July 17, 2026 – The Smart Dividend

Stock

Rocket Lab stock price crash is gaining steam: how low can it go?

July 17, 2026 Stock 3 Mins Read

Rocket Lab’s stock price plunged more than 12% on July 16, hitting its lowest level since April 13. The decline has pushed the shares down 55% from their peak this year, wiping out nearly half of the company’s market value as its valuation fell from $86 billion to around $40 billion.

Despite the sharp sell-off, most analysts covering the company remain bullish, with many expecting the stock to recover as growth catalysts emerge.

Analysts see Rocket Lab stock rebound

RKLB stock has plunged in the past few weeks, mirroring the performance of most companies in the space industry. SpaceX, the biggest firm in the world, dropped to its IPO price this week, wiping out over $1 trillion in value.

Planet Labs has plunged to $22, down from the year-to-date high of $51, while Virgin Galactic has dived from $9 in June to $2.60 today. The popular Procure Space ETF (UFO) dived to $43 from the year-to-date high of $68.

These losses are happening as investors book profits following the strong gains they experienced before SpaceX went public. At its peak this year, UFO ETF was up by 360% from its lowest level in 2024.

Therefore, investors are simply selling the SpaceX IPO news, which has been made worse by its performance.

Still, despite this retreat, analysts are bullish on the company, pointing to its strong performance and its growing market share in the space industry. Morgan Stanley reiterated its overweight rating, while Citigroup reiterated its outperform position.

Bank of America, on the other hand, boosted the target from $105 to $110, while Citizens and Roth have a target of $130. All these targets are significantly higher than where it is today.

Rocket Lab has potential catalysts

RKLB stock has some potential catalysts in the coming months. First, its revenue growth continues this year. It made $200.3 million last quarter, up by 63% from the same period last year. Its backlog jumped by 20% to $2.2 billion, with its Electron, HASTE, and Neutron orders continuing to grow. It achieved five dedicated Neutron flights during the quarter.

The company also recently announced that it would spend $8 billion acquiring Iridium. It hopes that it will make it a vertically integrated company, with Rocket Lab designing satellites, manufacturing spacecraft components, and launching rockets.

Iridium, on the other hand, owns a global satellite communications network. As such, it hopes that this model will help it compete further with SpaceX’s Starlink project. Additionally, Iridium will bring recurring and high-margin revenue and its globally coordinated L-band spectrum.

Analysts suspect that the company’s business to continue growing this year. The average estimate is that its revenue will jump by 52% to $919 million, with the figure reaching $1.28 billion next year.

RKLB stock technical analysis

Rocket Lab stock chart | Source: TradingView

The weekly chart shows that the RKLB stock has plunged in the past few weeks, moving from a record high of $151 to the current $67. It has just crashed below the 50% Fibonacci Retracement level, and is slowly approaching the 61.8% retracement point, where rebounds normally happens.

The stock has just dropped below 50-week moving average, while the Relative Strength Index has moved below the neutral level of 50. Therefore, the stock will likely drop further, potentially to $60 or $50, and then bounce back, potentially when it releases its financial results.

The post Rocket Lab stock price crash is gaining steam: how low can it go? appeared first on Invezz

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Investing

WTI crude oil Targets $85 as Momentum Accelerates, 14 July,…

July 17, 2026 Investing 2 Mins Read

WTI crude oil can be expected to rise to the next resistance level 85.00 (former strong support from May).

WTI crude oil broke resistance area
Likely to rise to resistance level 85.00

WTI crude oil recently broke the resistance area located between the key resistance level 78.10 (which stopped the previous short-term correction 4 in the middle of June, as can be seen from the daily WTI crude oil chart below), resistance trendline of the daily down channel from May and the 38.2% Fibonacci correction of the downward impulse from the start of June. The breakout of this resistance area accelerated the active minor impulse wave 1 of the intermediate impulse wave (1) from the start of July.

Given the strength of the active intermediate impulse wave (1), WTI crude oil can be expected to rise to the next resistance level 85.00 (former strong support from May and June).

The subject matter and the content of this article are solely the views of the author. FinanceFeeds does not bear any legal responsibility for the content of this article and they do not reflect the viewpoint of FinanceFeeds or its editorial staff.

The information does not constitute advice or a recommendation on any course of action and does not take into account your personal circumstances, financial situation, or individual needs. We strongly recommend you seek independent professional advice or conduct your own independent research before acting upon any information contained in this article.

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Politics

Target customers lose a big perk in August

July 17, 2026 Politics 4 Mins Read

When I was in college, Target used to be my go-to destination for clothes, throw pillows, and other random stuff I couldn’t really afford but bought anyway.

And it wasn’t just me. The old joke used to go that you’d walk into Target for milk and paper towels and leave with a $100 credit card bill.

These days, it’s easier to avoid impulse buys at Target, which is not great news for the company.

Target has lost a fair amount of appeal due to unexciting inventory, empty shelves, and disorganized stores. And the company is fully aware that major improvements are needed.

In February, CEO Michael Fiddelke acknowledged that Target had lost trust with shoppers and pledged to do better.

“We weren’t clear enough about who we are as a company,” Fiddelke admitted.

Under Fiddelke’s leadership, Target has a big plan to refresh stores, bring in more trend-forward merchandise, and improve the shopping experience to win back customers.

But just as those efforts are ramping up, Target is preparing to say goodbye to one of its most recognizable in-store partnerships.

