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CLOSING BELL
Now THAT'S An ATH

The market broke through to a new all-time high Friday, and kept on going, but hit a slight snag. I promised a reader earlier this week not to mention a certain world leader more than necessary, so let’s say a Florida man tweeted that trade talks with Canada would end after our northern neighbors imposed a tax on U.S. tech software.

The 0.60% climb turned into a fall, but in the last hour, the market rebounded to an all-time high close. A tentative tax bill deal in the Senate could have helped, and near the end of the day, the Business Council of Canada called for the nation to remove the planned tax.

Also, we just could not wait to send out the Litepaper today, check for it in your inbox from around 10 am this morning. 👀

Today's issue covers Inflation climbed, but so did consumer attitudes, four trending tech stocks, and more.  📰

With the final numbers for indexes and the ETFs that track them, 8 of 11 sectors closed green, with consumer dicsretionary $XLY ( ▲ 1.67% ) leading and energy $XLE ( ▼ 0.53% ) lagging.

S&P 500 $SPY ( ▲ 0.5% ) 6,173

Nasdaq 100 $QQQ ( ▲ 0.34% ) 22,534

Russell 2000 $IWM ( ▲ 0.03% ) 2,172

Dow Jones $DIA ( ▲ 0.94% ) 43,819

COMMUNITY FAVORITES
Four Stocks To Rule The Trending List 😀 

The Stocktwits community team tracked four trading stocks this week that had retail excited. Here’s a quick run-down:

Cyngn $CYN ( ▲ 20.07% ) soared over 304% this week after showcasing its autonomous vehicle tech using Nvidia’s Isaac robotics platform at Automatica 2025, sparking extreme bullish sentiment. Nvidia announced that Cyngn was one of the few firms selected as a robotics partner. Read more

QuantumScape $QS ( ▼ 13.46% ) climbed this week after the firm said its Cobra separator solid state lithium battery tech made a breakthrough, offering 25X improved temperature control.

Rocket Lab $RKLB ( ▼ 2.1% ) stock climbed 17% this week to a record high after securing its first-ever contract with the European Space Agency to launch low-Earth orbit navigation satellites.

Bigbear AI $BBAI ( ▲ 0.69% ) climbed 45% this week. Tuesday, the firm announced a partnership to deploy its biometric ID software across major U.S. international airports like JFK, LAX, and Chicago O’Hare, alongside two separate DoD contract wins this year.

*CORRECTION: Yesterday, I wrote the firm had broken the $1T market cap mark, not $1B, and a reader pointed it out. It would be insane if this small scanning firm hit that market cap.

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Bitcoin Depot (Nasdaq: BTM) is the world’s largest Bitcoin ATM operator (8,500+ kiosks worldwide), and investors are taking note of their strong Q1 performance:

• BTM up 300+% this year

• Revenue up 19% YoY to $164.2M

• Q1 net income up to $12.2M vs. net loss of $4.2M in Q4 2024

• A growing Bitcoin treasury strategy

The best part? Their revenue is historically tied to ATM usage, not Bitcoin’s price.

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MACRO
 Inflation Climbed, But Consumers Became More Optimistic 🤔 

As spring turned to summer, and financial news drifted from revenue-based headlines to political trade and macroeconomic stories, one thing has become clear: the market wants rate cuts. PCE inflation data released on Friday showed that inflation rose in the past month by a little more than expected. Conversely, Michigan consumer surveys indicated that the average American is more optimistic than a month ago, and that positivity may influence where policymakers steer the Federal Funds rate.

Fed speakers appear on the front page of every economic journal whenever they make so much as a passing comment on when they intend to cut, how much they plan to cut, and where the cuts will take place. It’s as if everyone went out to buy red ribbons, but no one knows who is supposed to have the ceremonial scissors. ✂️ 

Two members of the Fed in the past seven days said they could see a cut as early as July, and every member of the FOMC last week projected two cuts this year in their June dot plot, despite raising their forward inflation projections. The Core PCE in May showed they might be right: prices climbed 2.7% excluding fuel and food, and all prices climbed 2.3%, both about 0.1% above last month’s climb.

