Track market-moving stories before they get noisy

Most chipmakers struggle to sustain dividends through brutal industry downturns, but three semiconductor companies have quietly built the cash flow machines and balance sheet discipline to keep raising payouts no matter where the cycle goes.

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Chipmakers have a reputation for wild earnings swings and huge factory bills, both of which can strain a steady dividend. That makes the few semiconductor companies that keep raising their payouts worth a closer look, because every check they mail says the business throws off cash through the whole cycle. The clearest example came when Texas Instruments (NASDAQ:TXN | TXN Price Prediction) increased its dividend 7% to $1.52 per share, marking 23 consecutive years of increases. The three names below are Broadcom (NASDAQ:AVGO), Texas Instruments and Qualcomm (NASDAQ:QCOM). Their yields are modest. Their cash flows are what make them notable for income investors, and each one has a different kind of cycle risk.

Broadcom: Record Free Cash Flow Dwarfs the Dividend Bill Broadcom has the lowest yield in this group at 0.76%, based on an annualized dividend of $2.60 per share and a recent price of $355.14. The dividend is lowest next to the share price, but it is very well covered.

Dividend safety: Broadcom produced $13.7 billion of free cash flow in its fiscal third quarter, equal to 46% of revenue. It paid $3.1 billion in dividends over the same period. Measured against trailing earnings per share of $7.83, the annual dividend takes about 33% of profits. The balance sheet is moving the right way. Cash ended the quarter at $24 billion, management repaid $5.6 billion of long-term debt during the quarter, and it retired another $1.5 billion of notes after the quarter closed. The remaining $59.6 billion of fixed-rate debt has an average coupon of 4%.

Track record: Broadcom has paid a dividend every quarter since December 2010, and the amount has stepped up many times. The two most recent increases took the quarterly payout from $0.53 to $0.59 to $0.65. The last raise was declared on December 9, 2025, so income investors should keep an eye on the fiscal fourth-quarter earnings report scheduled for December 9, 2026.

Bull case: Broadcom designs custom AI accelerators for hyperscalers including Google, Meta and OpenAI, sells the Ethernet switches that connect them, and runs an infrastructure software business with a 94% gross margin. AI semiconductor revenue reached $16.7 billion in the quarter, up 221% year over year. Management guided fourth-quarter revenue to about $34.8 billion and expects fiscal 2027 AI revenue of around $115 billion (that kind of early-mover setup is exactly what we studied in our free Next Nvidia playbook). Hock Tan, the chief executive on the call, put it this way: “Q3 demand was simply hot and we’re just getting started.” The stock trades at about 19 times forward earnings, so investors get that growth plus a growing payout.

Risk: This is a cycle tied to a handful of customers. Broadcom’s AI outlook depends on six XPU customers, and management said installations still depend on land, power and data center shells being ready. Should leading AI labs pull back on spending, Broadcom’s cash growth could stall quickly, even though the dividend would still be covered by a wide margin.

Texas Instruments: 23 Straight Years of Raises and a Cash Flow Rebound Texas Instruments yields about 2.07%, based on its new annualized dividend of $6.08 and its stock trading at $293.80. The newly raised $1.52 quarterly payment goes out on November 10 to shareholders of record on October 30.

Dividend safety: TI has the best dividend-growth record of the three. The quarterly payout went from $1.24 in 2023 to $1.30, $1.36, $1.42 and now $1.52, with one raise each autumn. Coverage is lower than at Broadcom. Trailing dividends of $5.62 per share against trailing EPS of $6.58 work out to a payout ratio near 85%. Free cash flow is what has changed. Trailing 12-month free cash flow reached $6.5 billion, up from $1.8 billion a year earlier, and TI returned $5.8 billion to owners over that stretch. The balance sheet holds $7 billion of cash and short-term investments against $14 billion of debt.

Bull case: TI makes analog and embedded processing chips. These are low-cost, long-lived parts that go into factory equipment, cars and power systems. Second-quarter revenue rose 22.82% to $5.463 billion, and data center revenue doubled year over year. For income investors, capital spending matters most. Quarterly capex fell to $514 million from $1,305 million a year earlier now that the heavy 300mm factory work is done, and that freed-up cash can go to shareholders. Management guided third-quarter revenue to $5.65 billion to $6.15 billion. The stock is up 72.21% year to date, which tells you investors already expect the recovery to last.

Risk: If the cycle turns, there is little buffer. The around 85% payout ratio leaves little room if industrial demand fades, and trailing free cash flow includes $1.6 billion of CHIPS Act incentives that will not repeat forever. Management also plans to fund the Silicon Labs acquisition with cash and new debt. A downturn would test how far that 23-year run can stretch. At about 28 times forward earnings, investors are paying up for the recovery.

Qualcomm: Licensing Cash and a Massive Buyback Back Up the Payout Qualcomm yields 1.93% on an annualized dividend of $3.68, with the latest quarterly check at $0.92. Its free cash flow yield is 6.49%, which means the dividend uses only about 30% of the free cash flow the business produces.

Dividend safety: The balance sheet is conservative. Debt to equity is 0.77, net debt is just 0.61 times EBITDA, with interest coverage at 18.61x. Qualcomm returned $2.3 billion to shareholders in its fiscal third quarter, including $1.4 billion of buybacks, and it has a $20 billion repurchase authorization in place. Because so much of the payout goes to buybacks, management could slow repurchases in a downturn and leave the dividend alone. The record shows a raise every year from 2020 through 2026, most recently from $0.89 to $0.92. Over the full history, the quarterly payout has grown from $0.05 in 2003.

Bull case: Qualcomm sells Snapdragon processors for phones, cars and connected devices, and it takes in patent royalties through its QTL licensing arm. That licensing business posted a 69% EBT margin, a high-margin source of cash that does not depend on building chips. The company also renewed its global patent license agreement with Apple in September. Automotive revenue rose 61% to $1.588 billion, its 23rd straight quarter of double-digit growth. Management is targeting $40B in non-handset revenue by fiscal 2029, helped by data center work that includes a new multi-generational collaboration with Amazon.

Risk: Qualcomm faces a handset cycle hitting at the same time as rising costs. Handset revenue fell 20% to $5.086 billion, and net income dropped 24.91% as memory, wafer and packaging costs rose. Management expects Apple product revenue to fall about 50% from the September quarter to the December quarter, and it guided chip-segment margins down to 23% to 25%. Non-GAAP EPS of $2.21 missed the $2.22 consensus estimate. Earnings coverage is weaker than cash coverage right now, with the stock at about 36 times trailing earnings.

Three Chipmakers, Three Ways to Get Paid Through the Cycle Broadcom has the widest coverage and the lowest yield, and AI cash flow is funding both the dividend and debt paydown. Texas Instruments has the strongest raise record and the highest yield of the three, but also the thinnest payout buffer, so its upcoming third-quarter report matters most for the dividend. Qualcomm sits in the middle: free cash flow covers the dividend comfortably, licensing royalties add a steady stream of cash, and a big buyback can be cut back before the dividend is touched. For income investors who want chip exposure, all three dividends look well supported by cash flow at this point in the cycle.

Contact [email protected] for any questions or corrections.

TLDR: The Cronos token burn removes 228 million CRO from the community pool. Community approval lifts this program to 428 million tokens.  All Ult and Cronos Launch revenue will fund CRO buybacks and monthly burns. Published transaction hashes allow public verification.  Staking rewards keep their current terms, with Strategic Reserve support maintaining payouts as emissions decline under existing policy.  CRO trades near $0.0669 after a roughly 1.56% daily gain. Future purchase amounts depend on product revenue and execution costs.  The Cronos token burn removed 228 million CRO from the community pool after voters approved two governance proposals. Cronos Network announced the decision on October 3, bringing burns under the community program to 428 million tokens. 

CRO traded near $0.0669, gaining approximately 1.56% over 24 hours, according to Coingecko market data. The destroyed tokens carried an estimated market value of about $15 million. 

The approved framework directs all revenue from Ult and Cronos Launch toward open market purchases and monthly burns. Cronos will publish transaction hashes, while staking rewards retain their existing terms and funding support through the Strategic Reserve. 

Cronos (CRO) Price Cronos token burn lifts community total to 428 million Proposal 36 authorized the latest community pool transfer to a burn address on Cronos POS. Four previous rounds each removed 50 million CRO, making this fifth round considerably larger. 

The Cronos token burn therefore exceeded the combined size of those earlier rounds by 28 million tokens. The 428 million total describes this community initiative, rather than every historical destruction of CRO.

The immediate operation used tokens already held by the community pool. It did not require purchasing the entire 228 million CRO from exchanges, an important distinction when assessing market demand. 

Future CRO buybacks introduce a separate source of purchases because they use product revenue to acquire tokens. Their size will vary with platform earnings and the market price when transactions execute.

Although the Cronos token burn reduces available supply, it does not establish a guaranteed price increase. Liquidity, demand, reserve distributions, and broader market conditions still influence how CRO trades.

Coingecko listed daily trading volume near $5.82 million and market capitalization around $3.31 billion. These figures show that the burn announcement arrived alongside relatively limited turnover compared with the token valuation. 

That leaves a practical distinction between governance approval and sustained trading interest. A smaller token supply alone cannot reveal whether demand will grow enough to support a lasting advance.

CRO Buybacks Tie Monthly Burns to Revenue From Trading Proposal 37 commits 100% of Ult and Cronos Launch revenue to token purchases and destruction. Cronos Labs says existing capital will cover operations, infrastructure, and growth spending instead of those product receipts. 

Both tokenomics proposals have passed.

228,000,000 CRO has been burned from the community pool, bringing the total to 428,000,000 CRO.

