What? Finance again

📊 Market news for 18–19 July 2026:

1. 🛢🇺🇸 The number of oil and gas rigs in the US has been rising rapidly since May. This is the longest uninterrupted increase since January 2022, - BBG.

2. 🛢🇮🇳🇷🇺 Russia has asked India for additional petrol supplies, - RTRS.

3. 🇺🇸 Trump wants to charge $100,000 per month for the “fastest access” to his posts and those of influential users on his Truth Social platform, - FT.

4. 🇺🇸 The US equity market’s momentum trade is experiencing its steepest monthly decline since the financial crisis, - Goldman.

5. 🇺🇸 SpaceX’s market capitalisation has fallen by more than $1 trillion from its all-time high.

6. 🇺🇸 Meta is in talks to provide Anthropic with computing capacity from its data centres, with a potential deal worth as much as $10 billion over two years.

7. 🇺🇸 Boeing has left its long-term delivery forecast unchanged despite the conflict in the Middle East. The company expects to deliver 43,625 aircraft between 2026 and 2045.

8. 🇺🇸 GameStop has disclosed a 9.8% stake in eBay, holding 43.4 million shares in the marketplace.

9. 🇺🇸🇨🇳 Concerns are growing in the US over the Kimi K3 artificial intelligence model developed by Chinese start-up Moonshot AI. The media are already calling the model “DeepSeek 2.0” for America. Many US experts warn that China may not only catch up with and overtake the US, but could soon pull decisively ahead in the artificial intelligence race.

10. 🇺🇦🪙 Ukraine’s Verkhovna Rada plans to adopt a virtual assets bill as early as August 2026 to regulate the country’s cryptoasset market, - Hetmantsev.

11. 🇨🇳 Alibaba has launched a test version of its new flagship AI model, Qwen3.8 Max. The company says it can compete with leading models and is surpassed only by Anthropic’s Claude Fable 5.

12. 🪙 FTX will distribute approximately $900 million to creditors as part of its fifth round of repayments. Payments will begin on 31 July.

🗺️ International news for 18–19 July 2026:

1. 🇺🇸🇨🇦 Trump said that the cost of damage caused by smoke from Canadian wildfires affecting US cities should be added to the tariffs Canada already pays.

2. 🇺🇸🇨🇳 The US will not change tariffs on imports from China despite allegations that Beijing interfered in the US elections, said Trump’s trade adviser Navarro.

3. 🇪🇺 The EU will introduce a climate levy on flights to Dubai and Istanbul, while airlines oppose the measure.

4. 🇺🇦 The Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund will consider the first review of Ukraine’s Extended Fund Facility programme as early as Monday, 20 July. In the event of a positive decision, the Board will approve the disbursement of the next $690 million tranche of financial assistance to Kyiv, - Koretskyi.

5. 🇸🇦 CNN: The US has provisionally agreed to allow Saudi Arabia to enrich uranium.

6. 🇮🇷 Iran will shift from defensive to offensive operations within two to three days if the US continues its attacks, according to an adviser to the country’s leader.

📊 Market news for 17 July 2026:

1. 🔋 Demand for lithium is growing faster than demand for other critical minerals. The increase is being driven by the expansion of the electric vehicle market, - IEA.

2. 🇺🇸 Trump will sell financial companies and banks “fastest access” to his posts and those of influential users on his Truth Social platform, - RTRS.

3. 🇺🇸 US corporate insiders are selling American shares at the second-fastest pace in more than 20 years.

4. 🇺🇸 Fundstrat’s Tom Lee believes the S&P 500 could exceed 8,000 points this year amid the ongoing artificial intelligence boom.

5. 🇺🇸 Apple has overtaken Nvidia by market capitalisation to become the world’s most valuable company.

6. 🇺🇸 Morgan Stanley has officially launched spot BTC trading on its E*Trade platform.

7. 🇺🇸 PayPal’s board considers Stripe and Advent’s $53bn takeover offer insufficient, - RTRS.

8. 🇺🇸 Analysts continue to raise their year-end forecasts for the STOXX 600 Index. UBS and Deutsche are the most bullish, - BBG.

9. 🇮🇳 Demand for shares in SBI Fund Management’s IPO, India’s largest IPO this year, exceeded the offering by 41 times, - CNBC.

10. 🇨🇳 Chinese artificial intelligence start-up Moonshot AI has released the open-source Kimi K3 model with 2.8tn parameters. According to the developer, it is currently the largest AI model in the world.

🗺 International news for 17 July 2026:

1. 🇺🇸 Trump said that Russia, China, Iran and North Korea could interfere in the US elections.

2. 🇺🇸 Democratic senators do not support the current text of the CLARITY Act, - Politico.

3. 🇺🇸 US Housing Starts (June) = +19% m/m (expected +11.2% / previous -15.4%).

