>>> Alphabet beats by $6.23, beats on revs

Alphabet beats by $6.23, beats on revs
  • Reports Q2 (Jun) earnings of $9.11 per share, $6.23 better than the FactSet Consensus of $2.88; revenues rose 24.2% year/year to $119.8 bln vs the $117.07 bln FactSet Consensus.
  • Google Services revenues increased 15% to $94.5 billion, led by 17% growth in Google Search & other, 15% in Google subscriptions, platforms, and devices, and 13% in YouTube ads.
  • Google Cloud saw a meaningful acceleration in growth as revenues increased 82% to $24.8 billion ($22.24 bln CNBC estimate), led by an increase in Google Cloud Platform across enterprise AI Solutions and enterprise AI Infrastructure, as well as core GCP services
  • Consolidated Alphabet operating income increased 30% and operating margin expanded by 2 percentage points to 34%.
  • CapEx $44.9 bln versus $35.7 bln in Q1 (in line with CNBC estimates).
  • Sundar Pichai, CEO of Google and Alphabet, said: "Our AI investments are redefining what's possible across every part of our business. Q2 was an amazing quarter, with Alphabet revenues growing 24% year-over-year and Google Cloud revenues accelerating to 82% growth, driven by demand for AI infrastructure and AI solutions. It's great to see wide adoption of Gemini Enterprise, with nearly 90% of the Fortune 100 using it. We have exciting momentum across the board. Our popular AI features are driving Search query growth. Gemini models now process 22 billion API tokens per minute and the Gemini App has 950 million monthly active users. We are seeing strong demand for our security solutions, and our new Gemini 3.5 Flash Cyber delivers highly cost-efficient performance at the frontier."

>>> IBM reports Q2 results in-line with lowered guidance last week; lowers FY26

IBM reports Q2 results in-line with lowered guidance last week; lowers FY26 CC revenue growth guidance to +4-5%
  • Reports Q2 (Jun) earnings of $2.93 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.02 worse than the FactSet Consensus of $2.95; revenues rose 1.1% year/year to $17.16 bln vs the $17.46 bln FactSet Consensus.
    • Note: Q2 results were in-line with guidance last week at $2.93 and $17.2 bln, respectively.
    • By Segment:
      • Software — revenues of $7.8 bln, up 5% CC.
      • Consulting — revenues of $5.3 bln, flat, up 1% CC.
      • Infrastructure — revenues of $3.8 bln, down 7% CC.
    • Areas of IBM's software business that help clients manage, deploy and build AI-ready solutions, like Red Hat, the watsonx portfolio, HashiCorp, and Confluent continue to deliver strong performance. Within Distributed Infrastructure, Power and Storage grew at a record pace in the second quarter, now having built up an order backlog of nearly $500 mln.
  • Co lowers FY26 constant currency revenue growth guidance to +4-5% CC from prior guidance of "more than +5% CC."
    • Co reaffirms FY26 free cash flow to increase by about $1 bln from 2025.

>>> US After Hours Summary: TSLA -4.2% and GOOG -4% trade lower on earnings; MED

After Hours Summary: TSLA -4.2% and GOOG -4% trade lower on earnings; MEDP +18.9%, URI +10.5%, CSX +4.6%, NOW +4.4% among names trading higher after earnings; MOH -9.8%, LVS -5% and TXN -3.8% also lower on earnings

After Hours Gainers:

Companies trading higher in after hours in reaction to earnings/guidance: NVEC +31.5%, MEDP +18.9%, RELL +17.4%, URI +10.5%, OII +8.2%, CSX +4.6%, NOW +4.4%, NOW +4.4%, RNR +3.8%, FRME +2.9%, GGG +2.3%, KALU +1.9%, GSHD +1.7% (also CEO to retire; names new CEO), SLG +1.7%, GSHD +1.7%, ARR +0.7%, CCI +0.4%, KMI +0.2%, IBM +0.2%

Companies trading higher in after hours in reaction to news:DOMO +22.9% (to sell most assets to PRGS), HYLN +15.5% (awarded $41.7 mln U.S. Navy contract), DOV +1.6% (unit launches full-flow liquid-cooling connectors for AI data centers), RVMD +1.5% (FDA accepts daraxonrasib NDA for previously treated metastatic pancreatic cancer), XE +1.2% (joins DOE-backed Project Prometheus), GEV +1% (U.S. and Saudi Arabia reach nuclear cooperation agreement), WYNN +0.7% (details amended Macau land concession contract permits), CCJ +0.6% (U.S. and Saudi Arabia reach nuclear cooperation agreement), PFE +0.4% (gets FDA priority review for TALZENNA plus XTANDI in metastatic hormone-sensitive prostate cancer), PAG +0.2% (confirms $210/share take-private proposal from Penske Corp and Mitsui), SMR +0.1% (U.S. and Saudi Arabia reach nuclear cooperation agreement), LEU +0.1% (U.S. and Saudi Arabia reach nuclear cooperation agreement)