100% of Ult and Cronos Launch revenue will now buy CRO on the open market and burn it monthly, with every transaction hash published.

Staking… pic.twitter.com/vE5MBp9HeB

— Cronos Network (@CronosNetwork) October 3, 2026

The Cronos token burn framework links supply reduction directly to activity on both products. Ult generates trading revenue, while Cronos Launch collects fees associated with tokens created and traded through its launchpad.

Monthly burns provide a schedule for removing purchased tokens, and published transaction hashes allow independent verification. Community members can check execution amounts rather than relying solely on announcements about future commitments. 

Under the Cronos token burn plan, published records can help compare revenue commitments with the tokens actually purchased and destroyed. A transaction record verifies execution, while separate revenue reporting would explain whether purchases reflect all earnings from the two platforms.

The revenue percentage is fixed, but the purchase budget is not. As an illustration, $100,000 would acquire about 1.5 million CRO near $0.0669 before fees and execution costs.

That calculation highlights why product revenue remains a central measure for future CRO buybacks. More usage can generate larger purchases, although lower revenue would reduce the number of tokens acquired.

Staking rewards retain their current parameters, including existing lock periods and bonus structures. The Strategic Reserve will support payouts as emissions decline, keeping reward funding separate from revenue committed to monthly burns. 

The Cronos token burn does not change the review process for potential Crypto.com listings. The published strategy says qualifying tokens enter an ongoing assessment, with Crypto.com controlling criteria and final decisions. 

Cronos Launch opened on September 15, followed by Ult on September 17. The September governance document listed the purchasing contract as being developed. Subsequent execution hashes will show the amounts bought and burned.

FX strategists at Westpac still expect a November RBA hike, but Goldman Sachs and Rabobank favour patience, leaving AUD/USD sensitive to the next inflation report. Australia's softer-than-expected underlying inflation has weakened market bets on another November interest-rate rise without shifting Westpac's forecast, exposing a disagreement that matters for the Australian Dollar.

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August's trimmed-mean inflation of 0.2% on the month and 3.6% annually matched Westpac's expectations and remains consistent with its forecast for a 0.9% quarterly rise in the third quarter.

Goldman Sachs expects an extended pause, while Rabobank believes any further tightening is more likely to wait until early 2027.

AUD/USD closed Friday, 2 October, near US$0.6957, up 0.40% on the day, after losing 3.15% in September.

The recovery accompanied a broader Dollar decline following the weaker-than-expected US jobs report, which reduced the immediate pressure for another Federal Reserve hike.

Markets cut November odds, but Westpac holds its call Westpac's 1 October Morning Report recorded a clear change in Australian rate expectations after the CPI release.

"Following a slight downside surprise on inflation figures yesterday, near-term pricing for the RBA has recalibrated, with a follow-up rate hike in November now seen as a circa 25% chance versus a circa 40% chance previously."

Those are the report's dated market probabilities, rather than Westpac's own forecast.

Its economists saw little reason to alter their inflation projections.

"In Australia, the August CPI was spot on Westpac's forecast, with headline inflation up 0.4%mth/4.0%yr and trimmed mean inflation up 0.2%mth/3.6%yr, though the latter was slightly below market expectations."

The softer surprise should not be confused with falling annual headline inflation, which rose to 4.0% from July's 3.5%, while the annual trimmed mean was unchanged.

In its analysis of the latest CPI figures, Westpac analysts retained its November hike call, warning that businesses passing on higher energy costs posed upside risks to underlying inflation later this year.

Its 0.9% third-quarter trimmed-mean forecast would represent an acceleration from 0.8% in the second quarter.

How much restraint is already in place? The RBA's September increase took the cash rate to 4.60%, following a cumulative percentage point of tightening during 2026.

The disagreement centres on whether those increases need more time to restrain demand or whether persistent inflation requires another move in November.

Goldman's assessment after the September decision favoured waiting.

"Our base case is that the RBA holds policy for an extended period until a gradual easing cycle commences from 2H2027."

That means cuts starting in the second half of next year, although Goldman still regarded further tightening as a material risk, including in November if inflation surprised higher.

Rabobank's October outlook gives greater weight to the danger of excessive restraint.

"While we do not rule out the possibility of further rate hikes, we think the RBA is going to be feeling its way and will be careful that any further tightening does not tip the economy into recession or cause a disorderly spike in the unemployment rate."

The bank highlighted weaker new-home construction inflation and a 0.4% monthly fall in market services prices excluding volatile items.

"Overall, we believe that the August inflation data supports our view that the RBA will not be in a rush to raise the cash rate in November and that any further lift in the cash rate is likely to be delayed until early next year."

For AUD/USD, fewer expected Australian hikes remove one potential source of yield support, although Friday's rally shows how weaker US data can offset that pressure.

The next Australian CPI release on 28 October will include September-quarter figures, allowing investors to test Westpac's 0.9% forecast before the November decision.

McDonald's is handing income investors bigger checks each year while Domino's holds its payout flat, and the reason behind that gap reveals which pizza-and-burger giant faces a trickier road ahead.

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Domino’s Pizza (NASDAQ:DPZ | DPZ Price Prediction) and McDonald’s (NYSE:MCD) reported second-quarter results this summer. Their dividends now move at different speeds. McDonald’s raised its payout again. Domino’s has held its payout flat since its February increase. Income investors are inspecting the yields.

Pizza Orders Climbed While Burger Traffic Slipped Domino’s U.S. same-store sales grew just 0.1%, compared with 3.4% a year ago. Order counts rose in both delivery and carryout, but the lower average check caused the slowdown. CFO Sandeep Reddy blamed a Premium Series that underperformed and promised, “We had a one-quarter blip on ticket. We’re not going to have another blip.”

McDonald’s grew global comparable sales 1.3%. Every segment posted positive comps, but U.S. restaurant traffic fell and sales declined in China and France. CEO Chris Kempczinski named Skye Anderson president of McDonald’s USA to “bring focus and urgency” to its biggest market.

Dividend Lens Domino’s McDonald’s Quarterly Payout $1.99, flat $1.93, up from $1.86 Forward Yield About 2.67% About 3.12% 2025 Free Cash Flow $671.5M $7.186B Cash Engine Supply chain plus royalties Rent plus royalties Domino’s Flat Year Matches Its Usual Pattern Domino’s raised its quarterly dividend from $0.20 in 2013 to $1.99 in 2026, raising once yearly then holding flat. On the balance sheet, stockholders’ equity is at negative $3.98B due to debt and buybacks, and cash fell 39.6% to $164.8M. Supply chain revenue of $731.7M provides regular cash as franchisees buy dough weekly.

McDonald’s makes rent as a landlord, a recurring income stream. It paid about $1.3B in dividends in the second quarter alone, while it also funds $3.7 to $3.9B in capital spending. One risk: management expects interest expense to rise 4% to 6% this year.

February Will Show Whether Domino’s Is Pausing or Stalling Domino’s announced its last increase in February 2026. A skipped increase next February combined with lower average checks and cash-draining buybacks would signal a real problem. Management cut its U.S. store-opening outlook to about 175 as franchisees make less. At McDonald’s, watch whether U.S. traffic recovers under its new president.

Regular Rent Versus Faster Dividend Growth McDonald’s offers regular, more predictable income. Its yield is higher, raises come yearly, and rent supports them. The tradeoff is slower dividend growth.

Domino’s offers faster dividend growth alongside more debt. Its payout rose from $0.20 in 2013 to $1.99 in 2026. A ticket recovery would strengthen the case. Another lower quarter followed by a skipped increase would change the outlook.

Contact [email protected] for any questions or corrections.

Shares of Adobe (ADBE -1.49%) have had a tough 2026. The stock ended last year at about $350 and trades near $240 as I write, down about 31%.

The software company has kept buying its own shares on the way down. In April, its board approved a new $25 billion stock buyback authorization, meant partly to "reduce share count over time." It runs through April 30, 2030.

And as Adobe's fiscal third quarter of 2026 ended Aug. 28, $24.55 billion of it was still unused.

Compared with Adobe's market value, the amount is large. With about 389.2 million shares outstanding in mid-September, Adobe is worth about $93 billion at today's stock price. The remaining authorization could buy back about 26% of it -- about 102 million shares.

Sure, an authorization isn't a promise. Adobe has around three and a half years to use it, and nothing forces the company to spend it all. But I think the company's pace this year shows it plans to put plenty of it to work.

Image source: Getty Images.

A steady, cash-funded paceIn the fiscal year's first three quarters, Adobe's buybacks averaged around $2.3 billion a quarter. That came to $6.82 billion, for 26.1 million shares, all bought on the open market.

And as the stock dropped, the same money bought more shares. The 9.5 million shares Adobe repurchased in fiscal Q3 cost an average of around $235 each, versus about $261 over all three quarters.

Notably, the company paid for it with cash from its operations. Adobe generated $7.65 billion of cash from operations during the same stretch, up around 11% year over year, and buybacks used close to 90% of it. Its balance sheet had $5.64 billion of cash and short-term investments at quarter-end, versus around $6.4 billion of debt.

This pace leaves room to spare. Spreading the unspent $24.55 billion evenly through April 2030 comes out to around $7 billion a year, about what Adobe spent in just those three quarters. If the company keeps buying at its recent rate instead, it could use up the authorization sometime in 2029.

Buybacks are doing about half the workAdobe's diluted share count (the number used to calculate earnings per share) was around 395 million in the fiscal third quarter. That compares to 402 million in the fiscal second quarter and 424 million in the year-ago quarter.

Management's fourth-quarter targets assume around 389 million. In other words, the count's dropping about 2% a quarter, and steadily.

Not every repurchased share sticks, though. Shares outstanding dropped by around 22 million in the nine months, fewer than the 26.1 million Adobe bought, because employee stock awards added some back.

