Disappointing OpenAI Revenue Drops Nasdaq Over 1%

19:50

The price of Brent oil rose to about $111 per barrel, amid concerns about the prolongation of the peace process that may keep the Strait of Hormuz closed for an indefinite period. Donald Trump said Iran had asked the US to lift the naval blockade on the route, while the two sides are negotiating to end the two-month war, which has shaken global energy supplies.

Earlier in the day, oil prices even erased some of the gains after the United Arab Emirates’ decision to withdraw from OPEC, another sign of how the war in Iran is expected to reshape global energy markets for years to come.

At the same time, investors are digesting the latest macro data on the eve of the Federal Reserve’s interest rate decision. Consumer confidence surprised to the upside as Americans expressed higher optimism about the job market. However, the government bond market traded lower, as high energy prices heightened fears of inflationary pressures that could limit interest rate cuts.

18:59

stock spotify parachuting The main reason for the decline is a disappointment in the forecast of paid subscribers (Premium) for the second quarter: the company expects to reach 299 million subscribers, below market expectations which were about 300.29 million.

The weak forecast overshadowed positive data from the first quarter, including an increase in the number of paying subscribers and an 8.2% increase in revenue, but investors are mainly focused on the outlook ahead, especially in growth companies like Spotify.

That is, despite good performance in retrospect, the miss in the subscriber forecast is what drives the sharp drop in the stock.

18:20

Shares of the partnership of OpenAI, such as Softbank andoracle Falling after a Wall Street Journal report that the artificial intelligence company recently missed its targets for sales and new users, reigniting concerns in the market about the scale of investments ahead of the tech companies’ reporting season.

Although OpenAI has signed deals with dozens of companies, the market tends to focus on a small group of key partners, including Nvidia Softbank, Oracle, Microsoft Koroib, andAMD which are used as a sort of proxy for investing in the company behind ChatGPT.

Shares related to the massive construction of AI infrastructure, including electrical and data center equipment makers, are also falling. G.I. Vernova andVertiv Holdings .

According to Bloomberg analyst Anurag Rana, failure to meet sales and user goals “will affect the entire AI infrastructure ecosystem, with Oracle being the most exposed in terms of risk to its financial goals.”

17:40

dark It is expected to report strong results on Thursday, as the company continues to launch popular personal devices among consumers, despite an ongoing memory shortage, according to UBS.

The investment bank raised the target price per share to $287 from $280, which represents an upside of about 7.2% compared to Monday’s close. The move comes just two days before the publication of the reports for the second fiscal quarter of the company.

According to analyst David Vogt, “Strength in the supply chain and continued demand/increased market share for the iPhone 17 series are expected to increase iPhone revenue by approximately 20% year over year.”

17:00

stock Coca Cola is one of the bright spots now that it reported quarterly profit and revenue that exceeded analysts’ forecasts, thanks to higher demand for its beverages.

For the full year, the company now expects adjusted earnings per share (EPS) growth of 8-9%, compared to a previous forecast of 7-8%. At the same time, it repeated the forecast for organic revenue growth of 4-5%.

The numbers – earnings per share: 86 cents adjusted vs. 81 cents expected, revenue: $12.47 billion adjusted vs. $12.24 billion expected.

16:30

Trading on Wall Street opened with a negative trend led by technology stocks, Nasdaq down 1.2%, S&P 500 down 0.6%, Dow Jones up 0.3%.

15:58

The contracts on Wall Street indicate a negative trend at the opening of trading – and especially the Nasdaq index which falls by over 1%, including the chip index which falls by 3.5% led by Nvidia, Broadcom and AMD shares which fall by 3%-5% in early trading.

The drop in tech stocks also followed a report in the Wall Street Journal that OpenAI missed its targets for new users and revenue — leading to concerns among some of the company’s leaders about its ability to finance its massive capital expenditures on data centers if it doesn’t scale fast enough.

15:39

According to CNBC, the United Arab Emirates has just announced that it will withdraw from OPEC as of May 1.

Oil prices are soaring now and Brent crude is trading at $111 per barrel.

“This decision comes after a comprehensive examination of the production policy of the Emirates and its current and future production capacity, and is based on our national interest and our commitment to contribute effectively to meeting the urgent needs of the market,” the statement from the Ministry of Energy of the Emirates stated.

Let’s recall that rumors about the retirement of the Emirates come back from time to time, mainly because of some key factors. First, the country has invested large sums in increasing its production capacity, so it aims for higher quotas than OPEC allows. Second, there are tensions with Saudi Arabia within the group. Beyond that, some analysts claim that leaving the organization could allow the Emirates to increase revenues in the short term.