4. 🇺🇸🇮🇷 Iran wants to reach an agreement, and negotiations are continuing, - White House.

5. 🇺🇸🇷🇺 More than 60 US senators have backed a bill imposing “hellish sanctions” on Russia, - Axios.

6. 🇬🇧 Andy Burnham will take office as UK Prime Minister on 20 July.

7. 🇪🇺🇨🇳 Macron said that China has launched a trade war against Europe.

8. 🇺🇦🇵🇱 Ukraine will open archives relating to the “Volhynia massacres” of the 20th century, - Zelenskyy.

9. 🇸🇦 Saudi Arabia is considering resuming military operations in Yemen four years after announcing a ceasefire.

10. 🇮🇷 Iran has struck Syria for the first time since the start of the war, - RTRS.

🇺🇸🍿 Netflix Q2'26 Earnings:

- Revenue: $12.56B (Est. $12.59B); +13% YoY
- EPS: $0.80 (Est. $0.79); +11% YoY
- Oper Margin: 33.4%; -70 bps YoY
- FCF: $1.53B (Est. $2.72B); -33% YoY

- Sees Q3'26 Revenue: $12.86B (Est. $13.01B); +12% YoY
- Sees Q3'26 EPS: $0.82 (Est. $0.84)
- Sees Q3'26 Operating Income: $4.27B (Est. $4.36B)
- Sees Q3'26 Operating Margin: 33.2% (Est. 33.5%)

Narrows FY26 Outlook:
- Revenue: $51.0B-$51.4B (Est. $51.41B)
- Revenue Growth: +13%-14% (Prior: +12%-14%)
- Operating Margin: 31.5% (Est. 31.7%)
- FCF: ~$12.5B (Est. $13.09B)
- Advertising Revenue: ~$3.0B; roughly 2x YoY

Regional Revenue:
- UCAN: $5.43B; +10% YoY
- EMEA: $4.03B; +14% YoY
- LATAM: $1.58B; +21% YoY
- APAC: $1.51B; +16% YoY

Others:
- Q2 FCF was pressured by higher cash tax payments, partly related to the WBD termination fee.

- GenAI workflows were used in roughly 300 titles in 2026, primarily in post-production.

- Netflix will move its What We Watched report to an annual Q1 publication starting in 2027.

- Recent price increases performed in line with the company’s expectations.

Management: “Our financial performance remains solid and we’re on track to meet our objectives for the year.”

📊 Market news for 16 July 2026:

1. 🛢 Iran is urging the Yemeni Houthis to close the Bab el-Mandeb Strait leading to the Red Sea if the US strikes the energy network, according to sources.

2. 🛢 Shipping companies remain unwilling to transit the Strait of Hormuz even under US es**rt, - Reuters.

3. 🛢🇮🇳 Russia has asked India for additional petrol supplies, - Reuters.

4. 🇺🇸 Anthropic will hold meetings with investors over the coming weeks ahead of its planned IPO.

5. 🇺🇸 SpaceX shares have fallen below their IPO price, while the lock-up period expires in early August, potentially releasing 911 million shares, - Reuters.

6. 🇺🇸 Strategy will only become concerned if BTC falls to $8,000–10,000, according to its CEO.

7. 🇺🇸 Visa is launching a new stablecoin services platform for hundreds of millions of merchants.

8. 🇺🇸 Eli Lilly is acquiring AtaiBeckley for $2.8 billion.

9. 🇺🇸 Uber has announced a public takeover offer for Germany's Delivery Hero at a premium of approximately 30–35%.

10. 🇺🇸🇯🇵 Japan will purchase 27,500 Nvidia Rubin chips to develop artificial intelligence for robotics.

11. 🇺🇸🇯🇵 Nvidia, in partnership with Fujitsu, Fanuc, Yaskawa Electric, Kawasaki and Hitachi, will develop "physical AI" in Japan.

12. 🇳🇱 ASML plans to raise prices for semiconductor manufacturing equipment.

13. 🇹🇼🇺🇸 TSMC will invest an additional $100 billion in the United States.

14. 🇰🇷 South Korea will temporarily ban the listing of new leveraged equity ETFs.

15. 🪙 BlackRock's CEO said that the vast majority of leverage has already been flushed out of the market and that he remains very bullish on cryptocurrencies over the next 12 months.

16. 🪙 Tether has invested in Argentine neobank Ualá as part of its expansion across Latin America.

🗺 International news for 16 July 2026:

1. 🇺🇸 Warsh promised Congress that inflation in the US will not remain elevated.

2. 🇺🇸 US retail sales (June) = +0.2% m/m (expected +0.2% / previous +1.0%).

3. 🇺🇸 US Initial Jobless Claims = 208K (expected 216K / previous 216K).

