Consumer tech giant Apple put the broader market on its back today, with its 7% gain contributing 42 bps of performance to the S&P 500 and 54 bps to the Nasdaq 100. Nearly every other sector closed in negative territory, with financials leading lower ahead of tomorrow’s inflation data and Fed meeting. Let’s see what else you missed. 👀

Today's issue covers analysts outlining Apple’s AI supercycle, Oracle’s AI earnings rescue, and more from the day. 📰

Here's today's heat map:

2 of 11 sectors closed green. Technology (+1.86%) led, & financials (-1.14%) lagged. 💚

The World Bank raised its 2024 global growth forecast from 2.40% to 2.60%, citing U.S. economic strength as a factor to partially offset many of the longer-term issues facing the world’s largest economies. 🔺

Meanwhile, France’s stock and bond prices continued to tumble over election uncertainty. President Emmanuel Macron called for parliamentary elections over the weekend following the far-right Rassemblement National Party's wins in the European Union elections. 😨

General Motors’ shares continued their recent buyback after the board of directors authorized another $6 billion stock repurchase authorization, adding to the $10 billion announced in November 2023 and finishing up this month. It also trimmed its 2024 EV forecast due to slow demand. 🤑

Avocado distributor Calavo Growers rose 9% after its second-quarter earnings and revenues topped expectations. Its CEO cited improving prices and margins in its core avocado business and “tomato” portfolio. 🥑

DXC Technology shares were volatile on reports that Apollo Global and Kyndryl Holdings are attempting to acquire the company, offering $22-$25 per share. 💰

FMC Corp. is the latest company to bring back its former CEO to help revive a struggling stock price. The agricultural sciences company reiterated its second-quarter forecasts while announcing the immediate transition. 👨‍💼

And Terminix-parent Rentokil rose 7% on news that Nelson Peltz’s Trian Partners has taken a significant stake in the company and is looking to engage management and the board to drive shareholder value. 🐜

Other active symbols: $JMIA (+2.62%), $DJT (-6.61%), $GME (+22.80%), $AMC (+10.83%), $KITT (+16.93%), & $AISP (+47.13%). 🔥

Here are the closing prices: 

In less than 24 hours, Apple’s WWDC event has gone from the latest meme to the core reason Apple is set to reclaim its spot atop U.S. big tech giants. 👑

While consumers are still waiting to hear how AI will meaningfully impact their experience, analysts are ecstatic about its business potential.

D.A. David analyst Gil Luria upgraded the stock from neutral to buy, raising his price target from $200 to $230. He noted that Apple’s new backward-compatible AI features will help drive a much-needed iPhone upgrade cycle. 🛍️

Since only 5% of the company’s installed base is iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max phones, the vast majority of users who want to access these features will have to pay up to get the latest features.

Other fundamental analysts agreed with the sentiment and believe AI will be the key driver for the iPhone’s next “supercycle.” As for technical analysts, today’s breakout to new all-time highs is enough to put the stock back in play. 🤩

While investors and traders may express their skepticism about artificial intelligence (AI) and its impact on a company’s business, they are still willing to pay a premium to gain exposure to the space. 💵

Whether in the public markets via Nvidia, Microsoft, Apple, and others…or in the private markets, where Paris-based AI startup Mistral AI raised another $640 million at a $6 billion valuation.

What people say and what they do is often different…and as we know, it’s easier to be wrong with the crowd (betting on AI) than wrong betting against it. And right now, the crowd is betting on AI being a game-changer. 🤷

Meanwhile, the electric vehicle space continues to struggle from a price and business fundamentals perspective. General Motors cut its 2024 EV production outlook on weaker-than-expected demand, weighing further on the space. ✂️

As for industry leader Tesla, shares broke downward from their recent consolidation as debate over CEO Elon Musk’s pay package rages on. Stocktwits community sentiment poked its head into bullish territory last week before retreating back into its neutral to bearish range. 🪫

The software maker secured deals with Google and OpenAI, overshadowing fourth-quarter results that missed analyst estimates. 🤷

Adjusted earnings per share of $1.63 on revenues of $14.29 billion were shy of the $1.65 and $14.55 billion expected. Revenue growth was just 3% YoY, though its largest segment (cloud services and license support) jumped 9% YoY, slightly missing estimates.

Meanwhile, its cloud infrastructure revenue rose 42% YoY but decelerated QoQ as analysts fear it won’t be able to close the gap with market leaders Amazon Web Services and Microsoft Azure. Cloud and on-premises license revenue was down 15% YoY. 🔻

With that said, artificial intelligence (AI) is once again proving to be the solution to every tech company’s problems.

Its deal with Alphabet means it will bring its database to Google’s cloud beginning in November, allowing organizations to deploy workloads in Google and Oracle cloud data center regions without data-transfer charges. ⛅

Additionally, OpenAi has selected Oracle’s cloud to provide additional commuting capacity as it diversifies away from Azure.

That was enough to send shares to new all-time highs after hours, with Stocktwits community sentiment pushing back into “extremely bullish” territory as investors and traders digest the results. 🐂

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🥧 Can Raspberry Pi’s IPO pop help bring business back to the London Stock Exchange (LSE)? The British single-board computer startup sought to raise roughly $211 million from its initial public offering (IPO) but may have left some money on the table, given shares rose 38% on their first day of trading. Should demand remain hot, it has an overallotment option to issue another 4.60 million shares and bring its total raise to $226 million. Regardless, this is a much-needed success for the LSE, which has been losing listings to U.S. exchanges, where appetite for new issues allows companies to raise at higher valuations. CNBC has more.

😬 Snowflake’s data breach is more massive than initially thought. According to some security analysts the company’s leak, which thrust Ticketmaster back into the public eye, may have impacted more than 165 companies. An investigation performed by Mandiant indicates that the UNC5537 group is using credentials stolen from Snowflake’s systems as far back as 2020 to wreak havoc on the company’s related parties. More from The Verge.

⚠️ PIMCO is the latest to warn of regional bank failures. The firm’s head of global private commercial real estate says several central banks have a “very high” concentration of distressed loans, which could mean the real wave of distress is just beginning. He’s joined several well-known analysts and firms in flagging the potential risk ahead, looking at 2025 and 2026 as the years these risks will come to fruition. The Real Deal has more.

🕵️ Trends With No Friends — find stocks with high relative strength and a low social following

🤷 Elon Musk drops suit against OpenAI and Sam Altman

✈️ Singapore Airlines offers $10,000 in compensation for flight hit by turbulence

🌭 Joey Chestnut is out of 2024 Nathan’s hot dog eating contest in beef over vegan franks

🧑‍⚖️ Elizabeth Holmes, Silicon Valley’s most famous convict, makes her long-shot appeal

🤳 BeReal is being acquired by mobile apps and games company Voodoo for €500M

🏡 Homebuyers take on ‘a lot more than a mortgage payment,’ expert says — ‘hidden costs’ average $18,000 a year

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