The Street

Microsoft has been one of the worst-performing large-cap tech stocks of 2026, down about 20% year to date, even as the company keeps expanding its AI business and growing Azure at a pace most cloud companies would envy. A lot of investors have been sitting on their hands, waiting either for a reason to get back in or a reason to stay patient.Bank of America just gave them something to chew on. The bank reiterated its Buy rating and $500 price objective ahead of Microsoft’s fiscal fourth-quarter earnings on July 29, updating its estimates to reflect stronger Azure growth expectations. But the note isn’t just a target confirmation. It lays out what the bank thinks investors need to see from the print, and what happens to the stock if they don’t get it.What Bank of America says about Azure and Microsoft Q4 earningsAzure is the number that matters most on July 29. Microsoft guided for Azure revenue growth of 39% to 40% year over year in constant currency during the quarter, and Bank of America says hitting or beating that range is critical. The bank was direct about the stakes: Azure at or above the guided range is what the stock needs to work. A miss, it said, could intensify investor concerns about the return on Microsoft’s AI infrastructure spending.One reason for optimism heading in is capacity. Demand has been outpacing Azure’s available computing infrastructure for several quarters, capping how much contracted revenue the company can convert and recognize. That dynamic is starting to improve. Microsoft’s first Fairwater data center facility in Wisconsin is now fully operational, which could help the company start converting more of its massive backlog into revenue, Invezz reported.More Microsoft:Microsoft offers laid-off employees generous packageMicrosoft’s retirement offer is a wake-up call for workersMicrosoft cuts thousands as Xbox faces rude awakeningThat backlog stood at $627 billion at the end of Q3, representing contracted revenue not yet recognized. Management expects about 25% of that to convert into revenue over the next 12 months. For investors, strong conversion would be another sign that enterprise AI spending is moving from commitment to actual financial results.The Microsoft AI capex surge and what it means for free cash flowThe pressure from AI spending shows up most visibly in free cash flow. Bank of America estimates Q4 capital expenditures at roughly $42 billion, which will compress free cash flow sharply compared to a year earlier. Investors have generally accepted higher spending as necessary to compete in AI infrastructure, but patience for that trade-off isn’t unlimited, Motley Fool reported.This is why Bank of America is so explicit about the Azure bar. If revenue growth comes in at or above guidance, the spending looks justified. If Azure misses, the market will start questioning whether the investment is generating proportional returns. As TheStreet reported, Citi also flagged that investors will be watching management’s fiscal 2027 guidance on operating margins, which is expected to be cautious heading into another heavy spending year.

The stock’s underperformance has pushed the valuation to a level Bank of America considers attractiveCraig/Getty Images

Copilot adoption and Microsoft AI monetization as proof pointsBank of America also wants to see continued Copilot progress. The AI productivity tool ended Q3 with 20 million paid seats and Microsoft’s AI annual recurring revenue has hit $37 billion. The bank expects both figures to keep climbing as Azure capacity expands and enterprise deployments broaden.The opportunity behind those numbers is significant. Microsoft has roughly 400 million M365 licenses deployed across enterprise customers, all of them potential Copilot upgrade candidates, Motley Fool noted. Unlike AI-native startups that have to find customers from scratch, Microsoft can sell directly into an installed base that already depends on its software. Bank of America is also watching the company’s shift toward consumption-based AI pricing alongside traditional seat fees, which could expand average revenue per user over time.Where Microsoft stock stands and what the valuation saysThe stock’s underperformance has pushed the valuation to a level Bank of America considers attractive. Microsoft is trading at roughly 19 times the bank’s calendar 2027 earnings forecast, well below its five-year average multiple of 29 times. The bank’s read is that the discount reflects near-term capex anxiety, not a fundamental problem with the business.About 95% of analysts covering Microsoft have a Buy rating, with a median price target of $550, well above Bank of America’s $500 target. Core businesses in cloud and productivity continue to provide stability, while the only notable drag is gaming, which has been weak throughout the year.July 29 is when investors find out whether the Azure growth thesis is on track, whether Copilot is building real monetization, and what management says about fiscal 2027. Bank of America is staying Buy heading in. The note makes clear the print needs to deliver.Related: Citi revamps Microsoft stock price target for the rest of 2026

Selling a home in the United States has settled into a slower, more deliberate rhythm than the one sellers grew used to during the pandemic rush.Buyers now have more listings to weigh and far less urgency, and many study a home’s finishes closely before they commit. A property that asks too much or shows poorly can sit for weeks, then need price reductions and closing-cost help to reach the closing table. Some seasoned sellers plan for that outcome before a sign ever goes in the yard, building an offer around a sale price that already assumes two price cuts, a $10,000 closing-cost concession, and two extra months of holding.That kind of math came up on Wednesday’s episode of the BiggerPockets Real Estate Podcast, where two active house flippers walked through how they set a listing price when a quick, certain sale matters more than squeezing out the final dollar. Both had arrived at the same read on the current market.”Money now is way better than potential money later,” Dominique Gunderson, a New Orleans-based real estate investor who runs 10 to 12 house flips a year, said on Wednesday’s episode.Why homes are sitting and buyers stopped settlingThe shift both flippers described starts with the buyer. With more homes to consider and time to consider them, buyers have grown selective about condition, layout, and finish quality. A listing that once would have drawn quick offers can now stall if it misses on price or presentation, and pulling it back on track tends to mean price reductions plus help with a buyer’s closing costs.”Buyers are just getting so, so picky,” Gunderson said. “So you have to be just as picky when you’re looking at the comps.”Her response is to underwrite conservatively. Rather than anchor to the highest sale a neighborhood has ever produced, she prices toward the middle of recent comparable sales and assumes the deal will still take cuts and concessions to close. The sale price she builds her offer around already carries two reductions, a $10,000 closing-cost concession, and extra hold time before a buyer signs.For many homeowners, this dynamic also impacts their decision whether to sell at all in this market, despite there being no definitive way to determine when conditions could swing back in their favor.More home-selling and housing market:Zillow sees change in housing market, home valuesNew home-selling strategy poses threat to buyersGoldman Sachs issues major prediction for U.S. housing marketHenry Washington, one of the podcast’s co-hosts, said on Wednesday’s episode that he has landed in the same place after years in the business. He does 10 to 20 flips a year, and his instinct now runs against holding out for the highest possible number.”I’d rather sell my house fast for less money than shoot for the stars and try to get the most money,” Washington said.For anyone listing a home, that leaves a fork that felt far less sharp when demand outran supply. The choice is whether to price for a fast, near-certain sale or hold firm and wait for a buyer willing to pay top dollar.

