August 10, 2025: Markets Rebound After Scare

Markets rebounded last week, Dow Jones rose 1.3%, S&P 500 gained 2.4%, Nasdaq was up 3.9%. Markets saw a mix of earnings beats, strategic financings, and notable M&A across tech, crypto, and AI this week. OpenAI is planning a US$500 billion secondary share sale after hitting US$12 billion annualized revenue. Palantir reported 48% revenue growth, and raised guidance. Carro, Bullish, and Figure Technology are advancing U.S. IPO plans. Apple pledged an additional US$100 billion to U.S. manufacturing to avoid tariffs, leading to one its largest weekly gains. TSMC and Korean chipmakers secured tariff exemptions. Tesla granted Elon Musk a US$23.7 billion stock award. Amazon and Meta projected lower U.S. tax bills under new legislation. ChatGPT reached 700 million weekly active users, and ChatGPT 5 has begun rolling out to mixed reviews. Uber repored Waymo robotaxis outperformed 99% of human drivers by trip volume. The FAA proposed rules to ease drone delivery operations. The U.S. Navy is soliciting designs for ultra-large AUVs, while space policy shifted with an accelerated NASA plan for a lunar nuclear reactor. In Canada, Sophic clients, Cybeats Technologies closed a $3.24 million LIFE offering, Kraken Robotics filed a 25-month base shelf prospectus to preserve financing flexibility, and Renoworks Software posted Q2 revenue up 18% YoY, with recurring revenue up 29% and improved working capital. Shopify stock gained 19% on 31% revenue growth and no tariff impact, unveiling new AI-powered merchant tools. Mogo sold nearly half of its WonderFi stake for $13.8 million ahead of the Robinhood acquisition, using proceeds to expand its Bitcoin holdings under a $50 million board-approved allocation strategy. Ripple acquired Toronto stablecoin payments platform Rail for $275 million, while U.S. telehealth firm Doximity bought Montréal’s Pathway Medical for $87 million. Blue J secured a $167.4 million Series D to scale its AI-powered tax research platform, and TeamLinkt raised $8.3 million Series A for sports administration software.

Sophic Capital Client Cybeats Technologies Corp. (CYBT-CSE,CYBCF-OTCQB) announces closing of LIFE offering.

Cybeats closed its previously announced “best efforts” private placement of units (the “Units”) of the Company (the “Offering”). The Offering was completed by Beacon Securities Limited, acting as the sole and exclusive agent to the Company (the “Agent”). Pursuant to the Offering, the Company issued 32,370,000 Units at a price of $0.10 per Unit (the “Issue Price”) for aggregate proceeds of $3,237,000. The Units were issued pursuant to Part 5A of National Instrument 45-106 – Prospectus Exemptions (“NI 45-106”) and in reliance on the amendments to Part 5A of NI 45-106 set forth in Coordinated Blanket Order 45-935 – Exemptions from Certain Conditions of the Listed Issuer Financing Exemption (collectively, the “Listed Issuer Financing Exemption”). Each Unit consists of one common share in the capital of the Company (each, a “Unit Share”) and one-half of one common share purchase warrant (each whole warrant, a “Warrant”) of the Company. Each Warrant entitles the holder thereof to acquire one common share in the capital of the Company (each, a “Warrant Share”) at a price of $0.15 per Warrant Share for a period of 24 months from the closing of the Offering. https://tinyurl.com/mzt5jfd9

Sophic Client Kraken Robotics (PNG-TSXV, KRKNF-OTC) announces filing of Base Shelf Prospectus.

Kraken Robotics filed a short form base shelf prospectus (the “Prospectus”) with the securities commissions in each of the provinces and territories of Canada, relying on the well-known seasoned issuer exemption, to maintain financial flexibility. The Prospectus is valid for a 25-month period during which time Kraken may, from time to time, issue common shares, warrants, units, debt securities, subscription receipts or any combination thereof (collectively, the “Securities”). The specific terms of any Securities will be described in one or more shelf prospectus supplements which will be filed at the time of the offering of such Securities. https://tinyurl.com/yr3znekz

Sophic Client Renoworks Software Inc. (RW-TSXV, ROWKF-OTC) announces second quarter 2025 financial results and provides outlook.

