Good afternoon! Peter Thiel and Palmer Luckey are launching a new bank named Erebor, inspired by the gold-filled mountain in The Hobbit. It’s designed to serve crypto, AI, and defense startups that have been pushed out by traditional banks since the collapse of SVB.

Erebor is pitching itself as a stablecoin-friendly bank with a strict 1 to 1 reserve model. Backed by Founders Fund and tied to Trump-aligned donors, it’s aiming to be more than just a bank, it’s a financial stronghold for the next generation of tech.

MARKETS

• Markets kicked off the week on a sour note after Trump reignited trade war fears with a new batch of tariff letters. Stocks dipped, but the reaction was far calmer than April’s selloff, as investors held out hope for another rebound.

• The Dow dropped 422 points, the S&P fell 0.79%, and megacap tech weighed on the Nasdaq. Meanwhile, the dollar rose 0.5%, showing traders aren’t panicking just bracing for Round 2.

STOCKS
Winners & Losers

What’s up 📈

• WNS Holdings soared 14.26% after French consulting giant Capgemini agreed to acquire the IT outsourcing firm for $3.3 billion in cash. ($WNS)

• Phibro Animal Health popped 6.79% following a JPMorgan upgrade to overweight, citing strong execution and healthy demand in the animal health space. ($PAHC)

• Geo Group and CoreCivic gained 4.5% and 3.92%, respectively, after Trump’s newly signed tax bill included major funding boosts for immigration detention centers. ($GEO, $CXW)

• Uber rose 3.26% to an all-time high of $97.12 after Wells Fargo raised its price target to $120. Its market cap is now north of $200 billion. ($UBER)

What’s down 📉

• BitMine Immersion Technologies plunged 20.39% after a speculative rally saw shares surge 3,000% in five days. The drop came as the company raised $250M to buy and hold Ethereum. ($BMNR)

• Core Scientific sank 17.61% and CoreWeave slipped 3.33% after announcing a $9 billion all-stock merger. Wall Street was unimpressed by the core-on-core combo. ($CORZ, $CRWV)

• Apogee Therapeutics fell 17.32% after releasing positive but underwhelming clinical trial results for an eczema antibody. ($APGE)

• Royal Gold dropped more than 6.44% after announcing acquisitions of Sandstorm Gold and Horizon Copper totaling ~$3.7 billion. ($RGLD)

• Fortrea Holdings lost 14.75%, continuing its slide as the Labcorp spinoff has now shed over 74% year to date. ($FTRE)

• Tesla fell 6.79% after Elon Musk announced the launch of a new “America Party,” escalating his political clash with Trump. ($TSLA)

• Stellantis declined 4.95% after Bank of America downgraded the stock, citing a weak EV position in Europe and a transitional year under new CEO Antonio Filosa. ($STLA)

• Toyota and Honda both dropped nearly 4% following renewed tariff threats from President Trump targeting Japanese automakers. ($TM, $HMC)

• SolarEdge Technologies slid about 3% after rallying 39% last week. Despite favorable tax changes, the final law removed broader federal support for solar and wind. ($SEDG)

• Shell slipped nearly 3% after warning that weaker gas trading would weigh on its upcoming quarterly earnings. ($SHEL)

RETAIL
Amazon Prime Day Expands to Four Days, Projected $23.8 Billion

Amazon’s summer sales bonanza just got a glow-up. Prime Day is now Prime Days— four of them, from July 8 to 11—making it the longest in its decade-long history. The event is live in 26 countries, and analysts expect it could haul in a record $23.8 billion in U.S. online spend alone.

That’s not just hype. Adobe projects shoppers will splurge on electronics, appliances, and name-brand apparel, with discounts hitting up to 40% and traffic from AI chatbots exploding by 3,200%. Amazon’s rolling out its own AI upgrades too, like a shopping assistant named Rufus, which is basically Clippy but obsessed with finding you the cheapest robot vacuum.

Retail Rumble: Amazon vs. Everyone

Walmart and Target aren’t sitting out. Walmart Deals (July 8 to 13) and Target Circle Week (July 6 to 12) are trying to grab Prime spillover with their own flash sales. But Amazon’s scale is hard to beat. It’s offering new perks like “Today’s Big Deals,” early stockpiling to dodge tariff hikes, and leveraging its industry-best logistics to extend the sale without running dry.

