LongHorn’s President Sold Darden Stock After a 9.5% Sales Jump. Here’s What to Know

Trump is betting that the US naval blockade choking Iran’s economy can do what missiles couldn’t

By

-

August 9, 2026

Trump is betting that the US naval blockade choking Iran's economy can do what missiles couldn't

After deciding against renewing all-out war against Iran, President Donald Trump signaled that he will continue applying economic pressure on the regime.

In an interview with Axios on Sunday, he said “we are low keying it” and only “semi-negotiating” with Iran, suggesting its collapsing economy will give the U.S. leverage.

“We are just watching Iran with its huge inflation and the fact they have no money,” Trump added.

He claimed Tehran can’t pay its troops and described Iran’s economy as being in “very bad shape,” arguing that the U.S. naval blockade has worsened the economic crisis.

By contrast, the America public is under less strain as oil prices have fallen on Trump’s pivot away from resuming major combat operations to give diplomacy a chance.

While Iran and Oman have been in talks over how to manage traffic through the narrow waterway, an agreement won’t automatically reopen the strait. Instead, Iran insists the U.S. must first satisfy several aggressive demands—including some that dampened hopes for the strait to return to normal anytime soon.

On Saturday, Iran’s Supreme National Security Council called on the U.S. to lift its naval blockade, end sanctions, pull out its military from the region, pay war reparations, unfreeze Iranian assets, end attacks on Iran’s proxies, and stop threatening the country.

Despite the bravado expressed by top officials, anxiety about the economy persists after high inflation and a currency crash sparked nationwide protests that were put down by a brutal crackdown in January.

Regime moderates have grown more worried that the U.S. naval blockade that was recently reimposed is bringing Iran’s economy close to collapse, sources told the Wall Street Journal. Iran’s deputy foreign minister also admitted the economy desperately needs sanctions relief that a deal with the U.S. could provide.

That tracks with earlier reports about Iran’s president and central bank chief telling Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei the initial blockade was crippling the economy.

As a result, Trump sounded hopeful about a deal with Iran, even as both sides blame each other for being dishonest or untrustworthy.

“It will work out. It always works out. It’s like a chess game,” he told Axios.

His apparent patience to let Iran’s economy implode comes as his military options have narrowed. Despite 40 days of bombardment and another two weeks of more attacks last month, the U.S. was unable to fully reopen the Strait of Hormuz.

At the same time, stockpiles of U.S. munitions are running low, including interceptors needed to fend off Iranian drones and missiles, while the Pentagon’s top officer is reportedly looking for an off-ramp.

The absence of war may actually serve Trump’s purposes. A U.S. official told Axios that fighting allowed the Iranian regime to avoid addressing the country’s economic crisis and its inability to fix it.

But with oil inventories dwindling to critically low levels, a looming supply crunch that spikes energy prices again could also test Trump’s patience.

An MH-60R Sea Hawk, attached to Helicopter Maritime Strike Squadron (HSM) 75, prepares to land on the flight deck of Wasp-class amphibious assault ship USS Boxer (LHD 4) during flight operations, Aug. 4, 2026.

U.S. Navy

A U.S. official told Axios, however, that about 8 million barrels are quietly exiting the Persian Gulf each night through a southern lane in the Strait of Hormuz with help from the U.S. military, adding that the effort will continue as long as there is no deal.

A representative for U.S. Central Command didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

Before the ceasefire agreement fell apart, the U.S. military guided tankers through the alternate route that hugs the Omani coast and provided some protection. Enough ships made it out of Gulf to ease pressure on global oil markets.

But that prompted Iran to attack vessels trying to bypass its own corridor, reigniting hostilities and leading to the current standoff.

While maritime traffic data has shown minimal movement in the strait lately, that may overlook ships going “dark” that are sneaking out with their transponders turned off.

Any added leeway the U.S. can obtain in oil markets would allow the naval blockade to deepen rifts among Iranian officials.

On one side is a group of pragmatists like President Masoud Pezeshkian who are worried about the economy and want a U.S. deal that unlocks some concessions.

On the others side are hardliners led by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps who reject engaging in talks with the U.S. The tensions often play out publicly, even in state-run media.

“When I read some of the opposition to negotiations, I honestly wonder what world these people are living in,” Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi, who is a top negotiator, told IRIB.

