This week, SpaceX was center stage as the world’s largest IPO crowded out everything else (terrific article in the Wall Street Journal chronicling winners and losers from the IPO here). As a result, the Fab Five lost an additional $669 billion this week, bringing the total 2026 losses to a miniscule $23 billion or -0.15%. Three of the Fab Five are ahead for the year, while Microsoft and Meta are trailing.
The Telco Top Five had an up week (+$33 billion) and YTD losses have been reduced to $10 billion or -1.46%. Four of the five in the Telco Top Five are down YTD, with Verizon the only bright spot. There is still $4 billion separating Verizon and T-Mobile, and that ranking could change soon.
The biggest news in telecom this week (besides the SpaceX IPO) was the finalization of an agreement that will split up SFR, France’s second largest telecom operator (more on the transaction from Light Reading here). Bouyges Telecom is poised to receive the greatest share of SFR (~40% of the customers). Per the article, that transaction is expected to complete in about a year. With that transaction, Altice will exit France.
Inflation numbers were out this week, and, to no one’s surprise, prices at both the retail and wholesale level are higher. Excluding food and energy, consumer prices were up 2.9% annually while producer prices (also ex-food, energy and trade) were up 5.1%. Both of these numbers are high and reflect the impact of soaring energy prices on the economy in May. With the end of the Iran war in sight, we should see this inflation reverse. For more details on specific components, the CPI report is here while the PPI report is here.
After all of that information had been analyzed, the GDP Now folks at the Atlanta Federal Reserve are predicting 3.3% real GDP growth for 2Q 2026. About a quarter of that figure is driven by increases in nonresidential fixed investment (a proxy for AI spending). We still think there is upside to that figure as we believe oil exports will be higher than expected in both May and June.
As a reminder, we will be at the big INDATEL Business Symposium next week in Austin (June 22 and 23rd) and at the Midwest Peering Summit on July 8 in Des Moines. Glad to get together and exchange notes as schedules permit. File is below. Have a great week!
