Stocks

Muse is a multitasking AI assistant that is capable of performing tasks on behalf of a user. Read more at straitstimes.com.

Fortis owns nine regulated electric and natural gas utilities serving roughly 3.5 million customers, with about 95% of its assets in transmission and distribution infrastructure. The company plans to invest $28.8 billion between 2026 and 2030, supporting expected rate base growth of about 7% annually. Second-quarter earnings per share rose to $0.78 from $0.76 a year earlier. Fortis has raised its dividend for 52 consecutive years and currently pays $0.64 per share quarterly.

Costco’s latest earnings report came in above market expectations. Membership fee revenue rose 7.3% year over year to $1.5 billion, extending the slowdown in growth to a third straight quarter. Investors focused on the decelerating pace, leaving the stock little changed after the release.

A prolonged global bond selloff has pushed yields to record highs, weighing on precious metals. Front-month gold futures on the New York Mercantile Exchange settled down 0.4% at $4,263.00 a troy ounce, while silver futures fell 1.4% to $63.457 a troy ounce. Separately, higher regular diesel prices are boosting margins for biodiesel producers, and construction-materials company Knife River said it plans to engage with activist investor Starboard Value after the fund took a significant stake in the company.

People Inc. said it has withdrawn its offer to buy all public shares of MGM Resorts International and take the company private. People currently owns about 27% of MGM, and the withdrawn proposal offered $48.30 per share in cash, valuing MGM at more than $18 billion. The company said it is not ruling out reviving a transaction in the future.

Akamai said it has signed a $11.6 billion, seven-year cloud services agreement with AI company Anthropic to support growth in Anthropic’s CPU workloads using Akamai’s distributed infrastructure. The deal includes an option to expand by up to an additional $9 billion, bringing the total potential commitment to approximately $20 billion. Akamai also issued Anthropic a warrant for up to approximately 5% of Akamai’s common stock outstanding, with vesting tied to the expansion of the relationship.

Shares of Canadian Natural Resources fell about 7% over 12 days, dropping from C$72.35 to C$67.29. Over the same period, the company reported record adjusted funds flow of C$6.9 billion, more than doubling from a year earlier. Free cash flow was nearly C$3 billion. The company returned about C$2.4 billion to shareholders through dividends and buybacks during the quarter while keeping its quarterly dividend at C$0.63 per share.

Japan’s Daiichi Life Insurance opened a new position in Apple in the second quarter, buying about 767,131 shares valued at roughly $221,977,000. The stake accounts for 5.2% of Daiichi Life’s overall portfolio, making Apple its top holding. Over the same period, several other institutions, including Commerce Bank and GQG Partners, also opened or added to Apple positions.

Coca-Cola posted stronger-than-expected second-quarter results, with organic sales up 6%, comparable operating margin at 35.6% and comparable EPS rising 11% to $0.97. The company also lifted its full-year guidance, including raising its free cash flow outlook to about $12.4 billion from $12.2 billion. Still, the stock is up 29% year to date, and the average price target of $94.25 implies only about 6% upside.

General Motors and Ford are expected to post the sharpest U.S. market-share losses among major automakers through the first three quarters of the year, an industry forecast shows. Ford’s sales are projected to fall 8.8%, pulling its share down to 12.5%, while GM’s sales are seen declining 6.2% with share slipping to 16.7%, according to Cox Automotive. Toyota and Honda are forecast to grow sales 1.1% and 5.6%, respectively, as demand for fuel efficiency rises amid higher gas prices.