Good Afternoon. As earnings roll in and AI investments accelerate, Wall Street’s betting that innovation can outpace inflation and layoffs. Markets are at record highsand even Nokia’s back in the spotlight. Let’s get into it.

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1. Dow Rises; Microsoft Hits $4 Trillion Market Cap

The News: Stocks pushed to fresh records Tuesday as corporate earnings and AI optimism powered another rally. Microsoft briefly joined Apple in the $4 trillion club after sealing a new long-term deal with OpenAI, while Nvidia jumped 4% on news it will invest $1 billion in Nokia and expand global AI partnerships. UPS rose after lifting its annual forecast and announcing job cuts, while UnitedHealth beat expectations despite cost pressures. Trade optimism also helped sentiment, reports suggest the U.S. may roll back tariffs on China if Beijing cracks down on fentanyl precursor exports.

Why It Matters: The world’s biggest companies are flexing their AI muscle and investors are rewarding it. With both Microsoft and Apple now flirting with $4 trillion valuations, tech’s dominance is deepening just as Washington and Beijing edge toward a trade agreement.

What to Watch: Trump’s Asia tour could keep markets on edge this week. A $400 billion Japanese investment framework and Toyota’s $10 billion U.S. pledge hint at a broader realignment of capital and supply chains from semiconductors to clean energy.
Source: wsj.com

2. Nvidia to invest $1B in Nokia

The News: Nvidia will invest $1 billion in Nokia, taking a 2.9% stake in the Finnish telecom giant to co-develop AI-powered networking infrastructure. The partnership aims to fuse Nvidia’s computing platforms with Nokia’s telecom hardware, creating what the companies call “AI-RAN” — an artificial intelligence–driven radio access network for 5G and 6G systems. Nokia’s shares jumped 17% in Helsinki, while trading of its U.S. ADRs was temporarily halted before the announcement. T-Mobile will pilot the new technology starting in 2026, with Dell supplying data center servers for early deployments.

Why It Matters: Nokia is proving that the brick phone maker of yesteryear still has a few cards up its sleeve. For Nokia, it’s a long-awaited chance to move from old-school telecom vendor to AI-era player. For Nvidia, it’s another step in turning its chips into the backbone of global digital infrastructure. AI isn’t just changing what we do on the internet, it’s about to change how the internet works.

What to Watch: If the partnership delivers, your phone’s next signal boost might come courtesy of an algorithm. But for now, Nokia’s revival story hinges on whether the “AI-RAN revolution” can deliver more bars than hype.
Source: bloomberg.com

3. PayPal Stock Soars On Earnings, New OpenAI Partnership

The News: PayPal shares surged 16% Tuesday after beating Q3 estimates and announcing a new partnership with OpenAI that will let ChatGPT users make instant purchases via PayPal wallets. Earnings rose 12% to $1.34 a share on $8.42 billion in revenue, while Venmo posted a 20% jump in quarterly sales. PayPal also declared its first-ever dividend, pledging to return 10% of adjusted net income to shareholders. The partnership gives PayPal direct access to ChatGPT’s 800 million weekly users — a major step into “agentic commerce,” where AI assistants complete purchases on behalf of users.

Why It Matters: After years of shrinking market share to Apple Pay and Stripe, PayPal is betting that AI can reboot its relevance. Analysts say being “default” inside ChatGPT could reignite growth, though some think the AI-driven checkout boom might lift the entire e-commerce tide, not just PayPal’s boat.

What to Watch: Partnership announcements from other major AI players like Anthropic’s Claude or Google Gemini. If ChatGPT starts shopping for you, PayPal might finally get back in your digital wallet. But for now, this could be less a financial revolution and more an AI impulse buy.
Source: investors.com

4. Stocks are still king for long-term investing, Deutsche Bank says

The News: Stocks remain the undisputed long-term champ, according to Deutsche Bank’s 2025 asset return study. Analyzing two centuries of data from 56 economies, the report found equities have delivered average real returns of 4.9% per year, compared with 4.2% for a 60/40 portfolio, 2.6% for government bonds, and just 0.4% for gold. The study notes that while investors are consistently rewarded for taking risk, starting valuations matter, cheaper markets tend to outperform over time. Despite the U.S. bucking that rule in recent years, Deutsche warns it’s “the exception, not the norm.”

Why It Matters: For all the talk of crypto revolutions and AI portfolios, the study is a reminder that time in the market still beats timing the market.