Renoworks Software announced its second quarter 2025 results for the three months ended June 30, 2025. Financial highlights for the three months ended June 30, 2025 (“Q2 2025”) with comparatives for the three months ended June 30, 2024 (“Q2 2024”) are as follows: Q2 2025 revenue of $2,164,834 versus $1,835,791 in Q2 2024, an 18% increase. Recurring revenue of $881,284 in Q2 2025 versus $682,891 in Q2 2024, a 29% increase. Gross margins continue to be strong at 76% and 73%, respectively for Q2 2025 and Q2 2024. Net income of $25,737 for Q2 2025 compared to $13,059 in Q2 2024. Cash remained stable at $1.5 million, while working capital improved to $30,029 from negative $121,457 at year-end 2024. https://tinyurl.com/ye25tzxj

Mogo (MOGO-TSX, MOGO-NASDAQ) sells $13.8 million of WonderFi stake to buy Bitcoin ahead of Robinhood deal.

Mogo has cashed out roughly $13.8 million of its investment in Canadian crypto firm WonderFi, or nearly 50 percent of its holdings, ahead of that company’s expected acquisition by American financial services giant Robinhood Markets. Mogo said in a statement that it sold the shares at a “modest discount” relative to the company’s proposed $250 million valuation under the Robinhood deal. It aims to hold remaining shares until Robinhood’s purchase closes, which is expected in the second half of 2025. In its announcement, Mogo said it was using the sale to boost its Bitcoin investment to roughly $2 million after making a $1-million contribution to Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) in June. The company said it holds a “strategic” Bitcoin treasury that treats the currency as both a capital benchmark and a reserve asset, and that the new purchase represented a “core pillar” of this strategy. Mogo further codified this strategy in July when its board of directors greenlit up to $50 million in Bitcoin allocations. The move comes just after a successful second quarter for Mogo. The company reported that its wealth management and payments revenues increased 48 percent and 23 percent year-over-year, respectively. It also claimed a net profit of $13.5 million, driven largely by $12.7 million garnered from the re-evaluation of Mogo’s WonderFi stake that quarter. Robinhood said in May that it would buy all of WonderFi’s issued and outstanding shares for $0.36 per share in cash, a 41-percent premium compared to WonderFi’s closing price at the time.. https://tinyurl.com/5n9yhmwm

Shopify (SHOP-NASDAQ, SHOP-TSX) stock soars on 31% revenue growth.

Shopify stock jumped 19% after the ecommerce software firm reported 31% revenue growth and said it wasn’t seeing any impact on shopper behavior from President Trump’s tariffs so far. The report was the latest sign that business was strong in the quarter after doubts flared in April when Trump announced an aggressive tariff regime. Shopify is growing partly by signing new merchants and brands to use its platform, which offers companies a bunch of tools to power online stores. On a conference call on Wednesday, Shopify president Harley Finkelstein said the company had added new tools to allow AI agents to search Shopify’s catalog and show details of products in a shopping cart. The topline growth rate was above what Shopify reported for the first quarter—27%—and was in line with the fourth quarter. Generally Shopify’s revenue growth has accelerated since last year. The company reported a free cash flow margin of 16%, in line with the year-earlier quarter. https://tinyurl.com/z73e26pp

Crypto giant Ripple to acquire stablecoin payments platform Rail for $275 million.

San Francisco-based crypto company Ripple has acquired Toronto-based stablecoin payments infrastructure startup Rail for US$200 million ($275 million) in a mix of cash and equity. Founded as Layer2 Financial in 2021 by CEO Bhanu Kohli and CTO Tarun Mistry, Rail initially developed financial infrastructure for digital assets before pivoting to support global money movement for both standard currencies and stablecoins. https://tinyurl.com/3h558d6h

Pathway acquired by US telehealth firm Doximity for US$63 million.

