to fund dividends. The STRC preferred program, which Le said scaled to $5.6 billion in gross proceeds year-to-date with daily volume of $375 million, is a genuine capital-markets innovation.
MARA Is Up 19% Today: Is It Outperforming Other Crypto Stocks Like Riot and CleanSpark?
$13 billion in contracted AI revenue anchored by Google. 174.6 million missed the $184.21 million consensus estimate. The CoinShares Valkyrie Bitcoin Miners ETF (NASDAQ:WGMI) holds MARA, RIOT, and CLSK, offering diversified exposure to cryptocurrency-mining businesses.
Forget Coinbase and Pivot into IBIT Instead to Save Yourself Headaches and Losses
Q1 2026 delivered a GAAP loss of $1.49 per diluted share against a consensus of $0.04, revenue of $1.41 billion missing expectations and falling 30.54% year over year, and $482.40 million in losses on crypto assets held for investment. Transaction revenue collapsed 23% quarter over quarter to $755.8 million. The price action confirms the thesis. From October 30, 2025 through July 6, 2026, Coinbase shares dropped 48.6%, from $328.51 to $168.87. Over the identical window that gutted Coinbase, IBIT fell 40.2%, from $60.40 to $36.12. That is roughly eight percentage points of pure execution drag that Coinbase stacked on top of a Bitcoin decline.
AI contracts, not bitcoin, now drive miner valuations, and Cipher and TeraWulf look cheap
Compass Point says Applied Digital, TeraWulf and Cipher Mining are trading below the value of their signed AI data center contracts. The firm argued investors should value AI infrastructure companies based on contracted rental income rather than bitcoin mining economics. Analysts expect project completions and rent commencements over the next two years to become the main drivers of stock performance. Compass Point estimates the value of future rental income from signed contracts after accounting for the remaining cost of building each facility. It then compares that figure with each company's enterprise value to estimate how much, if any, investors are paying for future development projects. Using that approach, the firm said Applied Digital (APLD), TeraWulf (WULF) and Cipher Mining (CIFR) appear to offer the largest disconnect between their contracted business and current valuations. 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.
Bitcoin just crossed 200 days of warning sign investors cannot ignore
Bitcoin's apparent demand metric has remained negative for 208 consecutive days, recently dropping to a fresh low of -273,000 BTC, the worst reading in this entire stretch. The Coinbase Premium Index, which measures the price gap between Bitcoin on Coinbase versus offshore exchanges, has stayed below zero for 46 consecutive days since mid-May.
Can Bitcoin hold $62K ahead of Friday’s $1.4 billion options expiry?
$85 million in net outflows from spot Bitcoin ETFs, ending a short three-day inflow run. Call options volume has outpaced put instruments over the past four days, reflecting reduced demand for downside movements. However, the upcoming weekly options expiry features an interesting setup as calls up to $62,500 total $137 million, while puts above $61,000 are at $121 million. Bitcoin bulls would gain significant ground with a move above $63,500 by the 8:00 AM UTC expiry on Friday, boosting their advantage to $190 million. Bears hold a smaller $100 million edge below $61,000, limiting their incentive without additional catalysts.
MARA shares surge after 2 GW Texas infrastructure deal expands AI ambitions
MARA is the fourth-largest publicly traded corporate holder of Bitcoin (BTC), with 36,303 BTC, according to data from BitcoinTreasuries.NET. Bitcoin miners have increasingly expanded into AI and high-performance computing as demand for data center capacity has grown. Rather than repurposing mining hardware, companies are leveraging existing power infrastructure built to support BTC mining, including grid connections, substations and energized sites. However, converting mining sites into AI-ready data centers requires significant investment. CoinShares estimates mining infrastructure typically costs $700,000 to $1 million/MW, compared with $8 million to $15 million/MW for liquid-cooled AI infrastructure, while hyperscale customers require higher power density and uptime than many mining facilities were designed to provide. Even so, several publicly traded miners have announced multibillion-dollar AI infrastructure agreements in recent months. Core Scientific expanded its hosting agreement with CoreWeave to more than $10 billion, while Hut 8 signed a 15-year, $7 billion data center lease with Fluidstack. TeraWulf has reported billions of dollars in contracted HPC revenue. Investors have broadly rewarded the strategy. Hut 8 shares jumped about 20% after announcing its Fluidstack agreement, while companies with AI and HPC contracts have traded at higher valuation multiples than miners focused solely on Bitcoin production, according to a report from CoinShares. Last week, TeraWulf shares rose about 12% after the Bitcoin miner announced a 20-year AI data center lease with Anthropic, expected to generate roughly $19 billion in contract revenue. MARA is the sixth-largest holding in the sector exchange-traded fund CoinShares Bitcoin Mining ETF, as 4.76% of assets, according to Yahoo Finance data.
Is HYPE Better Than XRP? We Compared Price, ETFs, and Growth Potential
XRP spot ETFs have turned negative this month for the first time since March, and their assets have dropped below $1 billion, while HYPE ETFs keep taking in money with no losing week since their mid-May launch. HYPE has more room to grow while XRP is steadier in a downturn, though a June JPMorgan report warns that institutions may be slow to adopt the perpetual trading HYPE depends on. Hyperliquid has earned over $1 billion in revenue and spends nearly all of it buying back HYPE, but that buying weakens whenever trading slows down. XRP Is Still More Than Four Times Bigger Than HYPE Hyperliquid has climbed so fast that people assume it has already caught up to XRP. However, the gap between the two cryptos is still wide. XRP is worth about $68 billion today, while HYPE is worth around $15 billion. That makes XRP more than four times bigger, so the race isn't nearly as close as it looks. The price tags are what fool people. XRP trades near $1.09 and HYPE near $67, so at a glance, HYPE looks like the bigger coin. But that's backwards, because XRP has far more coins in circulation, around 62 billion of them, against HYPE's 222 million. HYPE ETFs Are Growing While XRP ETFs Cool Off For most of the year, XRP ETFs were a rare bright spot. Even as the token's price slid lower month after month, the funds kept pulling in fresh money, and that steady buying was one of the few things holding XRP up. So far this month, that support has given way. The funds have seen more money leave than come in, their first monthly outflow since March, and their total assets have slipped back under $1 billion. Meanwhile, HYPE ETFs only launched in mid-May, yet they have taken in money almost every week since. They have pulled in about $21 million so far in July while XRP funds have started losing money, and they haven't had a single losing week since they opened. Why HYPE Has More Room to Grow Than XRP Most cryptocurrencies are a bet on a promise, on a future where the network finally gets used the way its fans hope. HYPE is different. It's tied to a trading platform that already makes money, and plenty of it. The platform has pulled in over $1 billion in revenue, and it spends almost all of that buying HYPE on the open market. Every dollar traded there turns into steady buying pressure on the coin. This is the main reason investors are bullish on HYPE, and it works well when business is good. More trading brings more fees, more fees buy back more coins, and a coin that gets scarcer while more people want it tends to rise. Hyperliquid already handles around 70% of all on-chain perpetual trading, so plenty of money keeps feeding that cycle. And because HYPE is still small next to XRP, it has far more room to multiply from here. The problem is that the same machine runs in reverse when trading slows down. In a quiet or falling market, the fees dry up, the buybacks shrink, and the price support disappears right when holders need it most.
Bitwise Drops 2 Altcoins From Flagship Crypto ETF: Will Hyperliquid Keep Its Seat?
Hyperliquid earned its seat through sheer size. The token ranks 10th among all cryptocurrencies at roughly $15 billion, according to BeInCrypto Markets data. HYPE trades near $67.92, weeks after hitting a new all-time high of $76.70 on June 16. The main threat comes from within. Only about 22% of HYPE's 1 billion maximum supply is circulating today, and its fully diluted value of nearly $64 billion is over four times its market cap.
Bitcoin’s Next $1 Trillion Move Could Change Crypto Forever
U.S. spot crypto ETFs hold over $135 billion in assets, with $1 trillion in institutional capital gradually pulling toward Bitcoin and adjacent markets. One trillion dollars. That is the scale of institutional capital that spot crypto ETFs, tokenized securities, and corporate treasuries are gradually pulling toward Bitcoin and its adjacent markets. U.S. crypto ETF assets stood at $135 billion in the United States and $6 billion in Canada by the end of 2025, with the SEC approving in-kind creations and redemptions for spot crypto ETPs on July 29.
Troubles for bitcoin ETFs and private credit funds suggest rising market risks
Redemption requests in the $2 trillion private credit market surged to $15.6 billion in the second quarter, dwarfing bitcoin ETF outflows. Investors pulled nearly $5 billion from U.S.-listed spot bitcoin ETFs in the second quarter, contributing to a roughly 14 percent drop in bitcoin’s price and its third straight quarterly loss. Redemption requests exceeded the standard 5% quarterly cap at 10 of the 16 business development companies (BDCs), meaning many investors received only a portion of their money and remain in line for future quarters. Average requests rose to 10.3% of shares from 9.7% in Q1, but ranged widely (1.3%–38.1% at Blue Owl’s OTIC). Many requests were follow-ups from investors who were only partly satisfied last quarter. New inflows fell by about 56% on average, so most funds saw net outflows of roughly 3% of the prior quarter’s net asset value. "With BDCs capping redemptions at 5% quarterly, unfulfilled requests will lead to persistent elevated redemptions for many firms in the coming quarters," ratings agency Fitch warned," the ratings agency said.
Arbitrum jumps 19% benefitting from Robinhood's $568 million onchain trading frenzy
Arbitrum's ARB token led gains among the top 100 cryptocurrencies after trading frenzy on Robinhood's new blockchain logged $568 million in daily volume. The brokerage's chain was built on Arbitrum's tech stack and sends 10% of its net protocol revenue back to the Arbitrum ecosystem. FalconX projected the chain could generate $60 million in revenue for Robinhood. 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.
Grayscale's CFO exits after 7 years with crypto asset manager
Grayscale's chief financial officer Edward McGee has stepped down after seven years at the crypto asset manager, becoming the latest senior executive to leave the company, according to a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Thursday. The company has named Kathryn Masci and Daniel Plourde as interim co-chief financial officers. Masci will also serve as principal financial and accounting officer and join the board of managers. Masci joined Grayscale in 2020 and most recently served as senior vice president of finance. Before that, she held finance and accounting roles at Garrison Capital, Pzena Investment Management and Ernst & Young. Plourde joined Grayscale in 2022 after senior positions at Gabelli Asset Management and State Street Global Advisors. He has also served as assistant treasurer of the Grayscale Funds Trust. The leadership change follows another recent executive departure. Just weeks ago, managing director and head of distribution and partnerships John Hoffman left Grayscale to join tokenized asset platform Ondo Finance. The departures come as Grayscale put its plans to go public on hold. The Stamford, Connecticut-based company confidentially filed for a U.S. initial public offering in November last year. However, a person familiar with the matter previously told CoinDesk that Grayscale has paused its IPO preparations because of market conditions and is unlikely to restart the process before the fourth quarter. A Grayscale spokesperson previously declined to comment on the IPO timeline, citing the SEC's quiet period. CoinDesk reached out for comment regarding McGee's departure. Founded in 2013 and owned by Digital Currency Group, Grayscale has been a key bridge between traditional finance and digital assets through its regulated crypto investment products, most prominently its Bitcoin Trust (GBTC), which the firm converted into an exchange-traded fund (ETF) in January 2025. The fund once held about $28.5 billion in assets before becoming an ETF. It now manages roughly $8.5 billion as other, lower-fee ETFs have attracted investor money. 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.
JPMorgan Says the Real Threat to Bitcoin Isn’t Strategy (MSTR) — It’s Private Blockchains
Institutions have leaned toward permissioned blockchains, which offer privacy, know-your-customer and anti-money-laundering controls, governance, throughput, legal accountability and regulatory certainty. The market sits near $50 billion, much of it on Ethereum for now, though the analysts read that as early experimentation rather than a settled structure.
Is XRP Priced Too High for What It Actually Delivers?
XRP needs more than Ripple's progress In 2020, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) sued Ripple, the company backing XRP, arguing that $1.3 billion in XRP was sold as unregistered securities. Ripple is also building its ecosystem around XRP. The company has acquired Hidden Road for $1.25 billion, gaining a platform that clears about $3 trillion annually for more than 300 institutional clients. Ripple USD (RLUSD 0.01%), a crypto token pegged to $1, had about $1.58 billion in circulation and $1.68 billion in reserve funds as of June 25. Exchange-traded funds (ETFs) let investors buy exposure to an asset through a regular brokerage account instead of buying the asset directly. XRP is already benefiting from that easier access. According to Ripple, U.S. spot XRP ETFs crossed $1.5 billion in cumulative inflows by early March 2026 and held more than 769 million XRP in custody.
DeFi may be ‘quietly re-rating’ given outperformance against Bitcoin: Bitwise
While HYPE has propped up the value of DeFi tokens, total value locked in DeFi has fallen nearly 40% so far this year through June, declining to just over $70 billion from roughly $115 billion in January, CryptoRank reported June 24.
Bitcoin zips higher to nearly $64,000 as chip rally and yen strength drive gains
Bitcoin is up 4.2% over seven days that contained an oil shock, a bond selloff and two rounds of U.S. strikes on Iran. - Bitcoin rebounded 3.5 percent to nearly $64,000, erasing losses tied to President Trump’s warnings on Iran and ending the week up 4.2 percent. The largest cryptocurrency rose 3.5% to nearly $64,000 on Friday, recovering the ground it lost when President Trump warned that strikes on Iran could intensify. It traded as low as about $61,850 before buyers returned, and roughly $28 billion changed hands over 24 hours. Bitcoin is up 4.2% on the week, CoinDesk data shows. Ether rose 2.6% to $1,760 and is up 4% on the week. 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.
Bitcoin's quiet split: Strong in USD, lagging in JPY as Yen rises on intervention fears
The Government Pension Investment Fund (GPIF) of Japan manages roughly ¥277 trillion ($1.87 trillion) in assets, making it the world’s largest retirement fund. It invests heavily in global stocks and bonds. "The fund, one of the largest pension pools in the world, held 293.4 trillion yen, or roughly 1.81 trillion dollars, in assets at the end of December, maintaining roughly equal allocations across domestic equities, foreign equities, domestic bonds and foreign bonds," analysts at InvestingLive said in a market update. "Because of that size, even small shifts in GPIF's strategy are closely watched across global bond, currency and equity markets, meaning any concrete move to tilt the fund further toward domestic assets would likely draw significant attention well beyond Japan," analysts added. 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.
XRP up 2% as buyers push through $1.10 resistance
XRP continued to attract attention from analysts tracking steady fund inflows even as bitcoin and ether products saw outflows in some markets. 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 bleed again while ether funds snap a five-day inflow streak
U.S. spot bitcoin ETFs lost a net $95 million on Thursday, per SoSoValue data, while ether ETFs shed about $52 million, ending a five-day inflow run that had been the steadier side of the market. Total bitcoin ETF assets sit near $77 billion. Ether's reversal was broader. Fidelity's FETH lost about $34 million and BlackRock's ETHA roughly $13 million, with Bitwise and BlackRock's second fund also negative.
If you invested $10,000 in Bitcoin, Trump meme coin, and gold when Trump took office, here's what you'd have today
Bitcoin still lost nearly half its value on his watch. Rising Treasury yields, institutional profit-taking, and selling pressure tied to Strategy's $14 billion unrealized loss position have weighed heavily throughout his term. Gold was the quiet winner nobody put in their inauguration-day portfolio. At $2,697 per ounce on January 20, $10,000 bought 3.71 ounces. Today gold trades around $4,110, making that position worth approximately $15,248, a gain of about 52%. The TRUMP meme coin launched two days before inauguration day and peaked at $74.27 within 48 hours. By January 20 it had already crashed to around $35. A $10,000 investment bought roughly 285 coins. Today those coins are worth approximately $430, a loss of 96%.
Metaplanet explores bringing bitcoin-backed digital credit to Japan
Metaplanet holds 43,000 BTC worth $2.47 billion. Only Strategy (MSTR) and Twenty One Capital hold more. Digital assets posted a third consecutive quarter of losses in Q2 2026, the longest losing streak since the 2022 bear market, as institutional capital rotated into AI equities and Bitcoin ETFs recorded their largest quarterly outflow since launch.
