Latest / Key Markets & Headlines / Key Markets & Headlines — Friday, May 1, 2026
Transcript
- Key markets and headlines for today. U.S. equities surged in April two thousand twenty-six, with the S&P 500 posting its best monthly gain since November twenty twenty at nearly ten point five percent, closing at a record seven thousand one hundred sixty-five. The Nasdaq saw its strongest performance since April twenty twenty, and the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index soared thirty-eight point five percent. The Magnificent Seven stocks rose over fourteen percent on average, led by Alphabet with a thirty-four percent increase and Amazon at twenty-seven percent. Themes like retail favorites, most-shorted names, momentum, and high-beta plays outperformed amid a de-risking reversal. Turning to corporate news, Apple delivered second-quarter revenue that edged past analysts’ estimates, helped by a rebound in China, while failing to produce the kind of blowout results that some investors were anticipating. Sales gained seventeen percent to one hundred eleven point two billion dollars during the period ending March twenty-eight, surpassing the average analyst expectation of one hundred nine point seven billion dollars. Apple projected sales growth of thirteen to sixteen percent. However, results were uneven, falling short of expectations in the Americas and Europe, while exceeding projections in China and other parts of Asia. Revenue from the iPhone rose twenty-two percent to fifty-seven billion dollars, in line with Wall Street estimates. Services revenue, which includes TV and music streaming, the App Store, and iCloud subscriptions, generated thirty-one billion dollars, topping the prediction of thirty point four billion dollars. Earnings rose to two dollars and one cent a share, beating the projection of one dollar and ninety-six cents. In China, Apple reported revenue of twenty billion five hundred million dollars, up twenty-eight percent from a year earlier, exceeding Wall Street's projection of eighteen billion nine hundred million dollars. In other corporate news, the National Security Agency has been testing the capabilities of Anthropic’s new artificial intelligence model to find cybersecurity vulnerabilities in popular software, including Microsoft products. NSA officials have been impressed by the speed and efficiency of the Mythos model in searching for potential security flaws. This further signals the potency of a model that has already generated security concerns among leaders from Washington to Wall Street. Boaz Weinstein is set to win a vote to oust the board of a Baillie Gifford trust that placed an early bet on SpaceX. Weinstein’s Saba Capital Management is expected to have garnered enough support to replace the entire board of Edinburgh Worldwide Investment Trust with three candidates nominated by the hedge fund. This victory comes after two failed attempts to oust the board in previous ballots. Rothschild Redburn analyst Mike Harrison initiated coverage of Coherent with a Buy rating and a price target of four hundred fifty-five dollars. The firm believes the monetization of generative AI capital expenditures will require more intelligent large language models. The transition from electrical signals down copper wires to photonic signals down optical fibers represents a new addressable market for optical networking companies. CoreWeave launched a first-of-its-kind leveraged loan deal backed by customer contracts for microchips from firms including OpenAI, opening a new front in the borrowing binge to finance the buildout of artificial intelligence infrastructure. The three point one billion dollar offering marks CoreWeave’s fifth GPU financing, which will be broadly syndicated, significantly expanding the potential investor base. Sports media company DAZN has agreed to buy technology company ViewLift for roughly one hundred million dollars, aiming to establish itself as a leader in the U.S. sports market. ViewLift provides technology for streaming services for fifteen professional U.S. sports teams and five regional sports networks. Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr justified the agency’s move to call for an early review of ABC’s broadcast licenses, stating that parent company Walt Disney is violating policies on discrimination. The FCC directed eight Disney-owned stations to file license renewals by May twenty-eight, at least two years earlier than required. This review is tied to an ongoing investigation into Disney’s diversity, equity, and inclusion policies at ABC stations. Cloud computing provider Nebius agreed to buy Eigen AI for about six hundred fifteen million dollars in stock and cash. Eigen works on optimizing the performance of leading open-source models from OpenAI, Alibaba, Meta, and Nvidia, helping Nebius provide better and cheaper services to customers. GoDaddy reported strong first-quarter financial results with total revenue reaching one point three billion dollars, up