Markets

Stocks slip slightly ahead of US and China trade negotiation talks over the weekend

Stocks were largely flat on Friday after President Trump said he may cut China’s 145% tariff to 80% ahead of trade negotiations in Switzerland this weekend.

The S&P 500 slipped under 0.1%, the Nasdaq 100 ended flat, and the Russell 2000 fell 0.16%. Risk-on sectors like energy, real estate, and consumer discretionary outperformed, while healthcare, consumer staples, and communication services led the declines.

Affirm shares fell double digits after the buy now, pay later giant swung a surprise Q3 profit, but gave cooler-than-expended revenue guidance for the current quarter.

Retail favorite Rocket Lab dove 11% after the commercial space company posted a larger-than-expected Q1 loss and offered disappointing guidance for the current quarter..

Expedia shares sank 7%, one of the worst performers in the S&P 500, after the travel giant missed Q1 estimates amid softer travel demand in the US.

TKO Group shares slid 4% a day after the WWE and UFC parent raised its full-year guidance and beat on Q1 revenue, but missed on profit expectations.

Lyft soared 28% after the ride-hailing giant topped Q1 estimates, netting a record number of bookings and boosting its share buyback plan to $750 million.

Pinterest jumped nearly 5% after the company topped Q1 revenue forecasts, posted upbeat guidance, and saw record active users on its new “visual discovery platform.”

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Health insurance stocks lose steam as Trump says he’ll lobby insurers for lower prices

Shares of health insurance companies dropped Friday afternoon, as President Trump said he would ask insurers to meet with him in the coming weeks to seek lower prices.

Stocks including Humana, UnitedHealthcare, Cigna, CVS Health, and Elevance Health all either pared gains or went further into the red after Trump’s remarks, which came at the end of a press event to announce pricing deals with nine drugmakers.

“I’m going to call a meeting of the big insurance companies that have gotten so rich,” Trump said, noting that he would lobby them for lower prices.

“I would say that maybe with one talk, they would be willing to cut their prices by 50, 60, or 70%. They’ve made a fortune.”

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Rivian’s surge continues as stock reaches highest level since December 2023 on analyst upgrades

Shares of EV maker Rivian are on pace to close up double digits for the second day in a row on Friday as bullish investors pour into the stock following analyst upgrades.

Rivian shares were up more than 10% on Friday afternoon, with the stock climbing to its highest level since December 2023.

Webush’s Dan Ives boosted his Rivian price target by 56% to $25 in a note on Friday morning. The analyst wrote that 2026 is a “prove-me” year for the automaker, with its lower-cost R2 model set to launch in the first half.

Ives’s note follows a separate optimistic bit of analysis from Baird, which also boosted its Rivian price target to $25 in a note on Thursday.

If today's gains hold, Friday will mark the third day of double-digit gains for Rivian in the past six trading days. An “AI Day” event that saw the automaker detail autonomous updates and tease a robotaxi plan started the recent run.

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The neoclouds are shooting back up into the stratosphere

Investors’ faith in tech CEOs’ pursuit of digital God has seemingly been restored for now, sparking an intense rally in the speculative AI players that had been in full-on meltdown mode over concerns that the boom had passed its best-before date.

The data center companies colloquially known as the “neoclouds” — CoreWeave, Nebius, IREN, and Cipher Mining — are up more than double digits over the past two sessions, as of 10:40 a.m. ET.

The past 48 hours have brought a steady drumbeat of positive news for the AI theme.

CoreWeave received a vote of confidence from Wall Street as Citi resumed coverage with a buy rating and price target of $135. Oracle, the epicenter of AI credit concerns, has seen a reversal in its fortunes as it nears an acquisition of TikTok’s US operations. And OpenAI’s fundraising efforts appear be going so well that its reported valuation has gone up in back-to-back days.

Before that, Micron’s earnings reaffirmed the intense demand for AI compute, which continues to outstrip supply — a positive sign for the neoclouds. The macro backdrop is also turning perhaps a bit more in favor of lower interest rates, as CPI inflation came in well below expectations.

Snoop Dogg Performs At OVO Hydro Glasgow

Marijuana rescheduling could mean more investment in US weed stocks. There aren’t many ways in.

“Yes, institutional capital will go into the underlying names. The question is: How fast?" one weed company chairman said.

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