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J. Edward Moreno

Stocks rise after US, Iran sign peace plan

Stocks rose Thursday morning after President Trump and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian signed a memorandum of understanding aimed at ending the war, in another sign that a months-long war that caused energy prices to spike could be coming to an end.

Trump signed the MOU before a dinner in Versailles, France on Wednesday evening. The president previously announced that a deal had been reached on Sunday evening, saying that traffic through the Strait of Hormuz would resume and that the US naval blockade would be lifted.

The deal comes after both sides exchanged attacks last week, escalating tensions to some of the highest levels since the US and Israel struck Iran in late February.

The price of Brent Crude ticked even lower after dropping on Sunday, sitting at about $76 a barrel. Oil giants like Shell, Chevron and Exxon fell on the news, as average gas prices in the US dropped below $4 for the first time in months.

Futures for the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite rose 0.9% and 1.5%, respectively. Last week, inflation readings for May showed both wholesale inflation and consumer prices rose in large part because of higher energy costs.

Signs of the peace deal have also lead to buying of momentum stocks this week. iShares MSCI USA Momentum Factor ETFrose another 1.46% in premarket trading.

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Luke Kawa
5h
Accenture poised for record one-day decline after Q3 new bookings and Q4 revenue guidance disappoint

Accenture isn’t cashing in too much from the AI revolution.

Accenture CEO Highlights AI's Role in Future Business at CES 2
markets
Helena Cheng

Intel surges after Trump announces US chip deal with Apple

Intel is soaring in early trading after President Donald Trump posted on Truth Social that Apple has agreed to work with the semiconductor giant to design and manufacture its chips domestically.

President Trump positioned the agreement as the latest victory for his administration’s industrial policy after the federal government acquired a 9.9% equity stake in Intel last year.

"Stupid Presidents took our Economy for granted, and let Taiwan and others steal our Semiconductor Factories," Trump wrote in the post. "We design everything, but we need to BUILD it here, NOW! So I decided to help Intel because we need to design and build our Chips right here in America... and, finally, Apple has agreed to work with Intel to design and build its Chips in America."

Intel reportedly reached a preliminary agreement back in May to manufacture chips for the Apple, which has been facing supply constraints for its iPhone as well other products. The deal could help Apple reduce its reliance on longtime partner TSMC by bringing more of its chip manufacturing stateside.

"This partnership helps Apple with chip development and manufacturing on US soil with greater focus on reducing dependence on Asian manufacturing facilities." Wedbush's Dan Ives commented in a company report. He has a $400 price target for Apple this year.

The timing aligns with Intel's technical roadmap. Earlier this week, Intel confirmed that its advanced, performance-boosted 18A-P process node officially entered its risk production phase. This move serves as a blueprint for both Intel chips and processors the company plans to build for foundry customers.

“The current capacity crunch is probably emboldening customers to give Intel a harder look at this stage than perhaps they might ordinarily be inclined to do as the prospect of more advanced capacity will take on higher value in a constrained environment,” wrote Bernstein analyst Stacy Rasgon. “We are sure that Trump’s encouragement is at least not going to hurt though.”

Momentum was built around Intel Foundry services as surging global AI demand continuously outpaced capacity. Earlier this month, 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.

Tasha Matsumoto
22h
Stocks fall after new Fed Chair Warsh’s first policy meeting as traders worry about a rate hike

While the Fed left rates unchanged (as expected) a hawkish dot plot has traders bracing themselves for a rate hike this year.

Brown bear on a rock
Luke Kawa
24h
Federal Reserve removes easing bias, policymakers see a hike as more likely than a cut this year

The knee-jerk move for stocks was to the downside.

Kevin Warsh closeup
markets
Helena Cheng

Figma rises on Citi’s Buy rating and $36 price target

Figma shares are rising moderately in pre-market trading after Citigroup initiated coverage with a Buy rating, saying demand tied to AI could help fuel the design software company’s next phase of growth, according to the note provided by Bloomberg.

Citi set a $36 price target on the stock and said Figma is well-positioned to offset AI disruption concerns through its own AI-driven consumption growth.

"Our proprietary customer and go-to-market (GTM) checks with hyperscalers and large financial services (FS) firms suggest strong seat upgrades & credit pack utilization, which offer positive reads on AI-monetization strategy," analyst Tyler Radke commented.

The company has been moving to roll out AI-native features in recent months, including developer-focused tools and in-house Figma agent aimed at making Figma a more central operating layer between product teams, engineers and AI systems.

Citi also pointed to upcoming product launches and potential monetization tied to Figma’s Model Context Protocol server which is an emerging framework that could allow AI systems to interact more directly with design environments.

Figma’s most recent earnings posted stronger-than-expected revenue growth while management raised its full-year guidance, saying that AI-related products were seeing encouraging adoption.

Still, the company that went public in 2025 has faced intense pressure with stock tumbling more than 50% this year-to-date over fears that automated AI code-generation tools and design alternatives from competitors like Anthropic might squeeze the need for seat-based design software.

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