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US refiners surge 80% as crack spread hits record $62 a barrel
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[1] Once-Shunned Refiners Are Minting Money - WSJ (https://www.wsj.com/finance/stocks/once-shunn ...)[2] Crips’ alleged open-air crack bazaar near Petco Park crushed as 30 accused gang members and associates face federal charges (https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/crime/crips-al ...)[3] The Learning Network (https://www.nytimes.com/section/learning ...)[4] Forget Oil Prices — This 1 Refining Number Explains Why These Energy Stocks Are On Fire (https://247wallst.com/investing/2026/07/15/fo ...)
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Jul 18 2026, 00:37
Nvidia and Micron fuel 48.8% tech earnings growth in Q2
The S&P 500 tech sector's 48.8% Q2 earnings growth hinges almost entirely on two chipmakers: Nvidia and Micron. "Excluding the contribution from Micron and Nvidia, Q2 earnings for the rest of the Zacks Tech sector would be up 25.3% versus 48.8% otherwise," Sheraz Mian, director of research at Zacks Investment Research, said. Micron already reported Q2 results with earnings surging 1,350% year over year on 346% higher revenue. Nvidia, which reports later this quarter, is expected to post similarly outsized gains. Together, the two companies account for such a large share of tech sector profits that removing them cuts the sector's growth rate in half. The tech sector generates 41% of all S&P 500 earnings and accounts for 45.6% of the index's market capitalization. Excluding the sector entirely, total S&P 500 earnings growth drops to 14.1% from 25.3%. On an annual basis, removing Nvidia and Micron from the index reduces 2026 earnings growth to 15.5% from 22%. Of the 49 S&P 500 members that reported through July 17, total earnings rose 48.7% on 15.1% higher revenue, with 91.8% beating EPS estimates and 79.6% beating revenue estimates — both near five-year highs. Excluding Micron's blockbuster quarter, the earnings growth rate for those 49 companies falls to 21.5% on 12.5% higher revenue, a level that still compares favorably with recent quarters. The Magnificent Seven group, which includes Nvidia, is expected to post 28.7% Q2 earnings growth on 25.1% higher revenue. Even excluding all seven members, the rest of the S&P 500 would still show 24.3% earnings growth, indicating broad strength beyond mega-cap tech. This week's reporting docket includes more than 300 companies, including 85 S&P 500 members and two Magnificent Seven names: Tesla and Alphabet. Beyond tech, the Energy sector leads all groups with 129.5% expected earnings growth, followed by Basic Materials at 45.2% and Finance at 23.5%. The Finance sector, the second-largest earnings contributor to the index at 16.4% of forward 12-month earnings, has seen 36.6% of its market cap report results so far, with earnings up 30.2% and all companies beating EPS estimates. JPMorgan, Bank of America, Citigroup and Wells Fargo all posted double-digit earnings growth, with Citigroup leading at 45.1%. Bank stocks have benefited as geopolitical risk factors have eased, with cyclical businesses gaining from reduced economic uncertainty. The Q2 earnings beats percentage for the 49 reporting companies is a new five-year high, while the revenue beats percentage is close to the five-year record. Full-year 2026 earnings estimates have increased for 11 of the 16 Zacks sectors since March, with the most pronounced gains in Energy, Basic Materials, Tech, Industrials, Utilities and Business Services. On the negative side, estimates have been under pressure for Transportation, Autos, Medical and Consumer Discretionary sectors since March. The data shows AI-driven semiconductor demand remains the dominant earnings catalyst in US equities. Investors will watch Nvidia's own Q2 report, expected in late August, for whether its data center revenue trajectory can sustain the sector's growth premium. This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice.
