MARKET WRAPS
STOCKS: U.S. stocks settled slightly lower as investors braced for a wave of major earnings.
TREASURYS: Treasurys fell, with the two-year yield rising to its highest level in over a year ahead of the Federal Reserve's interest-rate decision next week.
FOREX: The dollar weakened.
COMMODITIES: Continuing strikes by the U.S. and Iran and the threat of further escalation sent oil futures higher for a fourth straight session.
HEADLINES
Tesla's Second-Quarter Revenue Surged Amid $5.8 Billion Spend in AI, Robotics
Tesla's free cash flow fell for the first time in more than two years as the electric-vehicle maker supercharged spending with $5.8 billion in capital expenditures to expand its footprint in artificial intelligence and robotics.
The company reported negative free cash flow of $1.1 billion for the second quarter.
Revenue grew to $28 billion, up 26% from the year before. Revenue from its automotive business increased 23% from the year prior. Tesla's energy business revenue, which comes from selling industrial and residential battery storage, was $3 billion for the quarter, up 13% from the year before.
Google's Red-Hot Cloud Growth Drives Second-Quarter Revenue Gains
Google parent company Alphabet posted 24% revenue growth in the second quarter, fueled by its booming cloud business, but the company's free cash flow turned negative as it continued to spend heavily on data centers for artificial-intelligence computing.
Alphabet's sales came in at $119.8 billion, exceeding analyst expectations. Its cloud business brought in $24.8 billion and its search business brought in $63.3 billion. Net income for the April-June period was $112.1 billion, also ahead of analyst expectations.
Alphabet's shares were roughly flat in after-hours trading.
Trump Says U.S. Will Bomb Iran's Power Plants, Bridges if Tehran Strikes Ships
WASHINGTON-President Trump threatened to destroy Iranian infrastructure if Iran attacks vessels transiting the Strait of Hormuz, in the latest sign he is planning to escalate the conflict.
Trump wrote on Truth Social Wednesday that the U.S. will "bomb and destroy ONE BRIDGE OR POWER PLANT," including infrastructure in or near Tehran, every time Iran shoots at a ship in the strait.
The president's comments are the latest indication that the two countries might return to full-scale war. On Tuesday, he said U.S. military forces would likely attack Iran's Pickaxe Mountain, the underground site where Israeli intelligence believes Iran has buried advanced nuclear-enrichment centrifuges, "pretty soon."
Paramount Wins EU Approval for $81 Billion Warner Bros. Deal
Paramount's $81 billion bid to buy Warner Bros. Discovery was approved by the European Union on Wednesday after the companies offered concessions related to film distribution in Europe.
The European Commission, the EU's executive arm, said its approval was conditional "upon full compliance with the commitments offered by Paramount."
In order to ease regulators' concerns, Paramount offered commitments including that it would terminate its stake in United International Pictures, its film distribution joint venture with Universal Pictures, in the European Economic Area within 13 months from the deal's closing.
IBM Lowers Its Growth Outlook as Sales of Data Center Mainframes Sink 42%
IBM is warning investors that its full-year revenue growth will be lower than it had previously forecast.
When the company published its second-quarter earnings Wednesday, it confirmed the disappointing results that it previewed last week in a rare move that erased about $67 billion in stock market value.
Big Blue's infrastructure revenue of $3.8 billion was down 7% from a year earlier. That unit was pulled down by lower-than-expected sales of data center mainframes, which fell 42%.
AMD and Anthropic Sign Major Chips-and-Investment Deal
Advanced Micro Devices and Anthropic have signed a deal for tens of billions of dollars' worth of artificial-intelligence servers, strengthening AMD's competitive position against industry leader Nvidia and supplying Anthropic with much needed computing power.
Under the terms of the agreement, Anthropic will purchase up to 2 gigawatts of AMD's latest-generation chips, called the Instinct MI450, starting in the first half of 2027. AMD will also invest up to $5 billion in Anthropic-its first check into the AI firm-as certain deployment milestones are met.
"We have very much wanted to be a major part of their infrastructure," AMD Chief Executive Lisa Su said, adding that the companies' engineering teams have been working together for some time.
AT&T Revenue Rises on Growth in Postpaid Phone, Internet Customers
AT&T's quarterly revenue ticked up as more customers signed up for its postpaid phone and internet services.
The telecommunications company said Wednesday the quarter marked a record for combined fiber and fixed wireless net additions, as well as its highest consumer postpaid wireless account growth in more than three years.
AT&T's second-quarter earnings from continuing operations came in at 66 cents a share, compared with 62 cents a share a year earlier.
