Markets Rising, Mood Sinking: What’s Really Going On?

• 📈 Market Indices Update

• 📢 Top 3 Market Stories

• 🔎 Rich & Powerful Are Buying

• 🔥 Underrated Stock of the Week

• 📊 One Chart

• 🗳 Quick Poll

• 🚀 Biggest Market Movers

• 💹 Next Week in Review

📈 Market Indices Update

• S&P 500: ↑ 0.7% to 5,958.38 – Rose on trade optimism and rate cut hopes.

• Dow Jones: ↑ 0.8% to 42,654.74 – Gained as tariffs eased and inflation cooled.

• Nasdaq: ↑ 0.5% to 19,211.10 – Tech climbed on Fed pivot hopes.

• Gold (Spot $/Oz): ↓ 0.55% to $3,206.77 – Fell as risk appetite returned.

• 10-Yr Treasury Yield: ↓ 0.45% to 4.43% – Dropped on rate cut expectations.

• EUR/USD: 1.1161 (−0.24%) – Euro fell as U.S. data beat forecasts.

• USD/JPY: ¥145.38 (−0.86%) – Yen rose on safe-haven demand.

• Bitcoin: ↓ 0.21% to $103,487 – Maintained its price above $100k throughout the week.

Summary: Markets rallied on easing tariffs and soft inflation, fueling Fed cut bets.

^{_{Data as of market close, 4:00pm ET}}

📢 Top 3 Market Stories You Should Care About

1️⃣ Moody’s Downgrades U.S. Credit Rating (Source)

• Moody’s cut the U.S. credit rating to Aa1, citing rising debt and interest costs

• U.S. debt could hit 134% of GDP by 2035.

• All 3 major agencies no longer rate the U.S. as AAA .

• Market Reaction: Could raise borrowing costs and pressure lawmakers

🔎 Why It Matters: A lower rating weakens U.S. financial credibility globally and could lead to higher interest rates on government and consumer debt.

2️⃣ Consumer Sentiment Falls to Near Record Lows Amid Inflation Fears (Source)

• The University of Michigan's consumer sentiment index dropped to 50.8 in May, the 2nd lowest on record.

• Inflation expectations surged, with consumers anticipating +7.3% over the next year.

• Tariffs were cited by nearly 75% of respondents as a primary concern.

• Yet, while consumer sentiment falls, we are nearing a stock market all-time high, is it a lagging indicator ?

3️⃣ Walmart $WMT ( ▼ 0.33% ) to Hike Prices Due to Tariffs (Source)

• Tariff hikes are forcing Walmart to raise prices on key items

• Increases already visible on basics like bananas

• No profit forecast due to cost uncertainty

🔎 Why It Matters: If Walmart raises prices, others will follow—pushing inflation higher just as the Fed eyes rate cuts. This could delay or complicate monetary policy easing.​

🔎 What 5 Rich & Powerful Are Buying

📉 Benjamin Silbermann – Director Sells Pinterest $PINS ( ▲ 0.75% ) 
→ Sold 408,332 shares worth ~$13.5 million
→ Large insider sale may reflect concern over valuation or near-term outlook

📈 Third Point ($12B AUM) – New Stakes in U.S. Steel & Kenvue
→ Bought 12.2M shares of $X ( ▼ 1.06% ) and 8.9M shares of $KVUE ( ▲ 0.54% ) 
→ U.S. Steel deal with Nippon Steel delayed amid U.S. review
→ Kenvue faces pressure to explore divestitures or sale

💰 AMD – $6 Billion Stock Buyback $AMD ( ▼ 1.07% ) 
→ New repurchase plan adds to existing authorization, now ~$10B
→ Shares rose 6.4% on the news despite being down YTD

