Falling job-growth numbers drive more people to the gig economy to supplement their income.
The preliminary and seasonally adjusted job-growth numbers for July issued by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics on August 7, paint a picture of a continuing slowing economy, as the agency reported an overall loss of 23,000 non-farm jobs over the month.
The numbers come on the heels of the Bureau’s revised May and June numbers, which reduced the total number of jobs by 103,000, resulting in 63,000 and 20,000 added jobs, respectively.
“The three-month average payroll gain collapsed by more than a third,” wrote Frances Donal, chief economist at RBC, and Mike Reid, head of US economics at RBC, in an analysis note released before the BLS report. “Net revisions to the prior two months subtracted more jobs than were created in June.”
Financial activities lost 14,000 jobs, with credit intermediation and related activities losing 9,000, while insurance carriers and related activities lost 7,000. The sub-sector for securities, commodity contracts, funds, trusts, other financial vehicles, investments, and related activities added a modest 1,000 jobs over the same period.
Healthcare was a standout in July, adding 22,000 jobs.
Once again, there is little correlation between the employment data issued by the Bureau and that published in the ADP National Employment Report for the month, which is slightly more optimistic.
Using its own methodology developed with the Stanford Digital Economy Lab, the authors of the ADP report estimated a gain of 44,000 in U.S. private employment in July, with financial activities gaining 10,000 jobs. Only education and health services beat that gain by adding an estimated 36,000 new jobs. Professional and business services experienced the third-largest gain, adding 9,000 jobs last month.
Findings of the Bank of America Institute’s Employment Report for July, based on anonymized client data, suggest that what job growth occurred in July came from lower-income households, which saw an estimated 2% year-on-year growth, up from 1.7% in June. Higher-income households saw approximately a third of the job growth of lower-income households, while middle-income households saw jobs contract by less than 1%.
The report’s authors noted that the share of fully employed clients active in the gig economy, which has continued to grow over the past three years, is not abating.
The authors conclude that some households are using gig work to “top up” their regular paychecks. In June, nearly half of the gig workers earned income from gig work for only one month in the past 12 months, while 74% of gig workers earned income for three months over the same timeframe.
The gig work that has seen the greatest growth in participation since 2024 is “social commerce,” as thrifting becomes increasingly important to households, the authors write. The number of households seeking to make a little extra via ridesharing, food delivery, content creation, and vacation rentals has returned to close to 2024 levels, with little change.
Rob Daly covers fintech and the economy. Contact him at rdaly@gfmag.com.
WHAT’S better than a day out at your favourite theme park? Not having to drive home afterwards.
We’ve rounded up the top UK staycation deals across theme parks where you can stay on-site as a family from just £34.13pp.
That means waking up just steps away from your favourite coasters – and in some cases – some free fast passes and gifts bundled in, too.
Here’s our top short break deals for attractions like Thorpe Park and Alton Towers.
Alton Towers are running a Kids Swim Free summer sale across their short breaks.
Choose between a stay at the CBeebies Land Hotel, Alton Towers Hotel, Woodland Lodges, Luxury Treehouses, Stargazing Pods or Splash Landings – the last of which is attached to the waterpark.
With your stay you’ll enjoy one day’s theme park entry, and with the summer sale, you’ll also bag free waterpark entry for kids.
In one weekend you’ll be able to tick off the new Bluey children’s coaster and take on the high-speed flumes of the huge indoor waterpark.
Head to Wowcher to save up to 57% on tickets to Gulliver’s Theme Park.
The offer is valid across their locations in Milton Keynes, Rother Valley, Matlock Bath and Warrington.
Across the parks you can take on the dizzying Gyrosaur, ride the Rocky Ridge Railway, or drop by the farm park to meet the animals.
At £12.50 per person, this Wowcher offer slashes the standard £25 ticket price in half.
Add in free parking and free admission for toddlers under 90cm, and it makes for a budget-friendly school holiday day out.
The theme park are also currently offering a save up to 40% deal on short breaks – check their website for more.
Book in for an affordable theme park staycation at Chessington World of Adventures this summer.
