Microsoft gave investors fresh evidence that heavy AI spending can still translate into cloud growth and cash flow. Meta’s results showed the other side of the trade, while Schneider Electric and WEC Energy highlighted how data-center demand is creating winners beyond chips.
America’s AI Buildout (Sponsored)
Taiwan Semiconductor just posted strong earnings and raised its full-year growth outlook above 40%.
But the bigger story may be its expanding U.S. investment. The chipmaker is reportedly adding another $100 billion to the $165 billion it already committed to American manufacturing.
That is $265 billion moving into U.S. chip infrastructure as the AI race accelerates.
One analyst believes this spending points to a much larger government-backed AI project now taking shape, and he has identified one little-known company that could be positioned directly in its path.
See the company positioned for America’s next AI buildout.
Futures at a Glance📈
Futures are bouncing after a sharp Fed Day selloff as traders digest a split Big Tech earnings picture. Microsoft is surging on Azure strength, while Meta is slipping as heavy AI spending pressures the outlook. The Fed’s decision left September in play, putting today’s GDP, PCE inflation, and jobless claims firmly in focus.
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What to Watch
Earnings (Premarket):
• Shell PLC [SHEL]
• Anheuser-Busch InBev SA [BUD]
• Bristol-Myers Squibb Company [BMY]
• Altria Group, Inc. [MO]
• Sanofi [SNY]
Earnings (Aftermarket):
• Apple Inc. [AAPL]
• Amazon.com, Inc. [AMZN]
• Stryker Corporation [SYK]
Economic Reports:
• Advance Estimate GDP (Q2): 8:30 am
• Weekly Jobless Claims (Jul. 25): 8:30 am
• Personal Income, M/M% (Jun.): 8:30 am
• Consumer Spending, M/M% (Jun.): 8:30 am
• PCE Price Index, M/M% (Jun.): 8:30 am
• PCE Price Index, Y/Y% (Jun.): 8:30 am
• Core PCE Price Index, M/M% (Jun.): 8:30 am
• Core PCE Price Index, Y/Y% (Jun.): 8:30 am
Elite Trade Club Insider
A $33 Million Insider Cluster Just Hit Two Near-High Market Leaders
You’re watching one financial winner benefit from stronger trading and balance-sheet growth, while one AI giant keeps posting explosive cloud numbers. Elite Trade Club Insider readers are seeing what the raw feeds miss: the larger sale cluster was driven by deeply profitable option exercises, while duplicated venture-fund entries were not actually multimillion-dollar sales of the tech giant’s stock.
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Market Pulse
The Fed Leaves Markets Guessing
Asian stocks remained volatile after the Federal Reserve held rates steady without offering much clarity on what comes next. Microsoft’s results offered some relief for the AI trade, but elevated Treasury yields and another rough week for South Korean stocks are keeping risk appetite fragile.
Wall Street’s Leadership Is Finally Broadening
The latest mega-cap earnings are testing whether the market can keep rotating beyond its largest technology names. Only Apple has outperformed the S&P 500 among the Magnificent Seven this year, while analysts expect profit growth from the rest of the market to strengthen into year-end.
AI Economics
Microsoft Shows AI Can Still Produce Cash
Microsoft topped cloud-growth expectations and forecast another strong quarter as Azure demand, Copilot adoption, and a massive backlog helped justify its expanding infrastructure budget. Free cash flow still declined from last year, but it came in well above forecasts—exactly the kind of evidence investors wanted after weeks of AI-spending anxiety.
Meta’s AI Buildout Takes a Bite Out of Cash Flow
Meta reported weaker-than-expected profit as aggressive AI infrastructure spending weighed on cash generation. Advertising remains highly profitable, but the company is spending heavily to build new AI products and diversify beyond the business currently paying nearly all the bills.
Chips & Hardware
Arm’s AI Forecast Still Cannot Clear the Market’s Bar
Arm forecast quarterly revenue and profit above expectations as data-center customers embraced its power-efficient CPU designs. Shares still fell after hours, with investors focusing on weaker smartphone royalties and demanding even more from a stock priced for major AI growth.
Hong Kong’s Biggest IPO of the Year Falls Flat
Zhongji Innolight dropped roughly 10% in its Hong Kong debut after raising $6.8 billion. The optical-equipment supplier sits directly inside the AI data-center buildout, but the weak opening shows that even strategically important hardware companies are not immune to the sector’s valuation reset.
