``` Wall Street Insights Breakfast FM-Radio | May 2, 2026 ```

``` Wall Street Insights Breakfast FM-Radio | May 2, 2026 ```

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Huajian Morning Voice

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Market Overview

On Friday, the S&P 500 and Nasdaq both hit new highs for two consecutive days and rose for five straight weeks, marking their longest weekly winning streaks since October 2024. Trump said he was "not satisfied" with Iran's new proposal, and the Dow turned lower. After earnings, Apple rose more than 3%. Sandisk, which tumbled after Thursday's earnings, rebounded more than 8% on Friday; Western Digital, which fell 7% at the start, closed down 0.6%; software stocks Atlassian and Twilio rose nearly 30% and over 20% respectively. Oracle, which joined the Pentagon's AI project, surged 6.5%. Spirit Airlines, reportedly preparing to shut down, plunged 70% at one point and settled down 25%.

Iran negotiation news shook oil prices, and U.S. Treasury yields briefly fell sharply intraday.

The U.S. dollar index fell below 98 intraday, hitting a two-week low before a V-shaped reversal. The yen, which had bounced strongly, then turned lower but still marked its largest weekly gain in over two months. Offshore yuan climbed over 100 points, breaking above 6.83, before giving back most gains. Bitcoin surged intraday, approaching $79,000, up more than 3% from the day’s low.

After news of Iran’s negotiation proposal, oil accelerated its decline and hit a daily low, with U.S. crude falling below $100 and dropping over 5%, but still up for two consecutive weeks. Gold fell more than 1% intraday before rebounding as Iran negotiation news boosted both gold and silver.

Top News

Iran submitted a new negotiation proposal via a mediator. Trump said he was "not satisfied" and informed Congress that hostile actions against Iran were "over." Quick results from negotiations are unrealistic in the short term. Trump said the "goal is to force the abandonment of nuclear weapons development"; Iran's supreme leader "regards both nuclear and missile as national assets."

Trump: Will impose a 25% tariff next week on EU cars and trucks exported to the U.S.

U.S. April ISM manufacturing PMI continues expansion; Iran war pushes input prices to surge; employment index falls to a four-month low.

Three officials voted against the Fed’s April meeting decision: not appropriate to signal rate cuts as the next step.

U.S. listed companies may bid farewell to the 54-year-old quarterly earnings system. Proposal to switch to semi-annual financial reports passed White House review.

Before the 5.4 trillion yen intervention, Japan’s finance minister warned traders “not to part with their phones”; analysts believe yen intervention will become the “new normal.”

"Explosive earnings" become a "selling opportunity"; Sandisk and Western Digital shares plunged after Thursday’s earnings, then reversed Friday. Sandisk fell sharply after Thursday’s trading; Goldman Sachs significantly raised its target price, saying the stock will eventually rise.

AI boom exhausts inventory; Apple raised Mac Mini’s starting price by $200.

Resisting Trump’s pressure, two U.S. energy giants refused to increase oil output.

Market Summary

U.S. and European stock markets: S&P 500 rose 0.29% to 7,230.12, again setting a closing record high and up 0.91% for the week. Dow Jones fell 0.31% to 49,449.27, up 0.55% for the week. Nasdaq rose 0.89% to 25,114.443, marking consecutive closing highs and up 1.12% for the week, its fifth consecutive weekly gain. European STOXX 600 closed up 0.04% at 611.55, up 0.15% for the week.

A-shares were closed for the holiday.

Bond market: U.S. 10-year benchmark Treasury yield fell 0.08 basis points to 4.3698%, up 6.91 basis points for the week. U.S. 2-year Treasury yield rose 0.86 basis points to 3.8775%, up 9.92 basis points this week.

Commodities: Spot gold fell 0.04% to $4,616.35 per ounce, down 2.02% for the week. Spot silver rose 2.22% to $75.3804 per ounce, down 0.46% for the week. June WTI crude futures fell 2.98% to $101.94 per barrel, up 7.99% for the week. July Brent crude futures fell 2.02% to $108.17 per barrel, up 9.12% for the week.

 

 

Key News Details

Global Headlines

Iran submitted new negotiation proposal via mediator, Trump said "not satisfied" and informed Congress that actions against Iran are "over". Trump said Iran wants to reach an agreement, but he is not satisfied with the proposal. The White House informed Congress that the Iran war is essentially over, but Iran remains a serious threat to the U.S. U.S. officials say the largest U.S. carrier "Ford" has left the Middle East. The Treasury warned paying Hormuz Strait transit fees to Iran may result in sanctions. Shipping analysts: seven ships passed the Strait in the past day; U.S. military: the sea blockade shifted 45 commercial ships; UK Navy: the U.S.-Israel-Iran conflict dropped Strait shipping volume by more than 90%. Iranian Football Association president: whether the national team will go to the U.S. for the World Cup still needs coordination with FIFA.

