Key Markets & Headlines — Thursday, July 23, 2026

Daily market briefing for 2026-07-23.

What is Key Markets & Headlines?

Key Markets & Headlines

Key markets and headlines for today.

The most market-moving story this morning is the escalating tension in the Middle East, where the Iran-backed Houthi group has claimed responsibility for its first attacks on commercial ships in recent months. The Houthis targeted two Saudi Arabian oil tankers in the Red Sea using missiles and drones. The Saudi government confirmed an attack on one refined-products tanker, while the British navy reported a strike near the Saudi town of Al Shuqaiq. The Houthis named the second vessel as Layla, a crude-oil carrier. While it’s still unclear if the ships sustained significant damage, the incident has already started to disrupt maritime activity in a vital global energy corridor. Some vessels are now avoiding the Bab el-Mandeb strait at the southern end of the Red Sea, and oil prices are surging. Brent crude jumped three point eight percent on Thursday, nearing ninety-eight dollars a barrel. That’s a gain of roughly thirty percent since July tenth, when the latest US-Iran flare-up began. This comes on the heels of Iran’s earlier move to shut down the Strait of Hormuz, further tightening global energy supply and rattling both commodity and bond markets.

Turning to equities and corporate news, let’s start with the technology sector, where capital spending and artificial intelligence continue to dominate headlines.

Alphabet, the parent company of Google, has raised its capital spending forecast for the year to as much as two hundred five billion dollars, up from a previous projection of one hundred ninety billion. This aggressive increase has reignited concerns about fiscal discipline as the company races to dominate artificial intelligence. Alphabet’s quarterly cash flow turned negative for the first time since going public more than two decades ago, highlighting the scale of its investments. On the revenue side, Alphabet’s cloud business delivered twenty-four point seven seven billion dollars for the quarter, up eighty-two percent year-over-year and ahead of analyst expectations. The company’s cloud backlog, which measures contracted work not yet recognized as revenue, climbed to five hundred fourteen billion dollars. Search advertising, however, generated sixty-three point two seven billion in sales, falling just short of estimates. YouTube continues to be a bright spot, with eleven point one billion in revenue, beating forecasts as the platform expands across connected TVs and rolls out new AI-powered tools. Alphabet’s investment portfolio also provided a significant boost, with gains totaling nearly one hundred billion dollars for the quarter, sending net income soaring. Despite these positives, shares fell about four percent in premarket trading, as investors weighed the ballooning capital expenditures.

Tesla also finds itself under pressure after reporting a sharp drop in profit, despite a strong quarter for its automotive business. The company’s spending on artificial intelligence and robotics initiatives surged to five point eight billion dollars in the second quarter, resulting in Tesla’s first cash burn in two years. Capital expenditures are expected to exceed twenty-five billion dollars this year, with CEO Elon Musk indicating even larger outlays ahead. Adjusted earnings fell to thirty-three cents a share, well below the fifty-one cent average estimate. Tesla also reported negative free cash flow of one point zero nine billion dollars. Revenue, however, came in at twenty-eight point two billion, beating market expectations. The company sold more than four hundred eighty thousand vehicles in the quarter, above forecasts, and subscriptions for Full Self-Driving software rose to nearly one point five million, up fifty-six percent from a year earlier. Shares were down about five percent in pre-market trading as investors digested the mixed results and the company’s ongoing pivot toward AI and robotics.

OpenAI has announced plans to spend seven hundred fifty billion dollars on infrastructure through the end of the decade, a figure that’s twenty-five percent higher than previously estimated. The first phase of this investment will be a twenty billion dollar data center campus in Georgia, known as Project Camellia. The campus will span fourteen hundred acres northwest of Savannah and is expected to draw at least three point two gigawatts of power, with generating capacity coming online between twenty twenty-eight and twenty thirty-two. This renewed spending blitz comes as OpenAI’s Stargate data center project appears to have stalled.

