Thursday 30 July 2026
Top stories today:
Microsoft Cloud drives Q4 FY26 revenue +18% YoY to $90B
Meta Q2 revenue +28% YoY to $60.8B, net income -14%
Fed holds rates at 3.5%-3.75% as 3 officials vote for hike
OpenAI launches ChatGPT for Academic Researchers with free access
Qualcomm Q3 FY26 revenue -4% YoY to $9.9B, net income -25%
0. Data & Calendar
All values as of 6 AM ET / 3 AM PT, other than S&P500 and NASDAQ close (4 PM ET / 1 PM PT).
All times are ET.
Listen to our AI-generated podcast summarizing todayās newsletter (beware of hallucinations):
1. Microsoft Cloud drives Q4 FY26 revenue +18% YoY to $90B, operating income +18%
Net income +31% YoY to $35.8B.
Q4 Azure and other cloud services revenue +43% YoY, while Windows OEM and devices revenue -7%
FY26 Azure revenue exceeded $100B for the first time.
Microsoft has projected Q1 cloud revenue +45% vs. +41% est.
Microsoftās Q4 capex was +70% YoY to $41B
FY26 capex cut to $175B from $190B on accounting change.
$3.2B gain on Anthropic investment in Q4, while OpenAI stake marked down ~$600M despite $5B FY gain.
Fragmented tools and slow handoffs have a real cost. A Forrester TEI study found enterprises using Slack generated $51M in total benefits ā with an ROI of 312% over three years.
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3. Meta Q2 revenue +28% YoY to $60.8B, vs. $60.2B est., net income -14%
Free cash flow -91% YoY to $784M.
Q3 revenue projected at $61B-$64B, vs. $63.2B est.
2026 capex expected at $130B-$145B, vs. prior $125B-$145B forecast.
Zuckerberg defended Metaās AI spending, saying the investments will pay off.
Family daily active people +3% YoY to 3.60B, trailing 3.61B est.
Metaās Reality Labs reported $4.6B+ loss on $431M revenue, with cumulative losses topping $80B
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5. Fed holds rates at 3.5%-3.75% as 3 officials vote for hike
A 9-3 vote to hold rates signals growing pressure inside the Fed to act on inflation.
The Fed didnāt have a magical ability to bring inflation down quickly, Chair Warsh said.
30-year Treasury yield +14 bps to ~5.23%, the highest in 19 years, after the Fed decision
6. Invest Early and Unlock 5% Bonus Shares*
Physical AI is coming to agriculture.
Everyone talks about AI software. Few are paying attention to AI machines operating in the real world. Greenfield Robotics is building autonomous machines that remove weeds at commercial scale, targeting one of agriculture's largest recurring costs.
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7. OpenAI launches ChatGPT for Academic Researchers with free model access for 100K
ChatGPTās contribution to arXiv mathematics papers grew to 100 in Jul.:
Eligible researchers at selected academic institutions can apply for free access to OpenAIās ChatGPT, ChatGPT Work and Codex through 2027.
8. Qualcomm Q3 FY26 revenue -4% YoY to $9.9B, net income -25%
Revenue from Apple products will decline faster than expected, Qualcomm said.
Qualcomm has projected Q4 FY26 revenue of $9.7B-$10.5B, vs. $10.02B est.
Sep. 1: Qualcomm plans price hikes to restore margins to historical levels, CEO Cristiano Amon said.
Qualcomm shares -4% in extended trading after earnings
9. Samsung Q2 chip operating income +250x to KRW89.2T (~$62B) on AI demand
+130% YoY to Q2 revenue to KRW 171.5T (~$118.1B), vs. KRW 172.65T (~$118.9B) est.
10. New media
11. Other headlines
AI
OpenAI Jul. ARR exceeds Q2 revenue, finance chief tells staff.
Lilian Weng, Thinking Machines co-founder, returns to OpenAI.
Stripe says AI fuels rise of $10M solo businesses.
Memorandum: Smarter insights on technology, business, markets, world, and culture.*
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Tech
Arm Q1 FY27 revenue +22% YoY to $1.3B, royalty revenue +22%.
Rokoās Basilisk: Skip buzzwords. Focus on markets, products, and careers.*
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Law
Microsoft faces UK probe over Microsoft 365 Copilot pricing.
Elonās X settles World Federation of Advertisers lawsuit.
Biotech
MetaVia pushes obesity drug to higher doses.
Welltech isnāt driving metabolic health: InsideTrackerās Michaeli.
Longevity medicine may begin before birth: experts.
Business
Shell Q2 profit surges to $9.8B highest since 2022.
FIFA sale talks began with Kushner meetings.
Open Source CEO: Explore all the tools to outperform the competition.*
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Crypto
U.S. politics
Mamdani defends pied-Ć -terre tax rollout.
World
Iran attacks US base in Jordan, prompting US strikes.
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Thatās it from us. See you soon!
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