"On Fire" Indeed: Palantir Loses 12%

🔨 DOJ breaking Google's ad-tech monopoly, could force sale of Ad Exchange

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📰 Market Headlines

Stock markets tumbled on Tuesday as the Federal Reserve began its two-day policy meeting.

  • The S&P 500 fell 0.8%, the Dow dropped 1% (nearly 400 points), and the Nasdaq declined 0.9%.

  • The DOJ officially proposed that Google sell its Ad Exchange and Ad Manager to settle the ongoing ad-tech monopoly case.

China & US to talk trade. S&P 500 futures jumped 1% momentarily at the announcement of the first US-China trade talks since the 145% tariffs. Markets are hoping for progress during the meetings this weekend—but both countries might just play hardball; don’t hold your breath for a deal.

Palantir nosedives. Palantir stock tanked 12% on Tuesday after rising by 60% YTD, twisting CEO Alex Karp’s initially positive claim Monday that “Palantir is on fire.” It looks like the software company’s stellar earnings and revenue were priced in; growth for the stock could be slower from here on out.

Disney defies odds. The entertainment conglomerate announced subscriber growth that was higher than expected along with increasing revenue, and shares grew 6% in response. The successes of Moana 2 and Mufasa: the Lion King seemed to balance out low performances from Snow White and Captain America: Brave New World.

Parasite could cost the US $900M. A cattle-eating parasite called the New World screwworm could seriously damage the livestock industry if ignored. The US and Mexico are teaming up across tariff lines to eradicate the insect—still, keep an eye on this fly if you’re invested in agriculture or livestock.

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😱 Fear and Greed Index

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⚔️ Trade Wars

  • President Trump met with Canada's Mark Carney and hinted at new tariffs targeting pharmaceutical imports.

  • The European Commission is prepared to retaliate against President Trump's tariffs by targeting nearly €100 billion worth of US exports if negotiations with Washington fail.

  • UK business activity receded for the first time in 18 months in April, with service sector companies reporting the fastest decline in exports since February 2021.

  • Apple juice prices surged 33% this year as President Trump's 145% tariff on Chinese imports upended America's supply chain.

🥇 AltIndex’s Top Stock Picks

Here are the stocks with the highest AltIndex AI Score, which assesses a stock's mid-term market outperformance potential (6+ months) by analyzing financial data as well as job postings, web traffic, downloads, and social media trends.

📊 Alternative Investing News

  • Commercial real estate loan defaults hit their highest level since the financial crisis, threatening a $650 billion bond market.

  • Ares Management vaulted its assets under management to $546 billion last quarter.

  • Exxon announced a $1.5B initiative for deepwater exploration in Nigeria as it looks to revitalize the Usan deepwater oilfield.

  • Silver and gold bullion saw a $10.3 billion decline in imports during March.

🤖 AI/Future/Tech News

  • Amazon quietly rolled out a new AI coding tool called Kiro, designed to generate code in near real-time using AI agents and a multimodal interface.

  • Google accidentally revealed its upcoming Android redesign, Material 3 Expressive.

  • XponentL unveiled seven AI-powered data tools on Databricks, including a tariff simulation engine and genomic analysis automation.

🪙 Crypto

  • House Democrats walked out of a crypto regulation hearing over President Trump’s crypto ties.

  • New Hampshire became the first state to approve a strategic bitcoin reserve.

  • Brown University’s endowment added $4.9 million in BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust last quarter.

  • Colorado's professional business services sector, including tech, shed 8,400 jobs over the past year.

  • Banks now employ more software developers than tellers.

  • Chinese EV maker Jaecoo has sold almost twice as many cars as Tesla in the UK over the past month.

  • In Germany, Friedrich Merz was successfully voted chancellor after a failed initial vote; he aims to upgrade Germany’s economy and lower taxes.

🌍 International Markets

  1. 🇯🇵 The Bank of Japan retained its 0.5% policy rate and trimmed its 2025 GDP outlook to 0.5%, citing Trump-era tariffs and rising uncertainty.

  2. 🇪🇺 The European Commission announced a full ban on Russian gas and LNG imports by 2027.

  3. 🇮🇳🇬🇧 India and the UK finalized a bilateral trade deal after three years of negotiations.

  4. 🌎 Latin American equities zoomed 21% YTD as investors bet on pro-market leadership.

🎤 What you said last time

What you had to say about it:

“No one knows what they’re doing.”

🚚 Market movers

  • Meta faced scrutiny in court after the FTC revealed Instagram’s algorithm recommended minors to accounts flagged as predatory.

  • PWC is laying off 1,500 US employees due to low voluntary turnover; a recent hire stated that “everyone was completely blindsided by the layoffs.”

  • Zoox, Amazon’s robotaxi unit, recalled 270 vehicles after a crash in Las Vegas exposed a software flaw.

  • The NREL cut 114 staff across research and operations, citing shifting federal directives and budget uncertainty.

📊 Earnings this week

  • Uber experienced an 18% increase in trips last year, but still posted lower-than-expected revenue in its earnings report today.

  • AMD beat Q1 expectations; shares jumped more than 5%.

  • Rivian achieved its second consecutive gross profit at $206 million, as shares slipped 0.89%.

  • Super Micro Computer slashed its fiscal 2025 revenue forecast; shares plunged 5.4%.

  • Celsius Holdings reported declining Q1 sales of $329 million as shares jumped 6.2%.

  • Marriott downgraded its full-year RevPAR growth forecast to 1.5-3.5% from 2-4%, but shares still climbed 1.6%.

🧠 Miscellanea

  • A Soviet-era Venus probe, Cosmos 482, is on track to crash back to Earth this week after 50 years in orbit.

  • Cuttlefish have been caught waving at each other with their tentacles.

  • The James Webb Space Telescope spotted a gas giant orbiting a white dwarf 80 light-years away.

📺 What to watch today

That’s all for today. Did I miss anything? Smash the reply button to let me know.

Cheers,
Brandon with Stefan & Wyatt

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