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Matt Phillips

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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Chicago Bulls player Michael Jordan is surrounded by NBA Championship trophies after his team defeated the Utah Jazz 90-86 to win the 1997 NBA Finals at the United Center in Chicago, IL.

Stock climb on US-Iran peace deal; semiconductors rally

This morning, President Trump and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian signed a memorandum of understanding aimed at ending the war.

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Luke Kawa
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Helena Cheng

Intel surges after Trump announces US chip deal with Apple

Intel is soaring in early trading after President Donald Trump posted on Truth Social that Apple has agreed to work with the semiconductor giant to design and manufacture its chips domestically.

President Trump positioned the agreement as the latest victory for his administration’s industrial policy after the federal government acquired a 9.9% equity stake in Intel last year.

"Stupid Presidents took our Economy for granted, and let Taiwan and others steal our Semiconductor Factories," Trump wrote in the post. "We design everything, but we need to BUILD it here, NOW! So I decided to help Intel because we need to design and build our Chips right here in America... and, finally, Apple has agreed to work with Intel to design and build its Chips in America."

Intel reportedly reached a preliminary agreement back in May to manufacture chips for the Apple, which has been facing supply constraints for its iPhone as well other products. The deal could help Apple reduce its reliance on longtime partner TSMC by bringing more of its chip manufacturing stateside.

"This partnership helps Apple with chip development and manufacturing on US soil with greater focus on reducing dependence on Asian manufacturing facilities." Wedbush's Dan Ives commented in a company report. He has a $400 price target for Apple this year.

The timing aligns with Intel's technical roadmap. Earlier this week, Intel confirmed that its advanced, performance-boosted 18A-P process node officially entered its risk production phase. This move serves as a blueprint for both Intel chips and processors the company plans to build for foundry customers.

“The current capacity crunch is probably emboldening customers to give Intel a harder look at this stage than perhaps they might ordinarily be inclined to do as the prospect of more advanced capacity will take on higher value in a constrained environment,” wrote Bernstein analyst Stacy Rasgon. “We are sure that Trump’s encouragement is at least not going to hurt though.”

Momentum was built around Intel Foundry services as surging global AI demand continuously outpaced capacity. Earlier this month, Google reportedly placed an order with Intel to manufacture more than 3 million of its increasingly popular tensor processing unit chips in 2028. According to the report, Nvidia is also testing to see if Intel could manufacture its next-gen Feynman chips.

markets
J. Edward Moreno

Stocks rise after US, Iran sign peace plan

Stocks rose Thursday morning after President Trump and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian signed a memorandum of understanding aimed at ending the war, in another sign that a months-long war that caused energy prices to spike could be coming to an end.

Trump signed the MOU before a dinner in Versailles, France on Wednesday evening. The president previously announced that a deal had been reached on Sunday evening, saying that traffic through the Strait of Hormuz would resume and that the US naval blockade would be lifted.

The deal comes after both sides exchanged attacks last week, escalating tensions to some of the highest levels since the US and Israel struck Iran in late February.

The price of Brent Crude ticked even lower after dropping on Sunday, sitting at about $76 a barrel. Oil giants like Shell, Chevron and Exxon fell on the news, as average gas prices in the US dropped below $4 for the first time in months.

Futures for the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite rose 0.9% and 1.5%, respectively. Last week, inflation readings for May showed both wholesale inflation and consumer prices rose in large part because of higher energy costs.

Signs of the peace deal have also lead to buying of momentum stocks this week. iShares MSCI USA Momentum Factor ETFrose another 1.46% in premarket trading.

Tasha Matsumoto
6/17/26
Stocks fall after new Fed Chair Warsh’s first policy meeting as traders worry about a rate hike

While the Fed left rates unchanged (as expected) a hawkish dot plot has traders bracing themselves for a rate hike this year.

Brown bear on a rock

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