Markets

Cathie Wood reaffirms strong support for Elon Musk and Tesla, emphasizing Musk’s critical hands-on role in sales operations during a transition phase. She maintains ARK Invest’s $2,600 price target by 2028, based on autonomous ride-hailing dominance. Wood dismissed distractions from Musk’s politics, analyzing fundamentals instead. Additionally, she critiqued Apple’s vulnerability from AI talent loss to competitors like Meta, while questioning Meta’s ability to gain sustainable advantage through its open-source AI strategy.

California American Water and the American Water Charitable Foundation awarded a $25,000 grant to the San Marino Fire Department for Southern California’s first all-electric emergency response vehicle, enabling multi-agency coordination across 23 municipalities. This EV mobile command center, supported by the LAFD Foundation, aligns with California’s 2035 zero-emission mandate and enhances climate-resilient disaster preparedness. The initiative reinforces partnerships between water utilities and emergency services, with the Foundation’s “Keep Communities Flowing” program investing over $20 million since 2012 in water security and infrastructure resilience nationwide.

Emergent BioSolutions secured a $51.9M U.S. government contract extension to supply smallpox vaccine complication treatment CNJ-016®, reinforcing its role in national biodefense. The 10-year ASPR partnership highlights Emergent’s dominance in the $10B U.S. medical countermeasures market, where government deals drive 85% of its revenue. While the deal boosts supply chain security and manufacturing credibility, VIGIV carries clinical risks including thrombosis, renal issues, and blood product transmission concerns. The contract underscores Emergent’s strategic positioning in pandemic preparedness amid growing demand for specialized, domestically produced countermeasures, balancing revenue stability with operational challenges.

PPG (NYSE: PPG) announced its Q2 2025 earnings will be released July 29 after market close, followed by an earnings call July 30 at 8 a.m. ET, featuring Chairman & CEO Tim Knavish and CFO Vince Morales. Investors can access the call via webcast or teleconference. Analysts are focused on PPG’s performance amid volatile raw material costs (particularly titanium dioxide), automotive demand shifts, and progress in key areas like EV coatings, aerospace materials, and digital color tech. PPG, a global coatings bellwether, emphasized transparent shareholder communication alongside its results.

Cushman & Wakefield published its 2024 Sustainability Report, highlighting progress in integrating responsible practices. Key achievements include exceeding emissions reduction targets six years early (50% reduction from 2019) and sourcing 87% corporate electricity from renewables. The report also details social initiatives like the DRIVE cultural program, positioning sustainability as a core business strategy.

Four major Chinese logistics firms—Full Truck Alliance, HUOLALA, Didi Freight, and Kuaigou Taxi—signed a self-regulatory covenant to protect truck drivers’ rights. Key commitments include banning excessively low freight rates, ensuring prompt payment settlement, increasing commission transparency (“sunshine campaign”), requiring shipper prepayment, and providing fare compensation insurance. The platforms pledged not to delay payments or link cash withdrawals to behavior scores. Further measures address fee reductions, fair dispute resolution, and ending unauthorized pay deductions.

Clean Energy Technologies (CETY) secures a decade-long federal tax advantage under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA), qualifying its waste heat recovery, biomass energy, and storage systems for 30% investment tax credits or production incentives until 2032. Exempt from stricter regulations affecting solar and wind sectors, CETY leverages infrastructure-ready solutions to meet emissions and domestic sourcing requirements, positioning itself as a resilient clean energy player. While benefiting from regulatory flexibility and project financing options, it faces phased incentive reductions starting in 2033, supply chain risks, and Nasdaq compliance pressures to maintain its $1.00 share price by late 2025.

Auction house Infinite Auctions is offering Michael Jordan’s game-worn sneakers from his pivotal March 22, 1995 comeback game with the Chicago Bulls. Authenticated using proprietary photo-matching technology, the sneakers (current bid: $46,000) symbolize Jordan’s first victory after retirement and the final game played at Boston Garden before its demolition. This sale reflects the high-value sports memorabilia market growth.

Doxxing, involving weaponized personal data for harassment, is escalating in China as a severe digital threat. Tech giant Tencent, targeting this on its platform QQ (597 million users), purged over 100,000 abusive posts, terminated 10,000+ harassment groups, and employs advanced algorithms/AI detection. This crackdown aligns with China’s intensified cyber governance and foreshadows stricter privacy law enforcement. Tencent’s approach, utilizing tech like neural networks and judicial reporting, may set a precedent for combating industrialized “doxxing economies” and balancing innovation with safety in web ecosystems.

Rumors of Jay Chou joining ByteDance’s Douyin with a **nine-figure yuan** signing fee sparked speculation, but officials denied the claims as “baseless misinformation.” Unofficial reports noted a verified private Douyin account (“@周同学”) linked to Chou, featuring his iconic branding. The artist previously demonstrated massive appeal on rival platform Kuaishou, gaining 10M+ followers in days (2020) and breaking viewership records with a 2022 concert livestream. The controversy underscores the high-stakes competition for celebrity partnerships in China’s $100B short-video sector, where A-list endorsements drive user engagement and ad revenue.