Meta Enters The Ring

Meta launches an AI chatbot to compete directly with OpenAI and Anthropic.

Author

Ankit Sinha
July 13, 2026

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Market Snapshot

Market News

The Mag Seven Need a Break

U.S. stocks posted a second straight weekly gain, with the S&P 500 (+0.4%) and Nasdaq 100 (+0.3%) edging higher despite renewed U.S.-Iran tensions.

Investors welcomed SK Hynix's record-breaking $26.5 billion U.S. IPO, which surged 13% on debut, while attention shifted to the upcoming earnings season, with analysts forecasting 22% year-over-year S&P 500 earnings growth, the strongest since the post-pandemic recovery.

Beneath the surface, the market remains highly selective. While the S&P 500 sits near record highs, more than half of technology stocks remain 20% below their 52-week highs, underscoring narrow leadership.

Investors are increasingly rotating into industrials, financials, healthcare, and mid-cap stocks, while company-specific news drove moves across the market, including:

  • Meta is outperforming on AI optimism.

  • EasyJet is jumping on a takeover bid.

  • Delta reaffirms guidance.

  • Netflix is slipping on concerns over subscriber engagement.

Peel Take: The rally is starting to look a little healthier. For the past year, it felt like seven tech giants were dragging the entire market uphill, but investors are finally branching out into sectors like financials, industrials, and healthcare. The Magnificent Seven aren't disappearing, they're just getting a little help for a change.

What's Ripe

Meta Platforms Inc. (META) 6.0%

  • Meta climbed 6%, leading the S&P 500 after extending Thursday's 4.7% rally.

  • The gains were fueled by reports that the company plans to rent out excess AI computing capacity and begin manufacturing its in-house AI chips through a partnership with Broadcom, strengthening confidence in its AI strategy.

  • Peel Take: Meta is no longer just building AI; it wants to monetize the infrastructure behind it. By selling spare compute and developing custom chips, the company is creating new revenue streams while reducing its reliance on third-party AI hardware.

Circle Internet Group Inc. (CRCL) 5.0%

  • Circle rose 5% after receiving approval from the U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency to establish a national trust bank for digital assets.

  • The regulatory milestone could accelerate the adoption of its USDC stablecoin by placing it under direct federal oversight.

  • Peel Take: Regulatory approval is becoming cr*pto's biggest catalyst. A federally supervised trust bank gives Circle greater credibility and could help push USDC further into mainstream finance.

What's Rotten

Netflix Inc. (NFLX) 2.8%

  • Netflix fell 2.8% after reports that executives discussed adding live TV channels and streaming bundles to improve engagement.

  • Investors appeared concerned that the move could signal slowing user activity and a shift toward a more traditional, potentially lower-margin media model.

  • Peel Take: Netflix may be trying to become cable before cable becomes Netflix. The strategy could improve engagement, but investors want proof that more content will translate into higher profits, not just more channels.

Intel Corp. (INTC) 2.4%

  • Intel declined 2.4%. Optical fiber and cable maker Corning fell 0.7%, chips-and-networking company Marvell Technology moved 3% lower, and flash memory product supplier Sandisk advanced 3.1%

  • Peel Take: The AI trade is becoming more selective. Investors are no longer buying every AI-related stock; they're picking winners while taking profits elsewhere.

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📊The Daily Poll

Meta has launched a new AI chatbot. Which AI assistant would you be most likely to use?

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Previous Poll:

SK Hynix's U.S. debut sparked a wave of new ETFs. Have you ever invested in an ETF?

Yes, regularly: 43.3% // A few times: 10.8% // Not yet, but interested: 18.9% // No: 27.0%

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Banana Brain Teaser

Previous

A certain characteristic in a large population has a distribution that is symmetric about the mean m. If 68 percent of the distribution lies within one standard deviation d of the mean, what percent of the distribution is less than m + d?

Answer: 84%

Today

Each year for 4 years, a farmer increased the number of trees in a certain orchard by 1/4 of the number of trees in the orchard the preceding year. If all of the trees thrived and there were 6,250 trees in the orchard at the end of the 4-year period, how many trees were in the orchard at the beginning of the 4-year period?

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Chris, Ankit, Mitchell, Fernanda, Nick, & Patrick