Wall Street's bulls just got more ammunition. JPMorgan raised its year-end S&P 500 target to 8,000 on Monday, up from 7,800, arguing that this earnings season has finally proven the AI spending boom is paying off rather than just burning cash. The new target implies roughly 3% more upside from Friday's close of 7,757.64 — modest on paper, but notable because it comes from one of the Street's most closely watched strategists.The earnings data backing this call is striking. With 87% of S&P 500 companies having reported, 78% beat analyst estimates, and the average beat came in around 31% ...

Intel just made its boldest capital move of the year. The chipmaker upsized its stock offering to $20 billion at $95 per share on Tuesday, a sharp jump from the $15 billion raise it announced just one day earlier. The move signals just how fast demand for AI computing power is outpacing even aggressive spending plans, and it comes as Intel tries to cement its comeback in the semiconductor race.The numbers tell the story. Intel expects to net $19.7 billion after underwriting costs, money it says will go toward capital expenditures and working capital tied to its AI buildout. Last month the comp...

Energy stocks caught a fresh bid Monday as hopes for reopening the Strait of Hormuz faded, pushing crude oil prices sharply higher and reversing last week's brief relief rally. Brent crude futures jumped 3.3% to $84.64 a barrel, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate climbed 3.1% to $80.63, as Iran continued to demand an end to military threats, sanctions relief, and compensation before agreeing to reopen the critical waterway. The renewed uncertainty erased much of last week's seven percent pullback in both benchmarks, which had briefly given U.S. drivers a break at the pump.The move flowed strai...

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing just delivered the clearest proof yet that AI chip demand isn't cooling off, even as investors have grown nervous about the sustainability of the artificial intelligence spending boom. The world's largest contract chipmaker reported July revenue of 467.58 billion New Taiwan dollars, roughly $14.5 billion, up 44.7% from a year earlier. That pace puts TSMC ahead of its own full-year guidance of roughly 40% revenue growth, a rare case of a bellwether company outrunning its own bullish forecast.The number matters because TSMC manufactures chips for nearly every m...

Berkshire Hathaway just gave investors the clearest signal yet that the Warren Buffett era of pure cash hoarding is over. New CEO Greg Abel ended a 14-quarter streak of net stock selling in the second quarter, buying roughly $25 billion in equities while selling only $3.7 billion. It's the most aggressive buying spree from Omaha since 2022, and it came alongside a record $4.5 billion in share buybacks — the largest quarterly repurchase total in five years.The numbers back up the shift in posture. Operating earnings climbed 16% year-over-year to $12.98 billion, powered by a 24% jump in manufact...

The space sector is having a moment, and two smaller players are riding the wave straight into their own earnings reports today. Rocket Lab (NASDAQ: RKLB) shares jumped 27.5% over the past week, while AST SpaceMobile (NASDAQ: ASTS) climbed 22%, both set to report second-quarter results after Monday's market close. The rally traces directly back to SpaceX, which posted its first-ever public quarterly report on August 3 and blew past expectations — April-June revenue nearly doubled year-over-year to $7.8 billion, up from $4.1 billion, driven by a 66% jump in Starlink satellite revenue and a stun...

Micron Technology just delivered a reminder that even the hottest AI trades can get volatile — and that volatility may be creating an opening. Shares plunged 28.7% in July before staging a rebound in August, and the stock now trades at a trailing price-to-earnings ratio of about 19, far below the broader tech sector's average multiple of 35. That gap is notable given Micron sits at the center of one of the tightest supply crunches in the chip industry: memory prices have been climbing for months as AI data centers gobble up an outsized share of global DRAM and NAND production.The supply squeez...

Gold mining stocks just had one of their best weeks in years, and Monday brought a fresh catalyst that could keep the rally going. The VanEck Gold Miners ETF (GDX) surged 21% over five trading days to $89.73, while the VanEck Junior Gold Miners ETF (GDXJ) climbed even harder, up 22% to $116.78. Individual names moved just as sharply: Newmont (NYSE: NEM) gained more than 20% to $112.97, Agnico Eagle rose nearly 23%, and Barrick Mining (NYSE: B) added 19%. The move accelerated Monday when Barrick and Newmont announced a landmark settlement resolving their long-running dispute over the Nevada Gol...

AppLovin, the AI-powered advertising platform that became one of Wall Street's most-loved growth stories, hit a speed bump Thursday as shares plunged roughly 20% after the company reported second-quarter results that fell just short of expectations. Q2 revenue came in at $1.92 billion — up 53% from a year ago — but marginally below the analyst consensus of $1.935 billion. Adjusted EBITDA rose 58% year-over-year to $1.61 billion, also slightly under guidance. It was the company's first meaningful earnings miss in several quarters, and for a stock that had been priced for perfection, even a whis...

Walt Disney's fiscal third-quarter results, reported August 5, gave investors a powerful vote of confidence in new CEO Josh D'Amaro's early stewardship of the entertainment giant. The company posted adjusted earnings per share of $2.06, handily beating the Wall Street consensus of $1.86 — a 28% year-over-year increase. Total revenue came in at $25.25 billion, up 7% from a year earlier, while total segment operating income surged 21% to $5.56 billion. Disney stock jumped roughly 7% in response, with several analysts raising their price targets following the print.The two engines driving the bea...