Early Look

Wednesday, May 28, 2025

U.S. futures are little changed overnight, with S&P futures (Spuz) holding in a roughly 20-point range (5,941.75 high and 5,918.50 low) coming on the heels of a very strong trading day on Tuesday. Wall Street returned back from the 3-day Memorial Day holiday in a buying mood, as stocks, bonds, the dollar and crypto all advanced nicely (though gold and crude oil fell) after President Trump backed away from his 50% tariff threat against the European Union, delaying its implementation until July 9 to allow for negotiations between the White House and the 27-nation bloc after speaking with European Commission (EC) President Ursula von der Leyen. All eleven S&P sectors closed higher on Tuesday, while sub sectors like semiconductors (SOX) jumped over 3.35% to move back above their key 200dma resistance of 4,861 ahead of NVDA results which are expected later Wednesday. NVDA results will likely be a key catalyst to extend the recent AI/tech related gain since April or raise fears going forward. Major averages remain not far from record highs; the SPX finished Tuesday 3.62% from its February 19 record close, the Nasdaq composite finished -4.83% from its December 16 record and the Dow is -5.93% from its Dec 4 record. In Asian markets overnight, The Nikkei Index was little changed at 37,722, the Shanghai Index also little changed at 3,339 while the Hang Seng Index declined -123 points to 23,258. In Europe, the German DAX is down -17 points to 24,208, while the FTSE 100 is down about -10 points to 8,766. Bitcoin prices dip, edging below $109,000, while the dollar is flat and gold higher.

• The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 740.58 points, or 1.78%, to 42,343,65
• The Nasdaq Composite surged 461.96 points, or 2.47%, to 19,199.16
• The Russell 2000 Index advanced 50.55 points, or 2.48% to 2,090.40

• 10:00 AM ET                Richmond Fed Index for May
• 1:00 PM ET U.S. Treasury to sell $70B in 5-year notes
• 4:30 PM ET API Weekly Inventory Data

• Earnings After the Close: A AI CMCO CRM ELF HPQ NCNO NDSN NOAH NTNX NVDA OOMA PHR PSTG S SNPS UHAL VEEV

• Bitcoin Conference, 5/27-5/29, in Las Vegas, NV
• Craig Hallum 22nd Annual Institutional Investor Conference, 5/27-5/28, in Minneapolis, MN
• Deutsche Bank 15th Annual Global Financial Services Conference, 5/27-5/29 in New York
• Goldman Sachs 10th Annual Leveraged Finance and Credit Conference, 5/28-5/29, in CA
• Jefferies Technology Conference, 5/28-5/29
• TD Cowen, Technology, Media & Telecom Conference, 5/28-5/29
• Wells Fargo Semis Bus Tour, 5/27-5/29

• OPEC+ will meet online on Wednesday to review production quotas for this year and next, before eight key members decide at the weekend whether to bolster output again in July.
• Demand at an auction of 40-year Japanese government bonds on Wednesday fell to the lowest since July, amid a selloff in so-called super-long debt this month. Japan’s Ministry of Finance sold about 500 billion yen ($3.46 billion) of the bonds at Wednesday’s auction, but its bid-to-cover ratio sank to 2.2 from 2.9 at the March sale.
• Australia’s CPI indicator inflation rate continued to flatline near the middle of the RBA’s 2-3% target band in April, printing at 2.4% YoY for the third straight month

• Brazilian airline Azul (AZUL) filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the United States, despite months of efforts to restructure mostly pandemic-era debt.
• Nissan (NSANY) has started offering buyouts to U.S. workers and has suspended merit-based wage increases worldwide, internal emails reviewed by Reuters showed, as the automaker expands cost cuts amid weak performance in key markets.
• Vail Resorts (MTN) announces leadership transition as Rob Katz appointed CEO of Vail Resorts while Kirsten Lynch steps down; reaffirms fiscal 2025 guidance.
• Viking Holdings Ltd (VIK) files for stock shelf; size not disclosed; says in addition, selling shareholders may sell ordinary shares from time to time.

• CenterPoint Energy Inc (CNP) announces $800M common stock offering.
• Heico (HEI) Q2 EPS $1.12 vs est. $1.03 on sales $1.098B vs est. $1.061B
• Honeywell (HON) is expected to appoint Marc Steinberg, a partner at activist Elliott Investment Management, to its board later on Wednesday, the Wall Street Journal reported. Steinberg’s role would be effective at the end of the month, the report said, citing people familiar with the matter.
• Joby Aviation (JOBY) closed on the first $250M payment of its previously disclosed partnership with Toyota Motor (TM). The payment comes after Toyota said in October that it would invest an additional $500M to support the certification and commercial production of Joby’s electric air taxi as it seeks to boost air mobility.
• Rocket Lab (RKLB) said it will acquire Parent Holding Co of Geost From Lightridge Solutions for $275M; deal has a mix of $125M of cash and $150M in privately placed share plus up to $50M in potential earnout payments; acquisition marks entry into satellite payload segment.
• SpaceX suffered another setback on Tuesday when its Starship rocket reached space but failed to deploy its payload and part of the vehicle.

• TeraWulf Inc. (WULF) announced the acquisition of 100% of the membership interests of Beowulf Electricity & Data LLC and its affiliates for total consideration for the transaction is approximately $52.4M, consisting of $3M in cash and 5M shares of TeraWulf common stock issued at closing.
• Travelers Companies, Inc. (TRV) said it has signed a definitive agreement to sell the personal insurance business and the majority of the commercial insurance business of Travelers Canada to Definity Financial Corporation for approximately $2.4 billion.

• Evolus (EOLS) announces the departure of its Chief Financial Officer.
• Veru (VERU) said it reported positive safety results from phase 2b quality study: Enobosarm added to semaglutide led to greater fat loss, preservation of muscle, and fewer gastrointestinal side effects compared to semaglutide alone; trial met its prespecified primary endpoint.

• Motorola Solutions (MSI) announced it acquired Silvus Technologies, a global leader in mission-critical mobile ad-hoc networks in a deal valued at $4.4B in up-front consideration.
• Okta Inc. (OKTA) shares fell on lower rev guidance; Q1 adj EPS $0.86 vs est. $0.77 on revs $688Mm vs est. $680.3Mm; sees Q2 adj EPS $0.83-0.84 vs est. $0.79 and revs $710-712Mm vs est. $708.82Mm; sees FY adj EPS $3.23-3.28 vs est. $3.20 and revs $2.85-2.86B vs est. $2.862B.
• Semtech (SMTC) Q1 adj EPS $0.38, vs. est. $0.37; Q1 revs $251.1M vs. est. $250.09M; guides Q2 adj EPS $0.40 plus/minus $0.03 on sales $251M-$261M vs. est. $0.39 and $255.55M.
• Zscaler (ZS) announced it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Red Canary. The acquisition is subject to customary closing conditions, including regulatory approvals, and is expected to close in August 2025.