Meanwhile, OpenAI President Greg Brockman acknowledged that Chinese AI company Moonshot had developed a competitive new artificial intelligence model, the Kimi K3, and said it’s too early to determine whether Moonshot may have illicitly extracted results from OpenAI’s models to improve its own. The White House has accused Moonshot of improperly using US AI models and Nvidia chips to build the Kimi K3 system, which stunned the tech industry last week with its advanced capabilities. According to US officials, Moonshot acquired GB300-equipped servers and accessed them in Thailand, likely to train its AI models, potentially violating US export controls and company terms of service. The Blackwell generation of Nvidia products, which includes the GB300, is specifically barred from sale to Chinese companies. The US Bureau of Industry and Security continues to restrict the sale of advanced processors to Chinese firms, and officials are now investigating whether some companies exploited loopholes to ship these chips to subsidiaries of Chinese firms outside China. Moonshot’s Kimi K3 model is said to outperform all rivals except for Anthropic’s Claude Fable 5 and OpenAI’s GPT-5.6 on overall capability.

In other AI news, Travis Kalanick’s robotics company, Atoms, has raised one point seven billion dollars in a funding round led by Andreessen Horowitz. Ben Horowitz will join the company’s board, and Uber also participated in the round, reconnecting Kalanick with the company he founded. Atoms is a rebranded holding company built atop Kalanick’s previous project, Cloud Kitchens, and has recently acquired Pronto, a heavy industry automation company. Kalanick has expressed ambitions to expand into mining, going beyond Pronto’s current focus on vehicles.

Humanoid, a London-based robotics company, has raised one hundred fifty-two million dollars in Series A funding at a one point four billion dollar valuation. The round was led by Prime Movers Lab, with participation from Schaeffler, Bosch, Fubon Financial Holding Venture Capital, and Aglaé Ventures.

In the payments and fintech space, Stripe delivered a strong acceleration in twenty twenty-five, with revenue rising about thirty-three percent to six point eight billion dollars—its fastest growth since twenty twenty-one. Free cash flow increased even faster, up fifty-two percent to three point two billion. The company maintained momentum into twenty twenty-six, generating roughly two billion in revenue in the first quarter alone. Stripe is working to reduce reliance on core payments processing by expanding into adjacent products and services, signaling a broader platform push to diversify revenue streams and deepen customer relationships.

Augustus, the company building the Global Dollar Bank, announced a one hundred eighty million dollar Series B round at a one billion dollar valuation. The round was led by Tiger Global, with participation from Hummingbird, QED, and the founders of Nubank, Ramp, Circle, and Deel. Augustus plans to use the capital to expand its mission of dollarizing the world, giving financial institutions in Latin America, Southeast Asia, the Middle East, and Africa direct access to dollar accounts and rails through a modern, federally chartered bank.

Chime is adding an investment product to its app, allowing users to buy stocks and exchange-traded funds commission-free. Customers can also let Chime partner Atomic Invest create a portfolio tailored to their goals and risk profile, with no account balance minimum and no fees for Chime Prime members. The company says the goal is to make it easier for users to turn saving into investing and build long-term wealth.

In venture capital, Khosla Ventures is in discussions to raise as much as five point five billion dollars for its latest set of investment funds, which would be its largest fundraising event in two decades. The firm plans to dedicate a majority of the capital to very early-stage startups, with around one billion for seed-stage companies, two billion for early-stage ventures, and two point five billion for its opportunity fund focused on more mature startups.

On the corporate earnings front, Comcast reported results that beat analysts’ estimates, buoyed by the first-ever quarterly profitability at its Peacock streaming platform and a string of Hollywood hits. Second-quarter profit was one dollar and four cents a share, excluding some costs, well ahead of the ninety-seven cent average forecast. Adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization fell thirteen point four percent to eight point nine billion dollars, but still beat expectations. Comcast added four hundred forty-eight thousand new mobile lines, reaching ten million wireless customers for the first time. Broadband and video continued to lose subscribers, with a drop of one hundred sixty-seven thousand domestic residential broadband customers—slightly worse than anticipated. Peacock attracted two million new subscribers, bringing the total to forty-eight million, and reported adjusted EBITDA of one hundred eighty-nine million dollars, a significant improvement from a loss of one hundred one million a year earlier. Peacock revenue surged fifty-four percent to one point nine billion. Comcast’s theme parks division saw EBITDA fall five point one percent year-over-year to six hundred nine million, below analyst projections, as higher travel costs dampened attendance.

