SPACs, Meme Stocks, and Hot IPOs Are Back. Why That’s a Warning for Markets.

(EDUARDO LEAL/AFP via Getty Images)

Stock markets are buoyant right now, but for those getting swept up in the risk-on mood it’s worth noting the gamblers’ mantra: “No crying in the casino.”

The phrase, used by Chamath Palihapitya late Monday as the Silicon Valley investor launched a new special purpose acquisition company (SPAC), is a warning to investors going all-in on high-risk assets.

Now the Federal Reserve looks set to start cutting rates, the signs of market exuberance are everywhere. The meme-stock frenzy first seen in 2021 has reappeared, IPOs are flourishing, cryptos are in vogue, and SPACs—blank-check investment vehicles that thrived during the Covid-19 pandemic—seem to be back.

Investors seeking to buy into optimism around the positive meetings between President Donald Trump and Ukraine leader Volodymyr Zelensky channeled their energies into a newly formed SPAC rather than the broader market, which didn’t react.

Ukraine’s largest mobile operator, Kyivstar Group, went public on Friday via a blank-check merger. Its shares, which trade under the ticker KYIV, surged 17% on Monday.

Lessons from history suggest this is a time to be cautious. The same speculative assets boomed straight after the pandemic—marking the top of the so-called everything bubble, which burst as soon as the Fed started hiking rates in early 2022.

The casino reference should be a stark warning. Those who continue to roll the market dice must be prepared to take the consequences.

—George Glover

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Trump’s Possible Next Move: Host U.S., Russia, Ukraine Talks

There was an upbeat tone to the White House meeting among European leaders, Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky, and President Donald Trump, who left the group late in the afternoon to call Russia’s President Vladimir Putin as he tried to hammer out the outlines of a peace deal to end the war in Ukraine.

• At the top of the agenda was deciding who will do what in terms of security guarantees for Ukraine. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen referred to terms that were “Article 5 like,” a nod to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s provision that an attack against one member is an attack against all.
• That doesn’t mean that Ukraine would be offered membership in the alliance, something Trump said Sunday is off the table but that Ukraine has sought. Instead it involves a “credible Ukrainian army,” France’s President Emmanuel Macron said. Backing from Europe and the U.S. was under discussion at the meeting.
• Several leaders in attendance, including Macron and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz also made an appeal for a cease-fire or truce before a formal peace agreement was put in place. Trump has played down the likelihood of that since meeting with Putin in Alaska on Friday.
• The talks have given an unexpected lift to the stock of Kyivstar Group, Ukraine’s largest mobile operator that went public on the Nasdaq Friday through a blank-check company merger. Rising 17% on Monday, the stock emerged as a trendy play for retail investors looking to bet on a peace deal.

What’s Next: Zelensky said he is ready for a trilateral meeting between the U.S., Russia, and Ukraine, which would be the next step in ending the war in Ukraine. Trump said he favored the idea, but the Kremlin didn’t commit to leadership attending one after Trump spoke with Putin.

— Anita Hamilton, Nate Wolf, and Liz Moyer

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Winklevoss Twins Jump Into Hot IPO Market With Gemini Filing

Gemini Space Station, a crypto exchange and custodian bank founded by Bitcoin billionaire twins Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, is the latest crypto firm to file plans for an initial public offering, hoping to ride the financial world’s two very hot waves for Bitcoin and IPOs.

• Gemini plans to list on the Nasdaq Global Select Market as “GEMI,” but its filing didn’t say how many shares it plans to sell or the price range targeted for the stock. It follows last week’s trading debut by crypto exchange Bullish and the June IPO of Circle Internet.
• Investors are flocking to crypto and IPOs in a bet on lower interest rates, which tends to make riskier assets more attractive relative to bonds. Bitcoin surged to a new high above $124,000 last week amid this optimism, though it has drifted back to $116,000 as of Monday.
• According to its latest financials, Gemini’s revenue dropped 7.6% in the first six months of this year, and it had net losses of about $282.5 million. But Gemini ended the first half with 523,000 monthly transacting users, up 5.7% from a year ago. Trading volume skyrocketed nearly 50%.
• The IPO market emerged from hibernation this year, with recent listings by design-software developer Figma, medical-imaging company Heartflow, space-exploration firm Firefly Aerospace, and drone maker AIRO.

What’s Next: It isn’t clear when Gemini will begin trading. But crypto firms Grayscale and BitGo have filed confidentially for IPOs with the Securities and Exchange Commission, and Kraken, Fireblocks, and Chainalysis could file later this year or in 2026.

— Paul R. La Monica and Janet H. Cho

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Palo Alto Networks Issues Rosy Guidance

Cybersecurity software maker Palo Alto Networks beat expectations and issued a rosy forecast for the current quarter and year as its company founder announced his retirement as chief technology officer. The results were a relief to investors who have been concerned about a merger announced late last month.

