The result means Mexico is now all but certain to top Group A and remain in Mexico City for the next round, setting up the possibility of a high-stakes meeting at the historic Estadio Azteca in the round of 16. The question hanging over both Mexico and South Korea after their opening wins was whether they had genuinely impressed or simply benefited from poor opposition — and Thursday’s match offered a fairly clear answer: neither side is overflowing with creative edge.
A Gift-Wrapped Goal
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The only goal of the match arrived in the 50th minute, and it owed entirely to a defensive breakdown rather than any moment of attacking inspiration. South Korea goalkeeper Kim Seung-gyu came out to claim a looping header but jarred his elbow on the head of his own defender, Lee Ki-hyuk, in the process, spilling the ball into the path of Luis Romo. The Mexico midfielder hooked the loose ball into the net for his fifth international goal in his 64th appearance for the national team.
Romo was one of three changes Mexico manager Javier Aguirre made from the side’s opening victory, coming into the lineup in place of Álvaro Fidalgo. Aguirre resisted significant public pressure to hand a start to 17-year-old prodigy Gilberto Mora, opting instead for experience in midfield.
Mexico nearly surrendered the lead in the closing minutes, when goalkeeper Raúl Rangel produced a remarkable double save to preserve the result. Rangel got down to parry a header from Cho Gue-sung before twisting his body and summoning the core strength to gather Yang Hyun-jun’s sliced follow-up attempt, denying South Korea what would have been a deserved equalizer in the match’s final stages.
Aguirre Reflects on a Maturing Team
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Mexico’s manager offered a candid assessment of his side’s performance after the final whistle, acknowledging that the match had not been an aesthetic showcase but praising his team’s tactical discipline. “It was quite a tactical match and hard to digest for the fans,” Aguirre said. “The wins speak of our maturity as a team. We were caught off guard before Rangel’s save but otherwise this speaks of a team that knows how to handle the game.”
Aguirre, now in his third World Cup at the helm of the Mexican national team, also reflected on his own evolution as a coach over that span. “I used to be more stringent,” he said. “I’m calmer, more serene. For instance, I don’t mind them using their smart phones all the time; last time I was in a battle with them.”
A New Stadium, an Old Rivalry of Circumstance
Thursday’s match marked the first time Mexico had ever played a World Cup game in Guadalajara, yet the stadium was not full for the historic occasion. While attendance was nowhere near as sparse as it had been during South Korea’s win over Czechia the previous week, plastic seats were visible in clear patches throughout the venue, particularly in the corporate tier that runs around the stadium’s center section.
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The venue itself carries no connection to Guadalajara’s storied football history. This is not the old Estadio Jalisco, where England goalkeeper Gordon Banks famously kept out Pelé’s header in 1970, and where French forward Bruno Bellone scored in the penalty shootout of the unforgettable 1986 quarterfinal against Brazil — a spot kick that struck the post and bounced in off the head of Brazilian goalkeeper Carlos. Thursday’s match instead took place at Estadio Akron, officially rendered as Estadio Guadalajara under FIFA’s de-sponsored naming convention, located roughly 15 miles west of the historic Jalisco venue. The stadium, which opened in 2010 and features a grass-covered exterior, rises from a flat plain on the western edge of the city of Zapopan, which borders Guadalajara proper.
A Cautious Affair Lacking Urgency
Both sides played with notably less urgency than they had shown in their respective tournament openers, a dynamic that may have stemmed from the format itself. With a win already secured by each team heading into the match, a draw would have been more than sufficient to advance both nations toward the knockout stage. The result was a contest with little risk or attacking adventure from either side — the match’s first corner kick did not arrive until injury time.
The crowd appeared broadly accepting of the cautious approach, certainly more patient than the fans who had packed Estadio Azteca for Mexico’s opening match and had booed when their team led 1-0 against a South African side that had been reduced to ten men. Still, even Guadalajara’s more forgiving crowd had its limits — an extended spell of South Korean passing roughly eight minutes before halftime provoked a chorus of furious whistles from the stands, even if the protest had little bearing on the match’s outcome.
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A Friendship That Didn’t Extend to the Pitch
South Korea and Mexico share a long-standing diplomatic and economic relationship dating back to 1905, when the first Korean migrants arrived in Mexico. Work began on a formal free trade agreement between the two nations in 2012, and although that agreement remains unconcluded, South Korea has since grown into Mexico’s sixth-largest trading partner globally. A Friendship Pavilion donated by the South Korean government stands today in the seniors’ garden at Chapultepec Park in Mexico City, a physical symbol of the bond between the two countries.