T-Mobile US reported growth in wireless accounts during the second quarter that beat analysts’ estimates, continuing its winning streak. The company saw two hundred seventy-seven thousand net account additions, down thirteen percent from a year earlier but still above Wall Street projections. Sales rose nearly eight percent year-over-year to twenty-two point eight billion dollars, just shy of estimates. Total service revenue rose nine percent to nineteen billion, and earnings per share were two dollars and ninety-nine cents, a five percent increase. Adjusted EBITDA came in at nine point five four billion, slightly ahead of expectations. T-Mobile raised its twenty twenty-six guidance on net cash and adjusted free cash flow, while reiterating the rest of its outlook for the year.

ServiceNow reported better-than-expected quarterly sales and bookings, boosting hopes that its new AI tools will spur growth. Subscription revenue increased about twenty-five percent to three point eight eight billion dollars, and current remaining performance obligations jumped twenty-one percent to thirteen point two billion. Both measures exceeded analyst estimates. The company said new AI business continues to outpace expectations, and it now has more than one billion dollars in annual contract value for its AI offerings. ServiceNow ended the quarter with six hundred fifty-eight customers with more than five million dollars in annual contract value, up from six hundred thirty in the previous period. The company slightly increased its full-year outlook for subscription revenue growth to almost twenty-three percent. Shares rose about four percent in extended trading, though the stock is still down thirty-eight percent for the year.

Nike is ending online sales agreements with potentially hundreds of distributors in China as part of a sweeping effort to revive flagging sales in the region. The company plans to turn off or close digital storefronts beginning in January, with some exceptions for licensee partners. Nike currently has more than one thousand online sellers in China and said the proliferation of digital storefronts has created an overly complex and fragmented consumer experience. China has been a persistent challenge for Nike, with revenue in Greater China falling for the last two years, even as the company sees progress in North America and robust demand in its running business.

Samsung Electronics has revamped its foldable phone lineup, introducing a new entertainment-focused model that will compete with Apple’s imminent entry into the market. Samsung is now offering three models: the twelve hundred dollar Galaxy Z Flip 8, the nineteen hundred dollar Z Fold 8, and the twenty-one hundred dollar Z Fold 8 Ultra. The mid-tier Fold 8 features a shorter and wider style, aimed at consumers who prioritize watching video, reading, and gaming. By launching in late July, Samsung is getting a head start on Apple, which is expected to unveil its first folding iPhone in September.

Apple is preparing a major overhaul of its Mac line, aiming to capitalize on demand for powerful laptops and desktops driven by the artificial intelligence boom. The company plans to debut new versions of every Mac it sells, including long-awaited updates to its desktop computers and several laptops, as well as a revamped MacBook Pro, starting this fall and continuing into next year. The refresh will begin with a new low-end fourteen-inch MacBook Pro featuring the new M6 chip, and the first new iMacs in two years. The most notable upcoming model is a high-end fourteen-inch and sixteen-inch MacBook with a fresh design and a touch screen using OLED display technology—both firsts for the Mac.

Amazon is under investigation by the Senate Small Business Committee for allegedly allowing Chinese influence over its online marketplace. The committee staff have reportedly found compelling evidence of negligence related to Chinese influence, though no specific evidence has been cited publicly. This investigation adds to Amazon’s ongoing regulatory challenges, including allegations of antitrust violations and deceptive business practices, which the company has denied. The new probe expands scrutiny of Amazon’s e-commerce business beyond its home market.

Uber announced it has cut ten percent of jobs within its customer service operations as part of a broader effort to simplify its ranks and embrace artificial intelligence. The company said the cuts are part of a move to simplify operations, strengthen in-person collaboration, and continue to integrate AI. Employees working remotely for the team were also asked to relocate to a hub office, in line with Uber’s return-to-office mandate. In June, Uber cut twenty-three percent of its people division, representing less than one percent of its global workforce, after a new president took over.

Monday.com is planning to cut twenty percent of its workforce, according to a recent filing. The layoffs are intended to align the company with its strategic focus on the AI Work Platform. Monday joins a growing list of companies citing AI as a reason for layoffs, including Snap and Block. The company says it will continue hiring in areas of focus, though it’s not immediately clear how many workers will be affected. Monday.com had three thousand one hundred fifty-five employees as of its twenty twenty-five annual report. The stock has slumped roughly seventy-five percent in the last year.