San Francisco-based Doximity says it has acquired “one of the best datasets in medicine” with its US$63-million ($87-million) purchase of Montréal-based healthtech startup Pathway Medical. The United States (US) telehealth firm is looking to incorporate Pathway’s medical artificial intelligence (AI) technology and clinical dataset into its existing platform for healthcare professionals. The acquisition closed July 29, Doximity said, for $26 million USD in cash and up to $37 million in additional equity grants. All six of Pathway’s employees, half of whom are physicians, are joining Doximity’s team, the company told BetaKit. Pathway has developed an AI-powered search engine of vetted medical information to help healthcare professionals diagnose and treat patients. According to its editorial policy, everything in Pathway’s database must be available in an English-language, peer-reviewed journal online that is produced by a professional or otherwise recognized medical group. The content is then manually reviewed and assigned an “evidence grade.” The company claims it has more than 1 million registered users across 10,000 health facilities. Founded in 2018, the startup raised a total of US$6.3 million ($8.6 million) through pre-seed and seed rounds from investors including Yamaha Motor Ventures, Desjardins Venture Capital, Amplify Capital, BoxOne Ventures, and Panache Ventures. https://tinyurl.com/ypm87wvs

Blue J raises $167.4-million Series D after AI tax research platform more than doubles its revenue.

Toronto-based Blue J, which provides artificial intelligence (AI)-powered tax research software, has raised a US$122 million ($167.4 million) Series D round on the heels of rapid growth. First reported by The Globe and Mail, the round was led by American venture capital firms Oak HC/FT and Sapphire Ventures, with participation from Toronto-based Intrepid Growth Partners as well as returning investors Ten Coves Capital and the Association of International Certified Professional Accountants’ business subsidiary CPA.com. Around $161 million came from investors outside of Canada, and just under $6.4 million CAD came from Canadian investors, according to SEDAR filings. The Globe and Mail reported that the round valued the company at more than US$300 million ($413 million). The company claims the raise follows significant growth in the first half of 2025, which included more than doubling its revenue and customer base, as well as increasing its headcount to more than 80 employees. https://tinyurl.com/48rhxw69

TeamLinkt scores $8.3 million Series A to expand sports administration platform across North America.

Saskatoon-based sports administration technology startup TeamLinkt has closed more than US$6 million ($8.3 million) in Series A funding from San Francisco’s Growth Street Partners to accelerate product development and expand its customer support team. TeamLinkt offers sports management software that helps leagues, clubs, and associations simplify registration, scheduling, communication, and website management. The company plans to use this minority growth investment to expand its artificial intelligence (AI) usage, digital fundraising, payment automation, and advanced analytics capabilities. The funding will additionally fuel continued expansion across North America. TeamLinkt’s equity Series A round closed in late July. A TeamLinkt spokesperson declined to share the company’s valuation or disclose whether the financing included any debt or secondary capital. This round brings TeamLinkt’s total funding to $9.7 million. https://tinyurl.com/3482bkfx

OpenAI to hold share sale at US$500 billion valuation.

OpenAI is in talks to sell shares held by current and former employees at a price that values the ChatGPT maker at US$500 billion, according to two people familiar with the matter. Thrive Capital is in talks to lead the share sale. The secondary sale is still early in its process and the details of the financing could change. The valuation is higher than OpenAI’s last private market valuation of US$260 billion before the US$40 billion investment. The discussions come after OpenAI hit US$12 billion in annualized revenue, nearly double from where it was in the beginning of the year. Last week, OpenAI finalized US$8.3 billion in new commitments from investors for its US$40 billion round, including Dragoneer, Altimeter Capital and D1 Capital Partners. In OpenAI’s last company-wide tender, current and former employees sold US$1.5 billion worth of shares in January. It is unclear what the size of this OpenAI tender will be, but historically employees have been able to sell anywhere from US$2 million to US$10 million worth of shares in each of the OpenAI-arranged sales. In previous tenders, a majority of eligible employees sold their shares. https://tinyurl.com/4mnhcrfz

Singapore’s Carro targets US IPO with over US$3 billion valuation.

