Good morning investors!

If this is your first time reading, welcome to The Investor’s Edge — a thriving community of over 27,000 subscribers striving to be better investors with an edge in the market.

Every weekend we publish “The Weekly Wrap-Up” — your ticket to being well informed and staying ahead in the investment game!

This report is designed to help investors of all skill levels break down important stories/topics within the stock market. And best of all, we cut through all of the BS and give you exactly what you need to know in easy to digest, bite sized pieces of content.

Grab your coffee and let’s dive in.

It was a mixed week for markets after we saw a ton of volatility due to earnings, Fed rate and nomination news, tariff headlines, and more.

These are some of the biggest stories from the second half of the week that had an influence on market action.

The Federal Reserve paused its rate-cut cycle this week, holding policy steady as inflation remains above target and economic growth stays firm. Shortly after, President Trump nominated Kevin Warsh to succeed Jerome Powell as Fed chair, adding a leadership transition to an already sensitive moment for policy. Markets reacted calmly, reflecting expectations for near-term continuity despite rising political pressure.

🔑 Key Points

👀 What You Need to Know

Warsh’s nomination is the bigger market story because it raises the stakes around Fed independence and how policy gets made over the next year. The rate hold was expected, and it mainly signals the Fed wants more proof inflation is cooling before cutting again. The real swing factor is confirmation and credibility, a smooth process keeps markets focused on data, a messy one can inject volatility into rates, banks, and the dollar.

Microsoft $MSFT ( ▲ 0.77% ) posted a strong Q2 beat, but weaker than expected Azure guidance and OpenAI backlog concentration weighed on sentiment. The stock was -7.3% this week.

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Several major technology and payments companies reported earnings this week, with strong results across large-cap tech and continued resilience in consumer spending trends.

Apple $AAPL ( ▲ 2.46% ) delivered a record quarter driven by iPhone strength and continued Services growth.

Meta Platforms $META ( ▼ 3.35% ) posted strong top-line growth with accelerating ad demand and higher spending tied to AI infrastructure.

Tesla $TSLA ( ▼ 3.74% ) beat expectations but showed continued pressure on automotive volumes and profitability.

Visa $V ( ▼ 0.05% ) delivered a solid quarter supported by steady consumer spending and cross-border recovery.

Mastercard $MA ( ▲ 0.06% ) posted strong profit growth with continued strength in transaction volumes and services revenue.

For full breakdowns of these earnings, including graphics and all key takeaways. head to the earnings channel in our Discord.

📚 Edge-ucation: What is Guidance?

Guidance is management’s forward-looking outlook on the business, typically covering revenue, earnings, margins, or cash flow for upcoming quarters or the full year. It reflects what leadership expects based on current demand, costs, pricing, and macro conditions. Markets treat guidance as a window into the future, not a recap of the past.

In earnings season, guidance is often the deciding factor behind stock moves because it shapes how investors model growth, margins, and valuation well beyond the current quarter.

In this section, we'll be curating a selection of news headlines we think you'll find interesting. If a topic catches your eye, click the provided links to read more about it.

We continue to push out more and more content every week to give investors that edge. Here are the posts Investor’s Edge+ subscribers received this week.

Mondays are for the investors. Every Monday morning we share exactly what we’re watching in the week ahead, how we’re positioning, and even share a sneak peek into our systems and models. This week we discussed the upcoming Fed decision, MAG7 earnings, and the possibility of another government shutdown. See the latest full report here:

Earnings season continues while the market will get some insights in the labor market.

Earnings season really heats up next week as 25% of the S&P 500 is scheduled to report, including 2 more MAG7 names. Here is the full calendar of scheduled earnings releases:

Overall, 14 of the names we cover are set to report:

Next week’s focus will be the labor market, with nonfarm payolls, unemployment data, ADP employment, JOLTs job openings, and initial jobless claims all on the docket.

We also get PMI data and consumer sentiment sprinkled in throughout the week.

Here is the full calendar of events we will be watching:

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Here’s what you’re missing in the Discord:

🗨️ Chat rooms: Investors discussed the the huge moves from mega cap tech. Members also dove into the number of jobs reports and shared their views on the overall economy.

📊 Earnings / Economic reports: No more waiting for our newsletters to hit your inboxes - see earnings results and economic data as they are released. And more importantly, get our reactions and insights immediately.

🚨 Trade Alerts: Chris and Mark shared several trades, including additions to the portfolio and trades that set up their portfolios for the week.

Join us on Discord and let's level up our investing game together. The future of trading awaits—and you're invited to be a part of it! 🌟

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Thank you for reading this edition of the Weekly Wrap-Up. Have a great weekend!

Until next time investors!

Mark & Chris

The Investor’s Edge

This is not investing advice. It is very important that you do your own research and make investments based on your own personal circumstances, preferences, goals and risk tolerance.