Hey Snackers,
The most watched show on streaming is once again the Australian animated TV series about a blue heeler puppy, which has racked up 25.1 billion viewing minutes this year. Surprisingly, the only prestige TV show to crack the top 10 was “Squid Game.” Five of the 10 most watched shows are over 20 years old, four are cartoons, and 7 out of 10 are ABC, CBS, Fox, or NBC originals. This has us wondering: is the friend who’s hyping up “The Bear” really spending most of their time binging “The Big Bang Theory”?Â
On Tuesday, chipmakers got a lift from the ability to send AI processors to China once more, but that was only enough to stave off a much bigger decline for the S&P 500 in a session where the lion’s share of constituents posted losses. The benchmark US stock index gave back 0.4%, while the Nasdaq 100 eked out a 0.1% gain and the Russell 2000 tumbled 2%.
It’s a small loss for the ages: the number of stocks in the S&P 500 that fell outnumbered those that rose by 404. Based on data going back to 1997, the index has never had a loss this small during a session when that many of its constituents declined. Check out the red dot that represents July 15 on this chart!
The hottest investment and most sought after asset of the year is an adorably hideous doll from China
The 15-year-old Chinese designer toy company Pop Mart has catapulted into the global spotlight, with shoppers lining up for hours to snag its signature Labubu doll — a pointy-eared, mischievous figure with a toothy grin that’s become a collector’s obsession and has been seen dangling from celebrities’ handbags.
Pop Mart is expecting at least a 350% increase in net profit and an over 200% jump in revenue for the first half of 2025, the company announced Tuesday.
Since its rocky post-IPO debut in 2020, the toy maker has staged a sharp turnaround, with shares rising nearly 600% over the past 12 months.Â
That’s left Pop Mart with a market cap north of $44 billion, more than the combined value of Sanrio, Hasbro, and Mattel — the toy giants behind Hello Kitty, Transformers, and Barbie, respectively.
The company attributed its massive bottom-line growth not only to rising brand recognition but also to “constant product costs optimization” and “strengthened expense control.”Â
The Takeaway
Its signature blind boxes — sealed packages with random toys inside — have built a loyal, thrill-seeking fan base, driving resale hype through unboxing videos across social media. Anyone familiar with the thrill of chasing that rare Pokemon, or even modern video games, where chance rewards from loot boxes have become commonplace, will recognize the playbook instantly. The buying and opening itself is part of the fun.Â
Crypto just got a corner store presence.
More and more people are leaning into crypto. But for Bitcoin, the world’s most popular cryptocurrency by market cap, there’s a crucial missing piece on the path to mass adoption.
Bitcoin Depot is already ahead of the curve. As the largest Bitcoin ATM operator on the planet, the company’s 8,500+ machines are up and running across the U.S., Canada, and Australia — and they’re expanding fast.
As mainstream crypto adoption takes hold, Bitcoin Depot is a strategic opportunity for investors, too. With 2024 revenue at $573.7M, Q1 2025 revenue is already up 19% YoY.1 And as an access point for crypto usage and adoption, Bitcoin Depot historically generates revenue regardless of Bitcoin’s price swings.2
If you’re looking for a crypto-focused investment not directly tied to a coin, Bitcoin Depot could be for you. Learn more about investing in BTM stock.3
The tech industry is Captain “All Ears” for Copilot
After surveying 40 large enterprise decision-makers about Microsoft, Jefferies has raised its price target on the tech giant to $600 from $550. The reason?Â
Faster adoption of M365 Copilot versus OpenAI’s ChatGPT.
 The firm found that 82% of respondents have adopted Copilot, compared to 71% for ChatGPT.Â
It also found that 57% are significantly or modestly increasing Azure cloud spend due to Copilot, compared with 36% in the last survey in September.Â
In fact, Jefferies expects Copilot to drive more than $11 billion in revenue in the 2026 calendar year.
Jefferies’ note contradicts a report last month by Bloomberg that said Microsoft’s sales team was having trouble convincing companies to use Copilot over ChatGPT, which it said many employees prefer.Â
Of course, the people making the decisions have different incentives than the employees at large, including the consideration of Microsoft’s long-standing and deep existing relationships with its client companies.
The Takeaway
As anyone who has messed around with AI casually can attest, there’s stuff that the machine learning models are amazing at, stuff that they’re terrible at, and a whole lot in between. Pair programming and assisting a human coder just seems to be one of those things that AI is really, really solid at. It turns out that if you train a computer on millions of forum threads and Stack Exchange posts, it actually gets pretty good at whipping up half-decent code. Whoever wins that will be an instant gold standard in the AI business, and Microsoft may have the edge here.Â
The Best Thing We Read Today
How the biggest momentum ETF lost its mojo
If you asked random people on the street — even those with almost no interest in the stock market — what the most important and successful stock in the US has been lately, Markets Editor Luke Kawa bets you’d get one answer that would stand head and shoulders above the rest. Yet, when the iShares MSCI USA Momentum Factor ETF rebalanced its portfolio near the end of May, that popular megacap stock was excluded from the ETF for the first time since Q1 2023.Â
Yesterday’s Big Daily Movers
Money-losing microcap Opendoor surged amid r/WallStreetBets chatter
Chinese stocks Baidu and Alibaba jumped on solid economic growth and an easing of export restrictions
The operator of the only US rare earths mine, MP Materials, soared after a report that Apple plans to invest $500 million
Ad tech software company The Trade Desk rose on news that it would be added to the S&P 500Â
What Else We're Snackin'
Standard Chartered will start offering spot bitcoin and ethereum institutional trading, a first for a “too big to fail” bankÂ
Nvidia had a great day after saying it’s clear to sell its H20 AI chips in China again, raising AMD along with itÂ
Analyst Dan Ives likened the battle over selling chips to “a game of high stakes poker,” and Nvidia is stacking its winning chips
Tesla had a mixed day. The good news: it moved into India. The bad news: it lost another key exec
Ahead of potential tariffs on drones, the US is scoping out the devices’ supply chains
Snack Fact of the Day
BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager, now has $12.5 trillion in assets under management.
Today's Events
July Producer Price IndexÂ
Earnings expected from Bank of America, Goldman Sachs, Johnson & Johnson, Morgan Stanley, Alcoa, and United Airlines
1 Past performance is not indicative of future performance. Revenue growth is based on data in their recent SEC filings. Please review the Q1 2025 financial results for further details on the Q1 2025 revenues and Q1 2024 revenues Please review the FY 2024 financial results for further details on the FY 2024 revenues.Â
2 From Q2 2020 to Q4 2024, this revenue is documented in the transaction volume compared to price changes in Bitcoin in Q4 2024 Investor Presentation slide 21 (link). Past performance is not indicative of future results.
3 Stock markets are volatile and can fluctuate significantly in response to company, industry, political, regulatory, market, or economic developments. Investing in stock involves risks, including the loss of principal. This company is operating in a highly speculative industry where the underlying value/exchanges they process can be quite volatile (value-wise). Before investing, carefully assess whether a particular stock aligns with your investment objectives, risk tolerance, and financial situation.