Bitcoin's $60K to $70K range becomes third longest consolidation in history
Bitcoin has spent 307 days in the $60,000 to $70,000 range, the third longest consolidation in any $10,000 price band. Digital assets posted a third consecutive quarter of losses in Q2 2026, the longest losing streak since the 2022 bear market, as institutional capital rotated into AI equities and Bitcoin ETFs recorded their largest quarterly outflow since launch.
Polymarket seeks approval to bring margin trading to U.S. customers
Digital assets posted a third consecutive quarter of losses in Q2 2026, the longest losing streak since the 2022 bear market, as institutional capital rotated into AI equities and Bitcoin ETFs recorded their largest quarterly outflow since launch.
Semiconductor
Memory monthly sales hit record $74.6B as analysts see price surge ahead
Global memory monthly sales reached a record $74.6 billion, surging 31.7% month-on-month and running 2.8 percentage points above the 10-year seasonal average, according to UBS's July Memory Monthly report — a data point that has both UBS and Bernstein forecasting sharp contract price increases ahead, even as the two firms diverge sharply on how long the rally can last. The primary public beneficiaries of the memory upcycle are Micron Technology, as well as South Korean giants Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix, as the three companies together account for the vast majority of global DRAM and NAND supply. All three stand to capture the contract price gains that UBS and Bernstein now see accelerating through the second half of 2026. DRAM posted record monthly sales of approximately $48.0 billion, up 27.7% month-on-month, though that reading came in roughly 8.0 percentage points below the 10-year seasonal average, suggesting demand is not yet firing on all cylinders across every end-market. NAND, however, was a different story entirely. NAND sales rebounded to a record $25.8 billion, surging 40.7% month-on-month and landing approximately 16.9 percentage points above the 10-year seasonal average — a sign that AI-related storage demand is pulling the segment well ahead of historical norms. "Our July Memory Monthly suggests that the memory upcycle is strengthening further amid accelerating AI-driven demand and ongoing LTA negotiations," UBS wrote in its report. On pricing, UBS raised its DDR contract pricing forecast to increase 32%/18% quarter-on-quarter in the third and fourth quarters of 2026, respectively, with NAND pricing expected to rise 30%/12% QoQ over the same period. The firm projects the DRAM industry to remain structurally undersupplied through at least the second quarter of 2028, underpinned by 2027 bit demand growth of 36.2% year-on-year that is expected to significantly exceed supply growth of 19.3% YoY. High-bandwidth memory is at the core of that demand thesis: UBS projects HBM demand to grow 90% YoY to approximately 33.1 billion gigabytes in 2026, then 77% YoY to roughly 58.7 billion gigabytes in 2027, driven by continued AI accelerator deployments across hyperscalers.
Prediction: TSMC Stock Is Going to Soar After July 16
TSMC is the world's largest semiconductor foundry, with a market share of 73%, according to Counterpoint Research. TSMC's position as the largest semiconductor foundry gives it immense pricing power. Tom's Hardware reported last month that it is going to increase the prices of its advanced chipmaking nodes by 5% to 10%. The report added that TSMC has already started rolling out the price hikes. The company notes that its AI accelerator revenue will increase at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) in the high 50% range through 2029. TSMC recently pointed out that the global semiconductor industry's revenue could reach $1.5 trillion in 2030, up 50% from its earlier forecast.
SK Hynix Nasdaq ADR offering more than 7 times oversubscribed
SK Hynix launched formal marketing for the listing earlier this week, targeting $28.21 billion through the ADR sale to fund expansion of South Korean manufacturing facilities and equipment purchases including extreme ultraviolet lithography scanners. SK Hynix holds roughly 57% of global high-bandwidth memory revenue, according to Counterpoint Research data cited by Bloomberg.
Has Micron Stock Finally Topped? Not According to the Pros
Micron has dropped 22% from its June all-time highs, yet high-bandwidth memory remains sold out with demand projected to persist through at least 2028. Dr. Michael Burry publicly shorted Micron, but Melius Research maintains a Street-high $2,200 price target implying 133% upside. It's hard to procure more high-bandwidth memory (HBM). It's sold out, and the line to secure more supply is quite long, to say the least.
Where Will Micron Stock Be in 3 Years?
Micron can expect the high-demand phase of this one to be prolonged thanks to demand for its high-bandwidth memory (HBM). HBM is a critical component in AI build-outs, and Micron is one of only three companies that manufacture it at meaningful scale. Its revenue continues to surge, and forecasts point to robust growth for the foreseeable future. Analysts on average project 247% growth for fiscal 2026 and 81% in fiscal 2027. Also, analysts expect the HBM market to remain supply-constrained through 2027. Fortunately, even if supply does catch up with demand at that point, the market is tight enough now that Micron has been able to compel its largest customers to sign five-year contracts for its products instead of the one-year contracts that were previously the industry standard. Moreover, earlier in the year, Micron forecast a 40% compound annual growth rate for the total addressable market for HBM through 2028.
Micron, Sandisk, Marvell stocks jump, leading chip sector gains
Micron Technology (MU) stock jumped 8% on Thursday, joining a broader rally across memory and AI-related stocks. Sandisk (SNDK), Western Digital (WDC), Marvell (MRVL), Broadcom (AVGO), Intel (INTC), and AMD (AMD) also traded higher. A critical shortage of high-bandwidth memory (HBM) used in AI data centers has fueled sharp gains in shares of Micron, Samsung Electronics, and SK Hynix, with Wall Street expecting supply constraints to persist through 2027.
AMD Jumps 7%, Intel Climbs 5%, Broadcom Rises 2% as Tom Lee Calls the Chip Selloff a Buying Opportunity
AMD posted Q1 2026 revenue of $10.25 billion, up 38% year over year, with the Data Center segment up 57% year over year to $5.78 billion. Broadcom's Q2 FY2026 AI semiconductor revenue reached $10.8 billion, up 143% year over year.
Micron Has Crashed After Every Previous Rally - This Time Might Be Different
Micron Technology, Inc. delivered a record-breaking quarter, with revenue up 346% YoY and operating income surging 2,456%, driven by AI-fueled memory demand. MU’s growth is powered by Strategic Customer Agreements: 16 take-or-pay contracts locking in floor margins above historical peaks and $100B+ in minimum revenue.
SK hynix Goes Public Tomorrow. Should You Buy at $149?
SK hynix commands 58% of the global HBM market and debuts on Nasdaq Thursday at $149 per ADR, raising roughly $28 billion. Together, Samsung, SK hynix, and Micron control essentially all HBM production and roughly 90% of the global DRAM market.
From $124 to $938 in a Year, Is Another Rally Coming For Micron?
Fiscal Q3 2026 revenue hit $41.46 billion, up 345.72% YoY, with non-GAAP EPS of $25.11 beating consensus by 23.79%. GAAP gross margin expanded to 84.6% from 37.7% a year ago, and management guided Q4 revenue to $50.0 billion with EPS of $31. The bull case is anchored by Wall Street itself. The consensus target sits at $1,486 across 40 buy or strong-buy ratings versus one strong sell. Our own bull scenario points to $1,333.31, a 42.09% return. The catalysts are stacked: HBM4 is already in high-volume shipments, HBM4E on 1-gamma DRAM targets 2027 volume, and Micron just secured long-term memory supply agreements with Ford and General Motors for next-generation vehicles.
Micron shares rise 7% after announcing billions more in U.S. chipmaking investments
Micron shares rose 7% on Thursday as the company announced a new round of investments aimed at boosting the U.S. semiconductor supply chain, and plans to accelerate its spending in the country through 2035. The new strategic investment of up to $3 billion includes $500 million for Taiwanese-headquartered GlobalWafers to expand its wafer development and manufacturing in its Texas facilities, and also comes with a 10-year supply agreement for raw silicon wafer capacity. In a separate announcement, the chipmaker said it will also raise its planned U.S. investment to $250 billion through 2035, roughly a $50 billion increase, as memory demand from the artificial intelligence buildout skyrockets.
What Will Push This Market Into Its Next Gear? Maybe the $7 Trillion Cash Pile on the Sidelines.
Total corporate profits reached $4,426.5B in Q1 2026, growing 12.8% year over year, the strongest YoY growth in the dataset. Manufacturing profits alone jumped $182.2B YoY. Information sector profits added $81.5B. Financial services contributed another $124.1B.
AMD’s $300 Billion Ambition Is Putting Pressure on Rivals
AMD locked in twin 6-gigawatt GPU supply deals with Meta and OpenAI, while Q1 Data Center revenue surged 57% to $5.8 billion. AMD's 274% one-year gain dwarfs NVIDIA's 24% return while Intel bleeds, posting negative EPS with quarterly earnings down 72%. Q1 FY2026 Data Center revenue reached $5.775 billion, up 57% year over year, making it the largest and fastest-growing of AMD's four segments. Total Q1 revenue landed at $10.253 billion, up 37.9% year over year, beating the $9.91 billion consensus by 3.41%. Non-GAAP EPS came in at $1.37 versus $1.29 expected, driven by non-GAAP gross margins which expanded to 55% (up 170 basis points year over year). Q1 free cash flow hit $2.566 billion, up 252.96% year over year, on operating cash flow of $2.955 billion. Net income more than doubled to $1.383 billion, up 95.06%. AMD is up 141.79% year to date from $214.16 at the end of 2025, and up 273.82% over the past year.
Why Broadcom Stock Rallied Thursday Morning
The $30 billion commitment will underpin the production of more than 15 billion semiconductors in the U.S. Word broke yesterday that Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) inked an expansive new multiyear deal with Broadcom. The iPhone maker announced that it plans to spend more than $30 billion on Broadcom chips over the next five years.
NVIDIA Was the Darling Of The AI Boom, Now It’s Cheaper Than The King Of House Paint
NVIDIA posted quarterly earnings growth of roughly 214% year over year and revenue growth of roughly 85%, powered by Data Center revenue of $75.246 billion, up 92% YoY. Sherwin-Williams grew quarterly earnings 7.5% and revenue 6.8%, and management guided full-year 2026 adjusted EPS to $11.50 to $11.90, a midpoint growth rate of 2.4%.
Meta vs Intel: Buy Meta for High-Margin Infrastructure Monetization and Avoid Capital-Strained Intel
Meta printed $12B in free cash flow at a 40% operating margin while Intel burned $3.87B and now trades at 158x forward earnings with negative EPS. Meta turned $19.00 billion in quarterly capex into ad growth. Intel spent aggressively on foundry capacity while absorbing a $4.07 billion restructuring charge tied largely to Mobileye. Meta's family of apps, Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, Messenger, and Threads, reached 3.56 billion daily active people, with ad impressions up 19% and average price per ad up 12% year over year. Intel Foundry pulled in $5.42 billion but still bleeds cash. Meta funds its $125 to $145 billion 2026 capex plan out of pocket. Intel leans on partners and Washington, with US government equity, a $5.00 billion NVIDIA investment, and CHIPS Act disbursements keeping cash at $17.25 billion.
Bernstein Raises its Price Target on ASML Holding (ASML)
The firm raised its EUV shipment forecasts to 91 systems in 2027 and 113 in 2028, and expects ASML to expand EUV capacity. Susquehanna updated its model following channel checks, suggesting an upward revision to SCE backlog now extending beyond one year, with WFE expected to reach as high as $300B.
Nasdaq Composite Jumps 0.9% as Semiconductors Stage a Comeback
Memory chip maker Micron Technology (NASDAQ: MU) jumped 7.5% after announcing a $3 billion investment in the U.S. semiconductor supply chain. The company is already pouring cash and concrete into chipmaking facilities in Texas and New York, with plans to invest "more than $250 billion" over the next decade. The resulting chip rally was broad and enthusiastic. Advanced Micro Devices (NASDAQ: AMD) surged 7.2%, Broadcom (NASDAQ: AVGO) gained 3.3%, and the iShares Semiconductor ETF (NASDAQ: SOXX) rose 5.2%.
Micron's Share Price Dip Presents a Compelling Buying Opportunity
In its fiscal 2026 third quarter, which ended May 28, the company more than quadrupled its revenue year over year, blowing past its previous guidance. Even its fiscal fourth-quarter guidance was solid, with more than 20% sequential growth expected. Micron is even well positioned for the expected push into physical AI. Humanoid robots and self-driving vehicles will also need Micron's memory chips.
Micron (MU) Commits More Than $250 Billion To US Chip Expansion
Micron Technology (NasdaqGS:MU) is accelerating its US investment plans, now targeting more than US$250b through 2035. The company reached a major construction milestone at its New York fabrication site, which is tracking ahead of schedule and is positioned to be the largest private investment in the state's history. Micron also outlined up to US$3b for domestic semiconductor supply chain projects, including financing support for raw silicon wafer production in Texas.
How Investors Are Reacting To QUALCOMM (QCOM) Index Removal And New On-Device AI Deepfake Partnership
QUALCOMM's narrative projects $48.8 billion revenue and $11.0 billion earnings by 2029. This requires 3.1% yearly revenue growth and an earnings increase of about $1.1 billion from $9.9 billion today.
AMD Has Ascended Into Greatness, And A Reset Won't Destroy It
Q1 2026 saw Data Center revenue grow 57%, bolstered by major GPU commitments from OpenAI and Meta, validating AMD's durable AI platform.
Why Is AMD (AMD) Stock Rocketing Higher Today
AMD's shares are extremely volatile and have had 41 moves greater than 5% over the last year. The report indicated that allocation for AMD's high-performance infrastructure, including its upcoming MI400 series AI accelerators and Venice server processors, is expected to rise significantly through 2027. William Blair initiated research coverage, calling AMD a "major beneficiary of the AI infrastructure boom" and projecting sales to double between 2026 and 2028.
Why Micron Stock Surged Today
Micron intends to invest up to $3 billion to expand its U.S. production network and secure the materials it needs to satisfy the booming artificial intelligence (AI)-driven demand for its memory chips. A decade of expansion lies ahead Peering further into the future, Micron said it will invest over $250 billion in manufacturing and technology through 2035 to advance its long-term plan to produce 40% of its DRAM (dynamic random access memory) in the U.S.
Micron (MU) Shares Skyrocket, What You Need To Know
Shares of memory chips maker Micron (NASDAQ:MU) jumped 6% in the afternoon session after the company announced a massive expansion of its domestic manufacturing, raising its planned U.S. investment to $250 billion through 2035. Notably, the company announced a $50 billion increase to its long-term capital expenditure plan, reflecting skyrocketing demand for the high-bandwidth memory that powers artificial intelligence.
Chip titan SK hynix readies for mega US listing
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. According to Bloomberg, SK hynix priced its US listing at $149 each, citing a person familiar with the matter, which would raise around $26.5 billion. 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.
Advanced Micro Devices vs. Nvidia: What Revenue Growth Rates and Scale Reveal for Investors
It recently announced an investment of more than $10 billion to expand packaging capabilities in Taiwan alongside committing up to £2 billion for research in the United Kingdom. While launching its Vera Rubin supercomputing platform and authorizing an additional $80 billion for share repurchases, it reported 72% net income margin for the quarter ended April 26, 2026. AMD’s first-quarter sales of $10.3 billion represented excellent 38% year-over-year growth, it pales in comparison to Nvidia’s 85% year-over-year increase in its latest fiscal quarter, ended April 26.
Micron: Its HBM4 Crucial Catalyst Is Still Being Ignored
HBM memory transitions MU from a commodity player to a specialized supplier, with HBM4 ramping twice as fast as HBM3E and already exceeding $1B in revenue.
SK Hynix is set to make its Wall Street debut. Will that narrow the chipmaker's 'Korea discount'?
LSEG data showed SK Hynix trades at just 4.8 times 12-month forward earnings, compared with the industry median of 29.84 times and U.S. rival Micron Technology's 6.6 times, despite its leadership in the fast-growing high-bandwidth memory, or HBM, market. "The company is expected to generate over 200 trillion won in annual operating cash flow across the next two years," Cheong added. Futurum Group's Bulk expects SK Hynix to remain the top HBM supplier, although its market share is likely to decline from roughly 57% last year to around 50% this year before falling into the low-40% range over time as Samsung gains ground and Micron cements itself as the third major player.
Micron's Data Center Gross Margin Hit 87% Last Quarter. Here's What It Means for the Stock.
Micron Technology (MU +4.55%) just reported a gross margin most software companies would envy, and it came from a business that stamps out physical memory chips. In its core data center unit, gross margin reached 87% last quarter. A number that rewrites the story In its fiscal third quarter of 2026 (the period ended May 28, 2026), Micron's core data center business generated record revenue of $11.5 billion. That was up 103% from the prior quarter, and the unit now accounts for about 28% of the whole company. Gross margin there expanded roughly 12 percentage points in a single quarter to 87%. Management said industry demand for DRAM and NAND memory continues to run well ahead of supply, and it expects those tight conditions to persist beyond 2027. That backdrop points to enormous near-term earnings power. Micron guided for fiscal fourth-quarter revenue of about $50 billion at a gross margin near 86%, which would stretch the run of records at least one quarter further.