Singapore-based Carro, Southeast Asia’s largest used-car online marketplace, is preparing for a U.S. initial public offering as early as 2026 that could raise up to US$500 million, according to sources familiar with the matter. The company is aiming for a valuation of more than US$3 billion, according to the sources, who could not be named discussing confidential information. If successful, Carro’s listing would be the largest Southeast Asian IPO in the U.S. since SEA’s US$989.3 million listing in 2017 and the third biggest Southeast Asian high-tech IPO in the United States, according to LSEG. It would also be the first major automotive tech and artificial intelligence or AI-driven commerce startup from Singapore to go public in the United States. Carro is on track to deliver US$100 million in annual earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortisation by its fiscal year ending March 2026, one of the sources said. https://tinyurl.com/ym7jdcb4

Crypto exchange Bullish seeks up to US$4.2 billion valuation in IPO.

Bullish, a Peter Thiel-backed crypto exchange and owner of news outlet CoinDesk, is seeking to raise as much as US$629.3 million in its U.S. IPO. The Cayman Islands-based company is planning to offer 20.3 million shares at US$28 to US$31 per share, it said in an amended filing on Monday. It has applied to list on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker BLSH. BlackRock and ARK Investment Management have indicated interest to buy up to US$200 million of its shares at the IPO price. JPMorgan, Jefferies, Citigroup, and Cantor are among banks advising the company. It intends to convert most of the proceeds into stablecoins and use them for general corporate and working capital purposes, including funding potential acquisitions. In 2023, Bullish bought crypto media and conference organizer CoinDesk, for US$72.6 million from Digital Currency Group. Bullish generated $80 million in net income in 2024. https://tinyurl.com/m429f3b6

Blockchain lender Figure Technology files confidentially for IPO.

Figure Technology Solutions, the blockchain startup co-founded by former SoFi CEO Mike Cagney, said Monday it has confidentially filed S-1 paperwork for an initial public offering. Founded in 2018, Figure makes home loans on its blockchain and runs a crypto exchange. The company is aiming to raise between US$500 million and $1 billion in the offering. Figure is reviving its IPO plan after running into regulatory pushback under President Joe Biden’s administration. It largely makes its revenue by originating home equity lines of credit. It reported US$355 million in annualized revenue in the first quarter, up roughly 35% from the same period last year, and US$121 million of profit before interest, taxes, depreciation, amortization and stock-based compensation, according to a presentation shared with investors. https://tinyurl.com/4rus9z7e

Palantir reports 48% revenue growth, raises full-year outlook.

Palantir said Monday that its revenue rose 48% in the three months ending in June to US$1 billion, driven by large deals signed by big enterprises and government agencies buying the firm’s software and consulting services. The company reported US$569 million in free cash flow, up 280% from a year prior. Most of Palantir’s business comes from government contracts, but the firm showed accelerating growth among US companies, which it said were using its software to automate more workplace tasks with AI. Revenue from US businesses grew 93% to US$306 million, while its US government revenue grew 53% to US$426 million. Palantir has in recent months been chasing large customers by promising that its AI software can save companies money by replacing other categories of software, pitching it as a substitute for apps such as Microsoft’s Power BI or back-office software from ServiceNow and SAP. The company raised its full-year revenue outlook to US$4.1 billion, up from the roughly US$3.9 billion for the year that it forecast in May. Palantir shares rose by more than 4% in after-hours trading on Monday. https://tinyurl.com/ydvjhv77

Snap’s revenue growth slows to just 9%.

