Space Exploration Technologies (SPCX +2.02%) is making a bold move into AI with its $60 billion deal with Cursor. The upside case is that rockets, Starlink, Grok, Cursor, and future orbital compute could form a new infrastructure ecosystem. But with expectations already sky-high, investors need to ask whether the stock is pricing in too much too soon.
*Stock prices used were the market prices of June 18, 2026. The video was published on July 3, 2026.
Rick Orford has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. Rick Orford is an affiliate of The Motley Fool and may be compensated for promoting its services. If you choose to subscribe through their link, they will earn some extra money that supports their channel. Their opinions remain their own and are unaffected by The Motley Fool.
The InclusionSpaceX will become a component of the Nasdaq-100 Index prior to market open on Tuesday, July 7, 2026. The Nasdaq-100 is tracked by more than 200 investment products with over $800 billion in assets under management globally, meaning every index fund and ETF tracking the benchmark will be required to own SpaceX shares as of Tuesday’s open.
Estimates suggest passive investors could purchase up to $4.3 billion in shares from the QQQ ETF alone, with total Nasdaq-100 and Russell index tracking fund buying potentially reaching $27 billion.
SpaceX Shares Edge HigherSPCX Price Action: At the time of publication, SpaceX shares are trading 2.44% higher at $165.96, according to data from Benzinga Pro.
Image via Shutterstock
This content was partially produced with the help of AI tools and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors.
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SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell announced she would donate to the Trump Accounts program on Monday, joining a growing list of companies and billionaires pledging to support the investment accounts for American children under 18.
The gift, which includes shares of Shotwell's and her husband's SpaceX stock, will go to around 2 million Trump accounts, with a "bit more emphasis" on children who live close to their home in central Texas, Shotwell wrote in a post on X.
"We have been fortunate in our careers and hope this gift encourages the next generation to continue the journey of enabling humanity to live and fly amongst the stars," Shotwell wrote.
On Thursday, President Donald Trump told CNBC's Joe Kernen that he thought SpaceX CEO Elon Musk would donate company stock to the program.
Read more CNBC tech newsMeta's push into cloud computing means Wall Street has to prepare for lower marginsChip stocks that notched record rallies in second quarter start Q3 with a dudPlayStation will end physical disc production for new games in 2028Employers who laid off workers citing AI are already starting to regret it
SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell pledged SpaceX stock to more than two million children through Trump Accounts after President Donald Trump floated the idea, while Elon Musk has yet to respond.
WASHINGTON, DC - JULY 2: A SpaceX logo on a space suit is displayed at an exhibit at The Great American State Fair on July 2, 2026 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Kevin Carter/Getty Images)
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This article was written by Doug Nathman, with research by his team at Trefis.
SpaceX (SPCX) shares perform as if they are part of a monopoly, boasting a valuation of $1.75 trillion and over 100 times its trailing revenue. Such figures only make sense if investors believe that SpaceX will face little to no serious competition for an extended period. Nevertheless, stakeholders should not assume that this situation will endure indefinitely. SpaceX is fundamentally a long-term investment, which presents a double-edged sword: it indicates that smaller, emerging rivals warrant more regard than their current market presence implies. At present, there are few credible competitors to SpaceX. Among them, Jeff Bezos’s Blue Origin stands out as the most significant contender. Although still lagging, it is making substantial strides, especially in technical and regulatory developments.
See how SpaceX’s financial performance compares with other publicly traded space stocks like Redwire (RDW) and Rocket Lab (RKLB).
Regulatory Support Is The Core NarrativeFederal contracts are crucial for the space sector, and securing them is heavily reliant on establishing connections with government entities.
Blue Origin's recent advancements illustrate this reality. Its average yearly federal contracts under the current Trump administration surged by 177% compared to the Biden administration's rate. The Space Force has authorized the firm for seven military and intelligence launches valued at up to $2.4 billion. NASA granted it $188 million for lunar cargo deliveries associated with the Artemis initiative. Blue Origin is now qualified to compete for portions of the Pentagon’s $151 billion Golden Dome missile defense initiative.
During this term, Bezos has cultivated a notably closer relationship with Trump, gaining presumably greater access to the White House. This association has aligned with NASA and Space Force leaders publicly positioned Blue Origin as a critical counterweight to SpaceX, indicating sustained agency interest for a second major launch service provider.
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SpaceX has also profited from Elon Musk's rapport with President Trump. However, the situation has shifted, as Blue Origin is now nurturing similar access, making it less probable for government support to continue being a one-company advantage over an extended period.
Although launch operations and Starlink remain fundamental to SpaceX, wireless services also seem to be coming into focus for the company.
Operational Disparity Remains SignificantThe difference in operational capabilities is substantial. SpaceX conducts rocket launches approximately every two to three days, providing it with significantly more opportunities to enhance its technology, reduce costs, and attract customers. It has successfully landed reusable boosters hundreds of times, whereas Blue Origin's heavy-lift New Glenn completed its inaugural launch this year and is still navigating early landing trials. Furthermore, SpaceX operates over 8,000 Starlink satellites, generating billions in ongoing revenue—an area Blue Origin has not yet ventured into. This disparity is evident in government contracts as well: since 2008, SpaceX has secured approximately $24.9 billion in federal commitments, in contrast to about $2.6 billion for Blue Origin.
Starship introduces another level of distinction. SpaceX is already engaging in flight tests of a fully reusable super-heavy launch system aimed at considerably lowering the cost to access orbit and supporting missions to the Moon and Mars. Blue Origin currently lacks a comparable vehicle in its plans.
Nonetheless, Blue Origin possesses genuine advantages beyond its increasing regulatory support. Its BE-4 engine powers both New Glenn and United Launch Alliance's Vulcan Centaur, establishing Blue Origin as an essential supplier for the U.S. launch market. Jeff Bezos also financially backs the company with billions, providing a level of financial support that few aerospace startups can rival. Unlike most space startups, Blue Origin is not under intense pressure to raise funds or focus on short-term profitability, allowing it to invest steadily in long-term projects. Moreover, unlike many competitors, New Glenn was architected for reusability from the beginning, positioning it well to compete in a market that increasingly hinges on repeatedly utilizing the same hardware to reduce launch costs.
Is Catching Up Necessary?Closing the gap with Starlink or Starship within this decade appears unlikely given SpaceX's advantages in financial flow and flight data.
Blue Origin does not require operational equivalence to be of significance to investors. It must establish sufficient credibility and government endorsement to remain the funded alternative in major projects, and the contracting trends over the last year indicate that this is precisely what is occurring. For SpaceX investors, the concern is that federal agencies might intentionally allocate funds to sustain a second supplier, thereby limiting how much pricing influence and contract share SpaceX can ultimately command, despite its operational supremacy.
While the space sector continues to be a high-interest field, valuations stay elevated. It becomes essential to balance investments like this against validated cash-generating platforms. A disciplined investment strategy aids in maintaining your position while limiting the repercussions of market fluctuations. While consistently outperforming the market can be difficult, the Trefis High Quality (HQ) Portfolio aims to make this an attainable objective. The HQ approach has consistently surpassed its market benchmark since inception, yielding cumulative returns exceeding 105 percent.
Shares of Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL | AAPL Price Prediction) rose 1.7% on July 1, 2026, the day the Wall Street Journal reported that SpaceX had shown IPO investors a prototype handset: slimmer than an iPhone, running a proprietary operating system, powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon chip, and deeply integrated with xAI’s Grok. Elon Musk called the story “utterly false” on X, then apparently deleted the post. Meanwhile, SpaceX (NASDAQ:SPCX) fell 7.3%, briefly wiping more than $50 billion from Musk’s net worth. The market’s verdict on Apple was clear: not our problem. That verdict looks wrong.
The Denial Pattern This is at least the third time Musk has denied building a phone. He denied a similar Reuters report in February 2026, previously posted “we are not developing a phone,” and once said the idea of making a phone “makes me want to die.”. Take him at his word. The confirmed moves around the device are the real story.
The Stack Apple Should Fear On June 26, SpaceX COO Gwynne Shotwell told IPO roadshow investors that SpaceX plans to launch a Starlink-branded retail wireless service and may build its own terrestrial cellular network to challenge AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile. In May 2026, the FCC approved SpaceX’s acquisition of 65 MHz of exclusive nationwide mid-band spectrum from EchoStar, the legal foundation for a carrier-free network. Bloomberg reports talks with Charter Communications about a mobile infrastructure partnership. And in February 2026, SpaceX absorbed xAI, bringing Grok, X, and Cursor under one roof.
Network layer: Starlink. Intelligence layer: Grok. Social graph: X. Developer tools: Cursor. A proprietary OS would complete the stack. Whether a handset ships is almost beside the point.
Why the App Store Is the Real Target Apple’s Services segment, which houses App Store fees, reached approximately $26.6 billion in the most recent quarter, the company’s highest-margin business and anchor of its 36 trailing P/E. Musk has explicitly said the motivation for a phone would be to escape Apple’s control over app distribution, citing the risk that Apple could remove X from the App Store. A proprietary OS bypasses both Apple and Google in one motion.
Act now: the analyst who called NVIDIA in 2010 just named his top 10 AI stocks — and Apple didn't make the cut. Grab the names FREE today.
The Broader AI Hardware Race SpaceX is not alone. OpenAI is developing a device with former Apple chief design officer Jony Ive; Paul Meade, Apple’s VP in charge of Vision Pro, recently joined OpenAI’s hardware team. Microsoft unveiled a prototype AI badge last month built on Qualcomm wearable chips. Apple itself is reportedly building AI wearables and an AI pin, an implicit concession that the smartphone era has a horizon.
The Counterargument Analysts at Vital Knowledge wrote after the report: “SpaceX has a long way to go before successfully manufacturing a consumer device at scale and competing against the leading platforms.” The Humane AI Pin was discontinued; the Rabbit R1 launched to critical disappointment. Apple’s moat has absorbed every prior assault, and manufacturing a consumer device at scale is a fundamentally different challenge than launching rockets.
The Next Inflection Apple’s fiscal Q3 report is expected July 30, 2026, the first major update since the rumor broke, with reports suggesting Tim Cook may not attend the earnings call. The last quarter was pristine: $111.184 billion in revenue, $2.01 EPS versus $1.94 expected, an eighth straight beat, and a new $100 billion buyback authorization.
The numbers are fine, the stock is at $308.63, and prediction markets give only a 28% probability Apple releases a new product line before 2027. Here is the question worth asking before July 30: if a competitor were quietly assembling the network, the model, the OS, and the distribution to route around the App Store, would this earnings report tell you about it, or would it look exactly like the one you just read?
Act now: the analyst who called NVIDIA in 2010 just named his top 10 AI stocks — and Apple didn't make the cut. Grab the names FREE today.
Broadcom Inc. AVGO shares rose 5.3% in trading on Monday after the semiconductor company announced an extension of its long-standing partnership with Apple Inc. through 2031.
The agreement reinforces Broadcom's position as one of the iPhone maker's key chip suppliers.
The new multi-year agreement expands the companies' collaboration on custom silicon products and provides Broadcom with long-term revenue visibility from one of its largest customers.
Apple accounts for about 20% of Broadcom's annual revenue, according to analysts, making the partnership strategically important for the chipmaker.
Broadcom said it has agreed to expand its partnership with Apple through 2031 to develop and supply custom chips, easing concerns over the iPhone maker's reliance on the semiconductor company.
According to Broadcom's recent SEC filing:
"Broadcom Inc. (“Broadcom”) and Apple Inc. (“Apple”) have agreed to expand their long-standing technology collaboration through 2031 by entering into new multi-year long-term agreements for Broadcom to develop and supply a range of custom ASIC silicon products for use in multiple generations of Apple products."
The agreement covers a range of custom silicon products that will be used across multiple generations of Apple devices.
Financial terms of the extension were not disclosed.
Broadcom has supplied Apple with key components for years, including radio frequency chips that enable iPhones to connect to cellular networks, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity chips, and other networking semiconductors.
Although Apple has developed several in-house chips, including its C1 modem, it continues to rely on Broadcom for wireless and radio-frequency components.
The companies had previously announced a multibillion-dollar agreement in 2023 for Broadcom to develop and manufacture 5G radio frequency components.
The latest extension builds on that relationship and secures Broadcom's role in Apple's supply chain through the end of the decade.
The extended partnership aligns with Apple's strategy of securing long-term supply agreements with key semiconductor companies to strengthen the resilience of its supply chain.
Apple relies on Taiwan's TSMC, the world's largest contract chipmaker, to manufacture its in-house processors, including the M-series chips used in Mac computers and the A-series processors that power iPhones.
Demand for advanced chips has intensified as artificial intelligence adoption accelerates.
The growth of AI inference—the process by which models respond to user queries—has increased demand for custom chips and advanced processors, creating greater competition for manufacturing capacity.
TSMC has faced heavy demand from AI chipmakers such as Nvidia. Apple Chief Executive Tim Cook said in April that these capacity constraints had affected iPhone sales.
Apple is also in discussions with Intel to manufacture some chips in the United States, although analysts have said volume production is unlikely before late 2027.
The broader semiconductor industry has experienced rising component costs as AI infrastructure spending continues to expand.
Prices for memory and storage chips have climbed sharply in recent months, driven by increasing demand from AI hyperscalers.
Apple raised prices for its MacBooks and iPads in June after memory chip costs surged as much as 98% during the first half of 2026.
Beyond its relationship with Apple, Broadcom has been expanding its presence in the artificial intelligence market by developing AI-specific chips for other major technology companies, including Alphabet and Meta Platforms.
Rotation is the theme of markets right now, says Tom White, pointing to selling in AI chip stocks while other corners of Wall Street rallied. Memory stocks remain in focus, as Tom points to movers like Micron (MU) in the U.S. and SK Hynix abroad with plans to make a domestic debut.
Tesla stock is showing upward movement. Why is TSLA stock advancing? What Is Driving TSLA’s Earnings Expectations?Over the weekend, investor Gary Black argued Tesla’s Q2 delivery beat was helped by an Iran war-driven spike in gas prices to $3.86 per gallon over the July 4 weekend, up from $2.98 per gallon before the conflict. He also said he expects TSLA to rebound this week as the sell-side raises Q2 and FY 2026 earnings estimates, which could flow through to higher price targets.
Tesla’s delivery debate remains unusually wide, with Black calling estimates "all over the place" while still modeling close to 410,000 Q2 units versus ~406,000 consensus, about a 7% YoY surge if realized.
Premarket trading is taking place against a constructive index backdrop, with S&P 500 futures higher by 0.5%, which can amplify moves in high-beta mega-cap names like Tesla when sentiment improves.
Critical Price Levels To Watch For TSLATesla is sitting in a choppy, mean-reversion zone: it’s trading 0.3% below the 20-day SMA ($399.16) and 0.1% below the 100-day SMA ($398.08), while still 5% below the 200-day SMA ($418.61). That mix typically reads as "range-bound" rather than cleanly trending, especially with price repeatedly gravitating back toward the high-$300s moving-average cluster.
From a levels standpoint, the stock is trying to stabilize above a nearby floor while overhead supply remains obvious from prior pivots.
Key Resistance: $453.00 — a round-number area where rebounds can stall, and it sits well above the current moving-average cluster Key Support: $393.50 — a nearby pivot zone that’s close to current price and can act as the first "line in the sand" for dip-buyers TSLA Earnings Preview: What Analysts Expect for July 2026Looking further out, the next major catalyst for the stock arrives with the July 22, 2026 (confirmed) earnings report.