Apple Announces $30 billion Multi-year Chip Deal With Broadcom (AVGO)
On July 8, Apple announced a multi-year chip deal with Broadcom expected to exceed $30 billion, the largest U.S. manufacturing commitment to date, CNBC reported. The agreement covers the production of more than 15 billion U.S.-made chips as well as a $1.5 billion expansion of Broadcom's facility in Fort Collins, Colorado. Reuters reported on July 6 that Broadcom will expand its partnership with Apple through 2031 for the development and supply of custom chips. Based on 54 analyst ratings compiled by CNN, 93% marked Broadcom Buy while 7% assigned a Hold rating.
AI / Robotics / EV
What AI companies want for the millions they're spending on elections
As of the end of June, the two biggest artificial intelligence political action committees have dropped at least $44 million into 40 House and Senate candidates, per a CNBC analysis of Federal Election Commission data. That's an early taste of how the groups will spend the more than $200 million they've raised on the rest of primary season and into the general election, according to fundraising totals provided by groups. So far, Leading the Future has spent more than $24 million on primary races through the end of June, according to data filed with the Federal Election Commission. The group said it raised $125 million by the end of 2025, in part from donors including private equity firm Andreessen Horowitz, Open AI co-founder Greg Brockman, Palantir co-founder Joe Lonsdale, SV Angel founder Ron Conway and AI software company Perplexity. Public First Action, which launched last year, has spent $20 million so far, and it announced last month it had raised $80 million through the end of June. The group received $20 million from Anthropic, although the amount is restricted to educating the public on AI policy and not for political purposes, per a spokesman for the PAC. Pubic First Action doesn't disclose its donors; Anthropic disclosed its own donation. But Carson said the group has received donations from employees of OpenAI, Google, DeepMind and X.
Physical AI has reached commercialisation, but scaling remains the hard part, says Citi
Demand tailwinds are building, according to the bank. Labour shortages, the reshoring of manufacturing to domestic markets and favourable regulation are all accelerating enterprise appetite for automation. Citi flagged data scarcity, talent constraints, battery limitations and high deployment costs as the key obstacles holding back wider rollout. The distinction matters for investors weighing the hype around general-purpose humanoids against the proven economics of machines designed for specific tasks.
SambaNova reaches $11bn valuation in $1bn Series F close
According to SambaNova, the new funding will be used to expand its capacity, support product innovation, and scale its deployments for enterprise, neo-cloud, sovereign AI customers, and service providers globally. Seligman Ventures managing partner Umesh Padval said: "As AI moves into production, lowering cost per token while maintaining performance and efficiency will be critical for enterprise adoption. SambaNova's purpose-built RDU architecture is uniquely positioned to address that challenge at scale."
Popular open source AI developer tool Ollama raises $65M, grows to nearly 9M users
Ollama, which launched in 2023, helps devs run open-weight AI models on their PCs, getting them up and running in minutes. Developers can also use Ollama to find models and access larger, more complex ones that it hosts on its neocloud via several subscription tiers, from free to $100/month.
OpenAI's newest AI model is 54% more token efficient on agentic coding, Altman tells CNBC
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman told CNBC on Thursday that GPT-5.6 Sol, the company's latest artificial intelligence model, is 54% more token efficient on agentic coding tasks, and that it's "as good or better" than competing models on the market.
Anthropic, OpenAI, and SpaceX are bigger than the last 25 years of tech exits
SpaceX has already gone public at a $1.77 trillion valuation, and with both Anthropic and OpenAI pushing into the trillions it's likely the trio together will land somewhere north of $4 trillion.
Tesla Q2 Preview: Expecting Positive Results And Outlook To Remain Earthbound
Tesla will release its Q2 on Wednesday, July 22. Ahead of the release, Tesla reported a nearly 25% increase in sales of electric vehicles globally for Q2. That was up from about 6% in Q1. The outlook for its energy business also looks strong, with the unit reporting growth of 40.6%.
Mixed Drivers Fuel Optimism in Stryker Corporation’s (SYK) Performance
On July 8, 2026, Stryker Corporation (NYSE:SYK) closed at $326.85 per share, reflecting a market capitalization of $126.11 billion. Stryker Corporation (NYSE:SYK) posted a one-month return of 7.22%, while its shares lost 16.99% over the past 52 weeks. The opportunity to initiate arose from a combination of the broader medtech de-rating and stock-specific weakness following a March cyberattack that temporarily disrupted the company's manufacturing, ordering and shipping operations, with the shares falling to 52 week lows after the company's first quarter result quantified the disruption.
RBC Capital Raises its Price Target on Tesla (TSLA)
On July 7, 2026, RBC Capital raised the firm's price target on Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) to $500 from $475 and kept an Outperform rating on the shares. The firm also said robotaxi is currently Tesla's most robust opportunity, noting that against a $4.2T total addressable market, Tesla could generate substantial value even with a minority market share position. Tesla also said cargo capacity increases to 89 cu ft, while the vehicle includes heated and ventilated seats in the first two rows, a powered and heated third row, adaptive damping, upgraded acoustic glass, larger windows, a 16-inch front touchscreen, an 8-inch second-row display, a 19-speaker audio system, and support for FSD Supervised with integrated Grok AI. On July 2, Morgan Stanley analyst Andrew Percoco said Tesla's Q2 deliveries of about 480,100 vehicles beat sell-side consensus expectations by 18% and marked the company's highest auto growth rate since Q3 of 2023.
Palo Alto CEO Arora says AI pricing needs to fall 90% as token costs skyrocket
Palo Alto Networks CEO Nikesh Arora warned that token costs need to drop as much as 90% to promote large-scale artificial intelligence adoption. "I think 54% is a good start," Arora told CNBC's Seema Mody on "Squawk on the Street" Thursday, after OpenAI CEO Sam Altman told CNBC that the frontier lab's latest model is 54% more token-efficient for agentic coding. Arora said token efficiency needs to drop to as much as 20% over the next twelve months, and 90% by the following year. At the same time, AI spending is accelerating to new highs to power the massive infrastructure buildout. Tech giants are also looking for new ways to fund these AI investments, with SpaceX raising $25 billion last month in a bond sale. Amazon raised $25 billion in debt this week.
Nio Follows Tesla Playbook — Launches New Seating Configuration For Best-Selling SUV
Deliveries of the three-row ES8 dropped to 8,969 units in June, ending a seven-month streak above 10,000. The ES8 has been the clear leader for the NIO brand since the third-generation model launched in September 2025. It reached 120,000 cumulative deliveries by June 22 and regularly posted monthly volumes above 10,000-16,000 units in late 2025 and early 2026.
Citizens says Tesla near-term optimism is too high
Tesla shares closed at $394.06 on Wednesday, which Citizens said implies a trading multiple of 70.2 times and 10.8 times its 2028 estimated EV/EBITDA and EV/Revenue, a premium to auto and energy peers that the firm said is warranted given Tesla's optionality. Citizens said its 2027 and 2028 revenue estimates are 4% and 12% below consensus, respectively.
Tesla: Why A Big Earnings Beat Is Likely
Q2 deliveries hit a record 480,126 vehicles (for any Q2), signaling a turnaround in core EV operations and potential for earnings beats.
Meta enters the crowded AI coding battle with Muse Spark 1.1
Reuters reports that the company will charge $1.25 per million input tokens and $4.25 per million output tokens. Meta has released a handful of foundation AI models over the past few years. The Muse Spark release was apparently important enough to compel CEO Mark Zuckerberg to post on the social media platform X for the first time in three years.
Onsemi’s Synaptics acquisition could unlock long-term synergies, says Bank of America
Onsemi's AI data center business is on track to at least double in 2026 from $250 million in 2025.
Did Tesla’s Miami Robotaxi Launch and Q2 Numbers Just Shift TSLA’s Autonomy‑First Narrative?
451,758 vehicles and deliveries of 480,126 units, while also launching driverless Robotaxi operations in Miami, its first such market beyond Texas and California. Tesla's narrative projects $149.5 billion revenue and $13.1 billion earnings by 2029. This requires 15.2% yearly revenue growth and about a $9.2 billion earnings increase from $3.9 billion today.
Should Arm’s AI-Driven Licensing Surge and New AGI CPU Strategy Require Action From Arm Holdings (ARM) Investors?
Arm Holdings reported that licensing and other revenues rose 29% year on year to US$819 million, with royalties up 11%, reflecting strong demand for its semiconductor intellectual property across artificial intelligence, cloud, mobile, and custom silicon markets, while AI-related enthusiasm also helped lift chip and memory peers across the Nasdaq. Arm Holdings' narrative projects $9.5 billion revenue and $2.9 billion earnings by 2029. You can also weigh a more cautious view, where bearish analysts expected revenue of about US$7.8 billion and earnings of US$2.8 billion by 2029
TSLA Stock Slips Overnight: Analyst Sees 2027, 2028 Revenue Below Consensus On Slower Optimus, Robotaxi Ramp
TSLA stock rallied 3% on Thursday, putting shares on pace for a second straight winning week with a 3% gain so far. Citizens said it remains positive on Tesla’s long-term vision, calling the automation of the physical world one of the largest opportunities across its coverage universe. However, the firm warned that this “grand vision will take time to achieve.” The brokerage said that optimism built into Tesla’s valuation from Optimus and Robotaxi suggests investors may be assuming both products are closer to meaningful contribution than Citizens believes. With a more conservative view on Tesla’s new growth engines, Citizens said its 2027 and 2028 revenue estimates are 4% and 12% below consensus, respectively. Tesla is converting the former Model S/X manufacturing space at Fremont for initial Optimus production, with limited output expected to begin in late July or August 2026. A larger dedicated factory at Giga Texas is being built for higher-volume production, with a target around summer 2027. Tesla’s Robotaxi rollout is also progressing, but still at a controlled pace. The company has confirmed that its Miami Robotaxi fleet is operating unsupervised, meaning employees are not monitoring the vehicles from inside.
Power / Grid
Software
IBM Advances Enterprise AI Software Development with Multi-Agent Capabilities and Specialized Modernization Workflows
Now that organizations are using AI to write massive amounts of code, their software development challenges have moved to other parts of the process with 85% of DevSecOps professionals surveyed agreeing that AI has shifted the bottleneck from writing code to reviewing and validating it.1 IBM Bob is architected to bring AI capabilities wherever software engineering work happens. Many enterprise engineers are manually choosing models, trying to balancing cost versus performance, and still ending up with inconsistent outcomes and unpredictable spend. Bob can now optimize across the execution system, not just model selection. Bob matches models to tasks, coordinates AI execution across agents, and provides organizations with visibility into productivity, quality, performance, and cost through the newly launched Bobalytics, to help enterprises optimize AI at scale. IBM has spent decades at the center of enterprise modernization across mainframes, IBM i systems, and Java codebases that global businesses run on.
Meta builds first Canadian data center in Alberta for $9 billion
Meta broke ground Wednesday on its first data center in Canada, a 1-gigawatt facility in Sturgeon County, Alberta, that represents an investment of roughly $9 billion (CAD $13 billion), the company said. Alberta has drawn up to CAD $200 billion in prospective data center investment.
Copilot and AI Agents Do Real Work Inside Custom Power Apps
Most of the measurable return comes from custom builds, the kind of Power Apps consulting services eSoftware Associates has delivered since 2006, where AI runs inside the systems a team works in rather than beside a process that is already broken. The companies that get real value almost always have their data and permissions in order before they deploy, because Copilot can reach whatever the signed-in user can already open. When agentic projects get canceled, the cause is usually a missing set of rules rather than broken technology. Many agentic AI projects are abandoned before they reach production because of rising costs, unclear value, and weak risk controls rather than by the models themselves. For most companies, the technology is already in hand, and the Copilot tools are bought and deployed in front of users every day. What decides the outcome now is whether the data and permissions underneath are ready to carry real work, and that's the one part of the equation still fully in a company's hands. Run a readiness assessment before turning Copilot on. It checks licensing, data classification, permissions, and governance, since Copilot can reach anything the signed-in user can already access. Copilot inherits each user's existing access, so without role-based permissions, data classification, and an audit trail in place, it can surface sensitive files to people who should not see them as soon as it goes live.
Jim Cramer on CoreWeave: “I Think It’s One of the Stronger Players in the Neocloud Space”
CoreWeave ended the first quarter of 2026 with a backlog of just under $100 billion, giving an incredible level of visibility into the future business. The expected revenue ramp is aggressive, from just below $13 billion this year to just under $25 billion in 2027 to more than $40 billion in 2028.
Alphabet (GOOG) Rallied with Strong Performance from Cloud
At the portfolio level, the biggest contributor to performance during the month was Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) (+26.8%), which delivered a strong quarterly result that was well received by investors. Alphabet delivered a strong first-quarter result, with constant currency revenue and operating income growth accelerating to 19% and 30% respectively. Search re-accelerated on continued strength in the retail and financial services sectors, lifting volume growth to 13% while cost per click held broadly steady at 5%. AI Overviews continue to contribute to overall Search growth, and AI Mode is scaling rapidly, expanding the share of monetisable queries and reinforcing the view that Search is in an expansionary phase rather than facing cannibalisation. Moving to Cloud, which was again a standout, with revenue accelerating to 63% as improved capacity availability enabled further conversion of backlog into revenue. Adoption of Gemini models remains strong and new customer acquisition doubled year-on-year, while capacity remains constrained, with backlog nearly doubling quarter-on-quarter to over $460 billion. The backlog also includes a new revenue stream through TPU hardware sales, with more meaningful revenue contributions expected from 2027.
ServiceNow (NOW) Sold Off Despite a Solid Result
ServiceNow, Inc. (NYSE:NOW) posted a one-month return of 4.56%, while its shares lost 44.33% over the past 52 weeks. US-based software company, ServiceNow, Inc. (NYSE:NOW), delivered a solid result with revenues growing 22% year-on-year to $3.8 billion and operating income growing 26% year-on-year to $1.2 billion. The company's key performance indicators remained healthy, with retention rates at 97% and their backlog (remaining performance obligations) growing 24% to $27.3 billion, representing roughly 2x annual revenue. Performance was evenly spread across segments, products, and geographies, and the company continued to execute on the large deal front, closing 16 deals with greater than $5 million in net new annual contract value, up 80% year-on-year. Customers spending more than $5 million in ACV expanded 22% year-on-year, an acceleration from the prior two quarters. Management raised its full year Now Assist ACV target from US$1.0 billion to US$1.5 billion, reflecting continued outperformance from its AI solutions. Several underlying data points reinforce the encouraging trajectory: Now Assist customers spending more than $1 million in ACV grew 130% year-on-year, and roughly half of all net-new business is now coming from non-seat-based pricing models. Management also noted that initial Pro Plus purchases included sufficient Assist capacity to support 12 to 18 months of experimentation, but that burn rates should rise meaningfully as customers deploy more sophisticated, agentic use cases — setting up a material consumption ramp in the second half of 2026.
Character.ai enters the microdrama arena with its own productions, but there’s a twist
Users spend more than 950 minutes on Character.AI each month in the first half of 2026, according to Sensor Tower.
The 'Magnificent 7' stocks are trading at their cheapest valuation in more than a decade
The Magnificent Seven stocks are now trading at their cheapest valuation relative to the S&P 500 (^GSPC) in more than a decade, according to Morgan Stanley. Wall Street is growing increasingly impatient with Big Tech's astronomical capital expenditures on artificial intelligence, projected to balloon 70% and exceed $700 billion this year.
3 Cloud Computing Stocks to Buy Before Earnings Season in July
AWS delivered $37.59 billion in revenue, up 28% year over year, the fastest growth in 15 quarters, at a 37.7% operating margin. Google Cloud revenues grew 63% with backlog nearly doubling quarter on quarter to over $460 billion. Management is guiding full-year 2026 subscription revenue to $15.53 billion to $15.57 billion, a 32% non-GAAP operating margin, and a 36% free cash flow margin. CEO Bill McDermott put it plainly: "With our consistent Rule of 55+ profile, there is no AI company in the enterprise better positioned for sustainable profitable revenue growth than ServiceNow."