Short breaks at Chessington include an overnight stay in a themed resort hotel plus one day’s theme park and zoo entry, early ride time, hotel entertainment, a buffet breakfast plus free parking.
Older kids will love thrill coasters like Vampire, while little ones can tackle rides like Chase’s Mountain Mission at the newly-opened World of Paw Patrol.
Plus with the Summer Savings scheme underway until September 1, you’ll benefit from reduced VAT prices whilst you’re away.
Thorpe Park are also offering affordable short breaks this summer, bundling an overnight stay, breakfast, two-day theme park entry, free parking and one hour’s fast-track into one price.
Stay in the theme park’s cabins to be right in the heart of the action, or choose to stay at a nearby hotel.
Plus if you choose to stay in a themed cabin on-site, you’ll get an extra fast-track pass for one coaster per guest. You can use it five times on coasters like Colossus, Nemesis Inferno and The Swarm.
Whether you’re visiting to have a go on Hyperia, the UK’s tallest and fastest rollercoaster, or to to race down multi-lane rubber ring waterslides as a family, you’ll tick it all off with a staycation.
Heading to London? Plan ahead by booking a multi-attraction pass and bag some savings.
You can combine a mix of Merlin attractions like the London Eye, Madame Tussauds, the London Dungeon, Sea Life and more to spread across your visit to cut costs.
There’s loads of combo packages available – one example is a trip to the London Eye, Madame Tussauds and Sea Life bundled at £56 per adult (down from £64) and kids’ tickets at £50.31 instead of £57.50.
If you’re visiting London from elsewhere in the UK, you’ll want to make sure you tick off several of the big attractions in one go – and these multi-attraction passes are one of the most cost-efficient ways to do so.
Immerse yourself fully in the world of Lego with a themed stay at Legoland Windsor Resort.
Short breaks include an overnight stay with hot breakfast and one day’s entry into the theme park.
Pick between an off-site hotel or a Legoland Resort Hotel – stays at the latter include a Lego-themed room, early park access, Legoland character meet and greets, a free gift for kids and free parking.
Guests also get discounts on Legoland Adventure Golf, which makes for the perfect rainy day activity if the weather decides to play up.
In the park, scan race on the Minifigure Speedway coaster, soar on the Flight of the Sky Lion, and get creative themselves in the massive playroom.
Prices correct at the time of publication.
nLIGHT (LASR) shares fell about 21% on Friday after the laser technology company warned that China-linked supply chain disruptions would weigh on current-quarter results, overshadowing better-than-expected second-quarter earnings and revenue.
The company reported adjusted earnings of 15 cents per share
Can fintech bridge Colombia’s financial gap? Recent policy shifts and new leadership suggest it can.
This article appears in the July/August issue of Global Finance Magazine.
After several years of subdued growth, weighed down by weak fixed investment, high borrowing costs, persistent productivity constraints, and a complex political environment, Colombia’s next growth story is taking shape, centered on technology, particularly fintech and payments.
But first, the country must reckon with a paradox it has so far failed to resolve.
Over the past decade, Colombia has built one of Latin America’s largest fintech ecosystems, incubating more than 400 active companies. Their combined revenues have tripled over the past four years and are projected to double again by 2027, according to Finnovista’s Fintech Radar Colombia 2025.
Yet the country’s underlying financial system remains shallow. Fewer than one in six microenterprises have access to formal credit. Insurance penetration is just 3.3% of GDP and the financing gap for small and medium-sized enterprises is estimated at 13% of GDP, according to the World Bank.
“For years, we celebrated open accounts while ignoring that millions of people cannot use them to save, pay, or finance their projects without falling into informality,” notes Gabriel Santos, president of Colombia Fintech.
But with the narrow victory in June of right-wing, Trump-backed outsider Abelardo de la Espriella, whose presidential campaign promised deregulation and a more business-friendly stance, Colombia’s industry — and the opportunity for foreign investors — appears to be entering a new era.
“Colombia is selling at a discount to its fundamentals,” says Juan Manuel Quintero, CEO of Precia, a leading provider of valuation services and financial information in Latin America. “For investors willing to look past the headline political noise, the risk-adjusted opportunity is more attractive than the country’s reputation currently suggests.”
