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Stanford University, ranked at 10th spot overall, led the pack for the Golden State in LinkedIn’s Top Colleges ranking 2026.

AMD Crashes Despite Big Beat, CapEx Almost Triple Expectations

AMD beat on its top- and bottom-line:

• Revenue: $11.54B vs $11.28B expected

• Adjusted EPS: $1.66 vs $1.62 expected

Good news.

With Data center revenue up 107% year over year to  $6.72B, better than the $6.6B expected.

More good news.

As Bloomberg reports, last month, Chief Executive Officer Lisa Su rolled out new products that the company said will outperform offerings from Nvidia, adopting a more aggressive stance in a market it predicts will reach $1.4 trillion by 2030. That further raised already lofty investor expectations.

The chipmaker forecast that third-quarter revenue will be $13 billion, plus or minus $300 million ($12.5 billion consensus).

The outlook boost is good news, but some Wall Street estimates were well north of $13 billion, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

Additionally, operating income for the last quarter was only a little better than forecast and clearly traders were hoping for more.

But, AMD shares are down dramatically after-hours, erasing all the day's exuberant gains and then some...

Here's why...

Free cash flow was 20% below forecasts because Q2 Capital Expenditures came in at stunning $808 million, almost triple the $298 million expectation...

It appears the market is unwilling to reward hyperbolic AI spending... without some signs of ROIC (which the revenue forecast did not provide relative to the spend).

This is not great news for AMD’s competitors, like Intel, ARM, and Marvell.

Tyler Durden Tue, 08/04/2026 - 16:55

A Shark attack on dust and dander.

Research continues to reveal unexpected health benefits of Viagra that extend beyond the bedroom, including helping stop the spread of cancer, according to new findings.

Stewart called herself a "good catch" thanks to her "homemaker skills" in a previous interview with Page Six.

Stewart called herself a "good catch" thanks to her "homemaker skills" in a previous interview with Page Six.

New police documents are shedding more light on the arrest that led to Ben Cleveland's release from the Chargers last month.

It’s the moment Mets fans dreaded to see happen. 

SpaceX Slides Despite Big Revenue Beat, Tame CapEx

Ahead of the SpaceX earnings today - its first as a public company - we said that investor focus is increasingly shifting beyond the quarter itself, and while revenue and EBITDA performance will matter, the August 6 lockup expiration appears likely to be the bigger near-term driver, opening the door to the first meaningful wave of insider selling just days after results.

On the call, management is expected to spend considerable time on AI-related initiatives. Investors will be looking for updates on data center buildouts, potential increases to compute targets and any incremental commentary around Grok deployment timelines. Stronger-than-expected AI revenue could represent one of the more credible upside catalysts.

Beyond AI, attention will also center on Starlink and Starship. An updated Starlink subscriber figure could be disclosed, although the market may be hesitant to place significant weight on the metric while the network remains largely supported by V2 Mini satellites. For Starship, investors are likely to focus on execution milestones, launch cadence and any signals around the path toward operational payload launches.

Lastly, positioning remains an important factor. As we warned earlier, and as Musk amplified, there is a huge retail short overhang.

I try to warn them, but they just double down … 🤷‍♂️

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 4, 2026

Hedge funds also screen as notably short, which could amplify upside if AI revenue exceeds expectations or if Starlink economics surprise positively, particularly around ARPU. Even so, the UBS desk believes the lockup expiration is likely to dominate the T+1 reaction and remain the primary stock-specific overhang in the near term.

And with all that in mind, here is what SpaceX reported for its first quarter as a public company, technically the second quarter of 2026:

• Total Revenue $7.8 billion, beating estimate $6.81 billion 
  • AI $2.561BN
  • Space $962MM
  • Connectivity (Starlink) $4.291BN
• Total Operating Loss $143MM, better than the $970MM loss a year ago
  • AI segment operating loss $1.26 billion, beating an estimated loss of $2.39 billion
  • Connectivity operating income $1.656MM, up from $923MM a year ago
  • Space operating loss $205MM, worse than the $93MM a year ago

Out of its three segments, SpaceX’s Connectivity business -- which encompasses its Starlink satellite business -- continues to be the only profitable one of the trio. Space, which covers launch and Starship development, as well as AI are operating at a loss.

Going down the income statement: 

• Total EBITDA $3.538BN, up from 1.214BN a year ago
  • AI EBITDA $1.146 billion,up from a $276MM loss a year ago 
  • Connectivity EBITDA $2.597BN, up from $1.583BN a year ago
  • Space EBITDA ($205MM), worse than the ($93MM) a year ago
• Total CapEx $18.369BN, up huge from the $2.825BN a year ago, but just below the median estimate of $18.58BN
  • AI CapEx $15.828 BN YoY, above est of $13.09BN
  • Space CapEx $1,174MM up from $946MM YoY
  • Connectivity CapEx $1.367BN, up from $1.130BN YoY

Taking a closer look at the last one, capital expenditures jumped to $18.4 billion in the second quarter, from $10.1 billion in the first three months of the year and just $2.8 billion a year earlier. Capex for AI was 86% of the 2Q total and exceeded estimates. SpaceX 2Q AI Segment Capex $15.83B, Est. $13.09B

And visually:

Focusing on the company's Space Segment, it writes that...

