Thursday, July 30
Amazon's cloud hits fastest growth in four years
A flood of AI spending from the biggest names in tech is pushing Amazon's cloud business to speeds it hasn't seen since before the rate-hike era.
Top Stories
Amazon's cloud surge proves enterprise AI spending has moved from hype to hard dollars
Amazon reported blowout second-quarter cloud results after Thursday's close, with its division growing at the fastest clip in four and a half years, fueled by deals with Meta and OpenAI and $200 billion in planned capital spending for next year.
The numbers matter because cloud growth is the clearest real-time signal of how much corporate America is actually committing to AI, not just talking about it, and Amazon's acceleration suggests that commitment is still speeding up, not plateauing.
Disney's fight with the FCC is a threat to the independence of broadcast news that should unsettle everyone
ABC, Disney's broadcast network, publicly accused the FCC of using license revocation threats to intimidate the network over its news coverage, making it one of the most direct charges a major media company has leveled at a federal regulator.
What makes this alarming is not the spat itself but the principle at stake: broadcast licenses are a lever the government controls, and the suggestion that they could be pulled over editorial decisions strikes at the structural independence that keeps news organizations from self-censoring.
Regeneron's eczema drug is quietly becoming one of pharma's most reliable revenue engines
Regeneron crushed second-quarter estimates by a wide margin Thursday, with Dupixent's eczema franchise and a newer high-dose eye treatment more than covering the continued erosion of its older eye drug.
The ability to replace a fading blockbuster with two growing ones is exactly the kind of pipeline execution that separates durable drug companies from one-hit wonders, and Regeneron's quarter showed it has that discipline.
Also Today
- Mastercard's cross-border spending held firm, powering a clean beat
- Reddit's blowout quarter couldn't shake investor skepticism in after-hours
- Labcorp's pre-market selloff reversed into a solid gain by close
Takeaway
Today was a genuine earnings day with real signal: the companies tied to AI infrastructure and consumer health spending delivered, while the Disney-FCC confrontation introduced a political risk that has nothing to do with box office or streaming numbers.
The most concrete thing to watch Friday is what Exxon's management says about capital allocation in its earnings report, since the choice between buybacks, dividends, and new investment will set the tone for the entire energy sector's second half.
