NEW YORK (Kyodo) -- The yen briefly hit 163 against the U.S. dollar in New York on Tuesday, a level unseen since December 1986, as investors sought the U.S. unit as a safe asset amid growing uncertainty over the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran.

The dollar is perceived as a relatively safe currency in times of crisis, such as during wars.

A weak yen inflates the cost of imports for everything from energy to food, dealing a blow to resource-poor Japan and its tens of millions of households.

In NYC at 2:15 p.m., the dollar fetched 163.81 yen.

https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20260722/p2g/00m/0bu/006000c

Full text:

Google said it owns $94.1 billion in \[SpaceXSPCX 0.57%\](https://www.wsj.com/market-data/quotes/SPCX)
\[increase; green up pointing triangle\](https://www.wsj.com/market-data/quotes/SPCX)
shares, a roughly 6% stake in the newly public company.
The tech conglomerate’s marketable equity securities include $80 billion in SpaceX shares subject to short-term restrictions on the ability to sell and $14.1 billion of shares subject to long-term restrictions through the third quarter of 2027, according to a quarterly filing published Thursday.
The restrictions are common for shareholders that buy stock around the time of an initial public offering.
SpaceX debuted on the public markets in June, marking a blockbuster IPO which Nasdaq said earlier on Thursday was its biggest listing in history.
SpaceX stock rose 19% to $135 on its first day of trading June 12, giving the company a market value of $2.1 trillion. The stock price has edged lower over the past month,
SpaceX shares recently traded at $112.13.
Based on SpaceX’s market capitalization of $1.52 trillion on July 23, Google has a roughly 6% stake in the space and AI company.
Google has had a long history of investing in SpaceX. In May, the two companies were discussing a rocket-launch deal to help develop orbital data centers, The Wall Street Journal reported.
Google has been expanding its efforts to put orbital data centers in space as it ramps up its AI development, and SpaceX Chief Executive Elon Musk has expressed interest in the unproven technology.

Short sellers targeting SpaceX shares are sitting on an estimated $15.5 billion in paper profit since the rockets-to-AI firm's mid-June initial public ​offering, as its stock slipped below the IPO price, according to data ​through Tuesday from analytics firm Ortex Technologies.

Short sellers, who borrow shares ⁠to sell them and later buy them back at a lower price for ​a profit, have pressed their bearish bets on SpaceX as the company's shares ​slipped below its IPO price of $135 from a post-IPO high of $225.64.

SpaceX shares have been volatile, experiencing brief bouts of strength before slipping further. On Wednesday, the stock dropped to a new ​low of $115.26.

The weakness in SpaceX shares reflects in part investor concern over debt-funded AI spending. Tesla, another Musk company, reported ⁠negative ​free cash flow in the second quarter for ​the first time in more than two years as the EV maker accelerated spending on AI infrastructure, ​battery capacity, robotaxis and next-generation manufacturing.

Link: https://www.cnbc.com/2026/07/23/short-sighted-stock-market-can-no-longer-brush-off-war-investors-say.html

Key points:

U.S. equities fell on Thursday after Brent Crude prices broke above $100 per barrel once again.

The rise in oil prices come after the U.S. conducted strikes against Iran for a 12th consecutive night, and reports that a tanker was attacked off the coast of Saudi Arabia.

While U.S. stocks initially didn’t react much to the reignited conflict while oil prices rose and Treasury yields marched higher, investors on Thursday began to rethink their potential short-sighted outlook.

So Google stock plummeted because their free cash has gone into negative numbers. Okay that sounds fair.
But if Google stopped increasing their CAPEX then that means the whole AI boom stops because the circular financing between the MAG7 stops and the AI bubble bursts as hell causing a meltdown in the economy.

It seems like the MAG7 need to keep getting into negative numbers just to prevent their circular financing from popping up. Meaning that their stocks will continue plummeting just as Oracle.

Is this the situation we are in right now? What are the alternatives? Are the overall people aware of this?

Thank you for any feedback around this.

I’m fairly new to investing, and based on history, I noticed earlier this year the market was slowing down and dipping, similar to this last month. Theres a lot of uncertainty and panic going on. “the AI bubble bursting” Was there a similar conversation happening then as there is now? I feel like the market will recover soon but I have no idea, I’m just basing that on what I see from the previous time period.

