GOOD WEEK

Palantir Technologies (PLTR 0.41%) edged up in price. The combination of a fresh new deal with a partner across the Pacific Ocean and an award from a respected research company pushed the stock up nearly 1% higher.  Palantir announced that it has expanded its cooperation with said partner, South Korea-based Hyundai Heavy Industries Group. Palantir will deliver its Palantir Foundry solution to businesses within the sprawling industrial conglomerate that concentrate on ship building. For Hyundai, this is part of a push to modernize its operations in the segment.
 

BAD WEEK

BILI (NASDAQ) (-3.74%)

Affirm Holdings (AFRM -3.60%) finished the day down.  Affirm is a "buy now, pay later" company, which offers installment loans to consumers at the point of sale. Rising interest rates are the tool the Fed is using to slow down the economy and combat high inflation. As the needle has barely budged, the Fed is expected to continue raising rates through the end of 2022 into 2023.  Many investors fear it could lead to a recessionary environment or low growth in gross domestic product, which would hurt banks and payment providers. Affirm wasn't the only financial stock to sink lower on Friday, as Mastercard, Citigroup, and Goldman Sachs were all down.

Shares of FedEx FDX -3.37% slid, marking the worst single-day percentage decline in company history. The sell-off came in response to warnings from CEO Raj Subramaniam that the climate for the package delivery business is swiftly deteriorating.  FedEx's pre-announcement caught the market off guard, particularly when considering that it was just in late June that FedEx guided for fiscal 2023 diluted earnings per share, which would have been the highest annual performance in company history. 

WHAT ELSE HAPPENED?

Apple (AAPL) and Google parent-Alphabet (GOOGL) led all U.S. companies in stock buybacks during the second quarter, though overall repurchases fell nearly 22% from the previous quarter, according to S&P Dow Jones Indices. Meanwhile, Microsoft (MSFT) and Facebook-parent Meta (META) also placed among the top five in stock buybacks.  From a shareholder view, buybacks of Apple stock and other repurchases boost earnings by reducing outstanding shares.

Overall, S&P 500 buybacks in second quarter were down 21.8% from the first quarter's record $281 billion.

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