A TON OF THINGS HAPPENED IN THE STOCK MARKET TODAY.
Here's a full recap:1. The Fed held rates steady, as expected, but the decision came with 3 dissents in favor of a 25 bps hike from Cleveland Fed President Beth Hammack, Minneapolis Fed President Neel Kashkari, and Dallas Fed President Lorie Logan. Fed Chair Warsh said the move should not be viewed as a “pause,” arguing that markets have already made their judgment and the Fed now has 7–8 weeks of incoming data to assess. He said the June core CPI print did not materially change the decision, with the broader inflation trend now mattering more. Warsh also said the Fed is doing well on the employment mandate, though the AI-driven capex surge makes it harder to judge aggregate supply and demand.2. Meta $Meta Platforms(META.US) reported Q2 2026 revenue of $60.8B, up 28% YoY, with advertising revenue rising 27% YoY to $59.4B. EPS fell 13% YoY to $6.18, while Reality Labs posted an operating loss of $4.62B. Daily active people increased 3% YoY to 3.60B, and Meta guided Q3 revenue to $61B–$64B. The stock is under pressure as investors focus on the EPS miss and continued AI infrastructure spending, with FY26 capex now expected at $130B–$145B. CEO Mark Zuckerberg said AI is already accelerating Meta’s core business, powering new products, and opening up new enterprise opportunities.3. Robinhood $Robinhood(HOOD.US) delivered an exceptional Q2 2026, with revenue up 32% YoY to $1.31B, net income up 48% YoY to $573M, and adjusted EBITDA up 35% YoY to $741M. Transaction-based revenue grew 44% YoY to $776M, while total platform assets rose 32% YoY to $369B. Net deposits hit an all-time high of $21.7B, with $3B already in Robinhood Banking. Gold subscribers increased 39% YoY to 4.8M, with a record 17% attach rate, while ARPU rose 24% YoY to $187. Robinhood also bought back 4.4M shares in the quarter, lowered expense guidance, now has 13 business lines doing $100M+ ARR, and its Gold Card has reached 1M holders with $17B of annualized spend.4. Retail investors sold a net $243M of single stocks yesterday, marking the largest one-day outflow since the COVID crash, according to Vanda Research.5. Microsoft $Microsoft(MSFT.US) reported Q2 2026 revenue of $90.0B, adjusted EPS of $4.74, and operating income of $40.6B. Azure and other cloud revenue grew 43% YoY, while Microsoft Cloud revenue reached $59.3B and Intelligent Cloud revenue came in at $39.3B. Capex was $35.8B, reflecting continued AI infrastructure investment. CEO Satya Nadella said Azure revenue surpassed $100B for the first time this year, while Microsoft 365 Copilot reached more than 30M paid seats, showing growing enterprise adoption of Microsoft’s AI stack.6. OpenAI CFO Sarah Friar and board chair Bret Taylor reportedly addressed employees in an internal meeting on Wednesday, with Friar telling staff that July annualized recurring revenue was already higher than the entire Q2 level. The update appears aimed at reassuring employees that OpenAI’s business remains healthy as competition intensifies from Anthropic and a growing wave of open-source AI players.7. SpaceX $SpaceX(SPCX.US) is reportedly weighing acquisitions or a bid in the FCC’s July 2027 Upper C-band auction to secure terrestrial spectrum, per Semafor. The company is looking for airwaves that perform better in cities and dense areas, which could help Starlink compete more directly with $AT & T(T.US) AT&T, $Verizon(VZ.US) Verizon, and $AT & T(T.US)MUS T-Mobile. SpaceX has already bought $17B of EchoStar spectrum licenses, though its latest spectrum strategy remains fluid.8. The top 10 most active options today by contracts traded were $NVIDIA(NVDA.US) with 3.8M contracts, $AT & T(T.US)SLA with 2.3M contracts, $Apple(AAPL.US) with 1.7M contracts, $Micron Tech(MU.US) with 1.2M contracts, $Intel(INTC.US) with 905K contracts, $SoFi Tech(SOFI.US) with 802K contracts, $AMD(AMD.US) with 654K contracts, $Amazon(AMZN.US) with 631K contracts, $SpaceX(SPCX.US) with 615K contracts, and $Alphabet(GOOGL.US) with 582K contracts.9. JPMorgan says Korea’s equity market has gone through an intense deleveraging phase since mid-June, with the KOSPI now down nearly 40% from its June 22 peak. The firm says the selloff was amplified by leveraged ETF flows and hedge fund positioning unwind, but now believes the leveraged ETF unwind is complete and hedge funds are roughly 90% done deleveraging. While some residual selling may continue and investors remain cautious ahead of the FOMC and hyperscaler earnings, JPMorgan says Korea’s positioning setup now looks attractive on balance, supported by cheap valuations and earnings momentum.10. U.S. senators are warning Apple $Apple(AAPL.US) against using Chinese memory chips from CXMT or YMTC, even for devices sold only in China. Lawmakers led by Jim Banks and Chuck Schumer urged Apple to abandon the talks, noting both chipmakers are on a Pentagon list of Chinese military companies, while YMTC is also on the Commerce Department’s Entity List. Senators warned that Apple qualifying the chips could pave the way for broader use later, and asked Apple to commit by August 21 not to use them while disclosing any technical information already shared. The pressure comes as the global memory market remains tight, with potential read-throughs for $Micron Tech(MU.US), $Sandisk(SNDK.US), and $SK Hynix(SKHY.US).11. Meta $Meta Platforms(META.US) is not giving specific 2027 CapEx guidance, saying infrastructure planning remains highly dynamic as it builds for maximum capacity in 2026 and 2027, while keeping room to expand in 2028 and beyond. On AI, Meta said it is optimistic about meaningful growth across its AI businesses and expects to share more soon. The company also said it has received multiple offers to monetize its compute at a meaningful premium to cost, but believes selling intelligence will carry significantly higher margins than selling compute directly.12. Korea’s government announced an emergency market meeting after the recent equity-market selloff, with the finance ministry also launching a 24-hour market monitoring system. The measures include new restrictions on leveraged ETF trading and caps on retail exposure to these products. Korean stocks have bounced on the news as policymakers move to stabilize markets.I know it's very ugly out there. We all are going through it. It is the greatest show on earth for the reason: you just don't know what's going to happen next. Earnings are amazing so the selloff feels more structural and rooted in deleveraging/bad sentiment around AI vs the entire AI trade itself not being real or having strong fundamentals. Some valuations really got aggressive and the unwind has taken everything down along with the war being a really ugly headwind for the entire market. Stay strong, make sure you aren't too levered, and remember that the broader markets have seen worse and will persist through this. WALL STREET IS THE GREATEST SHOW ON EARTH.Source: amit
