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Weird Money

Welcome to the era of stock-picking AI chatbots

An Israeli startup just received approval for a chatbot that will pick stocks. Would you take its advice?

Jack Raines

If you ask ChatGPT, “Which stocks should I buy,” the chatbot will reply with something like “I'm unable to provide specific stock recommendations as I'm not a licensed financial advisor.” (This is a verbatim response from my ChatGPT, I’m guessing you’ll receive something similar).

However, a Tel-Aviv-based startup just received approval from the Israel Securities Authority to release a chatbot designed to answer this very question, and later this month, users will be able to solicit the hottest stock picks from their digital aid. From Bloomberg:

Tel Aviv-based Bridgewise has been given the green light by the Israel Securities Authority (ISA) to release a chatbot called Bridget later this month that can offer recommendations for which stocks to buy and sell in response to user queries. The startup is working with one of the country’s largest banks, Israel Discount Bank, to roll out the product…

A spokesperson for the Israeli regulator said the approval came with restrictions. The tool cannot include advice “that is specific to the user,” for example, or have a conversation that appears to be “personal advice.”

When testing the chatbot, its responses included a disclaimer about the service’s limitations. “The information is not tailored to you specifically and is not a substitute for personal investment advice,” the disclaimer said.

I love everything about this. First, the point that Bridget can provide stock picks, but it can’t include advice “that is specific to the user” is just great. If something is considered a good stock pick for one person, wouldn’t that make it a good stock pick for everyone? If Bridget tells me that Cloudflare is a good investment for XYZ reason, wouldn’t that same reason apply to any other investor? If it’s a good investment, it’s a good investment. Period.

This disclaimer reminds me of when I see folks promoting different stock picks on X or Substack, before including a parenthetical phrase that says, “Not financial advice!” Like, that’s great, but it’s not actually a legal defense. I imagine that we’re around two months away from a headline that says “Investor sues Bridgewise after stock pick recommendation drops 20% in one week.”

That being said, I do think a stock picking tool like this, if its recommendations aren’t taken at face value, will be a valuable tool for investors that expedites research. According to the Bloomberg report, Bridget provides reasons for its buy and sell recommendations, allowing investors to more quickly find relevant data on different companies from which they can draw their own conclusions.

I will be interested to check back in a couple of years and see how a fully Bridget-recommended portfolio performs compared to the S&P 500.

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West Texas Intermediate crude futures were down about 16% as of 7:00 a.m. ET. Airlines, which have been pounded by higher jet fuel costs for more than a month now, moved in the opposite direction. Delta Air Lines, United Airlines, and American Airlines were up more than 10% in premarket trading. Southwest Airlines and JetBlue also rose by high single digits. Three major US airlines (JetBlue, United, and Delta) raised baggage fees in recent days as fuel costs climbed.

Cruise stocks also rallied, with Carnival, Norwegian Cruise Line, and Royal Caribbean all up more than 7%.

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Delta Air Lines reported its first-quarter results before markets opened on Wednesday. The carrier’s shares surged 12% in premarket trading.

Delta, which as of today will charge passengers $10 more per checked bag, reported:

  • Adjusted earnings of $0.64 per share, compared to $0.58 per share expected by analysts polled by FactSet.

  • Adjusted operating revenue of $14.2 billion, compared to estimates of $14 billion.

Looking ahead, Delta said it expects Q2 earnings per share of between $1 and $1.50, below Wall Street estimates of $1.56 per share — which might be enough to disappoint investors if oil, one of the largest inputs for an airlines' fuel cost base, wasn't tanking. Indeed, West Texas Intermediate crude futures are down more than 16% on Wednesday morning, following President Trump’s comments that he agreed to a two-week ceasefire with Iran on Tuesday evening. Delta did not give any full-year earnings guidance in its press release.

Like other carriers, Delta has taken a hit in recent weeks as oil — and jet fuel — spikes amid the war in Iran. Significant delays, cancellations, and rebookings have also battered US airlines.

Delta, which is becoming an increasingly K-shaped airline, saw premium tickets grow 14% year-over-year in the first quarter, compared to 1% growth in main cabin tickets.

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For its fiscal year 2026, which ends December 1st, the apparel giant now expects to report:

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  • Adjusted earnings per share between $1.42 to $1.48, up from $1.40 to $1.46, but still a hair below the $1.49 the Street was expecting.

The company also beat expectations for its first quarter, which ended March 1. It reported:

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  • Revenue of $1.74 billion, more than 5% ahead of the $1.65 billion that was expected, with direct-to-consumer sales making up the majority of its revenue stream for the quarter.

The stock is up nearly 11% as of 6:35 a.m. ET, having shed roughly ~5% from the start of the year to yesterday's close.

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Oil plummets on two-week ceasefire announcement, dragging energy stocks lower

Oil prices are sharply lower Wednesday morning, extending their biggest single-day drop in six years after President Trump announced a two-week ceasefire with Iran that includes reopening the Strait of Hormuz, through which about a fifth of global oil supply flows.

As of 5:10 a.m. ET, international benchmark Brent crude was down 13.6% at around $94 per barrel, while US WTI crude fell ~16% to $95 per barrel — following its steepest one-day decline since the Russia-Saudi price war in March 2020 and extending the overnight selloff.

A slew of energy stocks are also giving back some of their war-driven gains, with oil-and-gas producers including Occidental Petroleum, Devon Energy, Diamondback Energy, ConocoPhillips, APA Corporation, Coterra Energy, and EOG Resources all down 6-9% in premarket trading.

Oil majors Exxon and Chevron both fell more than 5%, while fuel refiners including Marathon Petroleum, Valero, and Phillips 66 moved 4-6% lower.

Oilfield services names like Halliburton and natural gas producer EQT Corp fell 4-5%, while Chemical makers Dow, Inc. and LyondellBasell, along with fertilizer company CF Industries, are also trading lower. Natural gas exporter Cheniere Energy was also deeply in the red.

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