markets

4/22/25

A major US regional bank CEO recited a limerick from ChatGPT to explain the economic outlook on his earnings call

The arc of history is long, but it bends toward US bank CEOs trying their darnedest to be convince everyone they’re actually tech companies.

The latest amusing example: on Monday’s conference call following the release of earnings, Zions Bancorp Chairman and CEO Harris Simmons turned to generative AI to offer an economic outlook. It gave him a limerick.

Here’s the relevant excerpt from his opening remarks:

“I suspect that we’d all agree that prognostication about loan growth, unemployment, the path of interest rates, and other drivers of performance seems especially challenging at the present moment.
Consistent with our determination to build an AI-enabled culture, I asked ChatGPT for help in explaining the world we’re now living in. I got this:
Trump’s tariffs have caused quite a fuss,
With markets unsure who to trust.
Will prices ascend?
Will trade wars extend?
Or will growth just stall in the dust?
That actually seemed to explain the times we’re in pretty well, I thought.”

Zions, which was founded by Mormon leader Brigham Young and operates in the western US, is the 10th-biggest weight in the SPDR S&P Regional Banking ETF.

ChatGPT’s poetry failed to win over Wall Street, especially in the face of disappointing Q1 revenues and earnings for Zions. Shares fell after earnings and the company has seen its price target lowered by Wells Fargo, Baird, Stephens & Co, RBC, and Keefe Bruyette in the wake of its quarterly results. The stock was recently off 4.8% premarket.

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S&P 500 goes nowhere, Nasdaq 100 hits another record, small-caps tumble

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4h

Rocket lab soars to new record close amid rally for retail faves

Rocket Lab ripped by roughly 10% Friday to close at a new all-time high, riding an upturn of retail enthusiasm for a coterie of tech-themed favorites, even as the broader market was more or less flat on the day.

Goldman Sachs’ basket of “retail favorites” — its heaviest weights are Reddit, AppLovin, and Tempus AI — was the second-biggest gainer among the company’s flagship US equity baskets on Friday, rising about 1.6%. The S&P was almost dead flat.

It’s not Rocket Lab’s first retail rodeo, as the money-losing company has more than doubled this year and is up nearly 700% over the last 12 months.

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markets

7h

Six Flags pops after reiterating its guidance as theme park attendance rebounds

Six Flags shares rose more than 7% today after the company reported a rebound in attendance and early season pass sales heading into the fall. The nine-week period ended August 31 saw 17.8 million guests, up about 2% from the same stretch last year, with stronger momentum in the final four weeks.

More importantly, Six Flags reaffirmed its full-year adjusted EBITDA guidance of $860 million to $910 million, showing confidence that its cost and operations strategy can stay strong for the duration of the year. Riding that wave, Six Flags also said early 2026 season pass unit sales are pacing ahead of last year, and average season pass prices are up about 3%.

The good vibes come despite a drop in in-park per-capita spending, especially from admissions, where promotions and changes to attendance mix (which parks or days guests visit) have weighed. Earlier this week, the amusement giant signed a new agreement that extended its position as the exclusive amusement park partner for Peanuts™ in North America through 2030.

Despite the rally, Six Flags shares are down about 52% year to date.

markets

8h

Rivian turns red on the year, squeezed by a recall and the looming end of the EV tax credit

Shares of EV maker Rivian are down more than 5% on Friday following the company’s recall of 24,214 vehicles due to a software issue. The stock move erases Rivian’s year-to-date gain and turns the company negative on the year.

Rivian’s 2025 model year R1S and R1T are affected by the defect, which was identified after a vehicle’s hands-free highway assist software failed to identify another vehicle on the road, causing a low-speed collision. Rivian said it’s released an over-the-air update to fix the issue.

The recall marks Rivian’s fifth this year, affecting nearly 70,000 of its vehicles.

Rivian’s shares are down more than 20% from their 2025 high, which came prior to the passage of President Trump’s “big, beautiful bill.” Through the legislation, the $7,500 EV tax credit is set to expire at the end of the month.

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