MSFT News & Events

The major averages finished higher to start the week as markets returned from the holiday weekend with a constructive tone and chip stocks rebounded from recent weakness.Last week's weaker-than-expected labor report reduced some fears of additional near-term Federal Reserve tightening, which has helped improve risk appetite. Investors are now turning attention to Wednesday's Fed meeting minutes for clues on how policymakers view inflation and economic growth going into the second half of the year.Get caught up quickly on the top news and calls moving stocks with these five Top Five lists.1. STOCK NEWS:SK Hynixwill offer 17.79M common sharesLockheed MartinUltra Maritime Solutions for $3.45BBroadcomwilla range of custom ASIC silicon products for AppleSolstice Advanced MaterialsElement Solutionsin a cash and stock deal valued at $14.5BComcast'sSkyITV Media in a deal valued at up to GBP 1.6B2. WALL STREET CALLS:BofAT-Mobileto BuyScotiabankfive cybersecurity names, citing growth potential stemming from AIGileadto Buy at HSBCBernsteinDatadogto Market PerformJetBlueto Underperform at Raymond James3. AROUND THE WEB:Energy Transferwon a $392M judgement in Texas over a failed attempt by San Antonio's city-owned utility CPS Energy to challenge the company over gas prices during the February 2021 Winter Storm Uri, Bloomberg reportsSuppliers plan to ship less than 1M iPhonefold units in 3Q26, which may push the start of device pre-orders and sales to Q4, with weeks of delivery delays, TF International analyst Ming-Chi Kuo said in a blog postCriteohas attracted a takeover offer backed by Vista Equity, Bloomberg saysDuring Sunday morning's government meeting, Deputy Minister Almog Cohen raised the issue of the sale of ZIMwith the government, Israel Hayom saysMicrosoftis eliminating 4,800 jobs, representing 2.1% of its workforce, with the company's Xbox division losing about one-fifth of its staff, CNBC reports4. MOVERS:TeraWulfincreases after announcing aIrengains in New York after Freedom Capitalthe stock to BuyDellhigher after President Trump said toKohl'slower after Morgan Stanleycoverage of the stock with an Underweight ratingEHangfalls in New York after JPMorganthe stock to Underweight5. EARNINGS/GUIDANCE:Clarivatebacked itsOndasprovidedInnovate EyewearreportedPepsiCotoon July 9Delta Air Linestoon July 10INDEXES:The Dow rose 155.84, or 0.29%, to 53,055.91, the Nasdaq gained 288.49, or 1.12%, to 26,121.16, and the S&P 500 advanced 54.19, or 0.72%, to 7,537.43.

Catch up on the top artificial intelligence news and commentary by Wall Street analysts on publicly traded companies in the space with this daily recap compiled by The Fly.MICROSOFT FRONTIER:Microsoftsaid in a blog, "Today we are introducing Microsoft Frontier Company, a new operating business focused on delivering Frontier Transformation through AI for our customers around the world.It will provide a unique combination of skills inclusive of deep industry knowledge, change management and continuous improvement experience, and enterprise-grade AI engineering expertise. This goes beyond what has been labeled as Forward Deployed Engineering and will be the largest, most capable, outcome-driven engineering organization in the industry. We are making a $2.5B investment in Microsoft Frontier Company, embedding 6,000 industry and engineering experts at customers to co-design, co-innovate, deploy and continuously improve AI systems at scale based on measurable business outcomes." Microsoft said Rodrigo Kede Lima will be the President of Microsoft Frontier.AI CHATBOT:Microsoft is merging the consumer and enterprise versions of its Copilot AI chatbots into a single application as it tries to create a more formidable competitor to Anthropic's Claude and OpenAI's ChatGPT,The Information's Aaron Holmes and Erin Woo, citing an internal memo that went out Thursday morning. Jacob Andreou, an executive vice President, said the new unified app will also feature AI coding Tools and new AI agents that customers would need to pay extra for, according to The Information, which also noted that Andreou told colleagues he's happy with Copilot's growth in the June quarter.AI AGENTS:MetaCEO Mark Zuckerberg said the company's AI agent systems have not advanced as quickly as originally anticipated, Katie Paul and Courtney Rozen of Reuters, citing a recording of an internal town hall. Zuckerberg said the restructuring has not been as "clean" as it could have been, and executives miscalculated the timing of changes.CLAUDE CODE:Alibabahas banned its employees from using Anthropic's Claude Code at work following scrutiny for its features that can identify China-linked users, Eduardo Baptista of Reuters, citing a person familiar with the order.AI BENEFICIARY:Scotiabank analyst Patrick Colville upgraded Oktato Outperform from Sector Perform with a $165 price target. Non-human identity management is the top priority among CISOs in the firm's fieldwork as Agentic AI is rolled out in enterprises, says the analyst, who views Okta as an AI beneficiary from a rising tide of cybersecurity spend as a result of Mythos preparedness as firms look to modernize their identity stack.BUY SENTINELONE:Scotiabank upgraded SentinelOneto Outperform from Sector Perform with a $23.50 price target. Investments in AI native products such as agentic SOC, Purple AI, and AI runtime security positions SentinelOne well to capture new high growth vectors as Mythos preparedness drives incremental security spending, the firm tells investors.BULLISH ON CHECK POINT:Scotiabank upgraded Check Pointto Outperform from Sector Perform with an $185 price target. The firm, which views Check Point as an AI beneficiary as enterprises increase cybersecurity spending to prepare for more advanced threats, thinks the market is underestimating Check Point's growth potential stemming from AI.MOVING TO THE SIDELINES:Bernstein downgraded Datadogto Market Perform from Outperform with a price target of $226, up from $180. The firm is moving to the sidelines on Q3 and beyond earnings caution vs. more exuberant investor expectations as demand signals are slowing in both enterprise and some AI Labs. Bernstein points out that "not only do we start lapping tough comps in Q4," it is seeing demand signals flat lining ex-AI that causes ex-AI growth to peak in Q3, and potentially regress -100bps-200bps in Q4.AI LICENSING DEAL:Cevaannounced an AI licensing deal with a U.S. software and AI platform company for a custom AI silicon program targeting next-generation intelligent computing devices. The agreement extends Ceva's customer base beyond traditional semiconductor companies and device OEMs to include software platform companies that are increasingly designing custom silicon to optimize performance, power and area and the overall user experience.