Starship V3 development continued to advance towards full and rapid reusability:

• Completed Starship V3’s first suborbital mission in May, Flight 12, which achieved a successful lift off from our new Starbase pad, a precision landing of Starship’s upper stage, and deployment of modified V2 Starlink satellites
• Subsequent to the second quarter, completed Starship Flight 13 in July, which achieved all flight objectives including deploying 20 production V3 satellites, demonstrating in-space relight of a Raptor engine, and executing the softest ever splashdown of Starship, providing critical views of an intact heatshield

Worth noting that Starship continues to add to SpaceX’s expenses. The total costs and expenses for its Space segment, which includes Starship development, were up by $389 million year-over-year, as the company "continued to accelerate R&D investments in our Starship program, which... will reduce the cost to orbit by 99% or more relative to the historical average, and unlock significant revenue potential across all business segments." In other words, Starship development continues to be expensive.

Numbers linked to SpaceX’s AI segment also showed improvement this quarter, mainly thanks to all the deals the company has signed to provide computing power. AI revenue for the second quarter was almost $2.6 billion, up from $737 million this time last year, with most of it coming from AI infrastructure. 

But the wins in the AI business, which include the release of Grok 4.5 in July as well as the computing agreements, also come with huge capital expenditures. AI cap ex is around $15.8 billion, with capex for the whole firm this quarter being about $18.4 billion.

Here are the other highlights from the investor deck:

• Demonstrated the power of extreme vertical integration, delivering revenue growth of 92% year-over-year across Space, Connectivity and AI
• Completed two successful Starship V3 flight tests in the past 90 days, advancing towards full and rapid reusability
• Closed multiple industry-leading Cloud Services Agreements resulting in $14.1 billion of contracted sales
• Announced agreement to acquire Cursor for $60 billion to accelerate the AI enterprise opportunity
• Released our most powerful AI model yet with Grok 4.5 in July
• Delivered 66% revenue and 79% income from operations growth year-over-year for the Connectivity segment, driven by a doubling of Starlink Subscribers and continued momentum in Enterprise & Government
• Awarded over $6 billion in multi-year U.S. government contracts for Starshield

Of the above, the last is perhaps the most notable beause as Bloomberg notes, "In case there was ever doubt, SpaceX’s first shareholder deck as a publicly traded company underscores the value of government contracts: “Awarded over $6 billion in multi-year U.S. Government contracts for Starshield” 

And the visual highlights:

One thing to note here: SpaceX still remains its own biggest customer of its Falcon rockets. Of the 78 launches it performed in the last six months, the majority were spent deploying Starlink satellites.

Some more details:

• SpaceX Ended 2Q With $100B Cash, Cash Equivalents, Securities
• SpaceX Ended 2Q With $47.5B Backlog

The bottom line: revenue (especially at AI where it surged from $737MM to $2.6BN) solid, and CapEx came in just below expectations, so overall a solid quarter. 

The (relatively brief) earnings report also has some CFO commentary. Bret Johnsen writes that the business is scaling across all three segments. He says revenue growth “accelerated across all our business segments” and points to “strong operating leverage,” with margin expansion driven by the new AI computing agreements (the business of renting data center capacity to other tech companies -- Google and Anthropic).

Additionally, the company "ended the second quarter with $100 billion of cash, cash equivalents, and marketable securities, and $47.5 billion in backlog." This financial strength gives SpaceX the "capacity to invest in Starship, Starlink Broadband and Mobile satellites, and our AI platform, while maintaining a disciplined long-term capital allocation framework."

Notably, there was no mention of Tesla or the Terafab in this release, although it is certain that analysts will ask about this on the call.

Also Bloomberg notes that there’s no direction on cap ex and it isn't clear what it would be. However, after the IPO and SpaceX tapping the corporate bond market, the CFO paints a picture of SpaceX being in a strong position to spend.

“This financial strength gives us substantial capacity to invest in Starship, Starlink Broadband and Mobile satellites, and our AI platform, while maintaining a disciplined long-term capital allocation framework.”

Looking ahead, there isn't much (any) information on what comes next, as there does not appear to be a forward outlook section. So no details on projected revenues and costs. We’re also lacking information on what comes next for its business segments.

When will SpaceX launch Starship again on its next test flight? What will the launch schedule look like moving forward? And what  about the timelines for its V3 Starlink satellites and Starmind AI data center satellite system? Perhaps we’ll get some snippets about that during the earnings call.

So what to make of all this? While the quarter was solid, with revenue coming in $1BN above estimates, with capex below the bogey, the fact that the stock ran up aggressively during today's session may have set up the results for failure, and sure enough, after initially spiking higher, shares are off their highs (and lo0ws) and trading is choppy as shares drop more than 1%, erasing all of their previous post-market gains. However, as noted earlier, the stock gained nearly 10% in today’s regular session, its best performance since June. So on net, it is still up modestly on the day.