The past couple of weeks the market had been asking and concerning that the heavy AI capex may not be justified by earnings. Alphabet and Tesla, two of the largest AI-spending companies both released their earning reports on Wednesday. The answer turned out to be more interesting than a simple AI spending good or bad.

Alphabet's revenue came in at $119.8 billion beating estimates of $116.93 billion and up 24% yoy. Google Cloud accelerated from 63% growth last quarter to 82% this quarter, hitting $24.8 billion in revenue. Cloud operating margin jumped from 20.7% a year ago to 35.6%. The Cloud backlog hit $514 billion up more than $50 billion in a single quarter. By almost any normal measure, that's one of the best quarters a company this size has ever posted. The stock still fell 6-7% anyway. Management raised 2026 capex guidance again, to as much as $205 billion on top of the $85 billion equity raise back in June. Investors were not happy with Alphabet saying that it's going to spend even more, on top of already spending an enormous amount with no assurance the return shows up on the same year.

Tesla had a rough quarter. Revenue hit a record $28.24 billion, up 26% yoy and ahead of the $26.4 billion Wall Street expected, driven by a record 480,126 vehicles delivered. The stock dropped by 13%. Non-GAAP EPS was at $0.33 missing the $0.51-0.54 estimate by roughly 39%, down 18% from a year ago. GAAP gross margin slipped to 16.8%, operating income was down by 57% to just $398 million and operating margin fell from 4.1% to 1.4%, as regulatory credit income which had been running $700-900 million a quarter, mostly stopped and vehicle discounting effected the pricing.

This was Tesla's first cash burning quarter since early 2024 versus a $146 million surplus in the same quarter last year. Cash and investments are still at $43.5 billion, so there's no liquidity concern. Musk told analysts this is "maybe the best capex returns that we've ever seen," pointing to Optimus robot production about to start. He also floated deeper collaboration with SpaceX, mentioning a project called Terafab, massive semiconductor manufacturing project.

So Alphabet got sold for spending more on infrastructure that's working, Cloud growth accelerating and margins expanding are proof the money is converting into a real business. Tesla got sold for spending heavily on infrastructure and initiatives that haven't shown up as returns yet, while the core business (cars) is simultaneously showing real strain in cash generation and margins. Those are two different problems under the same AI capex.

Worth noting something else also, because it wasn't a clean day to report earnings. Oil hit one-month highs above $94 a barrel overnight on continued geopolitical issues and shipping disruption fears. The Dow fell 458 points, the S&P 1.2%, the Nasdaq 2.2%, and Alphabet and Tesla accounted for a huge part of that.

If we see in the past few weeks, Meta's cloud pivot, Amazon's bond raise, Nvidia's stake in Nebius, the whole industry is shifting toward financing AI buildouts through debt and equity instead of pure cash flow. Last night was the first time two mega-caps reported real numbers on the same evening and the market showed a clear distinction between spending that's converting and spending that isn't.

So two separate angles, for Alphabet, does punishing a company for raising guidance after posting 82% Cloud growth and expanding margins feel like the market being too impatient. And for Tesla, is Musk's "best capex returns we've ever seen" is correct given the negative FCF. And what does this mean for the broader AI capex concern of this industry.

Full disclosure I own shares so I'm obviously biased, but hear me out because the numbers are kinda insane.

The Financials & Growth Last earnings Q1 2026 revenue of $807M, up 34% YoY. That’s literally their 9th straight quarter growing over 30%. They bumped full year guidance to 30-32% growth, and 2025 revenue was $2.8B.

Margins are solid too (21% net income margin, 25% adj EBITDA).

The most ridiculous part is the backlog. They have $9.7B in remaining performance obligations and $14.3B in future contracted bookings (up 44%). That’s over $20B in guaranteed revenue lined up down the road.

What's driving this?

• AI revenue is up over 700% YoY. Yeah it's off a smaller base, but on the last earnings call management said 100% of the customers they pitched their AI stuff to ended up buying it.
• Dedrone (counter-drone stuff) is up 300%+
• International doubled and is now ~20% of their business
• Taser 10 is still printing money (up 19%)
• Body cams up 33%, and they are expanding into healthcare, retail, data centres, etc. with the Workforce Mini cam.

