Nvidia Corp. shares tumbled Monday morning, falling 4.48% to $197.57, after a weekend report revealed the chipmaker is negotiating an enormous financial backstop tied to OpenAI’s data center ambitions, reigniting investor concerns about circular financing arrangements across the artificial intelligence industry.

The stock traded down $9.27 as of 10:44 a.m. Eastern time, according to Google Finance data, marking one of Nvidia’s sharper single-day declines in recent weeks and pulling shares further away from their 52-week high.

A Quarter-Trillion-Dollar Guarantee

The selloff traces back to a Wall Street Journal report published over the weekend. According to that report, Nvidia is in discussions to provide approximately $250 billion in financial guarantees to help OpenAI lease a planned 10-gigawatt AI data center campus in southern Ohio being developed by SoftBank’s energy subsidiary, a commitment that would represent the largest financing guarantee ever discussed between two private companies.

The proposed arrangement would have Nvidia backstop the data center’s lease and construction debt, while the company is separately exploring an additional structure to help finance OpenAI’s purchases of Nvidia chips. The scale and structure of the deal immediately raised questions on Wall Street about how much contingent risk Nvidia would be taking onto its own balance sheet in order to support demand for its products.

Circular Financing Concerns Resurface

The proposed arrangement drew swift criticism from prominent market voices. Michael Burry, the investor known for his “Big Short” bet against the housing market, publicly characterized the arrangement as Nvidia effectively guaranteeing a customer’s spending on its own chips, a framing that echoed concerns already raised by Bernstein Research analyst Stacy Rasgon. Rasgon had previously warned that these kinds of financing structures make it difficult for investors to distinguish organic AI demand from demand that has been financially engineered.

The criticism strikes at a broader anxiety that has followed Nvidia and its largest customers for much of the year: that a web of interlocking investments, guarantees and chip-purchase commitments between AI infrastructure players may be inflating the appearance of demand rather than reflecting it.

Insider Selling Adds to the Pressure

Compounding the negative sentiment, data shows Nvidia insiders have sold roughly $410.6 million in shares over the past three months, a level of activity some investors view as a cautionary signal. While insider sales are common at large technology companies and don’t necessarily indicate a lack of confidence in the business, the timing has added to the unease surrounding Monday’s news.

A Company-Specific Move, Not a Market Rout

Notably, Nvidia’s decline stood in sharp contrast to the rest of the market. The S&P 500 gained 0.6%, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 1.0%, and the Nasdaq Composite advanced 0.8% on the day, underscoring that Nvidia’s slide was a company-specific reaction rather than part of a broader selloff. That divergence reinforced the view among traders that the move was driven directly by the OpenAI financing headlines rather than macroeconomic factors.

Indeed, broader market conditions Monday were largely supportive. Easing tensions in the Middle East and a pullback in oil prices helped lift risk appetite across Wall Street, even as Nvidia bucked the trend on company-specific news.

Big Tech Earnings Loom

The timing of the report is notable, arriving just days before a pivotal stretch for the technology sector. Major hyperscalers including Microsoft, Meta and Amazon are scheduled to report earnings this week, and their guidance on AI infrastructure spending is expected to serve as a key barometer for continued demand for Nvidia’s graphics processing units.

Nvidia’s own quarterly results are also on the horizon. The company is expected to report second-quarter earnings on August 26, with Wall Street projecting earnings of $2.07 per share, up from $1.04 a year earlier, and revenue reaching an estimated $91.70 billion compared with $46.74 billion in the prior-year period. The stock currently trades at about 32.3 times earnings, and analysts maintain a consensus Buy rating with an average price target of $323.83.

That price target sits far above where shares changed hands Monday, reflecting continued long-term optimism among analysts even as the stock has struggled in recent months. Several firms have reiterated bullish stances in recent weeks, including China Renaissance, which initiated coverage with a Buy rating and a $319 price forecast, along with Needham and DA Davidson, which maintained Buy ratings with price forecasts of $270 and $300, respectively.