Investors are also likely gaming out what will be said on the conference call ahead of a Thursday share unlock which could flood the market with as many as 911.5 million additional shares. The options market was also pricing in a roughly 15% move after the results so more volatility may be ahead.

And while it’s not unusual for stocks to fall after a company reports solid earnings (especially its first earnings), Bloomberg notes that it usually follows a period of outperformance for shares. SpaceX is still down solidly from its $135 IPO price and has more downside pressure ahead as share lockups start to expire.

Full investor presentation below (pdf link):

SpaceX Reports Second Quarter 2026 Results by Zerohedge

Tyler Durden Tue, 08/04/2026 - 16:39

Reality Denied

Authored by James Thorne via RealClearPolitics.com,

Elon Musk’s recent interview with The Economist underscored a simple but increasingly uncomfortable truth: In today’s political climate, stating the obvious can sound like provocation. The Overton Window, the range of ideas considered acceptable in public debate, has not merely drifted, it has been pulled away from the constraints of reality.

Musk’s real value in this conversation is not that he is always right. It is that he forces a confrontation between reality and rhetoric. And once that confrontation occurs, the limits of the prevailing framework come into view: It can organize language and signal virtue, but it struggles to explain outcomes. The exchange itself illustrated the point.

Rather than fully engaging his arguments, the interviewer at times defaulted to dismissive framing, implying that Musk himself was the issue. It was a familiar substitution: Discredit the speaker, avoid the substance.

Start with basics.

The United States should control its borders. Public safety should be enforced. Governments should operate within fiscal limits. Safe and secure elections are non-negotiable. Public institutions should act responsibly in the interests of their citizens. Industrial and trade policy should strengthen domestic production and deliver clear benefits to American workers.

These are common-sense views held by ordinary citizens, not some extreme ideological position as they are often portrayed.

That is precisely why they are now contested.

Basic logic and common sense are increasingly labeled as “extreme,” often coded as right-wing regardless of their content.

For too long, parts of the progressive left have effectively weaponized the Overton Window to enforce those labels. Questions grounded in observable facts, whether about immigration, crime, fiscal limits, trade, pandemic-era trade-offs, or basic policy outcomes, are too often branded “MAGA,” “far-right,” or a “conspiracy theory,” then brushed aside with confidence instead of answered on the merits.

This mechanism is effective because it shifts the cost of debate. Instead of defending weak outcomes, it raises the social and reputational cost of pointing them out. Dissent is not refuted, it is stigmatized. What was once ordinary becomes controversial. What remains inside the window is treated as settled, regardless of results.

The consequences are increasingly visible. Concerns about migration pressures on housing and public services are waved away as the hollowing out of middle America. Crime is discussed without equal emphasis on enforcement. Fiscal constraints are acknowledged rhetorically but deferred in practice, even as interest costs rise. Industrial policy is justified in expansive terms, but less often judged by whether it delivers measurable, broad-based gains for American workers.

The pattern extends to how arguments are received. When Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton spoke about border security, it was widely viewed as pragmatic. When Donald Trump raised similar concerns, they were often treated as outside the bounds of acceptable discourse. More broadly, the deeper problem is less about any single statement than the tendency of much of the media and the progressive left to protect favored figures from scrutiny while abdicating the traditional role of the fourth estate. That is what Musk attacks head on.

Over time, this weakens the connection between policy and results. When outcomes disappoint, the response is often reinterpretation rather than recalibration. Housing shortages persist, public safety concerns linger, deficits expand – yet the underlying assumptions remain largely intact.

A functioning political system requires more than intention. It requires feedback, accountability, and a willingness to confront inconvenient facts. When common sense is pushed outside the Overton Window, the system loses its capacity for self-correction.

The middle has not become extreme. The definition of “acceptable” has. And when common sense is treated as rebellion, the shift reflects changes in elite discourse, particularly within major media and institutional voices, more than any transformation among the public itself.

Tyler Durden Tue, 08/04/2026 - 16:20

The Cartoon Art Museum, located in Fisherman’s Wharf, officially closed on Sunday.

Authorities said Brian Schofield went to the Yellow Post Campsite No. 33 in Fawnskin with his fiancée.

One shopper says the under-eye bag-shrinking serum is "perfect for middle-aged skin"

One shopper says the under-eye bag-shrinking serum is "perfect for middle-aged skin"

NY Post readers discuss Anthony Fauci invoking the Fifth Amendment 111 times during his Senate hearing.

Mexican fast-food chain Chipotle is replacing jalapeños at some of its eateries amid a salmonella outbreak in Minnesota, the company said Tuesday.

Visitors to Yosemite National Park are being warned of a “Summer Branch Drop” after a Google engineer was killed by a falling tree limb in a freak accident.

A 3-year-old tragically died several days after getting her head stuck in a toy kitchen set while trying to retrieve her toys.

Bet $10, get $150 in bonus bets win or lose for Tarik Skubal's Dodgers debut with the bet365 promo code.

Austin James, an Antelope High graduate and former Twin Falls police officer, was waiting in the restaurant's drive-thru with his wife when gunfire erupted.