Snap’s revenue growth slowed sharply to 9% in the second quarter, with advertising revenue expanding just 4%, highlighting the ad challenges facing the social media firm. Snap stock fell 14% in after-hours trading. Snap has been growing around 14-15% in the past few quarters, with ad revenue expanding 10%, while subscription revenue boosted the overall result. Snap said its topline growth rate was affected by several factors in the quarter, including changes to import duties that caused Temu and Shein to pull back on advertising. Snap’s ad revenue expansion is well below that reported by other digital companies, including Meta, which posted 22% higher ad revenue, while Reddit last week reported 84% higher ad revenue. https://tinyurl.com/3fk9brss

TSMC, South Korean chipmakers shares rise on Trump’s semiconductor tariffs.

Shares of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. and South Korea’s Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix closed higher on Thursday, as all the companies appear to emerge unscathed in President Donald Trump’s proposed 100% tariffs on all imported semiconductors. TSMC, the world’s largest chipmaker with an ambitious plan to expand its manufacturing facilities in the U.S., will be exempted from any additional tariffs. The company’s shares closed 4.89% higher in Taipei to NT$1,180, according to data from S&P Capital IQ. Shares of Samsung and SK Hynix also ended higher after a South Korean trade envoy confirmed the country’s memory chip duo will not be subject to any new duties under a trade agreement between Seoul and Washington. https://tinyurl.com/yckfkce7

Apple to invest additional US$100 billion into US manufacturing.

Apple announced it will invest an additional US$100 billion into U.S. manufacturing over the next four years on Wednesday. With the pledge, the iPhone maker is likely hoping to avoid costly tariffs by helping Trump with his goal of bringing manufacturing jobs back to the U.S. The company already announced a US$500 billion commitment to U.S. manufacturing earlier this year. Despite Apple’s earlier commitments, Trump has continued going after Apple’s lack of manufacturing footprint in the U.S., criticizing its relocation of iPhone final assembly of iPhones bound for the U.S. market from China to India. Last week during Apple’s quarterly earnings call, Cook said that the vast majority of its phones now sold in the U.S. were made in India. Tariffs have already taken a toll on Apple. The company said that it incurred an US$800 million charge due to tariffs for the June quarter, and it expects another US$1.1 billion in tariff costs to hit its current quarter that ends in September. https://tinyurl.com/5n7jrwmt

Tesla Board grants Elon Musk US$23.7 billion stock award.

Tesla’s board said Monday that it had approved a stock award for CEO Elon Musk valued at US$23.7 billion. Musk will be able to claim the award in two years, unless the company wins a court battle to reinstate a larger previous pay package from 2018 that a Delaware court has overturned, the board said. Musk will be able to claim the award of 96 million shares as long as he remains in a “senior leadership role at Tesla” for the next two years, the board said in a letter to shareholders. The board said “keeping Elon’s energies focused on Tesla” was a top concern it had heard about from shareholders. “This award is a critical first step toward achieving that goal, although it is limited by the capacity of our current equity incentive plan,” the board said. “As such, we are also working on next steps to address that issue.” Musk has repeatedly said he wants more control over Tesla, up from the approximately 13% of the company he owns currently. He will be able to exercise the stock options under the new grant at US$23.34 per share. The stock award amounts to approximately 3% of the company’s outstanding shares. https://tinyurl.com/552dxjbd

Amazon, Meta Platforms say U.S. taxes to drop due to new tax law.

Amazon and Meta Platforms both said in securities filings last week that they expect their U.S. taxes to drop as a result of President Trump’s tax act, which restores companies’ right to accelerate their deductions for depreciation on certain property and to immediately expense research and developments for domestic work. Amazon said in a filing on Friday that it expected its U.S. cash tax payments to “significantly decrease” this year, while Meta said in a filing on Thursday that “we anticipate a reduction in our U.S. federal cash tax payments for the remainder of 2025 and future years” as a result of the new law. All the big U.S. tech firms, particularly those whose investments in servers and data centers have risen sharply in recent years, are likely to benefit from the tax changes. But Microsoft and Alphabet said in securities filings in the past couple of weeks that they were still assessing the impact of the new law. https://tinyurl.com/3mdctm2x

OpenAI’s ChatGPT to hit 700 million weekly users, up 4x from last year.

