Your Evening Briefing

May 01, 2026

Stocks set second-consecutive closing highs

The S&P 500, Nasdaq 100, and Russell 2000 continued to set new record closing highs amid hopes for a deal to end the war with Iran. Today, Iran submitted its latest proposal for peace negotiations, though President Trump said he is not satisfied with the proposal.

Information technology was the best-performing sector, powered by gains in software stocks and Apple. Energy was the worst performer as oil prices dipped on hopes for peace talks.

Bitcoin edged higher after its best month in a year, with analysts weighing factors for it to break $80,000 in May.

Stocks that moved higher:

Apple climbed after reporting a second-quarter earnings and revenue beat after the bell yesterday.
Atlassian shares skyrocketed after the embattled workflow software firm hiked its FY2026 guidance and reported better-than-expected revenue and profit results for its fiscal third quarter.
Social media platform Reddit climbed after guiding for stronger sales in the current quarter and posting Q1 numbers that were better than analysts had expected in yesterday’s earnings report.
Bitcoin miner turned data center operator Riot Platforms rose following a Q1 revenue beat.
United, Delta, Southwest, JetBlue, and Frontier popped on a report that Spirit Airlines is preparing to shut down as its government rescue deal falls apart.
Estée Lauder soared after boosting guidance and planning deeper job cuts.
Twilio surged after raising its annual revenue growth forecast on AI demand.
Nebius soared amid its acquisition of Eigen AI, a startup focused on token efficiency.
Veeva jumped after being named to the S&P 500 index, replacing Coterra Energy.
Cboe rose on a Q1 revenue beat and plans to slash 20% of its workforce as part of a strategic realignment.
Versant Media ticked up on a Bloomberg report it plans to sell youth-sports app SportsEngine to PlayMetrics.

Stocks that moved lower:

Roblox cratered after yesterday’s earnings report, where management slashed full-year guidance and Q1 daily active users missed estimates.
Rivian sank despite delivering better-than-expected Q1 earnings and revenue after the bell yesterday.
Volkswagen, Mercedes-Benz, and Stellantis dropped following President Trump's announcement that tariffs on EU car and truck imports will increase to 25%.
Clorox tumbled after cutting full-year earnings guidance, citing a "challenging consumer and cost environment."
Boston Beer tumbled after drastically cutting earnings guidance due to litigation expenses.
Nio dipped as its EV sales declined 17% month-over-month in April.

Apple’s capital spending is heading the opposite direction of Big Tech

Apple is taking a different tack than Alphabet, Amazon, Meta, and Microsoft. Read more.

The dot-com dream of the 1990s is thriving in today’s market

Companies known for their dot-com glory days have been on fire, and they’ve taken a run even higher lately.

Read more.

The decentralized finance ecosystem had a brutal April, logging the highest monthly number of exploits ever at 28 hacks, with exploiters siphoning off a total of $635.2 million, data from DefiLlama shows. Read more.

Elon Musk’s companies more than doubled their spending on each other last year
And that’s before Tesla invested $2 billion in xAI, which it has since converted to a stake in SpaceX.
Meta pushes deeper into AI robots with acquisition
Meta, like Tesla and Amazon, wants to be a robotics company, too.
US jobless claims have sunk to the lowest level in more than 50 years
Fewer people are claiming unemployment benefits, as BLS data shows the US labor market hiring less and firing less.
SpaceX’s compensation plan for Musk is partially tied to creating a permanent human colony on Mars, America’s favorite planet
Americans’ favorite planet is Mars — Pluto was happy just to be in the running.
Tim Cook: Popular Mac mini and Mac Studio will be constrained for “several months”
Apple’s steady effort to optimize its hardware for AI is making the Mac mini and Mac Studio popular with OpenClaw users.
Apple’s iPhone is the top-selling smartphone in urban China
On Apple’s earnings call, CEO Tim Cook highlighted the iPhone’s performance in China.

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