Why Retail Traders Couldn’t Take Their Eyes Off These Stocks Last Week: META, MU, BABA, TSLA, RKLB
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Meta faced legal and regulatory scrutiny in the U.S. and India, and Alphabet lost a key EU antitrust appeal.
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Alibaba reportedly moved employees toward its in-house AI coding tool while settling a $600 million U.S. DOJ case.
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Rocket Lab’s $8 billion Iridium Communications acquisition garnered attention.
Artificial intelligence remained the centerpiece of the technology industry in the first week of July, but it wasn’t the only story driving headlines. Major investments in AI infrastructure unfolded alongside antitrust rulings, lawsuits, product strategy shifts and government actions that touched nearly every corner of the technology sector, from cloud computing and semiconductors to electric vehicles and space.
Meta, Google And Amazon Face Regulatory Hurdles Even As AI Investments Rise
Meta Platforms (META) faced legal pressure in the U.S. after a federal judge allowed much of a lawsuit over Facebook and Instagram’s alleged addictive design to move forward. Also, the Indian government raised concerns over Meta introducing usernames on WhatsApp, citing possible cybercrime risks.
On Saturday, India told Meta Platforms to remove all child sexual abuse content from its platforms, including Instagram.
Meta Platforms’ stock rose over 3% during the holiday-shortened week. On Stocktwits, retail sentiment toward the stock remained bullish.
Meanwhile, the European Union’s highest court upheld a multibillion-euro antitrust penalty against Alphabet (GOOGL, GOOG), while Australian regulators sued Amazon.com (AMZN) over changes to its Prime Video subscription model.
Google’s parent, Alphabet, and Amazon each gained 1% over the week.
Meta is planning to launch an AI cloud business that would rent computing power from its data centers to business customers, helping generate more revenue from its AI investments. Meanwhile, Microsoft drew attention for its new five-year partnership with Haleon (HLN), highlighting the growing use of AI tools such as Microsoft 365 Copilot and Azure in large businesses.
BABA’s AI Policy Shift And Regulatory Settlement
Alibaba (BABA) remained in focus after reports said it would stop employees from using Anthropic’s Claude Code starting July 10 over alleged security concerns and instead shift them to its in-house AI coding tool, Qoder.
Separately, Alibaba agreed to a $600 million settlement with the U.S. Department of Justice to resolve allegations of illegal pharmaceutical sales through Alibaba.com, including forfeitures, penalties, and compliance measures.