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The case for taking less money nowThe case for taking less comes down to attention. Pricing a home beneath the best comparable in the area, both flippers said, pulls in every buyer already shopping that neighborhood and forces a decision while interest runs high. The cost is real, since a lower list price can leave money on the table. The payoff is a sale that actually closes.Washington pointed to a recent deal to show how far he will go.”The last time we did this, we went under contract in 24 hours, but I listed it $25,000 less than what I planned to list it for when I underwrote the deal,” Washington said.The reasoning is that a below-market price does the marketing on its own. When a home is the clear value in its area on both price and condition, it becomes the one buyers feel they have to walk through.”I want to ensure that if a buyer is shopping for a house in a neighborhood my house is listed in, that they have absolutely no reason not to go see mine,” Washington added.Set against that speed is a tradeoff Washington laid out: a bigger payday that, by his own reckoning, might not arrive for another six months, and that could shrink toward the same figure once holding costs and further concessions are counted. Gunderson landed on the same instinct in plainer terms, favoring a sure payment now over one that only might materialize. A confirmed sale at a discount carries none of that doubt. For a homeowner, the decision turns on how much that certainty is worth and how long they can afford to carry a home while waiting for a stronger offer.Key takeaways on the 2026 seller pricing decisionBuyer selectivity has raised the price of aiming too high: Gunderson said buyers have gotten “so, so picky,” so a home that misses on price or finish can sit and then need cuts and concessions before it sells.Seasoned sellers price to the middle of recent comps, not the record: Gunderson builds her offer around a sale price that already assumes two price cuts, a $10,000 closing-cost concession, and two extra months of holding rather than the top sale ever recorded.A below-market list price can produce a near-instant sale: Washington said he listed one property $25,000 under his intended price and had it under contract within a day, using the low number to draw every buyer in the neighborhood.The core question is certainty versus upside: A confirmed sale at a discount competes against a larger payout that Washington said may take another six months and could end up similar once holding costs are counted; Gunderson put the same instinct more bluntly, favoring a sure payment over a possible one.The tactics come from full-time flippers, not a rule for every homeowner: Gunderson runs 10 to 12 flips a year and Washington does 10 to 20, and both were describing how they price investment properties; any seller’s right price still depends on their own timeline and local comparable sales.Related: Americans get blunt message on early retirement

Intel Corporation (INTC) and Google Cloud announced an expanded partnership on Thursday 16th, deploying Gemini Enterprise across Intel’s workforce and pushing agentic AI tools into its chip design process, according to an Intel Newsroom statement.The announcement should have read as an unambiguous win for a company trying to prove its AI credentials. Instead, Intel shares closed down 5.84% that day, sliding to $96.98 from the prior session’s $102.99, according to data from TheStreet.The sell-off had a different author entirely.Intel’s sell-off traces back to Taiwan, not Mountain ViewTaiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing reported record second-quarter results the same Thursday, posting a 67.7% gross margin and raising its 2026 capital spending target to as much as $64 billion, up from a prior ceiling of $56 billion.Investors read the higher capex as a sign that even the industry’s most profitable chipmaker will need years to turn AI demand into free cash flow.Semiconductor stocks fell broadly on the news, and Intel, still trying to prove its own foundry can turn a profit, absorbed more damage than most.Related: Does Intel pay dividends? History & future prospects explainedThat single earnings report explains more of Thursday’s move than any AI partnership could. Intel had already fallen from a 52-week high of $142.35 in late June to roughly $103 by mid-July, a decline tied to reports that its 18A manufacturing process may not reach profitable yields until 2027, according to The Motley Fool.The same week, AMD reported first-quarter data center revenue of $5.8 billion, edging past Intel’s $5.1 billion in that segment for the first time, the outlet reported. Both events mattered more to Intel’s stock than a cloud computing deal.

Intel expanded its Google Cloud partnership on July 16, but shares fell 5.84% the same day as TSMC’s raised capex spooked chip investors industry-wide.JHVEPhoto / Getty Images

