Your Daily Dose of Market & Career Clarity

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🎯 In this issue:

• Banana Bits: Finance headlines that actually matter

• Market Recap: Dow hits another record as economy shows strong rebound

• What’s Ripe / Rotten: The tastiest and most disgusting stocks 

• Technical Trip: Interview Q&A from Morgan Stanley

Market Snapshot

📉 Banana Bits

• S&P 500 hits record despite lackluster results from Nvidia.

• Second quarter GDP growth expands 3.3%, driven by AI investments.

• Vix index drops as investors shrug off Nvidia worries.

• U.S jobless claims fell to 229,000, down from 234,000 last week.

• Oil futures had a rebound after increased tension between Russia and Ukraine.

• Trump’s move to fire the rail regulator might have an effect on rail M&A. 

• UK banks could face a new tax on profits at the BOE.

• Snowflake’s shares rise 13% after a lift in annual product revenue forecast.

• Affirm Holdings’ price popped 13% after a solid quarter report.

• Pure Storage’s stock soared 32% after earnings beat and a deal with Meta.

• Copper Cos. stock went down after lower-than-expected revenue growth.

• HP Inc. went up 4.6% after its fiscal third-quarter earnings matched analysts’ expectations.

• Dell’s stock went down despite an earnings beat.

• Best Buy fell 3.7% despite beating earnings, as it didn’t raise fiscal year guidance.

• Gap stock fell 10% after missing expectations.

• Nike laid off 1% corporate staff on its latest restructuring plan.

• Microsoft‘s AI model could become a competitor of OpenAI.

• Bytedance overtakes Meta in revenue and a buyback that could boost the company’s valuation to $330B.

• China used three private companies to hack global telecom companies.

• China’s Nvidia? Cambricon Technologies’ sales soared 4000%.

• Tesla’s sales plunged 40% in Europe while rival BYD’s tripled.

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Market Recap

Dow Notches Another Record

Stocks recorded modest gains on Friday despite a mixed earnings report from Nvidia. The S&P 500 rose 0.3%, marking its 20th record close of the year, while the Nasdaq advanced 0.5%. 

The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 72 points, achieving its second record close of 2025. This performance reflects a shift in investor sentiment as markets absorb Nvidia's results amid ongoing optimism in the broader economy. 

Here’s what to be optimistic about: The economy grew faster than initially reported, expanding at an annualized rate of 3.3% in the second quarter, a significant rebound from the 0.5% contraction in the previous quarter. 

This growth was driven by increased business investments in AI and upward revisions to both consumer spending and business investments in equipment. As a result, the underlying measure of domestic demand rose, signaling stronger economic fundamentals. 

That said, while the outlook remains positive, investors should remain mindful of potential headwinds, particularly the ongoing impact of tariffs, which continue to introduce uncertainty and could restrain future growth.

What's Ripe

Pure Storage (PSTG) 32.3% 

• PSTG reported $861 million in revenue, representing a 12.7 % growth and a 1.7% beat on analysts’ expectations.

• Adjusted EPS of $0.43 beat analysts’ expectations of $0.39, representing a beat of 10.9%.

• Lifted full-year revenue guidance to $3.62 billion, up from $3.52 billion, a 2.8% increase.

Snowflake (SNOW) 20.3%

• Snow reported revenue of $1.145 billion, exceeding analysts’ estimates by $50 million. 

• Managements lifted 2026 product revenue guidance to $4.4 billion, up from prior estimates of $4.3 billion.

• To support the solid momentum, the remaining performance obligation rose 33% to $6.9 billion, and net revenue retentions remain robust at 125%.

Affirm Holdings (AFRM) 3.1%

• AFRM revenue rose 33% to $876 million, topping analysts’ estimate of  $837 million with an EPS of $0.20. 

• Gross merchandise value is up 43% to $10.4 billion from last quarter’s $8.6 billion.

What's Rotten

Hormel Foods (HRL) 13.1%

• Hormel Foods' stock tumbled after EPS of $0.35 missed 15% from analysts’ estimate of $0.41.

• Revenue guidance for the 3rd quarter is also at $3.2 billion, below the analyst estimate of $3.25 billion.

Gap Inc. (GAP) 2.8%

• GAP had a sharp decline after missing revenue expectations by $1 million to $3.73 billion. 

• Despite a revenue miss, EPS beat $0.02 from analysts’ expectation of $0.55.

• Management also warned about a possible impact of $150 to $175 million from tariffs, up from $100 million in May, which would drive the full-year margin down to between 6.7% and 7%, from 7.4%.

🧠 Technical Trip

Q&A from Morgan Stanley

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🦈 Deal Dispatch

M&A, IPOs, And Other Notable Transactions

• O&G M&A is “losing steam” after a two-year run.

• Advertising group Dentsu is exploring a sale of its international business.

• AT&T announced a deal to acquire spectrum licences from satellite operator EchoStar for $23 billion.

• UniCredit Expands Stake in Greece’s Alpha Bank to 26%.

• Desjardins Buys Guardian to Create $203 Billion Canada Fund Manager.

• Abu Dhabi National Oil Co. made an offer to acquire Adnoc Technologies for $328 million.

• Ineos Sells Jacket Maker Belstaff to Andy Murray-Backed Castore.

• Temasek Unit, Nexus Ink Deal to Acquire Stakes in Post Advisory.

• Crowdstrike acquires data observatory startup Onum for $290 million.

Banana Brain Teaser

Previous

If y is the smallest positive integer such that 3,150 multiplied by y is the square of an integer, then y must be?

Answer: 14

Today

A club collected exactly $599 from its members. If each member contributed at least $12, what is the greatest number the club could have?

How Would You Rate Today's Peel?

Happy Investing,
Chris, Vyom, Ankit, Colin, & Patrick

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