Bank of America Says Stocks Like Apple Have Plenty of Upside Following Earnings
Bank of America’s equity research team lifted its outlook on several high‑profile stocks after the latest earnings season, calling Apple, Caterpillar, Baker Hughes, Evercore and Disney "buy" candidates with significant upside. Apple’s price target was nudged to $330 as gross‑margin expansion and a new foldable iPhone bolster growth. Caterpillar’s target rose to $989, reflecting a "sweet spot" of services‑driven earnings, while Baker Hughes earned a buy rating despite geopolitical headwinds. Evercore and Disney were highlighted for their exposure to a resurgence in M&A activity and stronger direct‑to‑consumer pricing, respectively.
Why One of the Nation's Largest Auto Lenders Isn't Worried About High Vehicle Prices or 'Forever Loans'
Capital One Auto President Sanjiv Yajnik says the payment‑to‑income ratio for car owners has stayed flat at about 10% since 2019, despite median monthly payments climbing from $390 to $525. The lender reports 80% of financed purchasers keep payments under...
Major Crypto Bill Slated for May 14 Senate Banking Committee Vote
On May 14, the Senate Banking Committee will hold its first vote on a landmark cryptocurrency bill that seeks to set federal rules for stablecoins and related reward mechanisms. The proposal limits the ability of stablecoins to earn interest, a move...
Burger King's President Says the Chain Improved Its Whopper — and Calls From Customers Helped
Burger King President Tom Curtis said listening to 1,800 personal calls and over 70,000 inbound customer inquiries led to the "Elevated Whopper," featuring a glazed bun, creamier mayo and clamshell packaging. The redesign helped lift U.S. same‑store sales 5.8% year‑over‑year,...
Wall Street Sees 'Changing of the Guard in AI' As Intel, AMD Shares Soar While Nvidia Lags
Wall Street analysts say the AI hardware landscape is shifting from Nvidia‑centric dominance to a broader set of chipmakers. Intel, AMD, Micron and Corning all posted double‑digit gains this week, with Intel up over 200% year‑to‑date. Nvidia’s stock lagged, rising...
Dunkin' Owner Inspire Brands Confidentially Files for IPO
Inspire Brands, the private‑equity‑backed owner of Dunkin’, Arby’s, Buffalo Wild Wings, Baskin‑Robbins, Sonic Drive‑In and Jimmy John’s, has confidentially filed for an initial public offering. Roark Capital is targeting a valuation near $20 billion, positioning the deal among the largest restaurant...
The Federal Reserve Is Quickly Running Out of Reasons to Cut Interest Rates
The Federal Reserve’s window for cutting rates is narrowing as recent data show a steadier labor market but persistent inflation. April’s payrolls rose by 115,000, a modest gain that eases pressure for easing, while the March CPI held at 3.3%,...
Peloton Beats Estimates on Revenue as Higher Subscription Prices Offer a Boost
Peloton reported fiscal Q3 revenue of $630.9 million, surpassing the $617.6 million Wall Street forecast, while earnings per share fell short at 6 cents versus the 7‑cent estimate. The company highlighted a 60% jump in free cash flow, stronger‑than‑expected equipment sales, and a...
Here Are Thursday's Biggest Analyst Calls: Nvidia, Apple, Uber, Microsoft, Disney, CoreWeave, Alcoa & More
Wall Street analysts issued a flurry of upgrades and reiterations on Thursday, with Nvidia, Apple, Microsoft and Uber all retaining buy or outperform ratings. Goldman Sachs highlighted Nvidia’s $1 trillion datacenter guidance and AI‑driven server opportunities, while JPMorgan upgraded Freshpet to...
Family Office Deal-Making Rebounds in April with Healthcare Bets
Family offices revived deal‑making in April, completing 55 direct investments versus 39 in March, according to Fintrx data. Healthcare and life‑sciences attracted nearly a third of those deals, underscoring the sector’s appeal. Notable investments include Emerson Collective’s $9.3 million seed in...
Oil Prices Fall Below $100 as U.S.-Iran Tensions Keep Traders Focused on Strait of Hormuz Risks
Oil prices slipped below the $100 mark on Thursday as geopolitical risk in the Middle East resurfaced. Brent crude fell 1.85% to $99.40 a barrel while U.S. WTI rose to $93.21, reflecting mixed market reactions. President Donald Trump warned that...
How the U.S. Military and Maersk Got a Ship to Pass Through the Strait of Hormuz
Maersk’s Alliance Fairfax successfully transited the Strait of Hormuz on March 19 under a U.S. Navy escort, part of the short‑lived “Project Freedom” aimed at freeing stranded vessels amid the Iran‑U.S. conflict. The operation, praised by CEO Vincent Clerc, marks...
