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Market Snapshot

📉 Banana Bits

• Citadel Securities says the Fed must shift back toward fighting inflation.

• Russian e-commerce giant RWB explores an alliance with VTB.

• BP removes chair Albert Manifold over concerns about his conduct.

• Wall Street pushes for further regulatory easing as the Fed reins in bank examiners, sources say.

Market News

Wall Street Stays Delusional

Markets were mixed today as investors continued reacting to news about the conflict between the U.S. and Iran.

The S&P 500 and Nasdaq both reached new record highs, largely due to strong performance in technology and chip stocks. Investors were encouraged by signs that negotiations between the U.S. and Iran could improve, which helped calm some fears about rising oil prices.

Oil prices actually fell during the day after reports suggested tensions might ease, although prices are still much higher than earlier this year. Investors are also paying close attention to inflation because higher energy costs have been making everyday goods more expensive.

Overall, the market had a positive day, but uncertainty remains as investors closely monitor inflation and geopolitical developments.

Another big trend today was continued excitement around artificial intelligence and technology stocks. Companies connected to AI, especially semiconductor companies like Micron and Nvidia, helped push the Nasdaq higher again. 

At the same time, investors became a little more cautious about the broader economy because inflation remains elevated and interest rates are still high. Some investors are also moving money into energy and dividend-paying companies because they are seen as more stable during uncertain periods.

Peel Take: Markets are acting like everything is manageable again as long as oil prices stop climbing and AI stocks keep delivering. Investors clearly know the risks are still there, inflation, geopolitics, rates, all of it, but right now the rally is running on the belief that none of those problems are urgent enough to matter today.

What's Ripe

Micron Technology (MU) 19.3%

• Analysts raised price targets because of optimism around AI and memory chip demand. AI data centers require enormous volumes of advanced DRAM and High Bandwidth Memory (HBM). As a result, Micron’s AI memory supply for 2026 is almost entirely sold out.

• The broader semiconductor sector, including other major AI infrastructure providers, has experienced strong market performance and reached new all-time highs as investor confidence remains anchored on sustained AI adoption.

• Peel Take: AI’s hunger for memory chips is getting so ridiculous that Micron’s 2026 supply is basically spoken for already. With analysts racing to raise targets and AI infrastructure spending still exploding, investors are treating memory chips less like a cyclical business and more like digital gold.

Meta Platforms Inc (META) 0.3%

• Investors continued buying major AI-related technology companies after strong momentum in the sector. Meta has heavily integrated AI into its ad platforms, boosting targeting efficiency, reducing costs, and delivering better returns on ad spend for marketers.

• Financial reports indicate that Meta's ongoing AI infrastructure investments are translating into higher user engagement across Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp, laying a strong foundation for future revenue streams.

• Also, optimism around digital advertising and AI investments helped support the stock today.

• Peel Take: Meta keeps proving that AI isn’t just a buzzword; it’s helping the company squeeze more money out of ads and keep users glued to its apps longer. Investors are happy to keep buying the stock as long as Zuckerberg can keep turning massive AI spending into actual revenue growth.

What's Rotten

Home Depot (HD) 0.8%

• High mortgage rates and borrowing costs continue putting pressure on housing-related spending. The subdued housing market, pressured by affordability issues and elevated 30-year mortgage rates, has kept consumer sentiment cautious, prompting many to delay taking out loans for expensive renovations.

• The number of large, discretionary jobs and full home remodels is down, as homeowners prioritize necessary, low-cost maintenance over massive upgrades. Investors are worried that consumers may spend less on large home improvement projects.

• To offset lagging do-it-yourself (DIY) consumer demand, companies like Home Depot and Lowe's are increasingly leaning on professional contractors and builders to drive comparable sales.

• Peel Take: Turns out people are a lot less excited about expensive kitchen remodels when mortgage rates feel like a personality test. Consumers are sticking to small fixes rather than full-blown renovation projects, forcing Home Depot to lean harder on contractors while it waits for the housing market to wake back up.

Salesforce Inc (CRM) 0.6%

• Investors have rotated capital away from traditional software-as-a-service (SaaS) stocks and heavily into hardware and semiconductor companies, driving the AI boom. Software stocks have also been pressured by concerns that disruptive AI agents could fundamentally alter their traditional pricing and subscription models.

• Concerns about interest rates staying high continued to put pressure on growth companies. The enterprise software sector has faced a tough period, pressured by high interest rates, which increase borrowing costs and discount the value of future earnings for growth companies.

• Peel Take: Software stocks like Salesforce are stuck in an awkward spot right now. Investors are throwing money at AI hardware plays instead, while also wondering whether AI agents could eventually mess with the entire SaaS business model. Add high interest rates on top, and suddenly “steady software growth” feels a lot less exciting than it used to.

🧠 Technical Trip

Interview Q&A from Goldman Sachs

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📚 Lesson from the Library

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🌟 WSO Academy Q1 Update

📚 Course Development

We’ve continued leveling up the Academy to give you more real-world reps, not just theory.

Check out the latest update to the WSO Academy Investment Banking Course: 4 New Deal Walkthroughs just dropped. Break down actual transactions step-by-step and see how models, assumptions, and deal logic come together in practice.

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🦈 Deal Dispatch

M&A, IPOs, And Other Notable Transactions

• Delivery Hero shares surge as Uber explores a potential takeover.

• Bank of America appoints tech dealmaker Richard Hardegree as vice chair of M&A.

• Kardigan files for an IPO to fund its cardiovascular disease treatment pipeline.

📊The Daily Poll

Previous Poll:

Companies keep beating expectations, your take?

Honestly yes: 50.0% // Not really: 20.8% // Expectations were low anyway: 29.2%

Student Success Corner

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Banana Brain Teaser

Previous

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?

Answer: x = y + 3z

Today

How many odd numbers between 10 and 1,000 are the squares of integers?

How Would You Rate Today's Peel?

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

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