Markets
Luke Kawa, Matt Phillips

US stocks pummeled by tariffs in biggest loss since 2020

US stocks cratered on Thursday as traders reacted to the suite of tariffs that promise to push recession odds higher and make Americans poorer. The S&P 500 slumped 4.8%, the Nasdaq 100 sank 5.4%, and the Russell 2000 tumbled 6.6%.

Some on Wall Street are still of the view that these trade barriers, which may push the US effective tariff rate to its highest level in more than a century, are so onerous that they’re more of a negotiating tactic rather than a looming reality.

Consumer staples was the lone S&P 500 sector ETF to go positive on the day, while seven sector ETFs fell more than 4%, with energy and tech the two worst performers.

Apple was heavily sold, as its low-cost operations in Southeast Asia now face a surge in costs from tariffs. The iPhone maker had its worst day since the throes of the Covid-induced market meltdown in March 2020.

A ton of exposure to heavily tariffed Vietnam meant that Nike swooned instead of swooshed. Most other retailers, including Lululemon, Dollar Tree, Best Buy, and Target, were in the same bucket, posting major losses.

Besides tariffs, there was also some bad AI-specific news, with more reports of Microsoft taking a step back from its data center spending binge.

Crypto-linked stocks like Coinbase, MARA Holdings, and Strategy got clobbered.

The effects of tariffs are not just confined to the stock market and are already having an impact on the job market. Stellantis said it will idle production at two plants and lay off 900 American workers in light of the levies.

That’s as Ford, which does more of its final assembly stateside than most of its rivals, aims to cut prices to take advantage of the operational stress faced by competitors.

And now, the bright spots:

Intel jumped on a report that it’s reached a preliminary deal for a joint venture with powerhouse chip producer TSMC.

It was a record closing high for Coca-Cola, as the ubiquitous brand served as a safe haven amid the terrible tape.

And smoke ‘em while your portfolio’s getting smoked: British American Tobacco, Philip Morris, and Altria all gained on the day.

Goodyear also posted massive gains as it’s relatively well insulated from tariffs for the time being.

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Max Knoblauch

Oil-sensitive travel stocks pop following Iran state media reporting on potential war resolution

Travel stocks are surging on Tuesday as oil prices fall following reports from Iranian state media that Iran's President Masoud Pezeshkian said the country has "the necessary will to end this war," but would only do so with guarantees that "prevent the recurrence of aggression."

The war has sent oil prices and refining margins surging this month, causing airlines and cruise lines to cut profit forecasts despite reported high demand.

Following Tuesday’s update, shares of the big four US airlines (Delta Air Lines, United Airlines, American Airlines, and Southwest Airlines) all climbed, along with smaller rivals including JetBlue. US airlines have stopped fuel hedging in recent years, increasing their exposure to upward swings in oil prices.

Cruise stocks also rallied, with Carnival and Norwegian up more than 6% and Royal Caribbean up about 5%.

markets
J. Edward Moreno

The FDA is expected to lift restrictions on certain peptides, the NYT reports

The Food and Drug Administration is expected to lift restrictions on certain peptides, allowing the experimental, often injectable substances to be sold by compounding pharmacies, The New York Times reported Tuesday.

The potential move was previously reported by The Wall Street Journal, and teased by Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on the “Joe Rogan Experience” podcast in late February.

Peptides have boomed in popularity recently, with search interest for “peptides” surpassing “ozempic” this month. Many of them are currently understudied and not approved for human use, a rule consumers are able to bypass by purchasing them from suppliers that sell them for, ostensibly, research purposes only.

As reports of the FDA changing its stance of peptides mount, consumer health companies like Hims & Hers and Superpower have been getting ready to roll out their peptide offerings as soon as they get the FDA's blessing.

The peptide gold rush: How impending deregulation could supercharge a shadow industry

The peptide gold rush: How impending deregulation could supercharge a shadow industry

Peptides have boomed in popularity recently, with search interest for “peptides” surpassing “ozempic” this month. Many of them are currently understudied and not approved for human use, a rule consumers are able to bypass by purchasing them from suppliers that sell them for, ostensibly, research purposes only.