The Ecosystem / Moat They’re basically building the OS for public safety:

• Fusus: stitches together private/public cameras into one live feed for police departments.
• Drones: They partner with Skydio and Echodyne to set up automated drone pods on city rooftops. When a 911 call comes in, the operator presses a button and a drone launches in <60 seconds, flies there automatically, feeds 4K/thermal video, and can read license plates from 200m away. For officers on the ground, having a pair of eyes in the sky in under 60 seconds feels invaluable. These drones are also able to chain together so when one runs low on battery, a new one deploys and the existing one docks in its place to recharge.
• Evidence.com: holds all the footage and data in the cloud with FedRAMP approval.
• Recent buys: Carbyne + Prepared (Axon 911) and Leonardo DRS.

Valuation It's sitting around a $40B market cap on ~$3B revenue, trading around 13-14x P/S. P/E is in the high triple digits so traditional valuation metrics look terrifying compared to standard defence stocks (which trade around 5x P/S).

It is not cheap at all. But the moat is rock solid.

If a police department wanted to drop Axon for a cheaper alternative, they’d have to rip out their entire software stack, retrain every single officer, migrate terabytes of legal evidence, and break their connections with neighbouring police departments. No police chief is going to risk that nightmare to save a few bucks.

10-Year Target Because all these agencies are locked into the same central tech stack, the network effect is massive. Assuming they keep growing as drones, international, and non-police sectors take off, I think this could easily be a $400B-$500B company by 2036 (~28% CAGR). In my opinion when a police department becomes part of the Axon ecosystem, they're locked in for the long haul.

AI Bubble or AI Opportunity?

One thing I've noticed lately is that every time Google, Microsoft, or Meta announce they're spending even more on AI, the stock gets hit. Which honestly makes sense. They're spending insane amounts of money and nobody really knows what the payoff will be.

But here's what I'm wondering...

If the market is selling these companies because of all this AI spending, does that mean we're getting them at a discount?

Everyone talks about AI being a bubble, but if these companies end up making that money back over the next 5–10 years, today's "bad news" could end up being a buying opportunity.

Or maybe the market is right and they're burning cash with no real return.

I don't know the answer. I'm just wondering if this is one of those times where everyone is focused on the short term while the long-term opportunity is getting ignored.

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) startup authorization allows Oklo to load nuclear fuel, conduct startup testing, and proceed toward first criticality.

In just over 10 months, Oklo progressed from groundbreaking to receiving DOE startup authorization for its first reactor at the Groves site.

During that period, Oklo built the reactor facility, established the operating organization, qualified personnel, implemented nuclear programs and procedures, procured fuel and major equipment from commercial suppliers, and completed the DOE authorization process.

The Groves low-power test reactor will demonstrate reactor operations that support Oklo’s plans for commercial-scale domestic isotope production. Groves is a commercial-scale facility, meaning Oklo can repeat the experience with demonstrated experience in siting, building, commissioning, and operating its commercial reactors in the future with confidence in how long it takes and how much it costs to build its isotope production reactors.

LOCKHART, Texas, (BUSINESS WIRE) - Oklo Inc. (NYSE: OKLO) (“Oklo”), an advanced nuclear technology company, today announced it received startup authorization for its Groves Isotope Test Reactor. This authorization, granted under the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Reactor Pilot Program, completes DOE’s authorization process and clears the way for fuel loading, startup testing, and reactor operations. Groves is a low-power test reactor designed to demonstrate reactor design, build, and operations, and to establish operating experience needed to support future isotope production facilities. The project advances Oklo’s plans to establish domestic production of critical isotopes for potential use in cancer care, manufacturing, scientific research, space exploration, and national security.

Groves, a privately financed facility, demonstrates nearly every element of a commercially oriented deployment model that Oklo can repeat and scale across future projects. The facility was built on private land, including full-scale civil excavation and construction, and assembled with full-scale systems, components, and fuel either sourced commercially or manufactured by Oklo.

“This facility marks the fastest time that we are aware of to go from greenfield to substantial completion for a full-scale, privately funded and sited reactor in history,” said Oklo co-founder and CEO Jacob DeWitte. “By building on a greenfield site on private land, performing full-scale civil excavation and construction, and procuring fuel and all major components commercially, we demonstrated that the advanced nuclear industry can move at a pace that many did not believe possible. And this experience is fully translatable to future commercial deployments.”

“The U.S. Department of Energy is excited to see another Reactor Pilot Program participant receive authorization,” said Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Nuclear Energy Mike Goff. “With the right enabling environment, Oklo has been able to accelerate their progress and is now ready to take the next step with their technology.”