But that friendliness extended only so far on the pitch Thursday. When a team hands its opponent a goal on a platter, as Kim did with his costly error, there was never any realistic chance Mexico would decline the gift. Kim did partially redeem himself later in the match with a fine close-range block on a shot from Raúl Jiménez, though it is unlikely to be the moment anyone remembers from his evening in Guadalajara.
Off-Field Controversy Disrupts South Korean Preparations
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South Korea’s buildup to the match was complicated by an off-field controversy that disrupted the squad’s preparations in the days leading up to kickoff. Video emerged of two individuals, believed to be journalists, making disparaging remarks about captain Son Heung-min’s abbreviated term of mandatory military service. In protest, South Korean players refused to perform media duties two days before the match against Mexico.
The disruption appeared to weigh on the team’s most recognizable star. Son, despite being only 33 years old, looked notably older and heavier-legged on the pitch, struggling repeatedly to navigate Mexico’s offside trap and unable to free the ball from between his own feet when a genuine scoring chance presented itself in front of goal. He was substituted not long after that missed opportunity.
Looking Ahead to the Final Group Match
South Korea coach Hong Myung-bo offered a measured response to the defeat, signaling his team’s intention to regroup before its final group-stage fixture. “Today’s result is disappointing,” Hong said. “The mistake we made was unfortunate but we shouldn’t be discouraged because we will prepare better for the next match.”
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A draw against South Africa in South Korea’s final group match would still be enough to send the team through to the knockout stage, though Thursday’s performance offered little evidence that this particular South Korean side has the attacking quality to advance much further than that, even if it does survive the group phase. Mexico, for its part, has now won both of its group matches and all but secured a place in the round of 16 — but the co-hosts have so far shown little beyond a functional, results-oriented competence that has yet to translate into the kind of attacking spectacle their home fans are hoping to see as the tournament progresses deeper into the knockout rounds.
PepsiCo CEO Ramon Laguarta discusses how the food and beverage giant is seeing massive paybacks after slashing consumer prices on ‘The Claman Countdown.’
Chipotle CEO Scott Boatwright said Wednesday the fast-casual chain is seeing improvement in customers’ perceptions of affordability.
Speaking on Chipotle’s second-quarter earnings call, Boatwright said the company’s brand tracking showed improved perceptions of value across “all income groups and age cohorts.”
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“As it relates to value, I’m happy to report our brand tracker showed really solid progress across all income groups and age cohorts on value perception,” Boatwright said. “Our affordability scores were better in Q2 than they’ve been in probably the past couple of years.”
He noted that customers do not judge value solely by prices or discounts.
A person works in a Chipotle outlet in Manhattan, New York City. (Andrew Kelly/Reuters)
“And so I think we’re making meaningful progress as it relates to value at Chipotle. What we also learned, I think, as an important note, is [that] value isn’t just about discounting and price point. It’s about convenience. It’s about execution,” Boatwright added.
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“It’s about menu innovation. There’s a host of things that the consumer is looking at to determine value.”
Chipotle has recently introduced lower-priced menu options.
CEO Scott Boatwright said that customers do not judge value solely by prices or discounts. (Chipotle)
In December, the company launched a high-protein menu featuring a Single Chicken Taco, starting at $3.50 at select U.S. restaurants, and a High Protein Cup of Adobo Chicken, with a national weighted average price of $3.82, the company said at the time.
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Chipotle on Wednesday also reported second-quarter revenue of $3.3 billion, up 9.3% from the same period in 2025.
Boatwright has previously pushed back against perceptions that Chipotle has become too expensive or reduced its portions to boost profits.
Chipotle on Wednesday also reported second-quarter revenue of $3.3 billion, up 9.3% from the same period in 2025. (Angus Mordant/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
“We have an affordable price point for all walks of life, and we’re for everyone. We want everyone to have access to wholesome, nutritious food,” Boatwright said during a May appearance on Yahoo Finance’s “Power Players” podcast.
Wall Street ended sharply higher on Thursday, with chip stocks jumping and Microsoft soaring after the technology giant gave a stellar forecast that eased fears about massive spending on AI infrastructure.
Microsoft jumped by a double-digit percentage after the technology company forecast quarterly sales and cloud growth above expectations. It also reported capital expenditures below estimates and said it expects to keep generating cash through its fiscal 2027 that has just begun.
This year, investors have been spooked by heavy spending on AI at big technology firms. Negative cash-flow reports from Alphabet and Tesla last week sparked a bout of selling in AI-linked stocks, with chip stocks also under pressure as investors questioned high valuations.
Meta Platforms tumbled after the social media heavyweight reported a 91% drop in second-quarter free cash flow, indicating the financial strain of its costly AI buildout.