Why ServiceNow Is My H2 2026 Top Pick
NOW's recurring revenue model, 80%+ gross margins, and 22% YoY revenue growth underscore its resilience and growth trajectory, with RPO at $27.7B (+25% YoY).
Meta Platforms To Build $9 Billion A.I. Data Centre In Canada
Meta has forecast that it will spend up to $145 billion U.S. in capital expenditures on A.I. this year.
Netflix vs Spotify: Two Streaming Giants, Two Paths, One Clear Winner
Netflix beat revenue with a booming ad tier driving 60% of new sign-ups, while Spotify crushed EPS as Premium subscribers hit 293 million. Spotify's ad-supported revenue fell 5% and faces a €410M royalty lawsuit, making Premium ARPU expansion its most critical earnings lever. The real engine is advertising. The ad-supported tier drove over 60% of Q1 sign-ups in ads-enabled countries, and the advertiser roster grew 70% year over year to more than 4,000 clients, on pace for $3 billion in ad revenue this year. Spotify came in almost the opposite way. Revenue of $4.53 billion nudged past estimates, but EPS of $3.45 versus $2.95 was the headline. MAUs hit 761 million (+12%) and Premium subscribers reached 293 million (+9%). Netflix pulled in $12.25 billion in revenue, up 16.19% year over year, with EPS of $1.23 versus the $1.345 estimate.
Investors Are Underestimating This Incredibly Cheap Artificial Intelligence (AI) Stock. Buy It Before It Joins the $2 Trillion Club
Meta's underperformance this year explains why the stock is trading at attractive levels. It has a trailing earnings multiple of 21, a significant discount to the Nasdaq Composite's earnings multiple of 39. Analysts are anticipating a 26% jump in Meta's revenue this year. That's expected to be followed by healthy double-digit growth in 2027 and 2028, albeit at a slower rate. Meta could exceed those numbers, especially given its growing share of the digital ad market. According to eMarketer, Meta's digital ad market share could hit 27% in 2026, surpassing Google. This indicates that the integration of AI tools into Meta's advertising platform is paying off. Given that the digital ad market's revenue is expected to surpass $1.5 trillion in 2030, there is a strong likelihood of Meta cruising past consensus revenue estimates. But even if it generates $354 billion in revenue in 2028 and maintains its 7x sales multiple, its market cap could jump to $2.5 trillion. That suggests a potential 60% upside over three years, which is why investors should consider buying this AI stock while it trades at attractive levels.
Bond issuance backing AI investment tops $250B, testing limits of voracious investor demand
$31.9 billion of new AI-related bonds through July 8 this year, all but $4 billion of which backed new data centers. IG-rated bonds from traditional hyperscalers (Amazon, Alphabet, Meta, Oracle), data center developers (including Hut 8, Beacon Point, QTS), and other AI-focused concerns (SpaceX, Nvidia, NTT, among others) reached $218 billion through July 8, blasting past an $80.5 billion 2025 total, virtually all of which was placed in the second half of the year. New SpaceX 6.65% 30-year bonds traded above T+200 this week, from pricing at T+175. Meta's 6.30% 2056 bonds, inked April 30 (as part of a $25 billion package), traded to its widest level yet, at T+145, or 13 bps wide of pricing, and versus trades as tight as T+120 a month ago. CoreWeave's par-priced June 11 offering of 9.625% six-year senior notes slumped to 96.50 (10.42%) as the prospect of competition from one of its primary clients (Meta Platforms) dovetailed with heavy markets.
South Korea’s $576 Billion AI Bet Shows Why Vertiv Is More Than a Cooling Company
According to Table 3, Vertiv participates across nearly every major infrastructure layer required to operate a modern AI data center. The confidence reflected in that backlog is also evident in Vertiv's manufacturing expansion strategy. Earlier this year, the company opened a new manufacturing facility in Johor, Malaysia, its first in Southeast Asia. The facility will produce power systems, liquid-cooling equipment, and integrated infrastructure for customers across Southeast Asia, North Asia, Australia, and New Zealand. The valuation debate is straightforward. Investors aren't questioning whether Vertiv is benefiting from AI infrastructure spending—they're debating how much of that future growth is already reflected in today's share price. One additional factor investors should keep in mind is that AI infrastructure spending is becoming increasingly global rather than concentrated in a handful of U.S. technology companies. South Korea's announcement illustrates how governments now view artificial intelligence as a strategic national asset requiring long-term investment in computing capacity, electrical infrastructure, and advanced semiconductor manufacturing.
Atlas Capital reports 23.1% stake in Greenidge Generation after July 6 share issuance
Atlas Capital GP LP disclosed ownership of 4,185,381 shares of Greenidge Generation (NASDAQ: GREE) Class A common stock after conversion, amounting to 23.1% of the class, in a Schedule 13D/A filed Wednesday with the SEC. The updated stake reflects a July 6 interest payment in which Greenidge issued 114,199 Class A shares to Atlas, valued at $161,820. Atlas has controlled Greenidge since acquiring the company in February 2014. The company's 2024 proxy statement said Atlas Holdings controlled 78.3% of voting power as of April 26, 2024 and held the ability to elect a majority of directors. That voting-power figure reflects a different ownership framing and date than the current 13D/A's beneficial ownership calculation. Atlas now holds more shares but a smaller percentage than it reported in January. A prior 13D/A filed on January 12 showed 3,956,317 shares on an as-converted basis, equal to 25.0% of the class, calculated against 13,068,603 Class A shares outstanding as of December 31, 2025. The current filing adds 229,064 shares to that total, but the ownership percentage falls 1.9 points because Greenidge's Class A share count expanded. The 23.1% figure uses 15,286,349 Class A shares outstanding as of June 30, plus the 114,199 shares issued on July 6, plus an assumption that all 2,680,030 Atlas-held Class B shares convert into Class A. Atlas Capital GP LP is deemed the beneficial owner of all underlying securities as the general partner.
Amazon Vs. Microsoft: What Amazon’s $25 Billion Bond Tranche Says About Mag 7 Competition
AWS grew $37.59 billion in revenue, growing 28%, the fastest pace in fifteen quarters, at a 37.7% operating margin. Azure grew 40% (39% constant currency), and the AI business hit $37 billion annual run rate, up 123%. Commercial remaining performance obligations reached $627 billion, nearly doubling year-over-year, contracted demand years out. Andy Jassy said Amazon's chips business is at $20 billion run rate with triple-digit growth, with total Trainium commitments reaching over $225 billion, including up to 5 GW from Anthropic and 2 GW from OpenAI starting in 2027.
What Makes Amphenol (APH) a Strong Bet Now?
The ongoing dispersion in performance across the market continued to create attractive opportunities for long-term quality-focused investors during May. Among the portfolio additions, we established a position in Amphenol Corporation (NYSE:APH), one of the world's largest designers and manufacturers of electrical, electronic and fibre optic connectors and interconnect systems. The industry structure is a particularly compelling aspect of the long term story: the connector market is highly fragmented, and once a connector or cable assembly is designed into a platform – such as a vehicle model or server architecture it typically remains in place for years, creating multi-year recurring revenue streams. Amphenol's well-established bolt on acquisition strategy provides a consistent additional growth lever. The shares came under meaningful pressure in May amid a market debate around whether Amphenol's content in future AI racks would diminish as architectures transition from copper toward optical networking, an area where the company has historically been perceived as less established. We believe this concern is overdone, and Amphenol has moved decisively to address it, joining a multi source agreement alongside 3M and a group of technology leaders to develop open, interoperable optical connector specifications for AI data centres. Meanwhile, the fundamentals remain firmly intact. First-quarter sales rose nearly 60% year-over-year to a record level of over US$7.5 billion, while earnings growth of close to 70% easily beat expectations. Furthermore, strong Q2 guidance underpins ongoing earnings upgrades. We view the May pullback as a rare opportunity to invest in a dominant, acquisitive compounder at a meaningful discount to intrinsic value.
Amazon Hasn’t Repurchased a Single Share in 4 Years. That’s Exactly Why You Should
Amazon hasn't repurchased any of its stock since the second quarter of 2022. Instead, the company has poured capital into expanding Amazon Web Services (AWS), building AI data centers, developing its Trainium and Inferentia AI chips, and expanding the infrastructure needed to support generative AI. The largest technology companies have largely stopped buying their own shares because they're buying AI hardware instead. Amazon's payoff should arrive later as those AI investments begin generating higher revenue, expanding margins, and stronger free cash flow. A company expected to grow earnings roughly 22% annually, trading near some of its lowest valuations ever, while building multiple new AI-driven businesses, doesn't come along often.
Apollo's Sløk: The market faces big risks if hyperscalers' AI profits get delayed
Spending in 2026 by Amazon (AMZN), Meta (META), Google (GOOG, GOOGL), and Microsoft (MSFT) is now expected to cross $700 billion as those companies have gone from being the "source of cash" to the "user of cash," Bank of America's Savita Subramanian and Vivek Arya noted.
4 in 10 Americans Worry They Won’t Have Enough to Retire. Here’s What The Data Actually Shows.
The average retiree household spent $59,616 in 2025, roughly $4,968 per month, just under $5,000, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics Consumer Expenditure Survey. Roughly 4 in 10 American adults worry they will not have enough money to last through retirement, according to Pew Research Center. The personal savings rate has slipped from 6.2% in early 2024 to 3.9% in the first quarter of 2026, and University of Michigan consumer sentiment sits at 44.8, deep in pessimistic territory. The average benefit as of January 2025 was $1,976 per month, covering roughly 40% of average retiree spending. A 65-year-old can expect about $172,500 in lifetime healthcare costs, per Fidelity, and a private nursing home room now runs $100,000 or more per year.
Market Trends and Investment Opportunities in the U.S. Data Center Market, 2026-2031, Featuring 213 IT & Support Infrastructure Providers and Contractors
The U.S. data center market is poised for significant expansion with a forecasted CAGR of 8.75% from 2025 to 2030. Noteworthy projects include Lambda's AI Factory in Kansas City and Oracle's $40 billion investment in NVIDIA chips for powering OpenAI's new U.S.-based data center. Operators are increasingly investing in renewable energy through strategic partnerships and projects like TotalEnergies' supply deal with Google and Meta's solar energy investments in Louisiana. Several operators, such as Equinix and CyrusOne, are targeting carbon neutrality by 2030, driving the industry towards sustainable practices including liquid cooling and renewable power sourcing. Key players like CyrusOne, Digital Realty, and Equinix, alongside new entrants such as CloudHQ and EdgeCore, continue to drive substantial investments in U.S. data centers. EdgeCore plans a $17 billion project in Virginia while Microsoft's $4 billion expansion in Wisconsin reinforces nationwide growth. In 2025, significant developments by giants like AWS and Google in Oklahoma and Texas reflect the robust growth strategies of hyperscale operators.
UBS Says Apple’s (AAPL) June 2026 Quarter App Store Growth at Approximately 3%
On July 7, 2026, UBS analyst David Vogt said the firm's analysis of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) App Store data from Sensor Tower suggests June 2026 quarter growth of approximately 3%, with U.S. revenue declining about 6%.
My Bold Prediction for This Stock Through 2030
Shares are up 6.46% over the past week and 49.82% over the past year. The stock trades 1% from its 52-week high of $317.40, and CFO Kevan Parekh flagged that memory costs will drive an increasing impact on our business beyond the June quarter. Our internal model projects a base case of $350.82 with 11.94% upside and a bull case of $400.83 within a year.
Opendoor Technologies (OPEN) Gains on Strong Housing Data And Improved Unit Economics, Can It Go Higher?
$720 million in revenue and topped the consensus of $667.16 million. Management noted signing its largest volume of home acquisition contracts since 2022. This was roughly double the previous quarter. Following a quarter of record acquisition contracts, management expects to reach Adjusted EBITDA breakeven in Q2 2026 and aims for positive adjusted net income on a 12-month basis by year-end.
Haleon Signs a Five-Year Agreement With Microsoft (MSFT) to Deploy Agentic AI Across Its Global Operations
Haleon said the deal builds on its current use of Microsoft 365 Copilot and is designed to speed up the company's wider "Win as One" strategy. The expanded collaboration entails Haleon continuing to use Microsoft Azure as its main cloud platform and expanding its use of Copilot. As such, Haleon will get access to broader computing power, data analytics, and enterprise security tools. Microsoft will also provide stronger identity management, governance, and threat protection tools, which Haleon said will let it scale AI use safely across its systems and workflows. Haleon framed the expanded AI push as supporting two long-term business goals: reaching one billion additional consumers by 2030 and improving shareholder returns.
Zillow Vs. Opendoor: Zillow’s Risk-Free Ad Tollbooth Over Opendoor’s Asset-Heavy House-Flipping Machine
Zillow (ZG) posted $46M in net income last quarter while Opendoor (OPEN) burned $246M in operating cash, exposing their starkly opposite business models. Opendoor slashed aged inventory from 51% to 10% and signed 5,000 acquisition contracts, its highest since 2022, but still posted a $49M adjusted net loss. Zillow trades at 14 times forward earnings after a 54% one-year decline, making its capital-light, high-margin model the cleaner risk-adjusted investment. Zillow (NASDAQ: ZG) posted $46 million in net income last quarter while Opendoor Technologies (NASDAQ: OPEN) lost $173 million. Zillow's $708 million in Q1 revenue grew 18.4% year over year, powered by three engines that never touch a deed. Rentals climbed 42% as multifamily listings scaled to 76,000 properties. Mortgage revenue jumped 56%, with purchase loan originations up 96% to $1.5 billion. Opendoor's story hinges on operations. Revenue fell 38% to $720 million as homes sold dropped to 1,921 units. Yet new CEO Kaz Nejatian argues the machine is finally tuned: aged inventory over 120 days collapsed from 51% to 10%, and acquisition contracts topped 5,000, the highest since 2022. Zillow's 73.3% gross margin lets management repurchase stock aggressively: 13.5 million shares bought for $626 million in the quarter.
How UPS’s Addition to Key Russell Defensive Indexes Will Impact United Parcel Service (UPS) Investors
United Parcel Service Investment Narrative Recap To own UPS today, you have to believe its core parcel and logistics franchise can translate network reconfiguration, automation, and contract reshaping into steadier margins and cash generation, despite recent earnings pressure and revenue volatility. The key near term catalyst remains execution on cost savings and mix improvement, while the biggest risk is that network changes and major contracts, such as USPS air cargo, introduce more disruption than efficiency. United Parcel Service's narrative projects $97.8 billion revenue and $6.8 billion earnings by 2029. This requires 3.5% yearly revenue growth and about a $1.6 billion earnings increase from $5.2 billion today. Uncover how United Parcel Service's forecasts yield a $112.88 fair value, a 3% upside to its current price.
Meta set to overtake Google’s frontier AI models in six months, SemiAnalysis says
According to a new report from boutique research firm SemiAnalysis, Mark Zuckerberg's relentless pursuit of proprietary data, elite talent, and unprecedented compute infrastructure has effectively transformed the ecosystem into a race where Google has "faded dramatically". Meta plans to spend up to $145 billion on AI infrastructure this year, part of a massive global buildout.
Can AI answer the $3 trillion question?
All told, he calculates that the AI industry will have to earn $3 trillion to justify all those chips and other data center expenditures. And that’s probably an underestimate—the rising costs of memory and the increasing use of exotic or inference-specific chips will drive that number up. On the other side of the ledger, Anthropic is thought to have hit $60 billion in ARR, while OpenAI reportedly earned $13 billion in 2025 (although in November 2025, it said it was at $20 billion ARR) and is presumably making more this year. But there’s clearly a large gap to be closed. Someone minding that gap is Torsten Slok, the chief economist at Apollo, the giant asset manager. In a recent note, he points out that the hyperscalers — Google, Meta, Microsoft and Amazon — are all predicting massive accelerations in their free-cash flow in 2028. That is, they expect to see the pay-back from all those chips they bought. What if they don’t? Slok notes a risk we’re currently seeing across AI usage: More organizations turning to cheaper open weight models, often Chinese, not those built by the frontier labs, and overall token prices falling. OpenAI’s latest model, per CEO Sam Altman, is 54% more token efficient on coding tasks. That’s good for users fretting about the cost of their AI agents, but it may be bad for companies building token factories should users not wildly increase their overall token usage with them. Slok worries that if hyperscalers don’t meet their cash flow goals, the market reaction could be severe— “with so much riding on so few names,” he writes, “a slower payoff wouldn’t just be a sector problem, it would risk tipping the economy into recession and the S&P 500 into a correction.”
