GF Securities analyst Jeff Pu downgraded Apple to “Hold,” citing what he described as a once-in-a-century surge in memory prices and an expected $200–$300 rise in costs for the iPhone 18 Pro lineup. Apple CEO Tim Cook said on the company’s Q3 earnings call that memory pricing is seeing “exponential increases,” which he characterized as a “100-year flood.” The shift has pressured expectations for Apple’s hardware gross margins and has spilled over to assets tied to the memory supply chain.

Novo Nordisk shares slid, wiping $30.7 billion from the company’s market capitalization in a single session and leaving it down nearly 69% from its June 2024 peak. The company is pushing to commercialize oral versions of its GLP-1 medicines, having launched a Wegovy pill in the United Arab Emirates and the U.K. with plans to sell in the U.S. and globally. It has also entered a public dispute with Eli Lilly over the accuracy of advertising claims. The moves and the clash are part of intensifying competition in obesity and diabetes drugs, adding near-term pressure to biopharma-focused index tools such as ONUS.

Mercedes-Benz is recalling over 310,000 vehicles due to a door-lock issue involving potential corrosion of a microswitch. The defect could prevent the cars from detecting when a door is open and may cause the electronic parking brake and “AutoPark” features to stop working automatically. The recall covers certain A-Class and C-Class sedans, GLC SUVs and CLE coupes, according to the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA).

Taco Bell was linked to a cyclospora outbreak that drove a sharp drop in customer visits, with foot traffic down 31% on July 17. More than 1,600 patients across five states reported eating at Taco Bell, while the suspected lettuce was pulled and supplier Taylor Farms issued a recall in 27 states. The incident underscores how food-safety events can disrupt fresh-produce supply chains and weigh on restaurant operations in the near term.

The Cheesecake Factory (CAKE) climbed to an intraday record high on Wednesday after its latest earnings report beat expectations. The stock is up nearly 91% this year after starting the year at just over $52. Its market value has risen to nearly $5 billion, marking a more than 500% rebound from below $1 billion in 2020. The company operates 375 locations in the U.S. and Canada.

Saudi Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Alsaud disclosed a 5% stake in electric-vehicle maker Lucid Motors (NASDAQ: LCID) worth more than $150 million. The disclosure came after Lucid shares had fallen 99.6% from their November 2021 peak and as the company reported a first-quarter net loss of over $1 billion and carried out two rounds of layoffs. The move helped ease market concerns about bankruptcy risk and pushed the stock up 20% in a single session.

AT&T has used a D-Wave quantum computer to reduce a network optimization workload from roughly an hour to under 15 seconds, a gain of about 240x. The result points to practical applications for quantum annealing in telecom infrastructure optimization. After the announcement, AT&T shares rose around 7%, lifting other quantum-related stocks such as IonQ. The report said no other traditional assets were directly involved or affected.

Stablecoin market capitalization has fallen about $10 billion from its May peak to roughly $300 billion, including a $7.7 billion decline in June that was the biggest monthly drop since Terra collapsed in May 2022. Over the same month, stablecoins settled $1.79 trillion in adjusted transaction volume, an all-time record. The article argues that market cap reflects parked balances, while settlement volumes better capture how stablecoins are increasingly used as a payments rail. It does not reference traditional financial assets, and the assets discussed—such as USDT and USDC—are crypto-native stablecoins without a direct price-transmission or regulatory/economic mechanism linkage to stocks, commodities, FX, or interest rates.

Meta has left the RE100 renewable-energy initiative as it ramps up investment in natural gas power to support AI-driven expansion of its data centers, including agreements tied to 10 plants in Louisiana totaling 7.5GW and a 200MW project in Ohio. The company still says it will match 100% of its annual electricity use with clean and renewable energy, but its near-term demand is increasingly being met by gas generation. The International Energy Agency projects that natural gas and coal will supply more than 40% of the additional electricity demand from data centers through 2030.