Adobe Systems CEO Shantanu Narayen speaks during a Diwali celebration in the Oval Office, October 21, 2025 (Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/Getty Images)

Adobe sinks as CEO departs after 18 years at the helm, overshadowing solid Q1 results

ARR exited the quarter up 10.9% from this time last year, a slight slowdown that might compound AI concerns.

Claire Yubin Oh

3/13/26 6:44AM

Adobe is down 9% in premarket trading on Friday after the company announced that longtime CEO Shantanu Narayen will be stepping down after 18 years at the helm of the design giant.

The company reported an otherwise solid set of results for its fiscal first quarter, though its slowing growth on annual recurring revenue may compound concerns on Wall Street that AI will be a long-term headwind to growth.

Per Adobe’s press release, Narayen will leave the top job after a successor has been appointed, and will remain as chair of the board. Under his leadership, Adobe successfully transitioned from a legacy software player selling one-time licenses to a subscription giant, which its stock jumping more than sixfold, beating the S&P 500’s 350% rise over the same period.

Despite continued concerns about the impact of AI disruption on software stocks like Adobe, the company reported a solid set of results for the quarter ended February 27, 2026, with:

A record revenue of $6.4 billion, topping Wall Street’s consensus estimate of $6.28 billion (compiled by Bloomberg).
Adjusted earnings per share of $6.06, vs. analyst forecasts for $5.88.

In Q2, Adobe expects:

Total revenue in the range of $6.43 billion to $6.48 billion, vs. analyst expectations of $6.45 billion.
Adjusted EPS between $5.80 and $5.85, beating Wall Street estimates of $5.77.

Adobe’s annualized recurring revenue exited the quarter at a run rate of $26.06 billion, a 10.9% year-over-year uptick. That’s a slowdown from the 13.5% growth in the previous quarter. Before the earnings release, RBC Capital Markets analyst Matthew Swanson wrote in a note to clients, “We continue to believe that ARR re-acceleration remains the focus for investors to get more constructive.”

Max Knoblauch44m

Trump says he’s called off impending strikes on Iran, sending stocks higher and oil plunging

President Trump on Thursday afternoon said he is calling off upcoming planned strikes on Iran. In a Truth Social post, Trump said “discussions with the Islamic Republic of Iran have been brought to the highest level of Iranian leadership and approved.”

Stocks broadly popped, with the S&P 500 moving from roughly flat to up 1.4% on the day, and oil plunged on the news.

“Discussions and final points have been, in both concept and great detail, approved by all parties involved, including the United States, Israel, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Qatar, Turkey, Pakistan, Bahrain, Kuwait, Jordan, Egypt, and others. The Naval Blockade will remain in full force and effect until this Transaction is finalized — Time and place of the signing to be announced shortly,” the President added.

West Texas Intermediate crude futures are down 3% on Thursday afternoon, dropping sharply following the post.

Oil-sensitive stocks reacted accordingly, with airlines including Delta Air Lines, American Airlines, United Airlines, Southwest Airlines, JetBlue, Alaska Air, and Frontier all climbing significantly. Carnival, Norwegian, and Royal Caribbean similarly jumped.

Freight companies including UPS, FedEx, XPO, and Old Dominion Freight were also up on oil’s movement.

Oil-adjacent companies including Exxon, ConocoPhillips, and Occidental Petroleum dipped.

Saleah Blancaflor4h

US gas prices drop for the third week in a row to an average of $4.12

As we approach mid-June, the national average of US gas prices has been dropping for three weeks in a row, giving some relief to drivers traveling during a busy summer season. Since May 21, prices have fallen from $4.56 a gallon and are currently at $4.12 due to crude oil prices staying below $100 per barrel, according to the American Automobile Association.

US gas prices have a tendency to peak during this time of the year, and the uncertainty associated with the Strait of Hormuz has made them more volatile and unpredictable. While gas prices have remained around four-year highs, they’re still far from when they reached their highest, at $5 per gallon in June 2022.

GasBuddy’s Patrick De Haan posted on Wednesday that motorists today will be spending approximately $137 million less on gas than they did a month ago, but $385 million more than a year ago.

(Event contracts are offered through Robinhood Derivatives, LLC — probabilities referenced or sourced from KalshiEx LLC or ForecastEx LLC.)

Prediction markets show traders currently pricing in an 81% chance that US gas prices will drop below $3.80 this year.

Pump Prices Fall for Third Straight Week

GasBuddy’s Patrick De Haan posted on Wednesday that motorists today will be spending approximately $137 million less on gas than they did a month ago, but $385 million more than a year ago.

(Event contracts are offered through Robinhood Derivatives, LLC — probabilities referenced or sourced from KalshiEx LLC or ForecastEx LLC.)

Prediction markets show traders currently pricing in an 81% chance that US gas prices will drop below $3.80 this year.

Helena Cheng4h

Intel soars on double rating upgrade from BofA on CPU growth

Intel shares are surging following a double rating upgrade from Bank of America, which flipped its stance on the company from bearish to bullish.

Bank of America raised its rating on Intel to “buy” from “underperform,” boosting its 12-month price target to $135 a share from $96.

Shares of Intel rose 5.2% in recent trading, bringing the stock’s gains thus far in 2026 to more than 200%.

Analyst Vivek Arya noted “higher confidence in INTC’s opportunity to help address industry constraints in leading edge wafers/packaging” and its ability to capture a “much larger” agentic CPU market.

Bank of America heavily increased its estimate for the global server CPU total addressable market (TAM), predicting it will skyrocket to more than $170 billion by 2030. Analysts highlighted the rise of agentic AI as a critical tailwind that will require a massive volume of traditional x86 server chips.

Beyond standard chip architecture design, the report also shows confidence in Intel’s customized manufacturing services. BofA analysts now project that its server CPU revenue could top $40 billion by the end of the decade.

Momentum was built around Intel Foundry services as surging global AI demand continuously outpaces capacity. Just last week, Google reportedly placed an order with Intel to manufacture more than 3 million of its increasingly popular tensor processing unit chips in 2028. According to the report, Nvidia is also testing to see if Intel could manufacture its next-gen Feynman chips.

Max Knoblauch5h

Chinese EV makers sink to 52-week lows as regulators warn about price war

Several US-listed ADRs of major Chinese EV makers are trading at fresh lows, following reports of domestic sales continuing to stagnate and Chinese regulators warning the companies about their price war.

XPeng, BYD, and Li Auto each hit 52-week lows on Thursday morning.

According to CnEVPost, Chinese regulators summoned automakers suspected of taking part in “irrational” competition on Thursday, warning them to comply with price laws and regulations. China has struggled to crack down on a downward pricing trend among automakers jostling for market share for the better part of a year.

Earlier this week, BYD and Nio were added to the Pentagon’s “Chinese Military Companies” list. Both automakers refuted the designation and left legal action on the table. Nio appears to be seeing a modest stock price boost from the rollout of an update to its Onvo-branded L60 SUV.

Chinese regulators summon automakers over suspected 'irrational competition'

Helena Cheng

e-Commerce Convo

China e-commerce stocks sink as Beijing cracks down on “618” discount wars

China’s online retailers are experiencing a market drop after Beijing regulators cracked down on “618” promotional practices for what it called misleading advertising and unclear promotion rules.

Express Delivery Enterprises Gear Up For '618' Shopping Festival In Lianyungang