Stocks, crude oil, and Treasuries are all up a bit in early trading. The dollar is flat along with gold and silver.
The earnings flood is continuing, with Morgan Stanley (MS) and BlackRock Inc. (BLK) becoming the latest “Big Finance” players to trounce estimates. Morgan beat sales and profit estimates, with earnings up 58% year-over-year in the second quarter. Meanwhile, BlackRock topped $15 trillion in assets under management (AUM) in the quarter – while also reporting a 15% rise in adjusted earnings per share and a 31% jump in revenue.
2026 Stock Issuance (IPOs, Secondaries, Convertible Bonds)
Source: Dealogic via the Wall Street Journal
Investment banking activity has been particularly strong – and that raises an important issue. Just last week, I weighed in on “IPO Overload” risk in a video Market Minute. Then I covered the “It’s all relative” counterargument in a Chart of the Day piece. Now, the Wall Street Journal is weighing in with a front-page article called “Blockbuster Stock Sales Are Threatening to Overwhelm the Bull Market.”
It chronicles how companies have sold almost $345 billion in new stock so far in 2026. That’s more than companies sold each year from 2022-2025. Elm Wealth estimates a net $500 billion in equity and debt will get dumped on the market over the next year. That’s a big swing from the $1 trillion drained, on net, in recent years via things like stock buybacks, according to the Journal.
Finally, the AI trade got an extra boost from ASML Holding NV (ASML), the Dutch semiconductor equipment giant. It beat sales and profit forecasts, raised its full-year guidance, and said “ongoing AI-related investments and continued progress in AI technologies are driving demand for advanced Logic and Memory chips, further strengthening the semiconductor industry's growth outlook.” Already up 66.5% year-to-date, ASML stock rose modestly on the news.
