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A Morning of Triumph: When Financial Results Speak Louder Than Doubts

Thursday began with a pleasant surprise for NOKFF ... shareholders. The Finnish telecommunications equipment manufacturer opened with a sharp upward move: its shares climbed to EURUSD ... €9.762, reached an intraday high of €9.800 and, even after a correction, remained 1.3% higher at €9.286.

This was not merely a technical market movement. It was the market’s recognition that a company many had already written off as a “dying giant” had found a second wind—and it proved to be a powerful one.

What was behind this rise? Nokia’s results for the second quarter of 2026 were not merely good. They represented a direct challenge to the pessimists who had predicted the company’s decline for years.

Comparable operating profit increased by 18% year over year to €434 million, significantly exceeding analysts’ expectations of approximately €382 million. Revenue reached €4.82 billion, representing growth of 9% in constant currency. In a world where many technology companies struggle to achieve even a few percentage points of growth, this was an impressive result.

However, the main factor that made investors smile—and, more importantly, raise their expectations—was the company’s own confidence. Nokia increased its full-year comparable operating profit forecast to a range of €2.1 billion to €2.6 billion.

The company also announced a dividend of €0.04 per share. These were not merely optimistic statements, but specific commitments to shareholders demonstrating that management believes the current growth is sustainable.

AI as a Growth Engine: Sales Double and Orders Nearly Triple

The new Nokia is no longer simply a company that sells networking equipment. It has become an indispensable partner for artificial intelligence giants—and the figures demonstrate this with remarkable clarity.

Sales to customers in the AI and cloud technology segment more than doubled, rising by 105% year over year....

Currency & Commodity Analysis:

US Dollar Index:

The US dollar index rose to 101.55 on Thursday, its highest level in nearly three weeks, driven by soaring oil prices and escalating geopolitical tensions, pushing market expectations that the Federal Reserve will need to raise interest rates. The market currently expects a greater than 33% probability of a rate hike next week, while the probability of a rate hike in September has risen to 78%, up from 61% the previous day. The escalating hostilities in the Middle East show no signs of resolution in the near term. Consequently, oil prices have surged nearly 31% from pre-conflict levels earlier this month. While inflationary pressures have remained relatively moderate so far, the latest energy price spike has reignited concerns that higher oil prices could drive broader inflation, prompting the Federal Reserve to maintain a tighter monetary policy stance. The dollar rose against the euro after the European Central Bank kept interest rates unchanged as expected, and also strengthened against the yen and pound.

Currently, the dollar is not experiencing a typical one-sided safe-haven rally because several macroeconomic factors are offsetting each other. Escalating conflict typically creates liquidity demand, boosting the dollar's short-term safe-haven appeal; however, if oil prices continue to rise, US import costs and inflation expectations will also increase simultaneously, pushing up long-term interest rates and fiscal financing pressures. In this scenario, the dollar may initially be supported by yields, but subsequently constrained by real growth expectations and asset valuation adjustments. The dollar index is currently trading slightly below 101, indicating that the market is temporarily viewing geopolitical risks as a manageable disturbance rather than a global liquidity crisis. The 101.55 level represents this week's rebound high, while 101.80 corresponds to a stronger resistance zone around the June 24th high....

• Earnings post big miss

• SpaceX & Tesla merger?

• Tesla Shares Slide 5% as Mixed Earnings Fail to Inspire Confidence

• Morgan Stanley analysts said that Tesla's accelerating capital expenditure cycle is a "necessary investment" to maintain its leadership in autonomy and robotics.

• The firm said investors are increasingly looking for “tangible” milestones from Tesla's robotaxi and Optimus programs as the company pours billions into AI initiatives.

• Canaccord analysts echoed that view, saying they want to see meaningful robotaxi deployments over the next six months as Tesla seeks to prove its long-term AI strategy.

Tesla delivered a classic mixed bag of results that left investors underwhelmed. Shares of the electric vehicle giant fell roughly 5% in after-hours trading as the company reported higher revenue alongside a sharp miss on earnings and thinner profits. Elon Musk’s ambitious vision for the future did little to offset concerns about the present.

