• Markets: Investors looked past ongoing conflict in the Middle East and refocused on tech, which propped indexes up across the board. But the 10-year Treasury yield rose to its highest level in two months, which could take some of the wind out of stocks’ sails.
• Trade: Last night, President Trump slapped an additional 50% tariff on around $20 billion worth of Canadian goods. Today, US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer indicated there are more tariffs on their way this week.
• Crypto: Bitcoin got a bit of good news from Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, who said the Clarity Act is on the “one-yard line” in Congress.

Pharma

Morning Brew Design, Adobe Stock

The escalating feud between Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk is getting as bitter as the World Cup rivalry between Argentina and Brazil.

Today, Novo Nordisk filed a lawsuit against Eli Lilly over its GLP-1 ads, which Novo says unfairly claim Lilly’s drugs outperform Novo’s. In its complaint, Novo called Lilly’s ads “maliciously and deceptively false.” Novo says that Lilly is comparing the highest approved doses of its medication with lower doses of Ozempic and Wegovy, while omitting Novo’s newer, more effective versions in its ads. Novo is asking Lilly to not only withdraw the ads, but run a “corrective” ad campaign, in addition to seeking compensation for financial damages.

Eli Lilly clapped back today, saying that it stands by the ads. “Rather than compete on the merits of its products, Novo is asking a court to stop Lilly from communicating the results of that trial,” Eli Lilly said in a statement.

Shares of Novo lost 0.51%% today, while Eli Lilly rose 2.58%.

Losing weight, gaining market share

The lawsuit is just the latest punch thrown in an ongoing fight between the two behemoths that dominate the lucrative weight loss medication industry. The fierce competition is understandable: The GLP-1 market is expected to reach $100 billion by 2030.

Novo Nordisk got a huge head start when Ozempic was first approved in 2017, followed by Wegovy’s approval in 2021. These drugs exploded in popularity—helping Novo’s market cap balloon to over the GDP of Denmark. But in 2022, Eli Lilly came out of the gate with Mounjaro, an even stronger GLP-1 drug that quickly gained momentum, making Eli Lilly a new Wall Street darling as a series of supply chain bungles hurt Novo’s ability to produce enough of its drugs to meet demand.

Since then, the two have gone head to head in a number of clinical trials, fighting tooth and nail to prove their drugs trigger the biggest bout of weight loss—and big wins for investors. The next frontier is GLP-1 pills, and so far, it looks like Novo may have an early lead once again: In clinical trials, people on the pill version of Wegovy lost an average of 16.6% of their body weight after 64 weeks, compared to Eli Lilly’s GLP-1 pill, Foundayo, which helped patients lose 12.4% of their body weight after 72 weeks.

But investors appear to be rooting for Lilly: Shares of the drugmaker are up 9.35% this year, while Novo Nordisk is down 3.61% over the same time period.

Let the weigh-in for the next round begin.—LB

      

Sponsored By State Street Investment Management

The S&P 500 captures the collective performance of the US economy—companies that shape the way we live, work, and connect with the world. With SPY, you can easily capture the index and its biggest innovators in a single trade.

Invest in AI trailblazers like Nvidia and Tesla transforming America’s future, and tech companies like Microsoft and Apple reshaping how businesses operate. With broad exposure to the US economy and all 11 major sectors, you can benefit from today’s most powerful growth engines without the risk of picking individual winners.

SPY can also serve as a foundation for your portfolio to anchor and build around. You can stay invested in the US equity market while freeing up time to research your next investment opportunity.

Get started with SPY, the world’s most traded ETF.

Stocks

🟢 What’s up

• Nebius Group surged 18.78% after an SEC filing revealed Nvidia had built a 9.3% stake in the neocloud company.
• Hasbro gained 8.81% after strong demand for its Wizards of the Coast business drove an earnings beat and a higher full-year outlook.
• Coinbase Global and Robinhood gained 9.61% and 7.13%, respectively, after Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act was on the “one-yard line” for Senate passage.
• General Motors climbed 4.87% after beating second-quarter expectations and raising several key earnings forecasts for 2026.
• Snack company Utz Brands jumped 88.85% after agreeing to a take-private deal with Germany’s Intersnack Group.
• TSMC advanced 5.55% on plans to raise chipmaking prices by as much as 10% next year.

🔴 What’s down

• Charles Schwab fell 2.59% despite a 32% jump in profit fueled by record client trading activity.
• Adobe dropped 3.23% after Morgan Stanley downgraded the stock, citing AI competition and leadership transitions.
• Genuine Parts slipped 2.47% after management denied reports it was discussing a potential sale with a rival.
• Credit reporting agency Equifax declined 3.93% as weaker-than-expected third-quarter guidance overshadowed strong quarterly results.
• MSCI tumbled 10.14% after second-quarter results missed Wall Street expectations.
• Life science company Danaher fell 10.99% after trimming its full-year core revenue growth outlook despite beating quarterly estimates.