After Hours Losers:

Companies trading lower in after hours in reaction to earnings/guidance: ROL -14.9%, MOH -9.8%, CYH -7.8%, LVS -5% (also increases repurchase program), QS -4.9% (also amends PowerCo collaboration), QS -4.9%, TSLA -4.2%, CASH -4.1%, GOOG -4%, TXN -3.8%, RLI -1.7%, RJF -1.2%, LUV -1%, WH -0.9%, KNX -0.5%, GL -0.5%, WCN -0.4%, SON -0.3%

Companies trading lower in after hours in reaction to news: SSTK -6.9% (suspends dividend), DXCM -1.3% (selected as first participant in FDA's TEMPO digital health devices pilot), CWCO -1.2% (update on its seawater desalination project in Kalaeloa, Hawaii and the receipt of purchase orders), BAM -1.1% (to acquire Aypa Power for $7 bln), LTC -0.6% (buys Wisconsin seniors housing community), SGML -0.6% (Negotiating Agreement with Minas Gerais State Government), OKLO -0.2% (U.S. and Saudi Arabia reach nuclear cooperation agreement), TTC -0.1% (names new CEO and exec Chair)

FT : US start-up wins EU approval for sight-restoring bionic eye Decision will a

US start-up wins EU approval for sight-restoring bionic eye
Decision will allow Science Corp to treat patients with retina implants in coming months

A US start-up has received European regulatory approval for a bionic eye that can restore sight to the blind, in a commercial breakthrough for the growing number of companies working to connect brains with computers.

California-based Science Corp said on Wednesday it had received the EU’s Conformité Européenne (CE) mark for its Prima device, which treats age-related macular degeneration by using a retina implant and special glasses.

Science Corp was founded in 2021 by Max Hodak, who was previously a co-founder of brain-computer interface start-up Neuralink alongside Elon Musk.

CE mark approval paves the way for the first commercial patients to start receiving the treatment in the coming months, likely to start in Germany. Science Corp has also received humanitarian use device designation from the US Food and Drug Administration, an important step towards commercialisation in its home market.

The specific type of late-stage macular degeneration that Prima is designed to treat affects hundreds of thousands of people. In clinical trials involving 38 patients, the company found that the device helped 84 per cent to read letters, numbers and words, without the implant affecting their remaining natural vision.

“There’s just nothing else even comparable for these patients,” Hodak said.

He cautioned that the current version of the technology could provide only black-and-white images in a narrow field of view.

“This is an early version. It’s kind of like looking through a straw in the centre of their vision,” he said. “But it is a very powerful existence proof that we are on the right track . . . We see in the future how to get to colour pretty close to native acuity,” he said.

Prima’s tiny wireless implant is surgically implanted under the retina, receiving near-infrared light from its glasses and converting it into electrical stimulation signals that the brain can use to see.

The technology was originally invented at Stanford University in California. Science Corp acquired the French company that had been developing Prima in 2024, after it had already spent several years working on clinical trials and regulatory approval.

Another company working on eye implants, Second Sight, received CE approval for visual prosthesis system in 2011 but the company ran into financial difficulties in 2020, leaving early customers of its Argus system in doubt about the future functioning of their devices.

The company was later acquired, allowing development of its technology to continue. But its Argus product is no longer commercially available, leaving Prima as the only product of its kind on the market.

Musk’s Neuralink is also developing an implant for restoring vision, called Blindsight, which it plans to start testing in human trials this year.

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Despite the many challenges in commercialising the cutting-edge technology, brain-computer interface start-ups are proliferating around the world.

In March, Chinese regulators approved what is believed to be the world’s first commercially available invasive brain-computer interface product, allowing Shanghai-based Neuracle to sell a brain implant that can help paralysed patients to move their hands.

OpenAI chief Sam Altman is among the backers of Merge Labs, a Neuralink rival that hopes one day to combine humans with AI systems.

Science Corp has raised almost $500mn since it was founded, including $230mn in March this year from investors including Khosla Ventures and Lightspeed Venture Partners that reportedly valued the company at about $1.5bn.