📉 Profits Hit the Brakes

Tesla TSLA ... posted revenue of $28.2 billion, beating Wall Street expectations. That top-line strength, however, could not mask the weakness underneath. Earnings per share came in at just 33 cents, well below the consensus range of 52 to 55 cents. Net profit totaled $1.1 billion, down about 5% from the same period a year earlier. Operating profit fell even more sharply, dropping to $398 million from $923 million in the prior year.

The company delivered a record 480,000 vehicles during the quarter, a 25% increase year over year. Selling more cars is positive on the surface. Making significantly less money on each one is what investors noticed first. Automotive margins remained under pressure, reflecting the ongoing reality of a more competitive EV market and the costs of scaling production.

🤖 AI Dreams Aren’t Cheap

Tesla’s biggest expense is no longer its current business. It is the future it is...

The Day When an Excellent Earnings Report Failed to Save the Stock

Thursday morning began with a cold shower for GOOGL ... investors. Shares of Google’s parent company fell 3.5% in premarket trading, and the decline was not simply a reaction to bad news. It was the price the company paid after the market found something in its financial results that raised doubts about its future, despite the otherwise brilliant figures.

The earnings report for the second quarter of 2026, released the previous day, was genuinely impressive. Revenue increased by 24% to nearly $120 billion. Earnings per share reached $9.11, significantly exceeding Wall Street forecasts. Google Cloud, the cloud division that had been unprofitable only a few years earlier, became the true star of the report: its revenue soared by 82% to $24.8 billion, while its operating margin exceeded 35%.

At first glance, this appeared to be the perfect earnings report—one that should have sent the stock soaring. However, the market decided otherwise.

What went wrong? The answer lies in capital expenditure. Alphabet’s capital spending doubled year over year, reaching nearly $45 billion in a single quarter. At the same time, the company raised its full-year 2026 capital expenditure forecast to between $195 billion and $205 billion.

These are astronomical amounts that Alphabet is spending on building data centers, purchasing equipment, and developing artificial intelligence infrastructure. The company’s free cash flow turned negative, falling to minus $5.9 billion. This means that despite rising revenue, Alphabet is currently spending more cash than it generates.

For investors accustomed to viewing Alphabet as a powerful cash-generating machine, this came as a shock. They began asking whether Google was spending too much on AI—and, more importantly, whether these investments would ever pay off.

When Chief Financial Officer Anat Ashkenazi said that the company was “still...

Mixed Financial Results: When a 1.7% Gain Becomes a Sign of Confidence

When RHHBY ... shares jumped 1.7% on Thursday morning to reach CHFUSD ... CHF 343.60, many investors rubbed their eyes in disbelief. The Basel-based pharmaceutical giant had published its results for the first half of 2026, and they were mixed, to say the least. Total group sales declined by 2% in Swiss franc terms to CHF 30.36 billion. The decrease was caused by the strengthening of the company’s home currency—the same franc that the Swiss value so highly but that can be so painful for exporters. At first glance, this appeared to be a clear reason for pessimism.

The market, however, reached a different conclusion. Like experienced physicians who can identify an illness by looking beyond its visible symptoms, investors examined the figures more closely and saw the true picture. At constant exchange rates, revenue increased by 6%, while in U.S. dollar terms, it rose by as much as 8%. These were more than just solid results—they were a demonstration of a business capable of growing despite currency turbulence.

Most importantly, management reaffirmed its full-year guidance, reassuring the market. Roche continues to expect sales growth in the mid-single-digit range at constant exchange rates and an increase in core earnings per share in the high-single-digit range. Investors heard that promise and responded positively.

A 1.7% increase may appear modest compared with the dramatic market collapses and surges seen in recent weeks. For Roche, however, whose shares remain well below their 52-week high of CHF 383, even this step forward represented a signal of hope. Investors who had been waiting for confirmation that the company was maintaining its momentum received exactly that.

Although the intraday high of CHF 344.60 indicated some caution regarding further short-term gains, the current momentum appeared encouraging.

Portfolio...