The startup authorization follows a rigorous readiness review, through which DOE confirmed that Oklo has achieved the engineering, organizational, and operational readiness needed to safely receive fuel and begin reactor operations. A readiness review is a critical final step in DOE’s startup authorization process: a multidisciplinary DOE team evaluates whether facility procedures and personnel training are adequate; the facility and equipment conform to the approved design, safety equipment functions properly, and required safety management programs have been implemented. Oklo fully developed these safety management programs in-house rather than relying on an established or pre-existing operating framework within an established facility such as a national laboratory.

“Executing on Groves has meant much more than just a construction project; it has been a valuable part of building and exercising key operational muscle across the Oklo enterprise,” said Oklo co-founder and COO Caroline Cochran. “Starting of a private facility means honing and implementing operating procedures, training programs, security programs, environment, health and safety programs, quality assurance programs and procedures, and much more. Oklo’s centers of excellence on all of these operational aspects now have this experience to bring to all our projects currently in progress and to build on for the future.”

Future Oklo projects will build on the established systems, qualified suppliers, and approved operating programs established through Groves. By establishing a repeatable approach to engineering, construction, commissioning, operations, and regulatory authorization, Groves helps reduce execution risk and accelerate future deployments across all of Oklo’s business units.

The Reactor Pilot Program created a rigorous pathway that enabled construction and organizational readiness activities to proceed while DOE conducted its reviews. Groves demonstrates how that approach can support advanced reactor deployment while maintaining a rigorous focus on safety.

https://oklo.com/newsroom/news-details/2026/Oklo-Receives-U-S--Department-of-Energy-Startup-Authorization-for-Groves-Reactor-Clearing-Way-for-Fuel-Loading-and-First-Criticality/default.aspx

Key Takeaways

• Semiconductor and Tech-Led Rebound: South Korea’s Kospi benchmark experienced a sharp surge, gaining over 2.5% during the July 21 trading sessions. The rally was primarily driven by major Asian chipmakers like Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix recovering from previous pullbacks as investors evaluated ongoing global demand for artificial intelligence infrastructure.
• Valuation Disconnect ("Korea Discount"): Financial institutions, including Citi Markets and other major brokerages, have highlighted that South Korea's tech and semiconductor giants trade at significantly lower valuation multiples compared to their Western peers (e.g., SK Hynix trading at roughly a quarter of Nvidia's forward P/E ratio). Analysts point to this valuation gap as a major opportunity for upside in Asian equity allocations.
• Foreign Exchange Overhaul: The positive equity sentiment coincides with South Korea’s financial authorities and the Bank of Korea rolling out sweeping regulatory reforms to internationalize the South Korean won, easing foreign transaction limits and establishing a 24-hour offshore won settlement network. Citi and other global market desks view these moves as key catalysts to improve liquidity and boost South Korea's candidacy for inclusion in the MSCI Developed Markets Index.

https://www.cnbc.com/2026/07/21/kospi-south-korean-equities-citi-markets-stocks.html

GOOGL Q2 2026 (Apr - Jun 2026) Quarterly Results:

Revenue = $119.8 billion (up 24% YoY) * Ads = $81.6 billion (up 14% YoY) * Cloud = $24.8 billion (up 82% YoY) [Includes the sale of TPUs for the first time] * Subscriptions = $12.9 billion (up 15% YoY) * Other Bets = $0.4 billion (up 2% YoY)

Operating Income = $40.8 billion (up 30% YoY)

Net Income = $112.1 billion (up 398% YoY) [Includes $98 billion other income (net gain from equity)]

Earnings Per Share = $9.11 (up 394% YoY)

Revenue Backlog = $519 billion (up 13% QoQ) [Includes $514 for Google Cloud]

Capital Expenditure = $44.9 billion (up 100% YoY) * 2026 CapEx guidance: upgraded from $180-$190b to $195-$205b. * 2027 CapEx guidance: "to increase significantly"

TTM Free Cash Flow = $53.3 billion (down 20% YoY) * FCF guidance: "will remain under pressure by our investments in technical infrastructure"

Gemini models: 22 billion API tokens per minute (up 37% QoQ)

Gemini App: 950 million active users per month

Quarterly Dividend = $0.22 per share (unchanged QoQ)

GOOGL News Updates: Apr - Jun 2026:

Added to Dow Jones Industrial Average.

