Investopedia Markets News (all except PF)

Even with Wednesday's losses, Super Micro Computer shares are up about 11% since the start of the year.
Credit: Thomas Fuller / SOPA Images / LightRocket / Getty Images

Key Takeaways

• Super Micro Computer shares plunged Wednesday after the server maker announced a new stock sale to raise money for parts needed to meet AI orders.
• The tech company is the latest to raise extra capital to support AI demand.

Super Micro Computer's stock is taking a bigger hit than most today, after the company said it plans to raise funds to meet AI demand.

Shares of Super Micro Computer (SMCI) were down over 20% in recent trading, leading the S&P 500's decliners, a day after the server maker said it will raise $7 billion to buy parts needed to meet a new wave of orders. The slump also comes amid a broader pullback in tech stocks, extending the sector's sell-off.

Supermicro said it will raise $5 billion through underwritten stock offerings, with another $2 billion coming from an at-the-market offering program, with most of the proceeds used to boost supply to meet about $39 billion in orders it recently received. The company is the latest in the tech sector to announce a new fundraising effort to cover costs related to AI, following Google parent Alphabet (GOOGL, GOOG) just earlier this month.

Why This Matters to Investors

Supermicro's announcement comes as investors are increasingly scrutinizing spending and fundraising plans from tech companies spending heavily on AI.

Fundraising efforts through stock sales can often lead to a decline in a company's shares, as current shareholders react to news that their current stakes could be diluted. Supermicro also raised new funds through a $2 billion convertible bond sale last year.

Supermicro's stock has trended lower over the last week alongside the broader tech trade, erasing much of its gains for the year after getting a boost from better-than-expected forecasts in recent months. The shares are still up about 11% for 2026, though they're nearly 40% off their highs at the start of the month.

The shares, which have been rocked by a series of scandals in recent years, have lost about one-quarter of their value over the past 12 months.

A tech stock sell-off wiped out nearly $480 billion from the S&P 500 on Tuesday.
Credit: Photo by Mario Tama / Getty Images

Key Takeaways

• U.S. stocks appear to be taking their cues from the bond market, according to Peter Boockvar, chief investment officer at One Point BFG Wealth Partners, with 10-year Treasury yields the signal to watch.
• CNN's Fear & Greed Index has moved into "fear" territory, a notch higher than its "neutral" reading last week.

Tech-stock investors might be suffering from some remorse after buying the latest dip.

After weeks of plowing dollars into the AI trade, driving chip stocks and shares of tech majors ever higher, those hot shares are now getting panned, with the tech-focused Nasdaq Composite dropping Wednesday to extend a recent pullback. The moves lower are accompanied by rising signals of investor worry: CNN's Fear & Greed Index is near "extreme fear" levels, while the VIX, a measure of expected volatility, has risen this week.

Roughly half a trillion dollars in market value was clipped from tech-sector and Magnificent 7 stocks yesterday, according to Fundstrat. AI stocks recently got "far above their moving averages"—a measure of share-price moves over time, they are a signal of the direction and intensity of momentum—and "usually chart patterns like that are unsustainable," said Peter Boockvar, chief investment officer at One Point BFG Wealth Partners, on CNBC today.

WHY THIS MATTERS TO YOU

U.S. stock investors appear to be on edge after bidding up tech stocks to levels some experts have called "unsustainable."

The tech sector pulled back from "extremely overbought levels," according to Tim Hayes, chief global strategist at Ned Davis Research, describing a technical measure that occurs when an asset's price rises quickly amid aggressive buying and that can herald a reversal.

Some markets experts say that what comes next for stock investors will likely depend on how bond markets react to inflation readings, one of which landed this morning and another that comes tomorrow; higher rates tend to be bad news for tech stocks, making safer investments look more attractive. Some, though, are likening this tech sell-off to a rotational move, with investors taking profits to lock in gains and look for assets at more reasonable valuations or buy more defensive picks.

The "line in the sand" for equity markets would appear to be the 10-year Treasury yield at 4.5%, Boockvar added, with stocks "less comfortable" when it's above that level and "more comfortable" below. That means inflation concerns are top of mind. Stocks swooned after the Consumer Price Index report this morning showed the impact of higher energy prices and the 10-year yield ticked up to 4.532%.

"We'll be watching to see how bond yields respond to the inflation reports and how that response affects the Tech sector and broader market," said Hayes. "Considering how overbought the sector remains, there may not be much margin for error if bond yields surprise on the upside."

Investors generally to focus on the CPI report, but the Producer Price Index report, due tomorrow, will show how higher energy prices are affecting businesses. "What we're hearing from companies is that everyone's experiencing another cost shock," Boockvar said, referencing last year's tariff-induced one. "Some companies are finding it easier to pass it on to us more than others."

Even as SpaceX rocket launches have increased sixfold since 2020, the company is spending far more on other parts of its business.
Credit: Bloomberg / Getty Images

Key Takeaways

• SpaceX's IPO price values the company at about $1.8 trillion, driven by satellite-internet and AI, not rockets.
• Starlink's subscriber growth makes its Connectivity business the company's primary revenue driver, supplying about 61% of 2025 revenue.
• The AI business consumed $13 billion in 2025 capital expenditures, more than the rest of the company combined.