EPS Estimate: 44 cents (Up from 40 cents YoY) Revenue Estimate: $25.24 Billion (Up from $22.50 Billion YoY) Valuation: P/E of 361.0x (Indicates premium valuation) Analyst Consensus & Recent Actions: The stock carries a Buy rating with an average price target of $398.55. Recent analyst moves include:
Freedom Broker: Hold (Raises Target to $420.00) (July 2) Morgan Stanley: Equal-Weight (Maintains Target to $415.00) (July 2) Truist Securities: Hold (Raises Target to $430.00) (July 2) Tesla’s Benzinga Edge Rankings: Strengths and WeaknessesBelow is the Benzinga Edge scorecard for Tesla, highlighting its strengths and weaknesses compared to the broader market:
The Verdict: Tesla’s Benzinga Edge signal reveals a growth-heavy profile with mixed momentum and a very weak value score. For longer-term bulls, that usually means the chart needs to confirm (via reclaiming major resistance), because the valuation leaves the stock more sensitive to earnings-estimate changes.
TSLA Stock Price MovementTSLA Stock Price Activity: Tesla shares were up 0.20% at $394.24 at the time of publication on Monday, according to Benzinga Pro data.
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Microsoft is eliminating 4,800 jobs, representing 2.1% of its workforce, with the company's Xbox division losing about one-fifth of its staff in the software giant's latest effort to cut costs in the era of artificial intelligence.
"The way technology is built, deployed, and used is transforming faster than at any point in my time here," Amy Coleman, Microsoft's chief people officer and a 27-year company veteran, wrote in a message to employees on Monday.
Xbox is cutting 3,200 people through fiscal year 2027, Xbox CEO Asha Sharma wrote in an email to division employees, noting that 1,600 roles would be axed on Monday. The other 1,600 exiting is on top of the companywide total of 4,800 leaving immediately.
"I recognize that a year-long restructuring creates additional challenges," Sharma wrote. "Unfortunately, it is not possible to make all the necessary changes in a single day."
The cuts amount to 20% of Xbox employees leaving, according to a person familiar with the matter, who asked not to be named in order to discuss internal changes.
"We will return to growth in 2027," Sharma wrote.
Microsoft has been the worst performer among megacap tech stocks so far in 2026, falling 19% as of Friday's close, as investors fear that generative AI models might displace wide swaths of enterprise software, while Microsoft's own AI models and services have yet to become big hits. Last year Microsoft conducted several rounds of layoffs, including one that cut 9,000 jobs.
While Microsoft recorded accelerating growth in cloud services and LinkedIn in recent quarters, it's lagging in other areas, such as Windows operating system licenses, Surface devices and the Xbox gaming unit, where revenue has been shrinking.
Microsoft stock chart.
As part of Monday's announced changes, four gaming studios will be spun out of Microsoft, Coleman said. The commercial business that focuses on selling to customers will also see reductions.
The Compulsion Games and Double Fine Productions studios, which Microsoft acquired in the 2010s, will become independent again, Sharma said in her note. Ninja Theory and Undead Labs, which joined Microsoft in 2018, "have entered terms to join new ownership."
France-based Arkane Studios, which arrived at Microsoft through the $8.1 billion ZeniMax Media acquisition in 2021, is in touch with its works council regarding strategic options, Sharma wrote.
In April, Microsoft introduced a one-time voluntary retirement program, a first for the company. The effort has targeted U.S. employees at the senior director position and below. Over one-third of eligible employees have accepted the offer, and the company "will continue exploring similar approaches in the future," Coleman wrote.
"Decisions like these are never easy, and you have my commitment that we are constantly looking for ways to reduce the need for job eliminations," Coleman wrote.
While much of Wall Street's concerns about Microsoft are tied to the company's position in AI and CEO Satya Nadella's failure to lay out a coherent strategy for its approach to developing models, agents and other services, AI isn't replacing laid-off workers, Coleman wrote.
"At the same time, what is true is that AI is changing how work gets done," she wrote. "Some of the tasks we do every day can now be automated, and that means we all need to keep learning, keep building new skills, and keep adapting as the work evolves. Our customers are navigating this same shift, and they're counting on us to help them through it. We can't do that well unless we're doing it ourselves."
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Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella George Chan/Getty Images Microsoft announced plans to lay off around 4,800 employees, or 2.1% of its global workforce, on Monday, confirming Business Insider's earlier report.
The cuts mostly impact the sales and Xbox gaming organizations, Microsoft HR chief Amy Coleman wrote in an email to employees. Microsoft's Xbox division also plans to cut 20% of its workforce this fiscal year. Xbox will account for 1,600 of Monday's cuts.
Microsoft is cutting costs as it spends heavily in AI infrastructure, while facing growing investor concerns that AI could upend traditional software. Those worries helped send Microsoft's stock down 19% in June, its worst monthly performance since the dot-com era.
Microsoft typically cuts jobs around the start of its new fiscal year on July 1. Last year, the company eliminated 6,000 roles in May and an additional 9,000 employees, or about 4% of the company's workforce, in July.
Microsoft had more than 220,000 employees prior to the cuts.
As part of cost-cutting, Microsoft also earlier this year launched a voluntary retirement program offering buyouts to some employees.
About one-third of nearly 9,000 eligible employees took the buyout, in line with expectations, according to a person familiar with the program. That allowed Microsoft to cut a lower percentage of its workforce compared to last year, this person added.
Microsoft's latest layoffs reflect a broader balancing act playing out across Big Tech. Even as tech companies pour record amounts of money into AI infrastructure, they are looking for ways to offset those costs by trimming their workforce and operating more efficiently. In May, Meta laid off around 8,000 employees, accounting for about 10% of the company's total workforce. Amazon, Coinbase, Google, and Block have also laid off employees in recent months.
Read the memo Coleman sent to employees:
"When I stepped into this role, I promised to communicate more openly with you and share the "why" behind our decisions.
Today we are eliminating around 4,800 roles, about 2.1% of our global workforce, as we focus our people, investments, and energy on the priorities that will keep Microsoft positioned to deliver for customers in a fast-changing industry. The people whose jobs are impacted today are our colleagues and friends. They have made meaningful contributions to Microsoft, and we are deeply grateful for everything they have done.
Decisions like these are never easy, and you have my commitment that we are constantly looking for ways to reduce the need for job eliminations. Whenever possible, our priority is to place people into new roles aligned to the company's highest priorities and greatest areas of opportunity. Over the past year, we have redeployed more than 4,000 employees into new roles, including another 500 this month. We will also transition four of our gaming studios to operate independently under new management, with the goal of preserving both their intellectual property and ongoing projects. In addition, more than 30% of eligible employees chose to participate in our recent voluntary retirement program, and we will continue exploring similar approaches in the future. While this doesn't change the difficulty of today's news, we will continue to do everything we can to create opportunities for our people, reduce the need for job eliminations where possible, and responsibly support those affected with care and respect.
The "why" is this: our business is changing because the world around it is changing. The way technology is built, deployed, and used is transforming faster than at any point in my time here. Our customers' needs are shifting, the business models that serve them are shifting, and that means the work itself — what we do, where we focus, and how we're organized — has to transform too. Companies don't get to choose whether their industry changes; they only get to choose whether they change with it. That means we will need to adjust resources and roles and shift how we operate so we can have the greatest impact for our customers.
I also want to be direct that the roles eliminated today are not being replaced by AI. At the same time, what is true is that AI is changing how work gets done. Some of the tasks we do every day can now be automated, and that means we all need to keep learning, keep building new skills, and keep adapting as the work evolves. Our customers are navigating this same shift, and they're counting on us to help them through it. We can't do that well unless we're doing it ourselves. This comes down to two commitments: making the decisions needed to drive differentiated customer value, and supporting the people affected by them.
First, we will make the hard changes required to build differentiated products and services that deliver differentiated customer value. We are aligning our investment, people, and energy to our business priorities. Today's changes mostly impact our Commercial and XBOX organizations. In our Microsoft Commercial Business, they build on last week's Frontier Company announcement, reshaping how we work and embedding our engineering experts alongside customers so we can help them accelerate their technology deployments. In XBOX, we are restructuring to position the business for long-term success. Engineering teams across the company will also continue to evolve their structure and priorities to meet customer needs and innovate for the future.
Second, we will do this thoughtfully. As mentioned above, we are working on alternative solutions to job eliminations and beyond this, we will continue to invest in equipping employees with new skills, including in AI. For those who are impacted, we provide financial support and resources to help them take their next step.
I know many of you want to help those who are leaving but aren't sure how. Reach out and check in on your colleagues. Use your network to bring people together, share what makes them exceptional, and help create connections to opportunities that might not happen otherwise.
We are still early on this journey, and there will be more changes ahead; other parts of our business will need to make similar changes. Each time, you can hold us to the two commitments.
During my time at Microsoft, I've seen this company reinvent itself again and again. What makes that possible has always been our people — their resilience, creativity, and willingness to keep learning.
Thank you for everything you bring to Microsoft.
Amy"
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Microsoft Layoffs Artificial Intelligence More Big Tech
Xbox CEO Asha Sharma Bloomberg/Getty Images Microsoft's Xbox division plans to cut 20% of its workforce this fiscal year, according to a memo new Xbox CEO Asha Sharma sent to employees on Monday.
Microsoft announced plans to lay off around 4,800 employees, or 2.1% of its global workforce, on Monday, confirming Business Insider's earlier report.
Xbox will account for 1,600 of Monday's cuts, including through studio spinouts, and the unit plans to a total of 3,200 employees throughout the current fiscal year ending in June. The total cuts will equal 20% of Xbox's workforce, according to a person familiar with the changes.
"Our business today is not healthy," Sharma wrote in the email. "We are operating at margins that are 3—10x lower than comparable platform and publishing businesses."
Xbox layoffs have been expected since new gaming CEO Asha Sharma sent a memo to employees calling for a "reset" of the business. Microsoft is also broadly cutting costs as it spends heavily in AI infrastructure.
Read the memo"Team,
We are beginning the most significant restructure in XBOX history. After careful consideration, I've made the difficult decision to reduce our team by approximately 3,200 throughout FY27. This will include approximately 1,600 role eliminations today, and in addition, four studios will leave XBOX to new management. I recognize that a year-long restructuring creates additional challenges. Unfortunately, it is not possible to make all the necessary changes in a single day, and I wanted to be direct about the scale.
I know this is painful. These changes will directly affect people who have poured their creativity into building XBOX. Many joined us through acquisitions, while others were recruited here, or sought us out because they loved this industry and loved XBOX. Today's decisions do not reflect their talent or dedication.
Our business today is not healthy. We are operating at margins that are 3—10x lower than comparable platform and publishing businesses. We entered Gen 9 with a smaller install base and a higher cost structure. To grow, we bet on Game Pass, multi-platform, and a broader portfolio of content. While those businesses have created meaningful value, they did not grow at the pace we expected. As that happened, our core business weakened, and we added more teams, more investment, and more time, hoping for a better outcome. And now the industry is facing the most severe hardware crisis in its history. We must reset XBOX.
First, we will reset our content portfolio.
Since 2018, we have aggressively expanded our studio portfolio while the number of games created each month across the industry now outpaces the last ten years combined. We now find ourselves competing not only with the largest publishers, but also with smaller independent studios. It is neither possible nor desirable to own every great independent studio. We have also learned that we are not the best home for every type of studio; in a typical year, we lost 64 cents for every dollar we invested. As we reset XBOX, we will help independent creators succeed by providing open development tools and audiences to realize their vision.
Compulsion Games and Double Fine Productions will return to management and transition to independent studios with their IP, catalog, and runway for their next games. Ninja Theory and Undead Labs have entered terms to join new ownership with funding to complete and grow Senua and State of Decay 3. In France, Arkane's management is beginning required consultation with its Works Council to review potential strategic options.
We are also making reductions across other units, and in some cases, shifting investment to focus on higher priority projects. These changes vary in size across Activision, Bethesda/ZeniMax, Blizzard, King, Mojang, and XBOX Game Studios. None of our first party publicly announced games or projects are being cancelled as part of these reductions.
In addition, Mojang and King will now report directly to me. These two studios have increasingly become platforms and are our largest by monthly active players. They bring critical geographic, demographic, and differentiation to XBOX.
Second, we will reset our platform.
We know that great technology gets better when it gets simpler, not bigger. Today, in some parts of the company, work passes through as many as 14 layers of management. Our platform teams are 40% larger than they were at the start of this generation, even as our player base and playtime have declined. That complexity has slowed decisions, blurred accountability, and made it harder to deliver for players. As we reset XBOX, we will simplify.
We will reduce management layers to no more than 5, and where possible, 3. We will deliver success through a flatter organization that is built around makers (individual contributors focused on building), player-coaches (leaders who remain deeply involved in the work while developing their teams), and directly responsible individuals (DRIs) who own key decisions and outcomes. And we will streamline how we work across our tools, with a cleaner code base, shared services, and 50% reduced vendor spend.
Third, we are resetting how we operate.
As XBOX grew our headcount, we became more fragmented. Teams, studios, and functions often operate independently, and it became harder to work towards a shared goal, make the right tradeoffs, and get things done.
For the first time, we are establishing a Chief Operating Officer with end-to-end P&L responsibility across content, hardware, platform, and services. Helen Chiang has been promoted to this role and will report directly to me. Over nearly two decades at XBOX, Helen has helped build some of our most important businesses, from XBOX Live to leading Mojang and the Minecraft franchise. She will bring our businesses together under one operating model, making sure we make clear investment decisions, learn from our successes and failures, and hold ourselves accountable for results.
Thank you, Dave McCarthy, who is retiring after 17 years with XBOX. Dave has played a defining role in building the platform that millions of players rely on every day and has been a trusted partner through many of the biggest moments in XBOX's history. We wish him all the best.
These changes are about a bigger future for XBOX, not a smaller one. The next decade of gaming will be larger, more global, and more creative than anything we've seen before. This year, we'll invest as much in XBOX as we ever have, but we'll invest with greater focus, greater discipline, and greater clarity, all in service of making XBOX where the world plays and creates.
I want XBOX to be one of the few companies that entertains more than a billion people each day and gives everyone the opportunity to create and connect. I know we can achieve this goal. XBOX has many of the most beloved franchises in entertainment history, talented studios around the world, and we will return to growth in 2027.
History is full of companies that mistake longevity for inevitability. We will not be one of them.
Asha"
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Microsoft Xbox Layoffs More Artificial Intelligence Enterprise Software
Microsoft’s Redmond headquarters. (GeekWire File Photo) Microsoft is cutting 4,800 jobs, just over 2% of its global workforce, citing a need to revamp its sales and consulting division to keep pace with a rapidly changing tech industry, while overhauling its Xbox business in a push for long-term growth and profitability from gaming.
The cuts include about 600 jobs in Washington state, home to Microsoft’s Redmond headquarters. That’s down from 3,200 job reductions locally a year ago. Combined with ongoing hiring, Microsoft’s workforce in the state is expected to remain stable at around 52,000 people.
About 1,600 of the 4,800 job cuts being announced Monday are in the Xbox division. Additional Xbox layoffs in the months ahead are expected to bring total job reductions in the gaming division to roughly 3,200, or about 20% of the global Xbox workforce, this fiscal year.
Microsoft is also spinning off four Xbox game studios to operate independently.