Beginning in August, shoppers will start seeing the first signs that Ulta Beauty shop-in-shops are disappearing from Target stores as the companies wind down their partnership.

Target and Ulta Beauty partnership comes to an end

Target and Ulta Beauty’s partnership seemed like a match made in heaven. And when it first launched in 2021, the timing couldn’t have been better.

Back then, consumers were just getting used to the in-store shopping experience after spending much of 2020 staying out of stores and primarily ordering goods online. The convenience of having mini Ulta shops under Target’s roof was hard to beat.

But last year, the companies revealed they’d be parting ways in August of 2026.

As the partnership winds down, Ulta Beauty sections will begin closing in phases, and Target will replace the dedicated spaces with its own beauty merchandising strategy. While many beauty products will remain available, the dedicated Ulta-branded displays and exclusive in-store concept will disappear.

The move reflects both companies’ evolving priorities.

Ulta Beauty is refocusing on its stand-alone stores and digital business, while Target is working to build up the beauty category without relying on a major retail partner.

Ulta Beauty shop-in-shops are disappearing from Target stores.

Schwemmer/Shutterstock

Target is betting on its own beauty business

Rather than shrink its beauty department following the end of the Ulta partnership, Target plans to significantly expand it.

During its first-quarter 2026 earnings call, Chief Merchandising Officer Cara Sylvester highlighted beauty as one of the retailer’s highest-priority categories within its broader turnaround strategy.

More Retail:

“In beauty, we’re preparing for this fall’s launch of our Target beauty studio in more than 600 stores, building on the momentum we’ve been seeing in the beauty category,” she said, noting that the company is “cultivating an assortment of trending beauty products and building out robust plans to support an efficient transition.”

Management also made clear that beauty is central to the company’s long-term growth strategy.

Sylvester told investors that Target is “intentionally leaning in more aggressively behind a set of prioritized assortments and guest needs.”

For consumers, the transition could ultimately mean a broader selection of products under the Target brand.

The shift is a strategic one for Target at a time when it’s looking to win customers back. The U.S. cosmetics market size was estimated at $62.97 billion in 2023 and is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 6.1% through 2030, according to Grand View Research.

“With its higher than average growth rates and robust levels of consumer spending, more big box retailers have turned their focus onto the beauty category,” GlobalData Managing Director Neil Saunders wrote on LinkedIn.

“These investments have helped them edge out drugstore chains as the go-to spot for mass and masstige beauty brands who want to launch and scale fast.”

The challenge for Target, of course, is proving it can deliver an equally compelling beauty destination on its own.

But if Target succeeds, the strategy could help strengthen one of its fastest-growing categories, while giving shoppers another reason to make Target a regular stop again.

Maurie Backman owns shares of Target.

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Business

Volvo Group Tests Blockchain-Based Payments For Supply…

July 17, 2026 Business 3 Mins Read

Volvo Group has tested a proprietary cryptocurrency for settling payments across its supplier network, signalling that one of the world’s largest truck manufacturers now treats blockchain as a tool for moving money rather than only tracking goods.

The disclosure came through an interview the Cardano Foundation published with Ivan Branco, Head of Information Management, Artificial Intelligence and Analytics at Volvo Group Trucks Operations in Belgium, who detailed how the company built a digital token to handle transactions inside a closed supplier ecosystem. The work remains an internal exploration and has not reached commercial deployment.

Investor Takeaway

The test suggests major manufacturers are beginning to treat blockchain as payment infrastructure rather than simply a tool for supply chain tracking.

One Token for Volvo’s Supplier Payments

Branco explained that Volvo created the cryptocurrency to link material suppliers, transport providers, and the company itself within a single settlement layer, sidestepping the tangle of national currencies that cross-border supplier payments normally involve.

“You would use a single one which would be the cryptocurrency to facilitate the exchanges between suppliers and Volvo,” Branco said, adding that the same system would hold “the ledgers where all of the information regarding the transportation the orders would be kept.”

The token stays valid only inside the ecosystem, with participation restricted to authorised partners. That design echoes a wider institutional move to abstract payments onto shared ledgers, seen in Tradeweb’s first real-time on-chain U.S. Treasury settlement, which moved a tokenized security and cash together without the timing gaps of traditional processing.

Branco framed the token as a way to cut friction rather than chase novelty, saying Volvo ran the test because it “truly believe that it can simplify the way in which we exchange information.”

Investor Takeaway

The pilot reinforces the growing enterprise case for blockchain as a settlement layer for cross-border supplier payments.

Compliance Fines Drive Volvo’s Blockchain Test

Branco tied the work to trade rules that leave manufacturers exposed to heavy penalties, pointing to the European Union’s ban on shipments to Russia and warning that Volvo stays liable even when parts reach a sanctioned market through resellers.

“We’re talking about huge fines,” he said, noting that a single blocked-origin component inside an assembled vehicle can trigger them. A shared ledger keeps every partner working from the same record of where goods originate, the logic behind blockchain systems in health logistics, where smart contracts release supplier payments only once proof of delivery reaches the chain.

He was candid about the limits, describing the project as ideation rather than a finished product and accepting that most such trials fail before the useful ones surface. That caution mirrors the enterprise approach elsewhere, with DTCC folding Microsoft, Circle, and SPY shares into a tokenization trial confined to controlled settlement environments. Volvo has set no timeline for taking the token beyond limited pilots.

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