DailyBrief: May 10
Stocks at records, Fed holds, oil tops 95, tariff ruling, AI capex surge
Markets & Economics
US Stocks Hit Fresh Records as April Jobs Report Tops Forecasts
US equities pushed to new highs at the end of last week, with the S&P 500 closing at 7,398.93 and the Nasdaq Composite at 26,247.08, both setting all time intraday records. The rally was fueled by a stronger than expected April employment report showing 115,000 jobs added and unemployment holding steady at 4.3 percent. The Dow Jones Industrial Average advanced more than 600 points on the session, and the major indexes have now strung together a sixth consecutive winning week. Strength was concentrated in semiconductors, with AMD up roughly 20 percent on the week and almost 90 percent over the past month on AI infrastructure demand. Source: CNBC
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Federal Reserve Holds Rates Steady as Inflation Outlook Worsens
The Federal Open Market Committee left the federal funds target range unchanged at 3.50 to 3.75 percent at its late April meeting, in a decision marked by four dissents, the most since October 1992. Headline PCE accelerated to 3.5 percent year over year in March from 2.8 percent in February, while core PCE rose to 3.2 percent, driven in large part by oil prices that have surged nearly 60 percent since the start of the Iran conflict. Bank of America economists no longer expect any rate cuts in 2026 and now see the Fed waiting until the second half of 2027 to ease policy. Fed presidents from Dallas, Cleveland, and Minneapolis publicly opposed including an easing bias in the latest statement. Source: Al Jazeera
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Oil Climbs Above 95 Dollars on Middle East Supply Fears
WTI crude rose above 95 dollars per barrel and Brent traded near 100 dollars on Friday as fresh clashes between US and Iranian forces threatened to derail diplomatic efforts to end the conflict. The International Energy Agency estimates the war is currently disrupting roughly 14 million barrels per day of global supply, an unprecedented level. Crude benchmarks are now up nearly 80 percent year to date, complicating central bank inflation fights and lifting summer gasoline prices in many US states ahead of the Memorial Day driving season. Source: Trading Economics
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US Trade Court Strikes Down Trump's 10 Percent Global Tariffs
A US Court of International Trade panel ruled in a 2 to 1 decision that President Trump's latest round of 10 percent global tariffs is invalid, siding with 24 states and a small group of importers who challenged the policy's legal basis. The order narrowly blocks the duties only for two private importers and the State of Washington while the appeal plays out, leaving the levies in place for all other importers. The Treasury opened a tariff refund portal this week, with checks expected to begin going out this summer if the ruling is upheld. The Chinese yuan, meanwhile, closed near a three year high ahead of an expected Trump Xi summit later this month. Source: The Washington Post
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Tech & AI
Nvidia's AI Equity Bets Top 40 Billion Dollars in 2026
Nvidia has now committed more than 40 billion dollars to equity investments in 2026, transforming itself into one of the most active strategic investors in the AI ecosystem. This past week alone the chipmaker reached an agreement to invest up to 2.1 billion dollars in data center operator IREN, one day after striking a deal allowing it to invest up to 3.2 billion dollars in optical fiber maker Corning. The moves come as Meta, Amazon, Microsoft, and Alphabet have collectively guided to roughly 725 billion dollars in 2026 capital expenditures, an increase of more than 75 percent year over year, almost entirely directed toward AI data centers, custom chips, GPUs, and frontier models. Source: CNBC
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Tech Layoffs Accelerate as Firms Restructure Around AI
Major technology companies announced fresh waves of job cuts this month as they continue to reorganize around AI driven workflows. Meta has confirmed plans to lay off roughly 8,000 employees in May, while Amazon has cut about 30,000 roles in recent months and Microsoft has offered voluntary buyouts to some 125,000 employees. The restructuring coincides with a notable shift in revenue leadership among model providers: Anthropic's annualized revenue run rate has reached 30 billion dollars, surpassing OpenAI's 24 billion dollars for the first time, according to recent disclosures. Source: Yahoo Finance
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