In the Global AI Race, a Sanctioned Chinese Firm Says Cheaper Models Can Still Win
SenseTime, a Chinese AI firm under U.S. sanctions, unveiled its multimodal model SenseNova U1, which it says costs roughly ten times less than OpenAI’s ChatGPT Images 2.0 while delivering comparable performance. The company highlighted a 58.6% reduction in net loss and its...
Oil Prices Fall as Trump Pauses Hormuz Escort Effort
President Donald Trump announced on Truth Social that the United States will pause "Project Freedom," the naval escort operation launched to protect commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz. The pause sparked a sell‑off in crude, with Brent futures down 1.21%...
Bitcoin Treasury Firm Strategy Breaks From 'Never Sell' Approach to the Flagship Crypto
MicroStrategy announced a strategic pivot from its long‑standing “never‑sell” Bitcoin policy to a more active balance‑sheet approach. The company will consider selling Bitcoin to acquire U.S. dollars or debt when it improves Bitcoin‑per‑share value. At the end of Q1, MicroStrategy...
Super Micro Stock Jumps 18% on Guidance Beat as Revenue More than Doubles
Super Micro Computer’s shares surged 18% in after‑hours trading after the company posted adjusted earnings of $0.84 per share, topping the $0.62 consensus, despite revenue of $10.24 billion missing the $12.33 billion estimate. Revenue more than doubled year‑over‑year, climbing 123% as AI‑focused...
Small Caps Put on Their Best Monthly Showing Since 2020. Bank of America Says There's More Upside Ahead
Small‑cap stocks surged in April, with the Russell 2000 posting a 12% gain—the strongest monthly rise since November 2020 and outpacing the S&P 500’s 10.4% increase. Bank of America analysts attribute the rally to an earnings‑per‑share and manufacturing recovery and expect further upside....
UPS, FedEx Stocks Sink After Amazon Expands Logistics Network to Other Businesses
Amazon announced "Amazon Supply Chain Services," opening its extensive logistics network to external companies. The move immediately triggered a roughly 10% drop in UPS and FedEx shares, while Amazon’s stock stayed flat. Early adopters include Procter & Gamble, 3M, Lands’...
Stocks Making the Biggest Moves Midday: Berkshire, AMD, Circle, FedEx, UPS & More
Midday trading saw a wave of volatility as Amazon announced Amazon Supply Chain Services, prompting logistics giants GXO, UPS, FedEx and C.H. Robinson to tumble 9‑11%. Berkshire Hathaway’s two share classes nudged up about 1% after CEO Greg Abel reassured...
San Francisco's Housing Market Is Booming because of AI. This Real Estate Stock Should Benefit
San Francisco’s rental market is accelerating as AI‑driven tech jobs flood the Bay Area, pushing vacancy rates below 30 % and sparking bidding wars. Median home prices climbed 19 % in March to $1.7 million, far above the national average. Piper Sandler upgraded Essex...
New College Graduates Overestimate Starting Salaries by Nearly $24,000, Report Finds
A recent Clever survey shows the Class of 2026 expects an average starting salary of $80,000, but the actual average is $56,153—a $24,000 shortfall. Despite the gap, average entry‑level pay rose 5.5% to $68,873, with engineering and computer‑science majors topping...
Pirro Appears to Drop Plans to Appeal Criminal Investigation of Fed Chair Powell
U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro signaled she will no longer appeal the district court ruling that blocked her subpoenas in the criminal probe of Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, opting instead for a motion to vacate the order. The appeal deadline...
Used EV Sales Are Surging — How Their Ownership Costs Compare to Gas-Powered Cars
Used electric vehicle (EV) sales surged 27.7% in March year‑over‑year and were 53.9% higher than February, fueled by a wave of three‑year lease returns flooding dealer lots. The average price of a used EV fell 6.1% to $34,653, narrowing the...
Fewer Features, More Value: Why some Americans Are Buying Simpler Cars
Average new‑vehicle prices are edging toward $50,000, leading many American buyers to favor basic, lower‑priced models. Sales of base trims such as the Ford Maverick, Nissan Versa, Chevrolet Trax and Nissan Kicks have surged, with some models more than doubling...
Chinese Stocks Are About to Get a Big AI Boost, Morgan Stanley Predicts
Morgan Stanley predicts a $1.25‑$1.75 billion passive inflow into the Hang Seng Tech Index after Knowledge Atlas (Zhipu AI) and MiniMax are added on June 8. The two generative‑AI firms have surged since their January IPOs, prompting analysts to lift price targets...