Bitcoin’s $57K test – Could a liquidation reset spark BTC’s next rally?

By

-

August 9, 2026

Bitcoin's $57K test - Could a liquidation reset spark BTC's next rally?

Bitcoin [BTC] has extended its decline, with the asset struggling once again to clear the $65,000 psychological threshold after another failed run at the level.

Even as some optimism builds around the prospect of Bitcoin gearing up for a much broader rally, analyst Joao Wedson has warned that the risk of a deeper decline remains firmly in place.

Wedson pointed to the liquidation levels below $57,000 as a major concern, arguing the unliquidated longs stacked there could trigger a massive liquidation event and force Bitcoin lower.

Bitcoin liquidation heatmap — Source: alphractal

He noted a similar pattern in 2022, when the price plunged one final time before finding its bottom, a sequence he expects could repeat for Bitcoin. Even while flagging those concerns, Wedson maintained the market still holds opportunity for investors.

If another large liquidation event comes, it could create one of the most interesting opportunities to position.

He explained these types of liquidation events have historically marked some of the best places to accumulate an asset, given the strong odds of a subsequent market rebound.

Bitcoin demand stays weak

Demand for Bitcoin does not yet look strong enough to support a bullish rally, with accumulation staying thin over an extended stretch.

The spot market netflow shows buying over the past 30 days has run well below what a bullish market, one driven by heightened accumulation, would typically produce.

Bitcoin’s spot netflow recorded -$412 million, marking net accumulation as coins left exchanges, though the figure stays modest by market standards, and over the past 50 days the netflow has peaked at only -$1.10 billion.

Minimal accumulation of this kind signals a thin appetite for buying Bitcoin, a dynamic absent when an asset trades in genuine bull-run conditions.

Over the past 15 days, Bitcoin netflows totaled $182 million in sell‑offs. Moreover, negative netflows indicate net buying as coins move off exchanges, while positive netflows reflect heavier selling as assets shift onto exchanges.

Bitcoin exchange balances climb

The bigger concern right now is Bitcoin’s balance across exchanges, which has been climbing. At press time, Exchange Reserves have trended higher, with the total balance held on exchanges reaching 2.71 million BTC at the latest reading.

A rise in Exchange Reserves usually means traders have moved more Bitcoin onto exchanges, placing the asset in a selling position, since higher exchange balances reflect a growing readiness to sell.

Bitcoin exchange reserve. — Source: CryptoQuant

For now, the setup keeps Bitcoin exposed to further downside over the next couple of days.

Final Summary

Analyst warns that unliquidated longs below $57,000 could trigger a large liquidation event and drag Bitcoin lower, while creating a prime accumulation window.
On-chain data backs the caution, with thin spot accumulation over 30 and 50 days and climbing exchange reserves at 2.71 million BTC.

Crypto is going through a massive dot-com style shakeout as over 100 projects fold in 2026

By

-

August 9, 2026

Crypto is going through a massive dot-com style shakeout as over 100 projects fold in 2026

“There were way too many general-purpose layer twos, which frankly don’t make sense as a product, because there’s no reason to have many, many versions of the same thing,” Ben Fisch, CEO of Espresso Systems, told CoinDesk. “We’re in a consolidation phase for general-purpose layer twos, not layer twos broadly.”

Industry leaders argue the shakeout reflects a broader shift across crypto rather than a problem unique to Ethereum scaling networks.

“Consolidation is happening across all of crypto right now, not just layer two, from DeFi protocols to DEXs and infrastructure providers. It’s a sign that the industry is maturing. The networks continuing through this period are the ones people actually use and depend on,” Marek Olszewski, co-founder of the Celo layer-2, told CoinDesk.

“For every crypto project that you hear about shutting down, there are perhaps another 10 silently doing the same,” Nick Puckrin, founder of Coin Bureau, wrote in a post on X. “Creative destruction for the next cycle perhaps.”

Orkun Mahir Kılıç, co-founder and CEO of Chainway Labs, which is building the Bitcoin layer-2 Citrea, said the wave of closures reflects a maturing market where capital is harder to raise and investors are becoming more selective.

