💰 5 Fact Friday: One Company To Rule Them All

OUR PARTNER: PACASO

Former Zillow exec targets $1.3T market

The wealthiest companies tend to target the biggest markets. For example, NVIDIA skyrocketed nearly 200% higher in the last year with the $214B AI market’s tailwind.

That’s why investors are so excited about Pacaso.

Created by a former Zillow exec, Pacaso brings co-ownership to a $1.3 trillion real estate market. And by handing keys to 2,000+ happy homeowners, they’ve made $110M+ in gross profit to date. They even reserved the Nasdaq ticker PCSO.

No wonder the same VCs behind Uber, Venmo, and eBay also invested in Pacaso. And for just $2.90/share, you can join them as an early-stage Pacaso investor today.

Invest for $2.90/Share

_{Paid advertisement for Pacaso’s Regulation A offering. Read the offering circular at invest.pacaso.com. Reserving a ticker symbol is not a guarantee that the company will go public. Listing on the NASDAQ is subject to approvals.}

STOCKS
1. Apple Dodges Tariffs With A $100B Deal 🍎

The Trump administration is preparing a 100% tariff on foreign-made chips, but companies investing in U.S. manufacturing are being spared. Apple $AAPL ( ▼ 0.24% ) just sealed its exemption with a $100B pledge.

• The company unveiled its new American Manufacturing Program (AMP), designed to incentivize suppliers to build critical components in the U.S.

• As part of the program, Apple will partner with Corning, Coherent, Broadcom, Samsung, and others to localize more of its supply chain.

• The plan includes a $2.5B iPhone glass factory in Kentucky and expanded chipmaking ties in Texas.

Apple’s announcement follows months of pressure from Trump, who had threatened a 25% tariff on iPhones unless manufacturing moved stateside. It also comes as the company braces for a 25% tariff on Indian imports, on top of an existing 25% levy.

• Apple now builds most U.S.-bound iPhones in India, with the rest still made in China.

• But now, with the AMP and new investments, the company is dodging both Indian and chip-related tariffs.

Trump made the trade-off clear: “If you're building in the United States or have committed to build… there will be no charge.”

But he warned against bluffing: “[If] you say you're building and you don't… we charge you at a later date. You have to pay, and that’s a guarantee.”

Apple stock jumped over 5% on the news, adding $118B in market cap Wednesday. Other chip giants like Nvidia, TSMC, Samsung, and SK Hynix also scored exemptions after committing to U.S. plants.

Big picture: The deal shields Apple from trade tensions, but critics argue it’s more political theater than meaningful reshoring. Either way, the world’s third most valuable company just turned a trillion-dollar headache into a PR win.

ECONOMY
2. Trump Fires BLS Chief After Big Jobs Miss 📉

The July jobs report brought a rare double whammy: a major downward revision and a political firing.

What Just Happened?

May and June job growth was slashed by a combined 258,000, the biggest two-month revision (excluding COVID) since 1979.

• May: revised from 144,000 → 19,000

• June: revised from 147,000 → 14,000

July added just 73,000 jobs, with 100% of the gains coming from healthcare and social assistance.

How the Sausage Gets Made

The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) surveys about 121,000 employers, but many respond late. The agency uses estimates to fill in the gaps, then revises the numbers as more data arrives. Revisions are standard, but rarely this large.

So what’s driving the miss?

• Falling response rates

• Tighter budgets

• Overreliance on modeling

Interestingly, the revisions haven't been evenly distributed.

• In the post-COVID recovery, they were almost entirely upward.

• Since 2023, they’ve been mostly downward.

That pattern suggests revisions might be acting as a leading indicator of sorts. Late responses could reflect more current conditions than the early estimates capture.

Why It Matters

Markets and policymakers rely heavily on this data, and the size of the revision sent a clear signal. Rate cut odds for September surged to 83%, up from just 38% the day before the report.

Clearly, BLS data still moves markets—signaling trust in the numbers.

The Political Fallout

Trump responded by firing BLS Commissioner Erika McEntarfer, claiming the numbers were “rigged.” But there’s no evidence, or logical basis, for this claim.

Any bias in the data would only reduce its accuracy and predictive power, making it less useful. In that case, markets would simply tune out the data altogether. That makes politicizing the numbers self-defeating.

Ironically, the weak data may help Trump get what he wants: lower rates. But it’s a win from a place of weakness, not strength.

One silver lining? A shakeup could prompt a long-overdue review of how this data is collected and how these reports are produced.