Amazon (AMZN) Launches Leo Broadband As Alexa Ads And AWS AI Reach Grow
Amazon introduces a new Alexa+ Agentic Ads format that enables shoppers to complete purchases directly within Alexa conversations. At the same time, brokerage research and Zacks ratings still lean positive, which suggests there is a split between investors who want direct AI infrastructure exposure and those comfortable holding a diversified platform like Amazon through this heavy spending phase. The combination of large bond issuance for AI capex and investor rotation toward other AI plays challenges the idea that Amazon can keep scaling these projects without putting sustained pressure on free cash flow.
NFLX Stock Drops After-Hours — Netflix Reportedly Weighs Launching Live TV As User Engagement Slows
Netflix saw its share of U.S. television viewership hit a low of 7.8% in April, and its stock has plummeted more than 40% over the last 12 months following disappointing financial guidance. NFLX stock has lost about 20% year-to-date.
The Coming Power War That Will Define the AI Era
Industry forecasts from McKinsey now put AI data center capital expenditure at roughly $5.2 trillion between now and 2030. Goldman Sachs Research projects global data center power demand will surge up to 165% by 2030 compared to 2023 levels. The world simply does not have enough clean, reliable, large-scale electricity to deliver on what the AI industry is promising. Not in the United States. Not in Europe. Not in Asia. The shortage is everywhere, and the timeline to fix it through new generation, transmission, and interconnection runs ten to fifteen years at a minimum. The companies that control electricity may likely be able to dictate terms to the rest of the AI economy for the next two decades. Total contracted revenue runs approximately $2.6 billion, with implied annual revenue of $178 million at full capacity and a net operating margin of 85%.
Why Arm Holdings Stock Soared 224.4% Through The First Half Of 2026
Shares of Arm Holdings (ARM +9.20%) rocketed 224.4% higher in the first half of 2026, according to data from S&P Global Market Intelligence. It is now the 40th-largest company in the world by market cap, valued at $350 billion as of the close on July 9th, 2026. Arm's revenue was $4.92 billion in 2026, driven by its royalty and licensing revenue for CPU designs. By 2031, Arm projects it will generate $25 billion in revenue, driven almost entirely by the growth of its new AGI CPU. Direct sales from the chip are expected to be $15 billion five years from now. The potential for growth at Arm is salivating. It could see a 5x increase in revenue over the next five years, if management's guidance is taken at face value.
The Real Risk Inside ExxonMobil Stock
A multi-year, 3% production loss makes hitting that ambitious growth target significantly harder. If the company's growth rate falls short of these embedded expectations, the stock's valuation multiple could face pressure. The options market seems to be sensing this tension, with implied volatility currently in the 70th percentile of its one-year range, a sign of elevated uncertainty. The central risk for ExxonMobil, then, is that this single, concentrated problem proves too large for even its impressive operational machine to outrun, leaving the stock's demanding valuation looking exposed.
Arm Holdings (ARM) Gains AI Licensing Momentum, Is The Upside Already Priced In?
At a share price of $327.87, Arm Holdings has seen a 9.20% 1 day share price return and a 120.15% 90 day share price return, while the 1 year total shareholder return sits at 120.71%. Ongoing premiumization of Arm's IP, evidenced by rising royalty rates from v8 (~2.5%–3%), to v9 (~5%), to CSS (now exceeding 10%), is increasing per-chip monetization and setting up strong net margin and earnings gains as customers adopt next-generation solutions. The same narrative is also clear that analysts, on average, come out well below where Arm Holdings trades today, even after factoring in faster AI centric revenue growth and higher projected margins.
Is Digital Turbine’s (APPS) AI Partnership Blitz Quietly Rewriting Its Mobile Advertising Thesis?
Digital Turbine Investment Narrative Recap To own Digital Turbine, you have to believe its on-device distribution and AI-driven ad tech can keep gaining relevance despite the power of Apple and Google and tighter privacy rules. The key near term catalyst remains execution on new carrier and OEM integrations, particularly in Europe and Latin America, while the biggest risk is still concentration in a handful of large partners. Digital Turbine's narrative projects $800.1 million revenue and $140.5 million earnings by 2029. This requires 12.3% yearly revenue growth and an earnings increase of about $178 million from -$37.7 million today. Some of the lowest analysts took a far more cautious view, assuming revenue of about US$819,000,000 and earnings near US$169,300,000 by 2029, and they saw partner concentration and privacy pressure as reasons those targets might still be at risk.
Aerospace
Jim Cramer Explains How SpaceX is Changing the Economics of the xAI Business
Normal neocloud contracts average somewhere between 12 to 15 billion per gigawatt. But when you look at the SpaceX deals with Anthropic and Google… three or four times that. Jeez, that's a lot of money.
SpaceX Going Public Is Not a Reason to Abandon Rocket Lab
$200.3 million. The company's generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) gross margin was 38.2%, while backlog rose 20.2% sequentially to $2.2 billion. Rocket Lab had over 70 contracted launches in its backlog at the end of the first quarter. In March 2026, Rocket Lab also signed a $190 million HASTE contract with Kratos Defense & Security Solutions for the U.S. Department of Defense's MACH-TB 2.0 hypersonic testing program. The contract covers 20 hypersonic test flights over four years and is the largest launch contract in the company's history. Rocket Lab expects second-quarter revenue to fall in the range of $225 million to $240 million, up 16% sequentially at the midpoint.
SpaceX Added to Nasdaq-100 and Could Trigger $4.3B in Forced Passive Buying
Index funds must absorb an estimated $4.3B in SPCX shares as $800B+ in Nasdaq-100 tracking assets rebalance after SpaceX's rapid inclusion. Only 281 million of SpaceX's 7.57 billion shares trade publicly, making the $4.3B forced bid collide with an extremely thin float. The company underneath the flows For readers new to the ticker, SpaceX is now a three-legged business. It launched more than 80% of the world's mass to orbit in recent years, operates the Starlink broadband network of approximately 9,600 satellites serving customers across 164 countries, and folded in xAI's Grok model after an early-2026 acquisition. Trailing twelve-month revenue sits at $19.3 billion per SpaceX's most recent SEC filings, with a diluted EPS of -0.68 and an EV/Revenue multiple near 111x.
SPCX Vs. GE: Do Investors Buy Uncapped Potential or Flawless Turnaround Execution?
GE posted four straight EPS beats backed by a $170B services backlog while SPCX spiked above $225 before retreating to $162. Polymarket assigns a 92% probability that SPCX closes above $120 by month-end, but only 31% above $160.
Anduril CEO says it's bad to IPO in ‘middle of a hype cycle’
Spending on the technology is hitting all-time highs, with the defense budget on track to reach $1.5 trillion. Anduril, which makes drones and AI-powered weapons, doubled its valuation in May to $61 billion, becoming one of the most richly valued private tech companies.
Elon Musk's SpaceX Poured $7.7 Billion Into AI Last Quarter. Here's the Bet Behind Its Widening Losses.
$7.7 billion in quarterly spending is a lot of money to burn, even for a company this size -- and especially a money-losing megacap that hasn't provided investors a clear path to profits yet. That AI segment is essentially xAI, the Musk start-up SpaceX acquired in February. And xAI is expensive.
Interior Department requests information on offshore launch options
There has been growing interest in recent years in using offshore locations as launch sites, primarily for smaller vehicles, to relieve congestion at launch sites such as Cape Canaveral in Florida and Vandenberg in California. The Outer Continental Shelf presents a significant opportunity to support the future of America’s space economy. Offshore launch, reentry and recovery infrastructure could expand operational flexibility, increase capacity, reduce constraints on growing launch demand and strengthen the nation’s commercial and national security space capabilities,” Matt Giacona, acting director of BOEM, said in a statement.
Why Did Ciena Stock Gain 460%?
By the summer of 2026, Ciena’s backlog had swelled to $7.7 billion. That’s after a single quarter where it grew by more than $600 million. For context, the company’s updated revenue guidance for the entire fiscal year is $6.3 billion. It has more orders booked than it can fulfill in a year, giving it a level of visibility into 2027 that management calls “excellent.” This represents more than a good quarter; it signals a fundamental shift in the demand picture, driven by hyperscale customers scrambling to build out the network infrastructure AI requires. Revenue growth accelerated to 31% over the last twelve months, a sharp jump from its 12.1% three-year average. Net margin hit 7.9%, matching its three-year peak.
VZ, T, TMUS: SpaceX Starlink’s Rise Tests Telecom Giants, But This Analyst Sees Opportunity Ahead
According to Hodel, Starlink has built a considerable customer base in the U.S., but much of its adoption has come from rural communities that previously relied on slower internet options or older satellite services.
China becomes second country to recover orbital booster with Long March 10B
The Long March 10B is a cargo variant of the 10A. Its first stage is common to the 10A and uses seven YF-100K kerosene-liquid oxygen engines producing a total of 890 tons of thrust, while the 10B’s second stage uses an engine burning methane-liquid oxygen. The 10B is thought to be the first flight of CASC’s YF-219 methalox engine. The five-meter-diameter, two-stage Long March 10B is 63 meters long, with a mass of 760,000 kilograms at liftoff and has a low Earth orbit payload capacity of 16,000 kg in reusable mode.
Bio
AstraZeneca stock drops 9% after Wainua heart drug trial fails
AstraZeneca $AZN reported Thursday that its drug Wainua failed to meet the primary goal of a late-stage clinical trial for a rare heart condition, sending the company's stock down as much as 9.9% in London trading and erasing roughly $27 billion in market value, according to MarketWatch. Shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals fell as much as 15% in premarket trading.
NeoGenomics Launches FDA-Approved PTEN IHC Companion Diagnostic for Prostate Cancer
Prostate cancer is the most common cancer in men in the United States, with more than 300,000 new cases and over 36,000 deaths annually.2 Of the approximately 35,000 patients diagnosed each year with mAPMN/S prostate cancer (formerly mHSPC), about one in four – or approximately 8,750 patients – have PTEN-deficient tumors.2,3
3 High Growth GLP-1 Biotech Winners to Buy in July
Q1 2026 was a statement quarter. Lilly posted EPS of $8.55 versus the $6.79 consensus on revenue of $19.80 billion, up 56% year over year. Mounjaro generated $8.66 billion (+125% YoY) and Zepbound delivered $4.16 billion (+80% YoY). Management raised full-year guidance to $82.0 billion to $85.0 billion in revenue and $35.50 to $37.00 in non-GAAP EPS.
Jim Cramer Says Biotech is The Hottest Group in The Market Right Now
Cramer calls IBB the hottest group in the market, up 51% over the past year, with LLY completing four acquisitions in Q1 2026 alone. The iShares Biotechnology ETF (NYSEARCA: IBB) is up 16.06% year to date and 19.15% over the past month, versus 9.22% YTD for the S&P 500. Over the past year, IBB has returned 51.45%. Lilly is the checkbook The clearest evidence is Eli Lilly (NYSE: LLY), the $1.16 trillion pharma giant that has already announced four acquisitions in Q1 2026. That includes Orna Therapeutics (cell therapies), Centessa Pharmaceuticals (sleep-wake disorders), Kelonia Therapeutics (in vivo CAR-T), and Ajax Therapeutics (myelofibrosis). Mounjaro revenue reached $8.66 billion (+125%). Zepbound hit $4.16 billion (+80%) in Q1, helping Lilly deliver EPS of $8.55 on $19.80 billion in revenue, up 55.5% year over year, per its SEC filing.
Two Drugmakers Own 90% of the Obesity Boom. One Fund Owns Both for 0.59%
Revenue reached $19.8 billion, up 55.5% year over year, with Mounjaro at $8.66 billion (+125%) and Zepbound at $4.16 billion (+80%). Non-GAAP EPS came in at $8.55. CEO David Ricks said, "2026 is off to a strong start, we delivered 56% revenue growth... raised full-year revenue guidance by $2 billion." The FDA has since approved Foundayo (orforglipron), the first oral GLP-1 pill with no food or water restrictions. Lilly's stock reflects this: shares are up 54.8% over the past year and 433.36% over five years, with a market cap of roughly $1.07 trillion. Yet within XLV, Lilly is the largest single position, accounting for roughly 16% of the fund. While that provides significant exposure, the remaining 84% of the fund is spread across insurers, device makers, and legacy pharma. The remainder is a mix of GLP-1 developers and adjacencies: Viking Therapeutics at 5.29%, Zealand Pharma at 3.60%, Structure Therapeutics at 2.38%, plus Chinese biotech exposure through Innovent, Ascletis, and CSPC. Broader pharma names such as Pfizer (7.56%) and Amgen (3.94%) round out the book. The fund also carried a 12.89% cash position at the March filing, which can dampen performance during rapid market rallies, though it provides the manager with the liquidity needed to navigate the extreme volatility typical of small-cap biotech stocks. Year-to-date, OZEM is actually down 1.18% while XLV is up 5.51%. PineBridge's 2026 equity outlook notes that "In 2026, we will see the expansion of obesity treatments to the broader population as lower-cost, easier-to-administer oral pill versions of the current injectable GLP-1s are introduced to the market."
‘It Kills Me to Say That’: Cramer Won’t Recommend Pfizer, Even With Its 7% Dividend
Pfizer posted Q1 2026 revenue of $14.45 billion against a $13.80 billion estimate, adjusted EPS of $0.75 (a fifth consecutive beat), and reaffirmed FY2026 revenue guidance of $59.5 billion to $62.5 billion and adjusted EPS of $2.80 to $3.00, per the company’s 8-K filing.
Why Crinetics Stock Soared 99% This Week
The transaction was unanimously approved by both boards and is expected to close in Q3 2026. Vertex projects the acquired assets could deliver over $5 billion in peak annual sales and contribute earnings accretion by 2029.
Record Numbers of Americans Are on GLP-1 Drugs. That's Great News for This Stock.
Lilly reported sales of $8.7 billion for Mounjaro in the first quarter and $4.2 billion for Zepbound, for a combined $12.9 billion. Lilly's total revenue for the first quarter was $19.8 billion, up 56% from the same quarter a year ago. And due to better-than-expected growth in tirzepatide drugs, which blew past Wall Street's expectations, Lilly's management raised its full-year 2026 revenue guidance to between $82.2 billion and $85 billion, up $2 billion from previous expectations. Lilly's share price is up about 14% year to date and 6% over the past month, sending its market capitalization past $1 trillion.
SEGRO Slams Prologis Proposal, Touts £4.1B Pipeline Upside
GBP 282 million of future income based on current rents, equivalent to almost 40% of its current rent roll. CBRE calculated the undiscounted value of the industrial and logistics pipeline at GBP 1.6 billion, using current rents and costs. SEGRO said it sees more than GBP 1 billion of income upside on top of GBP 755 million of current passing rent. SEGRO said CBRE attributed GBP 1.6 billion of value upside to its industrial and logistics pipeline and GBP 2.5 billion to its near- and mid-term data center pipeline. “SEGRO is a unique business,” David said, adding that the company has the capabilities and balance sheet to unlock value itself. SEGRO narrowed its 2026 capital expenditure guidance to GBP 500 million to GBP 550 million, at the top end of its earlier range.
AstraZeneca (LSE:AZN) Misses Key Wainua Trial Goal Beyond Oncology
AstraZeneca (LSE:AZN) and Ionis Pharmaceuticals reported that their drug Wainua (eplontersen) did not meet the primary endpoint in the CARDIO-TTRansform Phase 3 trial for ATTR-CM.
HIMS Stock Under Pressure: BofA Warns Wegovy Churn Could Threaten Its Big H2 EBITDA Ramp
$149 in month two. The churn warning comes just months after Hims reset its weight-loss strategy around branded GLP-1 drugs. In March, Hims announced a new agreement with Novo Nordisk to offer FDA-approved branded GLP-1 drugs, including Wegovy and Ozempic, while ending advertising for compounded GLP-1 offerings and helping eligible compounded-GLP-1 patients transition to branded options. Hims is also positioning for potential upside from peptides, a wellness category related to weight loss, recovery, joint pain, cognitive performance and longevity. Ahead of a July 23-24 advisory committee meeting, FDA staff said last week that there was insufficient evidence to support allowing compounders to manufacture BPC-157, Emideltide, Epitalon, KPV, MOTS-c, Semax, and TB-500, adding that safety concerns could not be ruled out. This creates a regulatory overhang, but Hims has already moved early. In 2025, the company acquired a California-based peptide manufacturing facility to boost its domestic supply chain and support future work in preventive health, metabolic optimization and recovery science.
