Hi there, this is your daily ☕️ Finpresso.
In today's newsletter:
📉 Microsoft jumps 8% as Meta sinks 10%
💾 Samsung posts record profit on AI chips
🏦 Fed holds rates as 3 dissenters push hike
📱 Qualcomm to raise chip prices amid memory crunch
🤖 China threatens retaliation over US robot ban
Plus: 🌍 10 macro news, 🏢 9 corporate news, 💰 7 deal flow, and 📑 6 research & reports.
| 📉 Microsoft jumps 8% as Meta sinks 10% LINK |
- Microsoft rose 8% after hours while Meta fell 10%, as Microsoft beat forecasts with $4.74 in adjusted earnings per share on $90.01 billion in sales, but Meta missed at $6.18 versus the $7.22 expected.
- Microsoft's revenue climbed 18% to about $90 billion, with annual Azure cloud sales topping $100 billion for the first time and its Microsoft 365 Copilot AI tool reaching 30 million paid subscribers.
- Meta's costs jumped 55% to $42.03 billion (including $2.40 billion in legal fees and $1.18 billion in layoff-related severance) squeezing profit to $15.85 billion and cutting free cash flow to just $784 million.
| 💾 Samsung posts record profit on AI chips LINK |
- Samsung posted record quarterly operating profit of KRW 89.5 trillion, driven almost entirely by memory chips for AI data centers, with revenue up 28% from the prior quarter to KRW 171.5 trillion.
- The memory-heavy Device Solutions division generated KRW 89.2 trillion of that operating profit, while the mobile and networks unit swung to a KRW 0.7 trillion operating loss on rising material costs, lifting earnings per share 52% to KRW 10,849.
- The gains echo record quarters at SK hynix and Micron, but Samsung warns memory shortages will persist into the second half, with TrendForce seeing DRAM contract prices up 58%-63% and NAND up 70%-75% as AI servers absorb supply once bound for phones and PCs.
| 🏦 Fed holds rates as 3 dissenters push hike LINK |
- The Federal Reserve held its benchmark rate near 3.6% for a fifth straight meeting in a 9-3 vote, with three regional bank presidents dissenting in favor of a quarter-point hike as inflation stays elevated.
- The hold reflects a bind for policymakers: the Iran war briefly pushed oil past $100 a barrel and has left crude $10 to $15 higher than a year ago, keeping inflation stuck above the Fed's 2% target for more than five years.
- Traders now see the Fed acting next: 76% expect a September rate hike, up from 59% a month ago, as new Chair Kevin Warsh signals "no tolerance" for high inflation despite Trump's pressure to cut instead.
| 📱 Qualcomm to raise chip prices amid memory crunch LINK |
- Qualcomm will raise prices across its chip lineup starting September 1 to protect profit margins, as CEO Cristiano Amon cited rising costs from an industry-wide crunch in memory and other computer parts.
- The chipmaker guided to current-quarter adjusted earnings of $2.05 to $2.25 per share on $9.7 billion to $10.5 billion in revenue, below analysts' expectations of $2.36 per share on $10.02 billion.
- Handset chips, still Qualcomm's largest business, brought in $5.1 billion, down 20% from a year earlier, though the company hopes to shift 60% of revenue to cars, smart glasses and robots next year.
| 🤖 China threatens retaliation over US robot ban LINK |
- China's commerce ministry threatened countermeasures on Thursday and demanded the US reverse an FCC decision restricting imports of foreign-made humanoid robots, calling the move a threat to trade stability.
- The FCC's Tuesday ban, justified on cybersecurity grounds, hit Chinese producers who lead the market, Agibot, Unitree and UBTech held the top three spots by installed share last year, with Hong Kong-listed UBTech shares briefly falling more than 6%.
- Analysts warned Beijing could retaliate by curbing rare-earth exports or restricting US firms like Tesla and Nvidia, a risk that clouds planned IPOs from Unitree and Agibot ahead of a September Trump-Xi meeting.
🌍 Macro News
- Oil prices fell about 1% despite intensifying U.S.-Iran strikes. LINK
- Military threats at key maritime chokepoints now endanger global sea trade. LINK
- Saudi Arabia's economy shrank 4.8% in Q2 as oil exports fell. LINK
- Bank of England likely holds rates at 3.75% for fifth straight time. LINK
- Report urges South Korea to fast-track temporary stablecoin licensing rules. LINK
- US agency pledges $4.84 million to Madagascar rare earths mine. LINK
- US picks five states as candidates for nuclear fuel innovation hubs. LINK
- US crude stockpiles fell 7.2 million barrels as refiners ran flat out. LINK
- Japan's Eneos bought its first Canadian crude cargo since 2025. LINK
- Glencore expects $3.3 billion trading profit from volatile Iran-war oil prices. LINK
🏢 Corporate News
- NextEra, Brookfield plan $100 billion Kentucky data center on old uranium site. LINK
- Microsoft's quarterly results beat forecasts on strong cloud and AI demand. LINK
- Robinhood posted record quarterly revenue of $1.31 billion, beating estimates. LINK
- OpenAI's July revenue alone topped its entire second-quarter total, CFO says. LINK
- BNY is moving its $8.6 trillion transfer agency business onto blockchain. LINK
- Shell's quarterly profit hit a four-year high on higher oil prices. LINK
- BMW plans to cut up to 8,000 German jobs to save costs. LINK
- Rolls-Royce raised full-year profit guidance on defense and AI data demand. LINK
- SoFi posted record quarterly revenue of $1.2 billion, up 43%. LINK
📈 Stocks
💰 Deal Flow
- CBIZ shares surged after Grant Thornton's $5 billion buyout offer. LINK
- Uber will invest $1.2 billion in Rivian and buy its robotaxis. LINK
- Cyera to buy Oasis Security for about $1 billion in AI security push. LINK
- BlackRock-backed Influence Media to buy Anthem Entertainment assets for $600 million. LINK
- Swiss startup AI Infrastructure Capital launches with €16 million to rent GPUs. LINK
- ChipAgents raised $134 million more, backed by Micron and MediaTek. LINK
- InvestiFi raised $20 million to help banks offer in-app investing. LINK
📑 Research & Reports
- Data center construction is shifting toward factory-built, modular designs. LINK
- Credit-default swap costs rise as AI giants finance data centers off-balance-sheet. LINK
- Embedded finance is shifting toward industry-specific, tailored money-movement tools. LINK
- Nvidia H100 GPU price quotes vary wildly across rival trackers. LINK
- Crypto hacks cost over $1 billion in first half of 2026. LINK
- Insuring big cloud giants' debt hit record highs amid AI trade jitters. LINK