News & Verification

The SEC on August 18 proposed rules titled Regulation Crypto Assets, creating a tailored securities offering regime for certain investment contracts involving crypto assets: a one-time exemption of up to $5 million over four years, a $75 million-per-year exemption with financial statements and ongoing reporting, and a conditional safe harbor from the definition of an investment contract. The comment period runs 60 days from Federal Register publication.

NVIDIA's quarterly filing for the period ended April 26, 2026 reports revenue of $81.6 billion, up from $44.1 billion a year earlier. Data centre revenue was $75.2 billion, up 92% year on year, with hyperscalers about half of it. Net income was $58.3 billion with basic earnings per share of $2.40. No data centre Hopper products were shipped to China, against $4.6 billion a year earlier.

Tesla's 10-Q for the quarter ended June 30, 2026 reports total revenues of $28.2 billion, up from $22.5 billion a year earlier, led by automotive sales of $20.0 billion. Net income attributable to common stockholders was $1.11 billion — slightly below the year-ago $1.17 billion — with basic earnings per share of $0.34. Automotive regulatory credits fell to $146 million from $439 million.

Apple's 10-Q for the quarter ended June 27, 2026 reports total net sales of $109.4 billion, up from $94.0 billion a year earlier, with products contributing $78.7 billion and services $30.7 billion. Net income was $29.8 billion against $23.4 billion a year earlier; basic earnings per share rose to $2.03 from $1.57.

SAP announced on July 17 that it completed the acquisition of Prior Labs, which it describes as the pioneer of Tabular Foundation Models. Prior Labs will continue operating independently, with SAP committing more than €1 billion over the next four years to scale it into a frontier AI lab for structured business data.

SAP reported second-quarter 2026 results with current cloud backlog of €22.9 billion, up 27% (26% at constant currencies), cloud revenue up 22% (24% cc) and total revenue up 9% (11% cc). IFRS operating profit rose 8%. The company updated its 2026 non-IFRS operating profit outlook to reflect dilution from the Dremio and Prior Labs acquisitions.

SK hynix's board on August 19 approved repurchasing and fully cancelling 40 trillion won of its own shares — about 3.3% of issued shares, and by the company's account the largest treasury-share cancellation by a Korean listed company. The shareholder-return target was raised from within 50% to over 50% of cumulative 2025–2027 free cash flow.

Samsung Electronics reported second-quarter 2026 consolidated revenue of KRW 171.5 trillion — an all-time high, up 28% on the prior quarter — and record operating profit of KRW 89.5 trillion. Earnings per share rose 52% to KRW 10,849. The Device Solutions division, at KRW 127.5 trillion revenue and KRW 89.2 trillion operating profit, drove the quarter as the memory business set records on AI server demand.

The CFTC on August 11 exercised its emergency authority after KalshiEX, LLC notified it of a market emergency, ordering the exchange to continue operating under the Commodity Exchange Act's core principles. The trigger: a July 31 New York state lawsuit seeking a restraining order against Kalshi's event contracts nationwide and more than $36 billion in damages.

The Bank of Japan's published highlights of its July 2026 Outlook for Economic Activity and Prices project CPI inflation clearly above 2 percent from the second half of fiscal 2026 — on semiconductor prices, yen depreciation and crude oil — before moving toward around 2 percent through fiscal 2028. The Bank states it will continue to raise the policy interest rate in response to economic, price and financial developments.

The Monetary Policy Committee voted 6–3 on July 29 to maintain Bank Rate at 3.75%; Megan Greene, Catherine L Mann and Huw Pill preferred an increase to 4%. CPI inflation has fallen to 2.6%, but the Committee expects it to rise later this year as higher energy prices pass through, and judges the risks to the inflation outlook tilted to the upside.

Minutes of the July 28–29 FOMC meeting, released August 19, record that most participants supported holding the target range at 3-1/2 to 3-3/4 percent while several favored a 25 basis point increase. Many participants assessed that policy tightening would likely be necessary if inflation did not decline, and participants judged inflation risks as skewed to the upside.

The Federal Open Market Committee kept the federal funds target range at 3-1/2 to 3-3/4 percent on July 29. Three of twelve voters — Beth M. Hammack, Neel Kashkari and Lorie K. Logan — dissented, preferring a quarter-point increase. The statement says inflation remains elevated relative to the 2 percent goal, partly on energy supply shocks, and repeats that the Committee "will deliver price stability".