Consumer / Retail
Russell Index Removal Could Be A Game Changer For Teladoc Health’s (TDOC) Investment Narrative
Teladoc Health's narrative projects $2.6 billion revenue and $173.1 million earnings by 2029. This assumes fairly flat yearly revenue growth and a roughly $344 million earnings increase from -$171.1 million today. Uncover how Teladoc Health's forecasts yield a $7.40 fair value, a 18% downside to its current price. Before this index news, the most optimistic analysts were assuming revenue could reach about US$2.7 billion and earnings about US$62.8 million, which is a far more upbeat view than consensus.
Coca-Cola vs Exxon: Which Blue Chip Won the Decade?
Coca-Cola (NYSE:KO | KO Price Prediction) has spent the past decade doing what it does best: quietly compounding. The company refranchised bottling operations, bought Costa Coffee in 2019, added BODYARMOR in 2021, and rode Coca-Cola Zero Sugar into a growth engine (volume up 13% to 14%). Henrique Braun took over as CEO in 2026, inheriting a portfolio that just posted $47.94 billion in FY2025 revenue and a 64th straight annual dividend hike. Exxon Mobil (NYSE:XOM) took a wilder ride. Removed from the Dow in August 2020 during the oil crash, the company doubled down instead of pivoting green. CEO Darren Woods pushed the $60 billion Pioneer Natural Resources deal to close in 2024, drove Permian output to 1.6 million oil-equivalent barrels per day (boed), and lifted Guyana output to 700,000 gross barrels per day. Total production hit 4.7 million boed in 2025, the highest in more than 40 years. Neither figure above includes reinvested dividends, which would meaningfully sweeten both total returns. Coca-Cola is the choice today for defensive compounding, a 2.5% yield, and exposure to global unit-case volume growth.
Choreo buys Illinois RIA Resource Financial Group
RFG holds about $700m in assets under management as of 30 April 2026. In total, Choreo has brought in roughly $2bn in assets under management during 2026. As of 31 December 2025, it worked with more than 7,000 clients and had about $28.6bn in assets under management and advisement.
BellRing Brands names Snak King CEO Michael Axelrod as new chief
US protein drinks and bars business BellRing Brands has hired Snak King CEO Michael Axelrod as its next president and chief executive. In May, the company reported fiscal second-quarter net sales of $598.7m, up 1.8% year-on-year. However, operating profit for the three months to the end of March fell 30.6% to $66m and net earnings dropped 42.2% to $33.9m. Adjusted EBITDA for the quarter more than halved to $53.8m. BellRing now expects its net sales in its 2026 financial year to reach $2.33bn to $2.37bn, compared with its previous forecast of $2.41bn to $2.46bn due to cautious consumer spending, increased promotional activity and cost inflation. In BellRing's 2025 fiscal year, its net sales were $2.32bn. The company is also forecasting its full-year adjusted EBITDA will range from $315m to $335m, versus its February guidance of $425m to $440m. In the 2025 financial year, BellRing's adjusted EBITDA stood at $481.6m.
The Nasdaq 100’s 5 Highest-Yielding Stocks Are Hot Summer Picks
A study by Hartford Funds, in collaboration with Ned Davis Research, found that dividend stocks delivered an annualized return of 9.18% over the past 50 years (1973 to 2023). Over the same timeline, this was more than double the annualized return for non-payers (3.95%).
PepsiCo Q2 2026 earnings: revenue beat, EPS miss, U.S. slump
Total net revenue of $24.18 billion represented a 6.4% year-over-year increase and cleared the $23.95 billion Wall Street target. Stripping out currency movements, acquisitions and divestitures, organic revenue climbed 2.4%. Core operating profit rose 4% to $4.07 billion, while core operating margin narrowed by 40 basis points to 16.8%, reflecting cost pressures that partially offset productivity gains and pricing actions. Management left its annual targets intact. The company still expects organic revenue to expand by 2% to 4% and core constant-currency EPS to rise by 4% to 6%.
How a $1 Million Dividend Portfolio Can Generate $100,000 Annually
Ares Capital's 11% yield nearly generates $100K annually on $935K in capital, but Q1 2026 core EPS of $0.47 slipped below the $0.48 quarterly payout. MAIN's 6% yield still requires $1.67M to hit $100K annually, with shares down 11% year-to-date as BDC earnings move with the credit cycle. At a blended 3%, $100,000 of income requires roughly $4 million in capital. That is four times the headline portfolio size. The tradeoff is durability. KO grew its quarterly payout from $0.485 in 2024 to $0.53 in 2026. JNJ went from $1.19 in 2023 to $1.34 today. Both also delivered meaningful price appreciation, with JNJ up 74% over the past year and KO up 21%. This is the sleep-at-night tier. Main Street Capital (NYSE:MAIN) is the bridge between blue chip and BDC. Current yield: 6.04% on a $3.06 annual base, with a 19th consecutive quarterly supplemental dividend of $0.30 stacked on top of the monthly $0.26 regular payout. The monthly regular dividend has stepped from 24 cents in 2024 to 26 cents today, roughly 4% annual growth. At a 6% blended yield, $100,000 of income requires about $1.67 million in capital. The tradeoff: Q1 2026 EPS of $1.00 missed the $1.01 estimate, non-accruals sit at 1% at fair value, and the shares are down 11% year to date. BDC earnings move with the credit cycle. Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC) is the yield engine. The stock yields 10.34% on a $1.92 annual dividend, currently flat at 48 cents per quarter for 13 consecutive quarters. At that yield, $100,000 of income requires roughly $935,000 in capital, which is why ARCC is the foundation of the headline $1 million portfolio. The tradeoff is real. Q1 2026 core EPS came in at 47 cents versus a 48-cent consensus, the first quarter where core earnings fell below the 48-cent dividend. Non-accruals ticked up to 2% at amortized cost, net unrealized losses hit $412 million, and NAV per share slipped to $19.59. Shares are down 7% over the past year.
Levi Strauss Q2 2026 earnings beat, stock falls after hours
Levi Strauss & Co. reported second-quarter results on Wednesday that topped analyst expectations on revenue and earnings, and the company raised its full-year outlook — yet its stock fell more than 5% in after-hours trading. Sales reached $1.56 billion, an 8% year-over-year increase that came in ahead of the $1.52 billion analysts had projected. The company's direct-to-consumer channel, now representing 51% of total net revenue, expanded 11%, with e-commerce up 19%. Looking ahead to the full fiscal year through November 29, management updated its top-line growth target to between 7% and 7.5%, lifting the previous 5.5%-to-6.5% range. Shareholders will also receive a quarterly dividend of 16 cents per share — 14% more than a year ago — with payment scheduled for August 5 to those on record as of July 22. The company's guidance assumes U.S. tariffs on imports from China remain at 30% and rest-of-world tariffs remain at 20%, with no significant worsening of macroeconomic conditions.
Tractor Supply downgrade, Five Below upgraded: Wall Street's top analyst calls
Mizuho upgraded Five Below (FIVE) to Outperform from Neutral with a price target of $220, down from $225, following a momentum unwind and nearly 30% share price pullback from recent peaks. Goldman Sachs upgraded Toast (TOST) to Buy from Neutral with a $36 price target. Shares have lagged due to competitive concerns in small-to-midsize business payments and margin concerns around hardware and memory costs, but the firm believes Toast is well positioned to outperform from here as a result of its best-in-class product offering and the recent launch of AI-enabled marketing services that it believes could be a potential accelerant to SaaS ARPU growth. Wolfe Research upgraded Sarepta (SRPT) to Outperform from Peer Perform with a $27 price target. Share gains for Sarepta have been "transient" but the firm believes that this will shift given a different market regime and the current stock setup, the firm tells investors in a research note. Goldman Sachs upgraded Cinemark (CNK) to Neutral from Sell with a price target of $30, up from $23. The changes follow a moderation in structural downside risks to the theatrical industry, improved visibility into the durability of near-term industry box office trends, and solid execution by Cinemark across market share and pricing, the firm tells investors in a research note. Wolfe Research upgraded American Tower (AMT) to Outperform from Peer Perform with an $188 price target. The end of DISH-related rent losses and completion of the Sprint/T-Mobile (TMUS) integration remove two major overhangs on U.S. tower growth, says the firm, which sees growth to reaccelerate as churn normalizes. Mizuho downgraded Tractor Supply (TSCO) to Neutral from Outperform with a price target of $32, down from $50. Trends have remained "decidedly weak" throughout Q2, says the firm, which "fully" expects FY26 guidance to be notched down in the near-term. KeyBanc downgraded Salesforce (CRM) to Sector Weight from Overweight with no price target. The firm states that its checks and customer conversations have not been strong and neither has the feedback on Agentforce. RBC Capital downgraded AeroVironment (AVAV) to Sector Perform from Outperform with a price target of $180, down from $210. While the firm believes AeroVironment remains well positioned in growth markets, and views investor concern on competitive risks as "overdone," it says the company's implied 2028-2030 acceleration in revenue growth, and material step up in margins, against a back-drop of greater investments, flat top-line defense spending, and potential capacity expansion risk, will keep investors on the sidelines until visibility is better. Arete downgraded Paramount Skydance (PSKY) to Sell from Neutral with a price target of $2, down from $14. The history of media mega-mergers is "hardly inspiring," and the firm sees Paramount's acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) facing "similar challenges," but with more expensive debt and restrictive maintenance covenants. Barclays downgraded Caesars (CZR) to Equal Weight from Overweight with a price target of $31, down from $35. Caesars nears the end of the go-shop period, notes the firm, which believes there is low likelihood that the company accepts a topping bid to Fertitta's current $31 per share buy-out offer.
PepsiCo Price Prediction: Is The Stock a Buy Before Earnings?
Q1 2026 delivered core EPS of $1.61 versus $1.5442 expected on revenue of $19.443B, with operating margin expanding 210 basis points to 16.5%. International segments carried the quarter, with EMEA revenue up 18% and Asia Pacific Foods core operating profit up 35%. Management reaffirmed FY2026 guidance for 2-4% organic revenue growth and 4-6% core constant-currency EPS growth. The thesis rests on continued international acceleration, margin expansion from record productivity savings, and successful restaging of Pepsi, Lay's, Doritos, Gatorade, and the recently acquired poppi brand.
DeepFabric Launches Supply Chain AI Platform
A 2026 study from PwC found 89 percent of operations leaders saying their tech investments have not fully delivered the expected results—an opening that DeepFabric wants to take advantage of. DeepFabric's platform includes more than 50 AI agents across operations, financial control, assurance, and growth that work together as customers expand.
Applied Materials Shares Jump as CEO Highlights Long-Term Chip Investment Outlook (AMAT)
CEO Points to Strong Multi-Year Demand for Semiconductor Equipment Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) shares climbed 6% in pre-market trading on Thursday after Chief Executive Gary Dickerson said semiconductor manufacturers are providing equipment demand forecasts that extend several years into the future, with some visibility reaching as far as 2030. "Chipmakers are sharing their equipment demand outlooks for two years or more to ensure their capacity expansions proceed smoothly," Dickerson said. Industry forecasts have also become more optimistic. Susquehanna recently increased its wafer fabrication equipment market forecast to $250 billion by 2028, citing continued AI investment and tighter memory market conditions. The firm also raised price targets on several semiconductor equipment companies, including Advanced Energy Industries (NASDAQ:AEIS), Lam Research (NASDAQ:LRCX) and KLA Corporation (NASDAQ:KLAC). Meanwhile, SemiAnalysis estimates cumulative global AI infrastructure investment could reach $11.1 trillion between 2024 and 2029, potentially supporting equipment demand for years to come. The company has also continued to deliver strong financial performance. In its fiscal second quarter of 2026, reported on 14 May, Applied Materials posted earnings per share of $2.86, comfortably ahead of the consensus estimate of $2.68. Revenue reached $7.91 billion, exceeding analysts' expectations of $7.68 billion. Analysts Raise Price Targets Investor sentiment also received a boost from fresh analyst upgrades released on Thursday. TD Cowen increased its price target on Applied Materials to $700, while Mizuho lifted its target to $650.
Are we Paying too Much for Costco Wholesale Corporation (COST)?
On July 8, 2026, Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ:COST) closed at $953.13 per share, reflecting a market capitalization of $422.69 billion. Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ:COST) posted a one-month return of -6.42%, and its shares lost 5.89% over the past 52 weeks. We continue to believe Costco is a great business and have held the position in the portfolio for over 12 years, during which time the stock delivered a total shareholder return of approximately 1,000%.
Allianz Partners to cut up to 1,800 jobs as AI adoption accelerates
Allianz Partners is planning to reduce its workforce by 1,500–1,800 positions as the German insurer's business expands its use of AI, Bloomberg reported. Bloomberg Economics projects that 27% of employees in developed economies could face significant disruption from AI. Its parent company, Allianz, separately reported in May that shareholders' core net income reached €3.8bn ($4.34bn) in the first quarter of 2026, climbing from €2.6bn in the same period last year – a rise of 48.4%.
While Wall Street Worries, This Cheap Warren Buffett Consumer Stock Is a Screaming Buy
Kroger's shares haven't performed well, but a check of the business shows this is an excellent buying opportunity for astute long-term investors. Growing sales Kroger operates supermarkets that include grocery, pharmacy, and gas stations. People need these consumer staples, no matter what's going on with their personal economic situation. That's the good news. However, it's a very competitive business. Giants like Amazon and Walmart compete in the space. Still, Kroger has been in existence since 1883, so it's been doing something right. Fortunately, new CEO Greg Foran doesn't plan to sit idly by. Foran plans broad-based price cuts to remain competitive. He certainly knows how to run an operation focused on low prices, having previously worked as CEO of Walmart U.S. Kroger may not be growing fast, but it has seen increasing sales. The company's first-quarter same-store sales (comps), excluding gasoline, grew 1%. On that basis, management expects comps to increase 1% to 2% for the year. Still, the company's gross margin under generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) contracted 30 basis points to 22.7%. Investors may be concerned that lower prices will further hurt margins, but management plans to minimize the impact by pressing suppliers on costs and focusing on efficiency. That's certainly disappointing, but a new CEO with fresh ideas and tremendous success at Walmart should provide investors with optimism about the future. Cutting prices to maintain competitiveness seems like a good first step. In the meantime, Kroger's valuation has become more attractive. Earnings can fluctuate, so it's easier to use the price-to-sales (P/S) ratio. The shares' P/S ratio has dropped from 0.35 to 0.25 over the last year. That's a fraction of the S&P 500's P/S multiple of 3.7.
STG Logistics exits Chapter 11 as intermodal market heats up
STG reduced funded debt by over $1 billion and received $150 million in new capital from a group of investors including Fortress, Fidelity and Invesco. Those investors now hold a majority equity stake in the company. An exodus of truckload capacity, driven by regulatory crackdowns on noncompliant drivers, has triggered a surge in TL spot rates. The inflationary TL rate environment coincides with a runup in diesel fuel prices due to conflict in the Middle East. Those were the primary catalysts behind an 8% year-over-year increase in total intermodal traffic on the U.S. Class I railroads during the second quarter. Intermodal is currently 31% cheaper than full, over-the-road truckload service. That's significantly above the roughly 15% cost savings threshold typically required to spark modal conversion. STG provides container freight station and transloading services, operating a network of roughly 100 owned and partner facilities. It is an asset-backed intermodal market company with 15,000 53-foot containers and 3,000 tractors (owner-operators), providing coast-to-coast, cross-border and intra-Mexico service. It also provides full-truckload and less-than-truckload services through a 25,000-plus carrier network.
Can AST SpaceMobile Stock Become the Next 10-Bagger?
Nearly 60 MNO partners and $1.2 billion in contracted commitments back FY2026 revenue guidance in the range of $150 million to $200 million. Bulls have a clean story. AST SpaceMobile has nearly 60 MNO partners covering 3 billion+ subscribers, over $1.20 billion in contracted partner commitments, and definitive agreements with Verizon and stc Group.
Starboard’s Dynatrace Play: Activist Turnaround or Setup for a Splunk-Style Sale?