Meanwhile, UMich’s data showed consumer inflation expectations fell to 5%, from 6.6%, while respondents became more than 20% more optimistic! It may seem like a handful of numbers, but consumer optimism runs the market, take Carnival Cruises’ earnings report this week. The firm, by its own admission, is selling tickets at higher prices, but customers are snatching them up faster than ever before.

Sounds like the recipe for a bull run, right? Well, the new director of the University of Michigan Surveys, Joanne Hsu, thinks otherwise. Bloomberg reported that the same survey showed declining confidence while consumption soared before the 1974 and 2001 recessions, but the survey seemed to predict a recession in 2022 that never came. Hsu said consumers helped save the economy from downturn during the pandemic, but warned that might not run true twice in the same decade. 🫠 

Case-in-point: with consumer sentiment in the dumps, consumer goods companies are struggling to drive growth. McCormick reported results this week and cut its earnings and growth forecast, essentially stating that it can’t raise prices to offset the rise in input costs associated with tariffs and other factors. These companies piled on the price increases during the pandemic, but now investors are leaving their stocks to spoil because they don’t have a clear growth lever with pricing power sidelined. 🧂 

POPS & DROPS
Top Stocktwits News Stories 🗞️ 

S&P 500 hit a record high of 6,178.74 despite persistent inflation and Fed Chair Powell’s warnings that Trump’s tariffs could complicate rate cut decisions. Read more

American Outdoor Brands stock jumped 11% after a surprise Q4 profit and strong sales, though it pulled FY26 guidance citing macro uncertainty from tariffs and consumer behavior. Read more

Li Auto stock fell after the EV maker cut its Q2 delivery outlook to 108,000 vehicles, down from 123,000–128,000, citing a temporary sales system upgrade. Read more

Microsoft delayed its next-gen Maia AI chip, codenamed Braga, to 2026 due to design changes and staffing issues, with performance expected to lag behind Nvidia’s Blackwell chip. Read more

Nike stock surged over 18%—its biggest one-day gain ever—after a Q4 beat and bullish analyst upgrades signaled confidence in the company’s turnaround and margin recovery. Read more

Gilead stock rose over 2% after the U.S. Supreme Court upheld a key Obamacare provision requiring insurers to cover preventive care, including HIV PrEP, bolstering prospects for its new drug Yeztugo. Read more

Trump ended U.S. trade discussions with Canada over its planned digital services tax, warning of new tariffs that could hit major American tech firms. Read more

INmune Bio stock fell 19% after announcing a $19M direct offering of 3M shares ahead of Monday's mid-stage Alzheimer’s trial results, though retail sentiment remained extremely bullish. Read more

Don’t miss a story! Follow @StocktwitsNews for a live feed in real time. ✍️ 

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✔️ Panels, workshops, and unfiltered discussions

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🟢 LIVE - WEEKEND RIP WITH BEN & EMIL: BEN'S PORTFOLIO REVEAL!

Markets hit all-time highs but Ben is still spiraling after giving back $200K in gains on SPX and SPY. Emil tries to comfort him with tales of Prime energy drinks, Roblox ripping 100%, and the FedEx founder YOLOing company cash on blackjack.

We dig into:

• Trump's gold burner phone and taco tariff diplomacy

• The return of Dan Ives, Chamath's SPAC dreams, and betting on celebrity deaths

• Coinbase, Roblox, Coreweave, Tesla robo-taxis in Austin, and Polymarket madness

• A look at Ben’s portfolio

Plus: Apocalyptic dreams, digital clutter, Booba & Kiki, and a very hot take on helium investing.

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⚠️ Bessent Says Push for Trade Deals Could Wrap Up by Sept. 1

🍁 Trump ends all U.S. trade talks with Canada over digital services tax

👀 America’s Top Consumer-Sentiment Economist Is Worried

📺️ Robinhood’s Vlad Tenev has led a trading revolution to become a new Wall Street power

*3rd Party Ad. Not an offer or recommendation by Stocktwits. See disclosure here.

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