Featured Articles in Business

Applied Materials Report Seen as Bellwether for AI Capital Spending

Applied Materials is set to report fiscal third-quarter earnings Thursday after the market closes, with investors looking for signs that booming investment in artificial intelligence continues to drive demand for semiconductor manufacturing equipment. The company reports Thursday, Aug. 13, and Wall Street is expecting another strong quarter. Analysts expect Applied Materials to report revenue of Read More…

CoreWeave Set to Report Second-Quarter Results Tuesday

CoreWeave is set to report second-quarter earnings Tuesday after the market closes, giving investors another look at whether massive spending on artificial intelligence infrastructure is translating into sustainable growth. The AI-focused cloud computing company will report results Aug. 11, followed by an earnings call at 5 p.m. Eastern time, according to CoreWeave. Wall Street is Read More…

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Applied Materials Report Seen as Bellwether for AI Capital Spending

Applied Materials is set to report fiscal third-quarter earnings Thursday after the market closes, with investors looking for signs that booming investment in artificial intelligence continues to drive demand for semiconductor manufacturing equipment. The company reports Thursday, Aug. 13, and Wall Street is expecting another strong quarter. Analysts expect Applied Materials to report revenue of Read More…

Friedberg Says Starlink Could Become a $1 Trillion Business

Elon Musk said this week that Starlink’s long-term revenue potential could be far larger than a bullish estimate offered by former Alphabet executive and venture capitalist David Friedberg, as the satellite internet business continues rapid subscriber and revenue growth. Speaking on the All-In podcast, Friedberg cited Starlink’s performance in making a bullish case for the Read More…

July CPI Report Wednesday Could Be a Major Test for Markets and the Fed

Investors will get one of the most important economic reports of the month Wednesday morning when the government releases its July Consumer Price Index, providing the latest look at inflation and potentially reshaping expectations for the Federal Reserve. The Bureau of Labor Statistics will release July CPI at 8:30 a.m. Eastern time Wednesday, Aug. 12. Read More…

CoreWeave Set to Report Second-Quarter Results Tuesday

CoreWeave is set to report second-quarter earnings Tuesday after the market closes, giving investors another look at whether massive spending on artificial intelligence infrastructure is translating into sustainable growth. The AI-focused cloud computing company will report results Aug. 11, followed by an earnings call at 5 p.m. Eastern time, according to CoreWeave. Wall Street is Read More…

American Express Q2 Beat Fails to Impress Investors

American Express reported second-quarter profits rose 8% from a year earlier, beating Wall Street’s expectations, but shares fell roughly 6% Friday as investors focused on unchanged full-year earnings guidance and rising expenses rather than the headline beat. The New York-based card issuer earned $3.11 billion, or $4.53 a share, in the quarter, topping the analyst Read More…

Montana Ranks as Top 10 State for Job Growth

Montana ranked ninth in the nation for year-over-year job growth, Gov. Greg Gianforte announced, citing a new report placing the state among the country’s strongest job markets. According to a report by Stat Ranker, which compared all 50 states on year-over-year growth in total nonfarm payroll employment between February 2025 and February 2026, Montana added Read More…

First Interstate Bank

First Interstate Named to TIME’s America’s Best Companies 2026

First Interstate BancSystem has been named to TIME magazine’s inaugural America’s Best Companies 2026 list, a recognition the Billings-based regional bank’s leadership credited to its people and its approach to community banking across the West. The list, produced in partnership with Statista and announced July 9, ranks 1,000 U.S. companies based on three equally weighted Read More…

$800 Million Janicki Campus Breaks Ground in Great Falls

Gov. Greg Gianforte joined Janicki Industries leadership to break ground on the company’s $800 million, 1.6 million-square-foot manufacturing campus in Great Falls, marking the formal start of what is expected to become one of the largest private investments in Montana’s recent history. The ceremony brought together Janicki leadership, state and local officials, and members of Read More…

A man in business attire gestures with authority.

