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Hi Reader, here's what you need to know for August 1st in 3:15 minutes.

🤞 The first half of this year hasn’t been great, so things can only go up from here… right? Join Tradestation’s David Russell for The Next Six Months For Stocks And Crypto on Wednesday, and find out what you can expect from the rest of the year. Grab your free ticket

Today's big stories

Sony cut its profit outlook because its games business was buffering… buffering…
The next few years could throw various economic scenarios at you, but you can build one portfolio that’ll see you through it all – Read Now
US oil giants Chevron and Exxon Mobil posted record quarterly profits

Glitch, Please

What’s Going On Here?

Japanese entertainment giant Sony cut its full-year profit outlook on Friday.

What Does This Mean?

First, the good news: Sony’s operating profit grew by a better-than-expected 10% last quarter from the same time last year. That was partly thanks to strong results from its movie and music segments, and partly down to a weak yen that meant international profits were worth more when converted back. But Sony’s gaming business was a shambles: the company sold 26% fewer games, and barely sold any more PS5s because it’s still not producing enough of them. No surprises, then, that the segment’s profit was down 37% from the same time last year. Sony slashed its annual profit outlook for the segment by 16% too, potentially because it doesn’t have enough high-profile titles in the works or that – ew – gamers are spending more time outdoors. And since its gaming segment makes up around a quarter of its overall business, the company slashed its overall profit outlook by 4% too.

Why Should I Care?

Zooming in: Optimism only goes so far.
Sony isn’t giving up on its target of selling 18 million PS5s this financial year, promising to bring shipments forward so there’s plenty to go around by Christmas. But it’s setting its sights lower elsewhere in its business: it cut its revenue forecast for its camera image sensors, as the war and Covid continue to impact shipping, production, and costs. Sony’s not the only one: South Korean giant Samsung Electronics warned late last week that it was adjusting its forecasts almost daily because of all the uncertainty.

Zooming out: An investment in the future.
Some of Sony’s production struggles can be put down to the chip shortage, which is something the US has been dealing with too. That’s why the US government finally passed a long-awaited bill late last week that should boost its chipmaking industry, with around $52 billion in subsidies for production and $200 billion to boost research over the next decade.

You might also like: Should you revisit Japanese stocks?

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Analyst Take

How To Build The Dream Portfolio For Every Nightmare Scenario

Stéphane Renevier, Analyst

If there’s one thing that will have the single biggest impact on your performance in the next few years, it’s asset allocation.

Because with so many of the trends that have supported stocks at risk of reversal, only a truly balanced portfolio will help you deal with whatever the next few years might throw at you.

Nightmare scenarios including – but by no means limited to – strong growth with high inflation, weak growth with low inflation, or a deep but prolonged recession.

Well, if that’s the case, you want one portfolio so well-diversified that it’ll hold up no matter what.

So that’s today’s Insight: how to build one portfolio to rule them all.

Read or listen to the Insight here

Your portal to the cryptoverse

Bitcoin.com is a go-to spot for crypto beginners who want to buy, sell, or learn about crypto.

So it only seems right that Bitcoin.com – which is trusted with over 30 million digital wallets – is launching its own native utility token: Verse.

Utility tokens were among the most traded cryptocurrencies over the last year, and this one’s already off to a strong start: Bitcoin.com just finished a $33.6 million private sale of Verse.

Verse is set to help power the Bitcoin.com ecosystem that’s used by millions around the globe, and you can find out more about what this demand means for Verse in its whitepaper.

You’re best getting pre-approved before limited Verse tokens go on sale, so get whitelisted today.

Discover Verse

The Verse token sale is not available in the U.S. and other restricted jurisdictions.