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Just like individual investors, companies hold stock in other companies, and unrealized gains in these stocks can boost earnings numbers.

Alphabet Inc.’s Waymo has built a custom chip that the company said will improve the performance of its robotaxis, while also diversifying its chip supply beyond third-party companies such as Nvidia Corp.

Just how encouraged are Target executives about the state of their turnaround project? Target executives said “encouraged” or “encouraging” 20 times on their analyst call Wednesday to discuss second-quarter results—nearly matching 21 such occasions in Q1 and pacing far ahead of the nine times executives used those words on the calls for the first half of last year. Chief Merchandising Officer Cara Sylvester cited progress with the center-store grocery overhaul, including more fresh produce, new focal points for seasonal offerings and added space for growth categories like functional coffee: “The response has been really encouraging.”

Sysco on Thursday said it has appointed two new directors with ‌artificial intelligence and industry expertise, while also ‌strengthening board oversight, as the food distributor pushes ahead with ​its AI-driven transformation. The move comes as food and restaurant companies increasingly adopt AI tools to improve demand forecasting, inventory management, supply-chain planning and customer ‌service. Here are the ⁠details: • Jason Murray, CEO of logistics technology firm Shipium and a former Amazon ⁠executive, and Tom Ondrof, former CFO of food service company Aramark, will join the board on ​September 1, ​increasing its size ​to 13 directors.

When some of Wall Street’s most prominent CEOs recently appeared on TV with Nvidia Corp.’s Jensen Huang, touting their $500 billion pact to finance AI chips, one participant stood out.

S&P 500 companies are winding up a banner quarterly earnings season, fueled in large part by surging profits at AI-related companies. The S&P 500 is on track for a 52% surge in aggregate second-quarter earnings from ‌the year before, helped by a 74% profit jump in the technology sector. The figures include big mark-to-market boosts at Alphabet and Amazon, ‌both of which recognized large gains in the period on investments in AI highfliers such as Anthropic.

S&P 500 companies are winding up a banner quarterly earnings season, fueled in large part by surging profits at AI-related companies. The S&P 500 is on track for a 52% surge in aggregate second-quarter earnings from ‌the year before, helped by a 74% profit jump in the technology sector. The figures include big mark-to-market boosts at Alphabet and Amazon, ‌both of which recognized large gains in the period on investments in AI highfliers such as Anthropic.

Amazon invested just $13 billion in Anthropic.

Investors will watch margins, rising HBM costs, China sales and the Rubin Ultra product roadmap.

The company just added some essential perks consumers should know about.

Walmart earnings are due early Thursday after a summer promotional pricing blitz to lure inflation-weary consumers. On Wednesday, WMT stock edged higher, near a key level. The big Dow Jones stock is the nation's and world's largest retailer by 2025 sales, according to the National Retail Federation.

Amazon is expanding Prime Air drone delivery to nearly 500 U.S. cities and towns as the retailer battles Walmart and FedEx over ever-faster shipping.

Eshallgo’s California subsidiary will exclusively distribute Zhongshan Senwei printing consumables in North America, initially targeting major e-commerce channels as the company builds its overseas operations. Key Investor TakeawaysEshallgo (NASDAQ:EHGO) has secured an exclusive North American distribution partnership with Chinese printing consumables manufacturer Zhongshan Senwei.

The e-commerce giant to launch Prime Air in metro areas including Chicago, Atlanta, Cleveland, Syracuse, N.Y., and Boise, Idaho.

If humanoid robots are the future, then Elon Musk faces a formidable Chinese rival. China’s Unitree Robotics surged 460% on its trading debut in Shanghai Wednesday, giving the company a market capitalization of around $51 billion. Robots, of course, have been around for decades.

Estée Lauder Cos. posted quarterly results that beat estimates and ended a run of three straight declines in annual revenue, a sign the beauty conglomerate's turnaround efforts are gaining momentum.

Millions more people may be able to get smaller, lightweight Amazon packages delivered by drones by the end of the year under a plan the company announced Thursday to expand the airborne shipping to suburban areas in nearly 500 U.S. cities. Customers could receive the drone deliveries in as fast as 30 minutes, Amazon said in a news release. The drones can carry packages up to 5 pounds.

Alphabet Inc. is poised to pay just under 7% to borrow longer-dated funds in its debut Australian dollar bond deal, in potentially its highest-ever coupon, underscoring how broader demands for cash among hyperscalers around the world are feeding into more costly funding almost everywhere.

Uncertainty over the Middle East, inflation and the Fed has sent bond yields soaring — and created a big headache for tech stocks.

S&P 500 earnings per share are on pace to climb more than 50% in the second quarter. Combining reported and yet-to-be-reported results, S&P 500 earnings are up 50.4%, according to the most recent data from FactSet. Profit growth is broad, too, with 10 of the 11 S&P 500 sectors posting year-over-year earnings growth.

GF Securities Raises Nvidia Price Target to $345 Ahead of Earnings

Sonos expects Q4 revenue growth to stay intact, but a $35 million memory-cost hit could sharply pressure gross profit and adjusted EBITDA.

Tesla could begin offering robotaxi rides in Cybercabs by the end of the month, according to The Information. The stock is down 11.5% since last month's earnings call, which showed little progress on robotaxi expansion.

Aggressive AI spending is unlikely to be reined in by the execs doling out the checks.

ByteDance Ltd., the developer of TikTok, has attracted more than $30 billion of orders for its jumbo syndicated loan, people familiar with the matter said, indicating strong interest from lenders as the Chinese technology giant ramps up investments in artificial intelligence.

Aug 18 () - Einride AB said on Tuesday it plans to deploy 500 Tesla ‌trucks across its North American operations over ‌the next two years, in what would be the largest ​rollout of heavy-duty electric vehicles to date. The Sweden-based freight technology company said the deployment, beginning in September 2026, would support customers such as Amazon across ‌freight corridors in ⁠California, Texas, New Jersey, Illinois and Georgia, tripling its electric truck fleet.

Amazon spent years telling Wall Street that AWS could become a few hundred billion dollar revenue business. Then on its last earnings call, management revised that estimate up, significantly. The new figure was $1 trillion. Not as a stretch goal. As what they now believe is a real possibility. ...

Alphabet Inc. started marketing its debut Australian debt offering as the US tech giant targets its latest multi-billion dollar fundraising, with AI spending skyrocketing.

Fear of a Fed move to tighten monetary policy has receded, but market-based interest rates are still trending higher.

Amazon and Alphabet are benefiting from their massive investments in AI and space companies, but those investments come with greater exposure to private-market valuations and liquidity constraints.