In an internal memo, Xbox CEO Asha Sharma called it the biggest restructuring in Xbox history, saying the division has been “operating at margins that are 3-10x lower than comparable platform and publishing businesses” and that studios have been losing 64 cents for every dollar invested.
Overall, top executives sought to distinguish Microsoft from other tech giants, saying the cuts were minimized by the redeployment of more than 4,000 employees into new roles over the past year and a voluntary retirement program that let thousands more exit by their own choice.
By comparison, the company last year cut more than 15,000 jobs globally in two rounds of layoffs in spring and summer 2025 — the largest reductions in more than a decade.
The latest cuts come amid record capital spending on the company’s AI infrastructure, pressure from Wall Street to keep operating expenses in check, and a 30% stock slide that has wiped out roughly $1.2 trillion in Microsoft’s market value over the past nine months.
“Microsoft can only be a strong employer if it has a successful business,” said Brad Smith, its president and vice chair, in an interview with GeekWire. “We have to adapt to change.”
Before the latest cuts, the company’s total workforce was about 220,000 people. Across the company, Microsoft expects worldwide headcount to decline year-over-year, CFO Amy Hood said on an April earnings call.
Amy Coleman, Microsoft’s chief people officer, said in a memo to employees Monday morning that the roles the company is eliminating today are not being directly replaced by AI.
At the same time, she acknowledged, “AI is changing how work gets done.” She added, “Some of the tasks we do every day can now be automated, and that means we all need to keep learning, keep building new skills, and keep adapting as the work evolves.”
However, the line from Coleman’s memo that may get the most attention internally is this: “We are still early on this journey, and there will be more changes ahead; other parts of our business will need to make similar changes.”
In an interview, Coleman stopped short of signaling further layoffs across the company. Instead, she described a larger shift in how Microsoft manages its workforce. That includes reskilling engineers for customer-facing and AI-focused positions, and exploring how to make voluntary exit programs a regular part of the company’s operations — not just a one-time offer, but potentially something employees could opt into annually or on an ongoing basis.
Coleman confirmed that about 30% of roughly 8,750 eligible U.S. employees accepted Microsoft’s first-ever voluntary retirement program in recent weeks, in line with the company’s expectations, which reduced the size of the reduction in force announced Monday.
The cutbacks and changes in the company’s sales and consulting teams build on last week’s launch of the Microsoft Frontier Company, a $2.5 billion initiative to embed 6,000 engineers inside customers to deploy AI. The shift is reducing some traditional sales and consulting roles and resulting in more technical positions working directly with customers.
“We’re seeing that we need more engineering excellence in the customer space,” she said.
Smith said software development is undergoing its biggest shift in the more than 50 years since Microsoft’s founding. The widespread use of AI is making code cheaper and faster to produce, but he said that’s also creating demand for new kinds of roles and work.
“Some things like coding require less time of software developers,” he said. “At the same time, there’s new parts that are growing, whether it’s the product management or software design, or perhaps most importantly, working directly with customers.”
A view shows a Microsoft logo at Microsoft offices in Issy-les-Moulineaux near Paris, France, March 25, 2024. REUTERS/Gonzalo Fuentes/File Photo Purchase Licensing Rights, opens new tab
July 6 (Reuters) - Microsoft (MSFT.O), opens new tab is cutting about 2.1% of its workforce, or roughly 4,800 jobs, the latest in a wave of tech layoffs as the Windows maker spends heavily on AI infrastructure and uses the technology to improve efficiency across its business.
Big Tech's historic AI outlays, set to top $700 billion this year, are piling pressure on companies to show returns from the technology and offset the rising cost of rolling it out across their businesses. Amazon (AMZN.O), opens new tab and Meta Platforms (META.O), opens new tab have also laid off thousands of employees this year.
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Microsoft announced the cuts on Monday following a rough stretch, with its shares falling nearly 23% in the first six months of 2026, their worst first-half performance since 2022.
The software giant earlier this year offered voluntary buyouts to about 7% of its U.S. workforce, or about 9,000 employees. Microsoft often trims jobs near the end of its fiscal year in June as it sets spending plans for the new year.
Booming AI demand has powered growth at Microsoft's Azure cloud-computing business, which was the exclusive seller of OpenAI's models until April, but the mounting cost of building data centers to run those services is squeezing its cash flows.
The company, expected to report results later this month, had in April forecast quarterly Azure sales above Wall Street estimates, but also issued a $190 billion spending projection for 2026 that massively surpassed expectations.
AI tools that can increasingly automate routine business tasks have also emerged as a threat to its lucrative software business, while a surge in memory chip prices driven by data center demand has forced Microsoft to raise Xbox console prices at a time when demand for the console was already soft.
The gaming division's new head, Asha Sharma, said last month the business needed a "reset" and that its profit margin had declined to 3%, forcing a restructuring that could include potential M&A.
"Excluding Activision Blizzard King, over the past five years, we have spent over $20 billion on ongoing investments in our content, platform and hardware subsidy, but our annual revenue has declined nearly half a billion during that time," she said in an outspoken memo to employees published on Microsoft's website. "Going forward, this cannot continue."
The company is considering options for the Xbox gaming unit, including a potential spinoff or restructuring as a wholly owned subsidiary, the Information reported last month.
Reporting by Aditya Soni in Bengaluru; Editing by Tasim Zahid and Leroy Leo
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles., opens new tab
NEW YORK, July 06, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Levi & Korsinsky, LLP notifies investors in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ: MSFT) that four senior executives are named as individual defendants in a securities class action alleging they personally controlled the false and misleading statements that inflated MSFT shares above $550 during the Class Period. Find out if you qualify to recover losses. You may also contact Joseph E. Levi, Esq. at [email protected] or (212) 363-7500.
The lawsuit, filed in the United States District Court for the Western District of Washington, covers purchasers of Microsoft securities between May 1, 2025 and January 28, 2026. The complaint asserts claims under Section 10(b) and Section 20(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, naming the Company and four officers who allegedly directed, approved, or ratified materially misleading public statements about Microsoft's AI initiatives and Copilot product family. Investors have until August 11, 2026 to seek lead plaintiff status.
The Named Individual Defendants
The action identifies the following officers as controlling persons:
Satya Nadella, CEO and Chairman of the Board, who allegedly proclaimed Copilot offered "best-in-class" capabilities and touted Azure AI infrastructure as "obviously at scale" while concealing significant operational deficienciesAmy E. Hood, CFO and Executive Vice President, who co-signed SEC filings attesting to accuracy and completeness while allegedly omitting material adverse facts about Copilot adoption and AI return on investmentJared Spataro, Chief Marketing Officer, AI at Work, who allegedly told investors "70% of the Fortune 500 are using Copilot in a pretty extensive way" without disclosing brand positioning and interoperability failures. This figure later increased to an alleged 90%.Rajesh Jha, Executive Vice President, Experiences and Devices, who allegedly claimed the competitive "gap is very significant and growing" in Copilot's favor while aware of data siloing and user experience problems. Jha announced his retirement in March 2026 after more than 35 years Sarbanes-Oxley Certification Obligations
The complaint charges that Nadella and Hood signed quarterly and annual reports on Forms 10-Q and 10-K filed with the SEC, personally certifying under Sections 302 and 906 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act that those filings were accurate and materially complete. The pleading asserts these certifications were false because the filings failed to disclose that Copilot suffered from significant brand positioning, user experience, usage, data siloing, computational capacity, organizational, and interoperability problems.
Section 20(a) Control Person Framework
Section 20(a) of the 1934 Act imposes liability on individuals who "controlled" a company that violated federal securities laws. The complaint alleges each Individual Defendant was directly involved in management and day-to-day operations at the highest levels, was privy to confidential information, and participated in drafting, reviewing, or disseminating the alleged misstatements. Each defendant allegedly had the ability to prevent issuance of the false statements or cause them to be corrected.
"Corporate officers have a duty to ensure their companies' public statements are accurate and complete. When officers sign SEC certifications and make representations at investor conferences, they bear personal responsibility for the truthfulness of those disclosures." -- Joseph E. Levi, Esq.
Scienter Allegations
The action contends that each defendant knew or recklessly disregarded that Microsoft's public statements painted a misleading picture of Copilot's success and AI investment returns. The complaint points to the defendants' senior positions, their direct involvement in AI strategy, their access to internal data on Copilot adoption and performance, and their participation in earnings calls and investor conferences where the alleged misrepresentations were made.
Submit your information to join the recovery or call Joseph E. Levi, Esq. at (212) 363-7500.
ABOUT LEVI & KORSINSKY, LLP -- Over the past 20 years, Levi & Korsinsky has secured hundreds of millions of dollars for aggrieved shareholders. The firm has extensive expertise in complex securities litigation and a team of over 70 employees. For seven consecutive years, Levi & Korsinsky has ranked in ISS Securities Class Action Services' Top 50 Report.
Frequently Asked Questions About the MSFT Lawsuit
Q: Who are the defendants named in the MSFT lawsuit? A: The complaint names Microsoft Corporation and individual defendants including CEO Satya Nadella, CFO Amy E. Hood, CMO AI at Work Jared Spataro, and EVP Experiences and Devices Rajesh Jha, all of whom signed SEC filings, made public statements, or certified financial disclosures under Sarbanes-Oxley.
Q: What is a lead plaintiff and why does it matter? A: A lead plaintiff is the investor appointed by the court to represent the entire class. Lead plaintiffs are typically investors with the largest documented losses. Being appointed does not increase individual recovery but gives direct oversight of how the case is run.
Q: What is the MSFT lead plaintiff deadline? A: The deadline to apply for lead plaintiff appointment is August 11, 2026. This deadline applies only to investors seeking to serve as lead plaintiff. Class members who do not apply may still participate in any recovery without taking action before this date.
Q: What does it cost me to participate? A: Nothing. Securities class actions are handled on a pure contingency basis. No upfront fees, no retainer, no out-of-pocket costs.
Q: Who is eligible to join the MSFT investor lawsuit? A: Investors who purchased MSFT stock or securities between May 1, 2025 and January 28, 2026 and suffered financial losses may be eligible. Eligibility is based on purchase date and documented losses, not on whether you still hold the shares.
Q: What if I already sold my MSFT shares -- can I still recover losses? A: Yes. Eligibility is based on when you purchased, not whether you still hold them. Investors who bought during the class period and sold at a loss may still participate.
Q: How do I know if I lost enough money to be the lead plaintiff? A: There is no minimum loss threshold. Courts appoint the investor with the largest provable loss who is willing and able to represent the class adequately. Contact Levi & Korsinsky before August 11, 2026 to evaluate.
CANADA - 2026/07/01: In this photo illustration, the Microsoft logo is seen displayed on a smartphone screen. (Photo Illustration by Thomas Fuller/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)
SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images
This article was written by Doug Nathman, with research by his team at Trefis.
Microsoft (MSFT) shares have faced challenges, experiencing a 20% decline over the past year and significantly lagging behind the market. The discussion is primarily centered around one substantial figure: a strategy to allocate approximately $190 billion toward capital expenditures in the calendar year 2026. Skeptics question whether the appetite for artificial intelligence is robust enough to justify this investment.
However, another, more revealing statistic receives far less focus. It serves as a counterpoint to the stock's performance.
This figure is Microsoft’s Commercial Remaining Performance Obligation, or RPO. In simpler terms, it reflects the company’s backlog of contracted future revenue derived from signed agreements. It currently amounts to $627 billion.
How Valid Is This Anticipated Revenue?A significant number is one aspect; gaining momentum is another. This backlog is not just a stagnant accumulation of outdated contracts. The company's commercial RPO has increased by 26% year-over-year, even when factoring out the substantial commitments from its associate OpenAI. This illustrates widespread demand throughout the business.
Even more indicative for the near future is the speed at which new business is being secured. The segment of the backlog expected to be recognized as revenue within the following 12 months has risen by 39% year-over-year. This offers a distinct perspective on the company’s growth trajectory, suggesting that clients are entering into new, high-value agreements.
How This Backlog Mitigates Risks Associated With The AI Spending SurgeThe apprehension regarding Microsoft’s expenditure arises from a perceived disconnect between investment and returns. Nevertheless, the RPO figure addresses this disparity. It signifies legally binding commitments from clients to pay for services in the future.
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This capital expenditure is not being utilized based on mere speculation; it is being invested to develop the capacity necessary to accommodate demand that, to a great extent, has already been secured. This backlog serves as proof that the enterprise is investing to meet a contracted reality, progressing beyond a mere forecast. To gain further insight into how the company generates value through its platform, it is essential to comprehend its business model.
For investors monitoring Microsoft, the key earnings will always be significant. However, a clear indication of whether the company’s substantial investment is being met with demand lies in its RPO. As long as this backlog of anticipated business continues to expand, it implies that the company’s situation is more favorable than what the recent stock price suggests.
And if your aim is broad exposure to technology rather than just this single entity, a technology ETF like VGT encompasses that entire sector.
A Strong Signal Doesn't Justify Bet the Farm
A buy signal this evident merits action — but not with more of your net worth than you can afford to potentially see diminish by half. Strong conviction can lead single positions to quietly grow too large, and one unforeseen negative can inflict lasting harm, while selling to rebalance can provide a portion to the IRS. There exists a means to safeguard the position and diversify in a tax-efficient manner.
On the morning of Monday, July 6, Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS) analyst James Schneider revised his 12-month outlook for the world’s second-largest semiconductor company, Advanced Micro Devices (NASDAQ: AMD).
According to the note, the Wall Street expert lifted his AMD price target from the previous $450 to $640 and retained the ‘Buy’ rating. Considering the blue-chip chipmaker is, at press time, trading at $559.85, it is likely the change is primarily to bring the forecast in line with both the actual stock market performance and the continued bullish outlook.
The move also represents an important show of confidence amidst the latest developments within the wider artificial intelligence (AI) space, considering the analyst’s previous note explicitly cited the expected tailwinds from agentic AI and continued data center GPU demand as reasons for the lift.
Wall Street sets AMD stock price target for the next 12 months Elsewhere, Goldman Sachs’ latest rating of AMD stock is largely in line with the consensus view on Wall Street. Specifically, the chipmaker is overall considered a ‘Strong Buy,’ with data Finbold retrieved from TipRanks on July 6 showing that 28 out of the 35 analyst who voiced their opinion in the last three months see it as such.
Wall Street sets AMD stock price target for the next 12 months. Source: TipRanks Still, the average price target gives some room for caution as it estimates that AMD shares will fall 8% to $515.69 in the coming 12 months, though, notably, James Schneider is not the only Wall Street expert to anticipate a rally instead.
AMD stock soars 150% in 2026 Meanwhile, Advanced Micro Devices has been among the best-performing major stocks in the U.S. market so far in 2026. With its press time price of $559.85, the semiconductor giant is 150.53% in the green year-to-date (YTD).
AMD stock price YTD chart. Source: Google Furthermore, despite June’s general slowdown in the technology sector, AMD shares are up 14.18% over the last 30 days.
Lastly, despite the scale of its YTD rally, the firm headed by CEO Lisa Su is not the top-performing semiconductor company of 2026, with the President Donald Trump administration-backed Intel (NASDAQ: INTC) rising 218.55% since January 2 – the first regular session of the year.
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Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C) will release earnings for its second quarter before the opening bell on Tuesday, July 14.
Analysts expect the bank to report quarterly earnings of $2.64 per share, up from $2.04 per share in the year-ago period. The consensus estimate for Citigroup’s quarterly revenue is $23.37 billion. It reported $21.67 billion last year, according to Benzinga Pro.