six percent year-over-year. The company highlighted its leadership in AI-driven innovation, including robust early adoption of the Airo AI Builder tool. Operating income rose twenty-six percent to three hundred ten point five million dollars, and free cash flow climbed fifteen percent to four hundred seventy-three point six million dollars. KKR has secured more than ten billion dollars to launch a company that will develop and operate artificial intelligence infrastructure. The company, Helix Digital Infrastructure, will partner with large-scale cloud providers and is expected to raise new capital. Nvidia's venture arm, NVentures, invested in Legora, a Swedish AI legal tech startup, as part of a fifty million dollar Series D extension. The funding brings Legora's total round to six hundred million dollars, valuing the company at five point six billion dollars post-money. LIV Golf is hunting for new investors after Saudi Arabia ended its financial support for the league. The Public Investment Fund confirmed its decision to stop funding LIV after the twenty twenty-six season, which puts the future of the league in doubt. In a recent internal Q&A, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg indicated that the company intends to shrink teams and create more new apps as AI changes workflows. He attributed the recent drop in shares to investor concerns over an upward revision in expected capital expenditures and a slower growth outlook for the second quarter. Meta sold twenty-five billion dollars of investment-grade bonds, hitting the market with a jumbo deal for the second time in six months. Investors placed orders for ninety-six billion dollars of the company’s securities at the peak, signaling some signs of fatigue among investors. KKR is investing in MLS Next Pro through a new joint venture called Hometown Soccer Holdings, which will take over the league’s commercial operations. The deal, estimated at roughly one hundred fifty to two hundred million dollars, aims to transform Next Pro into a more scalable business. Mark Zuckerberg and Tim Cook are not planning a bid for the NFL’s Seattle Seahawks, which is currently up for sale and expected to fetch a price surpassing ten billion dollars. Reports linking the two tech titans to the team have been denied. In a high-stakes trial against OpenAI, Elon Musk acknowledged there was no formal contract for his early donations to the nonprofit AI research group he helped found. Musk accused OpenAI of betraying its mission by shifting to a for-profit model backed by billions from Microsoft. OpenAI CFO Sarah Friar pushed back on reports that the company is missing key targets, arguing that demand for its products remains extremely strong. She emphasized that the primary constraint on growth is limited computing capacity. Palo Alto Networks has agreed to acquire AI infrastructure startup Portkey, looking to expand its capabilities in securing enterprise use of autonomous AI systems. Roblox reported first-quarter users that fell short of analysts’ expectations after implementing safety features restricting how kids can use the platform. Daily active users reached one hundred thirty-two million, below the expected one hundred forty-three point eight million. Reddit projected sales in the current period that surpassed Wall Street estimates, continuing a streak of strong revenue growth powered by the company’s surging advertising business. Rivian posted a narrower first-quarter loss ahead of the sales debut of its new R2 SUV. The company reaffirmed its target of delivering sixty-two thousand to sixty-seven thousand electric vehicles this year. Roku reported a strong first quarter, with revenue of one point twenty-five billion dollars, up twenty-two percent year-over-year, and net income of eighty-five point seven million dollars. Recursion announced that founder Chris Gibson will step down from its Board of Directors at the end of his term in June two thousand twenty-six. Shopify is pursuing money transmitter licenses nationwide to enable it to hold, receive, and transmit funds for merchants and third parties. S&P Dow Jones Indices has launched a consultation that could speed up the entry of mega cap companies seeking to IPO into its indexes, including the S&P 500. Starcloud is in talks to raise at least two hundred million dollars at a valuation of around two point two billion dollars after the investment. Atlassian reported robust third-quarter fiscal two thousand twenty-six results, with total revenue surging thirty-two percent year-over-year. In macro news, Fitch Ratings warns that the U.S.'s AA+ credit grade faces mounting pressure from a widening fiscal deficit, expected to hit seven point nine percent of GDP in twenty twenty-six and twenty twenty-seven. Republican-led states are moving quickly to redraw congressional maps after a Supreme Court ruling restricted the use of race in districting, intensifying a national redistricting battle ahead of the midterms. Thanks for listening.