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Market Snapshot

📉 Banana Bits

• Stocks edge closer to record highs as oil prices ease on fresh Iran headlines.

• The S&P 500 is on track for its strongest earnings growth since 2021.

• India’s budget outlook faces pressure after the RBI delivers a smaller-than-expected cash transfer.

• The UK posts its largest April budget deficit since the pandemic.

Market News

The Rally Refuses to Take a Week Off

Wall Street kept the rally alive for an eighth straight week as traders convinced themselves that the U.S. and Iran might finally stop turning the Middle East into a live-action risk premium.

Hopes for a peace deal, or at least a pause from everyone yelling at each other, sent the S&P 500 to its longest winning streak since 2023, while Crude oil slipped below $97 after spending weeks acting like it was training for triple digits. Investors basically looked at war headlines ahead of a long weekend and said: “Buy the dip anyway.”

Even hawkish comments from Fed Governor Christopher Waller couldn’t fully ruin the mood, though markets are now pricing in the possibility that the Fed’s next move could be up instead of down. Nothing says “soft landing” quite like rate hike chatter returning from the dead.

Meanwhile, corporate America continued its regularly scheduled AI-fueled earnings flex.

• Anthropic is reportedly nearing a funding round that would value it at over $900 billion, because apparently, AI startups are now priced like small planets.

• Zoom reminded investors it does more than awkward mute-button moments, posting strong guidance as customers pay up for its expanded office tools. Workday calmed fears that AI would eat its lunch.

• Lenovo rode the AI boom to offset rising costs.

• Uber reportedly explored buying Delivery Hero to beef up its global food-delivery fight with DoorDash.

Peel Take: The rally keeps going because investors are focusing on falling oil prices, AI hype, and hopes that geopolitics might eventually calm down. Even the return of rate-hike chatter wasn’t enough to fully scare markets off. At this point, Wall Street seems determined to keep buying first and worrying later.

What's Ripe

Dell Technologies Inc. (DELL) 16.8%

• DEL surged 16.8%, making it the top performer in the S&P 500, as analysts grew increasingly bullish ahead of next week’s earnings report. Investors are betting Dell will deliver stronger-than-expected results and potentially lift full-year guidance, driven by booming demand for its AI server and infrastructure business.

• Peel Take: AI has officially turned boring hardware companies into market darlings again. Dell’s transformation from “office computer maker” to “AI infrastructure play” continues to win over Wall Street, proving that in 2026, attaching the letters “AI” to your business may be more powerful than a software update.

Estée Lauder Companies (EL) 11.9%

• EL jumped 12% after the beauty giant walked away from acquisition talks with Spain’s Puig Brands, signaling investors may prefer discipline over another expensive beauty deal in today’s market.

• Shares rallied as traders cheered management for avoiding integration risk and keeping focus on stabilizing growth amid a still-challenging consumer backdrop.

• Peel Take: Sometimes the best acquisition is no acquisition. Investors appear relieved that Estée Lauder chose balance-sheet Botox over M&A contouring, especially as demand in luxury and beauty remains uneven globally. In this market, restraint is suddenly looking very attractive.

What's Rotten

NervGen Pharma (NGEN) 43.5%

• NGEN cratered 43.5% after the biotech firm announced a deeply discounted public offering of 24 million shares at $2.50 each, along with warrants that allow investors to buy additional shares later at $3.68.

• The financing is expected to raise roughly $60 million to support clinical development programs and general corporate needs, but investors focused more on the immediate dilution than the long-term science.

• Peel Take: Biotech investors got the classic “capital raise jump scare.” While the cash gives NervGen more runway to fund trials, issuing a massive block of discounted shares plus warrants is essentially Wall Street’s version of saying, “Thanks for your support, here’s more dilution.” In biotech, survival often comes first, and shareholder feelings come second.

Futu Holdings Ltd. (FUTU) 27.5%

• FUTU plunged 28% after China’s securities regulator launched a sweeping crackdown on unauthorized cross-border investing, putting online brokerages directly in regulators’ crosshairs.

• The selloff intensified after JPMorgan Chase downgraded the stock to Neutral from Overweight and slashed its price target from $300 to $87, warning that a full exit from Mainland Chinese clients could slash Futu’s 2026 revenue by 20% and earnings by 30%.

• Peel Take: Nothing kills a rally faster than regulators showing up with a crackdown. Investors panicked after China targeted cross-border investing platforms, and JPMorgan’s brutal downgrade basically poured gasoline on the selloff. When analysts start talking about revenue getting chopped by 20% and earnings by 30%, traders usually stop asking questions and just head for the exits.

🧠 Technical Trip

Interview Q&A from Citi

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📚 Lesson from the Library

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🦈 Deal Dispatch

M&A, IPOs, And Other Notable Transactions

• Jardine moves closer to a $2.4 billion acquisition of I-MED.

• Delivery Hero surges on expectations of a higher takeover offer.

• GameStop seeks shareholder approval to increase its share count.

• Germany confirms plans to acquire a 40% stake in tankmaker KNDS.

📊The Daily Poll

Previous Poll:

If your boss called jobs “lower-value,” how would you react?

Start job hunting: 37.5% // Be offended honestly: 33.4% // Depends on context: 12.5% // Just corporate talk: 16.6%

Student Success Corner

👉 Are you next? Find out with WSO Academy

Banana Brain Teaser

Previous

There are 8 books on a shelf, of which 2 are paperbacks, and 6 are hardbacks. How many possible selections of 4 books from this shelf include at least one paperback?

Answer: 55

Today

Three grades of milk are 1 percent, 2 percent, and 3 percent fat by volume. If x gallons of the 1 percent grade, y gallons of the 2 percent grade, and z gallons of the 3 percent grade are mixed to give x + y + z gallons of a 1.5 percent grade, what is x in terms of y and z?

How Would You Rate Today's Peel?

Happy Investing,
Chris, Vyom, Ankit, Mitchell, Fernanda, Nick, & Patrick

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