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Luke Kawa5/12/26

Core inflation rises by more than expected in April

The April reading of the Consumer Price Index showed headline inflation rose 0.6% month on month, with core inflation (which strips out volatile food and energy prices) rising 0.4%.

Economists had anticipated inflation rising 0.6% month on month on a headline basis, with core up 0.3% versus March.

Headline inflation rose 3.8% on an annual basis.

Prediction markets indicated a high degree of confidence in a 0.6% monthly rise for headline CPI, and anticipated an annual increase of 3.7%, with less than 50% odds of rising more than that.

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

The recent stability in labor market data coupled with the potential for another oil-induced inflation shock in light of the Iran war and closure of the Strait of Hormuz have prompted traders to price the end of the Federal Reserve’s easing cycle. Federal funds futures pricing implies a hike is a more than 50% probable at next March’s meeting.

Prediction markets are less hawkish, pricing in 41% odds of a hike before July 2027 while still expecting a return to tightening in the second half of next year.

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Helena Cheng52m

Eos Energy Enterprises soars on joint venture with Cerberus for energy storage and Q1 revenue beat

Eos Energy Enterprises is surging in premarket trading after the company reported better-than-expected Q1 sales and unveiled a joint venture with a major alternative investment firm for battery energy storage projects.

The key Q1 numbers:

Revenue of $57 million (compared to analyst estimates of $54.27 million).
Adjusted earnings per share of $0.12 (estimate: a $0.20 loss), which was juiced by a noncash change in fair value based on the change in EOSE’s share price.

Concurrently with earnings, Eos and Cerberus Capital Management announced the formation of a joint venture called Frontier Power USA, which will be a stand-alone, purpose-built Independent Power Producer to be supplied through a 2-gigawatt-hour capacity reservation agreement with Eos.

“Frontier Power USA is expected to deploy this capacity across commercial and industrial applications, AI data centers, and utility-scale projects, drawing from a multi GWh project pipeline which is under active development,” per the press release.

To support the platform’s launch, Cerberus has committed $100 million in equity, and, to underscore its confidence in Eos, extended its stock lockup agreement through the end of 2026. Eos plans to launch a rights offering to raise $150 million to support this JV.

“The market is telling us what it needs: long-duration storage that is safe, American-made, and financeable at scale,” said Joe Mastrangelo, CEO of Eos. “We have the technology, the manufacturing, the controls, and now, with Frontier Power USA, the planned capital to accelerate project deployment.”

Last month, Eos also announced a joint development agreement with Turbine-X Energy. The partnership focuses on deploying zinc-based battery storage solutions for AI hyperscale data centers, with a target capacity of up to 2 gigawatt-hours beginning in 2027.

For the full year in 2026, Eos expects to achieve revenue between $300 million and $400 million, in line with its previously provided guidance.

Fresh tomato prices surged 40% in April as supply shocks mount

Tariffs on Mexican tomatoes, crop damage, and higher fuel costs helped push prices to their highest level in over four decades.

Fresh organic tomato closeup.

markets

EchoStar rises as FCC approves $40 billion wireless spectrum sale to SpaceX and AT&T

EchoStar is up more than 7% in premarket trading Wednesday after the FCC said on Tuesday that it had approved the telecommunications company’s roughly $40 billion spectrum sale to SpaceX and AT&T, saying the two deals would “accelerate Internet speeds, strengthen competition, and bolster rural service.”

According to the FCC’s two separate orders, AT&T is buying about 50 megahertz of EchoStar’s nationwide spectrum for roughly $23 billion to expand its 5G network, while SpaceX is buying about 65 megahertz of EchoStar’s spectrum for around $17 billion to support Starlink’s next-generation direct-to-device service.

The approval caps a yearlong FCC review of EchoStar’s wireless spectrum licenses, which drew intervention from President Trump, who encouraged the company and FCC Chair Brendan Carr to reach an “amicable resolution.”

Still, the approval comes with a major condition: the FCC requires EchoStar to set up a $2.4 billion escrow account to cover potential obligations tied to disputes over work under its spectrum licenses — a requirement EchoStar called “unprecedented,” adding that it’s “evaluating next steps.”

markets

Oklo whipsaws after posting slightly worse-than-anticipated Q1 loss

Nuclear energy company Oklo is whipsawing in postmarket trading after posting Q1 results.

Here are the key first-quarter numbers:

Net income of -$33.1 million, or a $0.19 loss per share (compared to analyst estimates of -$29.5 million in income and a $0.19 loss per share).

Shares of America’s most valuable zero-revenue company were down over 2% just after the bell before rebounding to trade 3% higher, and then fell into the red again; its price-to-sales ratio remained unchanged throughout.

Oklo is a longtime retail darling. The reaction to these results can be a good read into traders’ appetite for speculative investments, which is probably more useful information than knowing precisely how much money it lost in a three-month period.

Not content with merely powering the AI boom at some point in the future, Oklo also plans on utilizing the technology to develop its reactors. Ahead of its earnings announcement on Tuesday, management teased new AI-integrated workflows for Oklo’s up-and-coming facilities:

“The project scope includes the development and application of technical guidance on model setup, benchmarking and validation strategies, and AI agents to accelerate existing workflows.”

Last week, Oklo announced that it had cleared another regulatory hurdle for its Aurora Powerhouse reactor, currently under construction in Idaho. The nuclear reactor would, if completed, could produce up to 75 megawatts of electricity using Oklo’s small, fast-fission technology, enough to power tens of thousands of homes or cater to the high energy demands of AI data centers.

Oklo and companies like NuScale and TerraPower have benefited from the Trump administration’s streamlined permitting process. And as AI data centers continue to push up demand, Oklo is up over 150% over the past year.

Tasha Matsumoto

Stocks retreat from records as chip stocks fall, core inflation rises

Core inflation (which strips out volatile food and energy prices) rose by more than expected in April.

Brown bear - Ursus arctos with her cubs seen on the Transfagarasan mountain road in the Carpathian Mountains, Romania.

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