Today is Friday, September 25, 2026.

The Early Bird Index today is 89.72.

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Retail giant Costco $COST ( ▼ 0.91% ) posted good financial results on Thursday. The stock only ticked up 0.17% in after-hours trading, but it’s clear consumers are still spending.

Financials: Costco reported earnings of $20.76 per share in the past quarter and revenue of $95.7 billion. Both were better than expected.

Details: Net sales jumped 11.2% from the previous year. U.S. sales grew 10.7% while online sales surged 19.5%.

Powering the Story: Costco’s growing sales come amid concerns about the state of the consumer.

Background: Recent U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis data shows monthly consumer spending growth slowed to +0.2% in July 2026, down from +0.3% in June, alongside reports of retail sales drops and cautious discretionary restraint.

Early Bird’s Nest Egg Gains: The U.S. consumer is resilient but highly uneven. Costco’s results are strong evidence that households are still spending, especially where they perceive clear value, but they do not disprove stress in lower-income or more discretionary parts of consumer demand.

Final Thoughts: Costco’s stock is up 4.91% this year. While positive, it does lag behind the gains investors have seen in the broader market.

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Join leaders from Fin, Anthropic, Clay, and Kalshi for an insightful conversation on the state of AI transformation.

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Notable Earnings Today: N/A.

Notable IPOs Today: Pinnacle Acquisition Corporation (NYSE: PNAQ).

Notable Equity Crowdfunding Campaigns Ending Today: N/A.

Notable Economic Events Today: Durable Goods Orders / Core Durable Goods Orders (8:30 a.m. ET), Michigan Consumer Expectations / Sentiment (10:00 a.m. ET).

Akamai Technologies $AKAM ( ▼ 6.78% ) surged 20.65% in after-hours trading on Thursday after announcing an expanded partnership with AI company Anthropic for $11.6 billion of contractual commitment over seven years.

Details: The deal includes a warrant for Anthropic to purchase Akamai shares. It represents up to 5% of Akamai’s common stock outstanding, about 7.7 million shares.

Background: Akamai previously announced this year that there were more than $2.8 billion in multi-year Cloud Infrastructure Services (CIS) commitments across its customer base.

Stock Price: Akamai’s stock was already up 29% this year.

Final Thoughts: Meanwhile, Anthropic is targeting an initial public offering for around November, but that could change.

Publishing company Scholastic $SCHL ( ▼ 1.5% ) plunged 12.20% in after-hours trading on Thursday after posting disappointing financial results.

Financials: Scholastic reported a loss of $3.63 per share in the past quarter and revenue of $216.8 million. Both were lower than expected.

Final Thoughts: It’s a setback for the company. Scholastic’s stock was up 16.26% in 2026.

Throwing in the Towel: Leslie’s Prepares Chapter 11 Filing as Soon as Next Week in Houston (Wall Street Journal)

Block Strikes Again: Block Adds Bitcoin Lightning to x402 Standard (The Defiant)

Status Quo: Solana treasury firm SkyAI keeps board after shareholder protest, loses equity plan vote (The Block)

Stock Decline: Oracle’s Data Center Delay Warning Rattles AI Partners Like Bloom Energy (Barron’s)

More Mortgage Pain: Mortgage Rates Hit 7% as Iran War Fallout Crushes a Weak Housing Market (New York Times)

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