Daily US Equity News - SSNLF seeks Q3 DRAM price hikes; META AI agents progress slower than expected; ORLY bids for GPC auto parts unit; BX' QTS abandons Virginia data centre; LMT leads for USD 3.5bln Ultra Maritime deal

DAY AHEAD:

• NEWSQUAWK SERVICE: The Newsquawk audio and headline service will close at 18:15BST/13:15EDT on 3rd July, amid US Independence Day market closures; widgets on the Newsquawk V2 platform will continue to function as usual.
• EVENTS: US Independence Day holiday, US markets are shut.
• DATA: In Europe, S&P Global Services PMI finals for France (exp. 47.4, prev. 44.3), Germany (exp. 46.8, prev. 48.1), the Eurozone (exp. 48.9, prev. 47.7) and the UK (exp. 48.7, prev. 49.3).
• CENTRAL BANKS: ECB President Lagarde participates in a panel (no text expected); ECB’s Moulin will give an interview to Bloomberg TV; BoE Governor Bailey will participate in a panel discussion.

NEWS:

MACRO:

• US Economy - Treasury Secretary Bessent said real wage gains should be visible as soon as June, and expressed hope that gas prices fall to USD 3/gallon by Labor Day, noting prices are slower to decline than to rise. He described the gap between wages and inflation as a short-term spike.
• Federal Reserve - President Trump and his allies are exploring ways to reshape the Federal Reserve after the Supreme Court let Lisa Cook remain temporarily, Bloomberg reports. Trump said he would restart removal proceedings with “perfect process”. Former Fed Chair Powell reportedly remains a target, while the Atlanta Fed presidency is seen as another opening to influence policy. Trump said Fed Chair Warsh faces a Board that may be “a little bit hostile” and could resist his preferred monetary policy direction.
• US Housing Bill - President Trump said a bipartisan housing bill was “fine” but he preferred not to sign anything until the Save America Act passes. House Speaker Johnson sent the bill to the White House on 29th June, and Trump has 10 days (excluding Sundays) to sign or veto it, otherwise it becomes law.
• PBoC - China’s central bank cut net sovereign bond purchases to CNY 10bln in June (vs CNY 50bln in May), Bloomberg reports. The move was the smallest since purchases resumed in October 2025, and signals caution over further yield declines or excessive liquidity.
• China PMI - China’s RatingDog Services PMI eased to 54.1 in June (exp. 53.6, prev. 54.4), while the RatingDog composite PMI eased to 53.6 (prev. 54.0). The report said that services maintained solid expansion, supported by faster new export business, sustained employment growth and selling prices returning to expansion. The reading follows signs of stronger manufacturing momentum and official services PMI expansion.

TRADE:

• US-Brazil - Flavio Bolsonaro urged the Trump administration not to impose new tariffs on Brazilian exports before October’s election, or target Pix. In a USTR filing, he argued tariffs would benefit President Lula. Trump had imposed 50% tariffs on Brazilian exports, but most were later removed during talks.

TECH:

• Memory Pricing - The SEMI industry association, whose members include major memory chipmakers Micron (MU), SK Hynix (HXSCL) and Samsung Electronics (SSNLF), urged the Trump administration not to distort memory chip pricing or capacity decisions amid the AI-driven shortage. The group called for long-term purchase agreements, US output tax breaks and consumer-focused tax deductions or credits. SEMI said capacity is expected to grow about 19% annually, but AI infrastructure demand will constrain broader supply.
• Samsung Electronics (SSNLF) - Samsung is negotiating with customers to raise Q3 DRAM selling prices by up to 20% Q/Q, as AI infrastructure investment is driving shortages across server DRAM, HBM and LPDDR, ZDNet Korea reports. Samsung’s Q1 DRAM prices rose by just over 90% Q/Q, and Q2 by an estimated 50-60%. Elsewhere, Samsung is reportedly expanding its AI chip manufacturing through deals with Meta (META), Anthropic, Tesla (TSLA), and BYD (BYDDY), according to sources cited by Seoul Economic Daily. Meta is pursuing a 2nm chip contract worth over KRW 10tln, while Anthropic is considering Samsung’s 2nm process. The contract backlog could reach KRW 50tln, potentially driving an operating profit in Q4, the report adds.
• Kioxia Holdings (KXIAY) - Kioxia began shipping samples of its 332-layer 10th-generation 3D flash memory chips to AI data centre operators. The chips can store 59% more data than its previous flagship 8th-generation product, and will be used in solid-state drives.
• AI Regulation - President Trump said AI needs some guardrails but “as little as possible” to avoid burdening US companies competing with China. His comments followed US curbs on Anthropic’s Mythos 5 and Fable 5 models, later eased or lifted. Trump sidestepped a question on reported OpenAI discussions about giving the US government a 5% stake.
• Anthropic - Anthropic is moving to close loopholes enabling Chinese companies to access its AI tools despite restrictions, FT reports. Ant Financial employees reportedly used corporate Claude accounts via an intranet linked to its Singapore entity, while ByteDance engineers used reimbursed personal subscriptions via VPNs; these workarounds breach Anthropic’s terms of service but not US or Chinese law. More recent reports stated that Alibaba (BABA) has added Claude Code to its high-risk software list following reports of backdoor security vulnerabilities, and will ban internal employees from using it in work environments from 10th July, according to Yicai. Qoder has been recommended as an alternative.
• GoDaddy (GDDY) - GoDaddy has challenged an Indian court ruling from December that established new website registration and information disclosure rules, according to sources cited by Reuters.

COMMUNICATIONS:

• Meta Platforms (META) - Mark Zuckerberg reportedly said that Meta’s AI agents had progressed slower than expected and that restructuring bets had not yet paid off, Reuters reports. He said the reorganisation, including major job cuts and AI-focused reassignments, was not as clean as it could have been.
• Spotify (SPOT) - Spotify asked Kalshi and Polymarket to remove its branding and clarify they have no partnership with the streaming service, after identifying over 500K artificial streams that inflated Malcolm Todd’s song “Earrings” into a top US chart position. The manipulated figures were used to settle a Kalshi market that attracted USD 3mln in trading before Spotify completed its investigation.

CONSUMER:

• Genuine Parts (GPC), O’Reilly Automotive (ORLY) - Genuine Parts received a cash bid from O’Reilly Automotive for its automotive parts business, which could be valued at USD 10bln or more, Bloomberg reports. Genuine Parts could retain the unit or pursue a spinoff, while another bidder may emerge.
• Tesla (TSLA) - Tesla capped employee AI spending at USD 200/week after software engineers had often consumed thousands of dollars of tokens weekly in recent months, The Information reports. Workers now need sign-off to exceed the limit, though the tally excludes beta versions of xAI products, the report says. Separately, Tesla said US and Puerto Rico customers can now order the three-row Model Y Long Wheelbase, or Model YL; the six-seat Model Y variant was first introduced in China last year and may appeal to US shoppers considering larger vehicles.
• British American Tobacco (BTI) - Reynolds told US senators it supports tougher FDA/DOJ enforcement against illicit ENDS products, especially Chinese imports, but argues regulation should distinguish them from FDA-reviewed products. It says adult smokers need legal alternatives, youth access must be prevented, and FDA delays helped illicit vapes dominate the market.