Progress Software announced it will acquire substantially all of the assets and assume certain liabilities of Domo in an all-cash four hundred million dollar deal. The acquisition includes Domo’s AI and products platform and is expected to expand Progress’ AI and data platform offerings, adding Domo’s cloud-based data integration, analytics, and AI capabilities, along with more than two thousand four hundred business customers. The deal is expected to close before the end of Progress’ fiscal year, pending regulatory approvals.

Guidewire received a Buy rating and a one hundred eighty dollar price target from Guggenheim, representing twenty-six percent upside potential. The analyst noted that Guidewire has successfully branched out to other parts of the insurance value chain, including policy administration and billing, and sees more opportunity than threat from AI for the company. Guggenheim believes Guidewire will meet or exceed its near- and long-term targets and remain a durable high-teens grower for the next few years.

Samsara also received a Buy rating from Guggenheim, with a forty-five dollar price target, implying twenty-four percent upside. The firm believes that AI benefits Samsara’s asset-based pricing model, bringing the company’s prior investments in AI and machine learning to the forefront as enterprises seek practical AI use cases with demonstrable return on investment. Guggenheim also sees Samsara as having a considerable moat against AI obsolescence.

Shutterstock announced that its Board of Directors has suspended the company’s future quarterly cash dividend. The decision reflects an ongoing review of capital-allocation priorities, with a focus on reducing debt, minimizing interest expense, and strengthening financial flexibility. The Board will continue to evaluate capital allocation as part of its regular governance process, and any future dividend payments will depend on the company’s financial condition and other relevant factors.

Sweetgreen and Chipotle shares fell sharply after the US Food and Drug Administration announced it is investigating another outbreak of the cyclospora parasite, with seventy-two cases tied to an unknown source. The latest infections add to a surge of cases centered in the Midwest, previously linked to Taylor Farms lettuce. While neither Sweetgreen nor Chipotle has been linked to outbreaks to date, the news has spooked investors, with Sweetgreen shares down more than thirteen percent and Chipotle falling more than four percent.

Sony Pictures Entertainment plans to reopen and restore the iconic Cinerama Dome in Los Angeles after a six-year shutdown that began during the pandemic. Renovations will begin in August and run through early twenty twenty-eight. The refurbished theater will feature additional programming, including repertory screenings, filmmaker series, premieres, and special events, while preserving the historic legacy and branding of the Cinerama Dome.

Penske and Mitsui have proposed to buy out Penske Automotive Group in a deal that could be worth three point seven eight billion dollars. The offer is two hundred ten dollars a share to take the auto dealership chain private. The two investors already own nearly seventy-three percent of Penske Automotive’s stock and plan to remain long-term shareholders regardless of the outcome. The proposal is currently under consideration by the board and is non-binding.

Dassault Systèmes announced it will acquire drug trial software maker ArisGlobal for up to two billion dollars, as the French firm expands its push into life sciences. Dassault will pay one point eight billion in cash, with an additional two hundred million linked to AI-related revenue milestones. The deal is the company’s first major acquisition since a leadership shakeup earlier this year and is expected to add expertise in systems to manage evidence in drug trials and meet regulatory standards.

Nestle shares fell as much as seven point three percent on Thursday, the worst drop since twenty twenty, after the company reported weaker volumes in North America. Real internal growth, a key metric of sales volumes, turned negative in North America last quarter, disappointing shareholders who had hoped for a turnaround under new CEO Philipp Navratil. Nestle also announced the sale of half its water business, including Perrier and S.Pellegrino, to Platinum Equity for three billion euros in cash. The deal will create a fifty-fifty joint venture called Peranel, with an enterprise value of four point nine billion euros.

Turning to macro and policy developments, China has resumed issuing robotaxi permits after a high-profile incident involving self-driving vehicles led authorities to suspend new licenses in April. The resumption is happening gradually in some cities following an industry-wide safety review. The move signals that the Chinese government is once again prioritizing cutting-edge technologies as it competes with the US for leadership in the future of transportation.

