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What is the current U.S. Macro Set-Up?

Our Chief Equity Strategist and Economist, John Blank, should be able to help us understand this.

He’s here with me now.

1. Is this referring to current U.S

Is this “AI” Cap-Ex boom bigger than the 1999 Internet boom?

U.S. macro data clearly says: YES!

Let’s dig into this now with our Chief Equity Strategist and Economist, John Blank.

1. You wrote

Pitney Bowes Inc. PBI used its second-quarter 2026 earnings call to highlight execution improvements, debt reduction and a more disciplined approach to growth. Management raised adjusted EBIT

Valero Energy Corporation VLO reported second-quarter 2026 adjusted earnings of $12.54 per share, up 450% from $2.28 a year ago. The figure surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $9.87 by 27.1%.

The month of July was turbulent for investors, thanks to growing concerns over whether hyperscalers can sustain record AI infrastructure spending while delivering attractive returns, renewed trade

With August, a relatively volatile month for the stock market, approaching, investors should focus on companies that generate consistently strong returns after covering both operating and

National Fuel Gas Company NFG reported third-quarter fiscal 2026 adjusted earnings of $1.54 per share, which beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $1.47 by 4.8%. However, earnings declined 6.1% from

Eni S.p.A. E reported second-quarter 2026 adjusted earnings of $1.76 per American Depository Receipt, missing the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $1.90 by 7.4%. The bottom line increased 122.8% from the

VICI Properties Inc. VICI reported second-quarter 2026 adjusted funds from operations (AFFO) per share of 62 cents, in line with the Zacks Consensus Estimate. The figure increased 4.6% year over

Equinix, Inc. EQIX reported second-quarter 2026 adjusted funds from operations (AFFO) per share of $11.78, up 18.9% year over year and above the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $11.25 by 4.71%.

Revenues

AI Selloff: A Product of Deleveraging

Thursday, investors finally got an answer as to why there was a cascade of selling in AI-related stocks. First, AI-related stocks became extremely overextended

Regency Centers Corporation REG reported second-quarter 2026 NAREIT funds from operations (FFO) per share of $1.21, beating the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $1.20 by 0.8%. The metric increased 4.3%

Ventas, Inc. VTR reported second-quarter 2026 normalized funds from operations (FFO) per share of 97 cents, beating the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 96 cents by 1.04%. The metric increased 9% from

Exelon Corporation EXC reported second-quarter 2026 adjusted operating earnings of 43 cents per share, in line with the Zacks Consensus Estimate. Earnings increased 10.3% from 39 cents in the

WEC Energy Group WEC reported second-quarter 2026 earnings of 91 cents per share, which surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 80 cents by 13.75%. The bottom line also increased 19.74% from the

Seagate Technology Holdings plc STX is benefiting from a shift in AI workloads from short-lived compute jobs to persistent data reuse.

Inference, agentic applications, robotics and autonomous

The Cigna Group CI reported second-quarter 2026 adjusted earnings per share (EPS) of $7.78, which beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 2.6%. The bottom line improved 8.1% year over year.

Adjusted

Seagate Technology Holdings plc STX has moved from a recovery story to a high-expectation growth stock. The question is whether earnings acceleration and a stronger fiscal 2027 outlook can support a

On Semiconductor ON or onsemi is set to report its second-quarter 2026 results on Aug. 3.The company expects second-quarter 2026 earnings between 65 cents per share and 77 cents per share. The Zacks

Seagate Technology Holdings plc STX is entering fiscal 2027 with demand visibility rarely seen in the cyclical storage market. Cloud infrastructure growth, AI-related data creation and rising

Arm Holdings plc ARM has entered fiscal 2027 with impressive momentum, supported by accelerating adoption of its architecture across cloud infrastructure, edge computing and emerging artificial

Crocs, Inc. CROX reported second-quarter 2026 adjusted earnings of $4.55 per share, up 7.6% year over year. The figure surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $4.32 by 5.3%.Consolidated revenues

Mercury General Corporation (MCY) is expected to register a decrease in its top and bottom lines when it reports second-quarter 2026 results on Aug. 4, after the closing bell.

The Zacks Consensus

FormFactor FORM and Aehr Test Systems AEHR operate in the semiconductor test equipment market. Both compete in the AI semiconductor ecosystem through wafer-level testing and burn-in. FormFactor is a

Broadcom’s AVGO Semiconductor Solutions business is riding on strong AI demand. Strong shipments of custom AI accelerators, including XPUs and TPUs, and advanced networking products used to connect