Top News
Before the market opened on Monday, the three major futures indexes showed mixed performance. As of press time, Dow Futures were down 0.10%, Nasdaq Futures were up 0.17%, and S&P Futures increased by 0.03%.
$Star Tech Companies (LIST2518.US)$Pre-market gains were significant, with Qualcomm rising over 12%, Taiwan Semiconductor up more than 3%, and Microsoft and Micron Technologies both exceeding 3%.
$China Concept Stocks (LIST2517.US)$Pre-market trading was mixed, with Hesai gaining over 5%, Nio rising more than 2%, and United Microelectronics falling over 1%.
U.S. stocks$Semiconductors (LIST2015.US)$The stock continued to rise pre-market, with POET Technologies in the optical communication sector climbing over 8% pre-market, following a nearly 29% surge in the previous session.
Individual Stock News
Verizon, the U.S. mobile operator, saw a sharp rise in pre-market trading, currently up nearly 3%.
In terms of news, $Verizon (VZ.US)$Q1 operating revenue reached $34.4 billion, an increase of 2.9% year-over-year; adjusted earnings per share stood at $1.28, reflecting a 7.6% year-over-year growth.
Meta Bets Big on Space-Based Power Generation! Secures Future Capacity from Overview Energy to Meet AI Data Center Demand
Meta Platforms is seeking to harness solar energy collected in space to power its artificial intelligence (AI) data centers, addressing its seemingly insatiable demand for electricity through an innovative approach. On Monday, Meta announced an agreement with startup Overview Energy to secure up to 1 gigawatt of space-based solar power. One gigawatt of electricity is roughly equivalent to the output of a nuclear reactor.
Meta declined to disclose the financial terms of the agreement. Under the deal, Meta will have priority access to Overview Energy’s future power generation capacity. Both parties stated that commercial power supply is expected to be achieved by 2030. In a statement, Nat Sahlstrom, Meta’s Vice President of Energy and Sustainability, said the company hopes Overview Energy can provide it with clean and 'uninterrupted energy.'
AI Is Not a Threat but a Boon! Analyst: Cybersecurity Leader Palo Alto Networks Reaches New Growth Inflection Point, Ideal Time for Investment.
Since 2026, the U.S. cybersecurity sector has been hit twice by concerns over 'AI disruption.'$Palo Alto Networks (PANW.US)$ The stock price subsequently retreated. Although Palo Alto Networks' share price has seen some recovery recently, the market may still not fully reflect its core competitiveness in the AI security field and long-term growth potential.
Financial analyst Forward Analytics believes that for Palo Alto Networks, the rapid adoption of AI is not an impact but a structural growth opportunity. As a leader in the cybersecurity field, Palo Alto Networks remains significantly undervalued. Therefore, analysts maintain a 'Buy' rating with a target price of $216, offering a 21% upside from the current share price.
Supply chain disruptions caused by Iran conflict led to a 5.8% decline in Toyota Motor’s March sales, while production increased by 3.9% against the trend.
Due to declining demand for the core popular model RAV4 before its facelift, $Toyota Motor (TM.US)$ March sales declined; at the same time, supply chain disruptions caused by the Iran conflict forced Japan's automotive manufacturing industry to issue warnings about production cuts. Toyota Motor announced on Monday that its global sales (including subsidiaries Daihatsu and Hino) fell 5.8% year-on-year to 983,126 units in March, while global production grew 3.9% to 1.02 million units.
These figures indicate that despite rising prices for aluminum and other raw materials caused by turbulence in the Middle East, which also increased auto parts costs, the world's largest automaker has managed to maintain stable production. Given that approximately 70% of Japan’s automotive industry relies on aluminum supplies from the Middle East, output may further decrease.
Optimism in AI trading makes a strong comeback: NVIDIA surpasses the $5 trillion market cap milestone, as Wall Street rallies for infrastructure allocation.
The S&P 500 Index and Nasdaq Composite Index are at historical highs, with the rapid rise of semiconductor stocks reigniting enthusiasm for AI-related trading. Last Friday, $NVIDIA (NVDA.US)$ market capitalization broke through the $5 trillion mark, while Intel (INTC.US) recorded its strongest single-day gain since 1987.