A Rocky Stretch for Nvidia Shares

Monday’s decline extends a difficult stretch for the stock. After a strong 2025, Nvidia shares had already fallen roughly 18% from their June high, including a 10.7% drop in June alone, as the broader artificial intelligence trade cooled. That cooling was partly driven by reports that OpenAI could delay its initial public offering until 2027 in order to protect a $1 trillion valuation, a signal some investors read as caution around stretched valuations across the sector.

Not all the recent news has been negative, however. Washington has begun issuing licenses allowing Nvidia to resume selling its H20 chips in China, reopening a significant market that had previously been restricted by U.S. export controls.

Nvidia hit a 52-week high of $236.54 in May before forming a swing low in June and slipping below key support levels in July, making the stock’s current trading range especially significant for investors watching its momentum. Monday’s drop pushes shares further from that high-water mark and adds fresh uncertainty just as the broader AI sector heads into one of its most closely watched earnings weeks of the year.

For now, investors appear to be weighing the immediate optics of a quarter-trillion-dollar financing commitment against Nvidia’s underlying position as the dominant supplier of AI computing hardware. How that tension resolves may hinge on the details of any final agreement with OpenAI and SoftBank, along with how hyperscale customers characterize their own AI spending plans in the earnings reports expected later this week.

The plans for technical education reform will build on local initiatives like the MBacc, or Greater Manchester Baccalaureate, which was announced in 2023 by the now prime minister when he was the city’s mayor.

Launched there in September 2024, it has provided a framework for pupils to pick GCSE subjects in both academic and technical subjects which align with growing local industries, like green energy or digital.

The government said it would be working with regional mayors, local leaders, schools, colleges and employers to deliver its plans nationally.

Education Secretary Lucy Powell said the announcement “marks the start of a real shared effort with employers, businesses, mayors and councils to design an education system that connects young people to jobs and careers in their local area”.

“The technological revolution we are living through should mean young people become the fresh lifeblood our economy needs to adapt and grow,” she said.

“I want to make sure this generation is able to seize that opportunity, whatever their background or postcode.”

Milburn said the changes announced for England on Tuesday were “very welcome”.

“They are a big step in the right direction and consistent with the findings of my review,” he said.

“A whole system reset is needed across health, welfare and labour market policy as well as in education and skills.

“I know the PM recognises this and my final report will outline the further changes that are needed.”

But Laura Trott, the shadow education secretary, said the announcements “don’t come anywhere close to undoing the damage Labour has already done to the job market”.

“We all want to see better opportunities for young people and a boost to technical education, but this announcement is all over the place…

“It’s not clear whether or not Labour intends to replace GCSEs, which would be a disaster.

“The focus should be on the knowledge-rich curriculum that has helped the most deprived children.”

Pepe Di’Iasio, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, said he was pleased the government was treating the “shocking” number of Neets as an “urgent priority”.

Though he said the union supported its aims, he said there was “little detail” about what the plans for educational reform would look like in practice.

He added that it was “wrong” to make major educational policy announcements in the middle of the school summer holiday.

Paul Whiteman, general secretary of the National Association of Head Teachers (NAHT), said school leaders “support the principle of giving technical and vocational education the same status and recognition as more traditional academic routes”.

“However, this announcement sets out a direction of travel rather than detailed proposals, and schools will need much greater clarity about what it means in practice and over funding,” he added.

Did you know that after a year of the one, big, beautiful bill working family tax cuts, the government’s Bureau of Labor Statistics is showing that the biggest beneficiaries were the poorest quarter of workers which had a pay jump of 5.5 percent? And a middle quartile of earners at or below the median income got weekly wage gains of 4.6 percent over the past year.

These working-class folks outpaced the upper income earners. Think no tax on tips or no tax on overtime. And lower taxes on social security benefits. Think electricians, carpenters, welders, and other trades people. Maybe even working on AI data centers. Also the BLS report shows a 2.5 percent drop in prescription drug prices.

This is all good news because the Democratic party wants to jack up prices, sky-high. Yet the problem is recent polls suggest over half of voters don’t even know what was in one, big, beautiful bill. And many thought the biggest benefits were going to the wealthiest earners. This is one of many reasons why I fear the GOP is not messaging well in the run up to the midterms.