The AI deal reaches deep into chip designUnder the expanded agreement, Intel will use Gemini Enterprise as a central platform for employees to build and deploy AI agents across engineering, supply chain and corporate operations, the Intel Newsroom statement said.Google Cloud will also expand the computing capacity available to Intel’s chip designers, adding custom agentic workflows meant to shorten the semiconductor development lifecycle.Google Cloud CEO Thomas Kurian said the goal is to accelerate Intel’s enterprise-wide digital transformation using Gemini Enterprise and Google Cloud.Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai publicly welcomed the news, framing Intel’s adoption of Gemini as a marquee example of the platform reaching into next-generation semiconductor work, Benzinga reported.The arrangement carries a wrinkle other coverage has largely skipped. Google designs its own AI accelerators, called Tensor Processing Units, for use inside its own data centers.Related: Morgan Stanley: Broadcom bears are wrong about Google TPUHanding agentic chip design workflows to Google Cloud means Intel’s engineers are now building silicon partly on infrastructure controlled by a company that competes with Intel in custom AI silicon, even as it sells Intel enterprise software everywhere else.This dynamic highlights a strange new reality in the semiconductor industry. To move fast enough to survive, companies are forced into complex relationships where they must share critical development environments with their direct rivals.Intel is essentially betting that the speed gains from using Google’s AI will outweigh any long term strategic risks of relying on a competitor’s infrastructure.Google shares, meanwhile, ticked up about 0.1% the same day. That muted move underscores how differently the market treats AI infrastructure providers versus AI infrastructure buyers.Google captures steady enterprise software revenue from deals like this one regardless of how Intel’s hardware business performs.More Intel:Top-rated analyst sets a jaw-dropping Intel stock price targetIntel’s stock split history (& prospects) explainedIntel CEO gives investors a reality checkGoogle needs Intel as much as Intel needs GoogleThis is not a one-way arrangement. Google Cloud committed to deploying Intel’s latest Xeon 6 processors across its own cloud infrastructure under an April 2026 agreement that laid the groundwork for Thursday’s expansion.Every enterprise workload Google shifts onto Xeon hardware strengthens Intel’s case that its chips still belong inside the world’s largest cloud providers, even as Nvidia and custom silicon dominate the AI training conversation.Enterprise AI adoption is now a side story to manufacturing riskWall Street increasingly treats chipmakers as two separate stories: the AI partnerships they sign, and the manufacturing execution that determines whether they can profit from them.Intel’s Thursday captured that gap perfectly. A partnership touching nearly every part of its business barely registered against a single capital spending number out of Taiwan.While everyday investors are reacting sharply to immediate manufacturing risks, institutional heavyweights seem willing to play a much longer game.The U.S. government took a roughly 10% equity stake in the company last August, and Nvidia invested $5 billion in December even though the two chipmakers compete for the same AI infrastructure dollars, according to The Motley Fool.Google’s expanded AI partnership fits that same pattern: strategic partners keep betting on Intel’s turnaround even as the stock keeps testing investors’ patience.Intel reports second-quarter earnings on July 23. That report, not this week’s Google Cloud news, will show whether Intel’s foundry turnaround can keep pace with the AI story it keeps telling investors.Specifically, Wall Street will be looking for concrete updates on the 18A manufacturing timeline and any signs of improvement in the company’s foundry margins.If management cannot prove they are controlling the physical costs of building these chips, no amount of AI software integration will be enough to calm nervous shareholders.Related: Intel surge hints far beyond Apple news

Last October, Mark Zuckerberg mentioned almost in passing that companies kept asking Meta if they could buy computing capacity from it, at a premium. It sounded like a hypothetical. On July 17, the New York Times turned it into a very real story.Meta and Anthropic are in early talks for a potential computing deal worth as much as $10 billion over two years, the New York Times reported, citing three people with knowledge of the discussions. Anthropic proposed the arrangement in June. Meta is reviewing it. Both companies declined to comment, and the talks are early enough that they may not result in a deal at all.What the Meta Anthropic $10 billion AI compute deal saysThe basic structure, as the Times described it, would have Anthropic paying Meta in monthly installments over two years with an option for either party to exit early. CNBC independently confirmed the talks, according to CNBC. CNN also confirmed the conversations but noted its source said any specific dollar figures in the reports are speculative.More AI:Workers just sent AI companies an ultimatumPalantir CEO has a blunt verdict on OpenAI and AnthropicElon Musk pulls no punches with AI rivals as Grok 4.5 debutsMeta stock fell as much as 6% on July 17 before paring losses after the report came out, ending the day down about 2%.The potential deal would be smaller than Anthropic’s existing arrangement with SpaceX, which signed a $45 billion, three-year compute deal in May giving Anthropic access to the Colossus 1 data center in Memphis. A Meta arrangement would layer on top of that, giving Anthropic yet another major source of GPU capacity.What this says about Meta’s cloud computing ambitionsFor Meta, the Anthropic talks are the clearest sign yet that the company is serious about entering the cloud computing business. Zuckerberg said in May that Meta was considering it as a way to show investors that its AI spending can generate revenue beyond advertising. The internal name for the effort is already circulating: Meta Compute.The infrastructure is already being built. Meta is expected to spend as much as $145 billion on capital expenditures in 2026, more than double the $72 billion it spent last year, mostly on AI hardware and data centers.The company cut 8,000 jobs in May while redirecting billions toward AI buildout. It also recently hired Dave Brown, a former senior executive at Amazon Web Services, a move that signals the cloud ambitions go beyond a single leasing deal.”We hear from companies regularly that are asking if we have compute that they could buy from us at some premium to what we’ve bought it at,” Zuckerberg said in October 2025.Anthropic is the first company publicly reported to be in discussions to do exactly that.

Companies with capacity can charge a premium, and those that need capacity will pay, regardless of what the two sides are doing on the model side.Michael/Getty Images

Why Anthropic keeps signing AI compute infrastructure dealsAnthropic’s compute appetite has been one of the defining stories of the AI industry in 2026. The company has placed usage limits on its most advanced models, including Claude Fable, because it doesn’t have enough processing capacity to run them without restrictions.Revenue has been growing fast but the infrastructure needed to support that growth hasn’t kept pace. The SpaceX deal in May was one answer. A potential Meta arrangement would be another.Anthropic is also IPO-bound, according to Reuters, with bankers setting up investor meetings ahead of a possible October listing. Going into a public market roadshow with multiple long-term compute partnerships locked in is a very different story than going in with a single supplier and a capacity constraint.The pattern Anthropic is building looks less like a single vendor relationship and more like a distributed infrastructure network, which reduces dependency on any one partner and gives the company more negotiating leverage with each of them.What the Meta Anthropic deal means for AI investorsThe most interesting wrinkle in the reported deal is what it would make Meta. The company already builds and releases its own Llama AI models, which compete directly with Anthropic’s Claude. A compute lease would make Meta Anthropic’s infrastructure provider at the same time it’s competing with Anthropic’s product.That sounds unusual but it’s already the norm in AI infrastructure. SpaceX sells GPU access to both Anthropic and Google. The compute shortage has made competitive boundaries largely irrelevant when it comes to infrastructure.The companies that have capacity can charge a premium for it, and the companies that need capacity will pay, regardless of what the two sides are doing on the model side. For investors watching the broader AI trade, that matters. The infrastructure layer is becoming a business in its own right, separate from who wins the model race.Meta monetizing its data centers while also competing in AI models is roughly what Amazon did with AWS: build infrastructure for yourself, then sell the excess to everyone else, including your competitors.Related: Anthropic just made a move that changes the AI investing story