FINANCIALS:

• Blackstone (BX) - Blackstone’s QTS has abandoned plans to build its portion of the 2,100-acre “Digital Gateway” data centre campus in Virginia, following years of legal challenges centred on a procedural error in public notices for a 2023 zoning hearing. Brookfield-backed Compass Datacenters had already withdrawn in May, leaving QTS as the sole developer; the project had been expected to attract approximately USD 100bln in spending.
• Navient Corporation (NAVI) - Navient disclosed a cybersecurity incident involving a third-party law firm, after a ransomware attack exposed company-related borrower data including names, dates of birth, addresses and Social Security numbers. Navient said the incident was limited to the firm’s environment, with no disruption to its operations or customer services, and was deemed material as of the 29th June.
• China Quants - Chinese quant funds have attracted major inflows as AI-driven strategies outperform human stock pickers, Bloomberg reports. Quant AUM has more than doubled in under a year to over CNY 2.6tln. Ubiquant raised CNY 2.6bln in under two hours, while long-only stock quants gained 44.7% last year, beating discretionary rivals by 20.3ppts.
• Barclays (BCS) - Barclays withdrew a USD 960mln debt financing for Sound Inpatient Physicians after insufficient investor demand, Bloomberg reports. The loan offered a margin of 5ppts above the benchmark and was intended to refinance existing debt. Barclays is expected to revise terms and relaunch it later. S&P rated the proposed debt B-.
• Commerzbank (CRZBY), UniCredit (UNCRY) - The tender offer period for UniCredit’s bid for Commerzbank closes today, with UniCredit’s exposure expected to approach 60%. Results will be published on 8th July.

INDUSTRIALS:

• SpaceX (SPCX) - President Trump said he thinks Elon Musk will donate SpaceX stock to Trump accounts, citing other pledges from Micron (MU) and Dell (DELL) founder Michael Dell. The tax-advantaged savings accounts launch on 4th July, with US citizens born between 2025-2028 eligible for an initial USD 1K government investment.
• Lockheed Martin (LMT) - Lockheed Martin is the frontrunner to buy Advent-owned Ultra Maritime for about USD 3.5bln, the FT reports. Ultra Maritime makes undersea defence technology used by the US Navy and the UK’s Royal Navy. Talks are ongoing, and no deal has been agreed.
• Renk Group (RKGRY) - Renk Group is nearing a deal to buy UK-based David Brown Defence, which is privately held, Bloomberg reports. The transaction could value David Brown Defence at between USD 200-250mln, and give Renk more exposure to naval and submarine propulsion technology.

ENERGY:

• Cameco Corporation (CCJ) - Cameco and Orano Canada closed the acquisition of TEPCO Resources’ 5% participating interest in the Cigar Lake JV. Cameco’s ownership in the Cigar Lake uranium mine in northern Saskatchewan increased by 2.871ppts to 57.418%, while Orano’s share rose by 2.129ppts to 42.582%.
• Canada West Coast Pipeline - Canada submitted plans to the Major Projects Office for a 1,000km+ pipeline stretching to the British Columbia coast, targeting a September 2027 groundbreaking, and completion by 2035, as PM Carney seeks to reduce reliance on the US market. Trans Mountain Corp. and Pembina Pipeline (PBA) would build the 1mln BPD oil pipeline, which is planned to run from Alberta to a Vancouver-area deepwater port, targeting Asian export markets. Carney said the announcements would catalyse over CAD 200bln in new investment.

MATERIALS:

• BHP Group (BHP) - BHP workers at South Flank and Mining Area C approved a new labour agreement, with 58% voting in favour; the four-year deal covers 1,814 workers and includes a guaranteed 16% pay rise, higher site-based allowances, and a delayed-flight payment scheme. Unions said many workers remained concerned about policy use and progression structures.
• Ecolab (ECL) - Ecolab said it sees 2026 adj. EPS between USD 8.03-8.23 (exp. 8.45), reflecting the close of the CoolIT acquisition and short-term impact from non-cash amortisation and financing costs.

UTILITIES:

• Engie SA (ENGIY), GE Vernova (GEV) - Engie North America’s Triple H Wind Farm in Hyde County, South Dakota, remains out of service after hurricane-force winds struck on 29th June, damaging more than 20 of its 92 turbines. Engie and turbine supplier GE Vernova are assessing the damage and determining next steps, Bloomberg says.