U.S. Crude Oil Exports Surge to Record as Tankers Flock to Gulf Coast During Iran War
U.S. crude oil exports surged to a record 5.2 million barrels per day in April, driven by Asian and other buyers seeking alternatives after Iran’s blockade of the Strait of Hormuz. The Gulf Coast, especially the Port of Corpus Christi, saw unprecedented...
Berkshire Annual Meeting Live: Earnings Jump, Cash Hoard Grows to Record in Greg Abel's First Quarterly Report
Berkshire Hathaway reported an 18% rise in first‑quarter operating earnings, driven by a 28.5% jump in insurance underwriting to about $1.7 billion. The conglomerate’s cash reserve swelled to a record $397.4 billion, up from $381.6 billion a few months earlier, after selling $24.1 billion...
Weight Loss and Hair Loss: The Growing Hair Treatment Market From GLP-1s
The rapid adoption of GLP‑1 weight‑loss drugs is creating an unexpected surge in hair‑loss concerns among users. About 13% of U.S. adults—roughly 42 million people—are on GLP‑1s, and clinicians report a rise in temporary shedding linked to rapid weight loss. Consumers...
Jim Cramer Says the Market Powered Through a Tough Earnings Week but 'that Doesn't Mean We're Out of the Woods...
Jim Cramer said the market breezed through a tough earnings week, driven primarily by AI‑related and data‑center stocks. He praised strong performances from big tech and semiconductor names but warned that next week could be more uneven, with earnings and...
S&P 500 Closes at a New Record to Usher in May as Oil Prices Cool and Apple Rises: Live Updates
The S&P 500 closed at a fresh all‑time high of 7,230.12, up 0.29%, while the Nasdaq rose 0.89% and the Dow slipped 0.31%. The rally was buoyed by Apple’s 3.5% jump after beating Q2 earnings expectations and a cooling of oil...
China’s Self-Driving Truck Leaders Say AI Breakthroughs Won’t Accelerate Rollout — Here’s Why
Chinese autonomous‑truck firms say recent breakthroughs in large‑language models will not speed up driverless truck deployment. Pony.ai CEO James Peng emphasized that linguistic AI skills do not translate to vehicle control, while Inceptio remains on track for a mid‑2028 commercialization...
Now Is the Time to Rebalance Your Portfolio and Snap up These Bonds, UBS Says
UBS’s chief investment officer for the Americas, Ulrike Hoffmann‑Burchardi, says the S&P 500’s record highs create a strategic moment to rebalance portfolios toward high‑quality government bonds. Recent spikes in Treasury yields, especially on two‑year, five‑year and 10‑year notes, provide a “compelling...
Brent Oil Tops $118 After Trump Says He Will Blockade Iran Until It Agrees to a Nuclear Deal
Oil prices surged over 6% on Wednesday as President Donald Trump announced a U.S. naval blockade of Iran until Tehran agrees to a nuclear deal. Brent crude rose to $118.33 per barrel and WTI to $106.37, reflecting heightened fears of...
Treasury Yields Rise as U.S.-Iran Peace Talks Hit an Impasse
U.S. Treasury yields edged higher on Tuesday as the United States and Iran hit an impasse in peace talks. The 10‑year note rose to 4.356%, the 2‑year to 3.822% and the 30‑year to 4.960%, each gaining a few basis points....
Novartis CEO Warns Reality of Trump's Drug Pricing Policy Will Set in over 'the Next 18 Months'
Novartis chief executive Vas Narasimhan warned that President Donald Trump’s most‑favored‑nation (MFN) drug‑pricing rule will fully materialize within the next 18 months, tying U.S. prices to those in affluent foreign markets. The policy currently touches only 5‑10% of Novartis’s Medicaid sales...
Tom Lee Says It's 'Very Probable' Stocks Will Sail Past 7,700 This Year
Fundstrat’s Tom Lee told CNBC’s Power Lunch that a rally past the 7,700 level on the S&P 500 is “very probable” this year. His optimism comes after the market closed at 7,173.91 on Monday, roughly 7 percent shy of the target. Lee...
Trump Ballroom Lawsuit Plaintiff Rejects DOJ Demand to Drop Case After 'Assassination Attempt'
The National Trust for Historic Preservation, which sued to block President Donald Trump’s $400 million White House ballroom, rejected a Department of Justice demand to drop the case after a shooting at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner. The DOJ argued the...
