老谋说财经

Wen | Entertainment Capital Theory Jolene
“Just wanted to drink Thai milk tea, but got creatively co-branded into it.”
Not long ago, Luckin Coffee just won an international lawsuit over the “Thai knockoff of Luckin.” Seizing the momentum, it rolled out this year’s Thai-style milk tea that has been “back in fashion” in the tea-drink industry at the Qixi Festival. The “legal colleague’s inspiration brought back from a lawsuit in Thailand”—a teaser with a touch of cheesy web-novel flair—definitely raised consumers’ expectations. But when the Thai-style milk tea finally arrived on Qixi day, customers found themselves staring at the co-branded cup sleeve packaging, baffled: “Who are these two people?”
This year’s Luckin Qixi co-branded IP is a comic artist and blogger @Chujiu will draw, as well as another IP created by the blogger based on their real-life romance experiences with their boyfriend (Wang Huanjun and Zhang Binzhi). The blogger has more than 6 million followers on Douyin, received over 150 million likes, and has also collaborated with brands such as Usmile electric toothbrushes. But compared with Luckin’s previous Qixi collaborations—like the “top-tier couple-avatar” trend featuring popular dogs drawn in line art, or the pink-toned loopy and Elsie cute rabbits—this IP is indeed relatively niche.

Monday, AI application software stocks were active. As of the time of writing, Tempus AI (TEM.US) was up more than 6.6%, MongoDB (MDB.US) was up more than 6%, Twilio (TWLO.US) was up more than 5.8%, Duolingo (DUOL.US) was up more than 4.6%, Spotify Technology (SPOT.US) was up more than 5%, Datadog (DDOG.US) was up more than 6%, and Palantir (PLTR.US), Figma (FIG.US), and Snowflake (SNOW.US) were up more than 2%.

Source|Duozhi
Author|Wang Shang
On August 5, Duolingo (NASDAQ: DUOL) released its 2026 Q2 financial results. According to the report, Duolingo’s 2026 Q2 revenue was $298.5 million, up 18.3% year over year. Second-quarter net profit was $33.2 million, with a profit margin of 11.1%. Paid users were 12.7 million, up 17% year over year, which was below analysts’ expectations. Duolingo’s share price fell by more than 11% after hours.
In the second quarter, Duolingo’s bookings and profitability remained healthy, meeting expectations. Daily active users (DAU) were 58.7 million, up 23% year over year; the growth rate improved versus the first quarter and exceeded expectations.

?? Original by Lin Zhibai · Author｜Lin Zhibai
“Playing with abstraction” seems to have become a required course in brand marketing.
First there was a “Snow King” bus parade, announcing to the whole world that it would be at the 2026 Henan Spring Festival Gala—then it even filmed a rehearsal vlog just to show off its talents, like headstand drumming. After that, during the World Cup, the entire internet was flooded with catchy ad slogans like “Haaland Ha Wanglaoji” and “Mbappé, time to rehydrate,” turning every arena’s top killers into internet “meme kings.” Luckin Coffee and Duolingo also turned the abstract into a serialized story: from the official announcement of a “marriage,” to staging a divorce and then remarriage, even laying 11 eggs in a row—absurd bits of theater all the way…

(Risk Avoidance Research Institute) column produced
The “New Consumer Watch” (Risk Avoidance Research Institute) column is rooted in protecting consumers’ rights and interests. It launches the “New Consumer Risk Avoidance Guide,” and every week systematically reviews publicly available information from platforms such as 12315 and the Black Cat Complaints [Download the Black Cat Complaints app], focusing on prominent issues in the consumer sector. It selects typical problems from 10 companies, exposes their illegal or noncompliant conduct, and provides references to help consumers avoid risks. It helps consumers identify traps, safeguard their rights according to the law, and together foster a safe and reassuring consumption environment.
This week’s complaint-covered companies span multiple sectors, including smart home appliances, online education, automobiles, beauty and cosmetics, book e-commerce, house rentals, and catering. The main issues center on product quality failures and safety hazards, false advertising, price misdirection, improper content review, doubts about indoor air quality in rental housing, and indifferent service attitudes, among others.