On June 30, Oppenheimer analyst Chris Kotowski downgraded Citigroup from Outperform to Perform.
With the recent buzz around Citigroup, some investors may be eyeing potential gains from the company’s dividends too. As of now, Citigroup has an annual dividend yield of 1.71%, with a quarterly dividend of 60 cents per share ($2.40 per year).
So, how can investors exploit its dividend yield to pocket a regular $500 monthly?
To earn $500 per month or $6,000 annually from dividends alone, you would need an investment of approximately $349,925 or around 2,500 shares. For a more modest $100 per month or $1,200 per year, you would need $69,985 or around 500 shares.
To calculate: Divide the desired annual income ($6,000 or $1,200) by the dividend ($2.40 in this case). So, $6,000 / $2.40 = 2,500 ($500 per month), and $1,200 / $2.40 = 500 shares ($100 per month).
Note that dividend yield can change on a rolling basis, as the dividend payment and the stock price both fluctuate over time.
How that works: The dividend yield is computed by dividing the annual dividend payment by the stock’s current price.
For example, if a stock pays an annual dividend of $2 and is currently priced at $50, the dividend yield would be 4% ($2/$50). However, if the stock price increases to $60, the dividend yield drops to 3.33% ($2/$60). Conversely, if the stock price falls to $40, the dividend yield rises to 5% ($2/$40).
Similarly, changes in dividend payments can affect the yield. If a company increases its dividend, its yield will also increase, provided the stock price remains unchanged. Conversely, if the dividend payment decreases, so will the yield.
C Price Action: Shares of Citigroup fell 0.1% to close at $139.97 on Thursday.
Photo via Shutterstock
Market News and Data brought to you by Benzinga APIs
Earnings are arguably the most important single number on a company's quarterly financial report. Wall Street clearly dives into all of the other metrics and management's input, but the EPS figure helps cut through all the noise.
Life and the stock market are both about expectations, and rising above what is expected is often rewarded, while falling short can come with negative consequences. Investors might want to try to capture stronger returns by finding positive earnings surprises.
Now that we know how important earnings and earnings surprises are, it's time to show investors how to take advantage of these events to boost their returns by utilizing the Zacks Earnings ESP filter.
The Zacks Earnings ESP, ExplainedThe Zacks Expected Surprise Prediction, or ESP, works by locking in on the most up-to-date analyst earnings revisions because they can be more accurate than estimates from weeks or even months before the actual release date. The thinking is pretty straightforward: analysts who provide earnings estimates closer to the report are likely to have more information.
Now that we understand the basic idea, let's look at how the Expected Surprise Prediction works. The ESP is calculated by comparing the Most Accurate Estimate to the Zacks Consensus Estimate, with the percentage difference between the two giving us the Zacks ESP figure.
When we join a positive earnings ESP with a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) or stronger, stocks posted a positive bottom-line surprise 70% of the time. Plus, this system saw investors produce roughly 28% annual returns on average, according to our 10 year backtest.
Stocks with a ranking of #3 (Hold), or 60% of all stocks covered by the Zacks Rank, are expected to perform in-line with the broader market. Stocks with rankings of #2 (Buy) and #1 (Strong Buy), or the top 15% and top 5% of stocks, respectively, should outperform the market; Strong Buy stocks should outperform more than any other rank.
Should You Consider Citigroup?Now that we understand what the ESP is and how beneficial it can be, let's dive into a stock that currently fits the bill. Citigroup (C - Free Report) earns a #3 (Hold) right now and its Most Accurate Estimate sits at $2.77 a share, just eight days from its upcoming earnings release on July 14, 2026.
By taking the percentage difference between the $2.77 Most Accurate Estimate and the $2.65 Zacks Consensus Estimate, Citigroup has an Earnings ESP of +4.74%. Investors should also know that C is one of a large group of stocks with positive ESPs. Make sure to utilize our Earnings ESP Filter to uncover the best stocks to buy or sell before they've reported.
C is just one of a large group of Finance stocks with a positive ESP figure. NewtekOne (NEWT - Free Report) is another qualifying stock you may want to consider.
NewtekOne is a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) stock, and is getting ready to report earnings on July 27, 2026. NEWT's Most Accurate Estimate sits at $0.47 a share 21 days from its next earnings release.
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for NewtekOne is $0.46, and when you take the percentage difference between that number and its Most Accurate Estimate, you get the Earnings ESP figure of +1.44%.
C and NEWT's positive ESP metrics may signal that a positive earnings surprise for both stocks is on the horizon.
Find Stocks to Buy or Sell Before They're ReportedUse the Zacks Earnings ESP Filter to turn up stocks with the highest probability of positively, or negatively, surprising to buy or sell before they're reported for profitable earnings season trading. Check it out here >>
AuMEGA Metals Ltd (ASX:AAM, TSX:AUM, OTCQB:AUMMF, FRA:FRA: MA30) has appointed experienced mining executive and geologist Rafael Gradim as president, effective August 1, 2026, as the company advances exploration across its district-scale gold portfolio in Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada.
Michael Skead has stepped down as president, effective immediately, for personal reasons. Gradim will be based in Toronto and will take responsibility for AuMEGA’s exploration activities, including planning, execution and advancement of exploration programs across the company’s land package.
Gradim brings more than 22 years of experience across exploration, resource development, mine geology, corporate development and mining-focused private equity. AuMEGA said his background gives him a mix of technical expertise, strategic judgement and capital markets perspective.
He has contributed to the advancement of major gold projects from early-stage exploration through to production and has led technical due diligence on hundreds of mineral assets globally. Before joining AuMEGA, he held senior technical and corporate development roles with Vale Base Metals, Resource Capital Funds, Eldorado Gold and Gold Fields Limited.
Managing director and CEO Sam Pazuki said Gradim’s exploration leadership and technical depth made him well-suited to lead AuMEGA’s next phase of growth across its Newfoundland portfolio.
“We are very pleased to welcome Rafael as President of AuMEGA. Rafael brings an exceptional blend of exploration leadership, technical depth and strategic perspective gained across major mining companies, corporate development and in the buy-side. His proven ability to identify overlooked opportunities, assess geological potential and align exploration strategy with shareholder objectives makes him ideally suited to lead our exploration efforts as we advance the next phase of growth across our Newfoundland portfolio.
“I also want to express my sincere appreciation to Mike for the significant impact he has had on AuMEGA. Mike has brought tremendous technical insight and leadership to the organisation, and his contributions have helped strengthen the Company’s exploration platform and strategic direction. I am grateful for the value Mike has brought to the organization and wish him all the very best.”
Newfoundland portfolio in focus Gradim said AuMEGA’s Newfoundland portfolio stood out as a district-scale opportunity with the potential to unlock significant value through disciplined, technically driven exploration. He said the company would focus on prioritising the highest-impact opportunities across the portfolio.
“I am excited to join AuMEGA at such an important stage in the Company’s development. Over the course of my career, I have had the opportunity to evaluate hundreds of mineral projects globally, and AuMEGA’s Newfoundland portfolio stands out as a district-scale opportunity with tremendous potential to unlock significant value through disciplined, technically driven exploration.
"The company has assembled a highly prospective land package, is supported by one of the strongest shareholder registers in the sector, and benefits from a Board and team with deep exploration, development, capital markets and operating experience. I look forward to working with Sam, the Board and the broader AuMEGA team to prioritize the highest-impact opportunities across the portfolio and help drive the Company’s next phase of growth.”
The appointment comes as AuMEGA continues work across a land package spanning 110 kilometres along the Cape Ray-Valentine Shear Zone, described by the company as Newfoundland’s largest identified gold structure. The zone hosts Equinox Gold (TSX:EQX)’s Valentine Gold Project as well as AuMEGA’s existing mineral resource.
About AuMEGA Metals AuMEGA Metals is exploring a district-scale gold portfolio in Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada, including ground along the Cape Ray-Valentine Shear Zone and a 27-kilometre stretch of the Hermitage Flexure.
The company’s Cape Ray Shear Zone hosts several high-potential targets and an existing defined gold mineral resource of 6.2 million tonnes at 2.25 g/t gold for 450,000 ounces in indicated resources, plus 3.4 million tonnes at 1.44 g/t gold for 160,000 ounces in inferred resources.
Nvidia stock is up 4.5% this year coming into Monday's session. (Courtesy Nvidia)
Another semiconductor rally, another ho-hum day for Nvidia. The leading chip maker is still suffering from the fear that it won’t be one of the main beneficiaries of artificial-intelligence spending in future but analysts at Goldman Sachs preach patience.
NVIDIA’s fundamentals have never looked stronger, yet its stock is limping through 2026. NVIDIA (NASDAQ:NVDA | NVDA Price Prediction) is up just 3.2% year to date, a striking laggard in a sector where money is flooding into almost everything else. That is the paradox: the company at the center of the AI buildout has become the black sheep of the chip rally.
An uneven rally Advanced Micro Devices (NASDAQ:AMD) has ripped 171.25% year to date. Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU) is up a stunning 304.62%. Intel (NASDAQ:INTC), still deep in a turnaround under Lip-Bu Tan, has surged 278.4% on DCAI momentum and NVIDIA’s own $5 billion equity investment. Broadcom (NASDAQ:AVGO), the custom-silicon story, is one example of another megacap stock that largely matches NVIDIA’s returns.
But the broader story is one of semiconductor stocks rallying. The VanEck Semiconductor ETF (Nasdaq: SMH) is up 59% year-to-date. The divergence looks set to continue today. The VanEck is up 3% premarket while NVIDIA shares are up just .3%, as of 8:40 a.m. ET. NVIDIA shares are under pressure on reports of delays across their upcoming lineup of Vera Rubin server systems.
The expectations trap The earnings do not explain the tape. Revenue rose 85% year over year to $81.6 billion, with data center up 92% to $75.2 billion. CEO Jensen Huang framed it plainly: “Agentic AI has arrived, doing productive work, generating real value and scaling rapidly across companies and industries.” But NVDA trades at a forward P/E of less than 20 now, and when a name becomes the consensus AI trade, even a blowout can underwhelm a market that had already priced perfection. Polymarket sentiment tracks this: end-of-July close-above-$200 probability sits at just 43%.
The competitive shift The narrative is fragmenting. NVIDIA still owns roughly 81% of the AI chip market, but Broadcom’s custom ASICs for Alphabet and Meta are eating the story, with Bloomberg Intelligence forecasting a 27% CAGR for custom ASICs through 2033 versus 16% for AI accelerators. Broadcom guided Q3 AI semiconductor revenue to $16.0 billion, more than 200% year over year. AMD’s Meta Instinct GPU deal anchors a multi-year hyperscaler thesis, and Lisa Su noted “leading customer forecasts exceeding our initial expectations” on MI450.
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One important number to watch is the relative size of AMD compared to NVIDIA. Right now, AMD is worth about 18% of NVIDIA’s value. At the beginning of the year, AMD was worth less than 10% NVIDIA. Investors are still piling into companies benefiting from the data center buildout, they’re just not piling into NVIDIA.
The memory discipline trade Micron is a different animal. Samsung, SK Hynix, and Micron have avoided the aggressive oversupply that crushed memory pricing in prior cycles, a meaningful break from history. Q3 revenue exploded 345.7% year over year to $41.46 billion, and CEO Sanjay Mehrotra pointed to multi-year Strategic Customer Agreements designed to lock in durability. NVIDIA has been smart about locking in its own memory supply as other companies like Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) have been caught flat footed. And yet, the combined value of Micron, SK Hynix, and Samsung now rivals NVIDIA itself.
Most strikingly, Micron is now forecasting adjusted gross margins of 86% next quarter, above the peak gross margins NVIDIA ever achieved. Some estimates put half of all data center spend going toward memory in 2027. Simply put, the rise of memory is shifting the center of gravity in the data center trade away from NVIDIA and towards memory names.
The durability question Which brings the market to the quiet question underneath all of it. Demand looks strong in 2027, but with hyperscalers now having to move into debt and equity offerings, the question of whether growth slows dramatically in 2028 is now front and center on investors minds. The ‘good’ news for NVIDIA investors is the company now trades for just 12X its forecasted 2028 earnings. If a slowdown does come, it’ll likely hit NVIDIA a lot less than names trading for 50X their forecasted 2028 profits.
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For a long time, Nvidia (NVDA 1.39%) was priced above $200 per share. Now, it has fallen below that after a few days of heavy selling pressure. The stock is down around 16% from its highs and is up a mere 6% for the year. That's a pretty disappointing result for most investors since Nvidia has been such a strong stock pick over the past few years.
However, I still think the stock still has a bright future. In fact, I think it could easily rise over 50% to reach $300. But when might that occur? Let's take a look.
Image source: Getty Images.
Nvidia is still the dominant force in the industry The most recent round of artificial intelligence (AI) sell-offs has come from a familiar source: fear of overspending. As the market becomes worried that AI hyperscalers are spending too much on their buildout, any stock associated with the industry is struggling.
Nvidia is not isolated from that, which is why it has sold off so much. However, time and time again, the hyperscalers have told investors that the risk of underspending far outweighs the risk of overspending. The market may be growing frustrated by lofty capital expenditures on data centers, but the hyperscalers aren't planning on slowing down anytime soon.
During its last quarterly conference call, management forecast that it expects hyperscaler spending to top $1 trillion in 2027 after reaching a projected $650 billion in 2026.
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That sounds like further revenue growth ahead, and that's exactly what Wall Street analysts are projecting as well. For the rest of this year, they expect 82% growth. For 2027, that figure rises to 41%. Those are strong growth rates and will likely lead to major profits as well.
For fiscal 2028, ending January 2028, the average analyst projects $12.76 in earnings per share. I think that's a conservative estimate, because the analyst community has consistently underprojected Nvidia's growth.
If we use that figure and value the stock at a reasonable earnings multiple of 25, the projected share price at the end of fiscal 2028 is $319. As a result, I think the stock could easily reach $300 per share sometime in late 2027.
That's 50% upside in about a year and a half, which is a great return in a short time frame. Furthermore, most of this growth is already known because management likely has good information on customer orders over the next year. So I think Nvidia is an excellent buy on this most recent round of sell-offs.
NewPeak Metals Ltd (ASX:NPM, OTC:NPMFF, FRA:NPM) shares surged in morning trade after the company confirmed a large-scale gold-zinc-silver discovery from the first hole of its 2026 drilling program at the 100%-owned Las Opeñas Gold Project in San Juan Province, Argentina.
The stock surged as high as A$0.031 in morning trade, representing an intraday gain of about 107% from its previous close of A$0.015. The stock is currently up 66.6% intraday (1pm).
Assay results from discovery hole 26-LODH-023 returned mineralisation across the full 663-metre hole at 0.41 g/t gold equivalent, including 0.16 g/t gold, 0.65% zinc and 4.53 g/t silver from surface to end of hole.
Broad mineralised system from surface The first hole delivered several stronger zones within the broader mineralised envelope, including 84 metres at 0.72 g/t gold equivalent from 20 metres, 282 metres at 0.65 g/t gold equivalent from 7 metres and 426 metres at 0.50 g/t gold equivalent from surface.
Importantly, NewPeak confirmed a large-scale polymetallic system, with mineralisation extending over the entire hole.
The hole was drilled about five metres from historic hole 12-LODH-03, which returned 115 metres at 0.58 g/t gold, 0.65% zinc and 3.5 g/t silver from 18 metres to end of hole.
NewPeak’s proximity and consistency of results across the two holes provided early confidence in the scale and continuity of the system and its potential for future resource definition.
