☢️ Meta Goes Nuclear

Good afternoon! Amid plummeting trust in traditional media, one outlet is still shining: The Weather Channel. It topped YouGov’s 2025 rankings with a 49% net trust score, beating out BBC and PBS. As Americans turn to podcasts and social media for news, this legacy brand is somehow staying above the storm.

On the flip side, The Washington Post saw the biggest trust drop, falling to 26th place. A five-point slide—fueled by editorial changes under Jeff Bezos reportedly pushed hundreds of thousands of subscribers to bail. Turns out trust is harder to rebuild than a homepage.

MARKETS

• Stocks climbed Tuesday with the S&P 500 up 0.6% and the Nasdaq turning positive for the year. Nvidia rose 2.8% and Broadcom hit a record, helping tech and energy lead the day’s gains.

• Despite OECD warnings on Trump’s tariffs, upbeat economic data lifted markets. The Dow added 214 points, and investors looked ahead to possible trade deals with cautious optimism.

STOCKS
Winners & Losers

What’s up 📈

• MoonLake Immunotherapeutics soared 17.95% on reports from the Financial Times that Merck may acquire the company. ($MLTX)

• Ferguson Enterprises rose 17.19% after beating earnings estimates and raising its full-year revenue guidance. ($FERG)

• Dollar General climbed 15.85% following a strong Q1 earnings beat and a raised full-year forecast. ($DG)

• Credo Technology exploded 14.80% after posting strong results and guidance fueled by hyperscaler demand. ($CRDO)

• Signet Jewelers jumped 12.42% after topping earnings and revenue estimates. ($SIG)

• Parsons gained 7% despite slashing its 2025 outlook due to State Department uncertainty. ($PSN)

• Pinterest popped 3.82% after a JPMorgan upgrade citing improved monetization and user growth. ($PINS)

• Block added 2.83% after Evercore ISI upgraded the stock to outperform. ($XYZ)

• Ford rose 2.21% after a 16% sales increase last month. ($F)

• Nvidia advanced 2.80%, reclaiming the title of most valuable company. ($NVDA)

What’s down 📉

• EchoStar sank 11.31% after missing a second interest payment and revealing uncertainty tied to an FCC probe. ($SATS)

• Bumble tumbled 6.45% following a JPMorgan downgrade due to market share loss to Hinge. ($BMBL)

• FactSet Research Systems fell 4.83% after naming a new CEO, Sanoke Viswanathan. ($FDS)

• Hims & Hers Health dropped 3.59% after announcing the acquisition of European digital health firm Zava. ($HIMS)

ENERGY
Meta Goes Nuclear (Literally) to Power Its AI Dreams

Mark Zuckerberg is plugging Meta into the grid in a big way — and this time, it’s nuclear. Meta just signed a 20-year deal with Constellation Energy to purchase the entire output of the Clinton nuclear plant in Illinois starting mid-2027. The move comes as the AI gold rush sends data center power demand into orbit and Big Tech scrambles for clean, steady energy sources that don’t flicker when the sun sets or the wind dies down.

Why Now? AI Is Power-Hungry

Meta’s electricity use nearly tripled between 2019 and 2023, and with generative AI models getting bigger and buzzier, it’s only going up from here. The Clinton plant can generate enough juice to power around 1 million homes — or maybe half a dozen data centers running Llama 4. Unlike wind and solar, nuclear doesn’t take coffee breaks, and Meta isn’t interested in brownouts when their chatbots are mid-sentence.

The Clinton plant had been on life support as recently as 2017, with its survival pinned to a state subsidy that’s set to expire in 2027. Meta’s contract throws the plant a lifeline — and a reason for Constellation to not just keep it open, but boost its output. There’s even talk of building a second reactor. Constellation CEO Joe Dominguez called the deal “billions of dollars of capital you’re signing up for,” which is CEO-speak for this plant just became the belle of the AI energy ball.

Big Tech’s Nuclear Love Affair Is Heating Up

Meta’s not alone. Microsoft is backing the revival of Three Mile Island. Amazon and Google are dabbling in small modular reactors like they’re trendy coffee shops. In fact, the trio recently pledged to triple global nuclear energy by 2050. Forget crypto mining — the new arms race is which tech company can secure the cleanest, steadiest electrons before someone else snaps them up.