15:05

Wall Street futures are now registering significant declines, after yesterday the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq broke new all-time highs. As of now, the S&P 500 is expected to open the day down about 0.6%, while the Nasdaq is expected to lose about 1.3% of its value.

The declines come against the background of the significant increase in oil prices, which continue to climb consistently. Brent oil rises close to 4% and trades around $112 per barrel, while American oil rises close to 5% and trades around $101 per barrel.

Trade in Europe also started to be conducted mainly in declines. The DAX index weakened by about 0.5%, the CAC lost its value by about 0.3% and the Potsi traded around the base level.

14:20

stock Coca Cola Climbing over 2% in early trading, after the company published its financial results for the first quarter, which exceeded analysts’ forecasts.

The company reported revenues of $12.47 billion, compared to analysts’ expectations of $12.24 billion, and adjusted earnings per share of 86 cents, compared to expectations of 81 cents. Excluding one-time items, the beverage giant earned 86 cents per share. Adjusted net sales increased 12% to $12.47 billion.

For the full year, Coca-Cola now expects 8% to 9% earnings per share growth (on a comparable basis), up from its previous forecast of 7% to 8%. The company repeated its previous forecast for organic revenue growth of 4% to 5%.

British oil giant BP It also jumps in trading after publishing reports. Its profits in the first quarter stood at $3.2 billion – far above analysts’ expectations, which stood at $2.63 billion, and more than double compared to the corresponding quarter last year.

12:55

Trading in Europe is now going up slightly. The Potsi index strengthens by about 0.4%, the CAC rises by about 0.1% and the Dax trades around its base level.

Futures on Wall Street are currently pointing to a mixed opening. The Dow Jones index is expected to climb by about 0.3%, the S&P 500 is expected to fall by about 0.2% and the Nasdaq is expected to weaken by about 0.5%.

At the same time, world oil prices continue to rise. Brent oil rises by about 3% to the level of $111 per barrel, while American oil climbs by more than 3% and approaches the $100 per barrel mark.

10:10

European stock markets opened the day with slight declines. The DAX index is now down by about 0.3%, the KAC has weakened by a similar rate and the FTSE is losing about 0.1%.

Oil prices are climbing by more than 2%, against the background of the ongoing tensions around the Strait of Hormuz. Brent crude is trading around $110 per barrel, while US crude is trading around $98 per barrel.

8:50

Asia

In Asia, trading this morning is in a mixed trend. The Tokyo Stock Exchange falls by about 1.2%, the Hong Kong Stock Exchange weakens by about 1%, the Shanghai Stock Exchange retreats by about 0.5% and the Seoul Stock Exchange advances by about 0.4%.

The Central Bank of Japan announced during the night that it is leaving the interest rate unchanged at the level of 0.75%, although out of nine members, there were three opponents who preferred an interest rate increase. The bank also cut its growth forecast for 2026 from 1% to 0.5% and sharply raised its core inflation forecast from 1.9% to 2.8%.

The bank warned that Japan’s economic growth is expected to slow down, as the increase in crude oil prices following the crisis in the Middle East is expected to erode the profits of companies and the real income of households, and this is “through factors such as the worsening of trade conditions”.

Wall Street

Last night on Wall Street, the S&P 500 and Nasdaq closed at new all-time highs – although the gains remained limited, due to the stalemate in talks between the US and Iran and the increased tension in the Strait of Hormuz, which pushed up oil prices. In today’s summary, the Nasdaq rose about 0.2%, the S&P 500 added about 0.1% and the Dow Jones weakened about 0.1%. This morning, Wall Street futures are trading in a mixed trend, with the S&P 500 currently unchanged and the Nasdaq pointing to a slight decline.

The SOXX exchange-traded fund, which tracks chip stocks, dropped more than 1% from its all-time high that was broken at the end of last week, breaking an 18-day winning streak – the longest ever. besides, Nvidia the leading chip player, continued its positive momentum from last weekend, when it recaptured the $5 trillion market cap mark. also Intel which jumped 24% last Friday, following its financial results, continued to climb yesterday.

Among the technology giants, too Alphabetical (Google) stood out positively. on the other hand, dark traded in negative territory. CNBC reported that Ming-Chi Kuo, an analyst at TF International Securities, wrote in a post on the X social network that OpenAI is working with Qualcomm on the development of dedicated processors for AI-based smartphones (originally: “AI-First”) – which may create competition for Apple in the future.