Imagine enrolling in a student loan plan that promises to erase your unpaid interest each month and automatically reduce your principal.But then both of those valuable protections get lost because your payment was posted a single day past its scheduled due date.That is the trade-off built into the Repayment Assistance Plan (RAP), the income-driven loan option that launched on July 1. Previous income-driven repayment plans gave borrowers a cushion before a late payment triggered consequences, but RAP eliminates that buffer.Nearly 46,000 borrowers submitted applications on RAP’s July 1 launch day alone, Under Secretary of Education Nicholas Kent posted on X.For each of those enrollees, the plan’s strict enforcement mechanism will take effect with their first monthly bill.RAP’s late payment rule strips two key financial protections from borrowersThe Repayment Assistance Plan was built around two benefits designed to stop loan balances from growing beyond what a borrower originally owed. Both of those financial protections vanish the moment a payment arrives late, regardless of the borrower’s payment history or circumstances.The first benefit is an interest waiver that erases any monthly interest charges that a borrower’s on-time payment does not fully cover. The second is a principal reduction match through which the Education Department contributes up to $50 when an on-time payment falls short of reducing principal.More Personal Finance:AI money advice carries risks most users overlookEstate plans for unmarried couples: Protect your partner, your wishesEstate planning for solo agers: How to protect yourself”That protection comes from two benefits, both tied to paying on time,” said Rich Williams, a former deputy assistant secretary at the Education Department. Williams now serves as the chief customer officer at Summer, a company that provides repayment guidance to student loan holders.Department data reveal a clear reason why the plan’s strict design is so aggressive about rewarding timely payments from borrowers. Three out of four borrowers on prior income-driven plans owed more than they originally borrowed six years after entering repayment, according to the Education Department.Previous student loan plans gave borrowers more time before penalties kicked inWhat sets RAP apart from every previous federal repayment option is the complete absence of a grace period before penalties begin. “The other plans have a tolerance before a payment is considered late,” higher education expert Mark Kantrowitz explained in an interview with CNBC.Director of federal campaigns at the Center for Responsible Lending, Jaylon Herbin, warns policy shifts leave student-loan borrowers uncertain and distressed.Borrowers are facing a great deal of confusion and anxiety ahead of the changesUnder older income-driven options such as Income-Based Repayment, borrowers had a brief window before any missed payment triggered the loss of financial benefits. RAP removes that cushion entirely, so a payment that arrives one day past its deadline can cost a borrower hundreds of dollars. The loss of interest relief and principal matching over the course of a full year adds up for borrowers on tight monthly budgets. “Being late with a payment, by even just one day under the RAP repayment plan, will cost you,” Kantrowitz told CNBC.

Unlike previous student loan repayment plans, RAP imposes immediate penalties for late payments, leaving borrowers with no grace period before benefits are lost.Frazao Studio Latino/Getty Images

Late RAP payments stall the path to student loan forgivenessThe financial hit from a missed payment extends well beyond the loss of that single month’s interest and principal protections. A late payment fails to count toward RAP’s 30-year forgiveness timeline, adding another month before a borrower’s remaining balance can be canceled. That missed month fails to count toward Public Service Loan Forgiveness, which erases federal student debt for qualifying public servants after 120 payments. For borrowers pursuing PSLF, a single missed month means one additional month of service before they reach full debt cancellation. With student loan delinquency near 25%, up from about 9% in 2019, according to The Century Foundation, the lost progress compounds for borrowers who miss more than one scheduled deadline. One benefit that survives a late payment is that borrowers retain the $50 monthly discount for each qualifying dependent listed on their federal tax return.Overpaying a RAP bill can also trigger benefit lossesPaying too much on a RAP bill presents its own risks, adding another layer of complexity for borrowers managing their accounts. A borrower’s account can flip to “pay ahead” status if they send in more than the required amount in a given month. That status shift may disqualify them from both the interest waiver and the matching principal payment, Williams explained to CNBC. “So, paying exactly what you owe, on time, is usually the smartest move,” Williams said.Borrowers whose income drops during the plan year face a separate concern because the required payment is based on their previous year’s tax return. Alerting a loan servicer promptly when earnings fall allows the payment to adjust to a more affordable amount, Williams recommended.The autopay deadline gives RAP borrowers an additional reason to enroll nowThe Education Department has also paired RAP’s launch with a temporary incentive designed to keep borrowers current on their bills. Federal student loan borrowers who enroll in autopay by September 30 can receive a temporary 1% interest rate reduction, valid through June 30, 2028. That reduction is four times larger than the standard autopay discount, and only 40% of borrowers in active repayment currently have autopay enabled, down from about 83% before the pandemic pause, the Education Department reported. The financial savings from the rate cut itself are modest, with Kantrowitz estimating a reduction of approximately $8 per month on a $10,000 loan.The larger value of autopay lies in its ability to prevent the late payments that strip borrowers of their most valuable RAP protections. Nearly 43 million Americans now carry federal student loan debt exceeding $1.6 trillion, according to the Congressional Research Service.Borrowers transitioning from the SAVE plan, which was blocked by a federal court order and is being wound down, can lock in both the rate discount and benefit protection by enrolling before the deadline.Related: Student loan borrowers face growing default threat