4. 🇺🇸 US Continuing Jobless Claims = 1.805M (expected 1.820M / previous 1.821M).

5. 🇺🇸🇻🇪 The US earned 50 times more from the sale of Venezuelan oil than it spent on the operation against Caracas, - Trump.

6. 🇺🇸🇧🇷 Rubio: The US will impose 25% tariffs on most imports from Brazil.

7. 🇺🇸🇮🇷 Trump is leaning towards expanding military operations in Iran, - WSJ.

8. 🇺🇸🇮🇷 Trump's frustration is growing as the military operation against Iran has lasted longer and become more complicated than expected, - CBS.

9. 🇬🇧 United Kingdom – GDP (May):

- m/m = +0.1% (expected 0.0% / previous -0.1%)
- y/y = +1.3% (expected +1.4% / previous +1.1%)

10. 🇪🇺🇷🇺 Greece has blocked the EU's 21st sanctions package over concerns for its shipping industry, - FT.

11. 🇨🇳🇪🇺 China's restrictions on rare earth exports are putting Western industry at risk, - IEA.

🇺🇸🛩 GE Aerospace Q2'26 Earnings

- Adj. EPS $2.02, est. $1.86
- EPS (cont. ops) $2.30
- Rev. $12.63B, est. $11.86B
- Commercial Engines & Services rev. $9.73B, est. $9.16B
- Defense & Propulsion Technologies rev. $3.44B, est. $3.2B
- Targets $2B share repurchases in Q2'26
- Adj. FCF $3.03B, est. $1.98B

- Sees FY adj. EPS $7.65 to $7.85, saw $7.10 to $7.40
- Sees FY adj. oper profit $10.55B to $10.75B
- Sees FY adj. FCF $8.9B to $9.2B, saw $8B to $8.4B

🇺🇸📄 UnitedHealth Q2'26 Earnings

- Adj. EPS $6.38, est. $4.89
- EPS $6.04 vs. $3.74 y/y
- Rev. $112.03B, est. $110.67B
- UnitedHealthcare segment rev. $86.02B, est. $84.91B
- Optum rev. $65.7B, est. $65.1B
- Medical care ratio 86.7%, est. 88.4%
- Oper cost ratio 12.7%, est. 12.5%
- Total enrollments 48.53M, est. 48.87M

- Sees FY adj. EPS $19.50 to $20, saw above $18.25
- Sees FY EPS $18.45 to $18.95, saw above $17.35
- Targets at least $5B in buybacks in 2026

📊 Market news for 15 July 2026:

1. 🛢🇺🇸🇮🇶🇸🇾 The United States is in talks to build an oil pipeline transporting Iraqi crude to Syria, bypassing the Strait of Hormuz and reducing Iran's future influence over global energy supplies, according to BBG.

2. 🛢🇺🇸🇮🇶 Trump said the United States will sign many agreements with Iraq and import large quantities of oil from the country.

3. 🛢🇮🇶 Responding to a question about whether Iraq would leave OPEC, Trump said he supports the Iraqi Prime Minister.

4. 🇺🇸 Warren Buffett (on today's market): "It's hard to find bargains when everyone prefers gambling."

5. 🇺🇸 BlackRock reported better-than-expected earnings.

6. 🇺🇸 Apple is exploring acquisitions of companies developing artificial intelligence chips.

7. 🇺🇸 OpenAI will launch a smart home speaker with built-in AI. According to BBG, the device is intended to become a new type of home computer designed specifically for domestic use.

8. 🇺🇸 Microsoft and 3M announced a strategic partnership focused on AI data centre infrastructure and the deployment of new technologies in the corporate sector.

9. 🇺🇸 Stripe and Advent are seeking to acquire PayPal with a $53 billion offer, according to RTRS.

10. 🇺🇸 Interactive Brokers has added support for AAVE, APT, CC, LDO, MON, NEAR, XPL, PAXG and UNI.

11. 🇳🇱 Chipmaker ASML reported results that exceeded expectations, raised its 2026 guidance and is expanding production capacity amid strong demand for AI chips.

12. 🇫🇮🇺🇸 Nokia, together with Nvidia, has developed the first commercial AI-based radio access platform, enabling operators to significantly increase data transmission volumes using existing infrastructure. By 2028, the new equipment will allow telecom operators to transmit twice as much data over the same radio spectrum. Commercial sales are scheduled to begin in 2027.

13. 🇨🇳 Alibaba's artificial intelligence will be integrated into Apple products in China.

14. 🇨🇳 China's leading memory chip manufacturer, CXMT, plans to launch an IPO in China later this year. According to BBG, the offering is expected to become one of the largest in Asia.

15. 🇨🇳 By the end of the year, XPeng plans to increase production of its IRON humanoid robots to more than 1,000 units per month and launch them on global markets by 2027.