“Exactly what we hoped to achieve” Managing director Mark Purcell said the first hole had confirmed the company’s exploration model at Las Opeñas.
“The first hole drilled at Las Opeñas since 2019, and the first diamond drill hole drilled since 2014, has confirmed the discovery of a large scale gold-zinc-silver system from surface, with polymetallic mineralisation extending over the entire hole,” Purcell said.
“Uncovering a system of such substantial scale is exactly what we hoped to achieve. The presence of meaningful zinc and silver credits is also very encouraging given both metals have been formally recognised as critical minerals by the USGS in 2025.”
El Indio Belt location Las Opeñas is in San Juan Province, about 70 kilometres southeast of Barrick/Shandong’s Veladero Mine and around 110 kilometres north-northwest of Challenger Gold’s Hualilan Mine.
Location of Las Opeñas.
The project features a reinterpreted 800-metre by 600-metre breccia zone that had previously been drilled to relatively shallow depths.
NewPeak’s recent program tested deeper parts of the breccia area, which the company said appeared to form part of a rhyolitic complex associated with phreatic breccias and strong argillic alteration.
A total of 2,464 metres of diamond drilling across six holes was completed between April and June 2026, with the program designed to test for large-scale gold-dominant polymetallic mineralisation.
Zinc and silver add strategic angle Beyond the gold result, NewPeak highlighted the zinc and silver credits as an important part of the Las Opeñas story.
Zinc was added to the USGS 2025 Critical Minerals List, while silver is also on the list due to industrial demand, particularly from solar and electronics, and by-product supply constraints.
The polymetallic nature of mineralisation at Las Opeñas enhanced the project’s strategic positioning in a market increasingly focused on secure and diversified supplies of critical minerals.
What’s ahead NewPeak expects assays from the remaining five drill holes — 26-LODH-024 to 26-LODH-028 — to be announced over the next three to six weeks.
If those results are favourable, the company says it is well placed to push toward a maiden resource at Las Opeñas.
Permitting is already in place to recommence drilling of up to another 7,500 metres, pending supplier availability, allowing NewPeak to move relatively quickly to further test the large-scale mineralised zone.
Key Takeaways NVDA's cash flows surged in the first quarter of 2026, supporting buybacks, dividends and AI investments.NVIDIA returned about $19.5B to shareholders in Q1 and now has roughly $119B available for buybacks.NVIDIA expects Q2 revenues of about $91B, reflecting 95% YoY growth and a 16% sequential increase. NVIDIA Corporation (NVDA - Free Report) is generating enormous cash flows from the global artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure boom, giving it ample flexibility to reward shareholders while continuing to invest for future growth. The company’s latest financial results suggest its aggressive share repurchase strategy is well supported by its expanding business.
In the first quarter of fiscal 2027, NVIDIA generated a record $50.3 billion in operating cash flow, up from $27.4 billion a year earlier. Free cash flow also climbed sharply to $48.6 billion from $26.1 billion in the prior-year quarter. These gains were driven by record revenues of $81.6 billion, supported by booming demand for Blackwell AI systems and data center products.
Strong cash generation enabled NVIDIA to return approximately $19.5 billion to shareholders during the first quarter through stock buybacks and dividends. The company also raised its quarterly dividend from a penny to 25 cents per share and authorized an additional $80 billion for share repurchases. Combined with roughly $39 billion remaining under its previous authorization, NVIDIA now has approximately $119 billion available for future buybacks.
Importantly, the company continues to invest heavily in long-term growth. Multi-year cloud service commitments reached $30 billion at the end of the first quarter, while inventory and supply-related commitments also rose to support future AI demand. At the end of the first quarter, inventory was $25.8 billion, while total supply-related commitments were $119.0 billion. This shows NVIDIA is balancing shareholder returns with strategic investments.
Management expects second-quarter revenues of about $91 billion, even without assuming data center compute revenues from China. The top-line forecast reflects year-over-year growth of 95% and a sequential increase of 16%. If AI infrastructure spending remains strong, NVIDIA's growing cash flows should comfortably support continued share repurchases while funding product innovation and global expansion.
How Do NVIDIA’s Peers Fare in Shareholder Return Policy?Broadcom Inc. (AVGO - Free Report) and Texas Instruments Incorporated (TXN - Free Report) are leveraging strong AI-driven cash generation to strengthen shareholder returns.
Broadcom has built a solid capital return strategy backed by robust cash flows. In the first half of fiscal 2026, the company generated $18.3 billion in free cash flow, representing roughly 44% of revenues. Broadcom has consistently returned excess cash through dividends and share repurchases while continuing to invest in AI technologies. In the first six months of fiscal 2026, it returned $14.6 billion to shareholders through share buybacks and dividend payments.
Texas Instruments is also benefiting from rising AI demand. The company generated an operating cash flow of approximately $1.52 billion in the first quarter of 2026. During the quarter, it repurchased stocks worth $158 million and paid $1.29 billion in dividends. Supported by growth in industrial, automotive and data center markets, Texas Instruments appears well-positioned to generate higher cash returns for shareholders in the coming years.
NVIDIA’s Price Performance, Valuation and EstimatesShares of NVIDIA have risen around 23.1% over the past year compared with the Zacks Computer and Technology sector’s gain of 34.9%.
NVIDIA One-Year Price Return Performance
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
From a valuation standpoint, NVDA trades at a forward price-to-earnings ratio of 18.87, below the sector’s average of 22.73.
NVIDIA Forward 12-Month P/E Ratio
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for NVIDIA’s fiscal 2027 and 2028 earnings implies a year-over-year increase of approximately 89% and 35%, respectively. Estimates for fiscal 2027 and 2028 have been revised upward over the past 30 days.
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
NVIDIA currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.
SummaryAT&T is upgraded to 'Strong Buy' as market pessimism overshadows robust business fundamentals and undervalues the stock.T trades at 8.9x forward P/E with a 5.4% yield, supported by strong free cash flow and double-digit projected EPS growth.Advanced Connectivity revenue and EBITDA are growing, driven by record fiber additions, bundling momentum, and margin expansion.SpaceX competitive fears are likely overstated, while integration of Lumen assets and continued EPS growth underpin strong total return potential.Looking for a portfolio of ideas like this one? Members of iREIT®+HOYA Capital get exclusive access to our subscriber-only portfolios. Learn More » Getty Images
The expression ‘being greedy when others are fearful’ was originally coined by Warren Buffett. It’s also his most quoted expression, and for good reason. That’s because long-term retail investors get to take advantage of market pessimism that pushes prices down excessively.
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Analyst’s Disclosure: I/we have a beneficial long position in the shares of T either through stock ownership, options, or other derivatives. I wrote this article myself, and it expresses my own opinions. I am not receiving compensation for it (other than from Seeking Alpha). I have no business relationship with any company whose stock is mentioned in this article.
I am not an investment advisor. This article is for informational purposes and does not constitute as financial advice. Readers are encouraged and expected to perform due diligence and draw their own conclusions prior to making any investment decisions.
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Students aged 11 to 14 recognized for innovative robotics, safety and climate solutions; earn chance at title of "America's Top Young Scientist"
, /PRNewswire/ -- 3M and Discovery Education today announced the 10 finalists in the 2026 3M Young Scientist Challenge, the nation's premier middle school science competition. Now in its 19th year, the annual challenge invites students in fifth through eighth grade to think creatively and apply the power of STEM to develop real-world solutions.
3M and Discovery Education have announced the 10 finalists in the 2026 3M Young Scientist Challenge, the nation’s premier middle school science competition. Each of the 10 finalists receive an exclusive mentorship with a 3M scientist and at the final event in October, they have the chance to win a $25,000 grand prize and the title of "America's Top Young Scientist." They will work alongside their 3M scientist mentors throughout the summer to gain hands-on experience that will advance the development of their solution.
The top 10 2026 3M Young Scientist Challenge finalists are as follows (in alphabetical order by last name):
Ahmed Abdelsalam, Cambridge, Mass., Darby Vassall Upper School, Cambridge Public Schools Aaisha Asif, Sarasota, Fla., Pine View, Sarasota County Schools Raji Doshi, Farmington, Conn., Talcott Mountain Academy, Private School Aiden Jo, Houston, Texas, The Village School, Houston Independent School District Roy Kim, Beaverton, Ore., Whitford Middle School, Beaverton School District Arika Kundu, Shorewood, Minn., Minnetonka Middle School East, Minnetonka Public Schools Sharvi Mahajan, San Diego, Calif., Bernardo Heights Middle School, Poway Unified School District Millie Pradawong, Fairfax, Va., Thoreau Middle School, Fairfax County Naboshree Santra, Oviedo, Fla., Jackson Heights Middle School, Seminole County Public Schools Abigail Stein, Nashville, Tenn., Harding Academy, Nashville Independent Schools "The 3M Young Scientist Challenge brings together student curiosity, scientific thinking and 3M mentorship to turn promising ideas into real solutions," said William Brown, 3M Chairman and CEO. "3M is focused on helping these young innovators strengthen their ideas and apply science in ways that can make a meaningful impact."
This year's 10 finalists, aged 11 to 14, each spotted an everyday problem, developed an innovative solution, and pitched their project through a one- to two-minute entry video. Their proposals align to two of 3M's 49 technology platforms, including Climate Tech and Safety. An esteemed group of judges, including 3M scientists and leaders in education from across the country, evaluated the entries based on creativity, scientific knowledge and communication effectiveness.
"The finalists of this year's 3M Young Scientist Challenge prove you can be a scientist at any age," said Brian Shaw, chief executive officer at Discovery Education. "Each remarkable student pursued their curiosity with persistence, turning an idea into an innovation. We cannot wait to see where their ideas take them."
Next steps in the competition
Each of the 10 finalists will participate in an exclusive summer mentorship program with a 3M scientist. These mentors will provide guidance and advice to help advance each finalist's solution. Then, on October 12-13, all 10 finalists will gather at the 3M Innovation Center in St. Paul, Minn., to go head-to-head in the final interactive competition.
At this final event, each finalist will participate in a series of live challenges before presenting their final project and answering questions from a panel of judges. At the close of the competition, one finalist will be named the grand prize winner, receiving $25,000 and the title of America's Top Young Scientist.
Previous competition winners and alumni achievements
Previous challenge finalists and 3M scientists have created solutions for a wide variety of real-world problems, including cybersecurity, coral reef health, water conservation, food safety, energy consumption, air pollution and transportation efficiency. Former America's Top Young Scientists have given TED Talks, filed patents and founded nonprofits. In addition, a 3M Young Scientist Challenge Alumni Network was formed in fall 2022 and includes more than 100 former challenge winners, finalists and mentors, who take part in networking opportunities and more. Past honors include:
Gitanjali Rao became TIME's first-ever Kid of the Year in 2020 Liam McCarty was named to the Forbes 30 Under 30 list in 2022 Heman Bekele was TIME's 2024 Kid of the Year Learning resources for all educators and students
The 3M Young Scientist Challenge is complemented by Young Scientist Lab, a free digital resource program from 3M and Discovery Education that gives every student, regardless of background, access to standards-aligned, hands-on science experiences designed to spark curiosity and build STEM skills. Students, teachers and families of all skill levels can explore, transform and innovate the world around them. Young Scientist Lab resources are also available through Discovery Education Experience, the essential companion for engaged PreK-12 classrooms.
To learn more about the 3M Young Scientist Challenge and meet the 2026 finalists, visit YoungScientistLab.com.
About 3M
3M (NYSE: MMM) is focused on transforming industries around the world by applying science and creating innovative, customer-focused solutions. Our multi-disciplinary team is working to solve tough customer problems by leveraging diverse technology platforms, differentiated capabilities, global footprint, and operational excellence. Discover how 3M is shaping the future at 3M.com/news.
About Discovery Education
Discovery Education is a global education technology leader whose innovative solutions empower educators and progress student learning. Discovery Education's solutions have served more than 100 million students globally, supporting effective teaching and learning in 45% of U.S. K-12 schools and in 100+ countries and territories. The company's portfolio includes award-winning core and supplemental curriculum, high-quality standards-aligned content, and AI-enabled teaching and learning tools. Solutions span math, science, literacy, social studies, and career-connected learning, including instructionally-aligned content developed through one-of-a-kind partnerships with industry leaders to bring real-world relevance into every lesson. Learn more at www.DiscoveryEducation.com.
Lending support to his choice, Morgan Stanley analyst Brian Nowak maintained Alphabet’s Overweight rating on June 30. He also raised the price target from $375 to $415.
Capital Area Planning Group’s Malcolm Ethridge picked Netflix Inc (NASDAQ:NFLX).
Bank of America Securities analyst Jessica Reif Ehrlich reiterated a Buy rating on Netflix and maintained a $125 price target on May 18.
Don’t forget to check out our premarket coverage here
Joshua Brown, co-founder and CEO of Ritholtz Wealth Management, picked Nike Inc (NYSE:NKE).
On the earnings front, Nike posted fourth-quarter revenue of $10.97 billion, beating analyst estimates of $10.86 billion, according to Benzinga Pro. Nike reported adjusted earnings of 20 cents per share for the period, beating analyst estimates of 13 cents per share.
Supporting her view, Wolfe Research analyst Spencer Hanus, on June 23, upgraded Target from Peer Perform to Outperform.
Price Action Alphabet shares fell 0.4% to close at $359.91 on Thursday. Netflix shares rose 4.7% to settle at $77.65 during the session. Nike shares gained 2.4% to close at $44.09 on Thursday. Target shares slipped 0.1% to settle at $130.21 during the session. Photo via Shutterstock
Market News and Data brought to you by Benzinga APIs
Mastercard underperformed the benchmark, remaining flat over the past 7 months while the benchmark gained 9%. Despite recent underperformance, MA's long-term investment thesis has improved due to several emerging tailwinds. My previous neutral stance was justified, but evolving factors now support a more constructive outlook on MA.
Quarterly financial reports play a vital role on Wall Street, as they help investors see how a company has performed and what might be coming down the road in the near-term. And out of all of the metrics and results to consider, earnings is one of the most important.
The earnings figure itself is key, of course, but a beat or miss on the bottom line can sometimes be just as, if not more, important. Therefore, investors should consider paying close attention to these earnings surprises, as a big beat can help a stock climb and vice versa.
Now that we know how important earnings and earnings surprises are, it's time to show investors how to take advantage of these events to boost their returns by utilizing the Zacks Earnings ESP filter.
The Zacks Earnings ESP, ExplainedThe Zacks Earnings ESP is more formally known as the Expected Surprise Prediction, and it aims to grab the inside track on the latest analyst estimate revisions ahead of a company's report. The idea is relatively intuitive as a newer projection might be based on more complete information.
Now that we understand the basic idea, let's look at how the Expected Surprise Prediction works. The ESP is calculated by comparing the Most Accurate Estimate to the Zacks Consensus Estimate, with the percentage difference between the two giving us the Zacks ESP figure.
When we join a positive earnings ESP with a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) or stronger, stocks posted a positive bottom-line surprise 70% of the time. Plus, this system saw investors produce roughly 28% annual returns on average, according to our 10 year backtest.
Most stocks, about 60%, fall into the #3 (Hold) category, and they are expected to perform in-line with the broader market. Stocks with a #2 (Buy) and #1 (Strong Buy) rating, or the top 15% and top 5% of stocks, respectively, should outperform the market, with Strong Buy stocks outperforming more than any other rank.