Prime Day also works overtime as a loyalty machine. Last year, it drove millions of new sign-ups, and Jefferies notes that 73% of U.S. consumers now have Prime, dwarfing Walmart+ and Target Circle. Those members tend to buy more and buy often, which is music to investor ears.

What It Means for the Market: Amazon stock ($AMZN) is up just 1.8% YTD, trailing both the S&P 500 and Nasdaq. Historically, Prime Day gives it a post-sale boost, up 1.1% the week after and 3.3% the month after, on average. With a 60% YoY GMV growth expected this week, that pop may come sooner than later.

Bottom line, Prime Day isn’t just a sales event anymore. It’s a loyalty engine, an AI playground, and a quiet boost for Amazon’s stock narrative.

NEWS
Market Movements

• 📈 Datadog surges on S&P 500 inclusion: Shares of cloud-monitoring firm Datadog soared 15% after news it will replace Juniper Networks in the S&P 500 on July 9. With a $53.6B market cap, DDOG meets the index’s eligibility rules. Analysts remain bullish on its AI-driven growth, naming it a top software pick for H2. ($DDOG)

• 🚖 Uber hits new all-time high: Uber shares climbed 3% to a record $97 amid optimism around AI and self-driving tech. CEO Dara Khosrowshahi has hinted at a future powered by autonomy, while reports say cofounder Travis Kalanick is in talks to buy Pony.ai. Uber stock is up over 53% YTD. ($UBER)

• 🚨 Trump announces steep tariffs on 14 countries starting Aug. 1: President Trump revealed new tariffs of up to 40% on imports from 14 nations, including Japan, South Korea, Indonesia, and Bangladesh. The tariffs are part of his “reciprocal” trade policy and were delayed until Aug. 1 via executive order. Trump warned of further hikes for countries that retaliate and said changes depend on “our relationship with your Country.”

• ⚠️ Tesla loses $68 billion after Musk launches a political party: Tesla shares plunged nearly 7% after Elon Musk announced the formation of the “America Party,” renewing investor concerns over his political distractions. The move follows his previous role in Trump’s “Department of Government Efficiency,” which drew shareholder criticism. ($TSLA)

• 📡 Jack Dorsey unveils decentralized messaging app over Bluetooth: Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey launched Bitchat, a peer-to-peer messaging app that runs on Bluetooth mesh networks without phone numbers, servers, or internet access. Messages are encrypted, ephemeral, and stored only on-device, offering a censorship-resistant option for offline communication. ($SQ)

• 🚗 Waymo begins testing in Philadelphia with safety drivers: Alphabet’s self-driving car division announced limited testing in Philadelphia using manually driven vehicles. The effort aims to evaluate traffic patterns and infrastructure ahead of potential service expansion. ($GOOGL)

• 📱 Apple appeals €500M EU fine over App Store rules: Apple is challenging a €500 million ($580 million) fine from the EU over its App Store restrictions on third-party payment steering. The company updated policies in June to comply but called the mandated changes “unlawful” and “confusing.” ($AAPL)

• ⚖️ CME faces $2B trader lawsuit over market shift: CME Group is heading to trial over claims that it devalued floor traders’ rights during the shift to electronic trading. Plaintiffs are seeking $2 billion in damages, while CME denies wrongdoing. ($CME)

• 🏭 Dow to shut factories in Europe and cut 800 jobs: Dow announced the closure of three chemical plants in Germany and the U.K., eliminating 800 positions. The move is part of a $1 billion cost-cutting initiative amid soft demand and high energy costs. ($DOW)

• 🌐 Groq launches first European data center in Helsinki: AI chip startup Groq, backed by Cisco and Samsung, opened a data center in Finland with Equinix. The move aims to expand Groq’s reach in AI inference chips and compete with Nvidia. ($EQIX)

• 🛒 Costco adds early-entry perk for premium members: Costco is giving top-tier members access to stores an hour early six days a week, adding value to its Executive Membership after a fee increase last year. ($COST)

ACQUISITION
CoreWeave to acquire Core Scientific in $9 billion all-stock deal

CoreWeave is throwing down $9 billion in stock to acquire Core Scientific, locking in the data-center muscle behind its AI empire. The deal hands CoreWeave 1.3 gigawatts of power capacity across the U.S., a massive real estate-and-energy grab that’s less about Bitcoin and more about bootstrapping a future of large language models and high-performance compute.