SpaceX's IPO prospectus may talk of extending "the light of consciousness to the stars," but its real pitch to investors is terrestrial: a satellite-internet business that pays the bills and an AI bet that might not.

The company priced its stock at $135 a share this week in the largest IPO in history, which would raise about $75 billion and value the company at about $1.8 trillion. Its prospectus still sells a future on Mars—one of CEO Elon Musk's pay milestones is tied to settling a million people there—yet revenue has been growing faster for SpaceX's other businesses. More immediately, it's set to start trading on Friday.

Space: More Launches But Modest Revenue Growth

SpaceX is made up of three major businesses: Space, Connectivity and AI. The Space business has the best economics of the three, with gross margins of 67% in 2025.

Launches have increased about sixfold since 2020, to 170 last year. The reusable Falcon 9 boosters have cut the cost of reaching orbit by roughly 85% from the historical average, the prospectus says. But its space revenue grew only about 8% last year—fine for most companies, yet hard to square with the growth baked into a valuation that's quintupled since late 2024.

The rockets get the prospectus's best lines—Mars colonies, the light of consciousness—but the smallest claim on its future growth. The prospectus estimates the Space business's total addressable market (TAM) at $370 billion, compared with $1.6 trillion for connectivity.

Connectivity: The Company's Revenue Driver

SpaceX's Starlink satellite-internet service "carried the company in 2025," Aswath Damodaran, the New York University professor and valuation specialist, wrote recently. In the first quarter this year, the number of subscribers doubled year over year to 10.3 million, and revenue climbed 32%.

Monthly revenue per subscriber fell by a quarter over the same period, from $86 to $66, but subscriber growth more than made up for the price drop. This is the business carrying SpaceX today, supplying about 61% of its 2025 revenue.

xAI: Where the Money Is Going

SpaceX's artificial-intelligence arm, xAI, is the newest and most expensive of the three, and the one backing the company's biggest ambitions. Last year, it absorbed $12.7 billion of its 2025 capital expenditures, more than the Space and Connectivity segments combined. xAI's margins are also the lowest among the three main businesses and are falling, squeezed by competition and the costs of data centers that support its AI growth.

A bright spot SpaceX highlighted in its prospectus: Colossus, xAI's computing center, has been leased to AI lab Anthropic for $1.25 billion per month, though each company can give 90 days' notice to exit the contract.

The prospectus puts this segment far ahead of the others in potential growth, pegging xAI's TAM at $26 trillion (93% of the company's total), a figure that Damodaran said "borders on fantasy."

This article was first published on June 10, 2026. It was updated to reflect the official pricing of the deal.

Wednesday's inflation report eased some worries on Wall Street that interest rates may need to rise this year.
Credit: Michael Nagle / Bloomberg via Getty Images

Key Takeaways

• Inflation accelerated to a three-year high last month, but core prices rose less than expected, an encouraging sign for investors worried that resurgent inflation could force the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates this year.
• Investors now turn their attention to the Fed's policy meeting next week.

The stock market can resume its rally, according to experts, but resurgent inflation is narrowing the path to new highs.

Inflation accelerated to 4.2% year-over-year in May, its fastest pace since 2023. The increase— consistent with economists' expectations and mainly driven by higher fuel prices—confirms that the conflict in the Middle East continues to push up prices despite a tenuous ceasefire, and it weighed on markets Wednesday. Still, analysts and investors saw some promising details in Wednesday’s report.

Monthly core inflation, which excludes volatile food and energy prices, came in below expectations at 0.2%. That’s “an encouraging sign for investors, suggesting less of a need for the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates if inflationary pressures stay more contained than previously expected,” said Josh Jamner, senior investment strategy analyst at ClearBridge Investments. 

Why This Is Important

Interest rate hikes generate headwinds for stocks by raising the cost of capital, constraining economic growth and making bonds a relatively more attractive investment. Stocks entered a bear market the last time surging inflation forced the Federal Reserve to raise rates in early 2022.

Wednesday’s report nudged Wall Street’s expectations for interest rates marginally lower. Traders now see a 1% chance that the Fed cuts rates once before the end of the year, up from less than 0.5% yesterday. The 10-year Treasury yield was recently at 4.52%, down from 4.54% immediately before the release. Traders are watching the 4.6% level, said Jay Woods, chief market strategist at Freedom Capital Markets, of the 10-year yield.

“We do not want to see new highs in the yield as that could accelerate a further downward move in equities," Woods said. The S&P 500 is down about 3% over the past week, with most of that coming on Friday when a strong jobs report forced investors to seriously consider the possibility of rate hikes this year. 

Investor attention will now turn to the Federal Reserve’s interest rate meeting next week. “Expect the Fed to remain on hold while removing any bias toward additional easing,” wrote Jeffrey Roach, chief economist at LPL Financial on Wednesday. 