The former speaker, Newt Gingrich, argues that all the Democratic socialists talk about is big government socialism and weird values. Always talking about Palestine and transgenderism. Yet if the GOP wants to get its swag back, they’ve got to really pin those labels on the far left; make them stick.

And then Republicans should be talking about building a bold future for economic growth. Yet they can’t get a strong budget through. Allysia Finley in today’s Wall Street Journal says and I’ll quote: “The tenuous GOP majority looks to have given up on serious spending and tax reforms this year.” And she goes on to talk about how Republicans should be implementing Medicaid loan grants including work requirements and sobriety eligibility. Or ending the student loan forgiveness program. Instead of just creating more grant programs to fund left-wing local socialist so-called nonprofit programs that produce housing shortages and homelessness.

Meanwhile supply-siders like myself have been pushing for an end to the Biden inflation tax. Hat tip to Mike Faulkender. To grow the economy, how about inflation indexing capital gains. To produce more homes on the market, how about increasing the capital gains tax exemption for home sales. That allowance hasn’t been touched since 1997, but inflation has gone up 108 percent since then.

And President Trump is right about the SAVE America bill’s photo ID requirement for federal elections. And we must have military replenishments for the Iran war.  And to underscore peace through strength and America First freedoms, Mr. Trump’s $1.5 trillion War Department budget is crucial. Freedom and free enterprise are American values, so is patriotism. Godless communism is a weird un-American value. Israel is our friend. Iran is our enemy. Republicans know this. Democrats don’t. Yet the GOP has got to put some swag into their messaging to get these America First values across the finish line.

But what if you could skip the adhesive altogether?

That’s the idea that three firms from Germany – Fraunhofer, Hermann Ultraschall, and Henkel – have come up with.

It’s no coincidence they are all German, as the country is known for its Packaging Valley, external, a hub for the packaging industry.

Their efforts to innovate are partly a bid to satisfy ever tightening regulation around commercial recycling, and rising fines for those who fall foul.

With that in mind, German research organisation Fraunhofer established the PAPURE project in 2023 to develop a laser-based heating process that can seal paper packaging without an adhesive at all.

From September, when the project is set to officially close, Fraunhofer hopes to find an industry partner to take the technology to market. Fraunhofer researchers exhibited their work at the Interpack packaging trade show in Dusseldorf in May, and are hopeful that the interest they attracted will come to fruition.

“There are not really many paper sealing technologies without any foreign materials, so it’s a great technology and we feel it’s likely that we can bring it to market,” says researcher group leader Fabian Kayatz.

“If we are optimistic, we will have the first solution out in two years.”

Also in 2023, engineering firm Hermann Ultraschall bought the rights to develop a patented ultrasonic paper sealing technology, a process which it likens to welding.

“We are really actively at the moment in discussion with several really big players in the market with the focus of bringing this technology into mass production,” says Michael Baumann, the company’s head of business development packaging.

“One customer told me this is an innovation they have never seen before.”

Yet these seemingly simple solutions stem from complex technology, so naturally, there are challenges.

Firstly, it’s not as simple as simply getting product manufacturers and packaging companies to swap out their old packaging for these new options. It requires updating, and in some cases, completely replacing, existing machinery, which can be costly and time consuming.

“The packaging industry has existing machines which are all designed for glue materials. Some kind of redesign is probably necessary, and this is our biggest challenge,” says Hermann Ultraschall’s Baumann.

Yet Volker Franke, also a research group leader at Fraunhofer, is confident that those existing machines can be modified by integrating the laser module that PAPURE has been developing.

They both acknowledge that the production rate is also currently much slower than that for paper packaging that uses adhesives, but Franke says a key benefit PAPURE is selling is fully automated production, which he believes can continue to be developed for speed.

The other issue is that the technologies don’t work on all types of paper.

“It’s not possible to bond every paper material,” Baumann confirms. “But we are actively in discussion with paper manufacturers about how they can produce a raw material in a way that makes it easy to bond.”

