(Getty Images)

Palantir hits new highs amid Israel-Iran conflict

The fighting between Israel and Iran suggests the company’s Middle East business will continue to grow.

6/16/25 9:27AM

Palantir rose to a new high in early trading on Monday, after fighting between Israel and Iran worsened over the weekend.

The defense, data, and AI software firm has deep commercial roots in the region, and has recently spotlighted growth in sales to Middle Eastern nations — including Israel, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE — as a strength. The outbreak of air strikes suggests that spending is likely to grow.

The company has surged this year, as it’s at the epicenter of a number of stories that have driven market excitement, especially from retail shareholders.

Palantir is seen as a beneficiary of AI technology, and it has a growing software business for unmanned drone aircraft — both areas of investor excitement. It’s also a top Trump trade, having benefited from its close proximity to the administration: Republican mega donor Peter Thiel is Palantir’s largest individual shareholder, a cofounder, and helped bankroll the political career of Vice President JD Vance, a former Thiel employee.

With gains of more than 75% on the year, Palantir is on track to be the top-performing stock in the S&P 500 for the second consecutive year, following its 340% gain last year.

Nia Warfield, Luke Kawa

Another record high for stocks as tech heavyweights put market on their shoulders

All of the gains on Monday are attributable to Nvidia and Apple.

Bull charging across sand creating dust cloud

Max Knoblauch8h

Chinese EV maker Nio sinks as a surge of orders for its new SUV create a 6-month backlog

Shares of Nio are falling Monday on the bittersweet news that its latest SUV (the ES8, priced to compete with Tesla’s Model Y) is too popular.

According to Chinese media reports, up to 50,000 ES8 orders may have been placed in the vehicle’s first 36 hours, surpassing Nio’s 40,000-vehicle production cap for this year.

Customers now ordering the ES8 won’t receive their vehicle for 24 to 26 weeks, or six months.

Nio CEO William Li said that the ES8’s production capacity will reach 15,000 units by December.

Nio Says ES8 Orders Placed Today Face 6-Month Wait

Customers now ordering the ES8 won’t receive their vehicle for 24 to 26 weeks, or six months.

Nio CEO William Li said that the ES8’s production capacity will reach 15,000 units by December.

Jon Keegan, Nate Becker

Nvidia jumps on plans to invest up to $100 billion in OpenAI as part of data center expansion

Shares of Nvidia vaulted on the news, as CEO Jensen Huang says the new project would involve 4 million to 5 million GPUs.

J. Edward Moreno

Moderna rises after RFK Jr. vaccine panel’s less-draconian-than-expected Covid recommendation

While ACIP’s vote means less people may be able to access Moderna’s vaccine than before, it’s less severe than the outright ban some were expecting.

Matt Phillips9h

US toys with making the world’s worst investment

Argentinian government bonds are up big today on reports that the US is considering some sort of a bailout for the chronically messy Latin American economy currently led by Trump-allied right-wing populist Javier Millei.

The country’s foreign minister knocked down previous reports that Argentina was negotiating a $30 billion loan with the US.

But Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent just came out saying that “all options” are being considered to stabilize the country’s currency, which plunged as Millei’s attempt to radically remake the economy with deep spending and tax cuts has shown signs of sputtering amid a series of government corruption scandals. Bessent even went so far as to say Argentina is a “systemically important” US ally, using a term of art that’s often bandied about when bailouts are in the offing.

For the record, lending Argentina US taxpayer money seems a bad idea.

The country has defaulted on foreign loans nine times, giving it one of the world’s worst credit histories. In fact, it’s defaulted three times since 2000, including in 2019, after the last attempt to “reform” the country lured in foreign lenders once again.

Bessent Says ‘All Options’ on Table to Steady Milei’s Argentina