At first glance, Colombia appears well-banked. In 2024, 95.8% of Colombian adults held a deposit product, according to Banca de las Oportunidades, and bank-led digital wallets such as Nequi and DaviPlata have driven much of that expansion.
But deposit access and financial depth are not the same thing. Only 35.5% of adults had access to any credit product in 2024, according to the Superintendencia Financiera de Colombia. The gap is even wider among businesses; just 15.3% of microenterprises had access to credit, compared with 74.8% of medium-sized enterprises, according to a report by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. Domestic credit to the private sector stands at about 50% of GDP, below the Latin American average of 54% and a fraction of Chile’s 116%, according to the World Bank.
“This is a powerful story of growth,” argues José Ignacio López, president of the National Association of Financial Institutions of Colombia (ANIF). “Colombia is lagging in many regards in terms of financial inclusion compared to peers in the region,” not just in credit but also in insurance and investment products. “The whole agenda of financial inclusion as an engine of growth is there.”
Start-ups are not the only leaders in Colombia’s fintech development; established banks have been among the most aggressive builders. Nequi, created by Bancolombia, and DaviPlata, from Banco Davivienda, highlight how the country’s largest financial institutions were willing to bet early on digital. DaviPlata alone reached 18.5 million customers by the end of 2024.
“The talent, the regulatory openness, the incumbent institutions willing to innovate, and a large, underserved population that represents both a social imperative and a commercial opportunity” are all there, says Quintero. What Colombia lacks is “the institutional architecture to convert those ingredients into compounding, systemic change. That gap is not a market failure; it is a policy choice. And it remains reversible.”
Colombia is building the plumbing to make that possible, and some of it is already functioning.
Bre-B, the country’s interoperable instant-payment system modeled on Brazil’s Pix, went fully live last October. Within months, it had registered 99 million aliases for more than 33 million customers and 2.8 million merchants.
Cash still accounts for 77.8% of transactions in Colombia, but Bre-B aims to change that by allowing anyone to send and receive money instantly across any bank, wallet, or fintech, using nothing more than a phone number or national ID.
Decree 368 of 2026, handed down in April by the outgoing administration of President Gustavo Petro, added a second layer, making open finance mandatory for supervised institutions and replacing an earlier voluntary framework that had seen limited adoption. Its significance goes beyond convenience. Most of Colombia’s small businesses have no credit history, operate on cash, and lack collateral or audited accounts. The formal credit system was not built to serve them.
But a business that processes payments through Bre-B immediately starts producing something it never did before: a timestamped, verifiable record of money moving in and out. Quintero calls it simply the “credit file” for businesses that have never had one. If open-finance rules allow lenders to access that data, the underwriting equation shifts from asking whether a borrower has the right documents to asking whether it generates enough cash to repay a loan.
The deeper opportunity, López argues, lies in open data: extending the logic to commercial records, utility payments, and supply-chain relationships that fall entirely outside formal finance. “The ultimate goal is to roll out open finance and then move on to open data. That combination of payments and open data could be a powerful tool,” he says.
When he takes office in August, De la Espriella’s government will inherit a fintech sector with solid private-sector momentum, but one that is still short on tax clarity, regulatory continuity, capital formation, data governance, and trust.
His win prompted an immediate rally in Colombian bonds and equities as investors priced in a more business-friendly policy environment. But the harder question remains: whether that agenda can reduce the structural frictions that keep isolated success stories from evolving into deeper financial infrastructure.
The fiscal framework is central to the problem. Early-stage companies face tax obligations disproportionate to their cash generation, while the treatment of reinvested capital, equity incentives, and technology investment does not reflect how digital businesses actually scale.
“A fiscal architecture not designed for innovation-stage businesses creates disproportionate burdens at exactly the moment when companies need to reinvest capital to scale,” Quintero notes.
López anticipates continuity despite political polarization. Financial inclusion and fintech are “not really controversial” areas, he says, even in a politically divided country. But investors still need “clear signals, especially long-term ones, so fintech firms and the broader financial sector can put their bets on the country.”