PAPURE has also yet to find a way to apply their laser sealing technology to food-grade packaging, which needs a coating to protect the item. This tends to be why plastic is often favoured for packaging food.

But this is something Henkel, with both a consumer brand division, and adhesive technologies division, has cracked.

In February, Henkel announced the launch of the first cold seal solution that works with barrier coated paper, which is both recyclable and suitable for food products.

Barrier paper can be a difficult surface to bond, and using heat isn’t suitable for heat sensitive food products like ice cream or chocolate. Hence the cold seal solution, in which enough pressure is applied for the barrier coated paper to be bonded against itself.

The deal will see a Trowbridge-based firm join the Stoke-headquartered business

A Stoke-on-Trent-headquartered accountancy group has made its first acquisition in the West Country, it has announced. DJH has snapped up Wiltshire-based Gooding Accounts for an undisclosed sum.

DJH, which offices across the UK including in Manchester, Leeds and London, said the Trowbridge practice was “an ideal fit” for its expansion plans.

Gooding Accounts’ owners, Sam and Katy Gooding, will continue to lead the South West business following the deal.

Scott Heath, chief executive of DJH, said: “We have been deliberately building our national footprint in regions where we know we can add real value to local businesses and their advisers.

“The South West has been firmly on our radar, and Gooding Accounts is exactly the kind of practice we look for – technically strong, client-focused, and with a culture that matches our own.”

Gooding Accounts was founded in 2014 by Mr Gooding and has developed a technology-led approach to accountancy. The firm moved to a new office on White Horse Business Park in July last year.

Mr Gooding said: “Joining DJH is the right move at the right time. We have built something genuinely special here in Wiltshire, and I am incredibly proud of what the team has achieved. But we are ambitious, and moving into a larger group gives us the platform to go further.

“Katy and I are both fully committed to this business, to this team, and to every client we serve. That doesn’t change. What does change is what we are now able to offer.”

DJH’s rapidly-expanding group now employs nearly 900 people across 20 offices in the UK and Ireland.

Mr Heath added: “Our model has worked exceptionally well in every region we have entered. We combine national scale with locally led advice – people who know their communities, who know their clients, and who are genuinely invested in their success.

“Sam and Katy embody that. We are delighted to welcome them and the Gooding Accounts team to DJH, and look forward to growing together in the South West.”

Microsoft Corp. shares rose Monday morning, climbing 2.05% to $389.52, as investors positioned ahead of one of the company’s most closely watched earnings reports in years, with the stock gaining $7.82 in early trading on the Nasdaq.

The advance came alongside broader gains across major technology names, as Wall Street braced for a wave of Big Tech earnings this week that will test whether massive artificial intelligence spending is translating into sustainable growth.

Tech Stocks Rise Together Ahead of Earnings Wave

Microsoft’s gain was part of a sector-wide move Monday morning. Tech stocks rose broadly amid tentative optimism ahead of a flood of Big Tech earnings this week, with Alphabet climbing 2.09%, Microsoft up 2.09%, Meta Platforms adding 0.70% and Apple gaining 1.04%, even as Nvidia declined nearly 4%. Results from Microsoft, Meta Platforms, Apple and Amazon headline the calendar this week, alongside reports from chipmakers including SK Hynix and Qualcomm, with investors paying particularly close attention to capital expenditure figures after Alphabet’s own capex guidance had previously unsettled markets amid growing concerns about free cash flow during the AI spending boom.

A Difficult Year Heading Into Results

Monday’s rally offered some relief after a rocky stretch for Microsoft shares. The stock had finished the prior session at $381.70, up just 0.03%, before climbing further in pre-market trading as investors weighed resilient Azure cloud growth and an attractive valuation against enormous AI spending commitments, uncertain returns on its Copilot AI assistant, and a weak technical chart structure. Despite the recent recovery attempt, the stock has lost around 25% over the past year and remains more than 30% below its record high.

