Hi there, this is your daily ☕️ Finpresso.
In today's newsletter:
⚖️ Supreme Court blocks Trump from firing Lisa Cook
📺 Comcast spins off NBCUniversal, stock soars 24%
🚀 Rocket Lab buys Iridium in $8B SpaceX challenge
💰 JPMorgan unleashes $50B buyback after stress test
₿ Saylor's Strategy may sell $1.25B in Bitcoin
Plus: 🌍 7 macro news, 🏢 5 corporate news, 💰 5 deal flow, and 📑 6 research & reports.
📰 Top News
| ⚖️ Supreme Court blocks Trump from firing Lisa Cook LINK |
- The Supreme Court ruled Monday that President Trump cannot fire Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook for now, a 5-4 decision rejecting his bid to stay a lower court order that blocked her removal while her lawsuit proceeds.
- Chief Justice John Roberts wrote the majority opinion, joined by conservative Brett Kavanaugh and the three liberal justices, while four other conservatives dissented; the court did not decide whether Trump ultimately has power to fire Cook.
- Trump moved to fire Cook nearly nine months ago over a mortgage fraud allegation, but Cook and others believed he was driven by her refusal to back the interest rate cuts he demanded, with Kavanaugh warning such firings could "shatter" Fed independence.
| 📺 Comcast spins off NBCUniversal, stock soars 24% LINK |
- Comcast will separate into two publicly traded companies — one housing NBCUniversal and Sky, the other its broadband and wireless services — sending its shares surging 24% in premarket trading.
- The media company will hold NBCUniversal's theme parks, Universal film and television studios, NBC and Telemundo, Peacock and Bravo, plus Sky, while Comcast keeps residential and business internet services with Comcast shareholders owning stakes in both.
- Co-CEO Mike Cavanagh becomes NBCUniversal CEO and former CFO Michael Angelakis becomes Comcast CEO; the separation, expected in about a year, needs board and regulatory approvals, with Comcast retaining up to 19.9% of NBCUniversal for up to one year.
| 🚀 Rocket Lab buys Iridium in $8B SpaceX challenge LINK |
- Rocket Lab agreed to acquire satellite operator Iridium for $54 per share, an $8 billion deal that positions the launch company as a fuller-fledged space services provider and extends a wave of industry consolidation against SpaceX.
- The acquisition, which has not yet closed, gives Rocket Lab dozens of Iridium satellites in orbit plus a bundle of valuable spectrum it plans to "build upon" to scale into untapped markets and offer new space-based services.
- Iridium is one of several Rocket Lab purchases this year, following space robotics firm Motiv in May, laser communications provider Mynaric in April, and a precision component manufacturer in February, after buying defense contractor Geost last year.
| 💰 JPMorgan unleashes $50B buyback after stress test LINK |
- JPMorgan authorized a $50 billion share repurchase program effective July 1 with no set expiration, alongside a 10% quarterly dividend increase to $1.65 per share, after clearing the Federal Reserve's 2026 stress test.
- The bank entered the test with a 14.6% common equity tier 1 ratio and posted a 12.6% minimum under a scenario featuring a 58% stock drop, 10% unemployment, and over $708 billion in industry-wide projected losses.
- At JPMorgan's roughly $333 close and $900 billion market cap, the dividend yields about 2% versus the S&P 500's 1.1%, with the next earnings report on July 14 to clarify how capital returns fit management's strategy.
| ₿ Saylor's Strategy may sell $1.25B in Bitcoin LINK |
- Michael Saylor's Strategy authorized selling up to $1.25 billion of Bitcoin to rebuild its dollar reserve, formally abandoning its never-sell stance as the world's largest corporate holder of the cryptocurrency, which owns 847,363 BTC.
- MSTR rose more than 7% to $88.81 and STRC climbed more than 9% to $81.45 after Strategy lifted the STRC preferred dividend to 12% from 11.5% and set a $2.55 billion reserve covering 17.4 months of obligations.
- The position is roughly $14 billion underwater against an average cost near $75,646 with Bitcoin at $59,427, down 0.9% in 24 hours and more than 18% over the past month, as STRC trades well below its $100 par.
🌍 Macro News
- UK's FCA finalized crypto rules ahead of October authorization deadline. LINK
- FCC expanded its import ban on Chinese telecom equipment next month. LINK
- EU and China launched three-month trade talks to reduce a €360bn imbalance. LINK
- JPMorgan's Kinexys blockchain platform surpassed $4 trillion in cumulative transactions. LINK
- ECB's Lagarde called for abandoning unconventional policy tools at Sintra. LINK
- India plans strategic energy reserves covering one month of domestic demand. LINK
- Swiss National Bank spent $4.8 billion in Q1 to slow franc appreciation. LINK
🏢 Corporate News
- Taiwan raided Super Micro's office over alleged Nvidia chip smuggling to China. LINK
- Waymo and Uber ended their Phoenix robotaxi partnership roughly a month ago. LINK
- BNY will support Circle's USDC on its institutional digital asset custody platform. LINK
- Australia's ACCC sued Amazon over unfair Prime subscription contract terms. LINK
- Meituan open-sourced China's first trillion-parameter AI model built on domestic chips. LINK
📈 Stocks
💰 Deal Flow
- Ardian plans to invest over €3 billion in Nordic data centers. LINK
- Apple supplier Luxshare seeks $3.1 billion in a Hong Kong share sale. LINK
- Chamath Palihapitiya raised $135 million for AI coding startup 8090 Labs. LINK
- Goldman Sachs led a $110 million round in AI decision-automation startup Taktile. LINK
- Martin Marietta agreed to acquire Lhoist North America for $13.5 billion. LINK
📑 Research & Reports
- Bernstein sees prediction-market operators Kalshi and Polymarket as likely M&A targets. LINK
- JPMorgan executives warned Congress that yield-bearing stablecoins risk becoming shadow banking. LINK
- Global AI spending is forecast at $2.59 trillion this year, up 47%. LINK
- Venture capital on June 29 favored AI infrastructure over AI model development. LINK
- Bank of America warned the S&P 500 faces a three-wave correction this quarter. LINK
- U.S. private equity is pulling back from large software platform deals amid AI fears. LINK