Hodak hopes that the commercialisation of Prima will help to fund its research into “biohybrid” brain-computer interface technology, which uses living neurons to connect to the brain instead of wires. “This is the financial backbone,” he said. “This is the thing that pays for the rest.”

FT : US cyclospora cases mount as authorities struggle to find source

US cyclospora cases mount as authorities struggle to find source
Thousands have been sickened in an outbreak centred in the Midwest and believed to be tied to a parasite found on lettuce

A US outbreak of a serious gastrointestinal illness caused by a food-borne parasite has continued to grow by hundreds of cases per day as authorities struggle to identify the source. 

Michigan, the centre of the outbreak, reported over 400 new cases of cyclosporiasis on Tuesday for a total of 6,571 since June 21, skyrocketing above the state average of 50 cases per year. Other states in the Midwest and Northeast have also reported hundreds of cases apiece.

Michigan’s state health department first publicly identified an uptick in cyclosporiasis on July 1. As cases mounted, initial investigative efforts pointed to lettuce provided by grower Taylor Farms to Taco Bell restaurants.

The Mexican-themed fast-food chain voluntarily pulled Taylor Farms lettuce from its menus nationwide on Friday. Foot traffic at Taco Bell dropped nearly 19 per cent on Friday compared to the day-of-the-week average this year, according to market researcher Placer.ai.

However, the Food and Drug Administration on Sunday walked back test results identifying the cyclospora parasite on lettuce from Taylor Farms, saying the result was a “false positive”. 

Epidemiological efforts to trace the pathogen still show a “strong signal” towards lettuce or salad greens as a source of the outbreak, according to the Michigan state health department.

The state has also seen cases where patients “report neither consuming lettuce nor eating at any particular fast-food chain”, said Natasha Bagdasarian, chief medical executive for the state of Michigan. “It is possible, with the types of numbers that we are seeing, that there are two separate things happening,” she said.

Taylor Farms is continuing with its recall of iceberg lettuce despite the FDA test retraction. The brand recalled lettuce grown in central Mexico and will not source from the region for the rest of the growing season, it said in a statement. 

Neither Taylor Farms nor Taco Bell responded to a request for comment.

Cyclospora is very difficult to identify in lab tests, said Karen Levy, a professor researching foodborne illnesses at the University of Washington. “There’s a lot of potential for false positives,” she said.

In general, it is “not unusual” for an outbreak investigation to identify a contamination source entirely by interviewing patients, without ever obtaining a definitive test result, said Jodie Guest, senior vice-chair of epidemiology at Emory University. 

Michigan and other states are tracing the outbreak via interviews with patients, which take about 45 minutes each and require patients to recall to health officials everything they’ve eaten in a two-week period.

Bagdasarian said the Trump administration’s 2025 funding cuts to the Centers for Disease Control reduced Michigan’s public health staff by over 100 workers and have “absolutely” slowed the current investigation.

The cyclosporiasis outbreak is a “canary in the coal mine” for a public health system “stretched to the breaking point” by funding cuts and staff shortages, said Levy, the University of Washington researcher.

The CDC did not respond to a request for comment. The FDA said in a statement to the FT that it is “currently investigating Cyclospora outbreaks using established epidemiological, laboratory and traceback tools in close co-ordination with the CDC and state and local partners”. 

No deaths are associated with the cyclosporiasis outbreak, but hundreds have been hospitalised for cases of gastrointestinal distress including explosive diarrhoea, which can last up to a month without treatment.

FT : Citadel Securities opens Amsterdam options trading office Market maker is t

Citadel Securities opens Amsterdam options trading office
Market maker is the latest to establish presence in Dutch capital as it expands European push for equity derivatives hub

Citadel Securities is opening an Amsterdam office, becoming the latest trading firm to establish a presence in the Dutch capital as it strengthens its position as a European hub for options trading.

The new office for CitSec, founded by billionaire Ken Griffin, joins other market makers in the city including Jane Street, Optiver and IMC.

Amsterdam has reached critical mass for trading firms, making it easier to source talent for future roles. The city is home to the world’s oldest stock exchange, and its options exchange, created in 1978, was one of the first in Europe to offer such contracts.

Dave Silber, CitSec’s head of institutional equity derivatives, said: “Amsterdam’s position as a leading destination for equity derivatives and its pool of technical and trading talent makes it a natural place for us to expand our European footprint.”

Miami-based CitSec said it would have five employees in the Amsterdam office. Following Britain’s exit from the EU, CitSec in 2017 opened an office in Dublin, which has 16 employees, and then a Paris office in 2021 which now has a staff of 21, its largest EU presence. The firm has about 300 people in London.