Jul 17 2026, 23:09
Trump Media to sell Truth Social data feed as DJT drops 8.4%
**Trump Media is turning the president's social media posts into a paid data product for Wall Street, raising new questions about the intersection of public office and private profit.** Trump Media & Technology Group will begin selling a real-time data feed of Truth Social posts to Wall Street firms on Aug. 1, monetizing the market-moving power of President Donald Trump's account as the company's stock extended its decline to 84% from its 2024 debut. "Markets already move on Truth Social posts," Kevin McGurn, interim chief executive officer at Trump Media, said in a statement. The service, called Truth API, will deliver posts from the platform's highest-ranking accounts to paying customers in milliseconds, the company said. Trump Media has already signed up institutional clients for the feed, which operates 24 hours a day and includes an archive of posts dating to 2022. The company did not disclose pricing. The product creates a direct revenue stream from the president's official communications, which have repeatedly moved markets — from tariff announcements to military strikes on Iran. Trump holds about 53% of Trump Media shares through a revocable trust managed by his son Donald Trump Jr., with the stake valued at more than $1 billion as of Thursday's close. **The Conflict-of-Interest Question** Ethics attorneys and former regulators have questioned whether a sitting president can legally monetize the information value of his official statements. Truth Social has effectively become the de facto presidential press room, with Trump posting policy announcements — including tariff rates and military decisions — on the platform before any other channel. "It's a huge conflict of interest," said Virginia Canter, an ethics attorney at Democracy Defenders Fund, a nonprofit that has been critical of the Trump administration. The president "has an obligation to the American people to convey information to them publicly, and he's now funneling it through a private channel in which he has a private interest as one of its largest shareholders." Tyler Gellasch, a former Securities and Exchange Commission attorney who now runs the financial industry nonprofit Healthy Markets Association, said the demand for faster access to Trump's posts is clear. "The real question is, when it involves any type of government official, can they monetize that value themselves?" he said. **A New Revenue Stream for a Loss-Making Company** Truth API represents Trump Media's latest attempt to diversify beyond its core social media business, which remains unprofitable. The company reported a net loss of $406 million in the first quarter of 2026, according to Securities and Exchange Commission filings. Trump Media has ventured into streaming and cryptocurrency, and in December announced a merger agreement with a nuclear-fusion company. The company also purchased bitcoin as part of a crypto bet, only to suffer losses when prices fell. McGurn described Truth API as a "high-margin, recurring revenue stream" that advances the company's strategy of monetizing proprietary assets. Trump Media said some firms have been scraping its data without permission and warned it would soon block those methods, forcing firms to buy the official feed. The company went public through a blank-check merger in March 2024, trading on the Nasdaq under the ticker DJT. Roughly 114 million shares — now 42% of the company — were issued to Trump, who transferred them to a revocable trust managed by his son. Shares fell 8.4% on Friday following the announcement, bringing the total decline from the 2024 debut to 84%, according to FactSet data. Beyond Trump, the platform's largest accounts include Donald Trump Jr. with 7.4 million followers, Eric Trump with 3.3 million, former Trump Media CEO Devin Nunes with 4.5 million, and former Deputy FBI Director Dan Bongino with 3.5 million. None of those accounts carry the same market-moving weight as the president's feed. This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice.
Jul 17 2026, 22:37
White House seizes control of 2 AI initiatives from Anthropic, OpenAI
The White House is taking direct control over access to frontier AI models, wresting authority from Anthropic and OpenAI that previously decided who could use their most advanced systems through two cyber-security initiatives. "The administration determined that private-sector control over frontier model access posed national security risks that required direct government oversight," according to a CNBC report published July 17 that detailed the policy shift. Anthropic's Project Glasswing and OpenAI's Project Daybreak had operated as private-sector gatekeeping programs, determining which entities — including foreign governments, corporations and research institutions — could access the companies' most advanced AI systems. The White House will now assume that authority, centralizing decisions previously distributed across the two labs. The move carries significant implications for the $200 billion-plus AI industry, potentially slowing model release timelines and raising compliance costs for major players including OpenAI, Anthropic, Google and Microsoft. The policy shift could reduce profit expectations for companies that have invested billions in frontier AI development, as government oversight introduces uncertainty around commercialization timelines. The transfer of authority marks a sharp departure from the industry's previous self-regulatory approach. Under the prior framework, Anthropic and OpenAI independently vetted access requests for their frontier models, balancing security concerns against commercial interests. The White House intervention effectively replaces that dual-track system with a single government gatekeeper. The policy shift comes as the Trump administration has pursued a broader reassertion of authority over AI governance. In recent months, the White House has indicated it views frontier AI models as strategic assets warranting the same level of government oversight applied to nuclear technology and advanced semiconductors. The administration's previous push to overrule existing AI regulation has faltered as Republicans split on the issue, according to a separate report. **Compliance Costs Set to Rise for AI Labs** For Anthropic and OpenAI, the loss of autonomy over access decisions introduces new compliance burdens. Both companies had structured their cyber initiatives as voluntary security programs; the transition to government-mandated access control could require additional staffing, reporting and audit mechanisms. The financial impact, while not yet disclosed, is expected to weigh on margins at a time when both companies are racing to monetize their frontier models. Anthropic, which has raised more than $7 billion from investors including Amazon and Google, had positioned Project Glasswing as a responsible-access framework that balanced security with commercial deployment. OpenAI's Project Daybreak served a similar function, screening access requests for its GPT-series models. Both programs will now operate under White House direction, with the administration setting the criteria for who can access frontier systems. **Broader Market Implications** The policy shift extends beyond Anthropic and OpenAI. Google, which develops its Gemini family of frontier models, and Microsoft, which has integrated OpenAI's technology across its product suite, could face similar government oversight as the White House expands its regulatory footprint. The tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 could see pressure as investors reassess the regulatory risk premium embedded in AI stocks. The last time the U.S. government asserted direct control over an emerging technology class was in 2022, when the Commerce Department imposed export controls on advanced semiconductors to China. That move reshaped the semiconductor supply chain and contributed to a 30% decline in Nvidia's data center revenue forecast over the subsequent quarter, according to company filings. While the AI access controls are narrower in scope, the precedent suggests markets may price in a similar adjustment period. The policy also raises questions about international competitiveness. China's AI labs, including Baidu and Alibaba, operate without comparable government access restrictions on their frontier models, potentially giving them a commercial advantage in markets where U.S. AI companies now face additional regulatory hurdles. The White House has not specified whether the access controls will apply to foreign entities seeking to deploy U.S. frontier models abroad. This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice.