Nvidia Overtakes Apple as World’s Second Most Valuable Company
Nvidia’s market capitalization surged past $3 trillion on Wednesday, overtaking Apple (NASDAQ
) as the world’s second most valuable company. The surge is driven by high demand for Nvidia’s AI-optimized chips, which have become crucial for businesses integrating artificial intelligence technology. Nvidia recently unveiled its new “Rubin” chip and reported another strong earnings quarter in May, with a 262% increase in revenue and a 10-for-one stock split set to take effect on June 7. Meanwhile, Apple is expected to reveal more about its AI initiatives at its upcoming developers conference.
Lululemon Shares Jump After Strong Earnings Report
Shares of Lululemon Athletica rose more than 9% in extended hours trading after the premium athletic apparel retailer posted first-quarter profits and sales that exceeded expectations. The company reported quarterly per-share income of $2.54, beating Wall Street forecasts of $2.38, and net revenue of $2.21 billion, surpassing projections of $2.19 billion. Lululemon also raised its guidance for annual earnings per share and maintained its full-year net revenue outlook. Significant growth in mainland China, where same-store sales increased by 33%, helped offset flat sales in the Americas. Additionally, Lululemon approved a $1 billion increase to its stock buyback program.
ECB Expected to Cut Interest Rates
The European Central Bank (ECB) is widely expected to cut interest rates from record high levels at its meeting on Thursday. Signs that inflation in the euro zone is easing toward the ECB’s 2% target have increased expectations for a rate cut. ECB President Christine Lagarde has indicated that price pressures are “under control,” particularly as the impact of the energy crisis and supply chain constraints diminishes. Investors anticipate that the ECB will reduce its benchmark deposit rate, currently at 4%, by a quarter percentage point, although there remains uncertainty regarding future rate cuts.
Crude Prices Volatile Amid Mixed Signals
Crude prices were volatile on Thursday, boosted by overall positive sentiment but still on track for significant weekly losses. Both contracts are heading for weekly declines of around 4%, affected by OPEC+’s decision to allow for the gradual unwinding of voluntary output cuts starting in October. The crude market was also impacted by news that U.S. crude stocks increased by 1.2 million barrels in the week ending May 31, contrary to expectations of a 2.3 million barrel draw, according to data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
U.S. Challenger reported announced job cuts declined -0.973k in May to 63.8K, after already falling -25.5k in April to 64.8k. Planned layoffs were down -20.3% y/y last month, after a -3.3% y/y drop in the previous month. At the same time, hiring announcements declined -5.5K to 4.2K in May, after falling -11.3K in April.
$WMT- Oppenheimer analyst Rupesh Parikh raised the firm’s price target on Walmart to $75 from $69 and keeps an Outperform rating on the shares. The firm notes Walmart shares are now up 27% year-to-date, outperforming a gain of 11% in the S&P 500. Oppenheimer expects a multi-year profit boom to continue driven by strong management execution, momentum in Walmart’s core geographies, and further scaling of higher margin alternative revenue streams. In Q1, successful execution of these efforts was on display with sales growth of 6% and operating income growth of 14%. From here, the firm expects beat-and-raises to continue and believes Walmart’s premium valuation can hold.
$AAPL- BofA analyst Wamsi Mohan notes that Apple App Store revenues in fiscal Q3 after 66 days is reported to have increased to $5.4B, or 11% year-over-year, according to data on developer revenues from SensorTower. For the month of May, SensorTower says App store revenue increased 12% year-over-year globally and increased 10% year-over-year in China, added the analyst, who maintains a $230 price target and Buy rating on Apple shares.Apple’s caution and secrecy has hindered its early efforts in AI, making the company now in the position to have to take risks to catch up, Aaron Tilley of The Wall Street Journal reports, citing people familiar with the matter. The company is set to announce many generative AI upgrades to its software products, including Siri, people familiar with the plans said.
$MSFT- The Federal Trade Commission, FTC, is investigating if Microsoft structured one of its deals with an AI startup to avoid a government antitrust review of the transaction, Dave Michaels and Tom Dotan of The Wall Street Journal reports. In March, Microsoft hired Inflection AI’s co-founder, almost all of its employees, and agreed to pay the startup around $650M as part of a licensing fee to resell its technology. The FTC is focusing down on Microsoft’s deal with Inflection, seeking information on how and why they negotiated their partnership, according to a person familiar with the matter and records reviewed by the Journal.
Congrats on the OP alert play paying yesterday. I’m eyeing the next set up and will alert accordingly when it’s ready! I’ll be eyeing NVDA puts for a scalp as it is extremely overbought.
Stay informed and adjust your trading strategies accordingly with the latest market insights from OptionsPlayers.com.
Keep Stacking,
OptionsPlayers Team
Responses