CitSec said the new Amsterdam office would have trading, technology and quantitative research teams “to support the firm’s growing equity options business and enhance liquidity in European-listed derivatives markets”.

Companies such as CitSec were early adopters of the digitalisation of financial markets, building technology that processes orders worth hundreds of billions of dollars every day, often from retail investors.

Options trading has exploded in recent years as more retail traders make wagers on stock moves. Retail investors especially like options for the ability to make large bets with smaller amounts of money than they would need to buy shares of a company.

Trading firms such as CitSec, Jane Street and Hudson River Trading have notched record earnings this year as the AI boom and the Iran war have brought volatility to financial markets.

CitSec brought in a record $4.3bn in trading revenue in the first three months of 2026 and $1.9bn in net income, the FT has reported.

FT : Nestlé nears deal to sell stake in €5bn Perrier unit Swiss group races to a

Nestlé nears deal to sell stake in €5bn Perrier unit
Swiss group races to agree terms with Platinum Equity for water business, whose brands include San Pellegrino

Private equity group Platinum Equity is nearing a deal to acquire a stake in Nestlé’s European water business that would value the company at close to €5bn.

The two sides are racing to agree terms for the sale of about 50 per cent of the unit ahead of Nestlé’s half-year trading update on Thursday, according to people familiar with the matter.

The deal would be structured as a joint venture valuing the maker of San Pellegrino and Perrier at almost €5bn, the people said.

The agreement would cap an arduous sale process for the Swiss food giant.

The KitKat and Nespresso maker first indicated it would offload the brands in 2024. It separated the division from the rest of the company in 2025 and earlier this year confirmed that a process was under way.

Platinum Equity, led by billionaire founder Tom Gores, emerged as the sole bidder after rival groups, including KKR, CD&R and PAI Partners, exited the auction for the business.

The sale has been complicated by legal controversies, including raids earlier this year by French authorities at two of its bottling sites as part of a fraud investigation.

In 2024, the company was embroiled in a water purity scandal in France after a media investigation found a third of mineral water sold in the country had been illegally treated. Nestlé admitted to using prohibited treatment methods. Last year, the water business accounted for about 3.5 per cent of its group sales.

“It’s not a straightforward deal,” said one of the people with knowledge of the process.

California-based Platinum has about $48bn of assets under management and invests across private equity and credit. It has invested in other consumer businesses, including the European biscuit manufacturer Biscuit International and the dairy group Horizon Organic.

Nestlé’s move to reduce its stake in the water business comes as the group undertakes a strategic overhaul led by its new chief executive Philipp Navratil and chair Pablo Isla, the former boss of fast-fashion group Inditex.

The coffee and pet food giant is simplifying its organisational structure to focus on fewer categories. The group is also looking for a buyer for its mainstream vitamins businesses.

Nestlé has previously partnered with private equity groups on joint ventures for its assets, including teaming up with investment firm PAI for both its ice cream business Froneri and its European frozen pizza unit.

In 2021, Nestlé agreed a $4.3bn deal with US private equity firm One Rock Capital to sell its North American water business, which included the Poland Spring and Pure Life brands.

Nestlé and Platinum declined to comment.

WSJ : U.S. Data-Center Operator TECfusions Plans to Go Public in $4 Billion SPAC

U.S. Data-Center Operator TECfusions Plans to Go Public in $4 Billion SPAC Deal
The company expects to close the transaction in the fourth quarter and start trading on the Nasdaq

  • Data-center operator TECfusions plans to go public through a merger with blank-check company Apex Treasury that values it at about $4 billion.
  • TECfusions expects to close the transaction in the fourth quarter and start trading on the Nasdaq.
  • Founder Simon Tusha said TECfusions chose the SPAC route over a conventional IPO in part due to recent volatility in equity markets.

Data-center operator TECfusions is planning to go public by merging with a blank-check company in a deal that will value it at about $4 billion.

The Florida-based company, which hosts one of the largest AMD-based artificial-intelligence training clusters in North America, is set to combine with Apex Treasury, a special-purpose acquisition company listed in New York, it said Wednesday.

The company expects to close the transaction in the fourth quarter and start trading on the Nasdaq, subject to shareholder and regulatory approvals.

TECfusions, which converts existing industrial facilities into data centers, said the deal implies a pro-forma enterprise value of approximately $4.2 billion. The valuation reflects contracted and advanced-stage projects, a planned expansion into Chile, and long-term customer agreements.

An institutional investor is anchoring a $35 million PIPE, or private investment in public equity, alongside the de-SPAC transaction. TECfusions declined to identify the investor.