The Bottom Line: Meta’s deal won’t power a specific data center — it’s a virtual offset that helps the company claim greener ops. But symbolically? It’s Meta saying, “Yes, AI might be energy-hungry, but we’ll feed it without frying the planet.” Whether this sparks a full-on nuclear renaissance or just keeps a few reactors alive is still up in the air — but if data is the new oil, uranium might just be the new gold.

NEWS
Market Movements

• 🚀 Broadcom hits all-time high on AI chip shipment: Broadcom rallied 3.6% after announcing shipments of its new Tomahawk 6 AI networking chips. Execs called it a “breakthrough” in AI infrastructure, as demand from cloud providers and data centers surges. ($AVGO)

• 📊 Palantir hits record high on AI momentum: Palantir closed at a new all-time high for the second straight day, riding the broader AI wave. A long-term power deal between Meta and Constellation boosted sentiment around AI infrastructure. ($PLTR, $CEG)

• 🔐 CrowdStrike dips despite strong earnings: Shares fell over 6% after the company beat Q1 EPS and revenue expectations but guided Q2 slightly below forecasts. Lingering costs tied to last year’s IT outage continue to weigh. ($CRWD)

• ☁️ CoreWeave surges on Applied Digital deal: CoreWeave stock soared 25% after striking a new lease agreement with Applied Digital to boost AI infrastructure. The Nvidia-backed firm, now riding a $25.9B backlog, is quickly becoming Wall Street’s AI darling. ($CRWV, $APLD, $NVDA)

• 📈 Job openings unexpectedly rise to 7.4M in April: The JOLTS report showed a surprise increase in job openings, beating expectations with 7.4 million available roles—up 191,000 from March. Hiring and layoffs also rose, while the quits rate fell, signaling a steady labor market. ($^DJI)

• 🚖 Tesla’s robotaxi launch targets Austin first: Tesla will begin its long-awaited robotaxi rollout in Austin this month with 10 vehicles, planning to expand city-by-city. Austin’s AV-friendly regulation gives Tesla a launch edge, though it faces stiff competition from Waymo, Zoox, and others. ($TSLA)

• 🏦 Fed lifts Wells Fargo’s $1.95T asset cap: The Federal Reserve removed a 2018 growth restriction on Wells Fargo, citing "substantial progress" in fixing governance and risk issues tied to its fake accounts scandal. It's a major win for CEO Charles Scharf after years of reform. ($WFC)

• 🚀 Robinhood hits all-time high on crypto surge: Robinhood stock jumped 5.5% to $71.78, setting a new record after years of underperformance. The rally follows crypto gains and its recent acquisition of Bitstamp, fueling optimism about future growth in digital assets. ($HOOD)🔌 

• 🚕 Waymo hits 10 million paid rides: Alphabet’s robo-taxi unit Waymo has surpassed 10 million paid rides and now completes 250,000 monthly trips, expanding into new U.S. cities and Tokyo. ($GOOGL)

• 🎶 Music giants negotiate AI licensing deals: Universal, Warner Music, and Sony are in talks with Suno and Udio to secure AI licensing agreements covering compensation, usage tracking, and artist opt-outs. ($WMG, $SONY)

• 💉 Wegovy use climbs among teens: Prescriptions for Wegovy among U.S. teens rose 50% in 2024, benefiting Novo Nordisk, though access remains limited by insurance and regulatory barriers. ($NVO)

• 🏭 Toyota to privatize Toyota Industries: Toyota plans to take Toyota Industries private in a $33 billion deal to unwind cross-shareholdings and strengthen family control amid governance reforms. ($TM)

EARNINGS
Is Retail Really in Trouble? Dollar General Says, “Not So Fast.”

If consumer spending is supposedly falling off a cliff, someone forgot to tell Dollar General. The discount chain popped a record 16% Tuesday after delivering a blowout Q1 and raising its full-year forecast. That’s right — while most of retail is stress-eating spreadsheets and revising guidance, Dollar General is out here pulling in middle- and upper-income shoppers like it’s a Black Friday in July.

What Slowdown?

The numbers tell the story: EPS of $1.78 (versus $1.48 expected), revenue of $10.44 billion, and same-store sales up 2.4%. Management didn’t just beat the quarter — they flexed. The retailer is now forecasting full-year sales growth of 3.7% to 4.7%, with plans to raise prices on some products while still mitigating most of the tariff damage. That’s not just surviving the economic chaos — it’s thriving in it.