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“These are true battleground stocks. Investors can’t make up their minds whether the ROI on the massive capex spending is going to be worthwhile or not,” said Jed Ellerbroek, portfolio manager at Argent Capital Management.
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“Microsoft delivered yesterday, and maybe Microsoft is going to be able to move itself from the ‘battleground’ camp to be a ‘trusted AI winner’ stock,” Ellerbroek said. The PHLX chip index surged,with Micron Technology Sandisk and Advanced Micro Devices making big gains. Amazon rose and Apple dipped, with both companies set to report their results after the market closes.
Amazon’s stock has underperformed the broader market this year due to concerns about heavy spending on AI. Apple, which has not spent heavily on AI, recently overtook Nvidia to become the world’s most valuable company, with a market value of about $4.9 trillion.
On Wednesday, U.S. stocks closed sharply lower after the Federal Reserve left interest rates unchanged, with mixed messages from new Fed Chair Kevin Warsh leaving traders confused about the path of borrowing costs.
Bond markets remained on edge, with the yield on the 30-year Treasury bond surging to its highest level in 19 years.
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Traders are now only pricing in a 59% chance for a rate hike at the Fed’s September meeting, according to CME FedWatch, down from 82% a week ago.
U.S. economic growth slowed in the second quarter as the trade deficit widened. The economy grew at a 1.5% rate, slower than estimates of 2.1% growth, data showed. A separate reading also showed U.S. inflation slowed in June.
Qualcomm fell after the chipmaker forecast fourth-quarter profit below estimates and said revenue from Apple products would decline faster than expected.
Fair Isaac slumped. Even though the credit-scoring giant lifted its annual profit and revenue forecasts, they remained below analysts’ estimates.
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Starbucks rose after the world’s largest coffee chain raised its annual sales and profit forecasts.
Analysts on average expect S&P 500 aggregate second-quarter earnings to jump 40% from a year ago, with AI-related stocks accounting for much of that growth, according to LSEG I/B/E/S.
Strong earnings forecasts and a recent decline in share prices have left the S&P 500 trading at about 20 times expected earnings, just above its 10-year average of 19, according to LSEG data.
The Penarth headquartered firm has released a trading statement to the City
11:08, 30 Jul 2026Updated 11:18, 30 Jul 2026
Penarth headquartered global point of care diagnostics firm EKF Diagnostics said it is on track for a stronger end to the year after posting first half numbers in line with management expectations, while confirming that cash levels held in Russia have risen.
In a trading statement the Alternative Investment Market listed firm that in the first half of this year revenues remained broadly flat at £25.m (H1 2025: £25.2m), reflecting the higher weighting of sales expected in the second half of the year. Gross margin improved to 53% (H1 2025: 50%) and adjusted Ebitda showed continued growth.
The group’s cash balance as at 30 June 2026 was £16 (31 December 2025: £15.8m), which included £2.4m held in Russia (31 December 2025: £2.1m).
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It operates in Russia via its German-based subsidiary, in which it has a 60% stake, selling non sanctioned medical devices. However, since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine the Putin administration has put tight limits on the amount of cash from trading that foreign firms are able to move out of the country.
It is a counter measure to western sanctions. For the last two years EKF’s subsidiary has been able to release around £500,000 per annum in dividend payments. The rise in cash from £2.1m to £2.5m has in part been driven by improved exchange rates.
EKF has no bank borrowings, and the closing cash balance reflects the allocation of £1.4m for the ongoing share buyback programme, of which £900,000 has been deployed during the period, together with the continued investment for growth that is part of the five-year strategic development plan for the business.
It said: “The progress of the five-year strategy continues in line with management expectations. Diabetes and hematology delivered steady performances in the first half, with the majority of high-volume tenders already won and scheduled to be delivered in the historically stronger second half year.”
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It added that its remains on track to deliver growth at the revenue and adjusted Ebitda levels for full year 2026 in line with current market expectations.
Following the trading statement brokers Singer, Stifel and Panmure Liberum all maintained their buy share positions. Panmure Liberum has a share price target of 34p with the other two slightly higher at 35p.
In its note Panmure Liberum said: “The shares are still cheap, and remain range bound with he buy-back providing a floor to the price.
“There is little in the statement to change this prior to the interims. However, the longer-term outlook remains more encouraging and we expect the growth rate to improve, margins to continue to expand and strong cash conversion. We retain our buy (share recommendation).
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Shares in EKF fell slightly after the trading statement to around 25p.
An alternative approach is to ensure that everyone who is eligible, based on their needs, should get state-funded personal care that is free at the point of use.
