Alphabet Reassures With Revenue Beat on Strong Advertising
Good morning. Alphabet reassured investors as results showed continued strength in search ads. Crypto's top dog wants regulators to relax. And Motorola is debuting Swarovski-encrusted earbuds that'll have you blinging to the beat. Listen to the day's top stories.
Alphabet's shares advanced in extended trading after posting better-than-feared results, buoyed by continued strength in Google's search advertising business that is key to justifying the company's big spending in the AI race. Less joy for Intel, though. The chipmaker sank after giving a weak forecast, with new CEO Lip-Bu Tan cutting jobs and 'management layers' as he attempts a turnaround. Altogether, it was another solid day for stocks: The S&P 500 rose 2% to the highest since the day Donald Trump announced his tariff offensive.
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Business Insider
24 minutes ago
- Business Insider
The Week That Was, The Week Ahead: Macro & Markets, June 8, 2025
Everything to Know about Macro and Markets Stocks clocked in large weekly gains, returning to positive territory year-to-date. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) rose by 1.17%, the S&P 500 (SPX) increased by 1.50%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq-100 (NDX) gained 1.97% for the week. The S&P 500 finished more than 20% above April's low, reclaiming the 6,000 mark first reached in February, although it remained about 2% shy of its record high. Confident Investing Starts Here: Macro Steers the Markets The week began on a positive note, losing some steam in the second half. The weakness in PMI reports – with the manufacturing activity contracting for a third month in a row and services activity shrinking for the first time in 11 months – infused some gloom. However, Friday saw stocks find their footing again on solid job gains, which allayed fears about an imminent economic downturn. U.S. jobs growth stayed strong in May, climbing 139,000 with unemployment unchanged at 4.2%. Although the March and April reports were revised downward, May's report reassured investors, as it reflected a very gradual cooling of the labor market. Still, diving into the job report's details, a stronger-than-expected wage growth continues to put a floor under inflation. This supports the Federal Reserve's 'wait and see' stance, despite President Trump's demands for a cut. According to the CME FedWatch Tool, the chances of a June cut are nil, and July's rate decrease looks increasingly improbable. Prices in interest rate futures markets imply that investors expect two quarter-point rate cuts by year-end, with the first cut not expected until September. Wrapping Up the Season Despite tariff headwinds and macro volatility, S&P 500 companies delivered solid results last quarter. Index members reported 12.9% year-over-year earnings growth – the second straight double-digit increase. 78% of firms – above the five-year average – exceeded EPS estimates. However, the number of companies issuing negative EPS guidance (68) was also above the average. In Q1, the Healthcare sector reported the highest earnings growth, 43%, leaving the Magnificent Seven cohort's 27.7% increase in the dust. In fact, Mag 7's earnings growth rate was below the average (32.1%) of the previous three quarters. Still, three members of the Magnificent bunch – Alphabet (GOOGL), Amazon (AMZN), and Nvidia (NVDA) – are among the top five contributors to earnings growth for the S&P 500 for the first quarter. Interestingly, Bristol Myers Squibb (BMY) and Gilead Sciences (GILD) were the other top contributors. Stocks That Made the News ▣ Tesla (TSLA) lost nearly 15% over the week following the ugly social media spat between Elon Musk and President Donald Trump. The feud flared up over the impending budget bill, with Musk calling it 'disgusting', and followed by Trump's threat to take away billions of dollars in government subsidies and contracts awarded to Musk's businesses. Although shares rebounded on Friday as Musk and Trump moved to cool tensions, the spat cost Tesla over $150 billion loss in market cap. ▣ Broadcom (AVGO) fell on Friday, wiping out its weekly gain, after the chip giant only narrowly surpassed analyst revenue and expectations. In addition, its current quarter revenue guidance was also just above consensus. Solid, but not a blowout quarter and outlook, weighed on shares that recently hit all-time highs. Still, the company delivered on the AI narrative, reporting surging demand and upping AI networking revenue guidance. ▣ Microsoft (MSFT) continued its climb, hitting a fresh record on Friday as analysts raised price targets on acceleration in Azure and AI-related revenue growth. According to Goldman Sachs, Microsoft's cloud revenue could more than double by 2029. The tech leader's market cap has reached $3.5 trillion, surpassing that of Nvidia (NVDA) and making MSFT the largest company in the world. ▣ Lululemon (LULU) shares dove by 20% on Friday, capping large weekly losses, despite earnings beat. The apparel retailer cut guidance on macroeconomic uncertainty and the impact of tariffs that might force LULU to increase prices. ▣ DocuSign (DOCU) was another notable decliner, sinking nearly 19% post earnings. The company reported a strong financial performance, but a miss on billings raised investor fears about future growth. The Q1 2025 earnings season is practically over, but several notable earnings releases are still scheduled for the next few days. These include Casey's General (CASY), Oracle (ORCL), Chewy (CHWY), and Adobe (ADBE).
