0728 | Podcast

Mia: From Bri, this is After Market. I'm Mia.

Milo: And I'm Milo. A rough day for tech — the Nasdaq 100 is flirting with a correction as the semiconductor selloff deepens.

Mia: That selloff was triggered by Alphabet's earnings, and this week Amazon, Meta, and Microsoft all face skeptical investors with their own reports.

Milo: Plus, new Fed chairman Kevin Warsh has three reasons to hold rates steady at this week's meeting. Let's get into it.

Mia: The Nasdaq 100 is trading near correction territory on Tuesday as the semiconductor selloff intensifies. Bloomberg reports the index is nearing that threshold — and at the center of it, investors are questioning how much money Big Tech is pouring into artificial intelligence.

Milo: And the chip stocks are where you really see the pain. AMD, Micron, and Nvidia all extended their losses in another weak session on Wall Street. The rout in chipmakers just keeps going.

Mia: On Nvidia specifically, there's growing scrutiny around whether the selling has become overdone. Jim Cramer flagged the selloff in his morning market watch, putting that question directly in front of investors.

Milo: And it's not just the US names. Micron and SK Hynix both sank, and Micron's stock dived even further as the rout gained steam.

Mia: Meanwhile, there's a clear rotation happening. US insurers are rallying as money shifts out of AI losers and into perceived safe havens. That's a pretty sharp signal about where sentiment is right now.

Milo: Now, the spark for all this was Alphabet. The company reported negative free cash flow and raised its capital spending forecast — and that triggered a sell-off that sets an uneasy stage for the rest of Big Tech this week.

Mia: Amazon, Meta, and Microsoft are all reporting, and after what happened to Alphabet, they're walking into rooms full of skeptical investors.

Milo: Meta is first up, reporting after the market close on Wednesday. Kalshi traders anticipate the company will highlight its smart glasses on the earnings call — and just as notably, they expect Meta to steer clear of social media policy altogether.

Mia: And there's an interesting side story here: in the wake of the Alphabet-driven chip stock rout, some investors are already moving back into that bruised stock. So even as the broader sector reels, there are buyers stepping in on Alphabet itself.

Milo: Microsoft, meanwhile, is making a claim of its own. The company says integrating its new cybersecurity model with OpenAI's GPT-5.4 allows it to outperform Anthropic's new Mythos 5. Microsoft is touting it as a cost-saving AI model.

Mia: Let's turn to the Federal Reserve. At the July meeting, new chairman Kevin Warsh faces three pressing reasons to hold rates steady when he reveals his decision.

Milo: According to analysis, Warsh has to weigh the impact of energy shocks, emerging AI-driven price pressure, and political pressure from President Trump — all alongside the work of internal task forces.

Mia: Markets do expect the Fed to keep rates unchanged, but this session carries added tension. Yahoo Finance notes the ongoing war with Iran is hanging over the meeting.

Milo: You can see that tension in the currency and commodities markets. The dollar is holding near a recent high as traders await the announcement, and silver prices edged lower Tuesday morning ahead of the meeting.

Mia: We've got a mixed bag of corporate earnings to catch up on. Starting with Boeing — the company posted a wider loss than expected and took a $280 million charge on its long-delayed Air Force One program. That program continues to weigh heavily on results.

Milo: UPS had a brighter story. The carrier beat Wall Street expectations in its second quarter and raised its full-year guidance. The CEO told CNBC the company is through its, quote, bumps.

Mia: One note of caution though — UPS expects third-quarter domestic revenue to be flat.

Milo: And Coca-Cola hiked its full-year forecast after demand for its drinks rose in every market during the second quarter. The CEO told CNBC the World Cup helped boost its brands.

Mia: Now to SpaceX. A Financial Times report notes the private company's valuation has fallen sharply since its June high — it has now lost the equivalent of a full Tesla in market capitalization.

Milo: To put numbers on that: more than $1.2 trillion in market cap wiped out since the stock reached $225.64 per share in June.

Mia: And it's bigger than just SpaceX. Elon Musk-affiliated stocks have taken a combined $1.5 trillion hit, with a fresh test ahead in a SpaceX lockup.

Milo: In a different corner of the market, Koch Inc. is exploring a sale of Edged, the data-center developer it co-founded to build projects for the biggest hyperscalers. People with knowledge of the matter say a deal could value Edged at about $15 billion.

Mia: Finally, a couple of notable moves. S&P Global posted quarterly results below analysts' estimates. Bloomberg reports that part of the reason — the US-Iran war made it harder to raise prices on contracts for its energy data, news, and analysis unit.

Milo: And Visa plans to cut about 7 percent of its workforce — roughly 2,600 employees — as CEO Ryan McInerney seeks to streamline the payments giant. No further figures, timelines, or AI-specific details were disclosed.

Mia: That's After Market for today. I'm Mia.

Milo: And I'm Milo. We'll be back tomorrow with more.