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Top Midday Stories: Trump Threatens Retaliation for Attacks in Strait of Hormuz; AMD to Supply MI450 GPUs to Anthropic
The Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500 Index were up, while the Nasdaq Composite were down in late-morning trading Wednesday as the US and Iran continued to exchange attacks and threats in the Middle East.President Trump issued another warning against Iran, threatening to retaliate against every attack on ships in the Strait of Hormuz. "From this point forward, any time the Islamic Republic of Iran shoots at a ship in the Strait of Hormuz, whether it be by Missile, Rocket, Drone, or any other device or weapon, the United States will bomb and destroy ONE BRIDGE OR POWER PLANT, including those located next to, or in, the Capital City of Tehran," Trump said in a post on Wednesday. Meanwhile, Iran-backed Houthi militants in Yemen are prepared to attack vessels transiting the Red Sea's southern access point, which is an alternative route to the Strait of Hormuz, according to a CNBC report citing the Joint Maritime Information Center.In company news, Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) and Anthropic are collaborating deploy up to 2 gigawatts of AMD Instinct MI450 Series GPUs in AMD Helios rack-scale systems, with the first deployment planned for the first half of next year, AMD said Wednesday. The companies have also launched a multi-year engineering collaboration to use Anthropic's Claude models to optimize workloads for AMD Instinct GPUs and accelerate development of AMD's ROCm software. AMD shares were up 2.1% around midday.Philip Morris International (PM) reported Q2 adjusted earnings Wednesday of $2.20 per diluted share, up from $1.91 a year earlier and above the FactSet consensus analyst estimate of $2.03. Q2 net revenue was $11.19 billion, up from $10.14 billion a year ago and above the FactSet consensus of $10.60 billion. For Q3, the company said it expects adjusted EPS of $2.20 to $2.25. Analysts expect $2.42. For full-year 2026, Philip Morris updated its adjusted EPS guidance to a range of $8.26 to $8.41, down from its previous guidance of $8.36 to $8.51. Analysts expect $8.36. The company's total shipment volume for the quarter increased by 2.5% to 205.2 billion units, buoyed by growth of 7.5% in smoke-free products. Shipment volume for cigarettes was up 1.1%, while electronic vapor jumped 55%. Heated tobacco unit shipment volume climbed 7.6% to 41.8 billion units. "With a robust first half under our belt, including continued momentum and strong results in our smoke-free business, we are well positioned to deliver on our full-year targets while investing for future growth," Chief Executive Jacek Olczak said. Philip Morris shares were up 2.7%.GE Vernova (GEV) reported Q2 earnings Wednesday of $2.47 per diluted share, up from $1.86 a year earlier and below the FactSet consensus analyst estimate of $3.18. Q2 total revenue was $11.10 billion, up from $9.11 billion a year ago and above the FactSet consensus of $10.80 billion. For 2026, the company increased its 2026 revenue guidance to a range of $45.5 billion to $46.5 billion, up from the previous outlook of $44.5 billion to $45.5 billion. Analysts expect $45.43 billion. GE Vernova shares were down 6.6%.Rocket Lab (RKLB) was awarded a $266 million firm-fixed-price completion contract for suborbital launch vehicles, the US Department of Defense said late Tuesday. Work for the Air Force project is expected to be completed by Dec. 31, 2028. Rocket Lab shares were up 5%.AT&T (T) reported Q2 adjusted earnings Wednesday of $0.65 per diluted share, up from $0.54 a year earlier and above the FactSet consensus analyst estimate of $0.59. Q2 operating revenue was $31.56 billion, up from $30.85 billion a year ago and below the FactSet consensus of $31.80 billion. For full-year 2026, the company said it continues to expect adjusted EPS of $2.25 to $2.35. Analysts polled by FactSet are looking for $2.32. The company said it "delivered a record quarter for combined fiber and fixed wireless net adds and its strongest consumer postpaid wireless account growth in more than three years." AT&T added 432,000 net postpaid phone subscribers in the quarter, higher than the consensus on FactSet for 338,500 additions. Further, revenue in the advanced connectivity segment rose 4.1% to $28.62 billion, driven by a gain of 5.1% in services, while wireless service revenue grew 3.3%, buoyed by retail subscribers in underpenetrated categories and converged accounts, as well as pricing actions. AT&T shares were up 3.2%.Repligen (RGEN) has agreed to acquire BioLife Solutions (BLFS) in a deal valued at $1.5 billion, the companies said Wednesday. BioLife shareholders will receive $11.25 per share in cash and 0.1442 Repligen shares, valuing BioLife at $31 per share, or about $1.5 billion, representing a 24% premium to its 90-day volume-weighted average share price, under the agreement. Repligen said the deal is expected to be accretive to revenue growth, adjusted margins and adjusted earnings per share, with at least $20 million in cost synergies in the first year. The transaction is expected to close in Q4. Repligen shares were up 3.5%, while BioLife shares were up 7.5%.Price: $555.06, Change: $+10.63, Percent Change: +1.95%
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