Quick results unrealistic! Trump says "goal is to force the abandonment of nuclear weapons," Iran's supreme leader regards "nuclear, missile as national assets". Iran’s Foreign Ministry made it clear that expecting quick results from U.S.-Iran negotiations is unrealistic. The same day Iran’s supreme leader set both nuclear and missile technologies as "national assets," vowing to protect them, directly opposing Trump’s nonproliferation stance. Meanwhile, satellite images show Iranian oil storage facilities near full, forced to use retired tankers for storage. Energy agencies estimate all storage will hit capacity within 12 to 22 days.

Trump: Will impose a 25% tariff on EU cars and trucks imported to the U.S. next week. Trump said, as the EU did not fulfill a trade deal with the U.S., a 25% tariff will be imposed on EU cars and trucks next week. Firms setting up factories in the U.S. will be exempt. EU Parliament International Trade Committee Chairman Lange said Trump's move was "unacceptable" and criticized the U.S. for "repeatedly breaching agreements."

U.S. April ISM manufacturing PMI continues expansion; Iran war drives input price surge. U.S. April ISM manufacturing PMI was 52.7, expected 53.2, previous 52.7. Input price index rose for the fourth straight month to 84.6, a four-year high, expected 80, previous 78.3. Employment index at 46.4, expected 48.8, falling to a four-month low.

Fed April meeting dissent from three officials: Not appropriate to signal rate cuts. On Friday, Minneapolis Fed President Kashkari, Dallas Fed President Logan, and Cleveland Fed President Harker issued statements explaining their dissent at the April FOMC meeting, agreeing with keeping rates unchanged but objecting to the language that signals future rate cuts.

U.S. listed companies may bid farewell to the 54-year quarterly earnings system; semi-annual reports proposal passes White House review. The SEC's plan to allow listed companies to reduce quarterly disclosure to twice a year advanced further after White House review. The review completed earlier this week allows the SEC to officially publish the proposal and seek public comments. After feedback, the committee usually votes months later for the final rule.

Japan's finance minister warned traders "keep your phones on you" before $54 trillion yen intervention; intervention may become new normal? Data shows Japan may have recently spent about 5.4 trillion yen ($34.5 billion) to intervene in forex markets, the largest since July 2024. Finance Minister Katayama warned traders to "keep their phones on," and it came true. Analysts now expect yen intervention will become the new normal.

"Explosive earnings" become a "selling opportunity"; Sandisk and Western Digital shares plunged after Thursday’s earnings and reversed Friday. Sandisk revenue surged 97% year-over-year; its datacenter business tripled in one quarter. Western Digital revenue rose 45% y/y; both companies’ guidance beat expectations, yet their shares dropped 6% and 8% after Thursday’s results. Analysts said after Western Digital rose about 900% in one year and Sandisk surged 3300% since listing, solid results were priced in and guidance lacked enough surprise, triggering profit-taking. By Friday’s close, Sandisk reversed and rose over 8% to a new high, while Western Digital closed down only about 0.7%.

AI boom exhausts inventory, Apple raises Mac Mini starting price by $200. Apple raised the Mac mini desktop starting price from $599 to $799 to cope with AI-driven inventory shortage and processor supply strain. The price hike is by removing the entry-level configuration—equipped with M4 chip and 256GB storage. The current base model still uses the same chip but upgrades storage to 512GB. The M4 Pro version's starting price remains at $1,399.

Resisting Trump’s pressure, two U.S. oil giants refuse to increase output. Facing $126 oil and an energy crisis, ExxonMobil and Chevron strongly resisted White House pressure to increase production. Both firms refuse to make short-term concessions, insisting on "free cash flow over capacity expansion" as their strategic bottom line. Despite Q1 profits being dragged by hedging losses, they are running refineries at record rates, capitalizing on high refining margins and maximizing returns amid market volatility.

Research Highlights

Google and Caterpillar are the "big winners"; AI and earnings overpower war, U.S. stocks had the strongest April since 2020. U.S. stocks ended April strongly, with the S&P 500 up 10% for the month, the best since November 2020. Alphabet’s earnings wowed, shares jumped nearly 10% in one day. Caterpillar benefited from AI datacenter electricity demand, rising over 9%. Despite geopolitical tensions, surging inflation, and delayed Fed rate cut expectations, sentiment was dominated by corporate profits and the AI narrative.

Tech giants' earnings revelations. Google Cloud’s order backlog surged $219 billion in one quarter, nearly doubled, TPU launches new chip business; AWS backlog exceeded expectations, rising $120 billion. The three major cloud providers’ combined quarter-end backlog broke $1.5 trillion. Morgan Stanley believes hyperscale cloud revenue acceleration is becoming the most important validation for generative AI investment returns (ROIC) this year.

