News and analysis

Ravencoin (RVN) is down by 2.3% to $0.01570 this week, significantly underperforming the broader crypto market, where Bitcoin (BTC) is up by 0.3% to $118,450. Ravencoin had a standout performance in June, surging by 124% to $0.02426 after gaining momentum from its listing on the Upbit exchange. However, the token pulled back sharply to $0.01248 in early July before recovering above the key resistance level at $0.01500.

While a retest of the $0.01500 support remains possible, the broader market outlook suggests the upside is more likely. The crypto space is seeing renewed optimism, especially after Trump Media and Technology Group announced it had purchased $2.0 billion worth of Bitcoin. With major players onboard, BTC could continue its climb toward $150,000, potentially lifting altcoins like Ravencoin along the way.

The EURUSD pair fell sharply from the 1.17300–1.17800 range earlier in July to a low of 1.15560, before rebounding on speculation around Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell’s potential resignation. With that risk now largely off the table, downside momentum may return. The pair looks poised to resume its slide toward the initial target zone of 1.15000–1.15500.

This pullback presents an attractive opportunity to re-enter short positions. I plan to open a short trade in the 1.16800–1.17400 zone, aiming to capture the next leg of the decline. A stop-loss is set at 1.18500, safely above the 1.18290 four-year high, which serves as a strong technical resistance.

Ahead of the widely anticipated parade of tech giants, when Google, Tesla and IBM need to confirm the strength of the overall tech rally on the night before July 24, a modest quarterly release of the world's leading streaming service Netflix, with its market value of "just some" half a trillion greenbucks, released last week, went nearly unnoticed. This is quite understandable, because the Q2 figures had not much food for deep thought inside them to impress the investment community this time. If so, the market purely dropped from under the $1275 closing price on July 17 to test the $1200 area. However, this $75 initial pullback represents only 5.88% of Netflix's share price, not enough to generate active buying interest in an asset that grew from $927.50 on April 1 to an all-time high of $1341.15 by the end of June.

It went 44% up in three months, then pulled back 5% long before the Q2 report, and roughly another 5% after the report. The path behind suggests that all the clever bulls who rode the rally have done their job properly, and then took profits from their quick actions in two short waves, but overall expect this growth to continue gradually. They are simply not ready for intense action right from the current levels. This can also be judged, since the initial rebound in the beginning of the new week has been rather small so far, just within 1.5%.

I would draw my personal range of potential valuation for Netflix shares in the coming months, the bottom of which could be between $1050 and $1100. Yet, I don’t see any options or fundamental reasons for the asset to move lower. So, anything closer to $1100, if the market would give us such prices, is a basic territory for active Netflix purchases, with targets around $1450 to start with, I would say. This harvest looks modest in terms of quantity, though promising good taste if we appreciate small but easy profits in a short period of time. Again, buying any local dips in Netflix could later transform into a story when one bought near long-term lows.

After all, if the quarter before next earnings can result in just price stagnation no higher than $1450 or $1500, then the next earnings report on October 15 can boost the rally again. The only thing is that Netflix would barely cost $1100+ or $1200 at that moment. I think so because Netflix lifted its annual revenue guidance on July 17 to a higher range between $44.8 billion and $45.2 billion, thanks to "healthy member growth and ad sales" plus "weakening USD". Its previous guidance was up to $44.5 billion. Its April-to-June results topped consensus estimates as well, albeit slightly. There was no sign of weakness, that's my point! I don't like the "Squid Game" because I'm not a fan of hardcore. But the final season of this global phenomenon already helped Netflix to do math in Q2, and the streaming service's CEOs cited its effect when raising their forward guidance for the year as well. So I like the money that Netflix and I will make from this stupid story.

Yes, some part of the crowd did hope for more from the dominant movie in Q2, but Q2 diluted EPS (earnings per share) of $7.19 was only an inch higher than $7.08 in consensus forecasts. I suppose those expectations will be justified at last, after a short delay, that is, in the next two or three months, and during this time, some newer plots will do the rest of the job. "Wednesday" returns in August, and it seems to me that Tim Burton's style has an audience that does not quite match the audience of the Squid Game. So, new folks will come to pay and see. The final episodes of "Stranger Things" will be released in November and December to create extra expectations for the Christmas quarterб which always sells itself. From this, I conclude that we shouldn’t expect too deep lows, and then there may not be any explosive growth, but... before the end of the year, Netflix shares will make many small steps up. You will not notice how you will find yourself on a new peak with them.

To everyone's astonishment on Wall Street, Verizon Communications (VZ) suddenly added more than 5% to its market value already in the first trading hours this week. That's an unusually large gain in the telecom industry, even if we talk about a business with triple-digit market caps in billions of U.S. Dollars. The reason for the upside leap on July 21 lies not so much in the fact that both the company's Q2 core profit and revenue just topped consensus estimates by nearly 2.5%. What was perhaps more important was that it has bravely lifted its own inner estimates for the lower end of adjusted earnings for the full year of 2025.

Verizon said it may get an income higher by 1% to 3% from a prior range of 0% to 3%, because of rising demand for higher-tier plans. Its EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization) is seen rising by 2.5% to 3.5%, versus 2% to 3.5% in the company's previous projections. Now it improves customer retention via promotions to beat rivals like AT&T, T-Mobile and Comcast in the U.S., so that Verizon's broadband net additions came in at 293,000 for the last three months. Considering that the group-wide operating sales edged up by 5.2% YoY to $34.5 billion, compared to $32.8 billion in Q2 2024, these are not all trivial numbers.

In recent years, telecoms have generally not had very high profit margins, inferior to many technology companies that offer much more extensive innovation programs. They can't make money like cloud services or at least as manufacturers of gadgets with most advanced AI options. These are simple men of labour to provide 5G and 4G LTE networks for mobile phone and home internet plus information and entertainment products including streaming services as well as some business, consumer solutions. That's why the financial results look so impressive. When waiting for the fibre-optic internet provider Frontier deal for $20 billion, Verizon's CEO Hans Vestberg noted his firm has "momentum and a clear path forward".

A relative proximity of the $40 per share technical and psychological support area is also encouraging investors. The stock dipped below $40 only for a short period of one month and a half, starting before Christmas and ending in late January, then resurfacing to as high as $47.35. The further recovery scenario, back above $45, with possible attempts to climb some higher, looks widely expected, therefore. The company's attractiveness for conservative investors is also given because Verizon pays dividends of $2.71 per share (as much as 6.6% in current price levels).

Citigroup has even reiterated its Buy rating with $48.00 as a near-term price target, citing Verizon's consumer postpaid phone gross adds by 19% YoY among other drivers and the slight financial beat against cautious investor sentiment. Morgan Stanley resumed its Equalweight coverage with a $47.00 price target, while Bank of America Securities kept a Neutral rating with a $45.00 price target, which is also 4.8% above this Monday's highs.