LME Nickel Stocks down 1,350 MT to 266,172 MT

• Markets: Stocks soared yesterday as a tech rally shifted the bad vibes from earlier in the week. The rise was fueled by Microsoft, which went absolutely berserk, spiking more than 15% in the largest-ever single-day jump in a company’s market value after impressing investors with its latest earnings report.
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  (S&P 500 +1.7%, Dow +1.2%, Nasdaq +2.8%)  | Jersey Mike's makes public debut on the NYSE at $7.3B valuation.

🍎 Tim Cook has hosted his last earnings call as Apple CEO. The tech giant reported fiscal Q3 earnings yesterday, the final check-in with investors before CEO Tim Cook passes the baton to John Ternus on Sept. 1. The results were a mixed bag: Revenue beat expectations on surging iPhone and Mac sales, but supply constraints and weakness in China and in its services business dampened Cook’s going-away party. Ultimately, investors didn’t love what they heard, as the stock fell in after-hours trading. The report puts a dent in what had been a major hot streak for the iPhone maker, whose stock reached a record high earlier this week in part because investors appreciated that it wasn’t spending as much on AI as rivals were.

☁️ Sunny skies for Amazon’s cloud unit. Like Apple, Amazon reported quarterly earnings yesterday. Unlike with Apple, investors were deeply pleased with Amazon’s showing. The company’s stock jumped 9% in after-hours trading after it said that sales of its cloud computing unit, Amazon Web Services, grew the fastest since Q4 of 2021. The growth was so impressive that investors didn’t seem to mind that Amazon also hiked its AI spending projection for 2026 from $200 billion to $220 billion—an act that has recently spooked investors, who are worried that tech companies are splurging too much on data centers without enough return on that investment. But for one quarter, at least, Amazon’s revenue wins kept investors cheery.

⚽ UEFA nations are boycotting FIFA over its private investment plan. European countries are doing what Italy has unintentionally done since 2014: boycotting the World Cup. The governing body, which organizes soccer throughout Europe, announced that its 55 member nations will not participate in FIFA competitions—including the 2030 World Cup—unless FIFA abandons its plan to sell equity in the tournament to private investors. The soccer world plunged into turmoil earlier this week when FIFA President Gianni Infantino revealed the arrangement, which involves Josh Kushner, the brother of President Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner. According to the Associated Press, Infantino’s controversial plan could threaten his 11-year presidency of FIFA.—AE

Former White House medical adviser Dr. Anthony Fauci invoked the Fifth Amendment’s protection against self-incrimination during a Wednesday hearing, drawing the ire of some of his questioners. Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., called the move illegal, citing an 1896 Supreme Court decision. The 19th-century precedent barred anyone with a federal or state pardon from using the Fifth Amendment, Hawley said. Before President Joe Biden left office, he issued a preemptive and unconditional pardon to Fauci.

Hawley referenced the 1896 Supreme Court decision Brown v. Walker, which determined that anyone who accepted a pardon surrendered their Fifth Amendment rights against testifying against oneself in court. The high court deemed that anyone protected under a federal or state pardon lost the constitutional right of refusing to answer. Despite Hawley’s objection, Fauci refused to yield from his Fifth Amendment stance.

Did Fauci speak at all? Fauci delivered an opening statement and characterized Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., as being obsessed with prosecuting him. Paul called Fauci to testify in hopes that the former Biden adviser would say something on record to justify an arrest, the immunologist said. After opening remarks, Fauci did not answer a single question during the entirety of the almost three-hour hearing. Democratic Party committee members viewed the hearing as an attempt to entrap Fauci, part of what they called a smear campaign and the Trump administration’s plan to destroy the American healthcare system. They repeatedly thanked Fauci for his service to the American people.

How did the hearing end? Due to Fauci’s refusal to answer, the Republican-led committee planned to meet next week to vote on a resolution placing Fauci in contempt. Paul concluded that, though he may believe he’d gotten away with it, history will judge Fauci.

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Answer to today's trivia question:  The stapes or stirrup is a bone in the middle ear that transmits sound vibrations to the inner ear. It is the smallest and lightest bone in the human body, measuring about 2 to 3 mm, and is connected to the incus and the oval window.