In the US bond market, the thirty-year Treasury yield has held above five percent for the longest stretch since the dawn of the financial crisis, reflecting investor concerns about a growing national debt and persistent inflation. As of Wednesday, the thirty-year has traded above five percent for twenty-seven days in twenty twenty-six, including the last twelve days in a row. That’s the most days and the longest consecutive run since two thousand seven, when it traded above that level for fifty days. Unlike two thousand seven, however, the Federal Reserve’s benchmark rate is one hundred fifty basis points lower today, suggesting investors are demanding even more compensation for holding long-dated Treasuries. The sustained rise in yields is being driven by concerns over fiscal deterioration and a surge in debt issuance to fund artificial intelligence infrastructure, drawing comparisons to the era of “bond vigilantes” in the nineteen eighties.

The US and Saudi Arabia have finalized a long-sought nuclear technology-sharing deal that could allow American companies to build reactors in the kingdom, while also opening the door for Saudi Arabia to enrich its own nuclear reactor fuel. The agreement breaks from previous US nuclear sharing deals, which have expressly barred uranium enrichment. This policy shift has raised alarms among nuclear nonproliferation experts and some members of Congress, who fear it could allow Saudi Arabia to produce weapons-grade material. The deal, worth tens of billions of dollars, allows American companies to build a uranium enrichment facility in Saudi Arabia if a joint study determines it’s necessary.

In South Korea, labor unions are rallying across the country after Samsung Electronics agreed to hand out bonuses of more than four hundred thousand dollars to some employees. Assembly-line workers at Hyundai Motor plan a three-day partial strike next week, seeking up to thirty percent of consolidated profit to be set aside for bonuses. Unions at other major companies, including HD Hyundai Heavy Industries, LG Uplus, Hanwha Aerospace, and HD Hyundai Electric, are also demanding higher payouts or the removal of bonus caps. In tech, thousands of employees at Kakao went on strike for the first time last month, demanding up to fifteen percent of operating profit for bonuses. The union at Naver is forming a coalition with affiliates to strengthen bargaining power. The expanded union influence is already creating financial challenges for some companies, with the Hyundai work stoppage alone estimated to cost more than thirteen million dollars an hour.

In New York City, Mayor Zohran Mamdani has appointed former Federal Trade Commission head Lina Khan as board chair of the city’s economic development corporation. Khan, who led the FTC under President Joe Biden, is known for her tough approach to antitrust enforcement and consumer protection. She spearheaded a lawsuit against Amazon, alleging the company was illegally maintaining monopoly power, and successfully challenged the merger between Kroger and Albertsons. Khan’s appointment signals a continued focus on corporate accountability and competition in the nation’s largest city.

In event-driven news, the Thailand-based owners of Leicester City Football Club are considering a sale of the team. King Power International Group, Thailand’s largest duty-free shop operator, has hired Citigroup to manage the process. Leicester City posted a loss of seventy-one point one million pounds, or ninety-five point two million dollars, and revenue of one hundred eighty-six point five million pounds during the season they were relegated from the Premier League.

Paramount Skydance’s one hundred ten billion dollar takeover of Warner Bros. Discovery has won conditional approval from the European Union. The European Commission said the deal no longer raises competition concerns after Paramount agreed to end a longstanding distribution agreement with Universal Pictures in Europe. Paramount has thirteen months from the closing of the deal to pull out of the Universal accord. The approval is a positive step for the deal, though it still faces a high-stakes US lawsuit.

Progress Software’s acquisition of Domo, as mentioned earlier, is expected to expand Progress’ enterprise AI software portfolio, helping customers integrate, govern, and prepare data for AI applications.

Looking at the broader market, there are a few notable trends and data points. In equities, there’s growing concern that companies closest to final demand are starting to roll over, even as capital spending beneficiaries of the current boom cycle continue to thrive. Profit guidance momentum has climbed to record levels, with more companies raising their outlook than maintaining or cutting it.

In crypto, there’s a little bit of life from bitcoin, but the asset remains in a downtrend.

On the commodities front, the US strategic petroleum reserve has dropped below the Biden-era trough and is now approaching its lowest level since nineteen eighty-three, adding further pressure to already tight oil markets.

That wraps up today’s key markets and headlines. Thanks for listening.