Markets & Finance

Lockheed Martin and RTX are scheduled to release second-quarter 2026 earnings on July 23 before trading begins, with analyst estimates of $19.35 billion in revenue for Lockheed and $22.88 billion for RTX. Key items to watch include F-35 delivery progress after Q1 shipments fell to 32 aircraft from 47, and whether Raytheon's defense margins continue their upward trend from 10.7% to 12.2% year over year. Both companies may also update full-year guidance, with RTX having already raised its adjusted-sales outlook to $92.5–$93.5 billion following a strong first quarter.

Prologis has submitted a fourth proposal to acquire UK warehouse landlord Segro for approximately £14 billion, structured as 0.0920 new Prologis shares per Segro share plus a partial cash alternative capped at £3.5 billion. Segro's board has signalled it would be minded to recommend the terms if a firm offer is made, though the announcement remains a Rule 2.4 approach rather than a binding Rule 2.7 intention, with a Takeover Panel deadline of August 12. Key details including merger-control filing requirements and whether the cash alternative is fully underwritten have not been confirmed in public disclosures.

3M's second-quarter 2026 results show adjusted EPS rising 11% to $2.40 and adjusted operating margin expanding 40 basis points to 24.9%, with Safety and Industrial leading segments at 8.2% organic growth. The widely cited 33% GAAP EPS gain reflects a $0.35-per-share reduction in combined litigation and PFAS-exit costs, making the adjusted figures a cleaner measure of operational progress. The company also raised its full-year adjusted sales growth outlook to above 4.5% and projects adjusted free-cash-flow conversion above 100%.

CME Group posted second-quarter 2026 adjusted earnings of $2.99 per share, beating the $2.91 post-release consensus by 2.8%, while revenue of $1.71 billion exceeded estimates by 1.7%. Average daily volume of 29.8 million contracts ranked as the company's third-highest quarterly result, and market-data revenue rose 20% to a record $238 million. CME returned approximately $1.16 billion to shareholders during the quarter through dividends and buybacks.

Tesla posted $28.24 billion in Q2 revenue and record deliveries of 480,126 vehicles, yet adjusted EPS of $0.33 fell well short of the $0.51 consensus. Capital expenditure reached $5.79 billion, more than doubling from Q1, pushing free cash flow to negative $1.09 billion and compressing operating margin to 1.4%. The results illustrate the financial cost of Tesla's simultaneous investment in Cybercab production, Optimus robotics lines, and AI infrastructure, with no quantified output data yet available for any of those programs.

U.S. equities closed mixed on July 22, with technology shares leading declines while energy and defensive sectors gained as Brent crude settled at $94.07, its highest since June 11, and the 10-year Treasury yield rose to 4.67%. Super Micro Computer surged 19.8% on $60 billion in new orders, while broader market breadth was negative, with decliners outpacing advancers by nearly two to one on Nasdaq. The session's key question — whether oil-driven inflation pressure could shift the Federal Reserve's expected hold on rates through the rest of 2026 — remained unresolved heading into Alphabet and Tesla earnings.

Penske Corp. and Mitsui & Co. submitted a non-binding, unsolicited proposal on July 22, 2026, to acquire the roughly 28% of Penske Automotive Group shares they do not already own at $210 per share, implying a cost of approximately $3.8 billion. The offer carries a 7.6% premium to the prior day's closing price and no signed merger agreement exists yet; Penske Automotive's board must independently review the proposal before any transaction can proceed. Key terms including financing conditions, regulatory approvals, and any special committee formation had not been publicly disclosed at the time of announcement.