Yahoo
29 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Cathie Wood sells $22.8 million of hot stock near all-time highs
Cathie Wood sells $22.8 million of hot stock near all-time highs originally appeared on TheStreet. Cathie Wood has long been aggressive in hunting tech stocks that she believes will have a 'disruptive' impact on the future world. However, she sometimes sells a stock when it is high to secure gains. In the past week, the head of Ark Investment Management sold a popular AI stock that has surged nearly 70% year-to-date. 💵💰Don't miss the move: Subscribe to TheStreet's free daily newsletter 💰💵 Cathie Wood's investments have had a volatile ride this year, swinging from strong gains to sharp losses, and now back to outperforming the broader market. In January and February, the Ark funds rallied as investors bet on the Trump administration's potential deregulation that could benefit Wood's tech bets. But the funds stumbled in the following weeks, underperforming sharply as several of its top holdings —especially Tesla, its largest position — declined amid macroeconomic and trade policy uncertainties. Now, the fund is regaining momentum. As of June 6, the flagship Ark Innovation ETF () is up 6.11% year-to-date, outpacing the S&P 500's 2.02% gain. Wood gained a remarkable 153% in 2020, which helped build her reputation and attract loyal investors. Still, her long-term performance has made many others skeptical of her aggressive style. As of June 6, Ark Innovation ETF, with $5 billion under management, has delivered a five-year annualized return of negative 0.5%. In comparison, the S&P 500 has an annualized return of 15.18% over the same period. Wood's investment strategy is straightforward: Her Ark ETFs typically buy shares in emerging high-tech companies in fields such as artificial intelligence, blockchain, biomedical technology and robotics. Wood says these companies have the potential to reshape industries, but their volatility leads to major fluctuations in Ark funds' Ark Innovation ETF wiped out $7 billion in investor wealth over the 10 years ending in 2024, according to an analysis by Morningstar's analyst Amy Arnott. That made it the third-biggest wealth destroyer among mutual funds and ETFs in Arnott's ranking. Wood said the U.S. is coming out of a three-year 'rolling recession' and heading into a productivity-led recovery that could trigger a broader bull market. In a letter to investors published on April 30, she dismissed predictions of a recession dragging into 2026, as she expects "more clarity on tariffs, taxes, regulations, and interest rates over the next three to six months." "If the current tariff turmoil results in freer trade, as tariffs and non-tariff barriers come down in tandem with declines in other taxes, regulations, and interest rates, then real GDP growth and productivity should surprise on the high side of expectations at some point during the second half of this year," she wrote. She also struck an optimistic tone for tech stocks. "During the current turbulent transition in the US, we think consumers and businesses are likely to accelerate the shift to technologically enabled innovation platforms including artificial intelligence, robotics, energy storage, blockchain technology, and multiomics sequencing," she said. But not everyone shares Wood's bullish outlook. Her flagship Ark Innovation ETF has seen $2.23 billion in net outflows over the past year through June 5, including nearly $154 million in the last month alone, according to ETF research firm VettaFi. From June 2 to June 5, Wood's Ark funds sold 179,846 shares of Palantir Technologies () , which was valued at roughly $22.8 million. Palantir is known for providing AI-driven data analytics software to the U.S. government, military, and commercial clients worldwide, including JPMorgan Chase, Airbus, and Merck. The company reported stronger-than-expected first-quarter revenue in early May and raised its full-year outlook as demand for AI tools increased. 'We are delivering the operating system for the modern enterprise in the era of AI,' CEO Alex Karp said. While many tech stocks have struggled this year, Palantir has stood out. Its shares are up roughly 69% in 2025 and just hit a record close of $133.17 on June of the recent momentum comes from its government work. Back in May 2024, Palantir won a $480 million, five-year U.S. Army contract to build its Maven Smart System, which is a battlefield AI prototype. Last month, the Defense Department modified the contract, increasing the licensing ceiling from $480 million to $1.275 billion. Palantir's Foundry platform has been adopted by at least four federal agencies, including the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Health and Human Services, according to a New York Times report published May 30. Fannie Mae also announced a partnership with Palantir in May to work on AI-based fraud detection. However, the New York Times article also raised concerns about the company's relationship with the Trump administration, alleging that the U.S. president could use Palantir's technology to target immigrants and political opponents. The article also claimed that some Palantir employees felt uncomfortable with the company's decision to work with the Trump administration and that it "risks becoming the face of Mr. Trump's political agenda." Palantir responded in a June 3 post on X, denying the accusations. More Palantir Palantir gets great news from the Pentagon Wall Street veteran doubles down on Palantir Palantir bull sends message after CEO joins Trump for Saudi visit 'The recently published article by The New York Times is blatantly untrue,' the company wrote. 'Palantir never collects data to unlawfully surveil Americans.' Palantir remains a core position for Wood even after recent trims. The stock is now the 9th largest holding in the ARK Innovation ETF, accounting for 4.54%. Wood's latest trades in the past week include buying shares of Advanced Micro Devices () , () , Guardant Health () and Veracyte () . At the same time, she trimmed positions in Tesla () , Roblox () , Robinhood () , and Meta Platforms () .Cathie Wood sells $22.8 million of hot stock near all-time highs first appeared on TheStreet on Jun 8, 2025 This story was originally reported by TheStreet on Jun 8, 2025, where it first appeared.
