Scott Schulte

[amit @amitisinvesting]

A TON OF THINGS HAPPENED IN THE STOCK MARKET TODAY.

Here's a full recap:

1. Nebius $NBIS got approval for its Vineland, New Jersey data center expansion, clearing a major hurdle tied to its $17.4B Microsoft $MSFT cloud deal. The Vineland Planning Board approved Phase 2 of the project, adding roughly 600,000 square feet and potentially increasing total campus capacity from about 300MW to around 350MW. DA Davidson had cut its price target from $250 to $175 last week over approval concerns, but raised it back to $250 after the decision, saying the approval removes a significant risk and allows Nebius to move forward with construction instead of becoming a “poster child” for data center delays.

2. Today’s selloff was driven largely by macro pressure. The VIX had been sitting near a two-year low, leaving stocks vulnerable to any pickup in volatility, while Treasury yields moved higher with the 10-year above 4.7% and the 30-year near 5.3%. Global bond pressure also intensified as Japan’s 30-year yield rose above 4% to a record high, while geopolitical uncertainty increased after Trump said the U.S. was not holding talks with Iran. The move was especially sharp in tech, with many semiconductor names down 8%-10%, the QQQs falling nearly 2%, and the S&P 500 down about 0.7%, as the market gave back part of the strong gains from the first half of August.

3. Anthropic is reportedly preparing to give CEO Dario Amodei and other co-founders enhanced voting rights ahead of a potential IPO as soon as late September, according to The Information. The structure is designed to protect leadership from outside shareholder pressure, especially as the founders hold relatively small economic stakes, with Amodei reportedly owning around 2%. Anthropic also plans to keep its Long-Term Benefit Trust, which holds special shares that allow it to elect a majority of the company’s board.

4. OpenAI said revenue reached $6.7B at the end of Q2, up 18% QoQ from $5.8B in Q1, while Anthropic reportedly doubled revenue to $11.6B over the same period. OpenAI’s operating loss widened from $9.3B in Q1 to $12.3B in Q2, outpacing revenue growth as compute costs, free-user subsidies, and pricing pressure weighed on margins. The slowdown matters because OpenAI has signed massive infrastructure deals tied to the expectation that it can eventually generate hundreds of billions in annual revenue, with companies like $NVDA, $ORCL, $CRWV, and $MU all exposed to the pace of AI demand. OpenAI is now leaning on products like Codex and a broader ChatGPT “super app,” while Greg Brockman has taken a more active role across product and business to help reaccelerate growth.

5. July economic data came in mixed. Import prices fell 0.4% MoM versus +0.1% expected, while export prices dropped 1.3% MoM versus +0.2% expected. Housing starts came in at 1.239M versus 1.350M expected, down 12.4% MoM, while building permits beat at 1.443M versus 1.375M expected. ADP also said private employers added an average of 9,500 jobs per week over the four weeks ending August 1, the first increase after 7 straight weeks of declines, but still well below the 30,750/week pace seen in early June.

6. The top 10 most active options today by contracts traded were $NVDA with 1.9M contracts, $TSLA with 1.5M contracts, $AAPL with 1.0M contracts, $INTC with 868K contracts, $MU with 847K contracts, $META with 823K contracts, $SPCX with 747K contracts, $AMZN with 700K contracts, $AMD with 385K contracts, and $NFLX with 359K contracts.

7. UBS remains bullish on Micron $MU with a Buy rating and $1,625 price target, arguing that cautious investor positioning creates an opportunity as earnings prove more resilient than feared. The firm says near-term concerns still center on supply agreement durability, gross margin downside, ongoing supply tightness, and future capacity additions, which could keep MU a battleground stock. However, UBS believes long-term investors may start to value memory more structurally as AI token generation economics become increasingly driven by memory rather than compute.

8. Onchain tokenized equity trading volume has hit a record $9B in 2026, up 207% QoQ and 800% year-to-date. The surge is being driven by demand for 24/7 global access to high-momentum stocks, especially memory and storage names, with Jupiter leading the Solana-based tokenized equities push and reporting 95% QoQ growth in routed volume. Jupiter also says 55% of tokenized equity volume happens during off-hours, while Nasdaq is moving in the same direction with plans to expand trading to 23 hours a day, five days a week.