Google's "historic biggest gain", Nvidia fell instead! Goldman’s senior semiconductor analyst advises "go long cloud, reduce chips". Goldman analysts said chip stock valuations are high while cloud giants are undervalued versus historical averages, implying room for recovery. Whether cloud giants see improved returns or cut capital spending, cloud computing can benefit, while chip stocks may face downside risk.

By 2027, AI capital spending may reach $1 trillion? Bank of America raised its 2026 global cloud capital expenditure forecast to over $800 billion (up 67% YoY), possible to break $1 trillion in 2027. Microsoft's CapEx guidance beat expectations by $24 billion, $25 billion sourced from component price hikes, highlighting AI chip suppliers' pricing power. Computing supply is limited all year, demand supported by customer commitments, so the AI semiconductor sector is likely to stay strong.

JP Morgan: September is the limit, then oil inventories run dry, Hormuz must reopen "no matter what". JPMorgan warns the global oil inventory "abundance" is an illusion—of 8.4 billion barrels total, about 6.6 billion are stored on land, 1.8 billion at sea, but only ~800 million are truly available, with nearly 280 million already used up. If Hormuz remains blocked, oil stocks will hit operational minimums by September, risking systemic failure in global oil flows. Before September, the strait "will reopen no matter what."

Overseas Companies

Apple earnings call: guidance beats expectations, storage will drag margins from Q3, $100 billion buyback added. Apple CEO Cook announced he will step down in September: "There's no one on this planet I trust more than John Ternes." Cook warned "storage costs will increasingly impact Q3 margins" and was "inexpressibly excited" about the Indian market. CFO said Apple will drop its longstanding "net cash neutral" goal and add a $100 billion buyback.

Sandisk earnings call: $42 billion long-term contract secured, high margins sustainable, "industry turning point, can hardly think of any losers!" Sandisk said it has signed five multi-year supply agreements, minimum contract revenue about $42 billion, financial guarantees over $11 billion, covering over one-third of FY2027 shipments. The company also announced a $6 billion buyback plan. "I can hardly think of any losers," said the CEO, as Sandisk shifts NAND from cyclical to recurring-revenue models at a key industry turning point. With a margin of 78.4%, Sandisk says margins remain sustainable.

Western Digital earnings call: storage demand "stepped up", CAGR will exceed 25%, order visibility extends to 2029. WD CEO said AI computing is structurally shifting to inference and agents, "every token and prompt" creates non-recyclable persistent data, forming a "cycle where inference creates data, agents generate more data." Long-term storage CAGR will exceed 25%. WD order visibility now extends to 2029. 40TB EPMR drives will enter mass production in late 2026; HAMR certification is ahead of schedule.

Too dramatic! Musk vs. OpenAI in court, Silicon Valley billionaires aired dirty laundry like a village quarrel. The epic trial between Musk and Altman was explosive: Musk admitted xAI distilled OpenAI models, paid only 4% of promised $38 million, had six emotional outbursts during three days’ testimony. Brockman’s diaries exposed; mission talk on the lips, money counts in the hands, brotherhood turned real. Next week, Altman takes the witness stand, and Nadella plus other key players will appear—a lot more drama to come.

AI chip maker Cerebras eyes $4 billion IPO, target valuation ~$40 billion. Media reports say with surging demand for AI chipmakers and datacenter stocks, California-based Cerebras Systems may raise up to $4 billion from a U.S. IPO, already attracting over $10 billion in commitments. The company's target valuation is about $40 billion, and plans to officially market the IPO as early as next Monday.

Middle East shocks drive up costs, fast-moving consumer giant Unilever to raise prices. Unilever announced price hikes for certain products. The company expects full-year cost inflation to reach 750–900 million euros, up to 500 million above initial forecast. CFO said to "raise prices in multiple small steps"; if inflation persists, the increase may reach 2%–3%. The hikes mainly affect household products, focusing on Asia, Africa, and Latin America, to roll out in the second half.

Retail favorite stock has a new explosion, GME plans "swallowing the snake" acquisition of eBay, CEO targets $100 billion valuation. Media citing sources said GameStop is preparing a bid to acquire eBay, part of CEO Ryan Cohen's ambitious plan to turn GME into a $100+ billion retail giant. eBay is several times bigger than GameStop. eBay shares surged over 10% after hours Friday; GameStop also rose about 5%.

Today's News Preview

Post-Buffett era: Berkshire's first shareholder meeting.

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Risk Warning and DisclaimerMarkets involve risks. Investment requires caution. This article does not constitute personal investment advice and does not consider the individual investment objectives, financial situation, or needs of users. Users should consider whether any opinions, views, or conclusions in this article are suitable for their specific situation. Investments made accordingly are at your own risk. ```