OpenAI is set to hit 700 million weekly active users for ChatGPT this week, up from 500 million in March, marking a more than fourfold year-over-year surge in growth, the company said Monday. The figure spans all ChatGPT artificial intelligence products — free, Plus Pro, Enterprise, Team, and Edu — and comes as daily user messages surpassed three billion, according to the company. The growth rate is also accelerating, compared with 2.5 times year-over-year growth at this time last year. OpenAI now has five million paying business users on ChatGPT, up from three million in June, as enterprises and educators increasingly integrate AI tools. ChatGPT still has a ways to go to reach the reported user numbers for Google’s AI search product, AI Overviews. The product, which summarizes search results, now has about two billion monthly users across more than 200 countries, Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai said during the company’s quarterly earnings call. The company’s AI chatbot, the Gemini App, now has more than 450 million monthly active users, according to Pichai. https://tinyurl.com/bdfmx7vb

The average Waymo robotaxi completes more trips per day than 99% of Uber drivers, CEO Dara Khosrowshahi says.

Uber’s gig-worker drivers have some stiff competition from self-driving cars when it comes to productivity. So far, Uber has started offering rides in Waymo’s autonomous vehicles in Atlanta and Austin. “In both cases, the average Waymo is busier than 99% of our drivers in terms of completed trips per day,” Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi said during the company’s earnings call on Wednesday. That’s great news for the future of self-driving cars on Uber’s app, Khosrowshahi said, since it provides a proof point for the banks and other investors that the company will eventually need to finance its rollout of AVs. Besides Waymo, Uber is also investing $300 million in electric vehicle-maker Lucid and working with software startup Nuro to bring more AVs exclusively to Uber’s platform in the US in 2026. https://tinyurl.com/yrpzh3kr

New federal proposal could ease drone deliveries.

The Federal Aviation Administration proposed a new policy that could make it much simpler for Walmart, Amazon and other companies to launch commercial drone delivery services. The agency’s new proposal outlines a set of standard requirements for drone operators to follow when seeking approval to launch unmanned aircraft that travel beyond their line of sight. Currently, companies have to go through a lengthy process of receiving waivers before launching commercial drones tasked with delivery, farming, filmmaking and other purposes. The new rules will limit drones to 1,320 pounds including cargo, require them to broadcast their positions and display lights, include technologies for detecting and avoiding other aircraft and abide by other rules. The FAA said there’s a 60-day comment period on the proposal, which will not be extended. “We look forward to reviewing the FAA’s proposed rule that is meant to enable routine, safe operations of drones beyond visual line of sight and to participating in this important rulemaking,” Amazon said in a post on X from its public policy account. https://tinyurl.com/ywvjed2m

Duffy to announce nuclear reactor on the moon.

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy will announce expedited plans this week to build a nuclear reactor on the moon, the first major action by the former Fox News host as the interim NASA administrator. NASA has discussed building a reactor on the lunar surface, but this would set a more definitive timeline — according to documents obtained by POLITICO — and come just as the agency faces a massive budget cut. The move also underscores how Duffy, who faced pushback from lawmakers about handling two jobs, wants to play a role in NASA policymaking. Duffy also offered a directive to more quickly replace the International Space Station, another NASA goal. The two moves could help accelerate U.S. efforts to reach the moon and Mars — a goal that China is also pursuing. The plans align with the Trump administration’s focus on crewed spaceflight. The White House has proposed a budget that would increase human spaceflight funds for 2026, even as it advocates for major slashes to other programs — including a nearly 50 percent cut for science missions. The reactor directive orders the agency to solicit industry proposals for a 100 kilowatt nuclear reactor to launch by 2030, a key consideration for astronauts’ return to the lunar surface. NASA previously funded research into a 40 kilowatt reactor for use on the moon, with plans to have a reactor ready for launch by the early 2030s. The first country to have a reactor could “declare a keep-out zone which would significantly inhibit the United States,” the directive states, a sign of the agency’s concern about a joint project China and Russia have launched. https://tinyurl.com/327kdeyk

Supersize it: The U.S. Navy is seeking an ultra-large AUV.