Microsoft cuts over 600 Washington jobs, 4,800 globally amid corporate restructuring

Microsoft announced layoffs Monday impacting 605 workers based out of Washington, part of a planned broader corporate restructuring that will eliminate 4,800 employees globally. According to the Washington Employment Security Department WARN database, the permanent job cuts were formally logged on Monday and are scheduled to take effect on Sept. 4. The 605-person filing represents the Read More…

Montana’s Unemployment Rate Falls to 3.4%

Montana’s unemployment rate ticked down to 3.4% in May, Gov. Greg Gianforte announced, remaining below the national unemployment rate, which held steady at 4.3% over the month. “Since taking office, we’ve been focused on unleashing Montana’s economy to support business owners who create good-paying jobs, strengthen our workforce, and reduce barriers to employment,” Gianforte said. Read More…

SpaceX Becomes World’s Fifth Most Valuable Company

Stock’s blistering post-IPO run has investors betting on Musk’s broader ambitions in AI, even as some analysts call the valuation overheated Space Exploration Technologies Corp., the Elon Musk-led rocket and satellite company known as SpaceX, vaulted past Amazon.com in market value this week, becoming the world’s fifth most valuable public company in just three trading Read More…

Snap Spins Off Gen-AI Video Team to Form Dotmo, a New Independent Firm

Social-media company sheds in-house AI video unit as it looks to rein in the rising costs of developing generative-AI models and immersive gaming products Snap Inc. is carving out its generative-AI video team into a new, independent company called Dotmo, the latest move by the social-media giant to manage the soaring costs of building artificial-intelligence Read More…

Montana Named Top State to Start a Business

Montana earned recognition as one of the nation’s premier destinations for entrepreneurs, landing in the top 15 states in a WalletHub study ranking all 50 states on their business startup environments. The report evaluated states across 25 measures grouped into three dimensions: business environment, access to resources and business costs. Metrics included number of startups Read More…

Justice Department Approves Paramount-Warner Bros. Merger

The Justice Department’s Antitrust Division has approved Paramount Skydance’s $111 billion acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery, clearing the largest regulatory hurdle facing one of the most closely watched media mergers of the Trump era. The decision, announced Friday, paves the way for a combination of two of Hollywood’s most storied studios, merging the company behind Read More…

SpaceX Makes History With Record-Breaking $75 Billion IPO — Shares Surge Nearly 20% on Debut

Elon Musk’s SpaceX priced its initial public offering Thursday, raising $75 billion and cementing the rocket maker’s place among the world’s most valuable companies in what stands as the largest IPO in U.S. history. On Friday, Wall Street delivered its verdict: investors wanted in. The offering valued SpaceX at approximately $1.77 trillion at its IPO Read More…

Janicki Industries Selects Great Falls for $800 Million Manufacturing Campus

GREAT FALLS, Mont. — Gov. Greg Gianforte announced that Janicki Industries selected Great Falls as the site of an $800 million manufacturing campus expected to create more than 1,000 jobs in its first five years and ultimately employ more than 2,000 people once fully built out. John Janicki, president of the company, made the announcement Read More…

MGM, Caesars Takeover Bids Signal New Era for Las Vegas

The Las Vegas Strip is facing a wave of consolidation unlike anything seen in a generation, with two major casino takeover deals announced in the span of days that could fundamentally reshape the American gaming industry. Media mogul Barry Diller’s holding company People Incorporated — formerly known as IAC — submitted a non-binding proposal Monday Read More…

Arizona Lemonade Brand Hits Montana Shelves With a Nod to the State Fruit

AZ Lemonade Stand, an Arizona-based premium lemonade brand, is rolling out across Montana retailers this month, bringing five flavors to Town Pump, Super 1 Foods, Rosauers, and Thriftway Food Stores locations statewide as the company pushes deeper into western markets. The launch includes the brand’s Original, Strawberry, Mango, and Prickly Pear varieties alongside a Huckleberry Read More…

Markets Whipsaw Through a Week of Records, Inflation Fears, and Geopolitical Uncertainty

Wall Street closed out a turbulent week on a sour note Friday, with all three major indexes posting sharp declines that erased much of the gains built up through a historic midweek rally, leaving investors to weigh record stock prices against rising inflation, elevated oil prices, and unresolved geopolitical tensions. For the week, the S&P Read More…

Bridger Photonics Unveils New Platform to Streamline Emissions Management

Bridger Photonics, the global leader in emissions detection and intelligence, has announced the launch of Bridger Command™, an interactive emissions management platform designed to help oil and gas operators turn emissions data into faster, more confident decisions. Oil and gas operators make thousands of decisions daily across operations, maintenance, safety, regulatory, and capital planning. Over Read More…