“Different businesses have different reasons and different underlying problems for shutting down. The pattern we’re seeing emerge isn’t really an inherent problem within the L2 ecosystem. The market and the tech are maturing, investment is a lot slower and more cautious now, and only projects with sound business models and a clear problem statement will survive,” Mahir Kılıç told CoinDesk.

Zeta Global Q2 Earnings Call Highlights

By

-

August 9, 2026

→ Sandisk Just Delivered a Blowout Quarter—Here’s Why the Stock Is Falling

Key Points

Interested in Zeta Global Holdings Corp.? Here are five stocks we like better.
Strong Q2 performance: Zeta Global’s revenue rose 44% year over year to $443 million, while adjusted EBITDA increased 56% to $92 million. The company also returned to GAAP profitability and generated $58 million in free cash flow, marking its 20th consecutive quarter of beating and raising guidance.
Guidance raised: Zeta increased its full-year revenue outlook to $1.818 billion, adjusted EBITDA guidance to $405 million, free-cash-flow guidance to $255 million and GAAP EPS guidance to $0.10 at the midpoint.
AI and platform expansion are accelerating growth: Athena adoption is growing among enterprise customers, with AI-focused users showing faster growth and stronger retention. Zeta is also expanding beyond marketing through its Zeta Business Intelligence offering and partnerships with OpenAI, Snowflake and Palantir.

Zeta Global (NYSE:ZETA) reported second-quarter 2026 revenue of $443 million, up 44% from a year earlier, or 28% excluding revenue from mergers and acquisitions. The company said the result marked its 20th consecutive quarter of beating and raising its outlook.

Adjusted EBITDA rose 56% year over year to $92 million, producing a 20.7% margin that expanded 170 basis points. Zeta also reported GAAP net income of $8.2 million, or $0.03 per share, compared with a net loss of $12.8 million in the prior-year quarter. Free cash flow reached $58 million, an increase of 73% from a year earlier.

“We delivered our 20th consecutive beat and raise quarter,” Co-Founder, Chairman and CEO David Steinberg said. He described Zeta as evolving beyond its historical marketing-technology positioning into an “intelligent AI infrastructure platform,” with marketing as its first application rather than its sole focus.

Guidance Raised Across Revenue, Profit and Cash Flow

Based on its second-quarter performance, Zeta raised the midpoint of its full-year revenue outlook by $33 million to $1.818 billion. The updated forecast implies 39% annual revenue growth, or 25% growth excluding M&A and political candidate revenue.

Third-quarter revenue is expected to be $471 million at the midpoint, up $10 million from prior guidance.
Full-year adjusted EBITDA guidance was increased by $8 million at the midpoint to $405 million.
Third-quarter adjusted EBITDA is forecast at $115 million at the midpoint, up $3 million from the previous outlook.
Full-year free-cash-flow guidance rose by $20 million at the midpoint to $255 million.
Full-year GAAP EPS guidance increased to a midpoint of $0.10, compared with the prior range of $0.02 to $0.04.

→ No Hangover: Revisiting Microsoft One Week After Earnings

Chief Financial Officer Chris Greiner said the outlook retains a 2% to 5% cushion and assumes minimal contribution from new partnership-related revenue. The company maintained its prior second-half outlook for political candidate revenue of $7 million in the third quarter and $8 million in the fourth quarter.

Greiner said Zeta’s full-year GAAP EPS outlook excludes the possible impact of a one-time tax benefit associated with the release of a valuation allowance, which he said has a reasonable probability of occurring later in the year.

AI Adoption and Platform Usage

→ MarketBeat Week in Review – 08/03 – 08/07

Zeta highlighted adoption of Athena, its conversational AI offering, as a driver of engagement and expansion. Since Athena became available to enterprise customers about 130 days ago, more than 40% of super-scaled customers have become monthly active users, according to Greiner. Super-scaled customers are those with at least $1 million in annual revenue.

The company said 83% of Athena customer interactions are now spoken. Steinberg said OpenAI powers Athena’s voice functionality, while Zeta’s own inference models make decisions using the company’s Data Cloud. He said no large language models access data within Zeta’s Data Cloud.

According to Zeta, the 20% of its overall customer base that has comprehensively adopted its AI tools accounts for roughly 70% of revenue. Among super-scaled customers, the 50% that have comprehensively adopted those tools produce 75% of super-scaled customer revenue. These AI-focused users grew four times faster than customers still early in adoption, Greiner said.

