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Top Midday Stories: Nvidia Enters Into $500 Billion Partnership With SK Group; AstraZeneca Earnings Top Estimates
The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up, while the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite were down in late-morning trading Monday, as oil prices fell amid a pause in the hostilities between US and Iran over the weekend.In company news, Nvidia (NVDA) has agreed to expand its partnership with South Korean conglomerate SK Group with a more than $500 billion artificial intelligence infrastructure initiative. The deal announced Saturday includes a long-term partnership between Nvidia and SK Hynix (SKHY) that will provide the US technology giant a stable supply of next-generation AI memory. They will also jointly co-develop next-generation AI memory solutions that include high-bandwidth memory chips intended for AI training, AI agents and physical AI applications. Nvidia shares were down 5.1% around midday, while SK Hynix shares were down 8.8%.Further, Nvidia is in talks to provide a roughly $250 billion financial backstop for Microsoft (MSFT)-backed OpenAI as part of a massive data center project in southern Ohio that could cost more than $500 billion, The Wall Street Journal reported Sunday, citing unnamed sources familiar with the matter. The guarantees would help OpenAI secure financing to lease a 10-gigawatt campus being developed by SoftBank-owned SB Energy. Nvidia is also discussing financing for up to $350 billion in AI chip purchases, according to the report.AstraZeneca (AZN) reported Q2 core earnings Monday of $2.63 per diluted share, up from $2.17 a year earlier and above the FactSet consensus analyst estimate of $2.49. Q2 revenue was $15.38 billion, up from $14.46 billion a year ago and below the FactSet consensus of $15.43 billion. For 2026, the company continues to expect core EPS to rise by a low double-digit percentage and revenue to grow by a mid-to-high single-digit percentage. Analysts are looking for $10.24 and $63.18 billion, respectively. The company also raised its interim dividend by 3 cents to $1.06 per share. AstraZeneca shares were up 1.2%.United Airlines (UAL) pitched a merger deal to Delta Air Lines (DAL) last year, but the talks fizzled out without a deal after Delta declined to pursue the proposal, The Wall Street Journal reported Sunday, citing sources familiar with the matter. Sources told the news outlet that discussions reached preliminary due diligence, where Delta Air Lines management assessed the potential merger. The proposal came before President Donald Trump's return to office, when companies anticipated a more favorable regulatory backdrop for major mergers, according to the report. United Airlines shares were up 1%, while Delta Air Lines shares were up 1.5%.Baker Hughes (BKR) reported Q2 adjusted earnings Sunday of $0.64 per diluted share, up from $0.63 a year earlier and above the FactSet consensus analyst estimate of $0.49. Q2 revenue was $6.74 billion, down from $6.91 billion a year ago and above the FactSet consensus of $6.51 billion. Baker Hughes also maintained its quarterly dividend at $0.23 per share, payable on Aug. 17 to holders of record on Aug. 7. Further, the company said that its total orders stood at $10.50 billion in Q2, a 49% jump from $7.03 billion a year earlier, as orders under the industrial and energy technology segment doubled. Segment orders in the quarter surged year over year to $7.09 billion from $3.53 billion, led by the gas technology product line. Segment revenue also steadied at $3.29 billion, data showed. Baker Hughes shares were up 5.8%.DeepSeek has suspended its second fundraising round after informing some prospective investors that investment agreements would not be signed as expected, Bloomberg reported Saturday, citing people familiar with the matter. The pause followed viral online posts widely attributed to founder Liang Wenfeng about US-China artificial intelligence competition. Bloomberg could not verify the authenticity of the posts. DeepSeek had been seeking to raise at least 10 billion yuan at a pre-money valuation of at least 480 billion yuan and is preparing for an initial public offering that could be filed as early as this year, according to the report.Price: $196.23, Change: $-10.61, Percent Change: -5.13%
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