Markets
markets
Luke Kawa

Speculative stocks that went parabolic in December are getting rinsed

December’s market darlings are taking a drubbing.

Some of the smaller, thematically oriented stocks that enjoyed massive gains in the final month of 2024 as volumes traded and retail investors’ interest soared are suffering a severe sell-off on Tuesday.

reAlpha Tech, a real-estate technology company that more than doubled in about a week after announcing it would hold crypto on its balance sheet, fell as much as 15% this morning.

SEALSQ, a Swiss tech firm that more than tripled after touting its ability to protect crypto from quantum computers, is down double digits.

And those quantum-computing upstarts — Rigetti Computing, D-Wave Quantum, and Quantum Computing — are all down at least 5% more than midway through the trading day.

Trading activity is the worst-performing US equity factor on the day as of 12:30 p.m. ET.

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markets
Helena Cheng

KKR, Blackstone lead private-equity selloff after Partners Group curbs investor withdrawals

Shares of major US alternative asset managers like KKR & Co., Blackstone, Ares Management, and Blue Owl Capital are tumbling after Switzerland-based Partners Group capped investor withdrawals from a flagship private equity fund, reigniting broader market anxieties over private asset valuations and systemic liquidity.

Overseas, Partners Group’s stock dropped 17% in Zurich trading, marking its worst single-day drop on record and sending it to a 52-week low, according to CNBC.

The panic was triggered when Partners Group announced it had restricted redemptions within its $8.6 billion Global Value SICAV fund in a statement and filing to investors, according to Reuters. In a Bloomberg TV interview, Partners Group CEO David Layton said that the sudden surge of investor exit requests hit 9.8% of the fund's total value during the second quarter. Because this nearly doubled the fund’s internal safety threshold, Partners Group automatically triggered structural guardrails to limit quarterly cash withdrawals to just 5% of net asset value.

“There are some idiosyncratic factors for this fund in particular, but indeed you do see investors broadly, after having redemption pressure within private credit for a number of quarters, now starting to redeem other asset classes,” David Layton said on Wednesday.

The sector-wide drop followed a similar announcement just one day ago from asset manager Cliffwater, which capped quarterly redemptions at 5% after investors asked to withdraw roughly 17% of shares from the $31 billion private credit fund according to Bloomberg.

The market's sharp reaction stems from the fact that US giants like Blackstone, KKR, and Ares have spent years courting wealthy individual and retail investors to fuel their growth. With a surge in redemption requests starting in private credit late last year and now officially bleeding into private equity, investors are growing skittish that portfolios are holding over-marked assets that cannot be quickly liquidated.

markets
Max Knoblauch

Beta Technologies climbs after Transportation Sec. Duffy posts a “Love Island” meme about his flight in electric aircraft

Air taxi maker Beta Technologies climbed by 5% in premarket trading on Wednesday after Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy posted a video about his recent flight in the company’s electric aircraft.

The Department of Transportation announced Duffy’s Beta flight on Monday, writing that he’d become “the first Transportation Secretary in American history to fly in an electric vertical take-off and landing aircraft.”

Late Tuesday, Duffy posted another video referencing the flight, writing, “🔥A HOT NEW AIRCRAFT ENTERS THE VILLA👀”

Air taxi rivals Joby Aviation and Archer Aviation were each down about 1.4% in premarket trading. All three companies are participating in the FAA’s eVTOL Integration Pilot Program. All three are also down at least 10% year to date heading into market open on Wednesday.

Tom Jones
hedge of glory
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A New York bar is using Kalshi to offer patrons free drinks during the first Knicks Finals game

Sentences are being written that have never been written before.

NBA: MAY 31 NBA Finals Preview - New York Knicks
markets
Helena Cheng

Macy’s rises on Q1 earnings, revenue beat, and raised full-year outlook

Macy’s shares are rising Wednesday morning after the department store giant exceeded Wall Street expectations for Q1 and management lifted the company’s full-year guidance.

Key numbers:

  • Adjusted earnings per share of $0.13 (compared to analyst estimates of $0.04).

  • Revenue of $4.7 billion (estimate: $4.6 billion).

Macy’s raised its guidance for the full fiscal year and now projects full-year net sales between $21.5 billion and $21.75 billion, up from the previous range of $21.4 billion to $21.65 billion. Adjusted earnings per share also got an upgrade to between $2.00 and $2.20, compared to the prior view of $1.90 to $2.10.

Macy’s Q1 comparable sales increased 3%, exceeding the company’s guidance. The standout performer was Bloomingdale’s, where comparable sales surged 10.2%, capturing its seventh straight quarter of growth. Meanwhile, beauty and skin care retailer Bluemercury also posted a robust 6.4% comparable sales gain.

The company ended the first quarter of 2026 with cash and cash equivalents of $1.3 billion and had $2.0 billion of available borrowing capacity under its asset-based credit facility. Through its quarterly dividend, Macy’s returned $50 million in cash to shareholders in the first quarter of 2026.

“We’re off to a strong start to the year, exceeding expectations for the fifth consecutive quarter as our Bold New Chapter strategy continues to build momentum,” Tony Spring, chairman and CEO of Macy’s, said in a statement. “Customers are responding — driving comparable sales growth at Macy’s and another standout quarter at Bloomingdale’s, underscoring its leadership in modern luxury.” Spring’s “A Bold New Chapter” turnaround strategy, which was announced back in 2024, relies heavily on luxury expansion and store optimization to attract affluent consumers.

markets
Nate Becker

GameStop pops as Q1 revenue, profit rise and retailer authorizes $2 billion of stock buybacks

GameStop shares popped after-hours, as the company authorized a $2 billion stock buyback and posted a blockbuster fiscal first-quarter profit aided by unrealized gains on its options exposure to eBay stock. 

Here are the numbers from the retail trader favorite: 

  • Adjusted earnings per share of $0.30, up from $0.17 a year earlier and above the $0.16 estimate of… precisely one analyst.

  • Revenue of $835.3 million, up 14% from a year earlier.

  • A $2 billion stock buyback authorization, which is equivalent to about one-fifth of the company’s market cap.

  • A whopping $268 million unrealized gain because of its options exposure to eBay stock that it bought as it attempted to buy the online retailer. That led to a record quarterly net income of $389.6 million.

  • The highest first-quarter operating income ever, at $143.3 million — a number not aided by the gain in eBay stock, but rather by higher revenue and improved margins. 

Shares rose 7.1% after-hours.

The buyback authorization is a particularly interesting development for GameStop, which less than two years ago issued billions of dollars’ worth of shares as it took advantage of surging stock prices. 

Of course, it’s worth noting that the buyback authorization can be used in piecemeal fashion for the next three years, so any potential buybacks don’t have to happen any time soon — or at all.

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