What to Watch: With rates expected to drift lower and gold’s shine fading fast, equities may stay the default setting for patient investors. Just remember, history tends to reward the patient, not the bold when it comes to investing.
Source: finance.yahoo.com

5. UPS Mass Layoffs as 48,000 Jobs Cut

The News: UPS has cut 48,000 jobs so far in 2025, including 14,000 management roles and 34,000 operational positions, as part of a sweeping cost-reduction plan aimed at restoring profitability. The delivery giant has also shuttered 93 buildings, saving an estimated $2.2 billion year-to-date. Despite the cuts, UPS’s Q3 earnings beat expectations, with $21.4 billion in revenue and $1.74 per share in adjusted earnings. Shares jumped 7% after the announcement.

Why It Matters: The layoffs underscore how even logistics leaders are under pressure from automation, shifting e-commerce patterns, and Amazon delivering more of its own packages. UPS is betting that running leaner now will help it dominate the high-efficiency, delivery market especially heading into peak holiday season.

What to Watch: UPS says it’s “ready for the most efficient peak” in company history. Let’s just hope that efficiency peaks with on time packages and not delay notifications.
Source: newsweek.com

1. Samsung Reveals First Trifold Phone

The News: Samsung has unveiled its first trifold smartphone, a prototype device that folds twice to reveal a 10-inch tablet-sized display. Shown at the K-Tech Showcase during the APEC CEO Summit in South Korea, the device features a 6.5-inch cover screen, dual hinges, and three rear cameras. Production is reportedly capped at 100,000 units, with launches planned in South Korea and China later this year. Priced north of $2,000, and possibly closer to $3,000, the “Galaxy Z Tri Fold” (not yet the official name) will run Android with Samsung’s One UI overlay. Samsung says the design represents “the next generation of foldable innovation,” signaling its continued push to make flexible displays a mainstream product category.

Why It Matters: The trifold isn’t about mass adoption, at least not yet, it’s about technological bragging rights. With smartphone growth flattening, companies like Samsung are betting on premium, experimental devices to maintain an innovation halo and keep high-end consumers curious.

What to Watch: Watch for preorder buzz and early hands-on reviews to reveal whether the trifold is a glimpse of the future or just a very expensive origami experiment. Either way, Apple will be watching closely.
Source: gizmodo.com

2. Spain’s IBEX 35 Tops 2007 High

The News: Spain’s IBEX 35 finally reclaimed its pre-financial crisis record, breaking a 17-year record to close above 16,000 for the first time since 2007. The benchmark index is up 38% year-to-date — far outpacing Europe’s STOXX 600 (+14%) — and capping one of its strongest runs in decades. The rally has been powered almost entirely by banks, with Santander shares up 90% and competitors like BBVA and Caixabank rising between 67% and 82%. Spain’s financial sector has rebounded sharply since its 2012 bailout, fueled by strong domestic demand, healthier balance sheets, and exposure to fast-growing Latin American markets.

Why It Matters: The IBEX’s resurgence underscores the strength of Europe’s periphery amid a broader continental slowdown. Spain’s economy has defied the trend with steady GDP growth, falling unemployment, and rising exports giving its lenders both home-field advantage and international upside.

What to Watch: As Madrid’s bulls toast the comeback, investors are asking whether the rally is built on fundamentals or nostalgia and if the rally is too concentrated in financials. If bank earnings keep beating expectations, Spain’s long siesta from record highs may finally be over — olé to that.
Source: reuters.com

3. Barclays to acquire Best Egg for $800M

The News: Barclays is buying U.S. fintech Best Egg for $800 million, marking its biggest consumer banking push stateside in over a decade. The Delaware-based personal lender has issued more than $40 billion in loans since 2013 and will bring two million new customers into Barclays’ orbit. The acquisition adds direct-to-consumer lending to the British bank’s U.S. portfolio, which has long leaned on co-branded credit cards with companies like American Airlines. The deal is expected to close in the second quarter of 2026 and be accretive to earnings by 2027.

Why It Matters: With the U.S. digital lending market topping $300 billion this year and growing fast, Barclays is betting that fintech scale and consumer data are the new cross-Atlantic currency. The move deepens its foothold in America just as other European and American banks pull back from retail exposure.

What to Watch: Best Egg’s founders are ex-Barclays execs, so this is less a takeover than a homecoming. If integration goes smoothly, Barclays could hatch something rare in banking: a transatlantic consumer success story.
Source: americanbanker.com

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