Bloomberg Businessweek Weekend - July 17th, 2026

**SPEAKER_1** (0:02)
Bloomberg Audio Studios, Podcasts, Radio, News.

**SPEAKER_2** (0:08)
This is Bloomberg Businessweek Daily, reporting from the magazine that helps global leaders stay ahead, with insight on the people, companies, and trends shaping today's complex economy, plus global business, finance, and tech news as it happens. The Bloomberg Businessweek Daily podcast with Carol Massar and Tim Stenovec on Bloomberg Radio.

**Carol Massar** (0:32)
Hi everyone. Welcome to the Bloomberg Businessweek weekend podcast. A high stakes week both globally and up on Capitol Hill.
In the Middle East, first of all, the fragile June ceasefire between the United States and Iran hit a major roadblock following a heavy new wave of US airstrikes on Iran. The strikes are part of a bombing campaign that President Donald Trump says will continue until Iran stops attacking ships in the Strait of Hormuz, and agrees to open the waterway. A developing story big time as we wrapped up, we should point out, there were strikes kind of going on all around the region. It was just not working out as everyone expected. And oh, gotta also mention, all the big Wall Street banks reported earnings, and let's just say there were lots of superlatives when it came to many of the results. For the latest on that and the ongoing US war in Iran, head over to the Bloomberg and to bloomberg.com.

**Tim Stenovec** (1:23)
Also a focus this past week, newish Fed Chair Kevin Warsh making a highly anticipated debut on Capitol Hill. He faced tough questions from lawmakers when it came to inflation, monetary policy, the economic impact of AI, and more. Meanwhile, on Wall Street, chip stocks had quite a week, riding a roller coaster of sharp sell-offs, followed by a strong tech rebound.
Ups and downs, roller coaster, I think is the right way to describe it. It is.

**Carol Massar** (1:48)
And this hour, we keep an eye on those chips, plus chocolate and Barbie. It's all in the Ten Stocks to watch this quarter, thanks to our Bloomberg Intelligence team, who have identified the most interesting companies from their group of what they call high-confidence focus ideas. We reveal the names and why, for better or for worse, they bear watching.

**Tim Stenovec** (2:07)
Then we turn our attention to the rapidly expanding world of prediction markets. We sit down with Udash Jha, he's the chief risk officer over at Kalshi, on the company's latest tool that plots the future price of computing power.

**Carol Massar** (2:19)
Plus as the summer heat continues to break records, we address a hotly debated question in the modern corporate world. Is it ever okay to show some leg in the office?
We're talking about, I feel like mostly for guys here.

**Tim Stenovec** (2:31)
I'm wearing shorts right now.

**Carol Massar** (2:33)
I know you are. Women can get away with lots of things of showing legs regularly, but I don't know, with guys in shorts, I guess it's a whole other thing. Bloomberg Pursuit's editor at large, Chris Rouser, says, yes, it's okay to show a little leg for men.
He'll explain a little later on.

**Tim Stenovec** (2:48)
All that to come, we begin with the 10 companies to watch this quarter.
Our Bloomberg Intelligence team has identified interesting companies from its roster of high-confidence focus ideas. It spans sectors and regions. Each scenario outlines a catalyst in the next few months that supports their case.

**Carol Massar** (3:03)
Some of the companies highlight high stakes in semiconductor chips, the pricing power of global chocolate, and the next chapter for Barbie. Helping us break it all down is Tim Craighead, Bloomberg Intelligence Global Chief Content Officer. He joined me alongside Bloomberg News credit reporter, Emily Grafeo.

**Tim Craighead** (3:21)
So these companies are all part of a broader group of ideas that we have on an ongoing basis, an actively managed group of ideas we call focus ideas.
You can find them on the terminal, by the way, with BI focus. But the crux of these is that they're high conviction fundamental views, either positive or cautious from the analysts across the globe.
They span all sectors. And they're differentiated from what the market seems to be discounting. And high conviction differentiated. The third leg of this is there's catalysts ahead that we think will change the market's mentality. And with this group of 10, it is whittled way down. These are 10 across the globe, positive and negative, across sectors. That we think have particularly notable catalysts coming up in the third quarter. So it's not the be all and end all, but it's certainly a high profile topical list of 10 companies to watch.

**Emily Grafeo** (4:30)
Okay, well, we have to start with Microsoft. That's the largest company on the list here. What is the market getting wrong about Microsoft? And I love how the story is laid out because you have a picture, you have a data sheet, and then you also have a trigger, which is a note about what could trigger any movement. But I'll let you explain it.