Financial inclusion alone will not solve Colombia’s growth problem. But if the country can turn payment data into access to credit and fintech momentum into deeper financial markets, it could show that parts of the informal economy can become more visible, financeable, and productive.
Thomas Monteiro is a contributing writer based in Spain.
Earnings Call Insights: INmune Bio (INMB) Q2 2026
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MDA Space Non-GAAP EPS of $0.36 beats by $0.10, revenue of $498.6M beats by $180.04M
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The federal law enforcement probe into the financial affairs of the Dodgers’ controlling owner, Mark Walter, seems to focus on what looks like an obscure financial maneuver: related-party transactions.
They are deals between entities with business or personal ties, including loans, sales and other transactions, that can have legitimate reasons but pose potential conflicts of interest and typically require extra scrutiny.
Walter tapped insurers he controlled to provide most of the financing for the $2.15-billion acquisition of the Dodgers in 2012, The Times has reported — a deal later vetted by state insurance regulators.
Now, regulators reportedly are investigating whether billions of dollars’ worth of similar loans made by Walter’s companies were properly disclosed.
There are examples in which related-party transactions led to trouble, including the 2001 bankruptcy of Enron Corp., the largest at the time in Wall Street history. Bernie Madoff profited from his Ponzi scheme through related-party loans.
At issue with Walter is $21 billion in loans not disclosed to state insurance regulators that were made by two Delaware insurers he owns, according to ratings agency Fitch. The loans reportedly were made to companies with ties to Walter or his TWG Global holdings company.
The seriousness of the investigation has been highlighted by subpoenas served on the insurers and the reported seizure of Walter’s cellphone and laptop by federal authorities. Still, investigations by prosecutors and securities regulators can result in no action.
Here are more details on the risk presented by related-party transactions and why they require disclosure and extra regulatory scrutiny.
What do the investigations mean for his ownership of his sport teams?
The 66-year-old billionaire also took a majority stake in the Los Angeles Lakers last year and owns the Chelsea soccer team in the English Premier League. There is no indication yet that any of this has affected his ownership stakes, but the probe has yet to be completed.
What is the problem with related-party transactions?
Bruce Dubinsky, a forensic accountant who worked on the Enron and Madoff cases, says the issue comes down to the motivation of the parties and can be explained through an analogy.
Sell a car to a stranger and you both research its worth and come to an agreed “fair market value,” he said. Sell it to your brother, you might cut the price to “give him a deal,” and later even forgive the payments.
“That’s why, from an audit standpoint, there should be more scrutiny if you’re doing business with the left hand and the right hand, because it’s easier to manipulate things,” Dubinsky said. “Repayments can be delayed indefinitely. They are always more suspect to fraud.”
How does that play out in the insurance industry?
Insurance is one of the most regulated industries, since the companies hold premium dollars from policyholders for future claims payouts — and regulators want to ensure the money is there when it’s needed. Related-party transactions can threaten that.
“There is a conflict of interest between the policyholders’ interest in the company being profitable and the owner’s interest in getting the least expensive financing that is available,” said Jim Donelon, who served as Louisiana insurance commissioner for 18 years before stepping down in 2024.
“It potentially threatens the solvency of the company, which then threatens the welfare of the policyholders,” Donelon said.
The National Assn. of Insurance Commissioners, for whom Donelon served as president, provides guidance to regulators on how to review related-party transactions.
What are some of the most notable examples of related-party transactions turning into financial disasters?
The failure of Enron was a prime lesson in how related-party transactions can lead to a company’s downfall.
As the Houston energy trader struggled and racked up $30 billion in debt, chief financial officer Andrew Fastow thought he found a way to keep it off Enron’s books. He created off-balance sheet entities to unload the debt and took personal stakes in them, allowing him to sit on both sides of the negotiation and pocket millions.
They were “transactions with related parties that were not at arm’s length,” Dubinsky said.
The debacle was a driving force in the passage of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, which tightened regulations over governance, accounting and related-party transactions.
What about the Madoff fraud?
The Madoff scandal, in which investors lost $17.5 billion in invested principal, operated like a typical Ponzi scheme with returns to older investors paid by money from new investors.
