Nvidia, AMD Battle for Cryptocurrency Supremacy; Oil Markets Steady — ICYMI Thursday – TheStreet.com

Keep the megadeals and uncertainty coming, it's great for us in the news business. Not so much for some investors that may have not seen the recent tech sell-off coming or who haven't been following this missive where all I seem to do is harp on M&A and activism. But, we'll get to that later.

Despite a serious sell-off, TheStreet was focused on two hot names in tech: Nvidia Corp. (NVDA) and Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (AMD) that have seen a recent boost given the cyberattacks that have ravaged multinational companies and put a spot light on cryptocurrencies, such as Bitcoin.

TheStreet's Annie Palmer writes that the two are in a heated battle to design chips optimized to mine Bitcoin. According to many on Wall Street, there is going to be one clear winner in this battle.

Outside of tech, the oil markets held steady on Thursday, a rare occurrence for the commodity that has been on a roller coaster ride for as long as I can remember. Crude oil prices held onto gains to close higher for a sixth session in a row. West Texas Intermediate had surged 1.1% a day earlier, even after an increase in domestic stockpiles.

I told you we would get to activism and M&A ... Let's talk about the second merger to rock everyone's world in the past two weeks (after Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN) and Whole Foods Market Inc. (WFM) , which I can't help but go on and on about: the merger of Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc. (WBA) and Rite Aid Corp. (RAD) .

Thursday got off with a bang as the two companies announced a revised deal that includes about half of Rite Aid stores as opposed to the roughly two-thirds of them that were included in the original deal. Whether you think the new deal will be enough to pass antitrust officials is one thing, but the fact that Fred's Inc. (FRED) may be in trouble, much to the displeasure of activist David Einhorn, or the fact that CVS Health (CVS) may have to do something to help keep itself relevant seem to be two safe assumptions.

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Photo of the day:Happy birthday to the iPhone

Ten years ago, people were lining up to buy the very first generation of Apple's (AAPL) new product, the iPhone. Initially priced at $599 for an 8GB model, the device was more expensive than most other phones on the market, but the novel touchscreen, capacity for music and inclusion of the Safari web browser made the hefty fee worth it for many. Now, a decade later, the price has actually climbed even higher for a first-generation iPhone because of its collectible value--as long as it's new and unopened. Currently, the product that was first released to the public on June 29, 2007, is selling for $4,000 on eBay unopened and in its original packaging.

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Nvidia, AMD Battle for Cryptocurrency Supremacy; Oil Markets Steady -- ICYMI Thursday - TheStreet.com