9. Bank of America’s August fund manager survey shows investor bullishness approaching extreme levels, with a net 56% of managers overweight equities, the highest reading since November 2021. Cash allocations have dropped to just 3.5%, making this the third-most bullish survey since 2022. Despite strong confidence in stocks and AI spending, BofA says investors should consider rotating toward more defensive assets as market risks rise.

10. Einride is planning to deploy 500 Tesla $TSLA Semis for Amazon and other customers across major U.S. freight corridors beginning in September. The 24-month rollout will cover California, Texas, New Jersey, Illinois, and Georgia, and is expected to triple Einride’s deployed electric-truck fleet. The company operates electric and autonomous freight fleets through its Saga AI platform.

11. Google $GOOGL has reportedly told suppliers it plans to move production of all Pixel smartphones, watches, and earbuds out of China starting in 2027, with manufacturing shifting mainly to Vietnam and India. If completed, Google would become the second major global smartphone brand after Samsung to fully move smartphone production out of China. The company is also targeting 8%-10% Pixel shipment growth this year, up from roughly 12M units in 2025.

12. Morgan Stanley says active funds remain under-owned in mega-cap tech, with the gap widening to -129 basis points in Q2. Nvidia $NVDA is still the most under-owned large-cap tech stock, with its ownership gap widening 14 basis points to -2.53%, followed by Apple $AAPL at -2.33%, Microsoft at -1.54%, and Amazon $AMZN at -1.29%. Meanwhile, active managers are heavily overweight AI memory and storage names, with SanDisk $SNDK the most over-owned at +2.30%, while Lam Research $LRCX and Western Digital $WDC also rank among the most over-owned. Morgan Stanley says this shows a clear institutional bias toward AI “picks and shovels,” while under-owned mega-cap tech could benefit if active managers increase exposure.

WALL STREET IS THE GREATEST SHOW ON EARTH.

[amit @amitisinvesting]

A TON OF THINGS HAPPENED IN THE STOCK MARKET TODAY.

Here's a full recap:

1. SpaceX $SPCX reported Q2 2026 revenue of $7.8B, up 92% YoY, with EPS of -$0.09 vs -$0.24 expected. EBITDA jumped 191% YoY to $3.5B, driven by strong growth across Space, Connectivity, and AI. Space revenue rose 29% YoY to $962M, Connectivity revenue grew 66% YoY to $4.3B, and AI revenue surged 247% YoY to $2.6B. Starlink subscribers doubled YoY to 12.0M, backlog reached $47.5B, and cash plus marketable securities stood at $100B. SpaceX’s CFO said revenue growth accelerated across all business segments, with strong operating leverage and margin expansion led by new AI compute agreements.

2. AMD $AMD reported a strong Q2 2026, with revenue up 50% YoY to $11.5B and adjusted EPS up 246% YoY to $1.66. Data Center revenue more than doubled, rising 107% YoY to $6.72B, while adjusted EBITDA reached $3.3B and free cash flow came in at $1.6B. CapEx was $808M as AMD continues scaling for AI demand. CEO Lisa Su said the company delivered record revenue and profitability, with accelerating EPYC demand, growing Instinct deployments, and Helios beginning to ramp, positioning AMD for substantial revenue and earnings growth as AI drives broader compute demand.

3. $PLTR Palantir has it's best day since April 2025, closing +29%. Remarks from Wall Street today: “Palantir remains our highest-conviction idea following another significant beat-and-raise, with accelerating sovereign AI demand increasing our confidence in the durability of its growth profile.” “Palantir has solved the critical context/semantic layer problem that is key to unlocking value for mission-critical business processes.” “The high-touch deployment model (FDEs) that once drew criticism increasingly appears to be the blueprint for enterprise AI adoption.” “None are considering moving AI apps/agents off of Foundry/AIP to AI-native alternatives.” “Bear case on AI-native competition likely overstated.” Comments came from Rosenblatt, Truist, and Morgan Stanley. Citigroup raised its target to $245 from $200, Piper Sandler reiterated Overweight with a $230 target, Mizuho raised to $215 from $185, Goldman Sachs raised to $204 from $183, and DA Davidson raised to $200 from $175.

