🧠 Retail investors April dip-buying pays off / UnitedHealthcare & Novo yeet ceos

📊 US Markets

• S&P 500 $SPY ( ▲ 0.4% ) 📊 Dow, S&P 500, Nasdaq edge higher as US stocks eye a weekly win – Yahoo! Finance: US stocks rose for the week after easing US-China trade tensions. Investors also eyed President Trump's sweeping tax and spending bill, which failed to clear a key hurdle Friday.

• 🗽 Moody's pushes US out of top triple-A rating club, citing rising debt – Rueters: Moody's, the last of the three major credit agencies that maintained the top triple-A rating for the US, downgraded the US sovereign credit rating on concerns about the sustainability of its growing, $36T debt pile.

• Investing 🙃 Retail investors’ relentless buying this year is starting to pay off – Sherwood by Robinhood: After underperforming for much of the year, retail investors’ faith in relentless buy-the-dip strategies is starting to pay off, as a surge in prices of top retail picks like Tesla, Palantir, and Nvidia helped them sharply cut losses compared to the market.

• Consumer Sentiment 🛍️ Consumer confidence slid to 50.8, second-lowest on record in April, as inflation expectations jump after tariffs – CNBC: The majority of the survey was completed before the U.S. and China announced a 90-day pause on most tariffs between the two countries. The trade situation appears to be a key factor weighing on consumer sentiment.

🏛️ Financials & Private Equity

• Crypto Brokerage $COIN ( ▼ 3.84% ) 💱 Coinbase jumps 24% on S&P 500 inclusion, biggest gain since post-election pop – CNBC: The crypto exchange had its best day on the market since the day after President Donald Trump’s election victory in November on news it was being added to the S&P 500 index.

  • TechCrunch: Coinbase says customers’ personal information stolen in data breach

• Private Equity 💼 Empower opens door to private markets in retirement plans – BenefitsPro: The firm is partnering with Apollo, Goldman Sachs, Sagard and others to launch collective investment trusts aimed at portfolio diversification.

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🚀 Magnificent 7

• Semiconductors $NVDA ( ▲ 1.52% ) 🧇 Nvidia sending 18,000 of its top AI chips to Saudi Arabia – CNBC: CEO Jensen Huang announced the projects first deployment will use its GB300 Blackwell chips, Nvidia’s most advanced AI chips, as part of a White House-led trip to the region that included President Trump and other top CEOs.

  • CNBC: Nvidia says it is not sending GPU designs to China after reports of new Shanghai operation

  • CNBC: Nvidia turns positive for 2025, third ‘Magnificent 7’ member to do so as favored group regains groove

• Consumer Tech $AAPL ( ▲ 0.21% ) 🍎 Apple’s China shift begins with Foxconn’s $433M chip deal in India – CNBC: The Foxconn deal to manufacture display driver chips comes as Apple suppliers increasingly look towards India as a way to reduce their reliance on China, amid tensions between Beijing and Washington.

  • Sherwood by Robinhood: As Apple moves production from China to India, Trump reiterates that he wants it in the US

• Technology $MSFT ( ▲ 1.32% ) 👩‍💻 Microsoft to lay off 6,000, 3% of its workforce – CNBC: In an aim to reduce management layers, the global software giant is cutting 3% of its headcount. Microsoft had 228,000 employees as of last June.

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🌐 Technology

• IPOs 🚀 Tech IPO market is finally showing signs of life – CNBC: The public market debut of eToro, along with Hinge Health next week are giving startup investors signs of hope. Fintech company Chime filed its prospectus this week after delaying its plans following the new tariffs.

• Semiconductors 🔍 Applied Materials misses revenue estimate amid uncertainty over export controls – TechCrunch: Applied Materials beat on earnings as strong investment in advanced chips partially offset a slowdown in ICAPS (internet of things, communication, automotive, power and sensors).

• Networking $CSCO ( ▲ 1.42% ) 🌐 Cisco reports earnings and revenue beat, issues better-than-expected forecast – CNBC: The network hardware vendor exceeded estimates across the board and issued guidance that was also ahead of its target for AI infrastructure orders from big internet companies.

• Hyperscalers $CRWV ( ▼ 0.49% )  🗄️ CoreWeave beats on revenue, reports more than 400% growth in first earnings after IPO – Dive: Nvidia-backed CoreWeave delivered faster revenue growth than analysts were expecting, including a new $4B deal with OpenAI. Revenue increased 420% from a year earlier.

• Hyperscalers $BABA ( ▼ 1.45% )  🗄️ Alibaba misses revenue estimates as it fights for China e-commerce market dominance – CNBC: Alibaba missed Q4 earnings and revenue estimates, despite 18% growth in cloud revenue, as lingering US-China trade tensions continued to weigh on consumer sentiment.

• Data Centers 🏢 White House announces partnership with the UAE on a massive AI data center campus – TechCrunch: The Abu Dhabi data center will be built by the Emirate firm G42, which will partner with several U.S. companies on the facility.

  • CNBC: Nvidia, Cisco and OpenAI are backing the UAE Stargate data center project

• LLMs 🤖 Perplexity partners with PayPal for in-chat shopping as AI race heats up – TechCrunch: US consumers will soon be able to book travel, buy products and secure concert tickets on Perplexity’s chat interface, paying instantly with PayPal (or Venmo) handling payments, shipping, tracking and support.

