It has been a turbulent year for the U.S. markets. In early April, many stocks experienced sharp declines due to escalating trade tensions and the introduction of new tariffs by the Trump administration. Investors panicked. Headlines screamed of trade wars.But fast-forward to July, and it's a completely different picture. The benchmark S&P 500 index is sitting at record highs. Economic metrics are seeming friendlier, and optimism has crept back in. But don't let the rally fool you -- there's tension brewing ...

Market Overview - The U.S. equity market has faced high volatility in 2025 due to aggressive tariff policies, ongoing trade wars, rising interest rates, and changing investor behaviors, but this has also created opportunities for acquiring reasonably priced, high-quality stocks [1] Palantir Technologies - Palantir Technologies' data mining and analytics platform helps organizations manage vast amounts of data to generate actionable insights [4] - In the first quarter, Palantir's revenue rose 39% year over year to $884 million, with U.S. revenue growing 55% year over year, now accounting for nearly 71% of total business [5] - The U.S. commercial business has crossed a $1 billion annual revenue run rate in the first quarter [5] - Palantir's Artificial Intelligence Platform (AIP) positions the company as a provider of a major ontology and AI-powered operating system for enterprises and government agencies [6] - Unlike other AI companies, Palantir focuses on AI implementations, translating large language model capabilities into business outcomes, enabling clients to build autonomous AI agents [7] - Strong customer adoption is evident, with Walgreens Boots Alliance automating 384 billion daily decisions across 4,000 stores in eight months, and American International Group expecting its five-year CAGR to double after adopting Palantir's technology [8] - Despite a high valuation of 208 times forward earnings, Palantir's implementation-focused AI strategy and strong customer demand present a long-term investment opportunity [9] SoundHound AI - SoundHound AI's revenue surged 151% year over year to $29.1 million, with no single customer accounting for more than 10% of total revenue, indicating a well-diversified business [10] - The company has established a competitive moat with its proprietary Polaris foundation model, supporting 30 languages and significantly improving performance metrics [11] - Strategic acquisitions have expanded SoundHound's reach to nearly 13,000 restaurants and opened new cross-selling opportunities [12] - The introduction of a voice commerce ecosystem integrating conversational AI in vehicles has generated significant interest from automakers, potentially becoming a substantial revenue stream [12] - SoundHound's stock is down nearly 60% from its all-time high, presenting a potential buying opportunity [13] UiPath - UiPath's shares are down nearly 86% from their all-time high in May 2021, despite strong fundamentals [14] - The company's recent earnings were slightly below analyst estimates due to timing issues in government business deal closures [14] - UiPath's pivot toward agentic AI could serve as a long-term catalyst, with strong adoption trends for its agentic AI products [15] - The company has robust customer metrics, including a dollar-based gross retention rate of 98% and a dollar-based net retention rate of 110% in the fourth quarter [17] - High-value customers spending over $1 million in annual recurring revenue increased by 10% year over year, while those spending $5 million or more increased by 30% [17] - UiPath maintains a strong balance sheet with $1.7 billion in cash and zero debt, and trades at only 4.6 times sales, significantly lower than its three-year average of 6.9 times, making it a worthwhile investment despite recent growth slowdowns [18]