In late May of this year, the Office of Naval Research (ONR) issued a broad agency announcement (BAA) seeking the rapid design, build, and testing of an ultra-large autonomous underwater vehicle (UL-AUV) capable of conducting long-range, high-endurance missions while carrying large modular payloads. The initial demonstrator vehicle, “Ocean Explorer” (OEX), will establish the technical feasibility of such an unprecedented platform, and will also inform development of the associated infrastructure required to support a full squadron of UL-AUVs. ONR is also seeking unspecified, innovative UL-AUV-related technologies, as well as rapid design and fabrication capabilities. Interestingly, the call for a jumbo AUV comes as the Navy’s extra-large (Orca) and large (Snakehead) AUV programs are suffering from significant cost overruns, technical issues, and programmatic uncertainty, and as the U.S. submarine workforce is struggling to meet demand for Virginia and Columbia-class hulls. Snakehead’s fate has largely been sealed; the prototype vehicle is now designated as a test platform and is unlikely to transition to a program of record, while the Defense Innovation Unit (DIU) has awarded prototype contracts for commercial off the shelf (COTS) large AUVs to Kongsberg, Oceaneering, and Anduril Industries A recent GAO report indicated that Orca continues to suffer from delays and ballooning costs related to challenges with autonomy, navigation, and endurance, and concluded that it too may fail to become a program of record. Prior to the GAO report, in April of this year, DIU had already issued a solicitation for a COTS extra-large AUV¬—the Combat Autonomous Maritime Platform (CAMP)—suggesting a need to offset or augment the troubled Orca program. Meanwhile, crewed submarine construction is years behind schedule, with limited shipyard capacity, aging infrastructure, and a shortage of skilled labor continuing to cause backlogs across all naval platforms. https://tinyurl.com/4mt2emxh

ESPN flagship streaming service to launch Aug. 21.

ESPN will launch its new flagship streaming service — also named ESPN — on Aug. 21. Disney’s ESPN has been working on the all-in-one streaming app for some time in preparation for it coming out this fall. The app will be available ahead of the upcoming NFL season — the highest rated live sports content — as well as the start of college football, where ESPN has expanded its portfolio. Fox Corp. will also launch its direct-to-consumer streaming service on the same date. The ESPN app will cost US$29.99 a month, and when bundled with Disney’s other streaming services, Disney+ and Hulu, will cost US$35.99 per month. The service will include a boatload of content, namely all of ESPN’s live games, as well as programming from its other networks like ESPN2 and the SEC Network, as well as ESPN on ABC. It’ll also include fantasy products, new betting tie-ins, studio programming, documentaries and more. https://tinyurl.com/v833xkey

Trump signs order allowing alternative assets like cryptocurrencies, private equity in 401(k)s.

President Donald Trump signed Thursday an executive order that lays the groundwork to add alternative assets such as private equity, cryptocurrencies and real estate into 401(k)s. The executive order directs the U.S. Secretary of Labor to review fiduciary guidance on private market investments in 401(k) and other defined contribution plans that are governed by the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, or ERISA. The federal law sets minimum standards for most retirement plans. The executive order marks a major victory for the alternative asset industry, which has pushed for greater adoption of private assets in defined contribution plans under Trump’s second term in office. Though it also brings with it new risks for investors. Bitcoin jumped Thursday in response to the news. Private market assets have traditionally been excluded from 401(k)s, even as they’ve been embraced by pension funds and university endowments, because their high fees, lack of transparency and longer lockup periods make them riskier investments. Yet, private market exposure in 401(k) plans was considered permissible in 2020, when the Department of Labor under the first Trump administration issued an information letter saying it could be appropriate for defined contribution plans under certain conditions. The guidance was later affirmed by the Biden-directed agency. Its presence has already grown. Asset managers and plan sponsors have created products for retirement vehicles in which Americans collectively hold roughly $8.7 trillion in assets, according to data on 401(k)s at the end of the first quarter of 2025 from the Investment Company Institute. In June, BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager, said it’s launching a 401(k) target-date fund in the first half of 2026 that will include a 5% to 20% allocation to private investments. In May, Empower, the country’s second-largest retirement plan provider, said it’s joining asset managers such as Apollo to start allowing private assets in some accounts later this year. BlackRock and Apollo both traded higher earlier Thursday, but the stocks gave up those gains. BlackRock closed down 0.7%, while Apollo shed 3.3%. KKR fell 1.6%. https://tinyurl.com/mshc4p5d

