Boeing Makes Trade Trip Worth it for Middle East, Trump

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📰 Market Headlines

Markets whipsawed Wednesday with tech stocks continuing their rally and chipmakers leading the charge.

The S&P 500 climbed about 0.1%, the Nasdaq gained 0.7%, while the Dow fell 0.2%.
Nvidia rose more than 4%, Alphabet ticked up over 3%, and shares of Super Micro Computer soared 15%.

Boeing landed a huge $96 billion deal. Qatar Airways placed a massive order for up to 210 Boeing planes. The announcement of the deal has some onlookers suspicious of Qatar’s $400 million “flying palace” 747 gift to Trump as a form of bribery. Boeing’s stock is up 31% this month, surging in response to China removing its airplane ban along with two big international deals in one week. Many think Boeing had some of the Qatar deal lined up beforehand and just waited to announce it during Trump’s visit.

Sanctions dropped, fireworks in Damascus. President Trump met with interim Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa, formerly a designated terrorist with a $10 million US bounty. President Trump announced the removal of decades-old sanctions on Syria during the visit, prompting fireworks in Syrian cities and a 27% surge in the Syrian Lira.

SALT cap standoff threatens Trump’s tax package. GOP tax fight over state and local tax (SALT) caps threatens President Trump's bill, as House Republicans proposed increasing state and local tax deductions from $10,000 to $30,000. The “SALT caucus” of GOP lawmakers demanded higher caps, with Rep. Nick LaLota warning, “I'm going to vote 'no' on the bill, and the bill likely won't pass.”

😱 Fear and Greed Index

🧠 Make yourself heard

Where will SALT deductions end up?

No change: $10,000

The bill will pass: $30,000

The rumored $40,000

Rep. Kim's $62,000

⚔️ Trade Wars

Trump said he doesn’t want Apple to manufacture in India, saying he “had a little problem with Tim Cook yesterday.”
However, India has reportedly made a trade deal offer to the US with zero tariffs on incoming American goods.
Toymaker VTech plans to shift all US-bound production from China by the end of next year, moving operations to Malaysia, Mexico, and Germany.
Nissan considered moving Sentra production from Mexico to its underutilized Mississippi factory to avoid tariffs.
Potential AI chip export controls from the US under President Donald Trump sent Korean chipmakers weighing both risks and opportunities.

🥇 AltIndex Top Stock Pick

AltIndex’s AI-driven stock analysis gave Bumble a sell signal on May 13th with a target price of $4.93. Shares are still around $6 as of writing.

Key reasons for the sell signal included:

Lower revenue YoY
Long-term decrease in job listings
Lower employee sentiment
Lower social media following
Less web traffic & app downloads
Decreasing follower count across socials

Always do your own research.

📊 Alternative Investing News

Private credit rallied as the booming $1.6 trillion asset class notched significant wins despite underlying concerns.
A Blackstone-led joint venture sold $395 million of commercial real estate loans tied to New York area properties to Bayview Asset Management.

🤖 AI/Future/Tech News

Databricks is acquiring Neon, a database startup, for $1 billion in a move toward making better, faster AI agents.
Waymo recalled 1,200 robotaxis after a software flaw caused repeated gate collisions.
President Trump dismantled Biden-era AI chip export rules, replacing them with bilateral agreements.
The Commerce Department barred global use of Huawei’s Ascend chips, warning that violations of export laws could apply anywhere.
OpenAI unveiled its Safety Evaluations Hub to share test results on jailbreaks, hallucinations, and harmful content.

🪙 Crypto

Summer Mersinger plans to vacate her CFTC seat to become CEO of the Blockchain Association.
All three leading candidates in South Korea’s presidential race pledged to legalize spot Bitcoin ETFs.

💡 Ideas, trends, and analysis

The Supreme Court will hear arguments for and against the ability of federal judges to block nationwide presidential policies this week.
Electricity prices have climbed 13% since 2022.
Apollo Global’s chief economist cut recession odds to 30% after the US and China paused their tariff escalation.

🌍 International Markets

🇩🇪 German inflation eased to 2.2% in April, down from 2.3% in March.
🇨🇦 Canada’s government announced a middle-class tax cut that will cut the lowest income tax rate from 15% to 14% starting July 1.
🇬🇧 UK GDP grew 0.6% in Q1, lifted by strong winter spending and pre-tariff trade activity.
🇫🇷 France’s Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot urged tougher EU sanctions on Russia.

🎤 What you said last time

What you had to say about it:

“Recession is in the slow cooker. But rest assured (or don’t), it will be served. Layoffs are coming fast and hard.”

🚚 Market movers

Dick’s Sporting Goods is buying Foot Locker for $2.4B, causing the footwear retailer’s stock to rise 82%.
Uber announced it will launch “Route Share” in seven major US cities, offering 50% off UberX prices for fixed-route shuttles during commute hours.
Toyota confirmed its all-electric C-HR crossover is coming to the US in 2026.
Wells Fargo axed 159 jobs at its West Des Moines campus.

📊 Earnings this week

Sony reported an 18% rise in annual profit on strong gaming and music performance; shares finished 1.39% higher.
Tencent beat Q1 estimates with 13% revenue growth, driven by AI-powered gaming and advertising, so shares rose 3.46%.
CoreWeave delivered 420% revenue growth in its first earnings since IPO, and shares jumped 6.64%.
Jack in the Box posted a steep loss per share due to a goodwill impairment at Del Taco; shares fell 1.53%.

🧠 Miscellanea

Purdue students built a robot that solved a Rubik’s cube in 0.103 seconds.
A five-year-old from Wales named Max Evans-Browning drew 99 animals on a giant birthday card for Sir David Attenborough’s 99th.
A Canadian fossil dig turned up a three-eyed sea moth with toothy jaws and gill-lined abs.