This fervor reflects growing investor focus on the infrastructure required to run 'Agent AI,' a model where robots or agents perform tasks on behalf of users. The explosive growth of such applications has driven up demand for central processing units (CPUs) — like those produced by Intel.
A 'new giant' has emerged in the pharmaceutical industry! Sun Pharmaceutical acquires Organon for $11.75 billion.
Indian pharmaceutical company Sun Pharma said on Sunday that it has agreed to acquire through an all-cash transaction $Organon & Co (OGN.US)$ , valuing the company at $11.75 billion in one of the largest healthcare industry deals this year.
Under the agreement, Organon's shareholders will receive $14 per share in cash. The transaction has been approved by the boards of both companies and is expected to be completed in early 2027, subject to regulatory approvals and approval from Organon's shareholders.
Global Macro
"Super Central Bank Week" is here! All G7 central banks will take the stage this week.
Some of the world's most important central banks may provide investors with new reasons to sell government bonds, as policymakers find themselves compelled to confront inflationary shock risks triggered by geopolitical conflicts. The Federal Reserve, the European Central Bank, and the central banks of Japan, the United Kingdom, and Canada will all make interest rate decisions this week. This creates an exceptionally rare week where all G7 central banks gather to collectively decide monetary policies that govern half of the global economy. Although investors expect them to remain on hold, markets will be highly vigilant for any signals indicating whether officials, including Fed Chair Powell and ECB President Lagarde, are concerned about the inflationary threat posed by unprecedented oil supply disruptions caused by U.S.-Iran tensions.
Goldman Sachs warns! Aggressive rebound pushes U.S. stocks to new highs, as hedge funds seize the opportunity to aggressively cut positions.
Traders from Goldman Sachs’ prime brokerage division revealed that hedge funds are reducing their risk exposure amid the U.S. stock rally. Analysis from Vincent Lin’s Goldman Sachs team showed that during last week’s sharp rebound of the S&P 500 Index to new record highs, hedge funds reduced the total size of their long and short equity positions, marking the largest reduction since September last year.
In a report to clients, they stated, 'The total leverage of U.S. long-short equity strategies fell by 4.6 percentage points last week due to the largest decline in nominal gross positions in U.S. equities over the past seven months, primarily driven by the unwinding of individual stock risk positions.'
From a technical perspective, the S&P 500 Index has recently experienced one of the strongest rebounds on record. Measured by the 14-day Relative Strength Index, the index transitioned from oversold to overbought territory in just 12 days, marking an exceptionally rapid shift.
Starmer Calls Emergency Meeting Ahead of Key Interest Rate Decision! The Bank of England to Attend Discussions on the Impact of the Middle East War
UK Prime Minister Starmer will chair an emergency government response committee meeting on Tuesday, focusing on the impact of the Middle East war. Representatives from the Bank of England are expected to attend. In a speech to union members on Monday, Starmer stated, 'Tomorrow, I will convene an emergency committee meeting to discuss the impacts of the war and have invited relevant personnel from the Bank of England to ensure that you believe we stand with the working people during this crisis.' He added, 'I must be frank with everyone about the situation in the Middle East, as its economic repercussions may persist for some time.' Citing fuel prices as an example, he noted that related costs have already risen.
The Bank of Japan to Meet Tomorrow: Rate Hike Expectations Dashed, But This Marks the Start of a Dangerous Phase
The Bank of Japan meets tomorrow, with the interest rate derivatives market pricing in only a 7% probability of a rate hike, making no change almost a certainty. However, the real underestimated risk is not the meeting itself—calculations by BCA Research show that after the unwinding of carry trades in August 2024, related positions have quietly been rebuilt to three times their size at that time; the approximately 300 basis points interest rate differential between the Federal Reserve and the Bank of Japan cannot be narrowed in the short term, and carry trades continue to accumulate. The last time only one-tenth of the positions were unwound, it triggered a 12% single-day drop in the Nikkei 225 and a 13% decline in the Nasdaq 100 over three weeks. What Kazuo Ueda says the day after tomorrow will not determine the size of this bomb, but only influence the length of its fuse.
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