Zeta also said the customers with the most extensive AI adoption had year-to-date net revenue retention 400 basis points above the company-wide level and more than 20 percentage points above customers with lower adoption. The company said its super-scaled customer relationships average 56 months, compared with 48 months several years ago.

Steinberg added that 90% of new code generated during the quarter was automated, up from 75% in the first quarter. He said this has shortened product-development cycles and allowed Zeta to respond more quickly to customer requests.

Customer Growth, Sales Productivity and Partnerships

Zeta ended the quarter with 197 super-scaled customers, up 17% year over year. Quarterly average revenue per super-scaled customer was $1.8 million, also up 17%. Greiner said both growth measures exceeded the company’s longer-term model assumptions.

The company pointed to cross-selling activity under its One Zeta initiative and following its Marigold acquisition. Customers using more than one use case increased 90% year over year, while customers using five or more channels rose more than 50%. Cross-sell and upsell deals won during the quarter increased 43%.

Zeta said its total sales pipeline increased more than 60% from a year earlier and by more than $100 million over the preceding 90 days. Pipeline creation per seller more than doubled year over year, while average contract values on closed deals rose more than 40%. Quota-carrying headcount totaled 198, up 11% from a year earlier and one employee sequentially.

The company cited demand across consumer and retail, telecommunications, healthcare, financial services and automotive. Eight of its top 10 industries grew more than 20% year over year on a trailing-12-month basis, Greiner said.

Steinberg said Zeta is seeing a marketing-cloud replacement cycle among large enterprises. He cited Gap as a customer that selected Zeta under a multiyear agreement as its system of record for a next-generation marketing stack. Steinberg said Zeta displaced Salesforce and three other vendors in that deployment.

Expansion Beyond Marketing

Zeta also discussed Zeta Business Intelligence, or ZBI, which it said expands the platform into a fourth use case beyond customer acquisition, growth and retention. Steinberg described ZBI as a tool for using business and customer data to make predictions and take action in real time, rather than simply creating static reports.

He said initial ZBI applications include helping a sports and entertainment company evaluate entertainment spending and streaming-distribution relationships, as well as helping an energy drink brand quantify its impact on retail partners. Zeta is being “pulled into” such uses by customers, Steinberg said, and is productizing customer requests by industry.

The company also highlighted expanded relationships with OpenAI, Snowflake and Palantir. Zeta said its Data Cloud was fully integrated with Palantir Foundry as of July 31 and that it had already secured multiple initial combined-sale agreements. Steinberg said the Foundry integration is complete and seamless for customers.

During the quarter, Zeta deployed $29.9 million to repurchase 1.6 million shares. Through July 30, it had spent $74.6 million on repurchases and had approximately $89.4 million remaining under its authorization. The company also closed a new $1 billion credit facility, including a $250 million term loan and an undrawn $750 million revolving credit facility.

About Zeta Global (NYSE:ZETA)

Zeta Global, founded in 2007 and headquartered in New York City, is a leading data-driven marketing technology company. The firm’s mission centers on helping brands acquire, grow and retain customers through a unified customer lifecycle management platform. Over the years, Zeta Global has built a reputation for leveraging big data and predictive analytics to power digital marketing programs across multiple channels.

At the core of Zeta’s offering is the Zeta Marketing Platform, which combines identity resolution, audience insights and real-time engagement capabilities.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.

The article “Zeta Global Q2 Earnings Call Highlights” was originally published by MarketBeat.

View MarketBeat’s top stocks for August 2026.

Hyperliquid’s RWA perps boom is eating into the revenue that backs HYPE

By

-

August 9, 2026

Hyperliquid’s RWA perps boom is eating into the revenue that backs HYPE

At the start of 2026 these builder-deployed markets were about 2% of Hyperliquid’s perp volume. They are now roughly half of it.

The pass-through shows up in the accounts. Cost of revenue, the portion of fees Hyperliquid hands straight back to builders, market makers and its own liquidity vault, was under 6% of gross revenue in the second quarter of 2025. A year later it was 18%.

Builder code fees, which front-ends like Phantom charge on top for routing an order, arrived at roughly $16 million of revenue in the second quarter and left as roughly $16 million of cost in the same quarter. Every dollar of it passes through.