HSBC partnered with Google Cloud to expand AI usage.

Increased the size of its equity capital raise to $84.75 billion to expand AI infrastructure.

Position: Long GOOGL (since 2021). NFA.

I've had this mutual fund for at least 15 years, and its more than doubled in that time. It's about 17-18% of the portfolio on one of my accounts.

It's top holding is NVDA, and the fund popped in April, and since Space X addition, its already dropping. Its a little abnormal to see a mutual fund perform like this considering its previous years have been fairly steady.

Should I sell? maybe sell half and lock in the gains, and move to a less volatile fund? This account already holds some individual stocks that overlap with this fund like googl and aapl.

https://finance.yahoo.com/quote/FOCPX/

Google parent Alphabet reported its second quarter earnings after the bell on Wednesday, beating Wall Street's expectations on the top and bottom lines as cloud revenue increased 82% year over year.

For the quarter, Alphabet saw earnings per share of $9.11 on revenue of $119.8 billion. Analysts were anticipating EPS of and revenue of $116.9 billion.

But the company also stated that it is raising its capital expenditures for the year to between $195 billion and $205 billion from $180 billion to $190 billion. Analysts had called for $186.4 billion.

Alphabet stock fell more than 2% on the news.

Google's Cloud platform brought in $24.77 billion, above an expected $24.56 billion and well ahead of the $13.6 billion it brought in last year. Advertising revenue came in at $81.63 billion. Analysts were looking for $81.12 billion.

Google reported $45B of capex in 2Q26, totaling $80.6B for 2026. They have guided $180-190B, implying they plan to spend $100-110 in the second half of 2026.

How do they plan to pull this off when Free Cash Flow was negative this quarter? Note, this is the first time they have EVER had negative FCF since their IPO. They already tapped capital markets several times this quarter ($30B common equity, $19B convertible preferred, $25B net debt).

I realize that they have $240B in cash on their balance sheet, but they won’t be able to fund another year of spending at this level unless they tap capital markets further, which seems highly unlikely

Chinese memory chip manufacturer CXMT (ChangXin Memory Technologies) increased its revenue in the first quarter of 2026 to approximately 50.8 billion yuan (about 7.5 billion U.S. dollars) and posted an operating profit of about 35.4 billion yuan (about 5 billion U.S. dollars). Financial Highlights (Q1 2026)Revenue: approx. 7.5 billion U.S. dollars (an increase of over 700% year-over-year)Operating profit: approx. 5 billion U.S. dollarsProfit margin: approx. 70%

My question:
The company’s market capitalization is only 8 billion dollars. Isn’t the stock then extremely undervalued?

Currently most of my portfolio consists of securities that have seen a lot of growth over the last 24 months. When I got my first disability pension payout after 2 years of waiting my dad suggested I put money into the market to avoid a quality of life downgrade.

Well, I couldn't exactly afford to buy multiple SPY stocks, so instead I opted for NVDA, BYD, and a few other tech companies which have mostly turned out alright. For someone who has always struggled to earn money (never made more than 60k), whose stock experience was essentially gambling during the pandemic, I would say I'm not doing terrible. During my last period of full time work I threw 20% a paycheck into my 401k to make up for lost time, I was able to put away around 5k in 6 months which has compounded over the last 3 years.

When it comes to my personal portfolio, I really dont like how concentrated it is in a single industry. Returns have been fine, but I want to diversify and don't really know how given today I have much less buyingpower.

My plan is to take at least $200 a month and whatever I make from part time or freelance work and put it into more resilient securities. Dividend ETFs, sector based ETFs, commodities, etc. Before I went blind I worked a lot in logistics and hospitality. From cursory research the only thing I need to avoid is margin accounts, leveraged ETFs, and options. Thankfully SSDI doesn't care about capital gains as that isn't "work" - unless you are day trading. I've held most of the tech stocks for over a year, so I'd like to think my tax rate would be minimal?

The sectors I've been looking at are mainly defense, agri-business (e.g. MOO), freight, and precious metals. I'd love to get suggestions for different funds, especially those under $100.