As reports of the FDA changing its stance of peptides mount, consumer health companies like Hims & Hers and Superpower have been getting ready to roll out their peptide offerings as soon as they get the FDA's blessing.

markets
Matt Phillips

Memory stocks bounce as Bernstein analyst calls TurboQuant fears “overdone”

Memory stocks rose Tuesday, after Bernstein analysts called the recent panic over Google’s TurboQuant AI algorithm “overdone.”

Bernstein analyst Mark Newman wrote:

“[Hard disk drive] and Memory stocks have sold off significantly due in part to fears from Google’s TurboQuant report. This however, should have zero impact on HDD demand and negligible impact on NAND demand. Given the stock sell-off we see this as an attractive entry point for Seagate Technology Holdings, Western Digital and Sandisk’s and upgrade WDC to Outperform.”

All three stocks were up early Tuesday, as was memory chip maker Micron.

Today’s rally stands in stark contrast to the pummeling these shares have endured over the last week, after Google Research published a technical paper on March 24 detailing its TurboQuant AI algorithm, which compresses the amount of data associated with AI operations without affecting the accuracy of AI models.

That was seen as a threat to surging AI demand for memory storage, which has supercharged prices for memory chips and memory-related stocks over the last year.

markets
Matt Phillips

Constellation tumbles after posting underwhelming guidance, failing to announce new data center deals

AI power trade Constellation Energy tumbled early Tuesday after issuing an investor day update the market seemed to find unsatisfactory.

The company introduced full-year 2026 operating earnings guidance of between $11 and $12 a share, the midpoint of which is shy of consensus expectations for $11.73, according to FactSet.

Over at Barron’s, Avi Salzman suggested that the company’s failure to unveil any new data center deals as part of the festivities is also adding the the sell-off. He wrote:

“Constellation CEO Joe Dominguez said at the event that he anticipates signing major new deals to provide power to tech companies, but doesn’t want to announce anything too early given the increasing spotlight on data centers today and some changing regulations.

‘I recognize that the last time we spoke, I indicated that we expected to be done with an important transaction by this call, but we’re not ready to announce anything today,’ Dominguez said.

‘There is clearly more scrutiny on data center development,’ he added.”

It’s clear that growing public pushback on data centers is becoming a limiting factor in the AI investment binge.

Constellation Stock Falls. Investors Didn’t Get What They Really Wanted.

Constellation Stock Falls. Investors Didn’t Get What They Really Wanted.

Over at Barron’s, Avi Salzman suggested that the company’s failure to unveil any new data center deals as part of the festivities is also adding the the sell-off. He wrote:

“Constellation CEO Joe Dominguez said at the event that he anticipates signing major new deals to provide power to tech companies, but doesn’t want to announce anything too early given the increasing spotlight on data centers today and some changing regulations.

‘I recognize that the last time we spoke, I indicated that we expected to be done with an important transaction by this call, but we’re not ready to announce anything today,’ Dominguez said.

‘There is clearly more scrutiny on data center development,’ he added.”

It’s clear that growing public pushback on data centers is becoming a limiting factor in the AI investment binge.

markets
Luke Kawa

CoreWeave jumps after closing unique financing deal to borrow $8.5 billion backed by its chips and Meta’s AI compute purchases

Shares of CoreWeave are spiking on Tuesday after the company announced that it closed an $8.5 billion loan backed by its chips and what Meta is willing to pay to use them.

Last September, the neocloud reached an agreement to provide $14.2 billion worth of AI compute to the social media giant.

CoreWeave said the loan agreement is “the first investment-grade rated financing secured by HPC infrastructure and an associated customer contract.”

These terms helped to reduce CoreWeave’s cost of borrowing: this facility includes a floating rate (SOFR plus 2.25%, or about 5.9%) as well as a fixed rate tranche (at 5.9%). Last July, CoreWeave raised fixed-rate debt with a coupon of 9%.

In a world where Oracle’s five-year credit default swap spreads recently exceeded their 2008 peak, it’s nice to get some positive debt-related news in the AI realm.

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