However, related-party transactions were key too, and some literally involved family members. Madoff’s brother, Peter, pleaded guilty to receiving $15.7 million in sham loans and giving $9.9 million in sham loans to family members. What’s more, the auditor was a related party.
“In Madoff, what were called ‘related‑party loans’ were just sham transactions — there was no real economic substance. It was simply Madoff taking money out of his own firm,” said Dubinsky, an expert witness for the government.
Is there anything comparable with the Walter probe?
The three situations appear entirely different, but the investigation into the related-party loans made by Walter’s Delaware Life and its affiliate, Clear Spring Life and Annuity, involves vast sums of money.
After receiving the subpoenas, the firms conducted internal investigations. They had reported having $1 billion in related-party loans but, after the review, they reclassified $21 billion worth of loans as related, including $4.6 billion held by Clear Spring, said Fitch analyst Jamie Tucker, senior director of North American insurance ratings.
Executives said they were unaware the loans were going to an affiliated company.
Is there any indication what the money was used for?
“Unclear at this stage,” Tucker said. “This a developing situation with ongoing investigations.”
One clue may be a report that Walter tapped insurers to fund more deals than the Dodgers acquisition. The Wall Street Journal said five insurers had provided more than $10 billion in deal funding since Walter’s financial services company, Guggenheim Partners, got into the insurance business after the 2008 financial crisis.
What have been the implications for the insurers owned by Walters?
Fitch said the financial restatement increased the two insurers’ related-party loans from 2% to 40% of their portfolios, the highest exposure among life insurers it rates in North America.
Fitch, A.M. Best and S&P Global also downgraded Delaware Life’s outlook to negative, though they said the insurer maintain a high level of financial strength.
“Our capital position and liquidity remain strong, and our financial strength ratings are unchanged,” said Group 1001, the insurers’ parent company, in a statement.
What has Walter had to say about all this?
He has not publicly commented, but a TWG spokesperson stated that, “Mark Walter and TWG have always acted in good faith, and those who have done business with Mark know him as honest and straightforward. Nothing about these transactions was any different.”
Earnings Call Insights: Karman Holdings Inc. (KRMN) Q2 fiscal 2026
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Earnings Call Insights: MicroVision (MVIS) Q2 2026
MicroVision framed “Lidar 2.0” as a shift in operating model and go-to-market, with CEO Glen DeVos saying it “marked a deliberate shift from a hardware-first company proving out technology for automotive to a lidar-based perception
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Earnings Call Insights: HA Sustainable Infrastructure Capital (HASI) Q2 2026
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Paradox Interactive reports Q2 results
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Financial giants in Japan partner with AI firms to build zero-trust cybersecurity defenses.
This article appears in the July/August issue of Global Finance Magazine.
Japan’s banking sector is becoming a high-stakes proving ground for AI-driven cybersecurity.
As autonomous “frontier AI” models rapidly increase the speed and scale of cyberthreats by identifying zero-day vulnerabilities, the country’s financial giants are re-engineering their defensive paradigms.
So, it came as no surprise that, in June, Minister of Finance Satsuki Katayama announced that Mizuho, MUFG, and SMBC had secured eligibility to use cutting-edge AI tools, including those from Alphabet’s Google.
“From a financial perspective, this issue concerns all companies and all economic actors,” Katayama says. “We therefore want to make sound choices in a way that serves the national interest.”
Alphabet also had an edge, according to Katayama, considering it already runs data centers in Japan.
Katayama’s announcement followed a critical breakthrough in which the government and major financial institutions secured access to AI company Anthropic’s highly guarded “Claude Mythos” model. Mythos possesses unprecedented capabilities to discover and remediate software configurations rapidly, but its dual-use nature means it could be weaponized by attackers to construct immediate exploit pathways.
Anthropic’s rival, OpenAI, has similarly pledged future access to its latest frontier model, GPT-5.5-Cyber, to a select number of domestic banks.
This rapid influx of American technology underscores how Japanese banks aim to delicately balance the immense benefits of generative AI with its significant operational risks.
The urgency stems from an unprecedented joint emergency directive issued on May 22 by the Japan Financial Services Agency (JFSA) and the Bank of Japan (BoJ).
