📈 Meta's $3.5B Smart Glasses Jump

Good morning.

⚡ The Fast Five → Grok AI Draws Antisemitic Criticism, Wendy's CEO Jumps to Hershey, Tech Giants Fund Teacher AI, Oil Majors Return to Libya, IBM Launches Quantum-AI Education Push

🔎 Market Trends → Wall Street edges slightly lower as investors look for tariff clarity; US Futures Point to a Rebound

🚨 Start Your Day with Market Movers: Opening Bell LIVE on FinTech.tv from 9-10AM EST

And now…

⏱️ Your 5-minute briefing for Wednesday, July 9, 2025:

MARKET BRIEF
Before the Open

Pre-Market

Fear & Greed

Markets in Review

Copper Crush: Markets Dip as Trump Slaps 50% Tariffs on Imports

Metals rally, stocks wobble, and policy risks rise ahead of August trade deadline. Dow fell 0.4% to 44,240.8, S&P 500 dipped 0.1% to 6,225.5, and the Nasdaq ended flat at 20,418.5. Consumer staples and utilities dragged; energy outperformed.

The Big Picture:

Wall Street blinked as President Trump escalated his protectionist streak, unveiling a 50% tariff on copper imports, sending commodity markets into a frenzy and copper futures up 9.3%.

With fresh tariff letters sent to 14 more nations and a hard Aug. 1 enforcement deadline, global trade tensions are morphing from noise to narrative. Trump also teased “very high tariffs” on pharma products, stoking volatility across defensives.

While some reciprocal rates echo those from April, the lack of extensions signals no wiggle room for U.S. trading partners—and elevated uncertainty for investors.

WTI crude edged up 0.5% to $68.30, continuing its modest rally amid tight inventories. Gold slid 0.9% to $3,312.2 as traders rotated out of safe havens.

Market Movers:

• TopBuild (BLD) +3.84%: Shares surged on its $810M cash acquisition of Progressive Roofing, expanding its portfolio into commercial roofing—a margin-accretive pivot.

• Tesla (TSLA) +1.32%: Bounced back slightly after Monday’s drop. Wedbush called on the board to rein in Musk’s political ventures and refocus executive bandwidth.

• Boeing (BA) -0.05%: Marginal loss despite Q2 growth in deliveries and orders—overshadowed by broader tariff jitters and rotation out of industrials.

What They’re Saying:

“Concerns related to tariffs are likely to return as a top-of-mind issue for small businesses.” — Andrew Foran, TD Economics

WHAT WE’RE WATCHING
Events

• Today: Federal Reserve - Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) Meeting Minutes - 2:00pm

  Why You Should Care: It's a detailed record of the FOMC's most recent meeting, providing in-depth insights into the economic and financial conditions that influenced their vote on where to set interest rates;

Earnings Reports

• Today: There are no noteworthy earnings reports.

• Tomorrow: Delta Air Lines, ConAgra Brands, Levi Strauss & Co., WD-40, The Simply Good Foods Company

MARKET BRIEF
Leading News

Meta's EssilorLuxottica Stake: Smart Glasses Get Smarter Money

Why it matters:

Meta's (META) reported $3.5 billion stake in Ray-Ban maker EssilorLuxottica (EL) signals Silicon Valley's serious bet on wearable AI—and validates patient investors who've weathered the metaverse skepticism.

Zoom Out:

The behavioral finance lesson here is classic: markets initially punish visionary investments, then reward them handsomely. Meta's pivot from pure social media to hardware integration follows the Amazon playbook—lose money on hardware, make fortunes on the ecosystem.

EssilorLuxottica shares jumped 5.3% on the news, but the real story isn't the pop—it's the strategic positioning. When a tech giant pays market price for equity stakes, it's signaling confidence that goes beyond typical partnerships.

The numbers tell a compelling story: 2 million Ray-Ban Meta glasses sold since late 2023, with production targets of 10 million units by 2026. That's not just growth—it's the kind of exponential scaling that creates new market categories.

Key Insights:

• Hardware as a moat: Meta's equity stake transforms EssilorLuxottica from vendor to strategic partner, creating switching costs that competitors can't easily replicate. Think Apple's (AAPL) chip partnerships—control the supply chain, control the destiny.

• The AI wearables thesis: Voice assistants that identify landmarks and transcribe messages represent the early innings of ambient computing. History suggests these clunky first attempts evolve into indispensable tools—remember the first iPhone's limitations?

• Optionality play: Expanding to Oakley and Prada brands creates multiple consumer touchpoints. Meta isn't just betting on Ray-Ban—it's positioning across luxury, sport, and lifestyle segments.

Market Pulse:

"When you see tech companies buying stakes at market prices rather than negotiating discounts, they're signaling genuine strategic value," notes one veteran hardware analyst.

Bull’s Take:

Meta's methodical approach to wearables—partnership first, equity second—demonstrates the patient capital deployment that separates winners from wannabes. Smart money follows smart glasses into the next computing paradigm.

Headlines

• Grok AI Faces Backlash Over Antisemitic Posts (link)

• Wendy's CEO steps down to take top leadership position at Hershey Company after brief tenure (link)

• Microsoft, OpenAI, and Anthropic Pour $23 Million into an AI Training Center for Teachers (link)

• BP, Shell Sign Libya Deals as Majors Step Up Their Return (link)

• IBM Expands Access to Quantum Education and Launches New AI Chips (link)

• Goldman Sachs Hires Former British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak (link)

CRYPTO
Fear & Greed

Headlines

• Bitcoin Reclaims $109,000, Ethereum, XRP, Dogecoin Follow Higher (link)

• Trump Media Files for 'Crypto Blue Chip' ETF Holding Bitcoin, Ethereum, Solana and XRP (link)

• Jack Dorsey Unveils Bitchat: Offline, Encrypted Messaging Inspired by Bitcoin (link)