The major averages were higher to start the week as chip stocks rebound after recent weakness. Markets are returning from the holiday weekend with a constructive tone, as investors look to extend last week's rally.Last week's weaker-than-expected labor report reduced some fears of additional near-term Federal Reserve tightening, which has helped improve risk appetite. Investors are now turning attention to Wednesday's Fed meeting minutes for clues on how policymakers view inflation and economic growth going into the second half of the year.Get caught up quickly on the top news and calls moving stocks with these five Top Five lists.1. STOCK NEWS:SK Hynixwill offer 17.79M common sharesLockheed MartinUltra Maritime Solutions for $3.45BBroadcomwilla range of custom ASIC silicon products for AppleSolstice Advanced Materialswill acquire Element Solutionsin avalued at $14.5BComcast'sSkyITV Media in a deal valued at up to GBP 1.6B2. WALL STREET CALLS:BofAT-Mobileto BuyScotiabankfive cybersecurity names, citing growth potential stemming from AIGileadto Buy at HSBCBernsteinDatadogto Market PerformJetBlueto Underperform at Raymond James3. AROUND THE WEB:Suppliers plan to ship less than 1M iPhonefold units in 3Q26, which may push the start of device pre-orders and sales to Q4, with weeks of delivery delays, TF International analyst Ming-Chi Kuo said in a blog postBoeingintends to start operating a fourth 737 MAX assembly line at its Everett, Washington factory on Monday, Reuters saysNvidiahas named Anna Soellner, Reddit'sformer vice president of communications, as head of corporate communications, Axios reportsDuring Sunday morning's government meeting, Deputy Minister Almog Cohen raised the issue of the sale of ZIMwith the government, Israel Hayom saysMicrosoftis eliminating 4,800 jobs, representing 2.1% of its workforce, with the company's Xbox division losing about one-fifth of its staff, CNBC reports4. MOVERS:TeraWulfincreases after announcing awith AnthropicIrengains in New York after Freedom Capitalthe stock to BuyDellhigher afterto "go out and buy a Dell"Kohl'slower after Morgan Stanleyof the stock with an Underweight ratingEHangfalls in New York after JPMorganthe stock to Underweight5. EARNINGS/GUIDANCE:Clarivatefor FY26OndasInnovate EyewearPepsiCoon July 9Delta Air Lineson July 10INDEXES:Near 1:20 pm ET, the Dow was up 0.09%, or 45.72, to 52,945.79, the Nasdaq was up 1.31%, or 337.58, to 26,170.26, and the S&P 500 was up 0.75%, or 56.47, to 7,539.71.

As part of plans to lay off staff, Microsoft's Xbox will cut 3,200 jobs as part of a major reorganization and divest from five development studios, Bloomberg's Jason Schreier reports. "South of Midnight" studio Compulsion Games and "Psychonauts" developer Double Fine will both become independent companies, while "Hellblade" developer Ninja Theory and "State of Decay" maker Undead Labs will be sold to other companies, though such details have not been revealed, Schreier notes. Arkane Lyon, meanwhile, will enter into a consultation process in France to review its options, Schreier adds.