Showing what the shrinking count means for shareholders, Adobe's non-GAAP (adjusted) net income rose around 8% year over year in fiscal Q3 to $2.42 billion. Adjusted earnings per share climbed 15% to $6.13.

On a GAAP basis, net income grew just 3%, but earnings per share climbed 11% to $4.62. In short, fewer shares drove about half of the quarter's adjusted per-share growth.

If Adobe spent all $24.55 billion at roughly $240 a share and its earnings stayed flat, retiring about 26% of its shares would raise earnings per share by over a third.

That won't happen all at once, and the price Adobe pays will move. A lower stock price would stretch the cash further, and a higher one would shrink it.

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Is the buyback a reason to buy?At roughly $240, Adobe shares cost about 13 times earnings. Using the midpoint of management's fiscal 2026 target for adjusted earnings per share ($24.45 to $24.50), the price is about 10 times adjusted earnings. When shares reached their 52-week high of $363.70, that same target worked out to almost 15 times adjusted earnings.

I'd say buying back stock at about 10 times adjusted earnings is one of the better uses of Adobe's cash right now.

True, a buyback can't fix slowing growth. Adobe's total annualized recurring revenue (ARR), its gauge of the subscription business on a yearly basis, rose 11.2% year over year in fiscal Q3, and management's full-year target is 10.2%. And the market's discount probably reflects worries that artificial intelligence tools might hurt Adobe's pricing power. But as long as the subscription business keeps growing, a falling share count should help earnings per share outpace the business itself.

All in all, I think the buyback makes a cheap stock more interesting. Adobe stock looks worth considering at this price, but I'd want the subscription business to keep growing at roughly its current pace.

Customers at Robinhood Markets (HOOD +1.43%) can buy and sell many of the most popular stocks and exchange-traded funds (ETFs) from Sunday at 8 p.m. ET until Friday at 8 p.m. ET on the broker's 24 Hour Market. That adds up to 120 hours a week, and it leaves the weekend as the only time when stocks are off-limits.

At its HOOD Summit in Houston on Sept. 29, the firm said it plans to fill the gap by letting customers trade a curated list of U.S. stocks and ETFs around the clock, weekends included. Robinhood expects to launch it early next year, pending regulatory review.

Adding weekends would bring the 24 Hour Market to all 168 hours in a week, or about 40% more time to trade. But I don't think 40% more hours means anywhere near 40% more revenue.

Image source: The Motley Fool.

Stock trading is a smaller business than it looksRobinhood's equities revenue comes mainly from payment for order flow (fees that trading firms pay the broker to handle its customers' stock orders).

Showing how fast this line is rising, equities revenue almost doubled year over year to $129 million in the second quarter, according to Robinhood's quarterly filing. That was up from $82 million in the first quarter, too. So equities made up around 17% of transaction-based revenue, compared with about 13% three months earlier and 12% a year before. Average stock-trading volume per trader grew 56%, and the number of customers making stock trades climbed 13%.

But against total revenue of $1.31 billion (up 32% year over year), equities supplied just 10%.

And Robinhood's take is small. Customers traded a record $956 billion in stock in the quarter, up 85% from a year earlier, so the company earned around $1.35 of equities revenue per $10,000 traded.

This growth has slowed a little since then. In August, customers traded 68% more stock by dollar value than a year earlier, according to Robinhood's monthly operating data.

How much might weekends add?Robinhood doesn't say in its quarterly reports how much of its stock volume already trades in the 24 Hour Market, so any estimate here is rough.

At the second quarter's pace, equities revenue comes to around $516 million a year. If weekend hours boosted that by the full 40% the extra time represents, the rise would be about $206 million, or about 4% of Robinhood's yearly revenue pace of $5.2 billion.

I'd say the company probably won't get near that ceiling. Weekend trading will start with a limited list of stocks and ETFs. And some Saturday trades could just be trades a customer would've made on Monday morning anyway, which shifts revenue around instead of adding to it.

A 5% to 10% boost to equities revenue would add about $26 million to $52 million a year -- 1% of sales at most.

Sure, weekend hours could also keep active traders on the app on days when stocks have been off-limits, and so could the artificial intelligence (AI) agents Robinhood introduced at the summit to trade for customers. Any payoff there is tougher to measure.

Cheap to startThe summit's other launches tie into bigger revenue lines. But the tech company is pricing them to win customers first.

Perpetual futures, which are leveraged crypto contracts that never expire, are starting to roll out to eligible U.S. customers, with up to 10x leverage on Bitcoin and Ether and 3x on six other coins. Robinhood plans to charge just 0.01% a trade on them through the end of the year. Over time, they might help a shrinking crypto business, whose second-quarter revenue dropped 38% from a year earlier, to $100 million.

Earnings contracts, exchange-listed binary options linked to company-specific performance metrics, are expected to launch in October, pending regulatory approval. Robinhood won't charge contract fees for them through year-end, either.

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Also starting in October, Robinhood is adding 35% more options trading hours for its most popular symbols. The same caution about hours applies. But options are Robinhood's largest transaction line, at $342 million last quarter, so the move is arguably the bigger opportunity.

Ultimately, weekend trading looks more like a convenience for Robinhood's most active customers than a big new source of revenue.

At about $112 as of this writing, Robinhood's shares cost around 38 times earnings, using analysts' forecasts for 2027.

For a growth stock with revenue climbing so fast, some premium makes sense. But the price already assumes Robinhood keeps adding new ways to make money for years to come, and weekend trading is probably one of the smaller ones.

Nu Holdings stock has pulled back sharply in recent months, falling from a high of $18.95 in January to around $13.43 today. Despite the decline, the long-term growth story remains intact, supported by the company’s expanding customer base, strong presence in Brazil, and continued push into other Latin American markets such as Mexico and Colombia.

Goldman Sachs analysts also remain optimistic about Nu’s outlook, believing the stock has further upside potential in the near term. Their bullish view suggests that the recent pullback may be more of a valuation reset than a deterioration in the company’s underlying fundamentals.

In a recent note, analysts at Goldman Sachs maintained its bullish outlook for the stock. In a note last week, they noted that the company’s entry into the United States may work out in the long term. The note argued that the company was doing so using a low-cost approach, coupled with a good customer care experience, which will help gain some market share in the country. The report added:

“We think NU’s ultra-low-cost digital approach with a strong consumer experience could allow it to successfully enter the market.”

Other analysts are largely bullish on Nu Holdings. For example, Rothschilds and Needham’s analysts set a target of $19, higher than the current $13. Wolfe Research has a target of $17, while UBS and JPMorgan Chase have targets of $18.20 and 20, respectively. 

The most recent results showed that Nu Holdings’ business continued doing well, with its number of users and customers continuing to rise. It added nearly 4 million customers in the second quarter of the year and now has 139 million globally. 

Most of these users are in Brazil, where it has close to 118 million users, a notable figure since Brazil has a population of 213 million people. Nu Holdings has also become a big neobank in Mexico, where it has 15.8 million customers. Its Colombia business has attracted over 5 million users. 

The company is now planning to launch its business in the UK, where it was said to be considering making a bid for Monzo, one of the country’s biggest neobank. It decided to walk away after Monzo insisted on a £10 billion valuation.

Nu Holdings shares chart | Source: TradingView

The daily chart shows that Nu Holdings shares have dropped by 30% from the all-time high even as its revenue and user growth accelerated. Most recently, the stock formed a down-gap after reports of its Monzo buyout emerged and then filled it after it denied the rumors.

Even so, it remains below the 50-day Exponential Moving Average (EMA), a sign that bears have prevailed. It also sits below the Strong, Pivot, Reverse level of the Murrey Math Lines tool.

Therefore, the stock will likely continue rising as bulls target the important resistance level of $15. This view will be confirmed when it jumps above the Strong Pivot Reverse level of the Murrey Math Lines at $14.

Jensen Huang, one of the co-founders of Nvidia (NVDA +1.34%), is no stranger to making bold predictions. One that he has been floating for a few years is that data center capital expenditures will reach $3 trillion to $4 trillion annually by 2030. That's a massive increase from today's levels, and he just commented that he believes that projection is still accurate.

While that projection may sound outlandish, I think there's some truth to it, because Huang is privy to conversations that the regular investor is not.

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang. Image source: Nvidia Corporation.

Nvidia is poised to head higher with this guidance While investors should view most CEO comments through a cautionary lens, this is one situation where I think investors should be a bit more trusting. The data center build-out is in full swing, and many companies cannot access enough computing units to meet their needs. This is causing them to plan out their growth over several years. Part of this means sharing their build-out projections with suppliers like Nvidia, which can then tell their suppliers how much capacity to prepare for. This can happen years in advance of when the chips are actually needed, so with the start of 2030 being just over three years away, it's not outlandish to think that there are plans this far out.

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So, I think investors can take most of what Huang says at face value.

And if he ends up being right, there could be monstrous upside.

In 2026, Nvidia expects the big five artificial intelligence (AI) hyperscalers to spend nearly $800 billion on capital expenditures. This year, Wall Street analysts estimate Nvidia's revenue will reach $411 billion. There are other companies spending big on AI outside the big five, so the actual total for this year may reach as high as $1 trillion. That would give Nvidia about a 40% share of all spending.

If it can maintain that share, Nvidia's revenue could top $1 trillion by 2030. That would easily lead to the stock doubling over that time frame, and anytime you can find a stock that has the potential to double in under five years, it's a fantastic investment opportunity.

Nvidia is still one of the top ways to invest in the AI build-out; with Huang reaffirming the strength of the AI arms race, I think it's a great buying signal for investors.

Sat 03 Oct 2026 ▪ 7 min read ▪ by Evans S.