Viewpoint Network News: On July 22, Qualcomm and Samsung announced an expansion of their cooperation. The Snapdragon platform will support Samsung’s new Galaxy lineup, covering smartphones, smartwatches, and smart glasses.
At Samsung’s Unpacked event, Qualcomm announced that the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 mobile platform, the Snapdragon Wear Elite platform, and the first-generation Snapdragon AR1 will power Samsung’s latest devices, including the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold8 Ultra, Galaxy Z Fold8, Galaxy Z Flip8, Galaxy Watch9, Galaxy Watch Ultra2, and new smart glasses.
Meanwhile, Qualcomm, Samsung, and Google have expanded their collaboration in the Android Extended Reality (XR) space, extending their business from Galaxy XR headset devices to smart glasses.

On July 17, 2026 World Artificial Intelligence Conference and the High-Level Meeting on Global AI Governance (2026 WAIC) opened in Shanghai. Co-hosted by central agencies including the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the National Development and Reform Commission, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, and by the Shanghai Municipal People’s Government, this conference brings together representatives from governments, industry, academia, research institutions, and other sectors around the world to discuss innovative development in AI and global governance.
At the main forum, the National Development and Reform Commission, together with relevant departments, released the (China’s Wisdom, Benefit the World (2026)) case collection. WeRide, a globally leading autonomous driving technology company (NASDAQ: WRD, HKEX: 0800), was selected for its practical project on taking autonomous driving overseas to the UAE among the top ten international cooperation cases for AI technologies and products in (China’s Wisdom, Benefit the World (2026)), and it became the only autonomous driving company among them.

　　Meta Platforms’ internal incubator responsible for developing AI products and tools is currently working on a service that aims to compete with OpenRouter. The service will reduce expenses by routing certain AI tasks to lower-cost models for execution.
　　The incubator, named AAI Labs, is affiliated with Meta’s Applied Artificial Intelligence Engineering team. Meta formed the team in March this year. Employees can apply for internal AI product and service projects, and the resulting achievements may be released to the public in the future. According to technology media that reviewed internal documents, once a project proposal is approved, the company will set up a small team to carry out research and development, and will then launch related products when the timing is right.

【#How good is Google Gemini 3.6?#】
Google officially released Gemini 3.6 Flash, alongside new models such as Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite and Cyber. The company says the new version focuses on improving coding, multimodal, and Agent capabilities, while consuming fewer tokens and running faster—making it more suitable for large-scale AI applications.
However, after the new models were released, online reactions became clearly divided. Many users complained that compared with recently released new models like Kimi K3 and Claude Fable 5, the “surprise” from Gemini 3.6 was limited. Developers also reported that in some scenarios—such as certain code, frontend generation, and spatial reasoning—the real experience fell short of expectations.

【(Battlefield 6) Update Causes RTX 50 Series GPU Driver Crashes—EA and NVIDIA Team Up to Fix It】(Battlefield) After the Season 4 update of Battlefield 6, some PC players have experienced frequent game crashes. The issue mainly affects systems equipped with NVIDIA RTX 50 series graphics cards, especially on maps that include large bodies of water. EA has confirmed the problem and is working with NVIDIA to find a solution. For now, the official recommendation is for players to temporarily roll back their drivers to a specific version. #Battlefield6##NVIDIA Drivers#

　　Growing hostility between the United States and Iran is increasing dissatisfaction among Washington’s Gulf allies, as the conflict is now jeopardizing the security and economies of these countries.
　　Moreover, these countries are not in agreement on what action the United States should take next. According to people familiar with the matter, some officials believe Trump should escalate military operations, including deploying ground forces to parts of Iran, and even seize the Strait of Hormuz’s crucial oil export hub, Qeshm Island.
　　People familiar with the matter say these officials believe that unless the United States takes more aggressive action, Iran’s leadership will not back down or ease its control over the Strait of Hormuz. One person revealed that another possibility is for the conflict to drag on for months, albeit at a lower intensity, which would discourage foreign investors and tourists from the region.