This would be provided free regardless of an individual’s means and whether it was received by an elderly person in their own house or a residential care home.
Scotland has implemented such a system.
However, it’s important to note that personal care takes in things like helping frail elderly people wash and dress and go to the toilet.
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But it does not include accommodation, food and everyday living costs which are subject to means testing.
The Health Foundation think tank estimates that implementing a Scottish-style system in England would cost £7.5bn a year by 2036.
Like Scotland, Japan and Germany have systems which base entitlement to personal social care mainly on people’s care needs rather than their ability to pay.
Japan and Germany though have a mandatory long-term care insurance system which is funded through contributions from workers and employers.
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Both countries also do not usually cover the full cost of personal care so individuals are responsible for some of the expenses.
Ofgem has proposed new measures which could see developers of data centres made to pay hundreds of millions of pounds up front.
The British energy regulator said a refundable fee should be charged for projects that want to connect to the network, amid mounting demand for connections to the electricity grid.
It is proposing developers pay a deposit between £237,500 to £712,500 per megawatt – meaning data centres seeking 1 gigawatt (GW) of power would have to pay hundreds of millions up front, paid back if the project was completed.
Data centres are large buildings which house computer servers used to store and process data and run the digital services which power the internet.
Ofgem has started a consultation on its proposals, which will run until 16 September.
It said the amount of electricity capacity being requested by projects seeking to connect to the grid had risen from 41 GW to 125 GW in the past year, reflecting a sharp increase in demand.
This is significantly more than double 2025’s peak electricity demand in Britain of around 46 GW.
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The regulator said the projects would have to hit key milestones to keep their place in the grid connection queue, which has seen a surge in demand.
An increasing number of centres have been built around the world in recent years to provide the computing power needed to train and run AI systems.
But they are controversial, especially for people who live near them.
Residents have raised concerns about noise, electricity demand and the large amounts of water sometimes used to cool the high-performance chips that generate vast amounts of heat.
Bausch + Lomb lifted its full-year targets after narrowing its second-quarter loss as its core segments drove revenue higher.
The dual Toronto and New York-listed eye health company on Wednesday raised its full-year guidance across the board, bumping its revenue target up by $20 million to a new range of $5.44 billion to $5.54 billion. The increase would represent 5.8% to 7.7% constant currency growth.
TheBank of Nvidia. When it comes to circular financing, Wall Street may have the wrong idea. Nvidia’s need to invest across the AI landscape doesn’t stem from a lack of financing options—it comes from having too much cash. Nvidia has generated $191 billion in cash flow over the last two years, with another $49 billion coming this quarter alone, according to LSEG estimates.
Users of the online brokerage platform E-Trade reported widespread login and account access problems Thursday morning, with outage-tracking service Downdetector logging a sharp spike in complaints beginning around 10:33 a.m. Eastern time, in the middle of an active and volatile trading session on Wall Street.
Downdetector’s official social media account posted an alert flagging the rise in user-submitted reports shortly after the issues began, using the hashtag “#ETradeDown” to solicit further reports from affected users about how the outage was impacting them.
Frustrated customers took to social media in real time to describe their experiences trying to access the platform. One user wrote directly to E-Trade’s official account, “Hey E*Trade, your systems are down right now at 7/30/2026 at 10:34am. When is it coming back up?” Another user, describing themselves as a customer of nearly two decades, expressed frustration with the outage in a post that read, in part, “E-Trade is down… get your act together or I will leave the platform.” A separate user reported being unable to log in despite what they described as one of their best trading days, writing that the platform displayed a message indicating the website was too busy to process their request.
As of Thursday morning, E-Trade had not issued a public statement confirming a company-wide outage or explaining the specific cause of the access problems some users were experiencing. Outage-tracking services showed mixed readings on the scope of the disruption. One monitoring service reported E-Trade as operational with no significant outage detected, showing only a small number of user reports over the prior 24-hour period, while a separate outage-tracking site reported that E-Trade had been experiencing issues since approximately 10:20 a.m. Eastern time, based on a spike in user complaints that exceeded the platform’s typical baseline volume for that time of day.
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The reported issues Thursday came during an active session for U.S. financial markets more broadly, with major indexes moving significantly following a wave of high-profile corporate earnings reports, including results from Microsoft and Meta Platforms released the previous afternoon. Periods of heightened market volatility and elevated trading volume have historically coincided with increased strain on online brokerage platforms’ technical infrastructure, as a larger-than-usual number of users attempt to log in, check account balances or execute trades simultaneously.
