The Financial Times’ sources identified the Japanese conglomerate as the ‘NASDAQ whale’ that purchased billions in call options—which gave it the right to buy at a set price—in individual companies’ shares over the last month. Analysts said the extent of the buying and the seasonal drop in trading during the summer have helped drive up tech stocks prices. (Financial Times, The Wall Street Journal)

Talking point: Last month, SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son announced he was seeding a US$555-million fund to invest in public tech companies, and it’s established large stakes in top-tier firms like Amazon, Alphabet and Tesla. The firm has been on both sides of the sector’s story on the stock market over the last year. Portfolio companies Uber and Lyft led the disappointing IPO pack for 2019, and WeWork—into which SoftBank continues to put billions—failed to list at all. This year’s crop has done better, and SoftBank has made money on investments in smaller startups like insurance-technology firm Lemonade. Still, its portfolio will have taken a hit this week—markets were down in afternoon trading Friday, after a second consecutive day of tech-stock drops.