Stock of the day

Betting against SpaceX

Morning Brew Inc., Andrew Harnik/Getty Images

As of yesterday’s close, SpaceX has lost $1 trillion in market value since going public. While the stock arrested a seven-day losing streak and gained 3.08% this afternoon, investors may want to brace themselves for more losses real soon.

The company just revealed that its inaugural earnings announcement will arrive on August 4, but the big day to circle in your calendar is August 6. That’s the day when insiders will be allowed to sell 911.5 million shares of the company, or approximately $116 billion worth of the stock. It’s the first conclusion of SpaceX’s staggered lock-up periods, in which the company allows early investors to sell their shares in periodic intervals to avoid a wholesale selloff.

But a selloff is exactly what many investors are expecting: an eye-popping 32% of the company’s float is now sold short, signalling a massive bet against SpaceX. Part of that wager is predicated on the small pool of shares that are publicly available, which is why a big batch of investors selling off all their shares at once—say, on August 6—could lead to an outsized move lower.

Short sellers are hoping the end of the lock-up period will spark a selloff, but at least one person is confident that they’ll be disappointed. “The survival probability of firms who maintain a significant short position in SpaceX over time is very low,” Elon Musk wrote on X. He continued: “I said SpaceX will be worth more than Earth if we achieve our goals. Obviously true.”—MR

Investing

Morning Brew Inc., Photo: Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images

It’s official: Investors are making their Great AI-scape.

Hedge funds are dumping tech stocks at the fastest pace since Goldman Sachs began tracking the data more than a decade ago. They’ve been net sellers of the sector in six of the past eight weeks, cutting their exposure by roughly 10% during that time.

Investors appear to be locking in gains as questions grow over the sky-high valuations and massive spending commitments of AI companies. At the same time, money is rotating into more defensive corners of the market like consumer stocks. Last week, technology was the S&P 500’s worst-performing sector, with sales led by hardware, IT services, and storage companies, while semiconductors and software also saw outflows.

Insiders cash out

Hedge funds trade in and out of positions all the time, so their selling isn’t necessarily a red flag. But they’re not the only ones heading for the exits.

Corporate insiders—the executives and directors who arguably know their companies best—are selling shares at the second-fastest pace in two decades. The only period with heavier selling came during the pandemic-era market boom, when stimulus-fueled stocks were soaring.

More specifically, insiders dumped $77.6 billion of stock in the first half of 2026, up 20% from a year ago, while buying totaled just $6.9 billion—barely above last year’s seven-year low.

Stockpiling stock

Both hedge funds and insiders appear to be taking profits and selling at the exact same time stocks are searching for buyers: Companies are issuing new shares at the fastest pace in years, while stock buybacks—one of the market’s biggest sources of demand—are slowing.

According to Dealogic, companies have already raised $344.7 billion through equity and equity-linked offerings this year—more than the full-year totals in each of the past four years. That trend is expected to continue, with analysts forecasting US companies will issue a net $500 billion of equity over the next year.

This can’t be good

Investors have seen this pattern before: companies rushing to issue stock when valuations are high, just as they did before the dot-com bubble burst.

That doesn’t mean history is going to repeat itself. But with hedge funds trimming exposure, insiders cashing out, and companies scrambling to sell shares at their highest rate in years, it’s fair to wonder why all the smart money is suddenly searching for the exits.—SY

      

Sponsored By State Street Investment Management

Ride trends without the guesswork. SPY provides exposure to 500 of the largest, most influential US companies, giving investors access to the market leaders driving growth without having to guess which single stock could win. The result is a balanced approach that gives you participation in long-term growth themes while maintaining a solid foundation for your portfolio. Getting there starts here with SPY.

News

• The head of the IRS reportedly spied on colleagues when he worked at JPMorgan.
• How should prediction markets be regulated? Congress is trying to figure it out as we speak.
• Speaking of which: A survey found that healthcare students are using sites like Kalshi and FanDuel in an effort to finance their education.
• The US and Mexico are kicking off a third round of trade talks sans Canada.
• Disney will soon begin serving Kraft Heinz foods at Disney parks in exchange for putting its characters on Kraft Heinz-brand goods.
• James Patten, the architect of a wild stock-manipulation fraud scheme involving a New Jersey deli, just got sentenced to 21 months in prison.

Calendar

Earnings announcements: Alphabet and Tesla are the heavy hitters dropping their latest quarterly numbers tomorrow, but we’ll also hear from Philip Morris International, GE Vernova, IBM, Texas Instruments, AT&T, ServiceNow, CSX, CME Group, Moody’s, and Southwest Airlines.

recs

☠️ The Mag 7 is dead, according to Citi analysts. They say there’s a better way to find high-growth stocks in today’s market.

📈 Let your portfolio earn you income with these 10 great dividend stocks to buy now.

💰 Take a look at some of the most generous 401(k) plans in the US.

🧠 Why don’t we have recessions anymore? Here are four important questions about the economy you should be asking.

💍 This is getting out of hand: More and more couples allow their guests to bet on their wedding as prediction-market hype goes mainstream.

^{*A message from our sponsor.}