Purple Ube’s Viral Rise Is Turning a Filipino Staple Into a Global Trend — but Supplies Are Tightening
Ube, the purple yam native to the Philippines, has exploded onto global menus, with U.S. restaurant listings up 230% over the past four years. Major coffee chains such as Starbucks and Peet’s rolled out multiple ube‑infused drinks in 2025‑2026, while...
Top Wall Street Analysts Pick These 3 Dividend Stocks for Reliable Income
Top Wall Street analysts, ranked by TipRanks, recommend three dividend‑paying energy stocks—ConocoPhillips, Viper Energy, and Kinetik Holdings—as reliable income sources amid heightened market volatility. ConocoPhillips offers a 2.64% yield with a $0.84 quarterly payout and strong free‑cash‑flow projections. Viper Energy...
Two Topics Likely to Come up in the First Berkshire Hathaway Annual Meeting without Buffett
Berkshire Hathaway’s first annual meeting without Warren Buffett will be led by new CEO Greg Abel and insurance chief Ajit Jain, signaling a pivotal leadership transition. Share repurchases resumed in March, with roughly $225 million bought back, while the stock trades...
How the Restaurant Group Behind NYC's Carbone Is Overcoming Young People Shunning Alcohol
Major Food Group, the force behind NYC’s Carbone, is countering a generational decline in alcohol consumption by doubling down on theatrical, experience‑focused dining. Younger patrons are drinking less but spending more on high‑end meals, allowing the chain to offset softer...
Pirro Could Reopen Fed Probe at Any Time, Democratic Senators Warn
U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro announced she is closing the criminal investigation into Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, pending an inspector‑general review of a renovation cost‑overrun. Democratic senators Elizabeth Warren and Dick Durbin warned that the decision leaves the door open...
This 'Sleep Like a Baby' Portfolio Strategy Is Having Its Best Year in Nearly a Century, BofA's Hartnett Says
Bank of America chief investment strategist Michael Hartnett promotes a “sleep like a baby” portfolio that allocates equally to stocks, bonds, cash and commodities. The mix posted its strongest annual gain since 1933 and ranks the third‑best outperformance versus the...
AI Data Center Backlash Threatens Pennsylvania GOP Incumbents in 2026 Election
The AI‑driven data‑center boom in Pennsylvania, highlighted by Amazon’s $20 billion investment, is turning into a political flashpoint ahead of the 2026 House races. All four eastern Pennsylvania districts, currently held by Republicans, are rated toss‑ups or competitive by the Cook...
L'Oreal Stock Pops 9% After 'Impressive' Earnings, on Track for Biggest Gain in 18 Years
L'Oréal reported first‑quarter organic sales of €12.2 billion ($14.3 billion), a 7.6% rise that dwarfed the roughly 3% consensus forecast. Excluding one‑off items, underlying growth was 6.7%, prompting analysts at Barclays to label the performance "very impressive." The strong results lifted the...
Step Aside Tesla, BYD: Japanese Carmakers Deepen Their Hold on India's Auto Market with Hybrids
Hybrid vehicles are projected to capture about 10% of India’s total car sales by the fiscal year ending March 2027, outpacing electric vehicles, which are expected to reach only 5%. Japanese automakers, led by Toyota and Maruti Suzuki, dominate the hybrid segment,...
Polymarket Launches Trading of Heavily Leveraged 'Perps' Contracts
Polymarket announced it will launch trading of perpetual futures contracts, or “perps,” expanding its prediction‑market platform into leveraged crypto derivatives. The contracts will be settled in USDC and run on Ethereum and Polygon, though the firm has not confirmed whether...
Judge Dismisses Kash Patel's Defamation Lawsuit over Claim He Frequented 'Nightclubs'
A federal judge in Houston dismissed FBI Director Kash Patel’s 2025 defamation lawsuit against former FBI official Frank Figliuzzi. The judge ruled Figliuzzi’s comment that Patel spent more time in nightclubs than at the Hoover building was rhetorical hyperbole, not a factual...
United Airlines Slashes 2026 Forecast as Fuel Costs Surge
United Airlines slashed its 2026 adjusted earnings outlook to $7‑$11 per share, down from $12‑$14, as jet‑fuel prices surged following the Iran conflict. The carrier posted a strong first quarter, delivering $1.19 adjusted EPS and $14.61 billion in revenue, a 10%...
Trump Says 'I'll Remember' Companies that Don’t Seek Tariff Refunds
President Donald Trump told CNBC he will "remember" U.S. companies that do not seek refunds for the tariffs he imposed under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, which the Supreme Court ruled illegal in a 6‑3 decision. A day later,...