Apple chipmaker TSMC says it too is exempt from US tariffs.

After Apple committed to an additional US$100 billion in US manufacturing spend and presented Trump with a trinket for his desk, the president declared that the company would be exempt from his planned 100% tariff on chips imported into the country. Apple chipmaker TSMC says it too will be exempt from these tariffs thanks to its plants in Arizona…Apple’s exemption from new chip tariffs. Trump yesterday declared that he would be imposing an import tariff on chips of “approximately 100%.” We’re going to be putting a very large tariff on chips and semiconductors […] We’ll be putting a tariff on of approximately 100% on chips and semiconductors. However, after Apple provided him with a headline and a photo opp, he declared that the Cupertino company would be exempted. The good news for companies like Apple is if you’re building in the United States, or have committed to build, without question, committed to build in the United States, there will be no charge. TSMC says it too will be exempt Given that pretty much every overseas chipmaker has some kind of presence in the US, it was unclear exactly which companies might be subjected to the upcoming tariff. Per Bloomberg, TSMC has gone on record saying that it will be exempt due to its Arizona chip plants. “TSMC is exempted from the chip tariffs because it has set up plants in the US,” Liu Chin-ching, minister in charge of the National Development Council, said in Taipei on Thursday. Both TSMC’s share price and the Taiwan dollar rose on the news. https://tinyurl.com/2uuwbf2c

Rivian, Lucid warn of bumpy road ahead as policy changes hurt.

Rivian and Lucid posted disappointing quarterly earnings on Tuesday and provided a grim outlook for the year as the electric vehicle makers take a hit from policy shifts and trade tensions that have disrupted the industry. Shares of Rivian fell about 4% after the bell, while Lucid shares dropped 7%. EV makers are navigating a bumpy road under U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration, which has decided to take away consumer tax credits, impose high tariffs on imports of auto parts and remove emission fines for makers of gas vehicles. Add to that, China’s curbs on the export of heavy rare earth metals – essential components for motors – have disrupted supply chains and affected production in the U.S. Rivian flagged higher costs in the June quarter, hit by disruptions to rare earth supply, and increased its adjusted core loss forecast for the year as income from the sale of regulatory credits dries up. Its cost of revenue for each vehicle produced rose about 8% to US$118,375 per unit sold from a year earlier, according to Reuters calculations. https://tinyurl.com/2nskaet3

Tesla sales in Britain and Germany fall by more than 55% as China’s BYD soars. Tesla’s new car sales plummeted in both Britain and

Germany in July, according to industry data published Tuesday, extending a protracted European downturn for the U.S. electric automaker. Data published by the U.K.’s Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) showed Tesla’s new car sales dropped by nearly 60% to 987 units last month, down from 2,462 a year ago. In Germany, Tesla car sales fell to 1,110 units in July, down 55.1% from the same month in 2024. The number of Tesla’s sold in Europe’s largest economy over January-July, meanwhile, plunged by 57.8% to 10,000 units, data from road traffic agency KBA showed. In sharp contrast, China’s EV giant BYD posted astronomical growth in two of Europe’s largest car markets last month. BYD sold 3,184 units in the U.K. in July, more than quadrupling its sales from a year ago. The company enjoyed similar success in Germany, notching a year-on-year sales uptick of nearly 390%. https://tinyurl.com/37kaxmjy