Appaloosa Management ($17B AUM) – Portfolio Shifts
→ Sold: 350K shares of $FDX ( ▼ 2.2% ) , 1M shares of $INTC ( ▼ 0.51% ) 
→ Bought: 1.25M shares of $AAPL ( ▼ 0.92% ) , 300K shares of $LHX ( ▼ 0.07% ) 
→ Trimmed $NVDA, $AMZN, $MSFT; added to $GOOGL and $META

📉 Jazz Pharmaceuticals – Insider Buy
→ Director bought 101,621 shares of $JAZZ at $98.34 (~$10M total)
→ Largest personal buy to date—strong signal of internal confidence

🔓 IPO Lock-Up Expirations to Watch
→ May 26: Pony.ai $PONY ( ▲ 5.74% ) 
→ June 10: ServiceTitan $TTAN ( ▼ 2.06% ) 
→ Potential for price pressure as early investors become free to sell

🔥 Underrated Stock of the Week: $MASI ( ▲ 0.67% ) (Masimo Corp.)

Company Overview: Masimo is a global medical technology leader focused on noninvasive patient monitoring, hospital automation, and connectivity. Masimo is also expanding into consumer healthcare.

Key Financials & Metrics:

• Stock Price: $155.62

• Market Cap: $9.9B

• EV/EBITDA: 30x

• Revenue Growth: +10% YoY (Q1 2025)

• EPS Growth: +56% YoY ($1.36 vs $0.87)

• Net Profit Margin: -23%

• Debt-to-Equity: 0.7x

• Beta: 1.2

• Analysts’ 12-Month Target: $182 (+17%)

• 30-Day Change: +2.6% | YTD: -5.9%

💪 Pros:

• Strong Q1 performance: Revenue up 10% YoY; Operating margin expanded

• New $77M in contracts signed in Q1; $1.76B in unrecognized revenue backlog

• Divested Sound United to Harman for $350M, sharpening healthcare focus

• New CEO Katie Szyman brings deep medtech experience

Cons:

• Tariff headwinds: Expected $33–$37M in added costs

• Lowered EPS guidance for 2025 ($4.80–$5.15 vs. prior $5.30–$5.60)

• Cyber incident disrupted shipping and impacted Q1 delivery timelines

📊 One Chart That Explains Everything

What That Means Per Household:

• Avg. debt per household: ~$137,000

• Mortgage debt alone: ~$96,000

• Credit card debt: ~$8,800 , growing fastest—up 6% YoY. (based on ~133 million U.S. households)

Why It Matters:

• Higher interest rates mean families are paying more just to stay afloat.

• Credit card use is rising, signaling more Americans are relying on debt for everyday expenses.

• Vulnerability is growing—a job loss or emergency could hit harder now than before.

🗳 Quick Poll

🚀 Biggest Market Movers

📈 Top 3 Winners

• Walmart ($WMT) +8.2% – Beat earnings and raised guidance on strong e-commerce growth.

• Deere & Company ($DE) +7.5% – Surged on strong Q2 results and farm equipment demand.

• Home Depot ($HD) +6.1% – Topped expectations as home improvement spending held steady.

📉 Top 3 Losers

• Applied Materials ($AMAT) -7.8% – Missed revenue and issued weak Q3 guidance.

• Cisco Systems ($CSCO) -6.3% – Revenue miss and cautious outlook on enterprise IT.

• Paycom Software ($PAYC) -5.9% – Slowed growth and weak guidance overshadowed EPS beat.

💹 Next Week in Review (May 20–24, 2025)

🌎 Key Economic Events

• Tue: G7 Finance Ministers Meeting begins

• Thu: Global PMI data (US, UK, Eurozone)

• Fri: UK Retail Sales

📊 Earnings to Watch

• Tue: Home Depot $HD ( ▼ 0.61% ) , Palo Alto Networks $PANW ( ▲ 0.09% ) 

• Wed: Baidu $BIDU ( ▲ 0.1% ) 

• Thu: Snowflake $SNOW ( ▲ 0.46% ), Zoom $ZM ( ▼ 0.25% ), Intuit $INTU ( ▲ 0.05% )