Simon Tusha, founder and chief technology officer at TECfusions, said the company chose the SPAC route over a conventional initial public offering in part due to the current market environment.

“The recent volatility in equity markets and the broader macro backdrop reinforced our view that a SPAC provides better predictability around timing and capital, which is critical when you are committing hundreds of millions of dollars to multi year data center projects,” he said.

TECfusions has sites in Virginia, Pennsylvania and Arizona, with its current pipeline supporting a multi-gigawatt buildout over the next several years, Tusha said.

He added that the company’s near-term financials reflect a “build-out phase rather than steady-state margins,” with a clear path toward significant profitability as projects move from construction into full utilization.

The company is in talks with a range of AI platforms, cloud providers and enterprises as potential clients.

While TECfusions isn’t planning a SPAC raise beyond the $35 million investment, it may consider future capital raises, Tusha said. The firm is currently financed through project-level debt and equity, corporate equity commitments, and strategic capital from partners seeking exposure to AI-ready infrastructure.

“Over the next 12 to 18 months, our [capital expenditure] will remain focused on high conviction projects where we have clear tenant demand and attractive project level financing, rather than speculative builds,” the CTO said.

WSJ : AMD and Anthropic Sign Major Chips-and-Investment Deal The 2-gigawatt deal

AMD and Anthropic Sign Major Chips-and-Investment Deal
The 2-gigawatt deal covers tens of billions of dollars’ worth of chips, as AMD plans to invest up to $5 billion in Anthropic

  • AMD and Anthropic signed a deal for tens of billions of dollars’ worth of artificial-intelligence servers.
  • Anthropic will buy up to two gigawatts of AMD chips starting in 2027, and AMD will invest up to $5 billion in Anthropic.
  • AMD is in talks to provide a financial backstop for Anthropic data center leases, a person with knowledge of the talks said.

Advanced Micro Devices AMD -0.83%decrease; red down pointing triangle and Anthropic have signed a deal for tens of billions of dollars’ worth of artificial-intelligence servers, strengthening AMD’s competitive position against industry leader Nvidia NVDA -0.67%decrease; red down pointing triangle and supplying Anthropic with much needed computing power.

Under the terms of the agreement, Anthropic will purchase up to 2 gigawatts of AMD’s latest-generation chips, called the Instinct MI450, starting in the first half of 2027. AMD will also invest up to $5 billion in Anthropic—its first check into the AI firm—as certain deployment milestones are met.

“We have very much wanted to be a major part of their infrastructure,” AMD Chief Executive Lisa Su said, adding that the companies’ engineering teams have been working together for some time.

Anthropic runs computing workloads across chips including Google’s tensor-processing units, Amazon.com’s Trainium chips, and Nvidia graphics processing units, or GPUs. As part of the deal, Anthropic will buy some AMD chips for its own data centers, as well as lease some of the capacity via other large cloud providers or neoclouds. Anthropic and AMD are working together to identify data centers for the chips, Su said.

“You can’t just wake up one morning and say, ‘Oh, I want a gigawatt of compute tomorrow,’” Su said. “You actually have to plan, you know, 12, 18, 24 months in advance for what you want.”

AMD is also in talks to provide a financial backstop for Anthropic’s future data-center leases as well, according to a person with direct knowledge of the talks.

Large technology companies with investment-grade credit ratings have increasingly been in talks to back the leases or debt of AI startups that otherwise wouldn’t be able to raise capital at favorable terms. Google has agreed to backstop some data-center deals to help Anthropic access its TPUs, for instance.

AMD has spent the past few years racing to build its position in the market for selling GPUs. The company has benefited from a surge in demand from AI developers seeking to diversify away from Nvidia. It recently signed large deals with OpenAI and Meta Platforms and is competing to win over younger AI startups as customers.

Su said AMD had signed an engineering collaboration with Anthropic, in which it will use the company’s Claude models to improve the performance of its chip technology.

AMD’s chips are generally less in demand than Nvidia’s, partly because AI companies are less familiar with operating the software needed to run the company’s chips. AMD extended sweeteners to win big customers, including offering them warrants, or future shares, in the company.

The AMD deal will help Anthropic to further meet the surge in demand for its AI tools that have turned it into the front-runner of the AI race. The sudden demand forced Anthropic to limit how much its users could engage with its AI services, with some customers reporting frequent outages.

Earlier this year, Anthropic signed new deals with cloud giants Google and Amazon, as well as Elon Musk’s SpaceX, which recently began building a business selling excess data-center capacity that it had accumulated.