gm.
midweek catch-up. five things that moved since monday.
the 5
1. nvidia just posted one of the biggest quarters in tech history.
on wednesday after close, nvidia reported Q2 revenue of $96.2 billion, up 106% year over year, well above what analysts expected. even more importantly, nvidia told investors next quarter will be even bigger at around $108 billion (about $4 billion above what wall street had forecasted). the blackwell chip ramp is the driver.
for context: netflix will earn about $51 billion in all of 2026. nvidia just hit almost twice that in a single quarter. and it's more than double what amazon's entire cloud business (AWS, the biggest cloud provider on earth) made last quarter. and management is telling investors that number will grow another 12% next quarter. the "AI slowing down" narrative is not showing up in nvidia's numbers.
2. trump just fired a fed governor for the first time in 111 years.
on monday, trump moved to remove fed governor lisa cook over 2021 mortgage-fraud allegations tied to properties she owned in ann arbor and atlanta. quick refresher: the federal reserve has 7 governors (not related to state governors) who help set US interest rate policy. cook has already sued, arguing that the removal fails the legal "for cause" standard. this is the first time in the fed's 111-year history that a president has fired a sitting governor.
why it matters: the fed is supposed to be independent from the white house so it can raise or cut interest rates without political pressure. trump's firing of cook is a direct challenge to that independence, and it's landing 2 days before new fed chair kevin warsh gives his first-ever speech at jackson hole (friday). markets are already jumpy about whether the fed can be trusted to fight inflation without interference. bond and dollar traders will be watching closely.
3. the SEC just voted 16-0 to block NFL players from going back to college.
earlier this month, a louisiana court granted 16 football players (including several who had recently been on NFL rosters) permission to enter the college transfer portal and play a 5th year. LSU head coach lane kiffin quickly stacked his class with two former NFL players: dae'quan wright (a tight end waived by the browns) and zxavian harris (a defensive tackle waived by the saints).
then the SEC (the college conference LSU is in) voted 16-0 on an emergency ban prohibiting former pros from playing SEC sports. LSU's own president voted YES on the ban, effectively voting against LSU's own recruits. so wright and harris got cleared by a court, then blocked by their own conference. the underlying trend is real: NIL money now beats late-round NFL contracts for many players, and colleges are figuring out how to draw a line.
4. big tech is now borrowing more money than most countries.
now the educational one. amazon, google, meta, and oracle have collectively borrowed about $220 billion so far in 2026 to fund their AI buildout. that's a huge jump from about $12 billion during the same period last year. they're doing this by "issuing debt" (basically selling IOUs called bonds that investors buy in exchange for interest payments over time). goldman sachs projects total global AI-related borrowing will hit almost $500 billion this year.
why this matters for normal people: when big tech borrows that much, they're competing with the US treasury (and everyone else) for a limited pool of bond investors. that competition pushes interest rates up across the board. it's part of why mortgage rates, car loans, and small business loans have been stuck higher than expected, even as the fed hints at cuts. when the biggest companies can borrow at rates well below what individuals pay on mortgages, it's a signal that big money always comes first. nvidia's blowout quarter (story 1) is a direct beneficiary of this borrowing binge, and the higher-rate environment for consumers (story 2) is a direct result.
5. the crypto rally kept ripping this week.
after monday's trump-fueled pump, bitcoin continued to run into tuesday, briefly hitting $81,000 before pulling back. spot bitcoin ETFs took in $1.92 billion in net inflows last week, the biggest weekly haul since october's cycle peak. that's a signal that institutions (not just retail traders) are actively re-entering crypto.
if you want to see where the smartest crypto traders are actually placing their bets right now, check out higher's leaderboard with the top hyperliquid trader performance rankings in real time. useful signal for what the sharpest wallets are doing during a rally like this.
see you monday.
not financial advice. aggregated community trends and commentary.