Apple isn’t just counting on customers to keep buying iPhones. It also expects them to keep paying every month long after they’ve bought one.While Apple built its reputation selling cutting-edge devices, its fastest-growing profit engine has become Services, the business that keeps generating revenue after customers leave the store.Despite its name, Apple’s Services segment is about far more than servicing devices.Apple’s Services segment is the catch-all for all the ways the company makes money after a device is already in a customer’s hands. That includes the commissions the company gets when you pay for something in the app store, or buy an in-app service from a downloaded app.It also includes subscriptions like Apple Music, TV+, and iCloud+, AppleCare warranties, the multibillion-dollar licensing payment Google makes to stay Safari’s default search engine, advertising, and Apple Pay. It’s a business that might not get a lot of media attention, but it provided roughly a quarter of revenue in fiscal 2025. More importantly, Services carries a gross margin north of 75%, more than double the 36% Apple earns on hardware, according to Apple’s fourth-quarter earnings release.Now, Apple has made a bold play to increase that revenue by raising the prices on a number of its subscription services.Apple bets you won’t cancelLike many Apple customers, I have a bundled Apple One Family subscription. Every Apple One tier includes Apple Music, Apple TV, and Apple Arcade, plus iCloud+ storage. The tiers differ in storage amount, whether you can share with family, and, at the top, two extra services.Apple One Individual runs $19.95/month and includes Apple TV, Apple Music, Apple Arcade, and 50GB of iCloud+ storage, for a single user.Family is $25.95/month and includes the same services but bumps storage to 200GB and lets you share with up to five other people via Family Sharing.Premier is the everything tier and adds the two services the lower plans don’t have: Apple Fitness+ and Apple News+, on top of 2TB of iCloud+ storage, shareable with up to five other people.
Source: Apple
Apple has raised the price of the Family and Premier Apple One tiers, while the Individual offering’s price has not changed.Individual: $19.95 (unchanged)Family: $27.95 (up from $25.95)Premier: $39.95 (up from $37.95)Apple did not announce the price change. Instead, it just changed the pricing on its website.The company also quietly raised the cost of its Apple Music subscriptions:Individual: $11.99 (up from $10.99)Family: $19.99 (up from $16.99) Student: $6.99 (up from $5.99)“As a result of rising licensing costs, Apple Music is increasing its subscription price beginning today,” the company shared in a statement to 9to5Mac. Apple’s move follows Spotify’s own subscription price increases earlier this year, narrowing the pricing gap between the two streaming rivals. Even after the latest increases, Apple Music still costs less than Spotify’s standard individual plan.Services have become Apple’s revenue driverRTM Nexus CEO Dominick Miserandino thinks Apple raised the price of Apple Music along with the One bundle price for a strategic reason.”By jacking up the price of Apple Music, they make the Apple One bundle look like a bargain by comparison, practically forcing you to upgrade. It’s sad, but because of the way the digital platforms are working, more iPhone users are going to be forced into this situation of paying for subscriptions,” he told TheStreet. The increase, assuming it does not cause people to drop their subscriptions, should add to Apple’s bottom line.”Services are no longer just a supporting character inside Apple. It has become a substantial portion of revenue and represents an even bigger share of profits — and it’s helping the company turn its massive device footprint into repeatable, higher-margin revenue,” according to The Motley Fool’s Daniel Sparks.Apple’s Services revenue stabilizes the company.Apple’s growing Services revenue makes it a more stable company that’s not as dependent on product replacement cycles.”This, in turn, improves Apple’s earnings potential and helps the tech company be less dependent on iPhone, which accounts for more than 50% of revenue,” Sparks added.Evercore ISI analysts believe that investors have ignored Apple’s Services business by focusing too much on its short-term prospects as a hardware company.”The firm recently raised its price target on Apple stock to $365 while maintaining an ‘Outperform’ rating, citing the company’s growing ability to monetize its massive installed base of more than 2.5 billion active devices through subscriptions, payments, cloud services, advertising, licensing, and artificial intelligence (AI)-driven offerings,” according to Yahoo Finance.More Tech:Microsoft cuts thousands as Xbox faces rude awakeningSpectrum makes significant decision as customer losses mountGiant troubled satellite TV company files Chapter 11 bankruptcyThe company set a number of records in its most recent quarter with Services leading the way.”Apple Inc. is proud to report $111.2 billion in revenue, up 17% from a year ago and a March record, which was above the high end of our guidance range despite constraints. Customer enthusiasm for iPhone has been extraordinary, with revenue growing 22% year over year to achieve a March record. Services reached an all-time revenue record, growing 16% from a year ago, while EPS set a March record of $2.10, up 22% year over year,” the company shared in its second-quarter earnings release.

Apple has not raised iPhone prices yet.Shutterstock

Apple also recently raised hardware pricesApple raised prices on June 25, according to TheStreet’s Aparajita Chatterjee. The company raised prices on Macs and iPads, but has excluded the iPhone for now.The company raised prices on several Mac and iPad models by $200 or more, with the base MacBook Air rising $200 to $1,299 and the base MacBook Pro rising $300 to $1,999, according to the Wall Street Journal. The iPad Air and iPad Pro also saw price increases, according to the report.The increases come after Apple CEO Tim Cook told the Journal that price increases were becoming unavoidable due to higher costs for memory and storage chips.It’s likely that Apple will wait until its next iPhone release before it raises prices on its phone. It’s also possible that the company is willing to sacrifice margins on its phones in order to keep its customer base intact in order to support its Services revenue. Analysts expect an increase, but disagree on the amount.Some investors and consumers have worried that Apple could eventually need to raise iPhone prices by $200 or more to offset higher component costs.Bank of America recently raised its assumed price increase for some iPhone models, as covered by TheStreet.However, JPMorgan analyst Samik Chatterjee reportedly sees a less dramatic outcome.According to Seeking Alpha, Chatterjee expects the iPhone 18 series to launch with a more modest price increase than some press estimates, closer to about $50 or a mid-single-digit percentage range.There are over 150 million active iPhones in the U.S., making it a core part of American life, according to Statista.Related: Discount chain closing 75 stores, admits 1,000s are ‘substandard’

