markets

Matt Phillips12/13/24

SoundHound AI hits record amid apparent short squeeze

Retail-trading favorite SoundHound AI on Friday closed at a record high amid a surge of trading that bore all the signs of a short squeeze.

The California-based small cap, which sells voice-AI software for use in devices like televisions and service vendors like restaurants, has been on a remarkable run this year, rising about 700% amid euphoric trading of AI-related companies.

By any traditional standard of value, the enthusiasm has gotten out of hand. The company — which since going public via a SPAC in early 2022 has never turned a profit — is trading at a price-to-next-12-month-sales ratio of nearly 40x. (Amazon.com, for comparison, one of the world’s great businesses, has a price-to-sales ratio of between 3x and 5x. Even at its peak in 1999, it had a price-to-sales ratio of only about 22x.)

Such signs of euphoria have attracted attention from short sellers betting that financial reality will eventually pull the stock back to earth. Short interest in the stock has been building steadily through the year to more than 25% of SoundHound’s float.

Alas, the downturn shorts were betting on didn’t materialize, and upward pressure on the stock price — seemingly aided and abetted by a record rise in call-option trading — appeared to make holding the trade too painful on Friday.

Shorts, when they throw the towel in on a trade, often rush to buy the shares they need to “cover” at any price, generating a sharp pop in the shares similar to Friday’s nearly 25% jump in SoundHound AI.

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Tasha Matsumoto

Stocks climb to new record highs on peace talk optimism and tech rally

Stocks rose on news that President Trump will send Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff to Pakistan to negotiate peace talks with Iran. Additionally, Intel’s Q1 earnings crush lifted semiconductor stocks.

Michael Jordan #23, Shooting Guard and Small Forward for the Chicago Bulls wearing a warm up jacket looks on during player introductions before the NBA Midwest Division basketball game against the Denver Nuggets

markets

Max Knoblauch4/24/26

Spectrum owner Charter Communications is on pace for its worst day ever as broadband numbers and Q1 results disappoint

Cable and broadband company Charter Communications is on pace for its worst-ever trading day on Friday, as investors dump the stock following its Q1 results and forward guidance.

Charter, which owns Spectrum, reported adjusted earnings of $9.17 per share, below Wall Street estimates of $9.96 per share from analysts polled by FactSet. On the company’s earnings call, CFO Jessica Fischer appeared to lower its guidance for full-year revenue per user.

“It’ll be close either way in terms of whether we end up with net growth,” Fischer said.

The company lost 120,000 internet subscribers in the quarter, deeper than the expected 94,800 and double its loss from the same period last year. That news comes one day after Comcast’s earnings provided a bit of optimism for broadband as a category: the company reported Q1 losses of 65,000, significantly improving from 183,000 losses in the same quarter last year. Comcast is down more than 10%, on pace for its worst day since January 2025.

Google to reportedly invest up to $40 billion in Anthropic

Amazon announced plans to deepen its investment in the Claude developer earlier this week.

Alphabet/Google CEO Sundar Pichai

markets

Luke Kawa4/24/26

Nvidia poised to snap longest run without a record close since the AI boom began

The stock price of the company responsible for the brains of the AI boom is finally showing some brawn again.

Nvidia, the world’s most valuable company, is poised to close at a record high for the first time since October 29, 2025, on Friday (if it ends above $207.04).

The AI chip trade is on fire, with the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index slated to deliver its 18th consecutive gain as Intel’s robust results and outlook juice the entire ecosystem. Hyperscalers report earnings next week, and their capex guidance can be thought of as the earnings guidance for Nvidia and other AI suppliers for the quarters to come.

This would end Nvidia’s longest stretch without a record close since the unofficial start of the AI boom (when the chip designer delivered blowout quarterly results in May 2023).

(Sorry if I jinx this!)

markets

J. Edward Moreno4/24/26

Lilly slips after prescriptions for its weight-loss pill come in below expectations in second week

Eli Lilly fell on Friday after prescription data for its new weight-loss pill, Foundayo, showed that it’s having a significantly slower rollout than its top competitor.

The pill was prescribed about 3,700 times in its second week, according to IQVIA data cited by Deutsche Bank analysts, compared to the roughly 8,000 they were expecting. Novo Nordisk’s Wegovy pill, which came out in January, hit over 18,000 prescriptions in its second week.

The FDA approved Foundayo on April 1 and shipments began on April 9. Deutsche analysts noted that Lilly’s GLP-1 injections, which currently outsell Novo’s, also had a slower start.

Lilly fell more than 4% after the numbers were released. Novo Nordisk rose more than 5%.

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