Summarize this article with:

Bitcoin reserves on exchanges have fallen to around 2.68 million BTC, their lowest level since 2023 according to CryptoQuant data. At the beginning of 2024, they were still close to 3.2 million BTC. The decline continued despite strong price fluctuations, until the 2025 rally and then the 2026 pullback. Less Bitcoin therefore remains directly available on trading platforms. An interesting signal, but not automatically bullish.

In Brief Exchanges now hold about 2.68 million Bitcoin. Reserves were still close to 3.2 million BTC at the start of 2024. The decline reduces the immediately available supply without guaranteeing a price increase. 2.68 Million Bitcoin Remain on Exchanges The trend is not new this week. Since spring, Bitcoin reserves on exchanges had already fallen to their lowest level since 2023. Nearly 100,000 BTC then left Binance, OKX, and Gemini in less than three months.

The movement continues. According to CryptoQuant, monitored platforms now hold about 2.68 million BTC. The “Exchange Reserve” indicator counts bitcoins in wallets identified as belonging to exchanges. A drop means that some coins leave these addresses to go elsewhere: personal wallet, custody service, institution, OTC structure, or another on-chain address.

At the start of 2024, the same indicator had reached about 3.2 million BTC while Bitcoin was still trading below $70,000.

Since then, the market has experienced several phases. Bitcoin surpassed $73,000 in 2024. It then reached a peak above $126,000 in 2025, before suffering a much larger correction in 2026. Exchange reserves have continued to follow an overall downward slope.

The price returned to around $85,000 in early October. That was not enough to massively send BTC back to platforms. On October 3rd, the overall reserve remained close to 2.68 million. For a holder who does not plan to sell, leaving their bitcoins on a platform is not essential. Moving to a personal wallet also reduces risk directly linked to the exchange.

Bitcoin in 2022 The events of 2022 had already accelerated this habit. But 2026 adds other players. US spot ETFs, publicly listed companies holding Bitcoin, and institutional custody services have profoundly changed how BTC circulate. A coin leaving Binance or Coinbase does not necessarily end up in a private individual’s personal wallet.

The contrast is visible with Binance. While the overall reserve drops, the largest crypto platform experienced the opposite movement in September. Its reserves reached about 702,900 BTC on September 19, according to CryptoQuant data cited by U.Today. It was their highest level of the year.

A platform can therefore fill up while the overall market empties. This is precisely what prevents reducing the figure of 2.68 million to a simple phrase like: “everyone is buying Bitcoin.” However, the underlying trend remains clear. There are fewer BTC on monitored exchanges today than at the beginning of 2024.

Less Available Bitcoin Does Not Necessarily Mean Shortage On paper, the mechanism seems simple. When an investor wants to quickly sell Bitcoin, they generally send their BTC to an exchange. When reserves strongly increase, more coins can theoretically come to the market.

Conversely, when bitcoins leave platforms, this immediately available reserve shrinks. CryptoQuant even describes the Exchange Reserve as a direct indicator of potentially available supply on the sellers’ side. A durable drop is historically associated with shifts towards off-exchange custody and potentially lower selling pressure.

But the important word remains “potential.” This summer showed this well. In August, 28,000 BTC had returned to exchanges in less than three weeks. This rebound had erased much of the accumulated drop during previous weeks.

Bitcoin had not therefore immediately entered a big selling phase. Exchange reserves measure asset location, not their owner’s exact intention.

The case of ETFs further complicates the reading. US spot Bitcoin ETFs attracted $2.65 billion net in September. It was their second-best month since October 2025. Institutional demand clearly rebounded while overall exchange reserves kept falling.

Yet, these funds do not operate like an individual opening Binance and immediately withdrawing BTC to a Ledger.

A significant part of their operations goes through institutional custodians and over-the-counter transactions. Movements thus do not always appear as expected in simple exchange reserve statistics.

Wallet Classification Analysis companies must identify which addresses belong to Binance, Coinbase, Kraken, or other exchanges. When a platform changes its custody architecture, creates new wallets, or moves assets between different structures, reading certain data can temporarily change.

This explains why absolute levels sometimes vary from one data provider to another. The signal remains useful. It simply should not be turned into a prediction. This caution is especially important today. Bitcoin just completed a very solid third quarter. The price gained more than 40% between July and September before settling around $83,000 to $87,000 at month-end. Meanwhile, CryptoQuant also noted profit-taking and some transfers back to exchanges.

Several movements coexist. Bitcoins overall leave platforms. Some actors send them back. ETFs attract capital again. Other investors take profits after the rally. The market does not move as a whole.

ETFs and Large Holders Change BTC Circulation The reserve decrease makes more sense when viewed over several years. Bitcoin’s market structure is no longer the same as in 2020 or 2021. US spot ETFs now hold a considerable amount of BTC. Companies have also accumulated significant reserves. Strategy, the largest publicly traded corporate holder, owned 847,666 BTC at the end of September after buying 1,665 more bitcoins for around $143 million.

These bitcoins are not used to feed daily order books on exchanges.

They can remain immobilized for long. Private individuals have also resumed their purchases. In the third quarter, they accumulated about 107,000 BTC while funds and ETFs temporarily reduced their positions.

The situation changed again in September with the return of inflows into ETFs. This is probably the most interesting part of today’s market: several buyer categories can take turns without the amount of Bitcoin on exchanges rising sustainably.

This naturally fuels the idea of a “supply shock.” The scenario is known. Bitcoin has a maximum supply of 21 million coins. Some BTC are lost or inactive for years. Other bitcoins are in ETFs, company treasuries, or long-term wallets. If the quantity available on exchanges decreases while demand rapidly rises, buyers theoretically must offer higher prices to find sellers.

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Evans S.

Fascinated by Bitcoin since 2017, Evariste has continuously researched the subject. While his initial interest was in trading, he now actively seeks to understand all advances centered on cryptocurrencies. As an editor, he strives to consistently deliver high-quality work that reflects the state of the sector as a whole.

Cover image via U.Today Disclaimer: The opinions expressed by our writers are their own and do not represent the views of U.Today. The financial and market information provided on U.Today is intended for informational purposes only. U.Today is not liable for any financial losses incurred while trading cryptocurrencies. Conduct your own research by contacting financial experts before making any investment decisions. We believe that all content is accurate as of the date of publication, but certain offers mentioned may no longer be available.

In the past week, DogeOS launched a public test network for Ethereum-style trading, lending and other applications using DOGE, an attempt to give Dogecoin holders more ways to use their coins beyond payments and price speculation.

Dogecoin Foundation director Timothy Stebbing highlighted this milestone in a recent X post, noting an "absolute avalanche" of new projects building on the Doge/EVM chain.

In the last week we've seen @DogeOS go live with their public testnet and an absolute avalanche of new projects building on their doge/EVM chain, and then Metallicus launched DogecoinVM which bridges Dogecoin to their Metal network.

There are more options than ever to build…

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— Timothy Stebbing (@tjstebbing) October 3, 2026 Describing itself as the app layer for Dogecoin, DogeOS was founded by the team behind MyDoge, a Dogecoin wallet, and allows developers to use familiar software to build applications by leveraging Ethereum compatibility.

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Along similar lines, Metallicus launched DogecoinVM, which bridges Dogecoin to the Metal network. DogecoinVM is described as a DOGE-compatible ledger on the Metal Blockchain. While Dogecoin itself does not change, what changes is the speed and interoperability, making Dogecoin 300x faster with instant finality.

The recent developments, according to Stebbing, imply there are more options than ever to build amazing solutions on Dogecoin, a positive for the network.

Dogecoin eyes first 2026 daily golden crossIn a positive price development, Dogecoin is on track for a golden cross on its daily chart as the MA 50, and MA 200 are set to converge. If confirmed, this will be Dogecoin's first golden cross of 2026.

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This development remains significant for Dogecoin, which last saw a golden cross more than a year ago. Dogecoin's last golden cross was in August 2025 and one month later, in September 2025, it rose to a high of $0.30.

Dogecoin was trading down on a daily and a weekly basis to $0.093 alongside the rest of the crypto market as a weaker-than-expected September jobs report altered traders' outlook for a rate hike by the Federal Reserve in October, which is now seen as extremely unlikely.

Investors are still pricing in that the Fed might hike interest rates in December. The decision on the next interest rate will be announced at the end of a two-day policy meeting on October 28.

Elon Musk told SpaceX employees in August that AI revenue would overtake every other part of the business by September. The deadline has passed, and the numbers that will confirm or contradict him are weeks away from filing.

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Elon Musk set a date. He released a 30-minute all-hands video on X on August 11, 2026, which Johnny Rice of The Motley Fool reported on. In it, the SpaceX (NASDAQ:SPCX | SPCX Price Prediction) chief told employees: “Probably our AI revenue, not probably, definitely, our AI revenue will exceed all other SpaceX revenue probably in September, like next month.”

Musk opened with “probably,” switched to “definitely,” then returned to “probably in September.” He stated the crossover with confidence but hedged timing. September has ended, so investors can check this forecast against reported numbers.

What the Crossover Required Johnny Rice cited SpaceX’s second-quarter report: total revenue was $7.81 billion, up 92%. Per Rice, AI contributed $2.56 billion, while Connectivity and Space brought in $5.25 billion combined. AI needed to more than double, assuming the rest of SpaceX stopped growing.

The rest of SpaceX kept growing. The Q2 earnings release filed with the SEC shows Connectivity revenue of $4.291 billion, up 66%. Starlink’s enterprise and government line rose 108%. AI revenue rose 247%, but its $367 million advertising line fell year over year.

On the August 4 earnings call, a SpaceX executive said the company had “contracted an additional $6.7 billion of cloud services revenue over a six-month period that begins ramping starting in October of this year.” That revenue starts after Musk’s deadline.