Should You Consider Visa?Now that we understand what the ESP is and how beneficial it can be, let's dive into a stock that currently fits the bill. Visa (V - Free Report) earns a #2 (Buy) right now and its Most Accurate Estimate sits at $3.23 a share, just 29 days from its upcoming earnings release on August 4, 2026.
Visa's Earnings ESP sits at +0.29%, which, as explained above, is calculated by taking the percentage difference between the $3.23 Most Accurate Estimate and the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $3.22. V is also part of a large group of stocks that boast a positive ESP. Make sure to utilize our Earnings ESP Filter to uncover the best stocks to buy or sell before they've reported.
V is one of just a large database of Business Services stocks with positive ESPs. Another solid-looking stock is Trane Technologies (TT - Free Report) .
Slated to report earnings on July 29, 2026, Trane Technologies holds a #3 (Hold) ranking on the Zacks Rank, and its Most Accurate Estimate is $4.30 a share 23 days from its next quarterly update.
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Trane Technologies is $4.27, and when you take the percentage difference between that number and its Most Accurate Estimate, you get the Earnings ESP figure of +0.60%.
Because both stocks hold a positive Earnings ESP, V and TT could potentially post earnings beats in their next reports.
Find Stocks to Buy or Sell Before They're ReportedUse the Zacks Earnings ESP Filter to turn up stocks with the highest probability of positively, or negatively, surprising to buy or sell before they're reported for profitable earnings season trading. Check it out here >>
Quarterly financial reports play a vital role on Wall Street, as they help investors see how a company has performed and what might be coming down the road in the near-term. And out of all of the metrics and results to consider, earnings is one of the most important.
We know earnings results are vital, but how a company performs compared to bottom line expectations can be even more important when it comes to stock prices, especially in the near-term. This means that investors might want to take advantage of these earnings surprises.
Now that we know how important earnings and earnings surprises are, it's time to show investors how to take advantage of these events to boost their returns by utilizing the Zacks Earnings ESP filter.
The Zacks Earnings ESP, ExplainedThe Zacks Earnings ESP is more formally known as the Expected Surprise Prediction, and it aims to grab the inside track on the latest analyst estimate revisions ahead of a company's report. The idea is relatively intuitive as a newer projection might be based on more complete information.
Now that we understand the basic idea, let's look at how the Expected Surprise Prediction works. The ESP is calculated by comparing the Most Accurate Estimate to the Zacks Consensus Estimate, with the percentage difference between the two giving us the Zacks ESP figure.
Bringing together a positive earnings ESP alongside a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) or better has helped stocks report a positive earnings surprise 70% of the time. Furthermore, by using these parameters, investors have seen 28.3% annual returns on average, according to our 10 year backtest.
Stocks with a #3 (Hold) ranking, which is most stocks covered at 60%, are expected to perform in-line with the broader market. But stocks that fall into the #2 (Buy) and #1 (Strong Buy) ranking, or the top 15% and top 5% of stocks, respectively, should outperform the market. Strong Buy stocks should outperform more than any other rank.
Should You Consider TransDigm Group?Now that we understand what the ESP is and how beneficial it can be, let's dive into a stock that currently fits the bill. TransDigm Group (TDG - Free Report) earns a #2 (Buy) right now and its Most Accurate Estimate sits at $10.62 a share, just 29 days from its upcoming earnings release on August 4, 2026.
TDG has an Earnings ESP figure of +3.54%, which, as explained above, is calculated by taking the percentage difference between the $10.62 Most Accurate Estimate and the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $10.26. TransDigm Group is one of a large database of stocks with positive ESPs. Make sure to utilize our Earnings ESP Filter to uncover the best stocks to buy or sell before they've reported.
TDG is just one of a large group of Aerospace stocks with a positive ESP figure. GE Aerospace (GE - Free Report) is another qualifying stock you may want to consider.
GE Aerospace, which is readying to report earnings on July 16, 2026, sits at a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) right now. Its Most Accurate Estimate is currently $1.92 a share, and GE is 10 days out from its next earnings report.
For GE Aerospace, the percentage difference between its Most Accurate Estimate and its Zacks Consensus Estimate of $1.86 is +3.20%.
TDG and GE's positive ESP figures tell us that both stocks have a good chance at beating analyst expectations in their next earnings report.
Find Stocks to Buy or Sell Before They're ReportedUse the Zacks Earnings ESP Filter to turn up stocks with the highest probability of positively, or negatively, surprising to buy or sell before they're reported for profitable earnings season trading. Check it out here >>
Tom Lee forecasts U.S. stocks will strengthen in July, with the S&P 500 potentially rising to 8,000 points this year.
Tom Lee, chairman of BitMine—the largest Ethereum treasury—told CNBC in an interview that he expects U.S. stocks will perform stronger in July, citing more reasonable market valuations and investor sentiment that has not turned overly bullish. July will kick off the second-quarter earnings season, with first-quarter corporate earnings coming in notably better than expected. The current market price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio is roughly 1.1 percentage points lower than it was in January. Lee forecasts second-quarter earnings will again exceed estimates, pushing valuations down further and creating room for P/E expansion, leading him to conclude July will be a month of stronger stock performance. On whether the S&P 500 can hit 8,000 points this year, Lee said the target is achievable. He noted 8,000 points roughly corresponds to $400 in 2026 earnings per share (EPS) and a ~20x P/E ratio, but added he views current EPS estimates as too low, with the P/E multiple potentially reaching 22x or higher—implying upside could even hit 8,400 to 8,800 points by year-end. That said, Lee also warned the market could see a correction "that feels like a bear market" between August and October, not July. Many fund managers have underperformed benchmarks this year; only 23% have beaten the Nasdaq Growth Index, the lowest level in nearly five years, so July may bring significant dip-buying demand. Lee added the February-April pullback, though just ~7%, already felt like a bear market, while later this year, factors like the Fed’s new policy framework and SpaceX’s gradual stock unlocks could test the market.
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The US stock market’s chip, optical communication and storage sectors have rallied collectively, with CRDO surging over 11% and Western Digital rising more than 9%.
According to BIT (bit.com) market data, US chip stocks rallied across the board. AMD rose 8.13%, Broadcom (AVGO) gained 5.48%, Arm (ARM) advanced 5.39%, Qualcomm (QCOM) climbed 5.15%, TSMC (TSM) increased 4.81%, Intel (INTC) rose 3.79%, and Marvell Technology (MRVL) gained 3.70%. Optical communication-related stocks led the gains: Credo (CRDO) jumped 11.14%, Astera Labs (ALAB) rose 10.08%, Ciena (CIEN) advanced 4.57%, Coherent (COHR) climbed 4.53%, Applied Optoelectronics (AAOI) gained 4.19%, and Corning (GLW) rose 3.90%. The storage sector also posted gains, with Western Digital (WDC) up 9.11%, Seagate Technology (STX) gaining 5.90%, SanDisk (SNDK) rising 2.41%, and Micron Technology (MU) advancing 1.72%.
4 minutes ago
Nasdaq gains extended to 1% after Trump earlier said the market would rally sharply.
According to Bit.com's market data, the Nasdaq's gain has widened to 1%, after Trump posted that the market would surge sharply.
4 minutes ago
Microsoft will lay off 6,400 employees, with half of the cuts stemming from a restructuring of its Xbox gaming division.
According to market sources, Microsoft (MSFT.O) will lay off 6,400 employees, with half of the cuts coming from a restructuring of its Xbox gaming division. The layoffs represent roughly 2.8% of the company’s total workforce. Microsoft will sell five studios, including Compulsion and DoubleFine.
4 minutes ago
Trump once again urges buying Dell: "Go get a Dell computer"
US President Donald Trump publicly urged people to "buy a Dell computer", once again endorsing Dell. When asked about Dell’s prior donation to the "Trump Account", Trump said, "We will find a way to get that money back." Separately, Trump specifically mentioned Micron Technology, saying "Thank you Micron". Earlier, Micron had invested $250 million in the Trump Account.
4 minutes ago
Elon Musk has not yet commented, but SpaceX’s president first donated 2 million shares, marking the largest corporate contribution to the "Trump account".
SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell announced Monday that she and her husband will donate 2 million SpaceX shares to the "Trump Account" program, with one share each going to more than 2 million U.S. children. At the current share price of roughly $160, the total value of the donation is approximately $320 million. The announcement comes just days after Trump publicly predicted SpaceX would participate in the initiative. Shotwell noted the donation targets children aged 11 to 17 in lower-income areas, with a focus on recipients near her home in central Texas. Earlier, Michael Dell and his wife pledged a $6.25 billion donation, Micron Technology committed $250 million, and firms including BlackRock, Intel and JPMorgan Chase said they will match donations at a $1,000 per-person standard. Trump told CNBC in a prior interview that he expected Elon Musk would also donate SpaceX shares, stating "I think he will do that," though Musk has not publicly responded to date. Trump also added that his relationship with Musk remains strong, describing their past disagreements as "a little friction."
Spot Bitcoin ETFs traded in the United States recorded $526.64 million in net outflows between June 29 and July 2. With this latest development, the streak of withdrawals from these products has now reached its eighth consecutive week. This marks the longest continuous weekly outflow period seen since spot Bitcoin ETFs launched in the US.
Outflows continue in Bitcoin and Ethereum fundsThe cautious approach from institutional investors, combined with weaker momentum in Bitcoin, was clearly reflected in ETF data. According to SoSoValue, the total net assets of US spot Bitcoin ETFs fell to around $74.37 billion. In the same period, Bitcoin traded near $61,500. During June alone, outflows from these products totaled approximately $4.5 billion, underlining the sustained pressure in the market.
Wu Blockchain reported that US spot Bitcoin ETFs saw nearly $527 million in net outflows over the period from June 29 to July 2, bringing the outflow streak to eight consecutive weeks.
Spot Ethereum ETFs mirrored this trend. In the same timeframe, Ethereum ETFs experienced $13.67 million in net redemptions, also marking their eighth straight week of outflows. The simultaneous withdrawals from funds tied to the two largest digital assets signal that investor appetite for risk remains subdued across the sector.
Diverging trends in altcoin ETFsWhile Bitcoin and Ethereum products continued to lose assets, certain altcoin ETFs bucked the trend by attracting fresh capital. Spot Solana ETFs posted $5.75 million in net inflows for the week. XRP ETFs stood out with $17.19 million in new investments, representing the strongest performance in the altcoin ETF category. Hyperliquid ETFs also saw positive flows, gaining $4.32 million in net inflows despite a noticeable slowdown compared to previous weeks.
Glossary: SoSoValue is a data platform commonly used to track ETF flows and market metrics in digital asset markets. Net inflow refers to the difference between money entering and exiting a fund.
This divergence suggests that, rather than exiting the crypto ETF market entirely, some investors are reallocating capital toward alternative digital assets. Although Bitcoin remains the predominant option among institutional vehicles, select interest in altcoin-based products appears to be holding steady.
Brief signs of recovery prove short-livedDespite a weak weekly outlook, there were limited signs of recovery at the period’s close. On July 2, US spot Bitcoin ETFs attracted over $221 million in daily net inflows, breaking a 10-day outflow streak. However, this single-day shift was not deemed sufficient to reverse the broader eight-week trend.
Market observers attribute the prolonged outflows to macroeconomic uncertainty, rising interest rate expectations, and diminished risk appetite. With pressure persisting on Bitcoin, it appears institutional investors continue to scale back their exposure by redeeming ETF shares.
In the period ahead, ETF flows are expected to serve as a key gauge of institutional sentiment. Sustained net inflows could suggest renewed confidence in Bitcoin, while ongoing outflows may indicate demand will remain muted until broader market conditions improve.
Disclaimer: The information contained in this article does not constitute investment advice. Investors should be aware that cryptocurrencies carry high volatility and therefore risk, and should conduct their own research.
Solana (SOL) is trading slightly lower on Monday after rallying more than 14% last week, with the 100-day Exponential Moving Average (EMA) at $81.63 capping potential upside. Despite a slight pullback, improving derivatives positioning, steady inflows into US-listed spot Solana Exchange-Traded Funds (ETFs), and rising on-chain activity indicate that bullish momentum remains intact, keeping the door open for further gains.
Early signs of institutional demandInstitutional demand shows early signs of optimism. SoSoValue data show that spot ETFs recorded an inflow of $5.75 million in the previous week, following an outflow of $1.81 million. If this inflow continues and intensifies this week, SOL price could see further gains.
Total SOL ETF net inflow weekly chart. Source: SoSoValueOn-chain activity shows a bullis biasSolana’s official X account posted on Monday that tokenized-asset spot volume surged to $5.7 billion in Q2, up from $2.69 billion in Q1. This rise indicates that Solana network expansion, growing institutional adoption and strengthening on-chain demand suggest a bullish outlook.
CryptoQuant’s summary data shows mild bullish sentiment. Solana’s spot and futures markets show large whale orders amid neutral conditions across other metrics, supporting a potential upside.
Improving derivatives metricsThe derivatives metrics support a positive outlook. Solana’s futures Open Interest (OI) surged to $5.80 billion on Saturday, the highest level since mid-May and steadied around $5.58 billion on Monday. This rise in OI reflects increasing investor participation and projects a bullish outlook.
Solana open interest chart. Source: SoSoValueIn addition, CoinGlass funding rate for SOL turned positive on Sunday, reading 0.0081% on Monday, indicating that longs are paying shorts and suggesting bullish sentiment.
Solana funding rate chart. Source: CoinglassSolana Price Forecast: Faces resistance around 100-day EMA Solana price trades at $80.89 on Monday after rallying over 14% in the previous week. SOL’s near-term tone is neutral to slightly constructive as price holds above the 50-day Exponential Moving Average (EMA) at $76.41 and the 50% retracement at $79.27, yet remains capped under the 100-day EMA at $81.63 and the 61.8% Fibonacci retracement at $83.78.
The Relative Strength Index (RSI) hovers in the low 60s, while the Moving Average Convergence Divergence (MACD) stays in positive territory, both suggesting firm but not overextended bullish momentum as long as price holds above the nearby support band.
On the topside, initial resistance comes at the 100-day EMA around $81.63, followed by the 61.8% Fibonacci retracement at $83.78; a daily close above this cluster would open the door toward the 78.6% Fibonacci retracement at $90.21 and then the horizontal barrier at $96.19, ahead of the 200-day EMA around $96.73.
On the downside, immediate support is seen at the 50% retracement near $79.27, with additional cushions at the horizontal level of $77.06 and the 50-day EMA at $76.41; a break below there would expose the 38.2% Fibonacci retracement at $74.75 and deeper Fibonacci supports at $69.16 and $60.13.
(The technical analysis of this story was written with the help of an AI tool.)
Key Highlights Solana’s 3-day SuperTrend indicator has triggered its first buy signal since October 2025, indicating a possible momentum shift Network expansion continues with 1.6 million fresh addresses created over the last fortnight, according to analyst Ali Charts Top Binance traders maintain a Long/Short Ratio of 1.89, with long positions comprising 65.45% of total exposure The critical $84 resistance barrier stands between current levels and the next targets at $90 and potentially $100 Weekly chart displays bullish RSI divergence, hinting that the extended correction period could be concluding Solana appears to be displaying preliminary indicators of a momentum reversal following a significant technical signal turning positive for the first time in nearly a year. This development follows an extended pullback that brought SOL down to approximately $60 during June.
Solana (SOL) Price The SuperTrend indicator on the three-day timeframe has produced a buy signal — marking the first occurrence since October 2025. The prior sell signal was followed by a substantial 74% decline, making this fresh signal particularly noteworthy for market participants.