The pitch? Stop paying rent, start pocketing margin. CoreWeave already leases space from Core Scientific, so this merger is a vertical integration play aimed at cutting $500 million in annual costs by 2027. It’s also a flex: turning its former landlord into an internal ops division while signaling to Wall Street that it wants to own the full AI stack, from silicon to server racks.

Investors Need Convincing: Not everyone’s cheering. Core Scientific shares fell 17% Monday, despite a juicy 66% premium to their pre-deal price thanks to skepticism around all-stock deals and whether CoreWeave’s rally-fueled valuation can hold. Investors may love the vision, but they’re still asking: will the AI boom justify the price tag?

A Pivot From Crypto to Compute

Core Scientific, once knee-deep in crypto mining, has been clawing its way into relevance with an HPC makeover. The company’s shift from minting Bitcoin to powering neural nets made it a logical target. Now, with the merger, CoreWeave is not just scaling compute, it’s signaling that owning physical infrastructure may be the new moat in an AI arms race where electricity, not algorithms, becomes the constraint.

Calendar
On The Horizon

Tomorrow

Tuesday’s data drop includes two economic gut checks. The NFIB report will show how small business owners are feeling, while consumer credit numbers reveal how much shoppers are leaning on borrowed cash. Together, they offer a clear snapshot of economic mood from both sides of the register.

Amazon’s Prime Day returns tomorrow, but with a twist, it’s now four days long. After last year’s $14 billion shopping spree, analysts are hoping the extended format keeps carts full and momentum strong.

NEWS
The Daily Rundown

• 🕵️ DOJ & FBI Close Epstein Case: A DOJ and FBI memo confirmed no evidence of a client list, blackmail scheme, or homicide in Jeffrey Epstein’s 2019 death. After reviewing surveillance and investigative material, the agencies reaffirmed the death was a suicide.

• 🇦🇺 Mushroom Murder Conviction in Australia: Erin Patterson was convicted of murdering three relatives and attempting to kill a fourth after serving beef Wellington laced with death cap mushrooms during a 2023 lunch in Victoria. The case captivated Australia and drew global attention.

• 🎤 Ozzy Osbourne’s Final Show: Ozzy Osbourne performed his farewell show in Birmingham on July 5, headlining a massive concert at Villa Park with Black Sabbath and guest acts. The 40,000-strong crowd celebrated the metal legend’s decades-long career.

• 🏞️ Seine River Reopens for Swimming: After over a century and $1.5B in cleanup, Paris reopened the Seine River to swimmers. The initiative, part of the 2024 Olympics prep, includes three supervised swimming areas with lifeguards and water quality checks.

• 💰 Big Beautiful Bill Becomes Law: President Trump signed the sweeping tax and spending bill on Friday, locking in permanent 2017 tax cuts, expanding the estate tax exemption, and slashing EV credits and social programs. The top 0.1% of earners could see a $290K/year windfall, while SNAP and Medicaid cuts may affect millions. Babies born 2025–2028 will receive $1,000 starter accounts, and tip/OT earners get new deductions. The CBO projects the bill could add over $3T to the deficit by 2034.

• 🦖 'Jurassic World: Rebirth' Crushes Box Office: The latest Jurassic World installment debuted to a record-breaking $318–323M global haul in its first five days, marking 2025’s biggest movie launch yet.

• 📉 Teen Summer Jobs Hit 15-Year Low: Teen employment is projected to hit a 15-year low as economic uncertainty, automation, and adult job competition crowd out young workers. Though June's jobs report was strong overall, growth in teen-friendly sectors lagged.

• 🌎 BRICS Summit Gets Icy Without Xi: The BRICS summit in Rio kicked off without China’s Xi Jinping. Trump warned that any country aligning with “anti-American” BRICS policies would face a 10% tariff.

• 🌊 Deadly Floods Hit Texas: Flash floods along the Guadalupe River over July Fourth killed at least 82 people, including 28 children, with 41 still missing. Trump signed a major disaster declaration for Texas, unlocking federal aid.

• 🧱 85M Lego Bricks Build Legoland Shanghai: The world’s newest Legoland just opened in Shanghai, built with 85 million Lego bricks. It spans 3.4M square feet, but theme park revenues across China are expected to shrink this year.

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