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The number of Americans filing claims for unemployment benefits fell more than expected last week, consistent with labor market resilience. Initial claims for state unemployment benefits dropped 12,000 to a seasonally adjusted 215,000 for the week ended June 20, the Labor Department said on Thursday. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast 225,000 claims for the latest ‌week.

The data ⁠included last ⁠Friday’s Juneteenth public holiday, which could have contributed to part of the larger-than-expected decline. Claims are typically more complicated from the end of May through June when the school year ends, as some states allow non-teaching staff to file for unemployment benefits during the long school holidays. Seasonal factors, the model used by the government to strip out seasonal fluctuations from the data, do not ⁠always capture ‌these moves. Though claims have been hovering in the upper end of their 190,000-230,000 range for this year, there has been no ⁠material shift in the labor market, which has regained its footing after stumbling last year.

There have been no signs of employers resorting to widespread layoffs in response to surging costs stoked by the U.S.-led war with Iran. Companies, however, remain cautious about hiring. The number of people receiving unemployment benefits after an initial week of aid, a proxy for hiring, increased 21,000 to a seasonally adjusted 1.821 million during the ‌week ended June 13, the claims report showed. The so-called continuing claims data covered the period during which the government surveyed households for June’s unemployment rate.

The jobless rate ⁠has held at 4.3% for three straight months. Still, the lack of strong hiring has left many out-of-work people enduring long spells of unemployment. Recent college graduates are also having a hard time finding entry-level positions, a trend partly blamed on companies deploying artificial intelligence for some of these roles.

The median duration of unemployment jumped to 11.6 weeks in May, the longest stretch since November 2021, from 11.0 weeks in April, the government reported this month.

Mark Pownall is joined by Gary Adshead, Jack McGinn and Claire Tyrrell to talk WA business and politics, including the latest on the state Liberal party, bird flu impact, Water Corp’s Shenton Park plans, Rio Tinto’s CBD move, apartments at Hillarys, Satterley’s annual results and much more.

Cisco Systems shares fell 1.16% to $119.74 on Thursday, dipping further in pre-market trading to $119.13, as the networking giant continued navigating a notable shift in the competitive landscape of AI data center infrastructure even amid a year of otherwise strong stock performance.

Nvidia Overtakes Cisco in a Key Market

The most significant recent development for the stock has been a competitive milestone in one of Cisco’s core business lines. Nvidia has surpassed Cisco in data center Ethernet switching revenue for the first time. The shift reflects rising demand for AI-focused networking gear across the industry, as hyperscalers and enterprise customers increasingly turn to Nvidia’s networking hardware to support their AI infrastructure buildouts.

Despite the Setback, the Stock Has Had a Strong Year

Even with the recent competitive pressure and pullback, Cisco’s broader 2026 performance has remained robust by historical standards. CSCO is a Hold at $121.15, having gained 84% over one year, with the stock substantially outperforming the broader market over that stretch.

Reflecting that strong run, the stock’s 52-week range spans from a low of $65.75 to a high of $130.37, illustrating just how dramatically Cisco’s valuation has shifted higher over the trailing 12 months even with Thursday’s modest decline.

A Strategic Push Into AI Infrastructure

In response to the competitive pressure from Nvidia and others, Cisco has continued building out its own dedicated AI infrastructure offerings. Cisco’s new AI Factory and quantum-secure networking push may be shifting the company’s investment narrative. In June 2026, Equinix announced an expanded collaboration with Cisco and Nvidia to roll out the Cisco Secure AI Factory across its global data centers — a partnership that notably pairs Cisco directly with the same competitor that has overtaken it in the data center switching market, reflecting the increasingly collaborative-yet-competitive dynamics shaping the AI infrastructure space.

Additional Enterprise Partnerships Continue Rolling In

Beyond the Equinix and Nvidia collaboration, Cisco has continued announcing a steady stream of additional partnerships across its security and networking businesses. NetApp and Cisco announced an expansion of their collaboration to help customers strengthen defense-in-depth strategies, combining intelligent data infrastructure with advanced security capabilities. Separately, LTM launched its new Managed Secure Service Edge solution at Cisco Live 2026, built directly upon Cisco’s dedicated SSE offering.

A Recent Legal Victory at the Supreme Court

Cisco also recently secured a favorable outcome in a long-running legal matter before the nation’s highest court. Plaintiffs in a case that came before the Supreme Court contended that the Chinese government persecuted them because of their religious beliefs, and that Cisco Systems enabled that persecution. The U.S. Supreme Court further limited the reach of a federal law used to hold corporations liable for human rights abuses committed abroad, as it issued a ruling ending the lawsuit.

Despite the competitive concerns in data center switching, at least one major Wall Street bank has continued raising its outlook for the stock. BofA raised the firm’s price target on Cisco to $150 from $135 and kept a Buy rating on the shares, with the firm separately raising price targets for several other networking-adjacent companies as well.

A Broader Bullish Consensus Among Analysts

That positive sentiment extends across a wider swath of Wall Street coverage. According to 26 analysts, the average rating for Cisco stock is “Buy.” The 12-month stock price target is $127.05, representing an increase of roughly 4.9% from the most recent price.

A Strong Underlying Financial Performance

Cisco’s recent results have continued to support the bullish case despite the increased competition in switching specifically. In fiscal year 2025, Cisco Systems’s revenue was $56.65 billion, an increase of 5.30% compared to the previous year’s $53.80 billion. Earnings were $10.18 billion, a decrease of 1.36% — a relatively modest decline given the scale of the company’s continued revenue growth.