Dynatrace (NYSE:DT) is now the newest test case for the Starboard Value playbook that ended with Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) buying Splunk for roughly $28 billion in September 2023. The Catalyst: Starboard's Constructive Deal In a July 1 disclosure, Dynatrace added George Riedel and Dan Streetman to the board, expanding the board from eight to ten members following engagement with Starboard Value. The company paired the appointments with a $1 billion share repurchase authorization and a plan to lay out a "Rule of 50" target by fiscal 2029 at an Investor Day after Q2 FY2027 results. Dynatrace closed FY26 with revenue of $2,018.39 million, up 18.82% year over year, annual recurring revenue of $2.05 billion, and free cash flow of $529.48 million. Guidance for FY27 calls for revenue of $2.317 billion to $2.335 billion, non-GAAP EPS of $1.93 to $1.95, and a 29.5% non-GAAP operating margin.
Chipotle Is Up 17% in 1 Month. Is It a Top Buy Before July 29?
Comparable restaurant sales only increased by 0.5%. That low comparable sales rate indicates that customers are returning less often, and their order sizes aren't growing much. It's also part of a growing trend. While comparable sales grew 8.4% and 5.4% in 2023 and 2024, respectively, in 2025, Chipotle's comparable sales fell by 2.5%. Management expects 2026 comparable sales to be flat, suggesting that its high growth rates are a thing of the past. New restaurants tighten margins if they don't grow quickly enough, and in 2026's first quarter, labor costs amounted to 26.1% of total revenue, up from 25% a year earlier.
Don’t Let Your Kids’ Braces Chew Up Your Retirement
$15,000 to $30,000 on orthodontic treatment over the course of a decade. Most parents pay those bills from savings or monthly cash flow. Traditional metal braces typically run $5,000 to $6,000 per child. Ceramic and clear aligners push closer to $7,500, and complex cases can hit $10,000. Insurance often caps lifetime orthodontic coverage around $1,500 to $2,500 per child, and many plans exclude adults entirely. Spread over roughly six years, three children at $7,500 each averages $3,750 per year in out-of-pocket cost. The $5,000 scenario lands near $2,500 per year. The $10,000 scenario lands near $5,000 per year. Layered on top of activities, summer camp, and rising healthcare costs (May 2026 CPI hit 335.123), they crowd the household budget. In the highest-cost scenario, three children requiring $10,000 of orthodontic treatment each would create roughly $30,000 of total expenses. Spread across six years, that works out to about $5,000 annually, requiring roughly $100,000 of capital at a 5% yield.
Sportswear Global Market Research Report 2026-2031 Featuring Strategic Profiles of Nike, Adidas, ANTA Sports Goods, Lululemon Athletica, PUMA
The global sportswear market is set to expand at a CAGR of 4.04% from 2025 to 2031. Apparel leads with a 55% market share in 2025, driven by fabric innovation, sustainability, and influencer-driven marketing.
Opendoor Jumps 11%, Outpacing Offerpad and Zillow as iBuyer Stock Traders Pick Winners
Opendoor stock carries no TTM P/E ratio and has TTM EPS of -$1.76. The company's most recent quarter showed revenue down 38% year over year, and its analyst target sits at just $4.82, below today's price. Zillow is the profitable one, with TTM EPS of $0.25 and a TTM P/E ratio of 131x. The company saw Q1 2026 revenue growth of 18% and earnings growth of 5x year over year. Opendoor CEO Kaz Nejatian's adjusted EBITDA breakeven guide for Q2 is the next real test, and any miss could quickly unwind the retail-driven bid. What to Watch Now Investors can watch for whether Opendoor stock holds the $5 in the coming sessions and whether volume confirms the breakout attempt.
New Price Prediction For this Popular Blue-Chip Dividend Stock
Ramon Laguarta cited PepsiCo's highest organic volume growth since 2022, backed by $8.9 billion in 2026 capital returns and a 54th consecutive dividend hike. CEO Ramon Laguarta noted that "PepsiCo's global organic volume has increased at the highest rate since 2022", and management reaffirmed 2-4% organic revenue growth and 4-6% core constant currency EPS growth for FY2026.
Why a $1 Million Portfolio Doesn’t Guarantee a Comfortable Retirement
According to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, food prices rose more than 23% from 2020 to 2024, transportation costs climbed over 34%, and housing costs increased roughly 23%. A person retiring in 2025 may need roughly $172,500 in after-tax savings just to cover healthcare in retirement, according to Fidelity, and that figure excludes long-term care entirely. Long-term care can run anywhere from $50,000 to $100,000 or more annually, depending on the level of care required. A recent Fidelity survey found that Americans expect to need around $1.4 million to retire comfortably, while retirees themselves report having closer to $490,000. This gap suggests many people either adapt their spending or find that the number mattered less than they thought.
Walmart (WMT) Offers Lower Prices Across Stores and Clubs
On July 7, 2026, Walmart Inc. (NASDAQ:WMT) said Walmart and Sam's Club are offering thousands of lower prices through Walmart's Rollbacks and Sam's Club offers across stores and clubs nationwide. On July 8, BofA analyst Christopher Nardone said Walmart Inc. (NASDAQ:WMT)'s decision to lower prices in certain areas does not affect guidance, and BofA sees no incremental margin risk from the actions.
Kura Sushi USA Q3 Earnings Call Highlights
Comparable restaurant sales declined 0.4%, reflecting a 5.1% decline in traffic that was partially offset by a 4.7% contribution from price and mix. Restaurant-level operating profit margin rose to 19.1% from 18.2% a year earlier. Adjusted EBITDA increased to $6.6 million from $5.4 million, while adjusted EBITDA margin improved 40 basis points to 7.7%. Food costs remained elevated due to tariffs, though management said cost control helped partially cushion the impact. The company still expects 16 new restaurant openings in fiscal 2026, but delays tied largely to fire inspections trimmed revenue by about six revenue months and led management to reduce its full-year sales outlook to $330.5 million-$331.5 million. Kura Sushi USA (NASDAQ:KRUS) reported higher fiscal third-quarter sales and improved restaurant-level profitability despite negative comparable sales and continued pressure from tariffs on imported ingredients, executives said on the company's earnings call. Total sales for the fiscal third quarter were $85.9 million, up from $74 million in the prior-year period. The company continues to expect 16 new restaurant openings for fiscal 2026, representing annual unit growth above 20%.
Norwegian Cruise Line Jumps 8%, Carnival Climbs 5%, Royal Caribbean Rises 3% in Cruise-Stock Rebound
Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings (NYSE:NCLH | NCLH Price Prediction) is leading the group, up 8% to $20, while Carnival (NYSE:CCL) shares trade up 5% to $27 and Royal Caribbean Cruises (NYSE:RCL) shares are up 3% to $289. Trailing P/E ratios stand at 16x for NCLH, 12x for Carnival, and 18x for Royal Caribbean. Royal Caribbean stock also carries a 1.77% dividend yield and screens with the strongest operating margin of the three. The company’s management cut Norwegian’s full-year 2026 guidance to adjusted EPS of $1.45 to $1.79 with net yield down 3% to 5% in constant currency, citing Middle East disruption, higher fuel, and softer European summer demand. Carnival’s raised FY2026 outlook calling for adjusted EPS near $2.22 and adjusted EBITDA near $7.11 billion remains an operational anchor for the group.
Altria vs. Turning Point Brands: Which Tobacco Stock Is a Better Buy in 2026?
In FY 2025, revenue reached nearly $20.1 billion, a slight decline of approximately 1.5% from the previous year. For the period ending in FY 2025, the company reported revenue of approximately $463.1 million, a substantial 28% year-over-year increase. Based on the December 2025 balance sheet, Turning Point Brands has a debt-to-equity ratio of nearly 0.9x. Free cash flow for the fiscal year was nearly $9.1 billion, calculated by subtracting capital expenditures from operating cash flow. Net income was close to $58.2 million, which shows the company is successfully scaling its higher-growth brands. Based on the December 2025 balance sheet, Turning Point Brands has a debt-to-equity ratio of nearly 0.9x. Free cash flow, or cash from operations minus capital spending, reached approximately $43.9 million for the year. Net income was close to $58.2 million, which shows the company is successfully scaling its higher-growth brands. Still, management is finding ways to boost profits, with net income seen rising 25% to $9.3 billion in 2026 on essentially flat revenue. Turning Points Brands should see sales rise 13% this year to about $525 million, with net income of $58 million.
Costco shares fall after June sales update, Bank of America remains bullish
For the five weeks ended July 5, total sales rose 10.6%, while US comparable sales excluding gasoline increased 7.6%. Customer traffic increased 3.2% during the month, easing from 3.9% in May, while average ticket growth excluding gasoline and foreign exchange was 3.7%, compared with 4% in the prior month. Digital comparable sales remained strong, rising 21.5% in June and improving sequentially from the previous month. The analysts also noted Costco shifted its member appreciation days to coincide with Amazon's Prime Day and other competing promotional events.
How Large Does Your Portfolio Need to Be to Generate $12,000 a Month?
Twelve thousand dollars a month sounds like a round number, but it carries weight. It works out to $144,000 a year, a little more than twice the U.S. per capita disposable personal income of $68,391 reported for the first quarter of 2026. At a 3.5% blended yield, $144,000 divided by 0.035 comes out to about $4,114,000. This is the dividend growth lane: broad dividend ETFs, dividend aristocrats, and mature consumer and healthcare names. Shift the target yield to 6%, and $144,000 divided by 0.06 equals $2,400,000. That is nearly $1.7 million less in required capital, and it opens the door to REITs, midstream energy, preferred shares, and high-dividend equity funds. Push the yield to 10%, and the capital requirement drops to $1,440,000. This tier is business development companies, mortgage REITs, leveraged covered-call funds, and high-yield bond funds. A 3.5% yield that grows 8% annually doubles the income stream in about nine years. A 10% yield with no growth still pays the same nominal income, and that income buys less after inflation.
AT&T vs. Verizon: Which Cell Phone Network Stock Is a Better Buy in 2026?
During FY 2025, revenue reached $125.6 billion, representing a 2.8% increase over the previous year. This growth helped the company achieve net income of approximately $21.9 billion, a substantial increase from the $10.8 billion earned in FY 2024, indicating that it is capturing more profit per dollar of sales as it streamlines operations. In FY 2025, the company generated revenue of approximately $138.2 billion, a 2.5% year-over-year increase. Net income for this period was nearly $17.2 billion, down from $17.5 billion, reflecting network maintenance costs. As of its December 2025 balance sheet, the debt-to-equity ratio was 1.6x. This ratio measures total debt relative to shareholders’ equity, indicating how much a company relies on borrowing to fund its expansion. Free cash flow for the period was $16.6 billion, the cash remaining after covering daily operations and equipment upgrades. As of the December 2025 balance sheet, the debt-to-equity ratio was nearly 1.9x. This metric helps investors see the balance between borrowed money and equity provided by shareholders. Free cash flow reached approximately $20.1 billion, the cash remaining after the company funds capital investments and daily operating needs. Verizon believes it can grow 6% in 2026, which would get revenue to well over $140 billon. Profitability is inching up, too, with analysts foreseeing $20 billion for this year.
Comcast (CMCSA) Love Island USA Is Doubling Female Trading On Kalshi
Love Island USA drawing more female traders to Kalshi shows Comcast content influencing real money behavior. This can reinforce the case for Peacock as a sticky platform. Watch engagement metrics around Peacock originals, subscriber trends, and how management talks about interactive or trading related partnerships tied to its shows. Analysts expect Comcast earnings to decline by an average of 11.5% per year over the next 3 years, so any excitement from this engagement trend sits alongside that risk.
Why Costco Stock Fell Today
Shares of Costco Wholesale (COST 4.21%) declined on Thursday following the release of the discount chain's June sales metrics. Costco's net sales climbed 10.6% year over year to $29.24 billion for the five weeks ended July 5. The company's comparable sales, which include revenue from locations open for more than a year, increased 8.8%. Moreover, the market loves accelerating growth. When the opposite happens, and growth slows, it often drives traders to sell. Costco's June sales growth decelerated from May, when its net sales and comps jumped 14.5% and 12.5%, respectively. Yet it should be noted that after excluding changes in gas prices and foreign currency rates, the deceleration was more moderate, with adjusted same-store sales up 7% in June, compared to 8% in May.
PEP Stock Slides Overnight: Wall Street Reconsiders PepsiCo Growth Outlook As Consumer Spending Pressure Dents Prospects
PepsiCo Inc. shares slipped overnight Thursday after analysts cut their price targets following the company’s downward adjustment to its earnings outlook after fiscal second-quarter results. Evercore ISI reduced its price target for PepsiCo to $150 from $170 while maintaining an ‘In Line’ rating. The firm said the company’s move toward the lower end of its earnings-per-share forecast was not unexpected, but it still contributed to a decline in investor sentiment after the earnings call. PepsiCo stock edged 0.1% lower overnight on Thursday. UBS analyst Peter Grom slashed his price target for PepsiCo to $159 from $172, while keeping a ‘Buy’ rating on the stock. Grom said PepsiCo’s Q2 results showed slight improvement and the company kept its 2026 forecasts unchanged. Pepsi said it expects costs for raw materials and other inputs to rise further in the second half of the year and expects core constant currency EPS growth of 4% to 6% and organic revenue growth of 2% to 4% for 2026.
Costco's June Sales Rose 10.6%, but the Stock Fell 4%. Here's What Spooked Investors.
Net sales rose 10.6% year over year to about $29.2 billion for the five weeks ended July 5. U.S. comparable sales, a measure of sales at warehouses open at least a year, climbed 10.6%. And digitally enabled comparable sales jumped nearly 21%. The company also declared its regular quarterly dividend of $1.47 per share. On that adjusted basis, U.S. comparable sales rose 7.6% year over year, and total company comparable sales rose 7%. Costco's adjusted total company comparable sales ran 7.8% in April and 8% in May, so June's 7% is a step down rather than a step up. For the first 44 weeks of the fiscal year, adjusted comparable sales are running at a healthy 6.7%.
Starbucks (SBUX) Is Replacing Microsoft And IBM Software To Cut $400 Million Spend
The company is tying this technology shift to a wider $2b cost reduction plan, including a targeted cut to its $400m annual software budget. Watch how the US$2b cost reduction plan, including the US$400m software budget, flows through margins and cash flows over the next few reporting periods.
Why Bandwidth Stock Was Rising This Week
According to data compiled by S&P Global Market Intelligence, as of early Friday morning, the stock was up 14% week to date. The company's revenue surged 20% year-over-year to $209 million, while net income not under generally accepted accounting principles rose 18%.
Others
PepsiCo says economic concerns weighed on customers in North American during recent quarter
The food and beverage giant said Thursday that its net revenue rose 6.4% to $24.2 billion for the April-June period. That was better than the $23.9 billion Wall Street expected, according to analysts polled by FactSet. PepsiCo said its net income more than doubled in the second quarter to $2.98 billion. Adjusted for one-time items, the company earned $2.18 per share.
Bank of America: The Case For The Company's Convertible Preferred Series L
BAC maintains robust capital ratios (CET1 ~11.2%) and over 20x preferred dividend coverage, supporting the stability of preferred dividend payments, including those of BAC.PR.L. BAC.PR.L's current proximity to the forced conversion threshold materially increases the value of its embedded conversion option, resulting in greater sensitivity to upside in BAC common.
EXCLUSIVE: Union Pacific, Norfolk Southern CEOs talk about the rail merger that could reshape the U.S. economy
Union Pacific's thundering train – the massive Big Boy steam locomotive, not the pending merger with Norfolk Southern – made it to the East Coast over the July 4th holiday, completing an historic ocean-to-ocean tour that began in Sacramento in April. While tens of thousands flocked to the 4014 and the railroads' gleaming executive train during a blazing hot USA 250 weekend celebration, FreightWaves caught up with CEOs Jim Vena of UP (NYSE: UNP) and Norfolk Southern's (NYSE: NSC) Mark George in the cool of the shade. They talked about the merger, their expectations for regulatory evaluation, and the one thing Vena wished the STB would have done early in the process. Subscribe to FreightWaves' Rail e-newsletter and get the latest insights on rail freight right in your inbox. Read more articles by Stuart Chirls here. Read more: Broad-based gains for rail freight Union Pacific, Norfolk Southern submit more merger data Freight car builder Greenbrier sees weaker Q2 earnings Rising intermodal volume slows big four U.S. rail system No June swoon for surging rail traffic The post EXCLUSIVE: Union Pacific, Norfolk Southern CEOs talk about the rail merger that could reshape the U.S. economy appeared first on FreightWaves. Broad-based gains for rail freight
Verizon: High Yield And AI Upside Make This Pullback A Strong Buy
Verizon is rated a 'Strong Buy' due to its undervaluation, 6.7% yield, and improving fundamentals under the new CEO. VZ trades at 8.6x forward P/E, below historical and peer multiples, with double-digit total return potential combining yield and EPS growth.