Traders keep showing up because of what those builder markets list. Real-world asset perps, contracts on things like crude oil, gold, Nvidia, Tesla, a Nasdaq-100 tracker and pre-IPO names like SpaceX, hit a record $3.6 billion in open interest this month and overtook bitcoin as the platform’s largest market by that measure.

Between July 13 and July 19, tokenized stocks and commodities did $25 billion in volume, 52% of the weekly total, outpacing crypto perps for the first time. The contracts settle in stablecoins, never expire, and trade through the weekend when the New York Stock Exchange is shut. A product such as leveraged Nvidia exposure, at 2 a.m. on a Sunday, has few other homes.

Berkshire Hathaway Owns More Than 20% of American Express. Here’s What That Means for Individual Investors.

By

-

August 9, 2026

Berkshire Hathaway Owns More Than 20% of American Express. Here's What That Means for Individual Investors.

Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE: BRKA) (NYSE: BRKB) owns a massive $354 billion portfolio with dozens of different positions. One of its top holdings, however, is American Express (NYSE: AXP), a business the Omaha-based conglomerate has held since the 1990s.

As of March 31, Berkshire Hathaway owned almost 152 million shares of the credit card giant, giving it a sizable 22.5% stake in the company. This has worked out quite well recently, as the financial stock has generated a total return of 119% in the past five years (as of Aug. 6).

Missed Nvidia in 2009? This Rare Signal Is Flashing Again. In 2009, a “Double Down” signal flashed for a little-known chipmaker called Nvidia. For the first time in years, that same “Total Conviction” signal is flashing for a company 1/100th the size of Nvidia. Continue »

Here’s what the American Express position means for individual investors.

Image source: The Motley Fool.

Warren Buffett’s stamp of approval

During his multi-decade tenure as CEO of Berkshire Hathaway, Warren Buffett oversaw capital allocation decisions that resulted in the conglomerate’s stock compounding at a jaw-dropping 19.7% annualized pace. This track record is truly special in the world of investing, mostly because of its longevity.

Buffett’s philosophy focuses on identifying great businesses and letting them compound over long periods. When he finds a company he likes, individual investors certainly take notice. The Oracle of Omaha’s stamp of approval can be a powerful signal to the rest of the market that American Express is a wonderful business that deserves a closer look.

The payments stock should make it on investors’ watch list. If it passes Buffett’s screen, then it probably possesses a wide economic moat. This is a clear indication that it’s a high-quality company. American Express has built an incredibly strong brand through its premium positioning targeting affluent customers. This boosts spending activity on the platform, while supporting industry-leading charge-off rates.

Additionally, it benefits from a network effect. Merchants can capture more sales as the number of card members grows. And these card holders have more places to shop as merchant acceptance expands.

The premium credit card brand is performing well

Investors are probably now thinking about buying American Express shares. If there’s one reason to hesitate, it might be the valuation. The stock trades at a forward price-to-earnings ratio of 19.9. This isn’t expensive, in my opinion. However, it’s definitely not a bargain, either.

But the business is performing well. During the second quarter, American Express reported net revenue of $19.6 billion, up 10% year over year. Payment volume grew at the fastest pace in three years, driven by the spending behavior of millennial and Generation Z consumers. Diluted earnings per share increased 11% compared to Q2 2025. In the long run, the management team expects this profit figure to grow at a mid-teens annualized rate.

Berkshire Hathaway’s meaningful position in this stock should at least encourage individual investors to take a closer look.

Should you buy stock in American Express right now?

Before you buy stock in American Express, consider this:

The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the 10 best stocks for investors to buy now… and American Express wasn’t one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut are built for long-term growth and could produce monster returns in the coming years.

Consider when Netflix made this list on December 17, 2004… if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $399,832!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005… if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $1,374,595!*

That performance is why people listen. With a track record of beating the S&P 500 by 4x, Stock Advisor offers a distinct advantage. Don’t miss the latest top 10 list, available with Stock Advisor, and join an investing community built for the long haul.

See the 10 stocks »

*Stock Advisor returns as of August 9, 2026.

American Express is an advertising partner of Motley Fool Money. Neil Patel has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends American Express and Berkshire Hathaway. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

Berkshire Hathaway Owns More Than 20% of American Express. Here’s What That Means for Individual Investors. was originally published by The Motley Fool