Musk’s Bigger Number Dwarfs Wall Street’s In the same video, Musk set a target of 10 gigawatts of AI computing capacity by the end of next year. He valued that capacity at roughly $30 to $50 per watt. From those two figures, he derived annual AI revenue of $300 billion to $500 billion by 2028. On the earnings call, he described the per-watt figure this way: “This is just a guess.”

Musk also said Grok will be trained on SpaceX’s internal information, including employees’ own work: “So in a way, it’ll be trained on you.”

Rice cited a much smaller outside estimate. After SpaceX signed its computing deals with Anthropic and Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL), Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS) projected $15.6 billion in AI revenue for all of 2026, according to The Motley Fool.

Three Obstacles Between the Forecast and the Filings Power. SpaceX faces public backlash over methane-burning gas turbines powering Colossus 1 and 2 (The Motley Fool). Capital. Rice noted SpaceX spent over $25 billion on AI last quarter. The filing shows $15.83 billion of the quarter’s $18.37 billion capex went to AI compute. Capacity stood at 1.4 gigawatts at Q2 end. Rice expects a funding shortfall despite $93.52 billion in cash. Musk said SpaceX expects only “a very small percentage” of NVIDIA (NASDAQ:NVDA) GPUs next year. Contracts. Either party can exit the Anthropic and Google contracts with a 90-day notice, according to The Motley Fool. If a customer leaves, SpaceX misses the revenue it built capacity for. How to Settle the September Question SpaceX has filed nothing since the August 4 8-K. The third-quarter report, expected in late October or early November, should answer the question. Check SpaceX’s investor relations site for:

Q3 AI division revenue versus Connectivity plus Space. Look for monthly or exit-rate disclosure if quarterly totals don’t break out September. Progress toward the $100 billion annualized run rate targeted for December, which Musk called “not a question mark”. Whether any customer has used its exit clause. The stock has already moved on the AI story. Shares closed at $158.96 on October 2, up 7.35% on the day and 12.97% over the past month. On October 1, SpaceX launched Google AI chips into orbit as part of its space-based data center push (CNBC). If Q3 numbers show AI still trailing Starlink, the stock will be trading on Musk’s forecast ahead of reported results.

Contact [email protected] for any questions or corrections.

Intel's (INTC -0.56%) comeback has been quite a sight to behold. As of this writing, shares of the chipmaker have exploded by more than 220% in 2026 in part due to surging demand for the company's CPUs, but also due to increased optimism about the outlook for its foundry business. And even with that incredible run-up behind it, patient investors may still want to consider buying Intel's stock.

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Intel's turnaround is gaining momentum Intel's second quarter was one of its best in several years. Revenue jumped by 25% year over year to more than $16 billion. Intel's gross margin also improved tremendously, rising to 40.4% from 27.5%.

The bigger story here is Intel's foundry division and the turnaround happening within it. Intel Foundry's revenue was nearly $6 billion in the quarter, and its output paced 25% above the target. While the segment posted a $2.1 billion loss, the gap is narrowing. Foundry revenue from external customers was just $293 million, which means that if its turnaround is to gain steam, Intel really needs to win more business from outside clients.

The company's GAAP loss was $2.16 per share, but it's important to note that this was largely due to an escrow arrangement related to funds it was awarded through the CHIPS Act. On the books, that showed up in the form of a non-cash charge of $12.53 billion. So the quarter's loss was not reflective of operational issues.

Image source: The Motley Fool.

14A is make or break Much of Intel Foundry's future success hangs on the successful launch of Intel 14A. This is a next-generation semiconductor fabrication process node that will produce chips with even greater transistor density than 2-nanometer chips. The development of its 14A foundry is nearing completion, with risk production planned for 2027 and a high-volume mass-production target of 2028. Management's hope is that its 14A manufacturing services will position it to pose a serious challenge to Taiwan Semiconductor's dominance in cutting-edge chip manufacturing.

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In a bullish sign, Intel CFO David Zinsner implied on the Q2 earnings call that the development is going very well and that conversations with potential customers have shifted from evaluating 14A to inquiring about how much capacity they can secure.

It's been reported that a slew of megacaps, including most of the "Magnificent Seven," are among Intel's prospective foundry clients. However, Intel will need to secure one of these large-scale customers sooner rather than later.

In June, Bank of America analyst Vivek Arya gave Intel stock an unusual double-upgrade from underperform to buy, citing an optimistic outlook for its foundry business and strong demand. Intel did have to engage in a $23 billion secondary stock sale in August to help fund its foundry build-out.

Intel is firing on all cylinders Intel is due to report its third-quarter earnings on Oct. 22. The company's guidance suggests revenue could be as high as $16.8 billion. One concern is that Intel's valuation is sky-high right now. The company for years maintained a forward P/E ratio in the low teens. Now that metric stands at more than 60.

Furthermore, the consensus price target among analysts is just above $116 per share, and the stock is trading above that as of this writing. There isn't much room for error with Intel's stock.

However, given the company's main revenue sources and an ever-improving foundry operation, I'm quite bullish on Intel's future -- as long as its 14A process node proves as promising as advertised. For interested investors, it may be prudent to build a position in Intel slowly rather than all at once, given the milestones the company still needs to hit over the next couple of years.

It's been a banner year for Dell Technologies (DELL +3.84%), with its stock up nearly 325% at the time of this writing.

Like many other large tech stocks, it has found its place in the artificial intelligence (AI) supply chain, specifically with its AI servers, which have been in high demand this year as graphics processing unit (GPU) clusters and data centers scale.

As such, Dell has been able to distribute more capital back to shareholders, noticeably raising its quarterly dividend by 20% earlier this year. Dell only initiated its dividend program in 2023.

Can investors trust the stock for passive income?

Image source: The Motley Fool.

Why Dell's stock has exploded this year While GPUs and other chips have been at the center of the AI trade, they need to interact with other components in a data center to obtain the capabilities needed to respond to queries from, say, a large language model.

Dell's AI-optimized servers integrate the chips, memory, and other necessary components that power them, including liquid cooling and data storage, into a full server and rack.

The company also performs quality control and then ships them to customers such as neoclouds and other large customers, including hyperscalers that operate their own data centers.

While Dell isn't the only company building and selling full-scale AI racks, it's been all hands on deck amid massive AI demand, resulting in shortages across the supply chain.

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In its second quarter of fiscal year 2027, the company posted $47 billion in revenue, up 58% year over year, while diluted earnings per share of $6.34 surged 273%.

Management also lifted its full-year guidance from $167 billion to $192 billion, implying 69% annual growth.

"Demand is broadening across neoclouds, sovereigns, and enterprise customers, and our customer count has surpassed 6,500," Dell's Chief Operating Officer Jeff Clarke said on the company's most recent earnings call. "The scale and complexity of these deployments reinforce why customers choose us."

Can Dell's dividend be trusted? It's pretty easy to see why Dell was able to raise its quarterly dividend by 20% to $0.63 per common share.

The much-improved financials have also contributed to a 224% increase in adjusted free cash flow in the second quarter. More free cash flow means more money for dividends. Dell's trailing-12-month free cash flow yield of 2.37% far exceeds its trailing dividend yield of 0.43%.

The payout ratio is also not high, with $2.52 in annualized dividends per share easily covered by this quarter's profits alone. The company is also repurchasing stock, with nearly $3.8 billion of share repurchases in the most recent quarter, which dwarfs the $405 million of dividend payments.

Now, obviously, the big question or future concern for Dell's dividend is what happens if AI demand dries up.

While there's certainly no evidence of this happening right now, the hyperscalers continue to raise their future guidance for AI-related capital expenditures, which could very well top $1 trillion next year. But it's hard to imagine this level of spending continuing like this forever.

When evaluating stocks for dividends, it's key for investors to consider what a company's earnings and free cash flow could be over the long term to estimate what a sustainable dividend looks like and how much it can be raised each year.

The good news is that Dell's $2.62 projected annualized dividend is still well below the $8.68 in diluted earnings per share the company generated in fiscal year 2026, or even the $6.38 it earned in fiscal year 2025.

This tells me that even if earnings were to slow considerably, Dell's dividend would still be covered, so I see no reason why the dividend can't be increased annually moving forward.

That said, Dell's 0.43% annual yield is not particularly attractive, so if you're purely focused on passive income, there are likely more attractive dividend stocks out there. But higher-yielding dividend stocks may not be able to tap into the AI trade like Dell can, for better or worse.

If someone who doesn't really follow the market or investing asked me to describe the investing strategy of Berkshire Hathaway (BRKA +0.41%) (BRKB +0.43%), the massively successful insurance and holding company built by Warren Buffett, I'd tell them just two things to remember.

First, Berkshire aims to be a long-term investor. Buffett famously said that "our favorite holding period is forever." And second, it prefers to buy companies it believes are temporarily undervalued by the rest of the investing universe. "Be greedy when others are fearful," Buffett also likes to say.

Image source: Getty Images.

And if I wanted to present an example of this strategy, Berkshire management -- now headed by new CEO Greg Abel -- just provided a perfect one: It boosted its position in homebuilder Lennar (LEN -2.80%).

Consider that the U.S. housing market is in rough shape. It has been struggling for years. A new report out from White House economists says the country has 10 million fewer houses than it needs, and there remain many obstacles to building more at a fast enough pace to remedy to problem. And recently, soaring mortgage rates have put new home purchases even further out of reach for a growing swath of Americans. The average 30-year mortgage rate has climbed to almost 7.3%, more than 1 percentage point higher than at the beginning of 2026 and well more than double what it was five years ago.