Crypto analyst Ali Charts highlighted the development on X, emphasizing the SuperTrend flip beneath the current price level as confirmation that accumulation momentum could be strengthening. This indicator leverages average true range calculations to identify trend shifts, and when it positions below price action, market technicians typically interpret this as a bullish development.
SOLANA: FROM BEARISH TO BULLISH
The SuperTrend indicator has triggered a new buy signal on the Solana 3-day chart.
• First Signal Since October 10: The Average True Range (ATR) trailing stop has flipped beneath the price action, marking the first SuperTrend buy signal since… pic.twitter.com/j0FCmDm3jq
— Ali Charts (@alicharts) July 4, 2026
Ali Charts provided additional insight through another metric: the Solana blockchain has welcomed 1.6 million fresh addresses during the previous fourteen days. Such network expansion typically indicates increasing user engagement and heightened interest across the ecosystem.
Institutional Trader Sentiment Binance’s most sophisticated traders are displaying strong bullish conviction. CoinGlass data reveals that long accounts represent 65.45% of monitored positions, while short accounts comprise 34.55%. This distribution produces a Long/Short Ratio of 1.89.
Source: Binance Despite SOL’s rebound from June’s bottom, professional market participants have maintained their long exposure without significant reduction. This positioning implies that institutional actors continue anticipating additional upward movement.
The OI-Weighted Funding Rate registers at a slightly positive 0.0027%, indicating that leveraged long position holders are compensating shorts. Funding rates have remained in positive territory throughout the recent price recovery while avoiding extreme levels that would suggest excessive speculation.
Critical Resistance and Support Zones SOL is presently challenging resistance around the $84 level. Buyers have successfully defended the $78.07 support zone, preserving the constructive short-term price structure.
Source: TradingView The daily Relative Strength Index reads 61.20, while its Moving Average stands at 52.66. Both metrics indicate that buying momentum continues operating above neutral territory.
A decisive break above $84 would probably clear the path toward the $90 level. Conversely, failure at this resistance could trigger a retest of the $78.07 support area.
Examining the weekly timeframe, analyst TraderJB has spotted bullish RSI divergence developing near what he characterizes as the conclusion of a wave C corrective pattern. He observed that identical divergence materialized in opposite form at the prior peak before the correction unfolded.
TraderJB characterized the present zone as offering favorable risk-reward dynamics for spot accumulation strategies, assuming his Elliott Wave analysis proves accurate.
Solana’s most pressing challenge remains conquering the $84 resistance threshold, with subsequent objectives positioned at $90 and $100 should buyers successfully maintain the existing technical framework.
Key Takeaways Blockchain security company Coinspect has identified a critical security weakness dubbed “Ill Bloom” that impacts cryptocurrency wallets on Bitcoin, Ethereum, Polygon, Tron, Solana, and additional networks The security issue originates from inadequate random number generation used when creating wallet recovery phrases in specific mobile wallet applications Hackers have successfully stolen a minimum of $5 million starting May 27, including one coordinated assault that emptied 431 wallets totaling $3.1 million The vulnerability has existed since 2018, meaning wallets created years ago could still be compromised Users can verify their wallet’s safety using a complimentary verification tool provided by Coinspect Coinspect, a prominent blockchain security organization, has revealed a critical security flaw named “Ill Bloom” that threatens thousands of cryptocurrency wallets worldwide.
The security weakness is rooted in insufficient randomness during the seed phrase generation process used by certain software wallets. When wallet applications employ inadequate random number generators during the creation phase, the resulting mnemonic phrases become susceptible to prediction and exploitation by malicious actors.
Multiple blockchain networks are impacted, including Bitcoin, Ethereum, Polygon, Rootstock, Tron, and Solana.
According to Coinspect’s investigation, this security flaw has existed for at least six years, dating back to 2018. Alarmingly, vulnerable wallets were still being created as recently as several weeks ago, putting both longtime users and newcomers at serious risk.
Timeline of the Exploitation Campaign The first major coordinated attack occurred on May 27, when cybercriminals targeted 431 wallets from a pool of 2,114 identified vulnerable addresses, successfully draining $3.1 million worth of digital assets.
A second wave of attacks struck over the weekend, with approximately $2 million extracted from compromised wallets. Current estimates place total losses at a minimum of $5 million, though Coinspect suggests the actual figure may be considerably higher when accounting for losses across all affected blockchain networks.
To prevent further exploitation, Coinspect has deliberately withheld complete technical specifications of the vulnerability, limiting the information available to potential attackers.
According to the security firm, hardware wallet owners remain unaffected by this particular vulnerability. Most popular software wallet providers are also considered secure. The primary risk group consists of individuals who generated their recovery phrases using obscure or lesser-known mobile wallet applications.
Historical Precedents of Seed Generation Vulnerabilities The Ill Bloom vulnerability is not an isolated incident in the cryptocurrency security landscape.
During 2023, Ledger’s cybersecurity division discovered that the browser extension version of Trust Wallet contained a seed generation weakness that significantly reduced randomness. This flaw reduced potential phrase combinations to approximately four billion possibilities, making it feasible for attackers to crack wallets within 24 hours using modest GPU computing power. Trust Wallet addressed the vulnerability before any user funds were compromised.
Similarly in 2023, a security weakness in the Libbitcoin Explorer wallet software resulted in $900,000 being stolen through systematic private key brute-force attacks.
What makes the Ill Bloom vulnerability particularly concerning is that it doesn’t originate from a single wallet provider, making remediation efforts more complex and widespread.
SlowMist, a respected security monitoring organization, has confirmed it is actively tracking the ongoing situation. Coinspect is calling on wallet developers to implement weak mnemonic detection capabilities directly into their applications.
Concerned users can access Coinspect’s specialized verification tool to determine whether their wallet addresses are vulnerable. If unauthorized transactions have occurred from your wallet, the Ill Bloom vulnerability may be responsible.
Stablecoins just had their biggest month ever, and Visa has the receipts. The payments giant’s Onchain Analytics dashboard recorded $1.79 trillion in adjusted stablecoin transaction volume during June, narrowly eclipsing the previous record of $1.78 trillion set back in February.
Visa filters out inorganic activity like bot-driven trading and wash transactions, meaning this figure represents something closer to actual humans and institutions moving actual money.
USDC is running the show The breakdown by stablecoin tells a clear story of market dominance shifting. USDC, the dollar-pegged stablecoin issued by Circle, accounted for roughly 67% of the total adjusted volume at $1.21 trillion. USDT, Tether’s longstanding market leader by supply, captured about 32% at $576 billion.
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The activity was heavily concentrated on two networks: Solana and Base. Solana’s appeal is straightforward, offering sub-cent transaction fees and near-instant finality that make it a natural home for high-frequency stablecoin transfers. Base, Coinbase’s Layer 2 network built on Ethereum, has quietly become a preferred rail for USDC activity, which makes sense given Coinbase’s role as a co-founder of the USDC ecosystem through its relationship with Circle.
The 63% jump from May to June is striking on its own, but the year-over-year comparison is even more dramatic. A 125% increase signals that stablecoin adoption isn’t just growing. It’s accelerating.
The bigger picture: $10.2 trillion in twelve months Cumulative adjusted stablecoin volume over the trailing 12 months has reached approximately $10.2 trillion, according to Visa’s dashboard, which is powered by blockchain data firm Allium.
Visa has been tracking stablecoin performance since 2019. The company’s methodology, built in partnership with Allium Labs and Artemis, specifically aims to capture organic user flows rather than inflated on-chain metrics.
The dashboard’s rolling 30-day figure as of early July was hovering near $1.8 trillion, suggesting June wasn’t a one-off spike but part of a sustained upward trajectory.
The total market capitalization of stablecoins has crossed $322 billion. Visa’s own stablecoin settlement pilot has expanded across nine different blockchain networks, achieving an annualized run rate of $7 billion as of April. The company processes more than $12 trillion annually across its card network.
Disclosure: This article was edited by Editorial Team. For more information on how we create and review content, see our Editorial Policy.
Circle printed roughly $3.5 billion worth of USDC on Solana last week, with a single $1 billion mint hitting the chain on June 16 alone.
Gross USDC issuance on Solana has already blown past $64 billion for 2026, and we’re barely into July.
What’s driving the demand USDC on Solana serves a sprawling set of use cases: DeFi trading, cross-border payments, and institutional settlements. The network’s low fees and high throughput make it a natural fit for the kind of rapid-fire transactions that stablecoin users actually need.
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Each token represents a dollar (or dollar-equivalent reserve) deposited by a customer who wants digital dollars on-chain. When $3.5 billion gets minted in a week, it means $3.5 billion in fresh demand showed up at the door.
The June 16 mint of $1 billion USDC in a single transaction is particularly notable. Transactions of that size typically signal institutional or enterprise-level activity, not retail users swapping tokens on a DEX.
The institutional angle is getting real Circle has enhanced its mint and burn capabilities with BNY Mellon, one of the world’s oldest and largest custodial banks. That partnership covers both Solana and Ethereum environments, giving institutions a familiar custody framework for handling USDC at scale.
Circle hasn’t issued any public statement about the specific June minting events. The data comes from on-chain tracking platforms that monitor blockchain transactions in real time.
What this means for investors With $64 billion in gross USDC issuance on Solana in 2026 alone, the network has established itself as a legitimate alternative for high-volume stablecoin operations.
For SOL holders, more USDC liquidity on the network means more transaction fees, more DeFi activity, and more reasons for developers to build on Solana. Stablecoin volume is one of the most reliable indicators of real economic activity on a blockchain, as opposed to speculative token trading that can evaporate overnight.
Tether’s USDT still commands the largest market share globally, but USDC’s growth on Solana, powered by Circle’s regulatory-first approach and institutional partnerships, is carving out a distinct lane.
Disclosure: This article was edited by Editorial Team. For more information on how we create and review content, see our Editorial Policy.
Kylian Mbappé just did something no footballer has ever done: score at least three goals in three separate FIFA World Cups. The 2018, 2022, and 2026 tournaments each got the Mbappé treatment, and the crypto market, predictably, lost its collective mind.
While the French striker was busy making history on the pitch, a parallel economy of unauthorized tokens, NFT speculation, and prediction market bets was spinning up in real time.
Meme tokens ride the Mbappé wave At least two Solana-based meme tokens, $MBAPPE and $MBAPEPE, saw notable spikes in trading volume following Mbappé’s performances during the 2026 World Cup. Neither token has any official connection to the player.
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The trading surges tracked across June and July 2026 mirror a familiar playbook: real-world event happens, social media amplifies it, speculators rush into the nearest liquid proxy. The tokens function less like investments and more like sports betting with extra steps and fewer consumer protections.
Crypto prediction markets have also gotten in on the action. Platforms allowing users to wager on Mbappé’s goal tallies saw over $465K in volume tied to his performance.
The Sorare connection, and the scam that wasn’t his fault Mbappé isn’t entirely detached from the crypto world, though. He’s been an investor and ambassador for Sorare, the Ethereum-based NFT fantasy sports platform, since June 2022. The platform lets users buy, sell, and trade digital player cards, and the World Cup has predictably renewed interest in the product.
Rare Mbappé cards on Sorare have fetched prices as high as $66,850.
But where there’s celebrity association in crypto, there are scams. In 2024, Mbappé’s X account was hacked, and the attackers used it to promote a fraudulent $MBAPPE token on Solana. The fake token briefly surged to a market cap between $460 million and $464 million before collapsing, leaving traders with over $1 million in losses.
Why this matters for crypto investors The unauthorized token market carries no intrinsic value, no team behind them with a roadmap, and no recourse if the price goes to zero. The 2024 account hack that generated $460 million in fake market cap is exactly the kind of headline that invites regulatory enforcement action.
For traders who insist on playing in this space, the rules haven’t changed. Size positions small. Assume anything without an official endorsement is pure speculation. And remember that the same volatility that creates 10x gains in an afternoon can erase them just as fast.
Disclosure: This article was edited by Editorial Team. For more information on how we create and review content, see our Editorial Policy.
FIFA just handed Belgium the right to formally appeal a ruling that let US striker Folarin Balogun dodge a one-match suspension, and somehow this story now involves prediction markets, a Solana meme token, and allegations of presidential lobbying.
Belgium’s Royal Football Association confirmed on July 6, 2026, that it received the green light to challenge FIFA’s Disciplinary Committee decision. That decision invoked Article 27 of FIFA’s Disciplinary Code to defer Balogun’s automatic suspension on a probationary basis, effectively clearing him to play against Belgium in Seattle despite picking up a red card in the US team’s round of 32 win over Bosnia and Herzegovina.
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The ruling that broke Belgium’s brain Under normal World Cup rules, a red card triggers an automatic one-match ban. Article 10.5 of the tournament regulations is pretty clear about that. FIFA’s Disciplinary Committee invoked Article 27, which allows for probationary deferrals of suspensions, letting Balogun suit up for the match.
The RBFA called the decision “astonishing” and said it directly contradicts the tournament’s own regulations. Belgium learned about its appeal rights with barely a day to spare before the match was scheduled to begin.
Presidential lobbying enters the chat Reports surfaced indicating that US President Donald Trump was involved in lobbying efforts related to Balogun’s eligibility. The exact nature of that involvement remains murky.
Where crypto meets the World Cup A Solana-based meme token called $BALOGUN saw a notable spike in trading activity as the eligibility saga unfolded. Prediction markets also reacted swiftly, with platforms that allow users to bet on real-world outcomes seeing immediate activity around Balogun’s match availability.
What this means for crypto traders Prediction markets are the more sophisticated play here. Platforms like Polymarket have demonstrated that sports-adjacent markets can generate meaningful volume, and eligibility disputes create exactly the kind of binary outcome that prediction markets handle well. Will Balogun play or won’t he? That’s a clean yes-or-no bet, and the market can price in new information, like Belgium’s appeal rights, in real time.
Disclosure: This article was edited by Editorial Team. For more information on how we create and review content, see our Editorial Policy.
A decentralized blockchain is now handling more spot trading volume than some of the biggest centralized exchanges on the planet. Solana has climbed to the No. 2 spot in global spot crypto trading volume, processing roughly $12.25 billion and sitting behind only Binance in the rankings.
The numbers behind Solana’s trading surge Solana’s decentralized exchange ecosystem has been on a tear. Weekly spot trading volume exceeded $7 billion in mid-June 2026, comfortably surpassing Coinbase at roughly $6.4 billion and Kraken at approximately $4.4 billion.
The cumulative spot trading volume across Solana’s DEX platforms hit $1.6 trillion in 2025, capturing approximately 11.92% of the global market share.
Daily on-chain activity has peaked at over 100 million transactions in mid-2026. Solana’s low transaction fees and high processing capacity have made it the default venue for traders who want speed without the gas fee headache that has historically plagued Ethereum.
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Perhaps the most striking data point is in tokenized equities. Solana now accounts for roughly 97% of on-chain tokenized equities spot volume as of early June 2026.
What’s driving the volume explosion Three forces are converging to push Solana’s numbers higher: memecoins, DeFi protocols, and tokenized real-world assets.
Memecoins continue to generate enormous trading volume on Solana-native DEXs. The blockchain’s cheap fees make it the natural home for the kind of rapid-fire speculative trading that defines the memecoin market.
Tokenized equities and real-world assets represent a fundamentally different kind of volume than memecoin speculation, reflecting institutional interest in the network’s reliability and settlement guarantees.