Penske, Mitsui Bid to Take Penske Automotive Private in Near $4 Billion Deal
Penske Corp. and Mitsui proposed to buy out Penske Automotive Group in a deal that could be worth $3.78 billion.
Penske Corp. paired up with the Japanese investment firm to offer $210 a share to take the auto dealership chain private.
The two investors already beneficially own nearly 73% of Penske Automotive's stock, they said in a Wednesday filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. That means they are proposing to buy about 18 million remaining shares.
TALKING POINT Private-Equity Assets Stuck in 'Zombie Funds' Are at a Record High
A record level of private-equity investments are stuck in funds limping along past their intended lifespans.
Often known as zombie funds, these funds are no longer raising money or making new acquisitions, in part because fund managers haven't been able to sell their remaining assets. The net asset value of U.S. private-equity assets stuck in funds at least a decade old reached an all-time high of $348.5 billion at the end of 2025, according to PitchBook data. That is 3.5 times the amount in 2015 and more than 100 times that of 2005.
The slowdown in private-equity sales has fueled frustration among investors eager to cash out. Many managers of funds launched in the mid-to-late 2010s struck deals for their existing portfolio companies at the peak of the market in 2020 and 2021, when interest rates were nearly zero. Buyers are now unwilling to pay peak prices at higher borrowing rates, leaving those funds stranded past their typical lifespans.
"In some cases, it's three guys and a Labrador running the last few assets of the fund," said Finbarr O'Connor, chief investment officer and founding partner at Treo Asset Management, an outsourced manager for zombie funds.
Some institutional investors haven't been able to make new investments with their assets tied up in aging funds. The liquidity crunch is especially painful for pension funds and insurance companies that need to meet payout obligations to retirees. The rise of zombie funds could lead to more institutional and high-net-worth investors reducing their private-equity allocations, O'Connor said.
The billions sitting in funds a decade or more older is just the beginning. A wave of maturing assets in the seven-to-nine-year-old bucket behind them is also rising. The net asset value of those funds reached $512.7 billion in 2025, more than two times that of 2015, PitchBook said.
--Mark Maurer, The Wall Street Journal
Expected Major Events for Thursday
06:45/FRA: Jul Monthly business survey (goods-producing industries)
10:00/UK: Jul CBI Industrial Trends Survey
12:30/CAN: May Employment Insurance
12:30/CAN: May Retail trade
12:30/US: Jun Chicago Fed National Activity Index (CFNAI)
12:30/US: 07/18 Unemployment Insurance Weekly Claims Report - Initial Claims
12:30/US: U.S. Weekly Export Sales
13:00/RUS: Weekly International Reserves
14:30/US: 07/17 EIA Weekly Natural Gas Storage Report
15:00/US: Jul Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City Survey of Tenth District Manufacturing
20:30/US: Foreign Central Bank Holdings
20:30/US: Federal Discount Window Borrowings
23:01/UK: Jul UK Consumer Confidence Survey
23:30/JPN: Jun CPI (Nation), CPI ex-food (Nation)
23:30/JPN: May Final Labour Survey - Earnings, Employment & Hours Worked
All times in GMT. Powered by Onclusive and Dow Jones.
Expected Earnings for Thursday
Acme United Corp (ACU) is expected to report $0.40 for 2Q.
Albertsons Cos Inc $(ACI)$ is expected to report $0.46 for 1Q.
Amalgamated Financial Corp (AMAL) is expected to report $1.00 for 2Q.
American Airlines Group Inc $(AAL)$ is expected to report $0.04 for 2Q.
Ameriprise Financial Inc $(AMP)$ is expected to report $10.83 for 2Q.
Blackstone Inc (BX) is expected to report $1.38 for 2Q.
Bread Financial Holdings Inc $(BFH)$ is expected to report $2.74 for 2Q.
Cass Information Systems Inc $(CASS)$ is expected to report $0.72 for 2Q.
Cleveland-Cliffs Inc $(CLF)$ is expected to report $-0.21 for 2Q.
Dime Commercial Bancshares Inc $(DCOM)$ is expected to report $0.79 for 2Q.
Dover Corp $(DOV)$ is expected to report $2.35 for 2Q.
FirstCash Holdings Inc $(FCFS)$ is expected to report $2.20 for 2Q.
FirstService Corp (FSV,FSV.T) is expected to report $1.30 for 2Q.
Freeport-McMoRan Inc $(FCX)$ is expected to report $0.55 for 2Q.
Heartland Express Inc $(HTLD)$ is expected to report $-0.03 for 2Q.
Heritage Financial Corp $(HFWA)$ is expected to report $0.45 for 2Q.
Honeywell International Inc $(HON)$ is expected to report for 2Q.
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July 22, 2026 16:40 ET (20:40 GMT)
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