OUR PARTNER: STOCKS & INCOME

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_{Stocks & Income is for informational purposes only and is not intended to be used as investment advice. Do your own research.}

FAST FACTS
3. Buybacks, Big Paydays, And Body Slams 🏈

ESPN just gave the NFL 10% of the company in exchange for NFL Network. Oh, and they’re paying WWE $1.6B for wrestling rights. Streaming just got more physical. [Read] 

Elon Musk inked a $29B pay package from Tesla… unless his old $56B award is restored on appeal. Think of it as hazard pay for keeping him focused on AI and robotaxis while EV sales slump. [Read]

OpenAI is giving ChatGPT Enterprise to the U.S. government for $1/year. Why? To lock in Uncle Sam before Google, Microsoft, or Anthropic beat them to it. [Read]

Mortgage rates dropped to 6.63%, the lowest in four months, as markets price in a potential September rate cut. Still, that’s above 6.47% a year ago. [Read]

Student loan delinquencies hit a 21-year high at 12.9%. Overall serious consumer debt delinquency is now the worst since early 2020. [Read]

U.S. companies spent a record $166B on buybacks in July, juicing earnings per share and stock prices while letting dividends wither to Y2K-bubble lows. Long-term investment? Eh, that’s future management’s problem. [Read]

Wall Street is wrecking stocks that miss earnings. Companies with weak results are seeing a 5.6% average drop, more than double the usual punishment. [Read]

The U.S. now has its highest tariff rate since 1934 at 18.3%. Even after consumer shifts, the “effective” rate is still estimated to land at 17.3%. [Read]

The U.S. trade deficit reached a two-year low as Trump’s tariffs crushed consumer goods imports. The gap with China? Now the smallest in 21 years. [Read]

Canada is bailing out its lumber industry to survive U.S. tariffs. Prime Minister Mark Carney didn’t say it outright, but yes… sometimes other countries do pay the tariffs. [Read]

STOCKS
4. One Company To Rule Them All 💍

Palantir $PLTR ( ▼ 1.82% ) just cleared a major milestone with $1B in quarterly revenue for the first time. Sales grew 48% year-over-year, driven by surging AI demand and big jumps in:

• U.S. government contracts: +53% to $426M

• U.S. commercial contracts: +93% to $306M

What Palantir Does

The name “Palantir” comes from the “seeing stones” in The Lord of the Rings.

In the books, they were crystal balls used for communication and intelligence-gathering. The modern Palantir builds software that helps organizations turn massive amounts of data into actionable insights.

Its core businesses are:

• Government: Supports military, police, and health officials in tracking threats, fighting crime, and managing crises.

• Commercial: Works with companies to optimize operations, forecast trends, and make smarter decisions.

• AI Platforms (AIP): Enables clients to run AI on their own data for tasks like planning and fraud detection.

Its latest win is a consolidated 10-year, $10B deal with the U.S. Army and Department of Defense. Sticky, long-term contracts like this are why Wall Street keeps piling in.

The Catch: Valuation

Palantir was the top-performing S&P 500 stock in 2024 (+340%) and is on track to repeat in 2025 (+140% YTD). The problem? It’s now the most expensive stock in the index.

This comparison shows how Palantir’s valuation dwarfs that of the AI industry’s biggest player. Despite being far larger and forecast to grow faster, Nvidia trades at only a fraction of Palantir’s valuation multiples.

As Sherwood Media points out, Palantir’s pricing now exceeds even the peak multiples of dot-com-era tech darlings

Still, analyst price targets show just how split the Street is:

• Wedbush: $200 (Outperform)

• Bank of America: $180 (Buy)

• Morgan Stanley: $155 (Hold)

• Jefferies: $60 (Sell)

• RBC: $45 (Sell)

Fans see Palantir as the Oracle of AI and national security. Skeptics see bubble math. Personally, I can’t justify buying at this price. Then again, I’ve been saying that for the last 200% rally…

STOCKS
5. Guess That Stock 🕵️‍♂️

The fast-food king just posted a comeback quarter, driven by returning fan favorites and value-focused marketing.

Can you guess the stock?

1. The return of the Snack Wrap, one of its most requested items ever, was so popular it drove some stores out of lettuce.

2. It’s rolling out $2.99 Meal Deals and testing new cold beverages to win back price-sensitive consumers.

3. The company just reported a 2.5% rebound in U.S. same-store sales, pushing revenue past $6.8B.

4. It’s the largest fast-food chain by sales in America, with almost 14,000 U.S. locations under the Golden Arches.

5. It owns or leases over $40B in real estate, with franchisee rent payments now making up nearly 40% of total revenue.

Got a guess? Tap here for the answer → 

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