A 50% Collapse: When News Destroys Market Capitalization Faster Than Water Dissolves Salt

The evening of July 22, 2025, became a dark moment in the history of LESL ... Leslie’s, a company that had supplied Americans with chlorine, filters, and other chemicals used to keep their backyard swimming pools crystal clear for decades. When news agencies reported that the retailer was actively considering filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, investors did not wait for official confirmation. During premarket trading, the stock plunged by nearly 49.8%, and the decline swept away billions of dollars in market capitalization within hours, like a financial tsunami.

The share price collapsed to $0.87, the lower boundary of its 52-week trading range, beyond which lay the threat of complete devaluation. Shares that had recently traded at levels that gave investors hope for a recovery suddenly became distressed securities that everyone who had failed to exit earlier was now desperate to sell.

What happened? Officially, the company stated that it was holding “confidential discussions with creditors” regarding the restructuring of its debt obligations. Behind this diplomatic language, however, lies a brutal reality: Leslie’s, a giant in the swimming pool supplies retail industry, is sinking, and the lifeline it is trying to throw itself may be too small.

Such news is certainly not uncommon in the world of corporate finance. However, the scale of Leslie’s decline shocked even seasoned Wall Street veterans. A drop of almost 50% in a single day is not merely a correction. It is a devastating blow that can erase investor confidence in a company for years.

There are relatively few examples in the history of publicly traded companies in which a single news report caused such immediate and comprehensive destruction of market capitalization. Every such case becomes a subject of study for analysts, investors,...

A Morning of Hope: Shares Surge 7.7%

When Aston Martin AMGDF ... Global Holdings announced on Wednesday that it had secured £550 million in new debt financing—equivalent to nearly $736 million—the market reacted immediately. Shares of the British luxury car manufacturer surged 7.7%, and the increase was more than a brief speculative spike. It was a much-needed vote of confidence in a company that has struggled to reassure investors in recent years.

Investors who had long watched Aston Martin’s financial difficulties with concern could finally breathe a sigh of relief. The transaction, led by funds managed by HPS Investment Partners, which is owned by asset-management giant BlackRock, includes several components: a £450 million term loan, a £100 million delayed-draw facility, and an additional permitted debt capacity of £100 million.

This is more than just an injection of cash. It is a structured financing package that gives the company room to maneuver and time to regroup.

For Aston Martin, which has endured a difficult period, the deal represents a genuine lifeline. The company, renowned for its elegant sports cars and its long-standing association with James Bond, has spent the past several years balancing ambitious electrification plans against a chronic shortage of capital.

Now that its immediate financing needs have been at least partially addressed, Aston Martin has an opportunity to breathe more freely and refocus on what it does best: creating dream cars.

Financial Restructuring: What Lies Behind the Deal

To understand the full significance of the transaction, it is necessary to examine Aston Martin’s financial position. The company has long been burdened by debt that dragged on its performance like a set of concrete blocks. Legacy obligations, high interest costs, and declining sales created a vicious cycle from which there appeared to be no clear escape.

Investors demanded stronger results, but...

Numbers That Make You Think: 10X Performance per Megawatt

Whenever Nvidia announces a new platform, the world holds its breath. But when the company claims a tenfold increase in performance per megawatt, even the most seasoned analysts take off their glasses and clean them twice. On Tuesday, Nvidia did exactly that, officially unveiling the Vera Rubin platform, which is entering production with the support of more than 300 global partners operating across 350 manufacturing facilities in 30 countries. The scale is impressive, but the numbers are what truly make investors and engineers’ hearts beat faster.

Nvidia’s central claim sounds almost like science fiction: Vera Rubin NVL72 delivers ten times greater performance per megawatt than Grace Blackwell NVL72 when running one of the most demanding artificial intelligence models, DeepSeek-R1. These are not theoretical calculations or marketing slides, but real-world benchmark results published by CoreWeave, one of Nvidia’s key partners. When a company of this caliber confirms the figures, they deserve serious attention.