That decline has put added pressure on Microsoft’s upcoming fiscal fourth-quarter report. The company is scheduled to report results after the market closes on Wednesday, July 29, in what analysts are describing as one of its most important earnings releases in years, with investors demanding evidence that the company’s enormous AI investments can generate sufficient returns.

Copilot and Azure Take Center Stage

A key focus for investors heading into the report is Microsoft’s push to embed its Copilot AI assistant more deeply into its core software products. Microsoft 365 Business began embedding Copilot more directly starting July 1, shifting the tool closer to a standard feature rather than a separate paid add-on, a strategy that could boost paid adoption and increase revenue per customer. Some estimates suggest Copilot could exceed 25 million paid enterprise seats by the end of 2026 if deployment continues to accelerate, though investors still lack clarity on usage, retention and profitability metrics tied to the product.

That uncertainty is compounded by an increasingly crowded competitive landscape. Competition from ChatGPT, Claude, Google’s Gemini and lower-cost open-weight models has intensified, and customers may grow reluctant to expand their AI spending if token consumption produces unpredictable costs. Microsoft will need to demonstrate that Copilot can meaningfully improve Microsoft 365 growth, deepen customer relationships and support pricing power, rather than simply representing another costly infrastructure obligation.

Analysts Watching Earnings Per Share and Cloud Growth

Wall Street’s expectations for Wednesday’s report are already taking shape. Analyst consensus calls for earnings per share of $4.21 for the quarter, with Microsoft’s next dividend, valued at $0.91 per share, set to go ex-dividend on August 20. The company carries a trailing price-to-earnings ratio of 22.73 and trailing twelve-month earnings per share of $16.79, with a one-year analyst price target of $556.75, well above where the stock currently trades. Microsoft’s market capitalization stood at roughly $2.835 trillion as of recent trading, with average daily volume near 27.6 million shares.

A Rotation Into AI Software Names

Monday’s gains also fit into a broader shift some analysts have identified in recent weeks, as investors rotate capital between different corners of the AI trade. Analysts have noted that big gains for AI hardware leaders throughout 2026 may be raising valuation concerns, prompting some investors to pivot capital into software players like Microsoft instead. While that rotation trend could continue to support Microsoft’s share price if it persists, it remains uncertain whether investor appetite for AI-linked software stocks will hold up given ongoing macroeconomic risks.

What’s at Stake Wednesday

Microsoft’s earnings call will offer investors their clearest look yet at how the company’s aggressive AI infrastructure buildout is translating into financial results. Following the release, Chief Executive Satya Nadella and other members of Microsoft’s senior leadership team are expected to host a live conference call with Wall Street analysts to walk through the results. That call is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. Eastern time on July 29.

Given the size of Microsoft’s cloud and AI investments, the report is expected to carry outsized influence over sentiment across the broader technology sector this week, particularly as Amazon, Meta and Apple prepare to report their own results in the days that follow. Investors will be watching closely for updates on Azure’s growth rate, capital expenditure guidance for the coming fiscal year, and any commentary from Nadella on how enterprise customers are responding to Copilot pricing and adoption.

With markets already jittery over the scale of AI-related spending commitments across the technology sector, including a separate financing arrangement involving Nvidia and OpenAI disclosed over the weekend, Microsoft’s results are likely to be parsed for signs of whether the broader AI investment cycle is beginning to pay off, or whether concerns about overspending and murky returns will continue to weigh on the sector heading into the fall.

Oracle Corp. shares surged Monday morning, rising 4.59% to $120.26, as the enterprise software giant benefited from a wave of new government contract news even as the stock continues working to recover from a sharp multi-month decline.

The gains added $5.28 to Oracle’s share price by mid-morning trading on the New York Stock Exchange, extending a bounce that has taken shape over the past several sessions after the stock touched fresh 52-week lows earlier this month.

A Major Defense Department Win

The rally was driven largely by optimism around expanding cloud infrastructure and AI partnerships, after Oracle secured a 10-year enterprise software deal with the U.S. Department of War worth up to roughly $7 billion, creating a long-term revenue anchor for the company and helping consolidate what had been fragmented government procurement. In a separate contract, Oracle landed a five-year U.S. Navy indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity agreement carrying a base value of $3.31 billion, with options that could lift total potential spending to $6.99 billion across software, software-as-a-service and consulting work.

