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Hey there weekday warrior,
Here’s what’s on tap today… Walmart has the proof that the poor are getting poorer, Scott Bessent is out here buying back all the debt, and Moderna cured cancer, kind of.
Now, enjoy the next 3 minutes and 11 seconds of blue-chip news and commentary.
Keep on snapping necks and cashing checks,
Wally whirled
Everyone: “So how’s the American consumer holding up?”
Walmart:
So yesterday, the big swinging grocers at Walmart $WMT ( ▼ 9.15% ) served up a beat on earnings, beat on revenue, raised full-year guidance, and then promptly…
Ate sh*t.
(Think: shares closed down 9.1% on the day.)
Despite beating quarterly expectations, Temu Costco scared the t*ts off investors with a sickening 2.6% US sales growth rate. Wall Street was looking for 3.7%…
Quick math: that’s the slowest growth Sam Walton’s seen (from heaven, probably) since the year of our Lord 2020…
In other words, the poor average American ain’t spending.
Per CFO John Rainey, “It appears there were choices between necessities within the quarter because of where gas prices are.” Ok, fair, except people aren’t eating gas…
Still, Johnny hiked full-year sales and income forecasts on the premise that it’ll be able to lower prices now that it’s had a taste of that sweet, sweet tariff refund money.
Friendly reminder: Target-we-have-at-home cashed in a $2.9B tariff refund, which will never go back to your family’s bottom line…
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+ Somebody check on paper hands Saylor…
Satoshi’s sh*tcoin blew past $72k yesterday as Donny Crypto pushed hard for Congress to get the Clarity Act done (spoiler: no way).
Oh, and $MSTR ( ▲ 7.81% ) had a nice day too.
But the real reason a bunch of yung money moved into crypto was because of…
+ Scotty Buybacks
ICYMI, Scott Bessent on Wednesday said that the Treasury will at least double its debt buybacks, from $2B to $4B (because, math).
Then yesterday, S.B. said that might not be enough… “We are going to make a market in these… We have a big toolkit.”
“Big, you say?” - ur mom, probably
Friendly reminder: the 30-year yield hit its highest level since 2007 on Monday. Oh, and the national debt just crossed $40T…
+ Moderna pharma reps be like…
ICYMI, Moderna $MRNA ( ▼ 23.55% ) and Merck $MRK ( ▼ 2.11% ) said on Wednesday they basically cured cancer…
*stonk price go brrr*
Turns out the new personalized mRNA vaccine “met key goals” in a Phase 3 trial dealing with melanoma (and that’s as much of the nerd talk as I can understand…)
But what I can understand… Moderna stock mooned around 177% on Wednesday.
Yuge news if true.
These Are the Companies Profiting From AI’s Rise
Everyone is trying to pick the winning AI company.
OpenAI. Anthropic. ChatGPT. Claude.
But every large language model needs the same thing: memory, storage, networking, fabrication, power, and cooling to keep running.
MarketBeat’s newest report The Infrastructure’s Backbone: 10 Stocks Powering the AI Buildout reveals 10 companies supplying the technology behind AI’s rise, giving investors a way to look beyond the model makers and into the infrastructure powering the next phase of the AI boom.
> (Wednesday) Carvana shares on pace for 10% weekly loss as Mark Walter probe fuels investor jitters // Asking for a friend... what happens to my Carvana loan if Marky Mark goes down?
> (Wednesday) Fed minutes July 2026: Officials saw need for rate hike if inflation doesn’t cool // Don’t you do it...
> (Wednesday) OpenAI ‘will be a public company in 2027’ or sooner, CFO Friar tells employees // “Me first.” - Anthropic
> (Wednesday) Chinese humanoid robot maker Unitree jumps 460% in blockbuster Shanghai IPO // Live look at these little guys in action.
On Tuesday, I asked, “Could you beat Zuck in a fight? (Explain your creds)”
60% of you said, “Yes.” I’m gonna be real with you, chief… no you couldn’t.
Here’s what some of you guys had to say (and my response in italics)…
Yes: “No creds needed… But I did work my way through college as a bouncer, not hiding in my dorm room making a website to rank people because I can’t talk to women.” Patrick Swayze? That you?
No: “Type ‘Mark Zuckerberg’s Recent Physique and Training’ into your search bar of choice… Now answer the question again.” He’s outta line but he’s right.
Yes: “I’m 1-0 in fights. I beat up Seth Ramsdell in 4th grade, so I’m sure I can mop the floor with that halloween costume-wearing bum.” We can only hope he reads TWC too…
No: “Back when it was ‘The Facebook’, I could have totally taken him. Now, he’s an AI trained assassin with no morals. I’ll pass.” The Terminator we deserve.
Yes: “I went to public school in Florida and my favorite restaurant is Waffle House.” And you read TWC? Renaissance man…
Here’s today’s question(s)…
How often do you shop at Walmart?
+ US stocks fell Tuesday (S&P 500: -0.7%) on a second straight session of chip carnage (Micron, SanDisk, and Fabrinet all sliding), ticked up Wednesday (S&P 500: +0.2%), then slid again Thursday (S&P 500: -0.9%) after Walmart’s soft guidance knocked the Dow while yields and oil kept the pressure on. Wally World ruined the party.
+ The 10-year yield eased Tuesday to 4.706%, even as the 30-year touched 5.32% (a 19-year high) on deficit and inflation worries, then rebounded Thursday to 4.71%, unwinding a dip that followed the Treasury’s plan to double its long-bond buybacks.
+ Oil closed at a three-week high Tuesday as US-Iran peace hopes faded, then rose again Thursday to a fresh three-week high on Bessent’s promise of the toughest Iran sanctions in history, its fifth straight up session.
+ The “smart” money (prediction markets) thinks that there’s a 26% chance the Clarity Act gets signed into law this year. (Polymarket)
Oh, and one more thing….
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