4. Rocket Lab $RKLB was awarded a $397M U.S. Space Force contract to build, launch, and operate Flatellite spacecraft for the Space-Based Airborne Moving Target Indicator program. The satellites will be designed to track airborne threats in real time from space, using advanced sensors, secure communications, and low-latency data links. Rocket Lab will launch the spacecraft on its upcoming Neutron rocket and operate them from secure facilities, highlighting the company’s vertically integrated model across satellite design, manufacturing, launch, and mission operations. CEO Peter Beck said the program supports the Space Force’s layered, resilient tracking architecture and strengthens real-time battlespace awareness in contested environments.

5. The top 10 most active options today by contracts traded were $NVDA with 2.6M contracts, $PLTR with 2.0M contracts, $TSLA with 1.6M contracts, $SPCX with 1.5M contracts, $AAPL with 1.3M contracts, $INTC with 1.1M contracts, $AMZN with 991K contracts, $MSFT with 811K contracts, $AMD with 678K contracts, and $MU with 676K contracts.

6. Anthropic has reportedly signed a $10B compute deal with Nvidia-backed Volta Infra, securing capacity from a Norway data center operated in partnership with Bitdeer $BTDR. The deal adds to the growing wave of large-scale AI infrastructure commitments as frontier model labs continue locking up long-term compute capacity.

7. Secretary of State Rubio said Iran and Oman are making progress in talks, including discussions around reopening the Strait of Hormuz, though he emphasized that nothing is final yet. Rubio said officials are hoping an agreement can be reached very shortly, while Treasury Secretary Bessent said a deal with Iran could be announced as soon as tomorrow. Oil fell about 4% on the headlines as markets priced in lower near-term disruption risk.

8. Barclays says S&P 500 earnings are coming in well ahead of expectations, with 85% of companies beating Q2 EPS estimates versus the long-term average of 76%. Revenue is up 11.2% YoY, while EPS has jumped 25.1%, led by Big Tech. Despite the strong numbers, Barclays notes that both beats and misses are seeing negative stock reactions on average, a rare setup that suggests much of the good news was already priced in.

9. The Trump administration is reportedly drafting a ban on U.S. imports of new Chinese data center components, targeting optical transceivers used to move data across fiber-optic networks inside AI data centers. The FCC is said to be working on the measure, with officials hoping to publish it this year, though the restriction could still be modified or shelved. The move is aimed at preventing Chinese technology from becoming entrenched in critical U.S. infrastructure. Photonics and optical names benefited on the report, including $AAOI, $AEHR, $LITE, and $COHR.

10. The WSJ reported today that hedge fund Situational Awareness built a $45B AI-focused powerhouse before scrambling to raise cash after its aggressive AI bets soured in July. Heavy borrowing reportedly triggered lender demands, forcing the fund to sell the bulk of its public stock portfolio to Citadel. Some backers had warned founder Leopold Aschenbrenner about the risks of using significant leverage before the unwind. Aschenbrenner said in his offering document: “There are no limits on the types of securities in which SALP may take positions on behalf of its clients, the types of positions that it may take, the concentration of its investments or the amount of leverage that it may use." Investors were concerned about his communication approach and lack of disclosures with them as the fund continued to use heavy amounts of leverage.

11. Elon Musk said $SPCX SpaceX has decided to build exclusively on Nvidia $NVDA, calling Vera the “best architecture” and the “best AI computer.” Musk said SpaceX deeply values its partnership with Nvidia and expects to surpass 2 GW of compute by year-end, with capacity closer to 10 GW than 5 GW by the end of 2027. The comments are another major endorsement of Nvidia’s AI platform as hyperscalers and frontier AI companies continue locking in massive compute commitments. Elon also said there is a possibility the company will get to $1T in revenue by 2030 and a "non-zero" chance it happens in 2029.