Online brokerage outages during periods of market volatility are not without recent precedent. In August 2024, several major online brokerage firms, including Charles Schwab, Fidelity and Vanguard, experienced widespread access problems for thousands of users during one of the largest stock market selloffs of that year, with user complaints on Downdetector peaking around and shortly before 10 a.m. Eastern time on that occasion as well. Charles Schwab acknowledged the issue at the time in a statement posted to social media, saying that a technical issue was preventing some clients from logging into its platforms.
E-Trade, founded as one of the earliest online discount brokerage firms in the United States, has grown over the decades into one of the most widely used platforms for individual investors and traders to buy and sell stocks, exchange-traded funds, options, mutual funds and other financial securities. The company was acquired by Morgan Stanley in 2020, integrating its retail brokerage operations into the larger financial services firm’s broader wealth management business.
Downdetector, the platform used to track and aggregate the Thursday morning complaints, monitors user-submitted reports across thousands of websites and applications rather than directly accessing the internal systems of the companies it tracks. Because the service relies on self-reported complaints rather than direct server monitoring, spikes in reported issues can sometimes reflect a genuine platform-wide outage, while other spikes may result from more localized problems affecting a subset of users, specific devices, internet service providers or regional network issues rather than a broader systemic failure affecting the entire platform.
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For users experiencing difficulty accessing E-Trade during the reported disruption, common troubleshooting steps recommended for online brokerage access issues include refreshing the browser or app, clearing cached data, verifying that the device’s internet connection is functioning properly through other online services, and checking the company’s official social media channels or status pages for updates. If the underlying cause proves to be a service-side technical issue rather than a problem specific to an individual user’s device or connection, however, these troubleshooting steps are unlikely to resolve the access problems until E-Trade restores normal functionality on its end.
As of the most recent available information Thursday, E-Trade had not provided a public timeline for resolving the reported access issues, nor had the company responded publicly to the elevated volume of complaints registered through Downdetector and other outage-tracking platforms throughout the morning. Given the platform’s role in facilitating real-time trading, any extended access disruption during an active market session carries particular significance for affected users attempting to manage positions or execute trades in response to fast-moving market conditions.
Users continuing to experience problems accessing their E-Trade accounts were encouraged to monitor the company’s official channels directly for updates, rather than relying solely on third-party outage trackers, which can offer a useful gauge of the scale of user-reported complaints in near real time but cannot independently confirm the underlying cause or expected resolution timeline for a suspected service disruption.
Hexcel Corporation (HXL) Q2 2026 Earnings Call July 30, 2026 9:30 AM EDT
Company Participants
Kurt Goddard – Vice President of Investor Relations Thomas Gentile – CEO, President & Chairman James Coogan – Executive VP & CFO
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Conference Call Participants
Gavin Parsons – UBS Investment Bank, Research Division Kenneth Herbert – RBC Capital Markets, Research Division Sheila Kahyaoglu – Jefferies LLC, Research Division Joshua Korn – Wells Fargo Securities, LLC, Research Division Richard Safran – Seaport Research Partners Myles Walton – Wolfe Research, LLC Scott Mikus – Melius Research LLC Kristine Liwag – Morgan Stanley, Research Division Mariana Perez Mora – BofA Securities, Research Division Anton Rinnert – TD Cowen, Research Division
Presentation
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Operator
Thank you for standing by, and welcome to Hexcel’s Second Quarter 2026 Earnings Call. [Operator Instructions] I would now like to turn the call over to Kurt Goddard, Vice President, Investor Relations. Sir, please go ahead.
Kurt Goddard Vice President of Investor Relations
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Hello, everyone. Welcome to Hexcel Corporation’s Second Quarter Earnings Conference Call. Before beginning, let me cover the formality. I would like to remind everyone about the safe harbor provisions related to any forward-looking statements we may make during the course of this call. Certain statements contained in this call may constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. They involve estimates, assumptions, judgments and uncertainties caused by a variety of factors that could cause future results or outcomes to differ materially from our forward-looking statements today.
Such factors are detailed in the company’s SEC filings and earnings release. A replay of this call will be available on the Investor Relations page of our website.
Lastly, this call is being recorded by Hexcel Corporation and is copyrighted material. It cannot be recorded or rebroadcast without our express permission. Your participation on this call constitutes your consent to that request.
HermesRMS 2.78%increase; up pointing triangle shares dropped despite the luxury group booking an acceleration in sales, with some analysts pointing to a lack of a convincing rebound in the key Chinese market.
The Parisian fashion house, maker of the famed Birkin bag, made revenue of 4.09 billion euros ($4.66 billion) over the quarter through June. That marks an organic increase of 6.7% from the same period a year earlier. For the first quarter, the group booked a 5.6% rise in revenue.
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