The Cue Report: week of Jul 27, 2026
Aug 3, 2026
Coverage: Jul 27 to Aug 3, 2026 · Share-price changes: Jul 27 to Jul 31, 2026
Earnings from the largest technology companies set the week: Information Technology appeared in 104 of the week's 204 stories. Microsoft led coverage in 28 of them, reported a fourth-quarter beat with Azure annual revenue passing $100 billion and closed 19.4 percent higher between Jul 27 and Jul 31. Apple's week ran the other way, appearing in 13 stories with coverage leaning positive overall while its shares fell 8.3 percent between Jul 27 and Jul 31.
Where news and price parted ways
Coverage of these companies leaned one way overall, while their share prices moved the other way from Jul 27 to Jul 31, 2026. Both are shown without implying that one caused the other.
▲ means coverage leaned positive overall, ▼ that it leaned negative. A percent beside a company is its actual share-price return from Jul 27 to Jul 31, 2026. A lean is not a forecast.
- Apple (AAPL)13▲-8.3%
- Palantir Technologies (PLTR)9▲-6.4%
Sector briefings
Information Technology
AI spending turned into reported revenue this week, and the clearest numbers came from the cloud platforms. Microsoft's Azure passed $100 billion in annual revenue and Amazon's AWS grew at its fastest rate since 2021, which Amazon attributed to AI and chip demand. Arista Networks reported a large rise in AI-related sales, which puts the same demand one step down the supply chain in networking hardware. Apple was the exception among the week's large reporters, with $109 billion in sales and a share price 8.3 percent lower between Jul 27 and Jul 31. The week's numbers separated cleanly, with the two cloud platforms that showed AI revenue closing higher and Apple closing lower.
Financials
The banks that reported were judged on capital returns. Barclays posted higher first-half profit and raised its group income and net interest income targets, with its global markets unit named in the update. It also announced a one billion pound buyback. In India, Bajaj Finance reported first-quarter FY27 net profit growth with improved asset quality and higher assets under management, and its shares rose more than 6 percent on Jul 31. The sector was the best performing part of the S&P 500 in July, led by a 30 percent rally at PayPal.
Industrials
Data centre power and defence budgets are what showed up in industrial order books this week. Rolls-Royce reported higher orders in its data centre power business and its shares gained 4 percent on Jul 30, the same day the Guardian reported a profits boost at defence firms including Rolls-Royce and BAE Systems as governments increased spending. Bloom Energy's sales passed $1 billion, which MarketWatch reported as a validation moment for fuel cell technology as AI sites drew more power. Caterpillar came into the week with its shares 100 percent higher over a year, with data centre and infrastructure demand given as the arithmetic behind it. China's factory activity contracted unexpectedly in July, so the wider manufacturing backdrop was weaker than these order books on their own suggest.
Companies in focus
Microsoft (MSFT)
Microsoft's fourth quarter beat expectations, with Azure annual revenue passing $100 billion and cloud growth ahead of forecasts. The question the week turned on was capital spending, and Microsoft maintained its capital-spending plan alongside a stronger revenue outlook, which is what investors had been asking about the infrastructure build. In extended trading on Jul 29 the shares rallied about 9 percent. They rose 16 percent in the next session, and over the week they closed 19.4 percent higher between Jul 27 and Jul 31. Microsoft was the most covered company of the week, in 28 of the 204 stories.
Amazon.com (AMZN)
Amazon's second quarter beat expectations and AWS grew at its fastest rate since 2021, which the company put down to AI and chip demand. Amazon said both its AI business and its custom-chip business had passed $25 billion in annualised revenue, and chief executive Andy Jassy used the results to argue for the scale of that investment. Brokers moved with the print, RBC Capital raising its price target to $330 on AWS growth and JPMorgan resetting its own. The shares rose 17.4 percent between Jul 27 and Jul 31.
Apple (AAPL)
Apple's third-quarter sales exceeded $109 billion on iPhone growth, and its shares fell 8.3 percent between Jul 27 and Jul 31. The quarter came with a weaker outlook and a warning that chip supply would constrain performance, which is the half of the week the sales figure does not show. Apple's market value briefly topped $5 trillion during the week, the second company after Nvidia to reach that level, and it reclaimed the title of the world's largest company.
Also on the radar
Advanced Micro Devices (AMD)
News The Growth That Has To Land For Advanced Micro Devices Stock to Make Sense
Yahoo Finance
NVIDIA (NVDA)
News Nvidia's potential $250B backstop for OpenAI is another strike against the AI trade
CNBC Top News
Boeing (BA)
News Boeing’s stock rallies as surprisingly large loss is offset by upbeat revenue and backlog
MarketWatch Top Stories
The week at a glance
Most covered companies
The number is how many of the week's stories were about each company. n/a means no price series is available for that listing.
- Microsoft (MSFT)28▲+19.4%
- Amazon.com (AMZN)13▲+17.4%
- Apple (AAPL)13▲-8.3%
- Nasdaq (NDAQ)11▲+0.3%
- SAP SE ADR (SAP)9▲+7.4%
- Palantir Technologies (PLTR)9▲-6.4%
- Analog Devices (ADI)9▲-1.2%
- Berkshire Hathaway (BRK-B)8▲+2.9%
Which way the news pointed
Companies whose coverage leaned most clearly one way this week. Companies with too little coverage to read anything into are left out.
▲ Leaned positive
- Amazon.com (AMZN)13 positive · 0 negative
- Advanced Micro Devices (AMD)7 positive · 0 negative
- Microsoft (MSFT)25 positive · 0 negative · 3 neutral
- Salesforce.com (CRM)5 positive · 0 negative · 1 neutral
- NVIDIA (NVDA)5 positive · 1 negative
- Apple (AAPL)10 positive · 1 negative · 2 neutral