Verizon has struggled to slow customer losses in its wireless business in recent years, and under new leadership, it is making major workforce changes.Dan Schulman, who became CEO of Verizon in October last year, has accelerated efforts to transform the company after it lost about 2.25 million wireless customers over the past three years, following back-to-back price increases and amid heightened competition.“We are not delivering the shareholder returns our investors expect,” said Schulman during an earnings call in October. “Despite investing significantly in network leadership, we have not been able to translate that into winning in the market.”Verizon later laid off more than 13,000 employees in November to simplify its operations and reduce complexity and friction in its business to better serve customers. It also sold 179 corporate-owned retail ‌stores. The company later cut hundreds of jobs nationwide in May, impacting less than 1% of its global workforce, according to a Business Insider report.Verizon conducts more layoffs and sells hundreds of storesNow Verizon is once again shrinking its workforce and retail footprint, this time affecting over 3,000 workers, according to a recent report from the Wall Street Journal. Verizon is planning to sell 274 company-owned retail stores to franchisers, bringing its total store footprint to 1,000 after the sale, which will take effect on Aug. 16. In an internal memo obtained by the Journal, Verizon told employees that having at least 1,000 corporate-owned stores over the next three years will be sufficient to support its long-term strategy. In a statement to TheStreet, RTMNexus CEO Dominick Miserandino said Verizon’s move to sell 274 of these stores is “a massive exercise in offloading operational risk.”“Running a physical retail store today is incredibly expensive — you have soaring commercial rents, utility bills, and heavy payroll costs,” said Miserandino. “By handing these keys over to independent, authorized franchise dealers, Verizon gets to keep its name on the building while completely scrubbing the operating liabilities off its books.” Related: Verizon acquires 35-year-old wireless carrier as it shuts downWhile most of Verizon’s 3,000 job cuts will be from selling these retail locations, the carrier is also laying off 500 corporate employees.John Sinclair, head of consulting and transformation delivery at Americas at Bosch USA, criticized Verizon’s strategy to cut jobs in a recent post on social media platform X, claiming that the move reflects poor leadership.“Verizon was once a pillar of American innovation,” said Sinclair. “Today it reflects strategic drift and a failure to lead. With no clear path to growth or meaningful differentiation, CEO Dan Schulman appears to be reverting to the oldest and weakest playbook: cutting skilled American workers to prop up short term stock bump.””This tactic ignores a fundamental truth,” he added. “A company cannot hollow out its own institutional knowledge without consequence. The talent being discarded is the very foundation that made Verizon great.”

Verizon is laying off more than 3,000 employees and selling 274 stores.Bloomberg / Getty Images

Verizon struggles to compete in a challenging wireless marketThe changes from Verizon come after it reported in its latest earnings report that its wireless retail postpaid phone churn, the percentage of smartphone customers who canceled service, increased by 2 basis points year over year in the first quarter of 2026.The wireless market has intensified in recent years as Verizon’s top rivals, T-Mobile and AT&T, have doubled down on offering more value and generous promotions to attract price-conscious customers. All three carriers also face increased competition from mobile virtual network operators (MVNOs), which are becoming more popular for offering consumers mobile service at lower prices compared to traditional wireless providers.Cable companies such as Spectrum and Comcast are also successfully luring new wireless customers through bundled internet, TV, and mobile offers. Amid tougher wireless competition, the average cost of an unlimited wireless service plan decreased by over 10% in 2025, according to recent data from Ctia. More Verizon News:Verizon CEO doubles down on removing free offers for customersVerizon adds generous offers for customers after price increaseVerizon makes surprising phone plan change that could backfireVerizon isn’t the only wireless carrier that has axed jobs to better compete in a challenging wireless market. T-Mobile quietly cut jobs in January, March, and April, impacting employees in departments such as sales, consumer and retail, product, end-user support, etc.Additionally, some T-Mobile employees took to social media platform Reddit in May to flag that the company is also quietly closing some of its authorized retail locations, operated by independent third-party dealers, which is resulting in additional layoffs.AT&T also reportedly conducted layoffs across multiple departments in June. These job cuts also come at a time when tech layoffs are becoming more common as companies increasingly rely on artificial intelligence to improve their operations, according to recent data from Challenger, Gray & Christmas.“The cuts we are seeing remain concentrated in technology, and artificial intelligence continues to reshape how companies think about headcount,” said Andy Challenger, workplace expert and chief revenue officer for Challenger, Gray & Christmas, in a press release. The tech industry announced 15,503 layoffs in June, the highest total of any sector. This brought the total job cuts announced in the tech industry this year to 139,156, an 83% jump from the 76,214 cuts announced in the sector during the first six months of 2025. The telecom sector alone has reported 2,269 layoffs up to June this year. Related: Verizon adds generous offers for customers after price increase