Spurred by international alarms, including warnings from the UK AI Security Institute and a Financial Stability Report from the Banco de España, regulators realized that human-dependent monitoring cannot keep pace with the velocity of AI-generated attacks.
The JFSA-BoJ directive also comes in the wake of “Project YATA-Shield,” a comprehensive, Japanese government-wide cyber defense package mobilized to foster “Advanced Threat Awareness.”
With the JFSA urging banks to prioritize resources on a risk basis and shift toward continuous “zero-trust” authentication, Japan is demonstrating that resilience in the AI era is no longer measured by blocking every attack, but by the speed of detection, containment, and recovery.
John Amari is a contributing writer based in Japan.
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TORONTO & HO CHI MINH CITY, Vietnam — dynaCERT Inc. (TSX: DYA) (OTCQB: DYFSF) (FRA: DMJ) (“dynaCERT” or the “Company”) is pleased to announce further progress in its strategic market expansion throughout Vietnam, with multiple customer deployments advancing simultaneously across several key industrial sectors.
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As part of its continued market entry strategy, the Company has completed the pre-installation requirements for an additional pilot customer operating its own fleet of long-haul trucks in the waste and recycling industry in the Hanoi region. Installation of HydraGEN™ units is expected to be completed by mid-August.
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Further to the Company’s previously announced agreement with a leading oil and gas company in Vietnam, the final selection of fire trucks, forklifts and mobile cranes has now been completed, with pilot installations scheduled to commence during the same period.
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In addition, dynaCERT has finalized an enhanced telematics solution, enabling HydraLytica™ to receive engine data, in conjunction with the recent installation of multiple HydraGEN™ units on trucks and container handling equipment operated by one of the world’s largest logistics companies at its Vietnam port operations. The system will establish detailed operating baselines and enable future measurement of fuel consumption and emissions performance across the customer’s fleet.
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With active deployments now spanning municipal waste collection, oil and gas operations, logistics, port handling equipment and industrial material handling, Vietnam is rapidly evolving into one of dynaCERT‘s most strategically important international markets. The diversity of applications being evaluated continues to demonstrate the adaptability of HydraGEN™ technology across a broad range of heavy-duty diesel equipment while expanding awareness of the Company’s technology throughout the region.
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The Company’s growing presence across multiple fleet operators and industrial sectors is increasing market visibility beyond Vietnam. As awareness of multiple installations continues to grow, the Company is engaged in further discussions in neighboring markets, including Cambodia, Indonesia and Japan, as dynaCERT broadens its Southeast and East Asian reach.
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The Company expects multiple pilot installations across Vietnam to be operational during the third quarter of 2026, representing a significant milestone in the execution of its commercialization strategy in the region.
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Bernd Krueper, President and Director of dynaCERT, commented: “We now have projects progressing simultaneously across multiple industries, each providing valuable operating data and further demonstrating the versatility of HydraGEN™ technology under real-world conditions.
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As our installed base continues to grow, we are seeing increasing market awareness and commercial engagement from organizations both within Vietnam and throughout the surrounding region. We believe Vietnam is establishing itself as an important reference market for dynaCERT’s continued expansion across Southeast Asia.”
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About dynaCERT Inc.
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dynaCERT
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Inc. is a Canadian Cleantech company based in Toronto specializing in technologies for reducing fuel consumption and CO₂ emissions from internal combustion engines. The Company manufactures and distributes carbon emission reduction technology along with its proprietary HydraLytica™ Telematics. HydraLytica™ is a platform for capturing data to monitor fuel consumption and calculate greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions – the basis for monetizing CO₂ savings.
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dynaCERT
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methodology has also been Verra-certified, which will provide access to the global market for tradable carbon credits in the future.
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As part of the growing global hydrogen economy, dynaCERT’s patented technology produces hydrogen and pure oxygen on-demand through a proprietary electrolysis system. These gases are supplied through the engine clean air intake to enhance combustion, which has been shown to reduce carbon emissions and improve fuel efficiency. The Company has invested heavily in research and development and has its own production facilities. dynaCERT’s technology is designed for a wide range of diesel engines used in on-road vehicles, refrigerated trailers, mining, oil & gas, off-road construction and port handling equipment, as well as stationary generators.