(Source: Finance and News)
Meanwhile, optics communication stocks surged broadly: Mavenir Technology rose by about 6%, Coherent by about 8%, Credo by about 5%, Lumentum by about 7%, and Corning by about 6%.
On July 21, U.S. stocks opened higher. The Dow rose 0.29%, the Nasdaq rose 1.04%, and the S&P 500 rose 0.62%. The storage-chip concept led the gains, with the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index up 4.50% at the open. Micron Technology rose 6.8%, Nvidia’s share price rose 2.32%, TSMC rose 3.49%, and Broadcom rose 2.65%. Hynix rose 6.9%, and SanDisk and Western Digital both rose more than 8%.
Semiconductor equipment, wafer foundry, optical communications, and other sectors moved higher. United Semiconductor rose 5.6%, Lam Research Group rose 6%, and Applied Materials and KLA both rose more than 5%. Lumentum rose 6%, Mavenir Technology rose 5.6%, Advanced Micro Devices’ share price rose 4.78%, and ASML rose 3.2%.

Source: Li Auto
Since the new Ideal L6 was launched on July 16, it has received enthusiastic responses from everyone. Thank you to all users for your support and love.
We have collected and organized a series of questions that netizens care about the most, and will answer them all in an article for everyone.
01
How long does it take to pick up the car after placing an order?
Currently, the estimated delivery time for the new Ideal L6 is 6–8 weeks.
We are working hard to increase production capacity and do our best to deliver your car to you as soon as possible.
The exact delivery time is subject to what is shown in the Li Auto app, or please consult the Li Auto delivery specialist for details. Thank you for your support and understanding.

　　Key takeaways
　　Abu Dhabi National Oil Company has been approved to invest $6.2 billion to develop the Umm Shaif offshore gas field project.
　　The project is expected to add more than 600 million cubic feet of new natural gas production capacity per day by 2030.
　　Global buyers are seeking stable gas supply, and Abu Dhabi aims to join the ranks of major LNG (liquefied natural gas) exporting countries.
　　Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) will invest $6.2 billion to develop a large offshore oil and gas field — the Umm Shaif Gas Cap block — to implement its development strategy of expanding natural gas production and increasing LNG exports.

　　 The stabilization of the US stock market at high levels and the sustained high valuation of companies have recently driven the US securities market to experience the largest wave of selling by shareholders and insiders in recent years. Analysts noted that record-breaking massive share sales and equity financing are continuing to absorb liquidity from the secondary market, raising investors’ concerns about mounting market pressure and the difficulty of sustaining a bull market.
　　 Data show that since the second quarter this year, the amount of funds raised by major shareholders of leading US-listed companies, private equity institutions, and corporate executives through secondary public offerings (SPOs) and off-market block trades has surged sharply, reaching a new high for the same period in recent years. Among them, concentrated sell-offs in the technology, financial, and consumer sectors have been especially prominent, and major shareholders of multiple industry-leading companies have completed the conversion of multi-hundred-million-dollar stakes into cash in succession.

(Source: Hengshui Daily)
Reprinted from: Hengshui Daily
In 2026, as demand for neck support continues to upgrade, the pillow industry is undergoing a profound shift from “sleep-comfort marketing” to “data-driven” approaches. When generic marketing slogans like “ergonomics,” “neck-protection design,” and “zoned support” crowd the market, and when all kinds of flashy scientific and technological buzzwords fill product pages, consumers often fall into a state of “choice anxiety”: which material and structure can truly protect the cervical spine? Which pillow can make “neck pain after waking up” a thing of the past?
According to data from the National Health Commission, the prevalence of cervical spondylosis in China has risen to 17.3%. Among them, the share of young and middle-aged people aged 20 to 40 exceeds 40%. As a bedding item that directly supports the cervical spine at night, a pillow’s height fit and support stability directly determine whether the cervical spine can be effectively relaxed during sleep.

　　The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Saudi Arabia posted on social media that it would take all necessary measures, in accordance with international law and the 1982 (United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea), to protect its own vessels.
　　Saudi Arabia called on the international community to implement UN Security Council Resolution 2722. The resolution emphasizes the importance of maintaining freedom of navigation in the Red Sea.
　　Saudi Arabia denied imposing a blockade on Yemen, saying its aim is to help Yemen achieve peace.
　　Saudi Arabia also said that it will continue to support Yemen’s legitimate government.