The first half of 2026 brought plenty of volatility, particularly in memory stocks, while Wall Street remained distracted by short sellers and geopolitical tensions.As investors look ahead to the second half of the year, here are five predictions to watch.Earnings growth will accelerateMy highest-confidence prediction for the second half of 2026 is that earnings will continue to accelerate. A lot of that has to do with year-over-year comparisons, strong order backlogs, and rising investor confidence.Earnings season is judgment day, and I go into every earnings season locked and loaded because Wall Street does not pay attention to earnings the way I do. When earnings come out, investors assess them, but they are often distracted by other things, focusing only on qualitative analysis rather than combining it with a quantitative analysis of trading activity.Earnings strength is expected to be concentrated in three sectors. Energy-related stocks are forecasted to post the strongest earnings, followed by information technology and semiconductors, then material stocks. Earnings growth will be narrowOnly three of the 11 S&P 500 sectors are forecast to post stronger second-quarter earnings than the overall S&P 500, so we remain in a relatively narrow stock market environment.  In energy, recommended names include Okeanis Eco Tankers (ECO), International Seaways (INSW), Teekay Tankers (TNK), HF Sinclair (DINO), Phillips 66 (PSX), Cenovus Energy (CVE), and Suncor Energy (SU).Next up, information technology, including all the data center-related and semiconductor stocks such as Nvidia (NVDA), Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), Micron Technology (MU), Seagate Technology (STX), Palantir Technologies (PLTR), AppLovin (APP), Bloom Energy (BE), GE Vernova (GEV), Comfort Systems USA (FIX), Quanta Services (PWR), and Ciena (CIEN).Lastly is materials, with recommended names including Carpenter Technology (CRS) and Howmet Aerospace (HWM). I suspect we will see the biggest gains in energy.Related: Citi strategist flags rare setup for earnings seasonThe best buys will be in memory stocksMemory stocks have been a rollercoaster, but in my opinion, all the memory stocks, led by Micron Technology (MU), SanDisk (SNDK) and Seagate Technology (STX), are great near-term buys.There is a lot to be excited about. South Korean memory company SK Hynix (SKHY) had the second-largest IPO ever (after SpaceX), raising $28 billion. Meanwhile, Micron Technology announced it is accelerating its planned U.S. fab and technology investments and is increasing its expected spending forecast to more than $250 billion through 2035, driven by surging AI-related demand for memory. The company anticipates its increase in U.S. investments will support its long-term goal of producing 40% of its DRAM (dynamic random-access memory) in the U.S.There is a narrative that the expansion of production in Korea and the United States will eventually create a memory glut. Memory prices have traditionally declined when supply increases. For now, however, the industry appears to have at least a 15-month order backlog, and I expect prices to remain high until that backlog is depleted.August will bring seasonal riskThe biggest immediate risk to the market is seasonality. I have never liked August because so many market participants are away on vacation, which can create sudden air pockets in the market.The August selloff in 2015 illustrates this risk. Some individual stocks temporarily stopped trading, while the exchange-traded funds that held those stocks remained open. Because the underlying shares could not be priced properly, many ETFs opened sharply lower. As an example, iShares Select Dividend ETF (DVY) fell nearly 35% at the open before recovering much of the decline by the end of the day. Investors with stop orders, however, could have been forced to sell near the opening and lock in substantial losses.Another risk is a Black Swan event in the credit markets, although I do not see a Black Swan credit event developing because institutional investors have replaced retail investors in many private-credit deals, and market rates are coming down slowly but steadily. Seasonal volatility, however, remains a concern. So, I encourage investors to stay alert and nimble in August.Apple’s scarcity play will be a major hitApple may announce a folding iPhone in September 2026, reportedly called the iPhone Ultra.Although an ex-Apple employee told me that the folding phone won’t happen, multiple leaks and pictures suggest that the folding phone is coming. Apple also previously signed a deal with Samsung Display to develop the product.The phone will likely be in short supply, andI think it could cost approximately $3,000. I expect everybody is going to want this folding phone, so anyone who wants one immediately following the announcement should be prepared to order it from Apple’s website as soon as it becomes available. Even then, buyers may have to wait.I think it will be a major hit and one of the most exciting technology products announced in 2026.In short, this will be one of the best earnings seasons in recent memory.  It’s a stock picker’s market, however, since this rising tide will not lift all boats. Further, stock prices are not growing as fast as earnings. Part of this, I think, is disbelief.For instance, when Bloom Energy (BE) and GE Vernova’s (GEV) order backlogs are 10x 2025 sales, and GE Vernova’s backlog is about 4x 2025, respectively, it challenges the imagination on what the impact could be on stock prices. Quantitatively, this has the effect of compressing P/E ratios, which can be a buying signal for the faithful, and I am an ardent believer. Related: Louis Navellier flags three top tech stocks for market growth

A warehouse shift in Tulsa will result in 184 job cuts, even as production lines beside it continue to operate.TheStreet recently reported that Coca-Cola is closing a Massachusetts bottling plant, while Mars-owned Nature’s Bakery is transferring production from a Missouri facility to other locations.The circumstances differ, but both showed how companies are redrawing their manufacturing and distribution networks while their products remain widely available to shoppers.Now a similar shift is affecting PepsiCo workers in Tulsa, Oklahoma.PepsiCo cuts 184 Tulsa warehouse jobsPepsiCo Beverages will discontinue warehouse operations at its facility at 510 W. Skelly Drive, Tulsa, on Nov. 15, according to a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) notice reviewed by TheStreet.The closure will impact 184 jobs and is expected to be permanent, affecting nearly all warehouse employees at the facility, on or Nov. 15, 2026.The rest of the plant will remain open, and beverage production will continue.More Layoffs:Meta layoffs take disturbing turn in new lawsuitMajor snack brand closes plant, cuts 345 jobsJPMorgan Chase pushes fraud division layoffs, despite rising revenuesThe largest groups affected include 63 warehouse workers and 57 forklift operators.The layoffs also include 16 checkers, 13 inventory-control specialists, 12 lead workers, supervisors, coordinators, and other supply-chain employees.“PepsiCo Beverages U.S. is shifting warehouse operations to a new facility in the Tulsa area to best support our customers and consumers; production will continue to operate at the current facility,” PepsiCo Beverages US said in a statement to TheStreet.“We are committed to treating impacted employees with the utmost care, including assistance applying to work with the new logistics provider, pay and benefits continuation based on years of service, transition assistance, and career support,” the statement added.The WARN notice also said PepsiCo is working to place affected employees in other jobs at the Tulsa plant or nearby facilities.However, PepsiCo did not identify the new warehouse location or the logistics provider that will operate it. The company also did not disclose how many workers could secure other roles.