Wall Street Sounds Alarm (Sponsored)
Wall Street banks are warning that the next market crisis could be unlike anything investors have seen in decades.
If Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley are right, portfolios could remain under pressure for 10 years or longer.
After repeated market shocks since 2022, some experts believe the instability could continue well into the 2030s.
See How to Defend Your Portfolio Now
Data Centers & Power
Schneider Raises Its Forecast on Data-Center Demand
Schneider Electric lifted its 2026 guidance as demand strengthened for data-center power and cooling equipment. The company’s results reinforce one of the cleaner AI infrastructure trades: every new cluster needs racks, electrical distribution, cooling systems, and grid connections before the chips can do anything useful.
AI Demand Starts Showing Up in Utility Earnings
WEC Energy reported higher quarterly profit as data-center development increased electricity demand. Utilities are becoming a less glamorous but increasingly important part of the AI trade, with power availability now shaping where projects can be built and how quickly they can come online.
Consumer & Brands
Adidas Raises the Bar Again
Adidas lifted its annual sales outlook after quarterly revenue rose faster than expected. Strong demand is helping the brand maintain momentum even as consumers remain selective, giving management confidence to target currency-adjusted growth of 9% to 10% this year.
The World Cup Gives Budweiser a Lift
Anheuser-Busch InBev beat revenue, profit, and volume forecasts as demand strengthened across the Americas. World Cup activity helped drive consumption and marketing momentum, giving the brewer a timely boost in markets where volume growth has often been difficult to find.
Trivia: Amazon's first-ever product sold in 1995 was a book. What was unusual about how Jeff Bezos fulfilled the order?
- He personally called the customer to confirm the order before shipping
- He and his early employees packed and shipped it themselves from his garage
- He had to borrow a neighbor's car to drop it at the post office since he had no vehicle
- The book was out of stock and Bezos drove to a bookstore to buy it at retail before reselling it
Movers and Shakers
Corcept Therapeutics [CORT]: Premarket Move: +25%
Corcept surged as the newly launched ovarian-cancer treatment Lifyorli generated $47.6 million in its first quarter on the market, with more than 1,300 patients already starting treatment. Strong demand across its oncology and Cushing’s syndrome businesses lifted quarterly revenue 32% to $256.1 million and prompted management to raise its 2026 outlook to $1.1 billion–$1.2 billion.
Fortinet [FTNT]: Premarket Move: +11%
Fortinet jumped as strong cybersecurity demand pushed second-quarter revenue 26% higher to $2.05 billion, beating the top end of the company’s own forecast. Management also raised its full-year outlook and issued third-quarter guidance above expectations, strengthening the case that Fortinet has shifted from a recovery story back into sustained growth.
FTAI Aviation [FTAI]: Premarket Move: −12%
FTAI Aviation fell despite revenue rising to $953.1 million and its quarterly dividend increasing to $0.50 per share. Investors focused instead on Aviation Leasing guidance being cut to $475 million from $575 million, overshadowing rapid growth in Aerospace Products and a new $1.47 billion FTAI Power contract.
America’s Money Shift (Sponsored)
It wasn't voted on. It wasn't debated in the Senate. And most Americans have no idea it's even taking place but… President Trump is replacing the U.S. dollar.
The last time this happened it minted an average of 1,300 new millionaires a day for over half a century.
While leaving millions of other folks behind…
Which side will you be on?
Everything Else
📊 Early-stage activity is building in quieter corners of the small-cap market, as overlooked names begin showing more constructive patterns.
🚗 Stellantis’ second-quarter results kept pressure on its turnaround as Jeep demand, pricing, and restructuring costs shaped the profit outlook.
✈️ Rolls-Royce posted strong results as defense demand and AI-related power needs strengthened confidence in the company’s growth story.
🛢️ Shell’s second-quarter earnings reflected volatile crude markets and the Iran conflict as investors assessed the durability of energy profits.
💾 Samsung’s profit surged nearly nineteenfold as booming AI-chip demand more than offset weakness across its mobile business.
🧠 Arm forecast quarterly revenue above expectations as AI-driven chip demand continued strengthening its position across the semiconductor ecosystem.
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