The Dividend Setup Heading Into Q2 Earnings

A Dividend King with a fresh 4%+ yield reports Q2 before the open tomorrow.

A high-yield pipeline name is grabbing the most trader attention of any income stock in the market. And a retail REIT ex-div hits Thursday. Here's how to play it.

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Telecom

A Promo Change Puts T-Mobile’s Customer Growth Play Under Pressure

T-Mobile US (NASDAQ: TMUS) is tightening two major switcher promotions, making Keep and Switch and Family Freedom available only to new accounts starting July 9.

The offers can reimburse up to $800 per line for customers switching from another carrier, but existing T-Mobile voice accounts will no longer qualify simply by adding a new line.

The move matters because these promotions were built to make switching easier.

At a time when smartphone prices are higher, customers are more likely to carry device balances, T-Mobile is reducing one of the tools that helped people switch to its network.

Family Accounts Lose Flexibility

The change appears to favor creating new accounts over adding lines to existing voice accounts. Accounts with only Home Internet or T-Satellite may still qualify, but households already using T-Mobile voice service lose access.

That shifts your focus to customer loyalty.

T-Mobile has built its brand around being aggressive and customer-friendly, but limiting strong promos for existing households can make loyal accounts feel less valuable.

Rivals Get a Cleaner Pitch

Verizon, AT&T, and cable wireless players now have an easier message for frustrated switchers. If T-Mobile makes the rebate harder to use, another carrier can step in with a simpler offer.

For T-Mobile, the risk is not only one promo change.

If customers feel the company is prioritizing account metrics over household convenience, you have a brand famous for shaking up wireless suddenly becoming a softer target for competitors.

TMUS currently trades at $184 and pays a dividend of $4.08 per share, a yield of 2.21%.

Asset Management

BlackRock Is Turning AI Market Demand Into a Bigger ETF Push

BlackRock (NYSE: BLK) is launching a new iShares Nasdaq-100 ETF, putting the world’s largest asset manager directly into one of the most important corners of the ETF market.

The fund is designed to track the technology-heavy Nasdaq-100 index, giving BlackRock a fresh product for demand tied to AI, large-cap growth, and major U.S. technology companies.

The move is a direct challenge to Invesco’s long-running Nasdaq-100 franchise, led by QQQ and QQQM. BlackRock already manages more than $41 billion across other Nasdaq-100 strategies, but this launch gives iShares a cleaner shot at the flagship index itself.

BlackRock Enters the QQQ Battlefield

Invesco has owned the Nasdaq-100 trade for years, especially among customers looking for simple exposure to big technology and growth names. BlackRock now wants that same demand flowing through the iShares machine.

BlackRock is not sitting outside a market where AI enthusiasm keeps pulling money toward the same group of dominant companies. It wants a larger share of that traffic.

iShares Gets a Bigger Growth Tool

The new ETF strengthens BlackRock’s iShares lineup at a time when investors are using ETFs for fast, low-friction access to major market themes.

Nasdaq-100 exposure has become shorthand for the companies powering cloud, chips, software, and AI infrastructure.

That puts your focus on distribution power. If the product gains traction, you have BlackRock tightening its grip on another major ETF category.

The launch is not just another fund; it is a direct move into a market Invesco has dominated for decades.

BLK currently trades at $985 and pays a dividend of $22.92 per share, a yield of 2.32%.

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Enterprise

Microsoft Is Reducing Its AI Dependence on OpenAI and Anthropic

Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) is increasingly using its own AI models in products like Excel and Outlook, replacing some work that previously relied more heavily on OpenAI and Anthropic.

Tens of thousands of AI prompts in those everyday business apps are now being handled each week by Microsoft’s internally built MAI models.

Office Becomes the Proving Ground

Excel and Outlook are not side experiments. They are core Microsoft products, which makes them the perfect place to test whether the company’s own AI can handle real workplace demand at scale.

Open a spreadsheet or an email draft, and you are now closer to Microsoft’s deeper strategy: building more of the AI engine behind its own apps. The company wants to reduce dependence on external providers for features that may become central to Office.

Microsoft Gains More Leverage

The shift does not erase Microsoft’s relationship with OpenAI. It does suggest Microsoft wants more flexibility as AI becomes a long-term operating cost, not just a headline feature.

If the internal models maintain high quality, you have Microsoft turning Office into a stronger AI profit engine. The company would gain more control over product speed, costs, and the future of workplace software.

MSFT currently trades at $382 and pays a dividend of $3.64 per share, a yield of 0.95%.

Curbline Properties (NYSE: CURB) declared a special dividend on top of its regular payout, per an 8-K filed July 6.

Alight (NYSE: ALIT) declared its latest quarterly dividend in an SEC filing this week.

General Mills (NYSE: GIS) filed a "dividend declared" 8-K, worth watching alongside the broader packaged-food yield trade.

Two Harbors Investment (NYSE: TWO) reaffirmed its quarterly common distribution in a July 6 filing.

Saratoga Investment (NYSE: SAR) filed a quarterly dividend 8-K on July 7, in line with its BDC payout cadence.

Element Solutions (NYSE: ESI) filed a dividend-related 8-K alongside its Solstice Advanced Materials (NYSE: SOLS) spin-off, worth watching how the payout policy shakes out post-separation.

No individual-stock dividend cuts of note in verified SEC filings over the past seven days. That's a healthy signal heading into Q2 earnings season.

If any cuts hit the wire this week, we'll cover them in the next issue.

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Everything Else

• 💡 Seven stocks with solid financials and attractive valuations are revealed in a free report as institutional money rotates away from mega-cap tech.

• 🚢 U.S. strikes on Iran are putting Hormuz shipping risk back on watch as traders track the energy fallout.

• 🏦 Singapore’s Temasek is leaning deeper into AI and private credit as its portfolio hits a record high.

• 💵 Amazon is reportedly aiming to raise $25 billion in a bond sale, adding more fuel to its capital spending plans.

• 🧠 Perplexity says it plans to use Nvidia’s new CPU, adding another high-profile buyer to the AI hardware demand story.