The back-to-back government wins give Oracle a substantial and relatively predictable revenue stream at a time when investors have grown increasingly focused on how quickly the company can convert its enormous cloud backlog into recognized revenue.

Not All the News Was Positive

The rally came despite some headwinds tied to Oracle’s data center expansion plans. Wisconsin regulators upheld strict credit rules that may force Oracle to post more than $7 billion in collateral for its planned AI-focused data center in the state, a requirement that could add more than $100 million in annual financing costs. Separately, CLSA initiated coverage of Oracle with a Hold rating and a $145 price target, signaling cautious sentiment on the stock and voicing a preference for Microsoft and Adobe within the enterprise software space.

Those mixed signals reflect the broader tension that has defined Oracle’s stock performance in recent months: a company with enormous long-term cloud demand but rising near-term costs tied to building out the infrastructure needed to meet it.

A Steep Recent Decline

Monday’s gain follows one of the sharpest pullbacks Oracle has experienced this year. From early July highs near $149, Oracle shares slid to about $115 by July 24, a sharp reset for a company of its size. The stock’s chart remains in a longer-term downtrend, trading well below its 20-day, 50-day and 200-day moving averages, with a “death cross” pattern that formed in January, when the 50-day moving average slid below the 200-day average, continuing to dominate the technical picture on every rebound attempt.

Even so, the stock’s relative strength index has shown deeply oversold conditions, a reading that often signals selling pressure has stretched far enough to spark sharp countertrend bounces even when the broader trend remains negative. Shares have been trading just above their 52-week low of $127.60 and remain far from their 52-week high of $345.72, keeping the overall chart in repair mode despite recent bursts of strength.

Other data trackers put the stock’s recent low even lower. Shares have traded as low as $120.03 over the past year, sitting roughly 27% below the 52-week high of $341.82.

The Case for a Longer-Term Rebound

Despite the recent volatility, some analysts remain optimistic about Oracle’s longer-term trajectory, pointing to the size of its contracted future business. Bulls argue Oracle could reach a new high by 2027, contingent on the company converting a meaningful slice of its $638 billion in remaining performance obligations into recognized revenue on schedule, sustaining growth in its Oracle Cloud Infrastructure business above 60%, and restoring free cash flow so markets stop reacting negatively to every capital expenditure disclosure. Over the past decade, Oracle shares have returned nearly 259%, underscoring the stock’s long runway of growth even through periodic steep pullbacks.

That backlog has been a central talking point for Oracle bulls throughout the year, particularly as the company has leaned heavily into AI-related cloud infrastructure spending to meet demand from large enterprise and government customers.

Broader Momentum in Cloud and AI Partnerships

Oracle’s recent contract wins build on a string of positive developments tied to its cloud business. Oracle’s share price gains in recent weeks have been tied to growth in cloud infrastructure and AI integration, with partnerships involving major hyperscale cloud providers helping expand the company’s enterprise customer base and improve revenue visibility.

The company has also drawn attention for potential wins beyond U.S. borders. Oracle shares climbed in a separate session after a report revealed the company had emerged as the frontrunner to deliver a highly classified cloud infrastructure contract for the Japanese government, adding to a growing list of large public-sector deals across multiple countries.

With the stock still trading well below its 52-week high and carrying a mixed technical picture, Monday’s jump is likely to be viewed by traders as a test of whether Oracle can build sustained momentum or whether the bounce will fade back toward its recent lows. Analysts have flagged the low $150s as a key resistance zone tied to the stock’s 20-day moving average, while the $127.60 area marks a critical support level that bulls will want to defend to avoid renewed breakdown risk.

For now, the combination of major new government contracts and a technically oversold setup appears to have given Oracle shares enough momentum to overcome lingering concerns about data center financing costs and mixed analyst sentiment, at least for Monday’s trading session.