PepsiCo’s stock is down 4% year to date.Bloomberg / Getty Images

PepsiCo warehouse cuts extend beyond TulsaThe Tulsa restructuring follows other recent changes across PepsiCo’s U.S. warehouse and distribution network.Frito-Lay closed its Rancho Cucamonga, California, warehouse in June, eliminating 248 logistics and distribution jobs.Manufacturing at the location had already ended in 2025, but warehouse and distribution operations continued until this year. PepsiCo said the remaining work would be transferred to a newer local distribution center.An off-site Frito-Lay warehouse in Orlando also closed in May, affecting 46 workers.That followed the November 2025 shutdown of a nearby manufacturing plant and warehouse that eliminated 454 jobs.The circumstances at each location differ.Still, the moves show PepsiCo consolidating or relocating work across parts of its U.S. network rather than keeping every existing warehouse and production site operating as before.The Tulsa decision is narrower because the production plant itself is not closing. But for workers whose jobs depend on storing, checking, and moving products, the impact is losing their jobs.PepsiCo tests a new distribution modelPepsiCo executives recently explained why the company is taking a closer look at its warehouses, transportation systems, and delivery routes.During its July 9 second-quarter 2026 earnings call, CEO Ramon Laguarta said PepsiCo is trying to combine more of the scale of its North American food and beverage businesses.Historically, the two businesses have operated through largely separate inventory, warehouse, and delivery systems.PepsiCo is now testing “mixing centers” in the Texoma region that bring food and beverage inventory together at the same location. The company is also testing combined deliveries and vehicle fleets.Laguarta said the model gives PepsiCo more flexibility when serving customers while lowering its costs.“We’re seeing mixing centers being a big idea for us, and that is scaling,” said Laguarta in the Q2 earnings call.“These are combined mixing centers where we put the inventory from the two categories,” he noted. “That gives us a lot of flexibility to service our customers and lowers our cost. Now, we’re testing incremental ideas like combined delivery, combined fleet.”PepsiCo did not say that the Tulsa move is directly connected to the Texoma tests.However, shifting warehouse operations to a new facility and logistics provider aligns with the company’s broader effort to rethink how products move through its U.S. supply chain.The company has also been expanding automation and digital tools as part of a wider productivity push.Beverage demand remains pressuredIn terms of financial position, PepsiCo reported second-quarter net revenue of $24.18 billion, up 6.4% from a year earlier. Organic revenue increased 2.4%.However, the company’s North American beverage results were more mixed, and it missed earnings expectations.PepsiCo Beverages North America revenue rose 7%, but acquisitions accounted for six percentage points of that growth.Organic revenue increased 1%, while beverage volume declined 4%.Wall Street had already warned that PepsiCo’s North American recovery could take longer than expected.In a June 25 note, Bank of America lowered its 2026 earnings estimate for PepsiCo to $8.61 from $8.65 and cut its price target to $164 from $173, citing softer-than-expected performance at PepsiCo Foods North America. The bank also said core Pepsi retail sales were down 6.8% year to date, while Mountain Dew sales had declined 2.3%, highlighting pressure across some of the company’s biggest U.S. brands.PepsiCo executives said the North American business performed more weakly than expected during the quarter, as higher gas prices pressured convenience-store traffic and impulse purchases.The company said it achieved record productivity during the first half of the year and plans to pursue additional savings during the second half.PepsiCo maintained its 2026 forecast for organic revenue growth of 2% to 4% and core constant-currency earnings growth of 4% to 6%.The food and beverage maker is growing overall, but demand remains softer in parts of its North American business. This comes as the company tries to lower costs by combining operations and changing how products are stored and delivered. It’s also simultaneously growing its business internationally.Related: 105-year-old historic hotel by national park files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy

Earlier this month, Tesla investors got some much-needed good news when the electric vehicle maker reported that it delivered more than 480,000 vehicles in the second quarter. The 25% year-over-year increase marked Tesla’s best second-quarter performance, topping the 466,140 deliveries it reported in 2023. Tesla reported declining annual deliveries in 2024 and 2025, so any sign that the company is turning that trend around is a good sign. But while the stock got a boost from the news, the increase was short-lived. The stock is only up 0.6% over the past five days, but over the past four weeks it is down nearly 16% and down more than 42% year to date. So, Tesla’s second quarter earnings report, scheduled for release on July 22, is pivotal for investors.While the delivery numbers are promising, investors seem a bit hesitant about the stock heading into the print. Analysts at Deutsche Bank still have a buy rating and upside price target for the company, but the firm sees three major headwinds the company will have to address before the stock can break out.Deutsche Bank says Tesla Q2 has 3 weak pointsIn the past, when Tesla was struggling with deliveries, the company relied on lower prices and increased incentives to boost demand. Tesla used the same strategy this time around, offering 0.99% APR financing for Model Y in the U.S. from May 10-31. While the strategy has worked in the past and undoubtedly helped push second-quarter deliveries higher, incentives are expensive and eat into profit margins. Deutsche Bank analysts expect the second-quarter results to reflect this reality.”If we assume 45k units sold in the US took advantage of the promotional rate, at around a $4k upfront rate buy-down cost to the partner bank, this would equate to $180m hit to profit,” DB analysts led by Edison Yu said in a note viewed by TheStreet. But that’s only one aspect weighing on Tesla’s bottom line. “Secondly, the company had benefited from a one-time warranty and tariff relief, collectively worth $230 million in 1Q. We estimate that the warranty amount is larger at about $150 million, and an unwind of that will be a QoQ headwind to 2Q,” Yu said. ” Tesla also did not realize any benefit from the prior Supreme Court ruling on IEEPA tariffs; thus, we’re carrying the remaining $80m into 2Q.”Related: Tesla stock gets a surprising SpaceX resetThe final financial headwind DB analysts expect for Tesla heading into next week is the company’s decision to eliminate the option to purchase FSD outright. The firm estimates that decision is worth a $200 million headwind.Still, despite all of that, Deutsche Bank is maintaining its buy rating and $465 price target on the company, with expectations of a merger with SpaceX down the line helping drive that thesis. “Increasingly so, we think investors are looking at the high possibility of Tesla combining with SpaceX in the near future (next 1-2 years) and what this move could do to the Tesla stock,” DB said. “We suspect this topic could get air time during the upcoming earnings call, how Elon could choose to operate his two separate entities, and what synergies the combination could drive.”

There are three main issues hurting Tesla’s bottom line.Spencer Platt/Getty Images

Tesla, SpaceX cash burn complicates potential mergerInvestor sentiment has improved greatly amid widespread SpaceX merger speculation, BNP Paribas analysts led by James Picariello said in a note viewed by TheStreet. Still, the firm said it is maintaining its underperform rating and $280 price target due to concerns over Tesla’s cash burn over the next two years.Additionally, the firm said SpaceX’s own cash burn makes it unlikely a merger will happen in the near future.“We believe a potential SpaceX-Tesla merger is complicated by significant cash burn at both companies and meaningful regulatory risks. SpaceX consensus points to cash burn of $216 billion in ’26E-31E, combined with TSLA’s multi-year burn cycle beginning this quarter and with multiple downside scenarios,” the analysts added.More Tesla:Tesla merger with SpaceX won’t save investors, top analyst saysTesla stock gets a surprising SpaceX resetTesla’s $1.4 trillion valuation rests on what happens next in one city“Meanwhile, the need for multi-jurisdiction approvals (involving defense work) and Tesla shareholder support suggests any deal will take time.”Tesla revealed earlier this year that it is increasing its expected capital expenditure budget this year to an eye-watering $25 billion. BNPP analysts expect the company to average spending up to $23 billion a year through 2030 as it looks to ramp up its Optimus humanoid robot and Robotaxi platforms.Related: Tesla merger with SpaceX won’t save investors, top analyst says