Homebuilder stocks are having a terrible year All of this helps explain why homebuilder stocks are in the dumps this year -- including Lennar, which is down 20% so far in 2026 and off by 36% over the past 52 weeks. Clearly, most investors don't find this stock attractive. Analysts don't, either. Analysts' average 12-month price target for Lennar is $80, more than $2 below the current price. And of the 19 analysts who follow the stock (as tracked by Yahoo! Finance), 17 rate it a hold, underperform, or sell. Just two rate it a buy.

So, Lennar is a beaten-down stock in a highly troubled industry. Yet in late September, Berkshire Hathaway sank another $53.9 million into Lennar shares, bringing its stake to $2.2 billion, or 11% of the homebuilder. That's just behind the 11.2% stake held by investment giant Vanguard. That's on top of Berkshire's recent $6.8 billion acquisition of homebuilder Taylor Morrison, a deal it closed in July.

Clearly, Berkshire sees Lennar as undervalued by the market and took advantage of a lower share price to boost its stake in the company. It also appears that Berkshire is betting on the housing industry while conditions in it remain fraught. And it makes sense. The unaffordability of housing for average Americans is a huge problem, one that politicians and policymakers are eager to address. (This summer, Congress passed a bipartisan bill that aims to make it easier to build and finance housing.)

It may take a while, but I believe the housing industry will eventually rebound. Some investors don't have the resources or patience to wait for that rebound, but Berkshire does. I think ordinary retail investors should give this challenged industry a second look, too.

BlackRock has expanded its position in the cryptocurrency market by adding $1.57 billion in Bitcoin to its portfolio over the past month, bringing its total holdings to 801,769 BTC. This increase follows a series of substantial inflows into the company’s flagship spot Bitcoin ETF.

Strategic accumulation amid positive momentumRecent data from Arkham Intelligence indicates that BlackRock has consistently acquired Bitcoin during most ETF trading sessions in the last month. The latest addition of $195.6 million worth of BTC followed a sharp rebound in Bitcoin’s price, which climbed above $84,000. This market uptick appears to have reignited institutional demand for the asset.

In light of this surge, a sequence of large transactions was observed, with Bitcoin moved in batches of 300 BTC from a Coinbase hot wallet to an address linked to BlackRock. These transfers were highlighted as part of BlackRock’s effort to bolster its Bitcoin reserves.

Arkham Intelligence data highlights that after the latest $1.57 billion in purchases, BlackRock’s Bitcoin holdings rose to 801,769 BTC, now valued at about $67.87 billion based on current market prices.

Bitcoin dominance in BlackRock’s crypto portfolioBlackRock’s spot Bitcoin ETF, IBIT, has continued to attract substantial capital, further strengthening the company’s role as a major player in the Bitcoin ETF landscape. The firm’s aggressive Bitcoin acquisitions reflect growing investor confidence in the asset class during recent market rallies.

The firm’s tracked crypto portfolio is dominated by Bitcoin, which makes up more than 87% of its total holdings. According to current data, Ethereum is the next largest component, accounting for $10.06 billion of BlackRock’s $77.93 billion in digital assets.

Bitcoin now represents the most significant portion of BlackRock’s holdings, while Ethereum trails as the second-largest position in its expansive crypto portfolio.

Efficiency and institutional demand shape new investor toolsAs institutions increase their exposure to crypto with moves like BlackRock’s latest purchases, rapid price changes driven by events such as central bank decisions or the listing of popular alternative coins reinforce the need for efficient portfolio management tools. In this environment, smart investors are seeking unified platforms to stay ahead. In a market where a single Fed decision or a sudden altcoin listing can change everything in seconds, jumping between different apps for charts, news, and portfolio tracking is costing investors money. Smart traders are now utilizing privacy-first tools like CryptoAppsy to consolidate everything. Without even the hassle of creating an account, you get real-time charts, smart price alerts, coin-specific news, and critical macro data all on one screen.

With major players like BlackRock significantly increasing their exposure to Bitcoin, the wider market’s focus has increased on tools that offer a comprehensive and real-time overview of crypto assets, enabling both institutional and individual participants to navigate this rapidly evolving landscape efficiently.

Ripple has announced that the Swell 2026 event in New York will bring together senior leaders from major financial institutions, including BNY, Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), TD Securities, and Robinhood. The conference, set to attract approximately 1,500 participants, will for the first time integrate Swell, the Apex summit focused on XRP Ledger technology, and UBRI Connect, an academic blockchain initiative, into a single event.

Prominent Financial Leaders to Discuss Industry TransformationThe event’s guest list reflects Ripple’s ambition to strengthen connections across various areas of traditional and digital finance. Each institution is positioned to address distinct elements such as custody, trading, liquidity, stablecoins, tokenized securities, and broad consumer access.

Representing Bank of New York Mellon (BNY), Laide Majiyagbe is scheduled to lead a discussion on how tokenized money-market funds, stablecoins, liquidity, and settlement innovations are influencing institutional markets. This collaboration between Ripple and BNY has moved beyond discussion; BNY was chosen as the primary custodian for RLUSD reserves, with this arrangement beginning in 2025.

Ripple’s RLUSD reserves have recently grown to about $2.53 billion, with a circulating supply now over $2.4 billion, enhancing the importance of BNY’s custodial role.

Ripple aims to connect diverse sectors of finance, from custody and stablecoins to trading, onchain securities, and consumer access, by assembling industry leaders from global banks, exchanges, and fintech platforms.

ICE, a global operator of financial exchanges and clearing houses and parent company of the New York Stock Exchange, adds perspective on market infrastructure. Michael Blaugrund, ICE’s Vice President of Strategic Initiatives and a former NYSE Chief Operating Officer, will speak on institutional adoption of tokenized equities, digital funds, and collateral management.

Mini dictionary: RLUSD, acronym for Ripple Liquidity USD, is Ripple’s institutional-grade stablecoin designed for settlement and liquidity purposes in digital asset markets.

TD Securities and Robinhood Extend the ConversationTD Securities, a Canadian investment bank and capital markets firm, will also participate through Elizabeth St-Onge, who is set to join a panel exploring the future of digital currency models. The discussion will consider whether market dominance will rest with single-issuer stablecoins or consortium-driven approaches.

Ripple’s RLUSD has become increasingly embedded in institutional liquidity solutions, including payments, tokenized assets, and prospective lending structures on the XRP Ledger (XRPL).

Robinhood, a US-based trading platform known for providing retail access to stocks and cryptocurrencies, will be represented by its Head of Crypto, Johann Kerbrat. He and Ripple President Monica Long will examine the growing convergence between retail and institutional participation in the digital asset ecosystem.

Industry experts from major banks, trading houses, and platforms will address how stablecoins and tokenized assets are reshaping liquidity, access, and market structure.

Ripple recently returned 700 million XRP, valued at more than $1 billion, to escrow accounts following the scheduled October token release. This move has put renewed focus on both XRP’s available supply and its short-term price trend.

XRP price hovers near key resistanceXRP traded at approximately $1.49 in early October, with the price repeatedly testing the $1.55 range but struggling to hold above it. Technical analysts have highlighted the $1.54 to $1.59 zone as an area of significant selling pressure. Analysts such as Xaif Crypto have identified resistance in this band and see support between $1.44 and $1.47.

According to Xaif Crypto, a decisive move above $1.54 to $1.56 could signal a stronger short-term recovery for XRP, while a drop below support could trigger a deeper decline. On the upside, a sustained breakthrough above the resistance zone may attract further buying interest.

XRP’s near-term outlook depends on how it handles the $1.59 barrier, which several analysts see as defining the next momentum shift.

Another chart review by TheaG_eii singles out $1.59 as a trigger for a potential momentum change, defining the $1.54 to $1.59 region as a supply zone. The analysis also points to $1.39 and $1.29 as areas of interest if XRP faces rejection at resistance.

In recent weeks, XRP’s price climbed as high as $1.65 on September 23 and $1.62 on September 25 but retreated to around $1.50, demonstrating the difficulty of holding gains above resistance levels.

A daily or weekly close above $1.59 would be a clear technical signal, while the market remains confined by established overhead resistance and the $1.44 to $1.47 support band for now.

LevelSupportResistanceCurrent$1.44–$1.47$1.54–$1.59Potential breakout$1.39, $1.29$1.70, $1.75Ripple returns 700 million XRP to escrowRipple, a financial technology company known for its global payments network, conducted its monthly scheduled XRP escrow transactions at the start of October. The company initially unlocked 1 billion XRP in four separate transactions: 400 million, 200 million, 300 million, and 100 million tokens. Shortly after, Ripple returned 700 million tokens—valued at $1.05 billion based on market prices—to new escrow contracts, executed in two large tranches of 400 million and 300 million tokens.

This activity forms part of Ripple’s long-standing escrow system, initiated in 2017, which unlocks up to 1 billion XRP at the start of each month. Historically, the company returns a substantial portion of these tokens to escrow, smoothing out the impact on circulating supply.

Following the October activity, about 31.845 billion XRP remained in escrow, according to estimates by TheStreet. Out of the 1 billion tokens released, 300 million were left outside escrow contracts. As a result, the latest monthly release did not directly inject the entire $1 billion amount into the market.

Ripple’s predictable monthly transactions are closely watched by traders, who see the net change in circulating supply as more significant than the gross tokens unlocked each month.

Mini dictionary: Ripple, a US-based technology company, is best known for its XRP Ledger and software solutions aimed at simplifying cross-border payments for financial institutions.

XRP price scenarios in focusWith XRP trading near $1.49, the market is closely monitoring whether buyers can push the token above the $1.59 technical barrier, as recent attempts around $1.55 have not held. Xaif Crypto suggests that a move above resistance could send the price toward $1.75, while CarolinaTCWNL outlines a sequence of targets at $1.43, $1.50, $1.58, $1.62, and $1.75 following the market’s rejection near $1.70.