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Website: www.dynaCERT.com.
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READER ADVISORY
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This press release of dynaCERT Inc. contains statements that constitute “forward-looking statements”. Such forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause dynaCERT’s actual results, performance or achievements, or developments in the industry to differ materially from the anticipated results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. There can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. Actual results may vary from the forward-looking information in this news release due to certain material risk factors.
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Except for statements of historical fact, this news release contains certain “forward-looking information” within the meaning of applicable securities law. Forward-looking information is frequently characterized by words such as “plan”, “expect”, “project”, “intend”, “believe”, “anticipate”, “estimate” and other similar words, or statements that certain events or conditions “may” or “will” occur. Although we believe that the expectations reflected in the forward-looking information are reasonable, there can be no assurance that such expectations will prove to be correct. We cannot guarantee future results, performance or achievements. Consequently, there is no representation that the actual results achieved will be the same, in whole or in part, as those set out in the forward-looking information.
Nordic Semiconductor beats top-line estimates; gives Q3 outlook
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European equities keep reaching new highs.
The pan-European STOXX Europe 600 climbed to another record on Wednesday, closing at around 657 points after touching a fresh intraday high and extending its winning streak to a third consecutive session.
The blue-chip EURO STOXX 50, which tracks the euro area’s largest listed companies, also set a new all-time high during the day. The broader benchmark has now gained about 10% since the start of 2026.
The rally is broad-based. Germany’s DAX broke above 26,100 for the first time. France’s CAC 40 climbed to a record 8,700, while Italy’s FTSE MIB reached an unprecedented 53,540.
Yet the companies leading Europe’s bull market bear little resemblance to the household names that have long defined the continent’s equity story.
Luxury groups are nowhere to be seen. Neither are the pharmaceutical giants that traditionally anchor European portfolios. Even banks, despite a strong year, have largely been overtaken.
Instead, the biggest winners of 2026 are the companies building the infrastructure behind the artificial intelligence boom: manufacturers of semiconductor wafers, chip-testing equipment, advanced substrates and industrial technology.
Europe’s stock market is no longer being led by brands consumers recognise. It is increasingly being powered by the suppliers enabling the world’s AI capital-spending race.
Several forces have come together to fuel the rally.
The immediate catalyst was geopolitical.
Reports that Washington and Tehran are moving towards a new agreement to reopen the Strait of Hormuz pushed oil prices sharply lower, easing inflation fears and reducing cost pressures for Europe’s manufacturers and airlines.
The economic backdrop has also surprised investors.
Eurostat’s preliminary estimate showed the eurozone economy expanded 0.4% quarter-on-quarter in the second quarter, double economists’ expectations, following flat growth in the first quarter. Annual growth accelerated to 1.0%.
Pantheon Macroeconomics’ chief eurozone economist Claus Vistesen said the euro area “comfortably beat expectations yesterday, posting GDP growth of 0.4% quarter-to-quarter in Q2, after upwardly revised zero growth in Q1. This was 0.2pp above the consensus and 0.1pp above our forecast.”
Corporate earnings have added another pillar of support.
Second-quarter reporting has generally exceeded expectations, while global enthusiasm for artificial intelligence infrastructure has transformed a small group of European technology suppliers into some of the world’s best-performing stocks.
These are the 10 best-performing European stocks with a market capitalisation of €1 billion or more, ranked by share price performance through 5 August.
Europe’s steel champion has quietly become one of this year’s biggest industrial winners.
Shares of ArcelorMittal have gained 65.3% since the start of 2026, making the company the tenth-best performer in the STOXX Europe 600 through 5 August.
The Luxembourg-based group reported revenue of $16.5 billion in the second quarter and underlying operating profit of $2.1 billion, its strongest performance in Europe for three years.
Profitability improved as new EU import quotas reduced competition from cheaper foreign steel, while the company continued buying back its own shares, returning more cash to investors.
Higher interest rates and resilient economic activity across Central and Eastern Europe have helped the Austrian lender outperform most of its European peers. Raiffeisen Bank International shares have climbed 67.6% year-to-date through 5 August.