12. The S&P 500 $SPY closed at its highest level on record, adding roughly $1.2T in market cap today as the market pushed further into all-time-high territory.

WALL STREET IS THE GREATEST SHOW ON EARTH.

[DogeDesigner @cb_doge]

The people of Venezuela are thanking President Trump.

The people of Venezuela are thanking the United States.

The people of Venezuela are celebrating in the streets.

[SportsCenter @SportsCenter]

Dallas sports has lost two stars in the same year 😮

[Milwaukee Brewers @Brewers]

WINNING AT A HISTORIC PACE

[Milwaukee Brewers @Brewers]

Win No. 4️⃣0️⃣ in the books

[Lara Logan @laralogan]

Now imagine these materials being dropped from Chinese drones…

[Rapid Response 47 @RapidResponse47]

NEW: President Donald J. Trump orders flags be flown at half-staff in memory of His Holiness Pope Francis.

Here is the proclamation:

As a mark of respect for the memory of His Holiness Pope Francis, by the authority vested in me as President of the United States by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, I hereby order that the flag of the United States shall be flown at half-staff at the White House and upon all public buildings and grounds, at all military posts and naval stations, and on all naval vessels of the Federal Government in the District of Columbia and throughout the United States and its Territories and possessions until sunset, on the day of interment. I also direct that the flag shall be flown at half-staff for the same length of time at all United States embassies, legations, consular offices, and other facilities abroad, including all military facilities and naval vessels and stations.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this twenty-first day of April, in the year of our Lord two thousand twenty-five, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and forty-ninth.

DONALD J. TRUMP

[Jon Gruden @BarstoolGruden]

Me and @BarstoolBigCat on State Street!

Go Badgers!

[WKOW 27 News @WKOW]

BREAKING NEWS

Voters have approved the Voter ID Requirement Statewide Referendum, AP projects.

[Veterans Affairs @DeptVetAffairs]

VA names nine additional facilities that will deploy Federal EHR in 2026.

https://t.co/nDgIYvDoDe

[NASA @NASA]

@NASA_Astronauts @SpaceX Splashdown confirmed! #Crew9 is now back on Earth in their @SpaceX Dragon spacecraft.

[Milwaukee Brewers @Brewers]

Anyone else think @SalFrelick is in for a monster year?

[Scott Schulte @ST_Schulte1]

RT @JennieSTaer: EXCLUSIVE: We joined ICE for an operation in Houston as they nabbed a Tren de Aragua gang member who was on the run from…

[Scott Schulte @ST_Schulte1]

@swappa
I'm having an issue with an iPhone purchased from you. I sent a message via your website. Please respond.

[Pete Hegseth @PeteHegseth]

This morning, a police officer arrived at our home—where our seven children were still sleeping. The officer notified my wife and I that they had received a credible pipe bomb threat targeting me and my family. We are all safe and the threat has been cleared. We want to thank law enforcement for their professionalism and bravery.

I will not be bullied or intimidated. Never. President Trump has called on me to serve—and that is what I intend to do.

[Fox News @FoxNews]

Israel has agreed to a cease-fire agreement with Hezbollah that would end nearly 14 months of fighting, President Biden announced Tuesday.

[Scott Schulte @ST_Schulte1]

@madisontraffic Hwy 151 is not an interstate road

[Columbus Crawdads @CrawdadsBB]

Last night, the Dads won 7-2 over @sto_merchants. @james_mobry, Ryan Schulte and Dan Sabin all had multi-hit games to pace the offense.

In a bullpen game Schulte, Craig Sauer, Devin Piediscalzzi and Mobry combined to hold the Merchants' bats in check. Sauer was awarded the win.

[WIAA Score Center @wiaawiscores]

WIAA Tournament - Regional Final Boys Basketball: #1 Columbus defeated #4 Lake Ctry Lutheran 71-45