Cisco has also continued reinforcing its appeal among income-focused investors through a recently announced shareholder payment. The company announced a cash dividend of $0.42 with an ex-date of July 6, 2026, with the stock currently carrying a dividend yield of approximately 1.36%, according to the most recent data.

What the Company Actually Does

Cisco Systems, Inc. designs, develops, and sells technologies that help to power, secure, and draw insights from the internet across the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, the Asia Pacific, Japan, and China. The company offers data center switching, network security, identity and access management, secure access service edge solutions, threat intelligence and detection, interconnect technology for wireline and mobile networks, the Webex collaboration suite, and a range of professional and managed services. The company was founded by Sandra Lerner and Leonard Bosack in 1984 and is headquartered in San Jose, California.

A Mega-Cap by Market Value

Cisco’s scale places it firmly among the largest technology companies trading on U.S. exchanges. A market capitalization above $200 billion places Cisco in the mega-capitalization category, with the company’s value driven substantially by its leadership across networking, security, and now AI infrastructure offerings.

With Cisco’s next quarterly results expected to provide further clarity on how the company’s new AI Factory partnerships and broader security business are performing against increased competitive pressure from Nvidia in data center switching specifically, investors will be watching closely for evidence that Cisco’s diversification into AI-adjacent infrastructure and security software can offset any continued market-share erosion in its traditional switching business. Given the stock’s substantial gains over the past year and the broadly bullish analyst consensus, Cisco’s near-term trajectory will likely hinge on whether the company can successfully position itself as a complementary partner to AI infrastructure leaders like Nvidia, rather than simply a competitor losing ground in an increasingly contested market.

Nancy Guthrie vanished on February 1, and since then, there have been little to no solid answers about where she could be, but that could all be changing, according to a former federal investigator who says authorities are nearing a breakthrough in identifying the masked man captured on her doorbell camera.

The Doorbell Camera Footage Remains the Key Lead

Their strongest lead so far has been the video footage retrieved from the 84-year-old’s doorbell security camera at her home in Tucson, Arizona. Investigators released stills to the public, which showed a masked man on her porch prior to the suspected abduction. However, his identity was unable to be confirmed. But now, experts believe investigators are “closing in” on who he really is.

A Former Agent’s Optimistic Assessment

Former FBI Special Agent Maureen O’Connell, who claimed to have sources among the investigators, told Megyn Kelly, “They’re getting close to the porch guy.” It comes after Nancy’s daughter, Savannah Guthrie, called 911 on strangers lurking outside her mother’s home.

O’Connell suspected his identity would cause the “floodgates” to “swing open,” prompting more information surrounding Nancy’s disappearance to come to light. She explained that she was 75% confident the individual would be taken into custody soon. Kelly, a former Fox News host, replied, “That’s big news. That’s huge — big if true, as the kids say.”

How the Investigation Began

Nancy was reported missing on February 1, springing the Pima County Sheriff’s Department into action. She seemingly disappeared overnight, with her friends raising concern when she failed to show up for a virtual church service that day.

Immediately, a search-and-rescue team was sent out in coordination with local agencies, including Border Patrol. However, their search yielded no answers, prompting authorities to worry that something more sinister was at play. As a result, homicide investigators were brought onto the case, and their suspicions appeared to be confirmed after ransom notes hit the media.

Two Ransom Notes With Conflicting Information

There were two ransom notes received by a Tucson TV station in the days that followed Nancy’s disappearance. The first ransom note demanded the family pay millions in bitcoin for her release. It also provided specific details about Nancy’s home, including her bedroom and the property’s surroundings. It’s believed the note was addressed to Nancy’s daughter, Savannah.

The second note was sent on February 6 and claimed Nancy had died after the abduction. It used similar language to the first one, but didn’t include any demands. It did, however, claim Nancy had died and was “buried with nature now.”

The Pima County Sheriff’s Department has said the investigation into Nancy’s disappearance is ongoing. A spokesperson said in a statement, “The Pima County Sheriff’s Department continues to work closely with the FBI as investigators follow up on leads, review information, and pursue the facts surrounding this case.”

A Case That Has Stretched Nearly Five Months

Guthrie’s disappearance has now stretched almost five months without a confirmed suspect, despite the extensive efforts of investigators across multiple agencies. The case has drawn sustained national attention given Savannah Guthrie’s profile as a national television anchor, with each new development — from the doorbell footage to the conflicting ransom notes — continuing to generate widespread public interest and speculation.

Weighing O’Connell’s Confidence Against the Case’s History

O’Connell’s stated confidence that an arrest could be coming soon adds to a string of optimistic assessments offered by various retired law enforcement officials throughout the investigation’s course. Whether her specific estimate proves accurate remains to be seen, particularly given that the case has already produced multiple competing theories about the masked individual’s identity and motive without any of them yet leading to a confirmed suspect or arrest.

With the Pima County Sheriff’s Department continuing to describe the investigation as active and ongoing, and with a former federal agent now publicly expressing confidence that authorities are closing in on the masked suspect’s identity, the coming weeks could prove pivotal in determining whether this latest assessment translates into an actual arrest. Anyone with information related to Nancy Guthrie’s disappearance is urged to contact the FBI or the Pima County Sheriff’s Department, with a combined reward exceeding $1.2 million still available for information that leads to a resolution of the case.