First-half profit excluding Russia rose 25% to €708 million, prompting management to raise its full-year forecast for net interest income to €4.4–4.5 billion.
Investors have also welcomed stronger capital levels and easing concerns over the bank’s Eastern European operations.
The Italian engineering group has benefited from the global revival in offshore energy investment.
Saipem stock is up 75.8% in 2026 through 5 August, extending one of the strongest rallies among European industrial companies.
First-half revenue increased to €7.35 billion, while underlying operating profit rose 9.4% to €836 million. Its order book expanded to a record €29.9 billion, giving the company years of work already secured despite trimming guidance to reflect around €70 million of conflict-related costs.
The Franco-Italian chipmaker has emerged as one of Europe’s biggest beneficiaries of renewed enthusiasm for artificial intelligence infrastructure.
Shares of STMicroelectronics have more than doubled in 2026, rising 105.7%.
Second-quarter revenue climbed 26% to $3.49 billion, while the company returned to an operating profit after several difficult quarters. Management forecast around $3.7 billion in revenue for the current quarter, signalling that the semiconductor downturn is gradually easing.
The German company manufactures highly specialised equipment used to produce advanced semiconductors.
AIXTRON shares have surged 121% since the beginning of the year, placing the company among Europe’s biggest AI winners.
Second-quarter orders jumped 81% to €214.5 million, driven by booming demand for photonics and power-chip manufacturing equipment. Management reaffirmed its full-year revenue forecast of €560 million.
Few investors know Technoprobe, yet almost every advanced semiconductor relies on its testing technology before reaching customers.
Technoprobe has rallied 135.1% in 2026 through 5 August, making it one of Europe’s strongest-performing technology stocks.
Following a record first quarter with €187 million in revenue, management raised its full-year sales forecast to between €950 million and €1.05 billion, reflecting growing demand for AI-related chip testing equipment.
The Austrian sensor and photonics specialist has staged one of the European market’s biggest turnarounds.
ams-OSRAM stock has gained 136.2% since January.
Second-quarter revenue reached €805 million, at the top end of company guidance, while management continued making progress towards commercial production of its microLED technology for augmented-reality glasses.
Investors also welcomed the sale of its non-core sensor division to Infineon, strengthening the company’s balance sheet.
The oil producer is the only energy company among Europe’s top-performing stocks this year.
Shares of Tullow Oil have advanced 136.4% year-to-date through 5 August.
Management recently increased its forecast for 2026 free cash flow to between $170 million and $250 million, more than doubling its previous guidance after benefiting from stronger oil prices during the first half of the year.
Ironically, the stock fell on Wednesday as hopes of easing tensions in the Middle East pushed crude prices lower.
Austria’s AT&S manufactures the advanced substrates that connect artificial intelligence processors with memory chips inside high-performance servers.
AT&S shares have soared 343.5% in 2026, making the company Europe’s second-best-performing stock.
When reporting quarterly results on 4 August, management forecast 30%–35% revenue growth this year, driven by continued investment in AI data centres.
Despite the spectacular rally, the shares remain about 40% below the record highs reached in June.
No European company has benefited more from the artificial intelligence investment boom than France’s Soitec.
Soitec shares have skyrocketed 414.5% since the start of 2026 through 5 August, making the company the best-performing constituent of the STOXX Europe 600.
The semiconductor materials specialist reported annual revenue of €592 million, down 34% as the industry worked through excess inventories. However, investors focused on signs that the recovery had begun.
Revenue from its fast-growing photonics business exceeded $100 million for the first time, while free cash flow reached €63 million, far ahead of analysts’ expectations.
Management expects revenue to return to growth during the current financial year, reinforcing confidence that Soitec is becoming one of Europe’s biggest beneficiaries of the global AI infrastructure build-out.
Earnings Call Insights: Arcutis Biotherapeutics (ARQT) Q2 2026
“I’m happy to report that once again, we made substantial progress across all 3 pillars during the second quarter” (President, CEO & Director Todd Watanabe), describing the company’s “grow, expand, build” strategy for ZORYVE and the broader pipeline.
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