If XRP closes above $1.59 on a daily or weekly basis, analysts argue it would mark a significant shift, confirming support at previous resistance and opening the door for further upside.

However, until such a breakout is confirmed, the $1.44 to $1.47 range will remain a critical support area. A decline below this band could prompt a shift toward lower support zones, as identified by technical observers.

Ripple’s escrow transaction lowers the immediate impact of October’s token release on circulating supply, though 300 million tokens remain outside of escrow and could affect short-term liquidity. Market participants are therefore focused primarily on price chart patterns and whether the $1.59 level will act as a ceiling or give way to renewed buying momentum.

Ethereum (ETH) is currently priced at approximately $2,682, which marks a monthly increase of about 10%. However, the asset is still trading 46% below its all-time high of $4,953. Recent price movements have established a short-term range, with buyers repeatedly defending the $2,650 level, while sellers are consistently active between $2,775 and $2,800.

Technical levels and resistance zonesOn October 2, ETH made an unsuccessful attempt to break above $2,775 before retreating toward $2,650. This price activity continues to reinforce the upper $2,700s as a key resistance area in the near term.

Coinpaper, a digital asset market research firm, previously highlighted a $2,800 breakout as the critical level Ethereum would need to convert to support before targeting the $3,000 mark, which is considered a significant psychological barrier for traders.

The immediate technical structure for ETH now presents a direct path: holding support at $2,650, breaking out above $2,800, and aiming for $3,000. If Ethereum manages to surpass this milestone, the $3,050 area stands as the next resistance.

LevelRole$2,650Support$2,775–$2,800Resistance$3,000Psychological target$3,050Next resistance Ethereum continues to face strong selling pressure in the $2,775 to $2,800 range, and has yet to confirm a sustained breakout above $2,800, according to recent technical analysis from Coinpaper.

Glamsterdam upgrade and upcoming catalystsThe next update for the network, called the Glamsterdam upgrade, is scheduled to launch on the Sepolia testnet on October 6. This upgrade introduces significant changes to block construction, gas pricing, and Layer-1 scaling, paving the way for improved performance in future mainnet releases. The Ethereum Foundation, which is responsible for overseeing the development of Ethereum, has not yet set an official date for the mainnet deployment.

Mini dictionary: Sepolia testnet, an Ethereum test environment where developers deploy and test upgrades or applications before mainnet release. Testnets like Sepolia help identify issues without affecting real assets or network operations.

Glamsterdam is expected to address some of Ethereum’s longstanding challenges, including efficiency in block creation and gas fees, and to prepare the network for further scaling solutions.

The Ethereum Foundation stated there is no finalized date yet for deploying the Glamsterdam upgrade to mainnet, but preparations on testnets are actively progressing.

ETF flows and supply trendsIn the investment products space, U.S. spot Ethereum exchange-traded funds (ETFs) registered notable outflows in recent days. According to Farside Investors, these funds saw $59.6 million of outflows on September 30, followed by another $55.4 million on October 1 and $17.3 million on October 2. This marks a reversal following a period of inflows noted in late September.

Despite the recent negative ETF flows, on-chain indicators remain positive for the longer term. Earlier this month, exchange reserves of ETH fell to multi-year lows, while staking activity continued to reduce the available circulating supply. These trends suggest a tighter supply landscape, which could impact future price dynamics if demand rises.

Cardano’s DEX activity has accelerated sharply over the past week, with trading volume posting a triple-digit increase alongside broader growth in network activity and stablecoin liquidity.

DeFiLlama data shows that Cardano’s decentralized exchange volume reached $37.14 million over the past seven days, representing a 112% increase during the period. The network recorded its strongest daily activity on October 1, when DEX volume climbed to $11.74 million. 

Trading activity remained elevated over the following 24 hours, with Cardano recording another $7.08 million in DEX volume. 

Cardano DEX Volume SundaeSwap Leads Cardano DEX Activity Top decentralized exchange SundaeSwap accounted for most of Cardano’s DEX trading activity during the seven days.

DeFiLlama data shows that SundaeSwap processed $23.51 million in spot volume, putting it well ahead of other DEXes operating on the network. Minswap followed with $6.59 million in trading volume.

Other protocols also contributed to the increase. Dano Finance recorded around $5.17 million, while WingRiders processed $1.8 million. Splash Protocol, Saturn Swap, and MeuliSwap recorded about $31,351, $25,855, and $8,349, respectively.

The distribution indicates that while a few established platforms account for most of Cardano’s DEX activity, trading is also taking place across several smaller protocols. 

Cardano DEX Performance Cardano Blockchain Activity Also Picks Up The increase in DEX activity coincides with stronger on-chain activity across the Cardano network.

According to data from Chainspect, Cardano processed 222,000 transactions over the past seven days, representing a 5.7% increase from the previous period. Transaction activity also reached its weekly peak on October 1.

On that day, Cardano processed 43,181 transactions, coinciding with the network’s highest DEX volume of the week at $11.74 million.

Activity has since moderated slightly. Over the past 24 hours, the network processed 37,300 transactions, down 13.52% from the previous day. Despite the short-term decline, Cardano has now processed 124 million transactions since its inception.

Stablecoin Liquidity Strengthens Cardano’s stablecoin market has also expanded alongside the increase in decentralized trading.

The network’s stablecoin market cap has risen by more than 24% over the past seven days to $67.03 million. USDCx represents roughly 69% of that total, making it the dominant stablecoin by market cap on the network.

Meanwhile, Cardano’s total value locked (TVL) across its decentralized finance ecosystem stands at $65.44 million, according to DeFiLlama data. The figure has increased by about 0.15% over the past 24 hours.

The combination of higher DEX volume, increased transaction activity, and growing stablecoin liquidity points to a broader increase in activity across Cardano’s DeFi ecosystem. 

@chainlink's on-chain reserve is growing at a pace that is becoming hard to ignore. As of early October 2026, the official reserve holds approximately 6.12 million $LINK tokens, valued at around $88 million, accumulated entirely through weekly purchases since the program launched in August 2025.

How the Reserve Works Rather than executing a traditional open-market buyback,

That combination of steady buying and a no-sell policy means every week adds net pressure on circulating supply.

A Reserve That Has Scaled Quickly The growth trajectory has been steep.

For context, The pace has continued to accelerate since then.

The broader question this raises for the industry is a fair one: how many crypto projects are sitting on real protocol revenue that could be recycled back into their own token in a similarly structured, transparent way? Chainlink is making a compelling case for what disciplined, revenue-backed accumulation looks like in practice.

Sources:
Chainlink Quarterly Review: Q1 2026 (Official Chainlink Blog)
Chainlink Reserve Tops 6 Million LINK (CryptoTicker)
Chainlink Launches On-Chain Reserve to Buy Back LINK Tokens (The Defiant)

South Korea is on the news again as it moves its tokenization plans from pilot products toward regulated securities markets. In the light of this, a new framework is in place set to start on the 4th of February 2027.

The shift allows the use of blockchain technology to issue and circulate stocks, bonds, and other fund offerings. As such, it adds many more types of financial instruments that can be issued via a blockchain.

Moreover, the Korea Securities Depository (KSD) will serve as the central anchor point to connect the traditional financial system to distributed ledger technology. Avalanche [AVAX] may have an opportunity to benefit from this.

This is because KSD is already working to establish a connection to Avalanche’s decentralized network.

Source: X South Korea’s stock exchange exceeds $5 trillion. While the roll-out will begin with some specific asset classes, eventually the rest will follow.

Still, regulators will need time to verify the effectiveness of the infrastructure and the adequacy of investor protection mechanisms prior to allowing for full implementation.

Tokenized stocks gain ground on Avalanche Meanwhile, Avalanche has already shown strong interest in tokenized stocks, with significant trading volume before South Korea’s framework goes live. In September alone, the altcoin’s tokenized stock market cap grew by $245.5 million.

This was the largest single contributor across all other blockchain systems.

Precisely, most of this growth came from Securitize, which provided institutional support to the expansion. Furthermore, the last week of September saw over $131.2 million in tokenized stock inflows on Avalanche.

Source: Avalanche This demonstrates that investors are actually buying tokenized stocks and not just raising awareness. As such, it provides a real-world model of what can happen when tokenized equities have a regulatory framework in place in South Korea.

Furthermore, given KSD’s plans for connecting blockchains in South Korea, the potential exists for Avalanche to attract some portion of institutional investment related to these new listings.

Can South Korea accelerate institutional tokenization? South Korea’s institutional momentum is transitioning from that of creating physical infrastructure to that of creating the first customers for tokenized security.

In February, the initial focus of the rollout will be on directing private money market fund (MMF) and corporate bond issuances to institutional investors.

In this way, banks and asset managers will have the ability to conduct testing of the entire lifecycle of issuing, owning, and settling tokenized securities within a controlled environment. Notably, twelve brokerages have signed on to join the KoSTO platform.

Meanwhile, KB Securities is integrating the Securitize and Optimism [OP] platforms into its existing relationship with institutional investors.

If institutions begin holding and transferring these assets, tokenization could gain a stronger market base. That would also accelerate Korea’s integration with global on-chain capital markets.

Final Summary Avalanche gains tokenized-stock momentum as September growth strengthens its institutional appeal. AVAX could benefit as South Korea expands regulated tokenization and institutional on-chain adoption.

Elon Musk says gray cats on a dark road are vexing for robotaxis. Kaylee Greenlee/Reuters There are many challenges to putting self-driving cars on the road. Elon Musk says one of them has nine lives.

The Tesla CEO announced on Saturday that the company is expanding the operating hours of its robotaxis from 10 p.m. to 11 p.m. in Austin and said that his team has been trying to overcome a rather stealthy problem.

