Markets & Finance

Amazon's second-quarter 2026 results show net sales up 20% annually, with AWS contributing $42.2 billion at a 39.4% operating margin. The $62.6 billion net income figure is heavily influenced by $53.4 billion in pre-tax non-operating income tied to Anthropic investments, not operating performance alone. Capital spending is reported to be rising toward $220 billion for the full year, though Amazon's official filings do not confirm that figure or break it down by category.

Apple's fiscal Q3 2026 results show revenue up 16.4% year over year and EPS of $2.02, both exceeding consensus estimates, though tariff refunds contributed roughly $0.11 to EPS and two percentage points to the reported 50.1% gross margin. iPhone revenue rose 21.7% to $54.25 billion and Mac revenue jumped 28.7% to $10.35 billion, while iPad and Services came in below analyst estimates. The quarter is the final full reporting period before John Ternus replaces Tim Cook as CEO on September 1, 2026, with management guiding September-quarter revenue growth of 9% to 11%.

Strategy's Q2 2026 GAAP net loss of $8.22 billion was driven almost entirely by an $8.32 billion unrealized loss on its bitcoin holdings, required under ASU 2023-08 fair-value accounting rules. The company held 843,775 BTC as of July 26, 2026, after adding 83,901 BTC during the quarter and selling 2,225 BTC afterward under a new $1.25 billion BTC Monetization Program designed to fund preferred dividends. Its core software business grew revenue 6.9% year-over-year to $122.4 million, though the quarter also surfaced unreconciled discrepancies across filings in reported USD Reserve figures.

Coinbase reported Q2 2026 total revenue of $1.22 billion, missing the $1.3 billion analyst estimate, while a GAAP net loss of $359.5 million far exceeded the expected 17-cent-per-share loss. Monthly transacting users fell to 7.6 million from 8.7 million a year earlier, and platform assets dropped to $245.9 billion from $425.0 billion over the same period. Shares fell more than 7% after hours, even as the company reached a record 10.3% share of total crypto trading volume.

Intercontinental Exchange signed a definitive merger agreement on July 29, 2026, to acquire bond-trading platform MarketAxess at $167 per share in cash, a 33% premium to the prior closing price, with a targeted close in the first half of 2027. ICE projects $100 million in annual expense savings fully realized within three years and expects the deal to be accretive to adjusted EPS in the first full year post-close. The transaction requires MarketAxess shareholder approval and antitrust clearance; ICE faces a $327.4 million regulatory termination fee if governmental-consent conditions are not met.

Activist investor Jana Partners, holding an estimated $248 million stake in Fiserv, sent a public letter on July 30, 2026, calling for a full portfolio review and additional board members, citing an approximately 80 percent stock decline from 2025 highs and repeated executive turnover. The letter supports Fiserv's reported exploration of a debit-network sale but pushes for a broader strategic assessment across all business segments. No formal company-wide review has been announced by Fiserv, and Jana did not specify how many or what type of directors it wants added.