Steel Partners offers to acquire InMode at $16.75 per share cash deal; stock rises premarket
Steel Partners Holdings L.P., a shareholder of InMode (INMD), has offered to acquire 100% of InMode’s outstanding shares for $16.75 per share in cash. Steel said the offer is a 20% premium to InMode’s unaffected share price of $13.95 and is $0.55 higher than
LPL Financial (LPLA) Declined Amid Structural Fee Pressure and AI Disruption
LPL Financial Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:LPLA) closed at $300.82 per share, reflecting a market capitalization of $24.99 billion. LPL Financial Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:LPLA) posted a one-month return of 9.21%, while its shares lost 18.00% over the past 52 weeks. The central fear relates to automated cash disintermediation, whereby tokenized and AI-centric platforms could eventually automate the movement of idle client sweep cash into higher-yielding alternatives, threatening what is the most profitable earnings stream for LPL and its peers client cash revenue representing approximately 30% of gross profit.
Why More Retirees Are Keeping 2 Years of Cash Alongside Dividend Stocks
A stock yielding 3% today that raises its dividend by 6% annually delivers more income a decade from now, meaningfully, providing a natural edge against inflation that a fixed cash reserve cannot offer on its own. The stocks are left alone to recover, the dividends keep arriving, and the forced-liquidation-at-the-word-possible-moment scenario never materializes.
Levi Strauss beats Q2 estimates, raises full-year outlook and dividend
Levi Strauss & Co (NYSE:LEVI) reported second quarter results that topped Wall Street expectations, driven by higher revenue and earnings, while raising its full-year revenue and earnings guidance and increasing its quarterly dividend. Revenue rose 8% year over year to $1.56 billion, exceeding the consensus estimate of $1.52 billion. On an organic basis, net revenue increased 6%. Levi's CEO Michelle Gass said the brand continued to gain traction with consumers as the company executed its strategy to expand its direct-to-consumer business and broader lifestyle offerings. Following its first-half performance, Levi Strauss raised its fiscal 2026 outlook. The company now expects reported net revenue growth of 7.0% to 7.5%, up from its previous forecast of 5.5% to 6.5%, and organic revenue growth of 5.5% to 6%, compared with prior guidance of 4.5% to 5.5%.
PepsiCo shares fall as slight earnings miss overshadows revenue beat
PepsiCo Inc (NASDAQ:PEP, XETRA:PEP) shares fell about 4% on Thursday after the food and beverage company reported fiscal second-quarter adjusted earnings that came in slightly below Wall Street expectations, despite revenue topping estimates and the company reaffirming its full-year outlook. Net revenue rose 6.4% year over year to $24.18 billion, exceeding expectations of $23.95 billion. The company said second quarter revenue growth was driven by effective net pricing, organic volume growth, foreign exchange benefits and acquisitions. International operations continued to support overall performance, with each international segment posting strong net revenue growth. PepsiCo said Asia Pacific Foods, International Beverages Franchise, and Europe, Middle East and Africa benefited from organic volume growth, while Latin America Foods showed sequential improvement in organic volume trends. The company reaffirmed its fiscal 2026 guidance, continuing to expect organic revenue growth of between 2% and 4% and core constant currency EPS growth of between 4% and 6%. It also maintained its forecast for approximately $8.9 billion in total cash returns to shareholders, including $7.9 billion in dividends and $1.0 billion in share repurchases.
Thermo Fisher Q2 Preview: Buy Before The Recovery
I'll start right away with a snapshot of the current situation. Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (TMO) has lost 12.2% since the beginning of the year, compared to the S&P 500 Index
Stolt-Nielsen Limited (SOIEF) Q2 2026 Earnings Call Transcript
We delivered a steady performance in the second quarter despite the market shock in the Middle East causing significant market disruption. Group EBITDA came in at $177 million, which is a strong performance in the context of the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, which has reshaped global supply chains over the last 4 months.
Umicore - Transparency notification by JP Morgan Chase & Co.
Umicore was recently notified by JP Morgan Chase & Co. that it has crossed the threshold of 3% for direct voting rights and equivalent financial instruments downwards on 1 July 2026. The total holding of direct voting rights and equivalent financial instruments of JP Morgan Chase & Co. stands at 2.88% on 1 July 2026. Group revenues (excluding metal) reached € 3.6 billion (turnover of € 19.4 billion) in 2025.
PepsiCo Q2: Why The Dividend Story Is Still Intact
PepsiCo, Inc. delivered solid Q2 results, with 6.4% net revenue growth and 2.4% organic growth despite macro headwinds. PEP maintains pricing power and moats, executing well even as North America food and beverage volumes face pressure. Valuation at ~16.5x P/E and a >6% earnings yield supports a Buy rating for PEP, with mid-single-digit EPS CAGR plausible.
JPMorgan Chase: Buy Ahead Of Q2 Report On Credit Market And Profits
JPMorgan Chase is upgraded to a buy rating ahead of Q2 earnings, reflecting robust financial performance and a resilient business mix. JPM's guidance for net interest income ($103B) and expenses ($105B) remains intact, with commercial loan growth and fee income driving strong revenue. Credit provisions and net charge-offs have improved, signaling healthier consumer credit and supporting optimism for continued profitability. ROTCE exceeded expectations at 23% in Q1, and I anticipate 20-22% in Q2, reinforcing JPM's superior capital efficiency versus peers.
Illumina names new commercial, legal chiefs as sequencing business shows signs of stability
Illumina has filled two key C-suite posts, naming Mike Sullivan as chief commercial officer and Julie Coletti as chief legal officer as the DNA sequencing giant works to keep its turnaround on track after years of regulatory, geopolitical and investor turbulence.
B Capital-Led Group Buys Russell Investments for $2.8B
The deal for the $416 billion asset manager is valued at $2.8 billion, according to a person with the knowledge of the matter, who asked not to be named discussing non-public information. Russell Investments has taken in more client money, growing organically by more than 15%, according to the firm. The deal for the Seattle-based company comes roughly a decade after TA Associates Management and Reverence Capital Partners took the asset manager private for $1.15 billion. Back then, it managed roughly $270 billion.
CVS, Omnicare ink $440M deal with DoJ to resolve improper billing case
CVS Health (CVS) and its subsidiary Omnicare have agreed to pay $440M to the Department of Justice to resolve a lawsuit that accused the senior care pharmacy of improperly charging the federal government for false prescription drug claims.
Philip Morris International's Earnings Preview: I'm Not Buying
Philip Morris International Inc. remains a Hold, driven by strong business fundamentals but limited upside due to valuation premium. PM's smoke-free products will soon comprise 50% of business, underpinning long-term growth and differentiation from peers. I expect Q2 2026 to show improved organic growth and EPS growth exceeding 8%, outpacing consensus.
Airbnb to Announce Second Quarter 2026 Results
Airbnb, Inc. (NASDAQ: ABNB) today announced that the company's second quarter 2026 financial results will be released after market close on August 6, 2026. About Airbnb Airbnb was born in 2007 when two hosts welcomed three guests to their San Francisco home, and has since grown to over 5.5 million hosts who have welcomed over 2.5 billion guest arrivals in almost every country across the globe.
Richelieu Hardware Ltd. (RCH:CA) Q2 2026 Earnings Call Transcript
We recorded good growth and positive results during the second quarter. Thanks to steady growth in our main market segment in Canada and the U.S., our sales increased respectively by 5.5% and 4.4% in U.S. dollar for the U.S. sales for total sales of $532.1 million, up 3.9%, an increase that would have been 5% on a comparable currency to 2025. Our sales to manufacturers accounted for 89% of our total sales, reaching $473.7 million, up 3.8%, driven equally by internal growth and acquisitions.
How Coke Finally Beat Pepsi
The stock price of the company behind Pepsi-Cola, Gatorade, Lay’s, Doritos, and Cheetos has fallen nearly 30% since its 2023 highs just shy of $200.
Pepsi Reported Higher Revenue and Earnings. So Why Is the High-Yield Dividend Stock Hovering Around a 52-Week Low?
During the quarter, PepsiCo's net revenue was just under $24.2 billion, up 6% year over year. The company's largest single market remains its native North America, so weakness there is always cause for concern. Second-quarter sales in the company's food (i.e., snacks) business there fell by 2% year over year. And while revenue from its beverages rose by 7%, much of this was due to recently integrated acquisitions and partnerships. The latter included a deal with Celsius (CELH 0.24%) to distribute that company's hotly popular drink line Alani Nu. It’s revealing that overall volumes for North America beverages sank in spite of this, falling by 4%. And, when stripping out acquisitions and divestitures from the mix, that drinks unit saw only a 1% organic revenue gain. The company’s snacks also proved to be popular outside our borders. Standouts in this category were Asia Pacific and Latin America foods, which saw reported revenue growth of 15% and 12%, respectively. So basically, PepsiCo had two diverging trajectories — the sluggishness of the North America operations, and the dynamism of its international efforts. The latter should help the company achieve growth in the coming quarters — it reiterated its guidance for full-year 2026, forecasting organic revenue growth of 2% to 4% over 2025, with a rise in core, constant-currently EPS of 4% to 6%. Importantly for this Dividend King — PepsiCo is one of the rare companies that has declared dividend raises at least once annually for a minimum of 50 years running — it expects to distribute $7.9 billion in shareholder payouts during the year. That’s up from the $7.6 billion it spent last year.
Worried About Dividend Cuts? Buy These 3 Dividend Stocks and Sleep Well At Night
Realty Income is one of the world's top real estate investment trusts (REITs). It acquires and leases properties, paying most of its taxable income out to shareholders as non-qualified dividends. Realty Income specializes in single-tenant properties, typically leased to recession-resistant businesses such as grocery and convenience stores. It uses net leases, which place the burden of property taxes, insurance, and maintenance on the tenant. That business model has made Realty Income a very dependable dividend stock. The company has increased its dividend at least once annually for over 30 years. That feat is especially impressive when you consider that Realty Income pays a monthly dividend, something most companies don't do. That high level of consistency demonstrates Realty Income's ability to navigate and endure adversity. Realty Income's dividend still has plenty of financial breathing room. The payout ratio is approximately 73% of its guided 2026 funds from operations, the distributable cash flow that a REIT produces. Realty Income is a slow-and-steady business that has grown its dividend at a low-single-digit annualized rate since its IPO in the 1990s. That said, its 5% dividend yield makes the stock a strong choice for anyone seeking immediate dividend income they can count on. The smoking rate in the United States has declined for decades. Yet, Altria Group continues to pay investors more money each year. The tobacco giant is best known for selling Marlboro cigarettes in the U.S. Nicotine's notoriously addictive nature has made Altria a recession-proof business and enabled it to steadily raise its prices to offset the slow volume declines as Americans buy fewer cigarettes each year. It's not clear whether that formula can work forever. For now, Altria's dividend remains strong. The company spends 81% of its cash flow on dividends, which isn't a major concern because Altria's business requires little investment. Even advertising is heavily restricted under modern tobacco laws. On top of that, Altria owns a multi-billion-dollar stake in Anheuser-Busch InBev, a chip it can cash in if needed. Altria's business probably won't grow very quickly until it diversifies away from its core cigarette business. Still, analysts see Altria growing earnings by an average of 4% to 5% annually over the next three to five years. That's plenty of growth to continue inching that dividend higher. Plus, the stock's current 5.8% yield is the highest of the three on this list. Although most people associate PepsiCo with its namesake soda, its Frito-Lay and Quaker Foods segments make it a global food and beverage juggernaut, with iconic brands such as Doritos, Lay's, and Gatorade, just to name a few. People almost assuredly buy at least one PepsiCo product with each trip to the grocery store. The basic need people have to eat and drink makes PepsiCo a very resilient business -- and a Dividend King with over 50 consecutive years of annual dividend increases. Admittedly, PepsiCo's dividend payout ratio is a tad high for comfort at 87% of cash flow over the past year. On the other hand, PepsiCo has $10.8 billion in cash on hand and an A+ credit rating with a stable outlook. Investors might see modest dividend increases while the company creates some breathing room for the dividend, but its fortress-like balance sheet makes a dividend cut highly unlikely. PepsiCo has struggled somewhat in recent years as consumers backed away from spending on name brands. Fortunately, management has already adapted, and some recent acquisitions could help bolster its portfolio. Analysts expect annual earnings growth of 5% to 6% over the next three to five years, solid output for a stock offering a 4% dividend yield right now.
Honeywell International Inc. (HON) Laps the Stock Market: Here's Why
Honeywell International Inc. (HON) closed the most recent trading day at $223.42, moving +1.39% from the previous trading session. Prior to today's trading, shares of the company had lost 46.48% lagged the Conglomerates sector's loss of 20.75% and the S&P 500's gain of 1.13%. The investment community will be closely monitoring the performance of Honeywell International Inc. in its forthcoming earnings report. The company is scheduled to release its earnings on July 23, 2026. It is anticipated that the company will report an EPS of $1.82, marking a 66.91% fall compared to the same quarter of the previous year. Meanwhile, the latest consensus estimate predicts the revenue to be $8.06 billion, indicating a 22.18% decrease compared to the same quarter of the previous year. Regarding the entire year, the Zacks Consensus Estimates forecast earnings of $8.29 per share and revenue of $34.52 billion, indicating changes of -57.62% and -14.42%, respectively, compared to the previous year. Honeywell International Inc. presently features a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold). In the context of valuation, Honeywell International Inc. is at present trading with a Forward P/E ratio of 26.57. Its industry sports an average Forward P/E of 12.73, so one might conclude that Honeywell International Inc. is trading at a premium comparatively. The Diversified Operations industry currently had an average PEG ratio of 1.47 as of yesterday's close.
IT Keeps Buying What The Market Keeps Selling
Over the past three years, the company has repurchased $3.8 billion of its own stock. That amounts to an astonishing 40% of its entire current market capitalization. The pace is not slowing. In the most recent quarter alone, Gartner bought back $535 million of stock, shrinking its total share count by more than 4%. This is an aggressive bet that each remaining share is worth substantially more than its current price. The company’s net debt to equity is a modest 0.17, and its operating cash flow is a strong 185% of its net income. Management noted that after a strong start to the quarter, “client decisions slowed somewhat in March” due to the geopolitical environment. Total CV grew just 1% year-over-year in the last quarter. The market fears this is more than a temporary blip. It could signal a new reality where corporations, facing their own uncertainties, are delaying spending on advisory services. This concern is echoed in the company’s consulting segment, where revenue fell to $119 million from $140 million in the year-ago period. While the overall business is not shrinking, trailing twelve-month revenue is up 2.3%, this deceleration is what worries investors. Management has been clear, stating they “expect contract value will accelerate.” The last reported figure was 1% growth, or 3.5% when excluding the challenged U.S. federal government business.
UWM Walked Away From the Two Harbors Bidding War. That Might Be the Best News for Shareholders.
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MiniMax Shares Drop on $2 Billion Fundraising Plan
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How To Earn $500 A Month From JPMorgan Stock Ahead Of Q2 Earnings
Analysts expect the company to report quarterly earnings of $5.61 per share, up from $4.96 per share in the year-ago period. The consensus estimate for JPMorgan's quarterly revenue is $49.56 billion. It reported $44.91 billion last year, according to Benzinga Pro. Realberry gives accredited investors direct access to private real estate opportunities backed by a team with 35 years of experience, $3.4 billion in assets under management, and $481 million in cumulative distributions paid to investors as of Q4 2025, according to the company.
Morgan Stanley Infrastructure Partners Enters Into Agreement to Acquire Majority Stake in Nicollin Environnement
Morgan Stanley Infrastructure Partners (MSIP) is a leading global private infrastructure investment platform with approximately $17 billion in capital commitments since inception. Founded in 1945 and led by the Nicollin family for more than three generations, the Company is one of France's leading independent environmental platforms. The transaction is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2026 upon completion of the mandatory information and consultation procedures with employee representative bodies and customary regulatory approvals.
Cue Biopharma to raise $50M in oversubscribed private placement
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Brookdale Senior Living June occupancy reaches 82.5% as demand accelerates
Brookdale Senior Living (BKD) delivered strong operational growth for June and the second quarter of 2026. For the second quarter, consolidated weighted average occupancy rose 230 basis points year-over-year and 30 basis points sequentially to reach 82.4%.
Bayer sells $3.4B stake in contraceptives business to Apollo
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