☕️ Iran fires missiles at ships in Strait of Hormuz

Hi there, this is your daily ☕️ Finpresso.

In today's newsletter:

🚢 Iran fires missiles at ships in Strait of Hormuz

🍎 Apple extends Broadcom chip deal through 2031

📈 Samsung's profit jumps 19x on AI chips but shares fall

⚡ Bitcoin miner TeraWulf signs $19B Anthropic lease

Plus: 🌍 5 macro news, 🏢 5 corporate news, 💰 6 deal flow, and 📑 6 research & reports.

📊 Before The Bell

📰 Top News

• Iran fired at least two missiles at commercial ships in the Strait of Hormuz on Monday evening, US officials told Axios, causing significant vessel damage but no casualties along a route that handles about 20% of the world's oil traffic.
• Brent crude for September delivery traded 1.5% higher at $73.09 a barrel, while US West Texas Intermediate for August rose 1.5% to $69.56, rebounding after closing the prior session at its lowest since February 27.
• The reported strikes underscore the fragility of the interim US-Iran peace deal as both sides negotiate a permanent end to their war, with British maritime service UKMTO also reporting a tanker hit by a projectile and set ablaze near Limah, Oman.

• Apple has extended its chip-supply partnership with Broadcom through 2031, locking in one of the chipmaker's biggest revenue streams and signing new multi-year deals for custom silicon spanning several generations of Apple devices.
• Broadcom shares jumped nearly 4% in premarket trading, as the renewal removes uncertainty over sales through the decade's end given that Apple already makes up about 20% of Broadcom's annual revenue.
• The deal covers custom radio-frequency, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth chips, extending a 2023 agreement, and comes as booming AI demand lifts orders for Broadcom's specialized processors, which it also supplies to Apple rivals Alphabet and Meta.

• Samsung forecast a third straight record quarterly operating profit of 89.4 trillion won ($58.7 billion) — nearly 19 times higher than a year earlier — on booming AI memory-chip demand, yet its shares still fell almost 10%.
• The drop in the index heavyweight dragged South Korea's Kospi down over 8% and sent rival SK Hynix tumbling more than 11%, as investors accustomed to blowout AI results wanted confident guidance and durable pricing, not just strong sales.
• Analysts including Saxo's Charu Chanana warned that today's chip shortage could become tomorrow's oversupply if production ramps too fast, echoing Nvidia's recent experience where even strong earnings failed to impress a market that had already priced in perfection.

• Bitcoin miner TeraWulf has signed a 20-year lease with AI firm Anthropic that it says could generate roughly $19 billion in revenue, deepening the company's shift from mining toward renting out computing power for artificial intelligence.
• Shares in TeraWulf jumped nearly 14% to $24.05, and the deal lifted rival miners betting on AI, with IREN up more than 13%, Hut 8 up 12%, Cipher Digital up 11%, and AI-focused Keel Infrastructure up 10%.
• Anthropic will occupy a purpose-built site in Hawesville, Kentucky, expected to reach about 401 megawatts of capacity by early 2028; separately, TeraWulf is selling its 50.1% stake in a Texas project, worth roughly $450 million, back to partner Fluidstack.

🌍 Macro News

• New York Fed supply chain pressure index fell to 1.25 in June. LINK
• PCE inflation methodology update will lower readings by 0.2 point. LINK
• Bank of Italy's Panetta says euro-zone outlook remains fragile, uncertain. LINK
• Russia's Urals crude averaged just $41.66 a barrel in early July. LINK
• US services activity expanded further in June, PMI and ISM show. LINK

🏢 Corporate News

• Toyota to invest $3.6 billion moving Tacoma production to Texas. LINK
• Klarna applies for US bank charter to expand American operations. LINK
• Four US states seek $1.4 trillion in penalties from Meta. LINK
• Thrive Holdings raises $2 billion to acquire and overhaul service firms. LINK
• CaixaBank and Visa complete first AI agent-initiated card purchase. LINK

📈 Stocks

📑 Research & Reports

• Nvidia now guarantees minimum GPU rental revenue for smaller cloud providers. LINK
• Bank of England warns AI spending boom threatens financial stability. LINK
• Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs urge clients to buy Magnificent Seven stocks. LINK
• McKinsey says nuclear costs threaten US ambitions despite rising global demand. LINK
• Treasury draft warns AI market downturn could hit broader economy. LINK
• Apollo's Slok warns AI productivity gains remain unproven outside tech. LINK

💰 Deal Flow

• Solstice Advanced Materials to buy Element Solutions for $14.5 billion. LINK
• Google joins $468 million funding round for Proxima Fusion startup. LINK
• Ondas shares rise after $875.8 million acquisition of DZYNE Technologies. LINK
• Thales to acquire Exail Technologies for €3.9 billion after Safran exit. LINK
• Sky agrees to buy ITV's broadcast and streaming operations for £1.6 billion. LINK
• Adnoc Distribution to buy Shell's South African fuel network. LINK

📅 Market Calendar

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