Markets
Luke Kawa
5/7/25

US stocks scream higher near end of session on report Trump to ease chip export curbs

Stick save and a beauty.

US stocks had given up most of the gains inspired by confirmed trade talks with China after Apple tanked the market by saying that it was considering adding AI search in its browser, and then careened into negative territory once again after the Federal Reserve warned on heightened stagflationary risks for the US economy and President Trump said he wouldn’t unilaterally drop tariffs on China ahead of these discussions.

Then, near the end of the session, Bloomberg reported that the president is planning on easing export restrictions on semiconductors that were outlined by his predecessor, sending chip stocks sharply higher and pulling the market to session highs.

The S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 ultimately closed up 0.4%, with the Russell 2000 gaining 0.3%.

Technology was the best-performing S&P 500 sector ETF, with Nvidia and Qualcomm pacing gains among chip stocks. Super Micro, which was deep in the red after issuing poor guidance just eight days after releasing ugly preliminary results, managed to pare most of its losses thanks to this report, as well.

Shares of Alphabet suffered a massive decline on testimony from Apple VP of Services Eddy Cue that underscored the challenge that AI poses to its dominance in search.

Disney surged double digits after crushing on earnings and boosting its full-year outlook, buoyed by strength in its parks business.

Novo Nordisk managed to gain even after cutting sales and profit guidance by indicating that it expects competition in the weight-loss drug space to subside in the second half of this year.

EV companies Rivian and Lucid tumbled after posting heavy losses.

Elsewhere in automakers in the red: Ford fell after saying it plans to raise the price of three vehicles built in Mexico by up to $2,000.

And in not-quite-car-company losers, Uber sank after missing on earnings and revenues.

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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.

Oracle Wall Street Revisions

Analysts revise up anything and everything they thought about Oracle

After the company’s bombshell earnings this week, Wall Street thinks Oracle’s trajectory has changed.

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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

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’sbig, 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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