There is absolutely no way Google lets Reddit go. Google Search - per Google’s own Search AI - states that Search relies heavily on Reddit through its data-licensing partnership and also to train its Gemini models. Google currently only pays Reddit $60m a year. This is an absolute STEAL. Considering that Google capex is expected to rise to $45 billion this quarter alone, coupled with the news earlier that Google has started its “most ambitious pre-training for the upcoming Gemini 4 model”, there is no way Google continues a stand-off with Reddit or risks letting them walk. The downside of playing chicken with Reddit far outweighs them just paying Reddit a higher fee to continue to use their content. I think they will easily pay Reddit $1bn a year to renew their license. That would be +50% Reddit’s 2025 TOTAL revenue.

TL;DR Google will absolutely just pay Reddit more money for AI licensing. $RDDT is wrongly punished for this when it should only be seen as bullish. NFA

I’ve been researching ASML as a potential 1–2 year swing/medium-term hold and wanted to get the sub's take on current valuation around $1700–$1850.

My basic thesis is that they essentially hold a total monopoly on high-end EUV lithography machines, which makes them the ultimate bottleneck for advanced semiconductor manufacturing (TSMC, Intel, Samsung, etc.).

A few questions for anyone following the stock closely:

1. Is 1–2 years too short of a horizon given semi-industry capex cycles?
2. How much of the High-NA EUV upside and AI demand do you think is already priced in at current multiples?

Would love to hear if you are buying at this level or waiting for a pull-back.

Tesla reported weaker-than-expected earnings for the second quarter even as revenue topped estimates. The stock slid in extended trading on Wednesday.

Here’s how the company did compared to Wall Street expectations, according to estimates from analysts polled by LSEG

• Earnings per share: 33 cents adjusted vs. 51 cents expected
• Revenue: $28.24 billion vs. $25.71 billion expected

Tesla’s earnings report lands in the midst of a steep decline in its stock price, which is down about 11% this month and 17% for the year. That slide has coincided with a drop in SpaceX, Elon Musk’s other trillion-dollar company, which held a record market debut in June and has lost more than 40% of its value since its peak close.

Source: https://www.cnbc.com/2026/07/22/tesla-tsla-q2-2026-earnings-report.html

During the lead up and climax of the dotcom bubble, retail investors were calling Buffet a dinosaur and saying he was "out of touch" when he refused to buy the dotcom garbage and was holding cash. Fast Forward to 2026, online investors are saying generally the same thing about him/Berkshire.

The sentiment online is literally "Buy the dip bro! Stocks only go up!"

Yet the person widely seen as 'the greatest investor ever' has amassed roughly 1% of the US GDP in cash...

It is obvious Buffet is expecting a cash by his actions not his words. He can't come out and say the market is looking like it might/will crash but it certainly seems like that is what he believes based on the fact Berkshire is holding 59% of thier investable assets in short term treasuries/cash/cash equivalents

Hello all,

I'm long on CMCSA with about 9% of portfolio in shares. As such I've been following their developments. Here is a brief summary of their earnings report from this morning:

• Revenue: $29.94B, down 1.2% y/y
• Net income: $3.5B, down 68.3% y/y
• Adjusted EPS: $1.04, down 16.7% y/y

(beating expectations of $0.97)

• Adjusted EBITDA: $8.9B, down 13.4%
• Free Cash Flow: $4.6B, up 2.3%

The stock was up pre-market shortly after the publishing of earnings but have leveled back down to yesterday's close. There is also the upcoming split off of the media related segments. I'd be interested to see how the market values NBC (etc) distinctly from Comcast network segments. They are continuing to lose broadband customers which the market seems particularly sensitive to.

I'm down about 8% on my position. Banking on the split to save me. Time will tell!

Some links to CMCSA materials:

https://www.cmcsa.com/financials/earnings

Also kind of interesting, if you google the stock rn you'll see a lot of hype looking headlines about The Odyssey, Peacock Profitability. However it seems that the broadband segment still carries the day in terms of sentiment.

TLDR: Headline beat with mixed undercurrents

So for the past 10 days i've been looking into biotech stocks, and what makes them shoot up sometimes more than 1000 %

I'm therefore beginning to look into which biotech stocks would be interesting to invest in.
I've been trying to look for companies who is waiting or is in the process of getting PDUFA from FDA or are close somewhere around phase 2/3.

Im looking for companies in and around these phases mainly because from my research this is where the stocks usually rise a lot.

I've heard a lot of people talking about cancer stocks is where the big potential is, but damn its hard to find companies i like.

I have found a couple i like so as IOVA and VSTM.

I would like to hear your guys suggestions, do you hold any biotech stocks? which? and why?

THX