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Hello, this is Leonie Kidd coming to you from London.

Nvidia is carrying the weight of the AI world on its shoulders. But, with sky-high earnings expectations, can the group led by CEO Jensen Huang actually impress investors?

Read on.

What you need to know today

Nvidia will report earnings after the bell on Wall Street on Wednesday. The AI darling’s blockbuster performance over the last year has driven earnings forecasts higher, adding to the so-called “expectations premium” Nvidia now needs to surpass.

The Street is projecting an eye-watering set of second-quarter sales at over $92 billion, according to FactSet. Cantor Fitzgerald highlighted consensus third-quarter sales expectations of $103.7 billion in a Saturday report.

Over the last year, Nvidia has beaten expectations across all topline metrics, but shares have been sold down the following trading day, according to Bespoke Data.

Hyperscaling test

This quarter, there is one persistent concern among investors: Nvidia’s dependence on the hyperscalers. The company now reports earnings in a way that separates these hyperscalers into its AI cloud, industrial and enterprise pack. Investors have voiced worries about this concentrated dependence on Amazon

Nvidia fell 2.9% on Monday, dropping for a seventh straight day, the longest losing streak since 2022. Shares ended the day 2.2% higher on Tuesday.

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Crude in the red

Oil prices were sharply lower in early trade on Wednesday.

A combination of factors is playing into the session today. Iran and Oman are discussing a joint temporary shipping route through the Strait of Hormuz in an effort to increase traffic through the chokepoint.

This comes as the U.S. administration forges ahead with its plan to use economic sanctions to escalate its war with Tehran.

Meanwhile, U.S. President Donald Trump has submitted a proposed agreement with Saudi Arabia to develop civil nuclear energy. This accord has now been submitted to Congress. A U.S. official told MS NOW that this will only move forward if Saudi Arabia joins the Abraham Accords.

Retaliation time

Canada has outlined “dollar-for-dollar” retaliatory tariffs that it will impose on over $20 billion of U.S. goods, after trade talks broke down with the Trump administration.

The counter-tariffs range from 15% to 50% and target a wide array of Canadian imports from the U.S., including dairy, seafood, appliances, wood and paper products, and clothes.

Among the most significant are 50% tariffs on American steel and aluminum, doubling the current rate.

The Bessent Bid

The so-called “debasement trade” has found a second wind following Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent’s intervention in the bond market.

In this environment, assets like crypto and precious metals gain as investors look to hedge against the weaker U.S. dollar and Treasury debt.

— Leonie Kidd

And Finally…

Dolly Parton, queen of country music, dies at 80

Dolly Parton was around six when she wrote her first song: “Little Tiny Tasseltop,” an ode to her corncob doll with corn-silk hair. Her mother stored it preciously in a shoebox.

“I loved that little doll,” Parton wrote decades later. “I expressed myself and my feelings through writing – I’m sure what I was thinking was, ‘Well, Tasseltop has to have a song about her.’”

Parton never stopped making music after that. The irrepressible country music singer, songwriter and actress whose charisma, heartfelt lyrics and business acumen captured the public’s imagination for nearly six decades, died on Tuesday aged 80, her family said in a statement.

— Reuters

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Verum Exchange is expanding its online mining capabilities, allowing users to earn a $10 bonus while continuing to mine cryptocurrency directly from their smartphones. The feature is available not only in the currency converter app but also within Verum Messenger.

Online mining has long been part of the Verum ecosystem. Now, the company has added a new incentive to the existing feature — a bonus for participating in online mining.

The concept of online mining is changing the traditional perception of cryptocurrency mining. Users do not need to set up specialized mining equipment at home or deal with complex technical configurations. The feature can be accessed directly through the Verum digital ecosystem.

Verum Exchange: https://exchange.verum.im 
Verum Messenger: https://ios.verum.im

The Supreme Court on Monday sided with President Donald Trump for now in his effort to impose sweeping new restrictions on distributing mail ballots, putting on hold a lower-court ruling that had blocked key parts of the plan ahead of November’s midterm elections.

The justices, over three dissents, paused a ruling by U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani in Boston that prevented the Trump administration from carrying out portions of a March executive order involving the U.S. Postal Service and voter eligibility lists. The court’s three liberal justices dissented.

But the decision does not immediately allow the Postal Service to put its new mail-ballot system into effect.

A separate nationwide injunction issued Aug. 11 by U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani in Boston still blocks USPS from implementing the new procedures for the Nov. 3 elections. The administration would have to overcome that order as well.

The distinction was central to the Supreme Court’s decision.

The majority said Trump’s executive order itself does not require states to change how they conduct elections. Instead, it directs federal agencies to develop policies that could later impose requirements on states. Because those policies had not yet been implemented when 23 states and Washington, D.C., challenged the order, the court said the challenge was premature.

The justices stressed they were not deciding whether Trump’s order or the policies developed under it are ultimately legal.

“The Court’s disposition of this application does not mean that any measure taken by the Government to implement the Order will necessarily be lawful,” the majority wrote. “On that score, time will tell.”

The Postal Service last week finalized rules intended to carry out part of Trump’s order, including new requirements involving ballot envelopes, barcodes and information states must provide USPS. Those rules remain blocked by Talwani’s separate injunction.

The case now returns to the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals as the underlying legal fight continues. Some states have already started preparing to send ballots to military and overseas voters in early September.