Most of us work for a job with a boss, and know that the power to hire us and perhaps fire us lies in their hands. But not Elon Musk! An incredible tidbit spotted by Reuters in SpaceX’s IPO filing details the way Musk can be removed as CEO, and because of these rules, it basically means the only person who can fire Musk… is Musk himself.
The S&P 500 finished marginally lower on Wednesday, bouncing back from steeper losses as traders digested the somewhat hawkish shift within the central bank and awaited what was arguably the biggest postmarket earnings day of the year.
The Nasdaq 100 gained, while the Russell 2000 fell. Energy was the best-performing sector as oil prices rose on last night’s news that President Trump told aides to prepare for an extended blockade of Iran. Utilities was the worst performer. |
|
|
|
Last night, the fate of the stock market for the next 90 days was determined in about 10 minutes |
Four of the Magnificent 7 reported earnings last night. How’d it go? |
-
Alphabet’s earnings and revenue blew past expectations. Alphabet’s profit was lifted by blockbuster gains on some of its equity investments — it said the value of its nonmarketable equity securities helped power a net gain of $37.7 billion. The company’s private investments include stakes in Anthropic and SpaceX.
-
Meta dove after its earnings, which were a beat. The company’s all-important ads business jumped 33% in that time to $55 billion in revenue. More on why it dove in a moment.
-
Microsoft whipsawed despite its own beat. In a closely watched number, Microsoft’s Azure cloud business increased 40% year on year, just above the 39.7% estimated. The metric technically beat expectations, but may not be the beat investors were looking for.
- Amazon too whipsawed. Amazon Web Services sales of $37.6 billion handily surpassed the consensus call for $36.7 billion.
|
Why the uncertainty? In a couple of the cases, AI is getting more expensive than previously thought. |
- Alphabet’s capital expenditure continued to soar, jumping to $35.7 billion during the quarter, compared with $17.2 billion a year earlier and $27.9 billion in the fourth quarter.
-
Meta’s stock sank more than 6% after-hours after it said its capex for 2026 would be $125 billion to $145 billion, compared with analysts’ forecast of $122.6 billion (and higher than the $115 billion to $135 billion it estimated last quarter).
-
At Microsoft, total capex for the quarter was $31.9 billion, up 49% year on year, above estimates of $27.5 billion and down from Q2’s $37.5 billion.
|
|
|
|
So, are we good or not? Generally, all we needed to avoid was disaster in order to keep the party going. For these stocks, the golden rule is “don’t finish down 3% the day after.” Either way, things look all right for the overall health of the AI trade. |
|
|
|
Give your equity exposure an Edge℠ |
Seeking income but want to stay invested in stocks? The Income Edge℠ Suite from Global X offers an ETF approach that seeks to combine income generation with equity exposure.
As the U.S. options market has grown, more dynamic strategies have become available through ETFs. The Income Edge℠ suite employs an actively-managed ETF strategy, allowing investors to potentially benefit without managing options themselves. |
-
Target Weekly Distributions: Both EDGX and EDGQ target seek current income by writing call options and making weekly distributions.
- Active Management: Coverage levels are reviewed and may be adjusted weekly based on market conditions.
-
Potential Upside Participation: The funds seek to maintain equity exposure, while preserving a degree of upside participation in rising markets.
|
Global X’s Income Edge Suite℠ includes EDGX, offering large-cap U.S. equity exposure, and EDGQ, focused on the Nasdaq-100, giving investors two ETF options for pursuing income alongside equity exposure — discover more.
|
|
|
|
Federal Reserve keeps policy rates unchanged with a whopping 4 dissents |
- The central bank’s statement pointed to the potential for a continuation of this easing cycle by including the phrase “in considering the extent and timing of additional adjustments to the target rate.”
-
Ahead of this decision, event contracts indicated a high likelihood that precisely one member would dissent at this meeting. That was wildly off the mark, with a whopping four members dissenting.
-
Three of those did not want an easing bias; Governor Stephen Miran preferred a rate cut at this meeting. This marks the highest number of dissents since October 1992.
- The S&P 500 fell to session lows as traders digested the somewhat hawkish shift within the central bank, with two-year Treasury yields heading to their highs of the day and the US dollar strengthening.
|
During the press conference, Fed Chair Jerome Powell said he would stay on the Board of Governors for an indeterminate amount of time until the Justice Department’s criminal probe into the central bank is “well and truly over,” adding that he plans on keeping a “low profile” as a governor. |
|
|
|
The minutes from the central bank’s March meeting indicated that “most” participants thought a drawn-out war in the Middle East could weaken the labor market and warrant additional policy easing. Since that time, however, American job growth crushed estimates in March and the US and Iran have reached a ceasefire. But the upward pressure on US retail gasoline prices continues — as does the lack of traffic through the Strait of Hormuz.
Traders think it’s roughly a coin flip as to whether the central bank has shifted gears to deliver a rate hike by about Q3 2027, but see a less than one-in-five shot of any rate increases being delivered this year. |
*Event contracts are offered through Robinhood Derivatives, LLC — probabilities referenced or sourced from KalshiEx LLC or ForecastEx LLC. |
|
|
|
The UAE’s OPEC exit will hit the group in the barrels |
The UAE’s departure from OPEC on May 1 will end nearly 60 years of membership in the oil cartel, letting the Gulf state pump crude without production caps. Of the 12 nations in the core group, only two (Iraq and Saudi Arabia) exported more barrels of crude oil daily than the UAE last year, as visualized here.
|
|
|
|
|
