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The Daily Brief · Saturday · July 25, 2026

INTC down 7.9% on Q2 earnings as Alphabet posts $112B net income

Alphabet's Q2 revenue climbed 24% and Tesla grew 25% as four major tech prints landed against a 10-year yield of 4.71%.
INTC down 7.9% on Q2 earnings as Alphabet posts $112B net income — editorial illustration

$INTC fell 7.9% after its Q2 earnings release. Goldman's post-print response was direct: the 18A yield progress, management restructuring, and foundry ambitions remain intact over the long term, but the quarter produced no evidence of near-term acceleration. Intel's CEO separately predicted that CPUs will match GPUs in importance for AI deployment beyond training. The market did not reprice the claim.

The broader earnings slate. $GOOG posted Q2 revenue up 24% with net income reaching $112 billion — a print that should hold Alphabet's multiple heading into the second half. $TSLA matched on the revenue line with 25% growth, but profit held flat year-over-year; the gap between top-line momentum and bottom-line stagnation leaves the valuation question open. $JNJ posted 6% sales growth against a flat profit line — a defensive read with no catalyst in either direction.

Other session movers. $ADBE gained 6.1%, the day's largest large-cap advance. $CRM added 4.3% after confirming a $1.6 billion Veterans Affairs contract to modernize care delivery for 17 million veterans — a concrete, dated government revenue commitment. $AAPL rose 3.5%, with the anticipated $2,000-plus foldable iPhone launch in September and Apple Maps placement inside Ford's electric vehicle lineup serving as the proximate drivers — software margin built without a car program.

The session's other decliners. $AMAT fell 4.7% with no material filing in the window; the move tracks semiconductor equipment exposure following Intel's print. $ORCL dropped 4.2% as reporting confirmed that Larry Ellison personally guaranteed $40.4 billion of his son's Warner Bros. Discovery deal, with 12 states now suing to block the transaction. $AMD shed 3.3% after a Bank of America price target revision and continuing questions about its GPU competitive position relative to $NVDA.

Macro. The 10-year Treasury yield sits at 4.71%, the 30-year mortgage rate at 6.58%, and VIX closed at 18.7 — a rate environment that is tight but not disorderly, leaving little room for earnings prints that fall short of narrative.

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Filings desk. $INTC's Form 10-Q (filed July 24) is the session's only material filing — disclosing revenue trends, capital expenditure plans, and foundry risk factors. It is the documented basis for what the stock priced in on Friday. Separately, Alphabet's venture arm sold $1.4 million in Ethos Technologies shares. Disclosed, immaterial to $GOOG's book, noted for the record.

What we set aside. Two tickers — $BRK-B and $XOM — cleared the 31-ticker sweep with no filings and no substantive news in the window. They sit in the refused column by standard.

The desk is watching $MSFT, $AMZN, and $META earnings next, where explicit investor skepticism about AI infrastructure returns is now on the record after this week's results.

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