"The main thing we're trying to solve is making sure that we don't run over pets when they're hard to see at night," Musk wrote in an X post. "Literally trying to avoid grey kittens on grey tarmac in the dark."

After years of delays, Tesla's robotaxis were rolled out in Austin last year. Since then, the company has gradually expanded the availability there and in other Texas cities and in Florida.

Cybercabs use "camera vision and sensors" to navigate, according to Tesla. In its vehicle manuals, Tesla says that low or limited light — including unlit or poorly lit roads at night — can limit a camera's ability to provide accurate visual information.

What we learned from the Tesla 'company update'

Cats and dogs, which are prone to darting unpredictably into the street, could pose a higher risk than the relatively routine flow of traffic.

In a reply to a comment on his X post on Saturday, Musk pointed to AI-assisted camera processing as a way to improve nighttime visibility.

"Visual spectrum cameras can see very well in the dark when AI is doing the photon count analysis," he said.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is investigating Telsa's camera system for full self-driving vehicles and whether it's good enough at spotting road hazards in less-than-ideal visibility conditions.

The robotaxi industry leader, Waymo, uses a different system than Tesla — LiDAR, which uses laser beams to scan the environment. One late night last year, a Waymo struck and killed a 9-year-old tabby cat named KitKat — prompting an outpouring of tributes from residents in the neighborhood.

In September 2025, a Tesla Model Y operating in its Austin robotaxi service struck a dog that ran into the street, the company reported. The report, which Tesla filed with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, said the dog ran away from the car, apparently uninjured.

Musk has owned cats, including one named Schrödinger, after a physicist's famous feline-based thought experiment. Musk once said he "tried liking" Schrödinger, but "the feeling wasn't reciprocated. Not even slightly."

"One day she disappeared," he said.

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Truman Dickerson is the Weekend News Fellow at Business Insider, based in New York City. He covers trending tech and business news. He previously reported for The Boston Globe's Express Desk. He graduated from Boston University, where he served as editor in chief of The Daily Free Press, BU's student-run newspaper.Contact him at [email protected]

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Stacks Labs CTO Adriano Di Luzio has started talking publicly about PoX-6, the next planned version of the network’s Proof of Transfer mechanism. In an October 3, 2026 video, he walked through what he sees as the biggest difference between the upcoming upgrade and the system running today.

The timing matters. PoX-5 only went live this summer, so Stacks is already sketching its successor while the current version is still collecting data.

The broad direction is clear. PoX-6 is planned as the fully decentralized, algorithmic end state of the Stacks staking model.

From curated bootstrap to code-driven auctions To see what PoX-6 is meant to change, start with PoX-5. That hard fork activated on July 30, 2026, at Bitcoin block 960,230.

PoX-5 introduced Bitcoin staking through a structure called protocol bonds. Participants lock BTC on Bitcoin Layer 1 and pair it with STX on the Stacks network. The result is a self-custodial yield product: holders earn returns without handing their Bitcoin to a third party.

The upgrade also preserved rewards for existing STX stackers.

The community vote on SIP-045, the proposal behind PoX-5, cleared with over 99.99% approval.

PoX-5 runs in a bootstrap phase overseen by the Stacks Endowment. During this period, key parameters are curated rather than set by an automated process. Targets for institutional participants sit around a ~3% annual percentage yield on BTC, with a 5% minimum STX pairing.

PoX-6 aims to remove that layer. According to the project’s planned design, the curated parameters would give way to a community-governed framework. Two mechanisms stand out:

Blind auctions for bonding capacity. Instead of allocations being set by the Endowment, capacity would be distributed through consensus-driven blind auctions. Participants submit bids without seeing what others offer, a format used to limit gaming and front-running.

Automated yield adjustments. Yield rates would be adjusted on-chain by the protocol itself rather than by a committee. Reservation and yield adjustment are both expected to rely on consensus-encoded mechanisms.

What is and isn’t settled Specific implementation details for PoX-6 have not yet been ratified. The design direction is public, but the final mechanics still need to pass through Stacks’ governance process.

Much of what PoX-6 becomes will depend on how PoX-5 performs. The bootstrap phase is effectively a live experiment, and its performance metrics are expected to shape the parameters and guardrails of the next version.

STX remains the native token used for stacking and locking under both PoX-5 and PoX-6. The pairing requirement means any growth in BTC participation also routes demand through the Stacks token.

Leadership changes alongside the roadmap The PoX-6 discussion arrives during a leadership transition at Stacks Labs. Founder Muneeb Ali is set to take over as permanent CEO on October 15, 2026.

Institutional participation has already begun under PoX-5. The bootstrap structure, with its curated parameters and Endowment oversight, was built in part to give those early participants predictable terms.

What this means for BTC holders and STX stackers For Bitcoin holders, the pitch is native yield without surrendering custody. PoX-5 offers a version of that today, and PoX-6 aims to make the terms market-driven rather than set by a foundation.

Moving to auctions and algorithmic yields could reduce reliance on the Stacks Endowment and make the system more transparent to outside participants.

The auction model may also change the economics for participants. Blind bidding for bonding capacity introduces competition. A fixed ~3% target is easy to model. A rate set by on-chain mechanics responding to participation is less predictable.

For STX holders, the 5% minimum pairing in the bootstrap phase ties the token directly to BTC staking activity.

The things to watch are concrete. First, how PoX-5’s metrics look as the bootstrap phase matures, since those numbers are expected to inform PoX-6. Second, whether a formal proposal for PoX-6 emerges and how the community votes on it, given the near-unanimous result for SIP-045. Third, how Muneeb Ali’s return as permanent CEO shapes the pace of the transition.

Until PoX-6 details are ratified, the upgrade remains a direction rather than a finished design. Di Luzio’s video signals where Stacks wants to go. The governance process will decide how it actually gets there.

Disclosure: This article was edited by Estefano Gomez. For more information on how we create and review content, see our Editorial Policy.

@OKX has listed @quantnetwork's $QNT token for perpetual futures trading, pairing it against @Tether's $USDT. The contract went live at 08:00 UTC on October 1, 2026, and is accessible across OKX's web platform, app, and API, subject to regional availability.

Contract Details and Leverage The new QUANT/USDT perpetual contract uses the QUANT/USDT index as its underlying price reference and settles in USDT.

What Is Driving the QNT Momentum The OKX listing arrives at a remarkable moment for Quant Network.

That announcement sent $QNT sharply higher. The OKX perps listing adds another layer of institutional visibility to a token that has been stacking positive catalysts throughout 2026.

With a major US banking mandate confirmed, an exchange listing streak gathering pace, and perpetuals now live on one of the world's largest crypto platforms, the project's near-term narrative shows little sign of slowing.

Sources:
OKX: QUANT/USDT Perpetual Futures Listing Announcement
Crypto.news: QNT Gets 50x OKX Futures After 178% Weekly Rally
The Crypto Basic: The Clearing House Explains Why It Chose Quant

T-Mobile and Verizon both raised 2026 guidance, but they are chasing completely opposite strategies to win the same industry. Which approach actually holds up depends on what kind of investor is doing the judging.

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T-Mobile US (NASDAQ:TMUS | TMUS Price Prediction) and Verizon (NYSE:VZ) raised 2026 guidance in late July earnings. T-Mobile asks investors to pay for subscriber and market share increases. Verizon asks them to collect a large dividend while its turnaround plays out.

Premium Plans Lift T-Mobile as Verizon Stops Buying Customers At T-Mobile, postpaid service revenue rose 12.6% to $15.85 billion. More than 60% of new customers chose premium plans. Port-in ARPAs ran about 20% above port-outs. The UScellular deal opens rural markets where T-Mobile holds 24% of homes. CEO Srini Gopalan: “We’re just getting started.”

Verizon cut device subsidies. Wireless equipment revenue fell nearly 20% and total revenue slid 0.7%. Postpaid phone net additions reached 184,000, versus a 9,000 loss a year earlier. Churn improved to 0.92%. CEO Dan Schulman: “The era of just the free handset, that’s gone right now.” Fiber connections reached 10.9 million, up 43.3%.

Business Driver T-Mobile Verizon Growth Engine Postpaid wireless, 5G broadband Fiber, combined packages 2026 Capex About $10.0B $16.0B to $16.5B Buybacks Power T-Mobile While Dividends Anchor Verizon T-Mobile raised its 2026 shareholder return authorization to $18.2 billion from $14.6 billion and bought back $2.2 billion in the quarter. Shares are down 17.64% this year. With a yield of only 2.52%, the stock depends on growth.

Verizon’s 6.08% yield comes from a $0.7075 quarterly dividend. Buybacks are limited at $4.5 billion. After the Frontier deal, net unsecured debt rose to 2.5x adjusted EBITDA from 2.2x. Shares are up 18.41% year to date.

Lens T-Mobile Verizon Forward P/E 12x 9x Hold Ratings 5 15 Verizon Must Turn Discipline Into Revenue by Year-End Verizon expects mobility and broadband service revenue growth to speed up to about 3% in Q3 and 4% in Q4. Wireless ARPA fell 1.4% to $168.35. At T-Mobile, watch whether service revenue growth holds near the 6% forecast for Q3.

Matching Each Carrier to the Investor It Fits T-Mobile suits growth investors seeking subscriber increases. Analysts agree, with 9 Strong Buy and 14 Buy ratings. Postpaid churn rising to 0.99% warrants caution.

Verizon fits income investors. Its Hold ratings suggest Wall Street wants proof the turnaround works. If ARPA keeps falling, the dividend story weakens. If T-Mobile’s churn keeps rising, its higher valuation becomes harder to justify.

Contact [email protected] for any questions or corrections.