TSMC and Nvidia are latest bullish reads on AI demand: Opening Bid top takeaways
Fed attack aftershocks.
Markets have stabilized a bit on Thursday after a Trump-fueled tizzy on Wednesday. According to multiple reports, President Trump had sounded out lawmakers on whether he should fire Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell. The US dollar immediately tanked, and the closely watched 10-year Treasury yield rose. Stocks took a hit.
Trump later walked back the reports in a press conference.
But Trump's repeated attacks on Powell and the Fed have investors on edge after a record-setting run for stocks.
"I think he has done a very good job," Carlyle Group (CG) co–founder David Rubenstein told me. Rubenstein hired Powell in the late 1990s as a partner at his private equity firm, where Powell stayed for eight years.
Here is everything we touched on during Yahoo Finance's Opening Bid on Thursday. Tune in live daily to Opening Bid at 9:30 a.m. ET.
Another bullish read on tech
Those looking for a bearish read on AI demand won't find it in Taiwan Semiconductor's (TSM) earnings release today.
Taiwan Semiconductor, which manufactures chips for top players such as Nvidia (NVDA) and Apple (AAPL), now sees full sales growing 30% year over year. Previously, it modeled for sales growth in the mid-20% range. The company maintained a bullish tone around consumer demand for smartphones.
The company is on track to spend $40 billion in capital expenditures this year to support strong AI chip demand.
"Overall, we view this update from the industry's largest customer as encouraging/reassuring when applied toward next year's revenue spending outlook," Stifel analyst Brian Chin said.
This comes hot on the heels of Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang's visit to China this week, during which he called out a strong order pipeline for the AI chips the company will soon be allowed to export back into the market.
PepsiCo serves up a bubbly bottom line
After a surprisingly lackluster first quarter in which it issued a rare outlook warning, PepsiCo (PEP) came back today with better news (off lowered expectations, to be fair).
The maker of Pepsi soda and Frito-Lay snacks served up a $0.09 earnings beat and a $400 million revenue beat for its second quarter. Importantly, the company maintained its 2025 outlook for low-single-digit percentage revenue growth. EPS growth is still expected to be unchanged year over year.
But it's clear the company continues to battle price-sensitive shoppers and higher costs of doing business.
The PepsiCo North America food business saw volumes fall 1% and operating profits drop by 13%. The North America beverage business clocked a 2% volume decline, while operating profits were unchanged versus the prior year.
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