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Intel trades higher on TSMC investment talks and report on new Trump administration plans to boost US chip production

Intel has approached TSMC about potential investments or manufacturing partnerships, The Wall Street Journal reports, a day after Bloomberg reported that Apple was also in talks with the struggling chipmaker.

The outreach comes as Intel ramps up efforts to secure outside backers, following a $5 billion investment from Nvidia, a $2 billion injection from SoftBank, and an $8.9 billion (~10%) stake taken by the US government — which, so far, has paid off handsomely for Uncle Sam.

Separately, the WSJ also reports that the Trump administration is mulling plans to force companies to equalize their usage of chips produced domestically with those that are imported, or they could face tariffs. The potential measures could be beneficial for companies that have a large US foundry footprint or are in the process of boosting production stateside. As such, this report may also be buoying shares of Intel this morning, as well as fueling a rally in GlobalFoundries.

Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan has been seeking partners to turn the chipmaker around, as the company trails rivals in AI chips and struggles to set up its supply chain. Earlier this year, Tan met with Apple CEO Tim Cook and TSMC chief C.C. Wei about “a partnership or joint venture,” per the WSJ.

Intel’s shares closed Thursday up 8.9%, reaching their highest level in more than a year, and were extending their gains in premarket trading Friday, up 5%. TSMC is down ~2% premarket.

Related reading: Intel rises as the company seeks Apple as next big backer amid turnaround push, per Bloomberg report

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Max Knoblauch22m

Boeing climbs as FAA expected to ease safety check process, speeding up deliveries

Shares of Boeing are taking off in premarket trading on Friday, following a report that the plane maker could soon face fewer obstacles in delivering its aircraft to customers.

According to a Wall Street Journal report, the FAA plans to give Boeing the ability to perform final safety checks on its planes. The agency will also hike the production cap on the 737 Max to 42 jets a month, up from 38.

The move is another sign of recovery for Boeing, which has struggled through years of safety issues, regulator scrutiny, and delivery delays.

The plane maker on Friday also announced that it’s secured two more hefty orders, following the $8.5 billion Uzbekistan Airways deal earlier this week. Turkish Airlines will buy 225 Boeing planes, while Norwegian Air signed a deal to order 30 737 planes. Precise financial details of the deals weren’t disclosed.

Exclusive | FAA to Ease Restrictions on Boeing Aircraft Deliveries

Exclusive | FAA to Ease Restrictions on Boeing Aircraft Deliveries

The move is another sign of recovery for Boeing, which has struggled through years of safety issues, regulator scrutiny, and delivery delays.

The plane maker on Friday also announced that it’s secured two more hefty orders, following the $8.5 billion Uzbekistan Airways deal earlier this week. Turkish Airlines will buy 225 Boeing planes, while Norwegian Air signed a deal to order 30 737 planes. Precise financial details of the deals weren’t disclosed.

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Home goods retailers slide as Trump rolls out new furniture tariffs

Furniture retailers were under pressure in early trading Friday after President Trump announced 50% tariffs on kitchen cabinets and bathroom vanities, and 30% tariffs on upholstered goods. The new import duties are set to go into effect on October 1.

RH shares slipped nearly 4%, while Wayfair and Williams-Sonoma dropped about 3%.

The move follows warnings last month, when the White House told Reuters it was investigating furniture imports on national security grounds. The US imported $25.5 billion worth of furniture in 2024, up 7% from the prior year, with Vietnam and China accounting for about 60% of those imports, per Furniture Today.

For RH, the tariff hit comes at a difficult time. Earlier this month, the retailer trimmed its full-year revenue outlook to 9% to 11% growth, down from prior guidance of 10% to 13%, citing margin pressure from tariffs and housing market weakness. Wall Street had been looking for ~10% growth.

Luke Kawa, Nia Warfield

S&P 500’s losing streak extends to three

The longest run in the red for the benchmark US stock index in over a month.

Bears awaken from hibernation at the zoo in Thale

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Retail traders are dumping Bloom Energy after near 300% rally, says JPMorgan

Retail traders are swarming for the exits in fuel cell company Bloom Energy, causing what was once a near 300% year-to-date rally to sour.

JPMorgan strategists led by Arun Jain flagged that Bloom’s net imbalance — the balance of buying versus selling among retail traders — was exceptionally negative as of 11 a.m. ET, even worse than during its double-digit drop on Wednesday.

JPM retail BE

The fuel cell company, which counts Oracle among its customers, eclipsed a market cap in excess of $20 billion earlier this week despite generating less than $2 billion in sales over the past year.

Wall Street began to sound some alarm bells about the extent of Bloom’s run this week, with Jefferies downgrading its rating for the stock to “underperform” from “hold” on Wednesday while Bank of America analysts wrote, “We are still not buying into BE’s AI hype.”

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Investors are growing bullish on weed stocks. But why?

We spoke to ATB Capital Markets analyst Frederico Gomes about why institutional investors are growing bullish on cannabis.

J. Edward Moreno21h

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