• Palo Alto beat Wall Street analyst expectations in all its major metrics in the fourth quarter, as well as in its guidance for the 2026 first quarter and fiscal year. Fourth-quarter revenue beat the consensus estimate by 1.4%, while adjusted earnings per share exceeded forecasts by 7.3%.
• Fiscal fourth quarter revenue rose 16% to $2.5 billion and adjusted earnings were 95 cents a share. CTO Nir Zuk, who founded the company in 2005, has retired and will be succeeded as CTO by Lee Klarich, the chief product officer.
• Its backlog of work stood at $15.8 billion, up 24% since the end of last fiscal year, and ahead of expectations by 3.6%. While Palo Alto is a leader in security with $9.2 billion in sales in fiscal 2025, a proposed acquisition is casting a shadow over the company.
• In July, Palo Alto announced its intent to buy CyberArk Software, which would extend its portfolio of services into identity security, where CyberArk is a leader. CyberArk shareholders will get $45 and 2.2005 Palo Alto shares for each of their shares, a 26% premium to the CyberArk share price.

What’s Next: Palo Alto Networks sees first-quarter revenue around $2.46 billion and adjusted earnings of about 89 cents a share, both above expectations. It sees full year 2026 revenue in a range of $10.48 billion to $10.53 billion, also above expectations.

— Adam Levine and Liz Moyer

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Intel Gets Crucial $2 Billion Investment From SoftBank

Intel has announced a $2 billion investment from Japan’s SoftBank. The semiconductor manufacturer’s shares are down almost 50% since the start of 2024.

• SoftBank will buy Intel shares at $23 each, a slight discount to the chip maker’s $23.66 closing price on Monday. The move could be seen as a vote of confidence for Intel, which has been playing catch-up in an industry that has chased the artificial intelligence boom. Its shares were rising in premarket trading early Tuesday.
• The announcement also comes amid reports that Intel was talking to President Donald Trump about the government taking a stake in the company of up to 10%, according to The Wall Street Journal. Intel was set to receive about $8 billion under the 2022 Chips and Science Act for a plant in Ohio that has been delayed.
• SoftBank’s Vision Fund is the world’s biggest technology-focused venture capital fund. In the past it has made big investments in Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba and telecommunications firm T-Mobile, though it has sold those off to focus on AI and semiconductors. It’s part of the consortium behind Stargate, a joint venture with ChatGPT maker OpenAI and Oracle that was formed to build out data centers and AI infrastructure in the U.S.
• SoftBank is also the majority owner of Arm, which mostly licenses semiconductor designs but aims to make its own chips as soon as this year, according to multiple reports.

What’s Next: Apart from the money, the SoftBank investment is crucial for Intel because it could help make Arm a major customer for chip manufacturing operations. Intel will benefit from the validation of a big new client as it tries to ramp up U.S. production with new processes.

— Adam Clark, Liz Moyer, and Brian Swint

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Novo Nordisk Slashes Price for Direct Sales of Ozempic

Novo Nordisk’s two blockbuster drugs Ozempic and Wegovy are back in the spotlight. The Danish drugmaker has joined rival pharma giants in offering cut-price drugs through direct-to-consumer sales. In Novo’s case, it will slash the price of its Ozempic diabetes treatment in half for those who pay cash.

• More drugmakers are selling drugs straight to consumers amid pressure from the White House to lower U.S. drug prices. Dave Moore, Novo’s executive vice president for U.S. operations, said the Ozempic offer is for diabetes patients who aren’t insured.
• About 98% of insured patients have access to Ozempic, a contrast to Novo’s separately branded Wegovy weight loss GLP-1, which has spotty insurance coverage. Novo will sell the lower-priced Ozempic directly and through GoodRx, which will offer it and Wegovy for $499 a month at retail pharmacies.
• Novo has already been selling a lower-cost Wegovy directly since March after Eli Lilly started offering its rival weight loss drug Zepbound through its in-house telehealth platform. Both are battling third-party telehealth platforms that were allowed to sell knock off versions of the drugs while they were in shortage.
• Separately, the Food and Drug Administration cleared Wegovy for treatment of a fatty liver disease known as MASH, making it the first and only such GLP-1 for that use. The MASH approval could help shift the momentum for Novo, which has been losing ground to Lilly.

What’s Next: The FDA approval pushes it beyond diabetes and weight loss treatments and into the realm of metabolic diseases. Martin Holst Lange, Novo’s chief scientific officer, said it complements the proven weight loss, cardiovascular, and extensive body of evidence linked to semaglutide.

— Josh Nathan-Kazis, Elsa Ohlen, and Janet H. Cho

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—Newsletter edited by Liz Moyer, Patrick O’Donnell, Rupert Steiner