What does this mean in practice? It means that data centers, which now cost as much as small cities and consume as much electricity as mid-sized countries, could reduce their energy consumption by 90% while maintaining the same level of computing output. More importantly, they could increase computing capacity tenfold without upgrading their power supply or cooling infrastructure. In an era when every watt counts and electricity is becoming an increasingly scarce resource, this is not merely an improvement—it is a revolution.

Nvidia shares responded by rising 2%, closing Tuesday in positive territory amid a broader recovery in the semiconductor sector. That may appear modest, but after the recent sell-off, during which chipmakers’ shares fell sharply across the board, even a 2% gain looks like a confident step forward. The market is beginning to understand that Nvidia is not...

After-Hours Momentum: A 4.8% Gain in Just a Few Hours of Trading

When the closing bell rang on Wall Street on Tuesday evening, most investors had already turned their attention to the next day’s coffee and market charts. For X Energy shareholders, however, the evening marked the beginning of a genuine celebration. The company’s shares surged 4.8% in after-hours trading, and the move was far from a random spike. It was driven by news that could reshape the future not only of the company itself but of the entire US energy industry.

Citing people familiar with the matter, Bloomberg reported that X Energy had become part of a major $200 million federal initiative personally backed by the Trump administration. The program, which the US Department of Energy was preparing to officially unveil, is designed to dramatically accelerate the development of next-generation nuclear reactors.

The purpose of this race is not simply to produce environmentally friendly electricity and satisfy green-energy targets. The reality is both more practical and more ambitious: nuclear reactors are needed to power artificial intelligence data centers, which consume electricity like hungry monsters.

The development came as a complete surprise to many analysts. Although X Energy had long appeared on lists of promising developers of small modular reactors, its shares had not recorded significant growth in recent months. Now, however, the situation has changed dramatically. The government is extending a helping hand, while Microsoft and Nvidia are reportedly among the initiative’s participants.

X Energy is no longer merely an ambitious technology startup. It is becoming a key component of the United States’ national strategy for artificial intelligence and energy security.

Why Artificial Intelligence Needs Nuclear Energy More Than Ever

To understand why the news generated so much excitement, it is necessary to look at the heart of the...

• AMD AND ANTHROPIC SIGN MAJOR CHIPS-AND-INVESTMENT DEAL
  

• THE 2-GIGAWATT DEAL COVERS TENS OF BILLIONS OF DOLLARS’ WORTH OF CHIPS, AS AMD PLANS TO INVEST UP TO $5 BILLION IN ANTHROPIC
  

• AMD IS ALSO IN TALKS TO PROVIDE A FINANCIAL BACKSTOP FOR ANTHROPIC’S FUTURE DATA CENTER LEASES AS WELL
  

• ANTHROPIC WILL PURCHASE UP TO 2 GIGAWATTS OF AMD’S LATEST-GENERATION CHIPS, CALLED THE INSTINCT MI450, STARTING IN THE FIRST HALF OF 2027
  

• Industry executives have said 1 gigawatt of computing power, enough to power roughly 750,000 U.S. homes, can cost around $50 billion.
  
  Advanced Micro Devices and Anthropic have signed a deal for tens of billions of dollars' worth of artificial-intelligence servers, strengthening AMD's competitive position against industry leader Nvidia and supplying Anthropic with much-needed computing power.
  

Under the terms of the agreement, Anthropic will purchase up to 2 gigawatts of AMD's latest-generation chips, called the Instinct MI450, starting in the first half of 2027. AMD will also invest up to $5 billion in Anthropic—its first check into the AI firm—as certain deployment milestones are met.

"We have very much wanted to be a major part of their infrastructure," AMD Chief Executive Lisa Su said, adding that the companies' engineering teams have been working together for some time.

Anthropic runs computing workloads across chips including GOOGL ... Google's tensor-processing units, AMZN ... Amazon.com's Trainium chips, and Nvidia graphics processing units, or GPUs. As part of the deal, Anthropic will buy some AMD chips for its own data centers as well as lease some of the capacity via other large cloud providers or neoclouds. Anthropic and AMD are working together to identify data centers for the chips, Su said.

"You can't just wake up one morning and say, 'Oh, I want a gigawatt of compute tomorrow,'" Su said. "You actually have to plan, you...