Markets
Nia Warfield, Luke Kawa

US stocks slump as oil jumps on renewed Middle East tensions

There’s risk-on/risk-off trading, and then there’s war on/war off trading.

US stocks stumbled on Tuesday after Monday’s more constructive tone on the conflict in the Middle East evaporated by the night, with US President Donald Trump telling Americans to evacuate Tehran last night and calling for Iran’s “UNCONDITIONAL SURRENDER” today. Oil prices headed higher while the S&P 500 ended down 0.8% and the Nasdaq 100 and Russell 2000 gave back 1%. Consumer discretionary and healthcare stocks fared the worst, with the latter seeing weakness linked to reports the Trump administration is looking to curb pharma ads.

Every S&P 500 sector ETF finished in the red outside of energy, thanks to the aforementioned rally in crude prices.

Gains were led by Apple circuit board maker Jabil, whose stock jumped almost 9%, hitting a fresh all-time high after topping Q3 results. Declines were led by solar stocks Enphase Energy and First Solar, which both dropped about 24% and 18%, respectively, after the Senate proposed to end clean energy tax credits by 2028. Hydrogen fuel cell company Plug Power fell roughly 17% for similar reasons. Elsewhere…

Shares of JetBlue were trading down almost 8% after CEO Joanna Geraghty informed staff that the carrier would be implementing further cost cuts.

Reddit surged 6%. The company unveiled some new AI advertising tools yesterday, but the stock jumped on the opening of trading this morning amid a surge of options trading.

Verve Therapeutics rose more than 80% after pharma giant Eli Lilly announced that it would buy the gene-editing biotech company.

T-Mobile shares fell over 4% after SoftBank offloaded 21.5 million shares of the telecom company to help fund its growing wave of AI investments

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Tasha Matsumoto
5/15/26
Stocks slide on inflation fears as oil climbs

Tech fell and oil rose, while investors grew concerned that oil supply disruption from the ongoing closure of the Strait of Hormuz could drive inflation.

Roaring bear
markets
Paige Oamek

SpaceX reportedly plans to IPO in mid-June, chooses to list on Nasdaq

Elon Musk’s aerospace and satellite manufacturer, SpaceX, could price its initial public offering as soon as June 11 and make its public market debut on June 12, Reuters reported Friday. SpaceX is preparing for a monster IPO, reportedly aiming to raise $75 billion at a record $1.75 trillion valuation.

Sources familiar with the matter told Reuters that Musk’s company had chosen to list on the Nasdaq.

SpaceX is moving through its IPO timeline and is said to be ready to hit the road to secure commitments from investors around June 4, according to Reuters.

SpaceX did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Go Deeper: What happens to Tesla stock when SpaceX goes public?

markets
Paige Oamek

Figma spikes after raising full-year sales outlook as the software company leverages AI for growth

Figma jumped postmarket Thursday after posting impressive sales in Q1, surpassing Wall Street expectations and raising its full-year guidance. The key numbers:

  • Q1 revenue of $333.4 million (compared to analyst estimates of $316 million).

  • Q2 sales guidance of $348 million to $350 million (estimate: $329.7 million).

  • Full-year revenue between $1.422 billion and $1.428 billion (up from previous guidance of $1.37 billion).

The digital design software firm is the latest company to diminish investor fears about AI-induced disruption by making the technology work for them. Like Atlassian or Datadog, Figma said it was able to use AI to its advantage, bringing more customers on board and getting them to spend more.

In the press release, Praveer Melwani, Figma CFO, said:

“As AI gets better, Figma is accelerating and customer usage and workflows on our platform are deepening. Our platform and AI products drove faster growth for both new customer acquisition and expansion within existing accounts.”

Revenue grew 46% year over year in Q1 2026, an acceleration from growth of 40% in Q4 2025.

markets
Luke Kawa

Infleqtion reports Q1 adjusted loss, offers modest boost to full-year sales guidance

Infleqtion is falling in postmarket trading after reporting a Q1 adjusted loss from operations of $13.2 million and sales of $9.5 million.

Management modestly upgraded its sales guidance to “at least” $40 million for 2026, adding that language to enhance the target provided in early April. Revenues of $40 million would mark an increase of roughly 23% compared to the $32.5 million generated in 2025, and an acceleration from growth of 12% last year.

The company utilizes neutral-atom technology to make quantum sensors used in clocks and antennas in addition to computers.

“Q1 reinforced our confidence that quantum is gaining momentum as the market shifts toward deployable systems, real applications, and measurable customer value,” said CEO Matt Kinsella. “Across computing, sensing, and software, we are seeing expanding customer activity especially in national security, space, and hybrid quantum-AI applications.”

Shares are roughly flat since February 13, which is just before the company went public via a SPAC, after being down 35% near the end of March, and then up nearly 30% in mid-April.

The quantum computing space benefited from the return of speculative appetite in April after the US and Iran agreed to a ceasefire. The cohort was later bolstered after Nvidia unveiled a suite of open models designed to leverage AI to improve calibration and error correction for quantum computers.

markets
Luke Kawa

Applied Materials rallies after better-than-expected Q2 results, strong sales guidance

Shares of Applied Materials are gaining in postmarket trading after the company reported robust Q2 results and a sales outlook that indicate building momentum.

  • Net sales: $7.9 billion (compared to analyst estimates of $7.7 billion and guidance for $7.65 billion, plus or minus $500 million).

  • Adjusted earnings per share: $2.86 (estimate: $2.68, guidance: $2.68, plus or minus $0.20).

For Q3, the company anticipates net sales of $8.95 billion (plus or minus $500 million; estimate: $8.15 billion) with adjusted EPS of $3.36 (plus or minus $0.20; estimate: $2.88).

“The growth in AI that Applied has been investing for is now in full force,” CFO Brice Hill said in the press release.

Management has consistently indicated that it expects demand to pick up in the second half of this year, but its first-half results have already blown away expectations by a wide margin. All this appetite for semiconductors to support AI compute is fantastic news for companies like Applied Materials that make the equipment to produce these specialized chips.

Shares of Applied Materials closed near a record high ahead of this report, up more than 70% year to date.

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