The stock of chips AMD weakened According to CNBC, the decline came after the investment bank Northland Capital Markets lowered its recommendation for the stock from ‘outperform’ to ‘market perform’ (equivalent to a downgrade from ‘buy’ to ‘hold’). Analyst Gus Richard explained that competitors like Intel closing the gap with AMD, and that the company will probably have to spend more money on research and development to maintain its lead.

The shares of the memory chips, among them SanDisk andMicron recorded gains yesterday, after the investment company Melius Research put a spotlight on the field and said that the artificial intelligence cycle is expected to keep demand high until the end of the current decade. The analysts stated that it is likely that investors will be willing to pay more for the sector, as long as they understand that these stocks are no longer cyclical as they were in the past.

Investors are mainly looking forward to Wednesday, when four of the “Magnificent Seven” – the technology giants – will report Alphabetical (Google) , Meta , Microsoft andAmazon . dark Report back the next day. On top of that, on Wednesday evening, the Federal Reserve will publish its interest rate decision for the month of April.

The investment bank Societe Generale says that this is the most important week this year in terms of returns, noting that 44% of the companies in the S&P 500 are expected to report this week – they have an aggregate market value of $29 trillion. Mark Hackett, chief market strategist at Nationwide, told MarketWatch that “this week is less about any single catalyst and more about the collision of everything that changes. While the technical tailwind is fading, here the fundamentals should carry the market higher.”

Billy Leong, investment strategist at Global X ETFs, told CNBC that “the stock market is effectively balancing two opposing forces: geopolitical risks on the one hand, and the profit potential of AI commercialization on the other.” He says that right now, the market is clearly focused on the upside it sees from AI. However, Leung also cautioned against complacency. “The main trend is up and I would respect that, but I wouldn’t chase the market at this point either. The sentiment is hot, the positions are crowded, and historically, high readings like this have preceded weaker future returns.”

Investment bank JP Morgan, the largest in the world in terms of market capitalization, last week raised its forecast for the S&P 500 from 7,200 points to 7,600 points by the end of this year – which reflects an upside of about 6% compared to its current price.

The bank advised investors to “follow the winners”, and specifically the technology stocks, which led the stock market rally from the beginning of the month. “Financial markets remain jittery, but mostly firm,” bank strategist Fabio Bassi wrote in a note to clients on Friday. “We maintain the momentum approach of ‘going with the winners’ in a de-escalation scenario, instead of ‘buying the laggards’, as certain assets have been structurally damaged, due to the energy shock.”

US debt market

The faltering negotiations between the US and Iran began to oppress the bond holders. The yield to maturity of ten-year US government bonds climbed this past week from a level of 4.24% towards 4.3%, and as of this morning is already at 4.34%. The increase in the yield to maturity of the American bonds expresses a creeping climb in the level of risk attributed in the markets to the American debt, and also an expected increase in prices in the markets against the background of the high oil prices, a situation that may lead to restraint in interest rate reductions by the Fed Bank in the future.

The commodity and currency markets

In the local foreign exchange market, the shekel traded this morning against the dollar, stably below the symbolic level of 3 shekels, and its rate now stands at 2.98 shekels.

Oil prices continued to climb yesterday, against the background of increased tensions in the Strait of Hormuz, which for the time being remains completely blocked to the passage of vessels. Brent crude oil rose nearly 3% to $108 per barrel, while American crude oil rose more than 2% to $96 per barrel. This morning, prices are up by another 1%, so Brent oil is trading around $109 per barrel and US crude is trading around $97 per barrel.

The investment bank Goldman Sachs yesterday raised its oil price forecast until the end of the year, under the assumption that exports from the Gulf will not return to normal before the end of June and production will recover at a slow pace. The bank now expects the price of a barrel of Brent oil to average $90 in the fourth quarter, compared to $80 in the bank’s previous forecast. He also predicts that US crude oil (WTI) will average $83 per barrel, compared to $75 in the original forecast.

In a message published to the bank’s clients, analyst Dan Striven wrote that “the economic risks are greater than our base scenario for crude oil suggests, and this is due to a combination of upside risks to oil prices, abnormally high prices of refined fuel products, risk of a shortage of these products and the unprecedented scope of the shock.”

The effect of the tensions in the Strait of Hormuz on oil prices also permeates the price of gold, which continues to fluctuate, while fears of higher inflation spread around the world – which may lead to higher interest rates. Gold fell yesterday by about 0.5% to the level of 4,680 dollars per ounce, and this morning it continues to weaken.