Yahoo
34 minutes ago
- Yahoo
How the Musk-Trump feud became an online battle like no other
What happens when the world's most powerful man and the world's richest man - both accomplished attention-seekers - clash on the internet? We're finding out in real time. This week, billionaire Elon Musk and President Donald Trump took to their respective social platforms to sling mud at the other after a fallout over federal spending. What started as a volley of barbs snowballed into a feud involving multiple social platforms and millions of onlookers, as everyone from big-name politicians to no-name meme accounts hurried to offer their takes and declare their allegiances. Subscribe to The Post Most newsletter for the most important and interesting stories from The Washington Post. The split could have profound real-world consequences, as both men show their willingness to leverage financial and political power to hit back at the other. It also illustrates how quickly a conflict can escalate when it is fanned by algorithmic feeds and the demands of the attention economy, which prizes outrage and relishes a high-profile feud. While Trump and Musk circle their wagons, drumming up support and smearing the other through posts on X and Truth Social, millions of smaller content creators stand to capitalize on the attention the feud generates. On Thursday afternoon, the number of active users on the X and Truth Social mobile apps both reached 90-day highs, according to preliminary estimates by Sensor Tower, a market intelligence firm. Between 2 and 6 p.m. Eastern time that day, the firm estimates that X usage was up 54 percent compared with the previous seven days, while Truth Social was up more than 400 percent, albeit from a much lower baseline. 'Public feuds like this drive social media engagement like crazy,' said Casey Fiesler, a professor of information science at the University of Colorado at Boulder who studies social media ethics. 'It's high-octane content because it's easy to meme and very algorithmically rewarded.' Musk, whose business empire includes X as well as Tesla, rocket company SpaceX and artificial intelligence start-up xAI, kicked off the fight on Tuesday when he posted on X to criticize a congressional spending bill backed by the president: 'This massive, outrageous, pork-filled Congressional spending bill is a disgusting abomination,' he wrote. The post was viewed more than 141 million times and sparked a flurry of commentary on X and elsewhere online. Gen Z internet personality Lil Tay, known for over-the-top posts flaunting luxury goods, got 2.8 million views on a reply clapping back at Musk for his former support of Trump, while far-right commentator Charlie Kirk referenced Musk's 'tweet heard around the world' in a post funneling viewers to Apple Podcasts to stream his talk show. Over the next two days, Musk continued to take shots at Trump on X, at one point posting a poll asking whether America needed a new centrist political party, while Trump told White House reporters that his and Musk's relationship was on the rocks. Then on Thursday, Musk escalated the back-and-forth by claiming in a post on X that Trump is implicated in the Epstein files, documents that allegedly contain the names of people who consorted with the late financier Jeffrey Epstein to sexually assault minors. The post exploded, drawing almost 200 million views in a day and stoking a second wave of content from politicians, creators and meme-makers. A post from an anonymous X user, liked by 192,300 people, mused: 'Who gets JD Vance in the divorce?' The vice president soon provided an answer, posting that Trump has 'earned the trust of the movement he leads.' On X, where Musk's changes to the platform's verification feature have blurred the lines between real public figures and paid subscribers, fake politicians joined the fray. 'Every time I smell a movement, I know you'll be next to it,' came a reply to Vance from an account for Rep. Jack Kimble - a fictitious congressman with more than 93,000 followers whose posts have often fooled social media users. Former Trump adviser Stephen K. Bannon seized the moment to make headlines with his podcast, in which he called for Trump to seize SpaceX and perhaps even deport Musk. Politics creators such as Philip DeFranco took to TikTok with beat-by-beat breakdowns of the feud, while Musk's estranged daughter Vivian Wilson posted to her Instagram stories a clip of herself laughing, with the caption, 'I love being proven right,' possibly in reference to past comments criticizing her father and Trump. In the Reddit community r/politics, self-styled sleuths conducted deep dives into Epstein-related court filings, at times linking to books and YouTube series that claim to investigate Epstein's celebrity accomplices. Far-fetched conspiracy theories floated around X as users speculated whether Trump and Musk could be secretly working together toward some noble end. Critics of Musk and Trump delighted in the affair. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-New York), who at 35 is a social media star in her own right, was stopped by a reporter outside the U.S. Capitol on Thursday and asked for her reaction to Trump and Musk's war of words. She was quick to spit an online catchphrase: 'Oh man, the girls are fighting, aren't they?' The clip spread quickly on TikTok, where it was boosted by left-leaning talking heads and news accounts. Academic research on online algorithms has shown that social feeds often prioritize content that elicits fear or rage. High-profile fights can boost the power and profiles of people involved, as with the infamous internet feuds between Kim Kardashian and Kanye West or influencers Trisha Paytas and Ethan Klein, said Fiesler. But trending conflicts are also a boon to the second-order creators, who jump to offer 'side takes,' playing off the argument of the day to drive traffic to their own products and profiles. A divisive court battle between actress Amber Heard and her ex-husband Johnny Depp, for instance, spawned its own media ecosystem, with creators and channels dedicated entirely to dissecting the feud - at times even falsifying or exaggerating information to keep viewers hooked. 'This [Musk-Trump feud] is half my TikTok feed right now,' Fiesler said. 'The more that people talk about it, the more people feel obligated to talk about it and take sides.' It's a dynamic the principals in this fight have long since mastered. Vance posted on X on Thursday a picture of himself with the popular podcaster and comedian Theo Von, with the tongue-in-cheek caption, 'Slow news day, what are we even going to talk about?' Musk reposted it, adding a 'laughter' emoji. Under Musk's ownership, X has lost advertisers and users turned off by his politics and lax approach to hate speech, with rivals such as Bluesky and Meta's Threads siphoning left-leaning users in particular. Now he risks alienating Trump loyalists. But in the meantime, even critics of his leadership of X acknowledged Thursday that it seemed to have 'the juice' - that is, it was driving the conversation - at least for the moment. 'A public blowup between the world's richest man and the president of the U.S. is hard for people to resist witnessing first-hand, even for those that may not regularly use X,' said Jasmine Enberg, vice president and principal analyst at eMarketer, a market research firm. 'That said, our media usage is so fragmented and we're being bombarded with the news from every channel that it's not likely to be significant or sustainable.' Truth Social, meanwhile, has become an increasingly important component of Trump's communication strategy, with the self-styled influencer-in-chief firing off a steady stream of posts - at times dozens a day - lauding his own actions or taking aim at rivals. White House employees and right-leaning creators then spread the posts to other platforms, broadening Truth Social's reach and influence even as the platform underperforms compared with X, Threads or Bluesky. (Sensor Tower estimates X has about 100 times more active users.) The Trump-Musk brouhaha exemplifies how online influencer culture has permeated politics, said Renée DiResta, a professor at Georgetown University's McCourt School of Public Policy and the author of 'Invisible Rulers.' 'Online beefing is not about winning - it's a kind of performance,' she said. The interactive nature of social media allows the audience to get in on the action. 'We pick sides, cheer for our champion and keep the fight going. We make memes - we can grab some attention for ourselves and help shape the fight if we make good ones.' But what might be harmless fun in the case of celebrity gossip, she said, has a darker side when the warring parties are among the world's most powerful people. In a striking example, a threat from Trump on Thursday to cancel government contracts with SpaceX prompted Musk to reply that the company 'will begin decommissioning its Dragon spacecraft immediately' - a move that would have severed NASA's only means of transporting astronauts to the International Space Station. A pseudonymous X user who had fewer than 100 followers at the time replied to Musk's post, urging him to 'take a step back' and reconsider. Within hours, Musk responded: 'Good advice. Ok, we won't decommission Dragon.' The online bedlam prompted sports commentator Darren Rovell to revisit a tweet he posted in 2016 that has since become a meme: 'I feel bad for our country. But this is tremendous content.' Related Content To save rhinos, conservationists are removing their horns Donald Trump and the art of the Oval Office confrontation Some advice from LGBTQ elders as WorldPride kicks off amid fears
