What you need to know today

Labor boost
Wall Street rallied after the latest jobless data renewed investors’ faith in the U.S. economy.

Delta IT hit
Delta Air Lines revealed that last month’s CrowdStrike outage and subsequent flight cancellations resulted in a $550 million financial blow. This includes a $380 million revenue hit due to refunds and compensation, and $170 million in operational recovery costs.

The airline plans to seek damages from CrowdStrike and Microsoft while acknowledging a $50 million reduction in fuel expenses due to the cancellation of some 7,000 flights.

Job losses
Paramount Global plans to cut 15% of its U.S. workforce as it prepares for a merger with Skydance Media. Paramount has identified $500 million in cost savings, including layoffs, as part of its merger. It also said earnings surged as the company’s streaming division swung to an unexpected profit — the first time Paramount has announced a profitable quarter for its direct-to-consumer business. Paramount also took a $6 billion impairment charge for its cable networks, similar to Warner Bros. Discovery’s write-down. Its shares rose 5% in after-hours trade.

Blowout earnings
Eli Lilly blew past second-quarter earnings and revenue expectations and increased its full-year revenue forecast by $3 billion. The company now anticipates revenue of up to $46.6 billion, driven by booming sales of its diabetes drug Mounjaro and weight loss injection Zepbound. “We just see unbelievable demand, and we’re not even trying that hard to promote this drug,” Eli Lilly CEO David Ricks told CNBC. “What you’re seeing is just consumer organic demand here as we’ve shipped more product, as we bring more supply online in the United States.” Shares closed up more than 9%.

AI defense duo
Palantir’s shares soared 11% after announcing a partnership with Microsoft to offer secure cloud, analytics and AI solutions to the U.S. defense and intelligence sectors. The collaboration will leverage Microsoft’s Azure cloud platform to deliver Palantir’s data analysis and AI software to government agencies. The partnership aims to empower defense and intelligence organizations with advanced AI tools for various applications, including logistics and strategic planning. Palantir’s stock has surged by 70% this year, driven by its focus on government contracts and the growing demand for AI-powered solutions.