Tesla and Samsung ink $16.5B Chip Deal, PayPal lets you pay with Crypto

Daily business news for Tuesday, July 29th

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Welcome to Capital Currents—where the flow of business news and market trends keeps you ahead of the tide. I am your watchdog, and today is Tuesday, July 29th.

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In today’s episode: a look at the week ahead with big tech earnings, a Fed meeting, and a jobs report. Plus, PayPal launches a new crypto feature, and Tesla inks a major chip deal with Samsung.

The summer rally kept rolling last week as the S\&P and Nasdaq each rose over 1%, closing at record highs. Confidence is growing with more trade deals being finalized and solid earnings rolling in. Yesterday, President Trump announced a new trade agreement with the EU—America’s largest trading partner. The deal includes a 15% tariff on most European imports. In return, the EU agreed to purchase \$750 billion in U.S. energy and invest another \$600 billion in the U.S.

This sets the stage for a massive week ahead. Over 150 S\&P 500 companies report earnings, including Microsoft, Meta, Amazon, and Apple. Meanwhile, the Fed meets today. No rate cuts are expected, but investors will scrutinize Jerome Powell’s press conference for clues on possible September cuts. Then on Friday, we’ll get the July jobs report—a key look at the labor market’s resilience. The Fed has held off on rate cuts largely because the labor market remains strong. Bottom line: this week is like the Super Bowl for Wall Street.

Let’s run through some headlines. PayPal just announced that merchants can now accept over 100 cryptocurrencies at checkout—including Bitcoin, Ethereum, stablecoins like USDT and USDC, and even some meme coins. This “Pay with Crypto” feature launches soon, converting crypto to USD or PayPal’s own PYUSD stablecoin at checkout. The appeal? Faster settlements and lower fees—less than 1% per transaction, compared to 1.5% for credit cards and up to 10% for international payments. PayPal’s hoping this move lifts its stock, still down 70% from 2021 highs.

Now to Tesla and Samsung. Tesla just signed a \$16.5 billion multi-year deal with Samsung to manufacture its next-gen AI chips, dubbed the AI6, at Samsung’s new chip facility. These chips will power Tesla’s future self-driving systems. It’s a major win for Samsung, which trails TSMC in chip foundry market share—TSMC controls 68%, while Samsung holds just 8%. The deal gives Samsung credibility and momentum, sending its stock up more than 6% on the news.

To close, some stock movers. Nike is up this morning after JPMorgan upgraded the stock to a “buy,” citing a potential multi-year comeback. JPM sees Nike’s earnings growing over 20% from 2026–2030—a big rebound after a 10% drop in fiscal 2025. They raised the price target to \$93; Nike trades around \$79 currently, and shares jumped 4% on the upgrade.

On the flip side, QuantumScape got downgraded by Goldman Sachs to a “sell.” Goldman sees limited revenue until 2028, by which time battery tech may have passed them by. They gave the EV battery maker a \$3 price target—QuantumScape currently trades above \$11. The downgrade sent shares down nearly 4%.

That’s all for today’s show. Keep navigating those waters—and see you tomorrow.