Solana has frequently ranked either first or second in DEX volume metrics across both 7-day and 30-day periods, outperforming Ethereum in several of those windows.
What this means for investors For SOL token holders, higher network activity generally translates to more fees burned and more economic value accruing to the network. Trading volume is one of the clearest demand-side indicators for a layer-1 blockchain’s long-term viability.
Scalability under sustained load is an open question. Solana has improved dramatically since its outage era, but 100 million daily transactions puts enormous stress on validators and infrastructure.
Disclosure: This article was edited by Editorial Team. For more information on how we create and review content, see our Editorial Policy.
Bitcoin exchange-traded funds are now logging their eighth week of uninterrupted net outflows, even as rival products tied to Solana, XRP, and the lesser-known HYPE token pulled in fresh demand. According to flow data compiled by WuBlockchain, spot Bitcoin ETFs shed $527 million for the week running June 29 through July 2. Spot Ethereum funds did not fare much better, recording $13.67 million in net redemptions over the same stretch, also their eighth losing week in a row. The divergence is not only persistent but also widening. Two months ago, altcoin ETF flows were negligible; now, they are a consistent feature of the weekly reckoning.
The numbers for Solana and XRP ETFs told a different story. They attracted $5.75 million and $17.19 million respectively. The HYPE ETF, tied to the Hyperliquid ecosystem, pulled in $4.32 million. While these inflows are nowhere near the size of the capital that left Bitcoin products, they mark a notable shift at a time when the oldest and largest crypto asset appears stuck in a holding pattern.
A rotation narrative is taking hold For most of the year, Bitcoin ETF flows were a reasonably reliable barometer of risk appetite across the crypto spectrum. That signal is now muddy. ETF investors are not simply fleeing crypto altogether. Rather, the flow picture points to a repositioning into assets that are perceived to offer more upside or are riding specific narrative catalysts. XRP, for example, has seen renewed attention tied to payment use cases and legal developments, while Solana continues to attract developers and capital despite on-and-off network congestion concerns. Neither Solana nor XRP ETFs are close to the asset levels of their Bitcoin and Ethereum counterparts, but the direction matters. For the first time in months, the flow data suggests that crypto ETF investors are differentiating between asset classes rather than treating everything as a correlated trade.
The shift coincides with a broader altcoin renaissance visible in spot markets. Several altcoins posted massive weekly gains recently—including TON, which surged more than 80%—as documented in BlockchainReporter’s weekly gainers roundup. That performance is likely feeding into ETF flow decisions, however indirectly, as traders look for products that capture a piece of that momentum.
Regulatory headwinds keep BTC and ETH in check Part of the weakness in the two largest crypto ETFs can be traced back to Washington. The industry has been breathing nervously ahead of a Senate vote on what many consider the most significant piece of crypto legislation in US history. In a late-stage twist, major banking interests are pushing to derail the bill just days before the scheduled vote, seeking to reopen compromises that had been tentatively agreed upon. The situation, covered in depth by BlockchainReporter, has injected fresh uncertainty into a market that had started to price in more favorable regulatory treatment.
Bitcoin and Ethereum, as the most institutionally held digital assets, are naturally more exposed to legislative risk than newer, less liquid alternatives. When regulatory clarity stalls, the needle does not move for large allocators who need that clarity before adding to positions. Altcoin ETFs, on the other hand, attract a different type of buyer—one willing to take on additional risk for a potentially asymmetric payoff. The current flow split reflects that difference in investor profile.
Institutions are still building infrastructure It would be a mistake to interpret the persistent outflows from BTC and ETH ETFs as a retreat from the asset class by institutions. If anything, the pace of large-scale blockchain integration is accelerating. As reported recently, Bullish acquired Equiniti for $4.2 billion, Ondo Finance settled a tokenized Treasury trade with JPMorgan, and total on-chain real-world assets crossed $20 billion—all detailed in a BlockchainReporter weekly roundup. These developments suggest that the pipes are being laid even if spot ETF demand has temporarily cooled for the majors.
What the flow data ultimately shows is a market in transition. Bitcoin ETF outflows lasting two full months are not a trivial signal, but they are also not a death knell. The fact that capital is finding its way into smaller, more targeted crypto products—while macro and regulatory clouds hover—indicates that the investor base is evolving. Whether the next catalyst is a favorable Senate vote, a Federal Reserve shift, or simply a technical breakout in Bitcoin price, the pieces are in place for a rapid reversal. For now, however, the trend line for BTC and ETH funds points downward, and the market is watching to see how long that gravity can hold.
AUTHOR
Kester is an experienced freelance content writer. His focus is primarily on blockchain technology and cryptocurrency. One might even refer to him as a "blockchain enthusiast." He has been following advancements in the crypto and blockchain area for several years, researching and writing his insights in the media. In addition to being a skilled content writer, Mushumir is also knowledgeable in SEO and digital marketing. He aspires to succeed as a content creator in the digital realm, dealing with customers in the finance and tech industries to generate traffic through engaging taglines and content. Mushumir enjoys traveling, reading, and playing cricket when he is not writing. He now works as a news and article writer for BlockchainReporter.
On-chain growth within the Solana network has accelerated significantly over the past two weeks. According to Glassnode data shared by analyst Ali Charts, an impressive 1.6 million new addresses have joined the Solana ecosystem in this period. As a result, the total number of addresses surged from around 6.8 million to approximately 8.6 million, marking a notable expansion in user participation.
New address surge highlights growing interestThe sharp increase in new addresses signals rising user engagement, enhanced on-chain participation, and broader adoption within the Solana ecosystem. While this metric alone does not guarantee an imminent price breakout, it is recognized as a key indicator that can strengthen bullish expectations whenever increased network activity and user demand are observed.
Ali Charts pointed out that 1.6 million new addresses joined the Solana network over the past two weeks, emphasizing that this surge extends beyond price dynamics and is clearly visible across on-chain data.
Glassnode is a blockchain data analytics platform known for providing investors with insights into network activity. The uptick seen in Solana addresses demonstrates that alongside price movements, observers are closely monitoring network utilization as a measure of organic growth.
Mini glossary: On-chain data refers to blockchain metrics relating to transactions, addresses, and activity, directly tracked from network records. The count of new addresses measures the pace of new wallets entering the ecosystem, providing early signals of user interest.
SOL price maintains short-term uptrendFrom a technical perspective, SOL continues to uphold its short-term bullish structure. According to analysis from More Crypto Online, there is currently no definitive sign of a local price peak, which supports the ongoing constructive outlook for the latest price wave.
More Crypto Online notes that so far, price action has not provided a clear signal of a local top, assessing that if the Elliott Wave structure holds, the $86 to $94 range could remain in focus as the next stage for SOL.
The analysis identifies the first major support level at $80.38, while subsequent supports reside at $78.22 and $76.52. Holding above these levels is viewed as critical for maintaining bullish sentiment over the short term.
For an upward scenario, resistance levels are found at $85.81, $88.79, and $93.95. With continued buying interest, SOL could make another attempt to approach these resistance areas in the near term.
IndicatorLevelFirst support$80.38Other supports$78.22 and $76.52Resistance zone$85.81 to $93.95Deeper retracement zone$71.17 to $64.68Key zone to watch in deeper pullbacksIn the event of a steeper correction, the $71.17 to $64.68 range may become critical support, potentially reshaping the short-term outlook. While a drop toward these levels would weaken the current bullish structure, analysts suggest it would still fall within a broader corrective pattern for SOL.
In the short term, the main focus for investors is whether SOL can maintain its higher low formation. If robust network growth and technical support persist, market observers will be closely watching the $86 to $94 band as the next significant target area.
Disclaimer: The information contained in this article does not constitute investment advice. Investors should be aware that cryptocurrencies carry high volatility and therefore risk, and should conduct their own research.
TLDR Solana added 1.60 million new addresses in two weeks, showing stronger network participation. SOL held its short-term uptrend as buyers defended key support levels. Analysts identified $85.81, $88.79, and $93.95 as the next upside targets. The $86 to $94 zone remains the main resistance area for Solana’s breakout setup. Solana price prediction remains positive after on-chain activity strengthened and technical support stayed intact. Network data showed 1.60 million new addresses joined within two weeks. Meanwhile, SOL continued holding higher lows while resistance near $94 remained the next focus.
Network activity strengthens Solana’s market outlook Solana price prediction gained attention after fresh on-chain data highlighted steady network expansion. Ali Charts reported 1.60 million new addresses during the past two weeks. The figures reflected stronger participation across the broader Solana ecosystem.
The total address count increased from about 6.8 million to 8.6 million during the measured period. That increase suggested rising activity beyond short-term market movements. Consequently, stronger network participation supported improving market conditions.
Solana price prediction also received support because expanding addresses often reflect growing ecosystem usage. However, address growth alone cannot confirm a sustained price breakout. Even so, consistent participation strengthened the broader bullish structure.
Price structure keeps the bullish trend intact Solana price prediction remained constructive because SOL preserved its short-term upward trend. More Crypto Online said, “there is still no clear sign that a local top has formed.” The Elliott Wave structure continued pointing toward higher resistance levels.
The analyst identified immediate support near $80.38 for the ongoing structure. Additional support rested near $78.22 and $76.52. Therefore, holding those levels would preserve the current higher-low pattern.
Solana price prediction continued favoring upside targets while buyers defended key support levels. The chart highlighted resistance near $85.81, $88.79, and $93.95. Those levels represented the next technical objectives if momentum continued.
Resistance near $94 remains the next target Solana price prediction focused on the $86-$94 resistance area as buying pressure persisted. Market structure remained positive because price respected higher lows. Consequently, traders monitored resistance without disrupting the prevailing trend.
A deeper decline could return the $71.17-$64.68 region into focus. That move would weaken the current short-term technical picture. However, it would still fit a broader corrective structure.
Solana price prediction continued to rely on network growth and stable price action together. Strong address creation supported the technical outlook during recent sessions. Therefore, sustained participation and higher lows kept the $94 breakout scenario active.
Solana’s weekly active users have surged from 16.8 million to 29.7 million, marking a significant increase of 12.9 million users, according to data shared by @SolanaFloor. This rapid growth underscores Solana’s competitive position as a leader in on-chain activity among major blockchain networks, surpassing competitors like Tron, BNB Chain, Bitcoin, and Ethereum. This user expansion is attributed to heightened activity around the memecoin ANSEM and suggests robust user engagement on the Solana network. The increase also coincides with Solana reaching a record 3.77 billion non-vote transactions in June, indicating substantial real-world usage.
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Key Takeaways Solana’s user growth appears consistent with strong network expansion, reflecting a 76.8% increase in active users. The significant rise suggests robust adoption and engagement, potentially influencing market confidence in Solana’s ecosystem. Recent surge in user activity aligns with record transaction volumes, indicating substantial real-world application usage. What to Watch Markets are closely monitoring whether Solana’s price will reach $90 in July, with current pricing suggesting a 51% probability. Factors such as the successful deployment of the Alpenglow upgrade or resumed ETF inflows could support a YES outcome. Conversely, if Solana’s price fails to sustain certain support levels, it may impact market confidence. Key actors like Solana Labs’ CEO Anatoly Yakovenko and crypto analysts will likely influence market sentiment in the coming weeks.
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Term Structure
Contract Odds Δ since publish Volume 24h August 1 2026 50.5% — — View market → August 1 2026 1% — — View market → August 1 2026 0.2% — — View market → August 1 2026 3.1% — — View market → August 1 2026 3.6% — — View market → August 1 2026 0.6% — — View market → August 1 2026 23% — — View market → August 1 2026 2.2% — — View market → August 1 2026 13.5% — — View market → August 1 2026 0.5% — — View market →
Defi has come a long way in recent years. What started as a novel experiment for swapping arbitrary tokens has blossomed into an expansive and fully-fledged financial system, enabling creative new primitives that were previously inconceivable.
Today’s yield strategies are infinitely more advanced than the LP pools of yesteryear. The DeFi toolkit has expanded, enabling strategies like lending, RWA looping, delta-neutral positions, funding, staking, and rate trading in the ultimate quest for reliable onchain yield.
But despite the staggering variety of opportunities available in DeFi, the complexity of these strategies makes them largely inaccessible to the uninitiated. The average DeFi user doesn’t want intimidating UIs and complicated paradigms, they want one-click, single asset deposits and predictable yields.
Exponent’s new vault architecture might have the answer. Off the back of a recent $5M raise, Exponent is leaning heavily into professionally-managed strategy vaults in its V2, bringing its users the best DeFi has to offer in the most digestible way possible.
Exponent V2 Unlocks Broader DeFi Strategies Exponent vaults aim to deliver Solana DeFi’s most sophisticated yield strategies from across the ecosystem and package them into a simple, accessible product.
Where previously, the average DeFi player would need to actively monitor positions, manage risk, and familiarize themselves with complex strategies, Exponent’s V2 enables professional asset managers to do the heavy lifting for depositors, passing the yield back to them in a singular asset.
Exponent vaults actively manage capital across the Solana DeFi economy based on a defined strategy. Curators are responsible for ensuring vaults generate optimized yield, handling strategy selection and managing capital deployment and rebalancing to capture the market’s best opportunities.
Enabling complex strategies like fixed-rate looping, rate exchange market-making and cross-protocol delta-neutral positioning, Exponent’s architecture boasts a broader range of yield tools than what the market is accustomed to.
Beyond the best of Solana DeFi into simplified vaults, Exponent V2 offers depositors an elevated level of transparency. Powered by Squads Smart Accounts, depositors can actively track vault activity, monitoring where their capital is being allocated and which strategies are being employed.
Setting a New Standard for DeFi Security With DeFi security coming under greater scrutiny than ever in the wake of several high-profile exploits, Exponent’s strategy vaults have hard-coded several guardrails to safeguard depositor funds.
Built on Squads Smart Accounts, every strategy vault is bound to certain pre-defined policies. These policies govern:
Which assets the vault is able to hold
Which DeFi protocols the vault interacts with
Which contracts and actions the vault can access within permitted apps
How capital can be deployed across Solana DeFi
Additionally, curators are programmatically forbidden from accessing or withdrawing depositor’s funds, protecting against social engineering attacks and key compromization. Meanwhile, onchain AUM tracking gives depositors complete, 24/7 vision on where every cent in a vault is allocated.
A vault’s entire portfolio is accounted for at all times, including the assurance that the vault always holds enough reserve liquidity to meet redemptions. Circuit breakers are deployed across all vaults, limiting the volatility a vault can face in a defined time period and protecting depositors against share price manipulation.
As an added security measure, any changes to the parameters of any individual vault are subject to a governance procedure. Outstanding proposals are bound by a timelock and voting period, giving depositors the chance to reject any strategy changes they are not comfortable with and allowing them to withdraw funds before they come into effect.
Additionally, Exponent has undergone several rigorous smart contracts audits by the industry’s leading blockchain security firms, including Certora, OtterSec, Offside Labs, and Sec3.
Exponent TVL Climbs 54% in 30 Days With Exponent V2 reinventing what simplified onchain yield generation looks like, Solana DeFi participants are steadily funneling capital into the protocol’s professionally-managed strategy vaults.
According to DefiLlama data, Exponent TVL has climbed 54% in the past month, rising from $60M to just over $90M. Exponent has also recently introduced risk-tranching to the protocol, splits a yield asset into senior and junior tranches, letting senior users give up part of the yield for principal protection while junior users take first-loss risk for higher returns.
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