• Agents 🦾 Klarna CEO says AI helped company shrink workforce by 40% – CNBC: Sebastian Siemiatkowski told CNBC his company has shrunk its workforce by about 40%, in part due to its investments in AI across Klarna’s customer service unit.

• Agents 🦾 Internal Revenue Service hopes to replace fired enforcement workers with AI – TheRegister: Following considerable cuts to its enforcement workforce, the IRS plans to use AI to supplement its ability to collect taxes from US citizens.

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📺 Media & Communications

• Streamers $NFLX ( ▼ 0.4% )▶️ Netflix will show generative AI ads midway through streams in 2026 – CNBC: At its second annual upfront to advertisers, the streaming leader announced that it has created interactive mid-roll ads and pause ads that incorporate generative AI.

  • TechCrunch: YouTube viewers will start seeing ads after ‘peak’ moments in videos

• Video Games $TTWO ( ▼ 0.12% )🎮 Take-Two dips after a “GTA 6”-less fiscal year outlook – Sherwood by Robinhood: Take-Two Interactive beat Q1 earnings and revenue estimates on strong performance in NBA 2K25, GTA Online, Red Dead Redemption 2, and others, but issued weak FY bookings guidance amid delays to GTA VI.

• Communications $CHTR ( ▼ 0.72% )  📺 Cable companies Charter and Cox agree to merge – CNBC: Two of the largest US cable companies have entered into an agreement to merge. The deal values Cox at $34.5B on an enterprise basis, in line with Charter’s recent enterprise value.

  • CNBC: FCC approves Verizon $20B deal to acquire Frontier after DEI changes

🛍 Staples & Discretionary

• Retail $FL ( ▼ 0.04% ) 👟 Foot Locker soars after massive $2.4B takeover bid from Dick’s Sporting Goods – RetailDive: Analysts are not sold on the deal, which adds a struggling retailer to Dick’s strong portfolio, but executives expressed confidence they could turn Foot Locker around.

• Restaurants $CAVA ( ▲ 1.85% )  🌯 Cava earnings surpass estimates, as same-store sales rise year-over-year – CNBC: Cava beat Q1 earnings and revenue estimates as same-store sales jumped 11% on 7.5% traffic growth, outperforming peers amid broader consumer pullback, while maintaining its FY same-store sales forecast.

• Travel $ABNB ( ▲ 0.54% ) 🏘️ Airbnb launches redesigned app, new services business – CNBC: Airbnb launched a redesigned app to showcase the company’s push to let travelers book services, like catering and personal training, at their home rentals, with plans to invest $200-250M in the new services business.

• Autos $GM ( ▼ 1.22% )🔍 GM unveils new ‘groundbreaking’ EV battery tech, aims to be first to market – CNBC: The automaker expects the lithium manganese-rich (LMR) prismatic battery cells technology to reduce costs and boost profitability of its largest electric SUVs and trucks.

🏭 Healthcare & Manufacturing

• Aerospace $BA ( ▼ 4.79% )  ✈️ Qatar Airways orders 160 Boeing twin-aisle jets during Trump visit, Boeing scores a $14.5 billion order from UAE airline Etihad, adding to its massive backlog – Reuters: Boeing landed its biggest deal for widebody airplanes when state carrier Qatar Airways placed firm orders for 160 jetliners, plus options to buy 50 more during President Donald Trump's visit to the Gulf Arab country.

  • Reuters: Boeing scores a $14.5B order from UAE airline Etihad, adding to its massive backlog

• Healthcare $UNH ( ▲ 2.56% )  🩺 UnitedHealth Group CEO steps down, company suspends annual forecast – CNBC: The healthcare giant said CEO Andrew Witty is stepping down for “personal reasons”. Witty oversaw a tumultuous last year which included grappling with government investigations, a historic cyberattack, higher-than-expected medical costs and the public blowback after the murder of UnitedHealthcare’s CEO Brian Thompson.

  • CNBC: UnitedHealth under investigation for possible Medicare fraud, per WSJ report

  • CNBC: Insiders at UnitedHealth are scooping up tarnished shares

• Pharmaceuticals $NVOS ( ▲ 33.33% ) 💊 Novo Nordisk CEO to step down as Wegovy maker faces growing competition – CNBC: The Danish pharma giant said Lars Fruergaard Jørgensen is stepping down, citing recent market challenges. The Wegovy-maker’s shock price is down 50% since the middle of 2024.

• Agriculture $DE ( ▼ 0.76% )  🚜 Deere beats estimates on cost cuts, trims annual profit forecast – Reuters: John Deere beat Q2 earnings and revenue estimates on cost cuts and inventory management, but trimmed its FY profit forecast amid softer equipment demand from farmers and ongoing tariff-related cost pressures.

• Social Security 🏛️ Does it still make sense to wait to claim Social Security retirement benefits? Here’s what experts say – Reuters: Waiting until 70 to claim Social Security provides the biggest monthly retirement benefits checks. But in some situations, it may make sense to claim earlier.

• Estate Planning 📃 US funeral businesses are being squeezed by the rise of cremations – Sherwood by Robinhood: The US cremation rate was projected to hit a record 62% in 2024 – up from just 6.2% in 1974 – as the shift away from traditional burials has funeral homes and directors feeling the heat.

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We’ll be back next Saturday morning to recap the week’s financial news.

Thanks to RocketMoney for sponsoring.

✨ Happy Unprompting,

Rawee
[email protected]

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