While inflation continues to squeeze Dollar General’s core low-income base — about 60% of them say they’re skipping necessities — higher-income shoppers are trading down, too. CEO Todd Vasos noted that even affluent consumers are looking for bargains as tariffs and recession whispers linger in the background. Translation: discount shopping is officially in.

Retail’s Split-Screen Reality

It’s a tale of two retailers right now. On one side, you’ve got Dollar General defying the narrative and thriving. On the other, you’ve got Best Buy, Macy’s, and Abercrombie either cutting guidance or ghosting investors entirely on full-year forecasts, blaming — you guessed it — tariffs. And yet, LSEG says Q1 earnings across retail and restaurants grew 7.9% year-over-year. So, maybe retail isn’t crashing… it’s just getting weird.

Bottom Line: Dollar General’s quarter proves that in a chaotic economy, simplicity and scale still sell. Whether that’s a lasting signal or just one big quarter remains to be seen — but for now, the retailer isn’t just weathering the storm, it’s selling ponchos.

Calendar
On The Horizon

Tomorrow

Wednesday kept the jobs data rolling with a fresh snapshot from ADP: private employers added 62,000 jobs in May. But behind that modest gain was a nervous tone—companies are clearly spooked about what tariffs could mean for costs, and the hiring slowdown reflects it.

On the earnings front, a mixed bag of names are stepping up: Dollar Tree, Five Below, Brown-Forman, and MongoDB all report today. Whether it’s budget retail or bourbon, investors are watching to see who’s still growing and who’s feeling the pinch.

NEWS
The Daily Rundown

• 🇨🇳 Trump and Xi to Talk Trade Amid New Tensions: The White House says Trump and China’s Xi Jinping will likely speak this week after both sides accused each other of breaching a recent trade deal. Trump claims China violated terms agreed in Geneva, while Beijing blames U.S. chip restrictions and warns of “forceful measures” if it continues.

• 🧯 Colorado Flamethrower Suspect Hit with Hate Crime Charge: Mohamed Sabry Soliman, accused of attacking a Boulder demonstration with a flamethrower and Molotov cocktails, now faces federal hate crime charges. Authorities say Soliman targeted the “Zionist group,” overstayed his visa, and planned the attack for a year.

• 💼 Jamie Dimon Says Retirement Still Years Away: JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon says his retirement is not imminent, despite saying last year he’d step down within five years. In a Fox Business interview, Dimon said, “It’s up to God and the board,” reaffirming he still loves what he does.

• 🔁 Boomerang Hiring Picks Up Steam: Nearly 35% of March hires were ex-employees, according to ADP, as companies increasingly bring back familiar faces. The trend is strongest in tech, where returning workers made up 68% of new hires—more than double from a year ago. Slower hiring and lower onboarding costs are driving the comeback.

• 🍔 Chain Restaurants Tap Nostalgia for a Comeback: Chains like Red Robin and Chili’s are leaning into 2000s nostalgia to revive sales. From Juicy Couture collabs to Office-themed restaurants, brands are going viral again. Still, not all are thriving—Hooters filed for bankruptcy and Outback traffic is down.

• 🤝 Ukraine-Russia Peace Talks Falter: Peace talks in Istanbul failed to yield a ceasefire but led to prisoner exchange agreements. Meanwhile, Ukraine launched drone strikes damaging 40+ Russian aircraft, and Russia responded with escalated missile attacks, intensifying the war.

• 💊 Bristol Myers & BioNTech Ink $11.1B Cancer Deal: The two pharma giants are teaming up to develop BNT327, a bispecific antibody aimed at lung and breast cancer. The deal includes a $1.5B upfront payment and could total $11.1B with milestones, advancing next-gen cancer treatments.

• 🌋 Mount Etna Eruption Disrupts Travel: Italy’s Mount Etna erupted Monday, spewing ash and triggering a pyroclastic flow. Tourists fled the area and nearby flights were briefly suspended, but lava remained contained. No injuries were reported.

• 🎙 Marc Maron to End 'WTF' Podcast After 16 Years: After nearly 1,700 episodes, comedian Marc Maron announced he’ll end his long-running “WTF” podcast this fall. He cited burnout but expressed pride in the show’s legacy, which featured guests like Barack Obama and dozens of Hollywood icons.

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