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Daily Finance & Markets Brief · July 27th
storyflo · finance and markets
Jul 27, 2026 · 3 min listen · Last updated July 27, 2026
From storyflo. This is your daily audio brief. Mason here, July 27th. The market read in five — let's start with the headline number. Let's get into it. First, from The Daily Upside. Why Defense Spending Plays Extend Beyond Defense ETFs.
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Daily Finance & Markets Brief · July 27th
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Why Defense Spending Plays Extend Beyond Defense ETFs
Oh, the spoils of war.
The House of Representatives narrowly passed a record $1.15 trillion annual defense budget last week. It still needs Senate approval, but Washington’s appetite for military spending is clear, and the US isn’t alone. The EU, Japan and Middle Eastern nations have all been ramping up defense budgets, too, creating real sector opportunities for portfolios.
On the markets — Kalshi traders have been actively repricing this story in the last day.
Mounting US Budget Deficit Complicates Fed’s Interest Rate Choices
There has long been an elephant in the Federal Open Market Committee’s room as it tries to accomplish its mission of promoting maximum employment and stable prices. It’s just much, much bigger now, and it’s hard to ignore a $2 trillion elephant.
That’s roughly how much the US government is issuing in new Treasury bills and bonds each year as the country’s budget deficit swells. Its massive spending problem isn’t new: The US has run a deficit for more than two decades, helped along by the 2008 financial crisis and the COVID-19 pandemic.
SpaceX Is Landing Inside ETFs. Some Might Surprise You
Much like Fleetwood Mac, SpaceX … wants to be with you everywhere.
Since its explosive initial public offering in June, issuers and index providers have rushed to incorporate the aerospace and satellite communications company into their products. So far, it appears in 179 exchange-traded funds, according to a recent Morningstar analysis, including both your traditional broad market index funds and some thematics as well.
Imagine if, every year, petrol prices stayed constant, onions cost the same, and milk prices didn’t rise at all.
A world with 0% price rise sounds like a dream.
But central banks don’t chase this dream of zero inflation. Instead, they chase a world where there’s a little bit of inflation each year.
So here’s what I want to talk about today — what’s the holy grail for inflation?
Because since 2016, India has followed something called Flexible Inflation Targeting, or FIT.
Party over for AI players or just a short term valuation reset even after AMD raised its AI TAM again?
What’s new?
AMD CEO Lisa Su 上週在AMD Advancing AI 2026 的主題演講中（AMD Advancing AI 2026: Lisa Su Full Keynote ），再次推翻其於今年5月6日在法說曾預測全球伺服器 x86 CPU 市場 （Total addressable market TAM) 到2030年將有1200億美元，有超過35%的複合增長率（請參考我們5月24日的深度報告：Which can be revised the most if AMD is right for higher server CPU TAM?），而其最新預測為全球伺服器 CPU 市場（包括 x86 CPU 及 ARM CPU）到2030年將有2200億美元TAM市場規模，有超過50%的複合增長率。AMD 也首次預測全球伺服器AI加速器 （AI GPU，TPU，ASIC，SoW）市場到2030年將有1.4兆美元TAM市場規模，有超過45%的複合增長率，兩者在2030年合計有1.62兆美元市場規模。
Rooms to revise up server CPU sales for AMD and Intel
若以彭博社分析師預期AMD在2030年數據中心營收將有1394億美元營收來測算，AMD僅有這1.62兆美元市場8.6%的市場份額，若假設AMD目前在全球
THE DEEPER DIVE: Even after the Fed's New Rigging, Inflation is Going to Get Hotter and Hotter for Months to Come
Let us lead off with how the Fed is improving the inflation problem for you under the direction of Trump’s newly appointed Fedhead, Kevin Warsh. Warsh is going to ease the burden of inflation on you by dumbing down the inflation gauge the Fed uses for its target to an even lower state of dumbness than it already has attained.
Shorting Leveraged ETFs: A Free Lunch or Just an Expensive One?
Leveraged ETFs are known to suffer from volatility decay, particularly in turbulent markets. That suggests an intuitive trade: Short leveraged ETFs while hedging their market exposure. With directional exposure largely neutralized, the portfolio should be positioned to harvest the decay.
This week, I examine recent research on this trade and several related implementations, extend the evidence through July 2026, and test what survives key implementation frictions.
As If On Cue... Trump Floats Out Yet Another Talks Fable... ("Make Space For Talks"). And Stock Futures Rise, Crude Oil Falls.
Lions… Go ahead. Make it up.
All Trump has to say AGAIN, roughly 50X now… talks are underway. Say the bombing has been paused to give negotiations “some space.”
And as if on cue, Trump utters the phrase “talks” and stock futures rise while crude oil falls.
GM
Happy Sunday,
Markets received another reminder this week that strong earnings alone are no longer enough to satisfy investors. As AI spending continues to accelerate, companies are increasingly being judged on their ability to translate enormous capital investments into sustainable cash flow.
Kospi index and U.S. stock futures jump as new Hormuz talks send oil prices plunging amid Iran war pause while Wall Street awaits Fed meeting
Investors were bullish on Sunday evening as the U.S. and Iran continued to halt their attacks on each other, providing space for negotiations that could reopen the Strait of Hormuz.
Meanwhile, Wall Street is also looking ahead to a busy week of tech earnings and the Federal Reserve’s policy meeting.
Futures tied to the Dow Jones industrial average surged 337 points, or 0.65%.
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