Wall Street will also be focused on traffic in the Strait of Hormuz, the closure of which caused oil prices to jump to their highest level since 2022 earlier this year. Traffic remains at a near standstill with both the U.S. and Iran blocking shipping while they negotiate an agreement to end the war. Experts warn the longer the strait is closed, the greater the risk that high oil prices spill over into core inflation. 

“The stock market has been climbing a wall of worry and has been able to rally on stronger earnings and stable interest rates,” said Chris Zaccarelli, chief investment officer at Northlight Asset Management. Stocks can continue to rise if Middle East shipping returns to normal over the course of the year, taking pressure off inflation and allowing the Fed to leave rates unchanged, he said.

“But if things stay as they currently are," Zaccarelli said, "then all bets are off.”

Take a Number: A Striking Figure in Economics News Today

High gas prices are pumping up inflation, which is likely to remain above the Fed's 2% annual goal.
Credit: Spencer Platt / Getty Images

Key Takeaways

• Inflation has been above the Federal Reserve’s annual target for more than five years.
• Persistent inflation increases the likelihood that the Fed will keep interest rates elevated for longer, maintaining pressure on borrowing costs across the economy.

A key inflation rate has likely exceeded the Federal Reserve's target for more than five years in a row, and it's dragging on the economy.

The Fed's preferred inflation measure has remained above the central bank's 2% annual target for 62 months, and a report on Wednesday indicated it likely rose again in May.

The Consumer Price Index, excluding energy, rose 2.9% over the year in May. The Fed uses a different inflation gauge called core Personal Consumption Expenditures as its benchmark, but those two rates typically move in the same direction and stay within a few tenths of a percentage point of one another.

Inflation has been exacerbated by disruptions to the global and U.S. economies since 2021. First, the pandemic tangled supply chains; then, in 2022, the Ukraine war snarled them further; then tariffs raised import prices. Now, the Iran war is pushing up fuel costs amid signs that those price increases are contagious, spilling over into other parts of the economy.

The inflation hot streak has been far shorter than in previous eras. Core CPI inflation was above 2% for 33 years and 3 months between 1966 and 1999.

However, the current run of above-target inflation is the longest since the Fed officially adopted its 2% annual target in 2012. The Federal Reserve adopted the benchmark to be more transparent about how they set interest rates.

The longer inflation stays above 2%, the greater the pressure on the Federal Reserve to keep its key interest rate higher for longer, or even raise it, to lower inflation by pushing up borrowing costs across all kinds of loans.

Because of persistent inflation, traders now expect the central bank to raise its key interest rate this year. That means households will have to contend with even higher borrowing costs as they navigate higher prices, particularly at the gas pump.

"The Fed’s priority right now remains inflation, and we expect them to ditch their easing bias at the FOMC meeting next week," wrote Scott Anderson, chief U.S. economist at BMO Capital Markets Economic Research. "The potential for future rate hikes is still very much on the table."

The proliferation of "flation" terms in the lexicon is an indication of how much concern the public has about the rising cost of living.
Credit: Frederic J. Brown / AFP / Getty Images

What You Need to Know

• The number of words ending in the suffix "flation" has expanded as concerns about high inflation have intensified.
• In linguistic terms, "flation" is a libfix, or a word part that's been chopped loose from its original root word.
• Prominent forms of inflation include greedflation, stagflation, and even Swiftflation after the musician Taylor Swift.

The suffix "flation" is everywhere in the financial world these days, and the number of such words seems to be increasing at an accelerating rate—you might even call it "flation"-flation.

These arise, of course, from "inflation," or the persistent rise in price levels, which has gotten a lot of attention lately as the Iran war pushes up costs for gasoline and just about everything else, straining household budgets. A government report released Wednesday showed that consumer prices rose 4.2% in the 12 months ending in May, marking the highest rate of inflation in three years.

The focus on inflation has spawned a growing multitude of other "flation" words to describe various aspects of the widespread price increases. Linguists call this phenomenon a "libfix," or a suffix that people have chopped loose from its original stem word and liberated in order to stick on to other terms. Etymologist Michael Quinion lists "flation" in his online dictionary of affixes, or word parts that are added to other root words.

Why This Matters

The proliferation of "flation" terms in the lexicon is an indication of how much concern the public has about the rising cost of living.

Here are some of the more prominent "flations" we’re hearing about:

Shrinkflation:

When companies reduce the size of their products without changing the price. The Bureau of Labor Statistics, the government agency behind the Consumer Price Index inflation gauge, actually gathers data on shrinkflation.

Skimpflation:

Similar to shrinkflation, when companies save money by reducing the quality of a product while keeping the price the same. Both shrinkflation and skimpflation mean customers get less bang for their bucks.

Tipflation:

The phenomenon where you’re asked for tips in more and more places—one Investopedia writer was asked for a tip buying merchandise at a Pearl Jam concert, for example.

Trumpflation:

A term used by critics of President Donald Trump’s economic policies to highlight the source of price pressures stemming from tariffs, immigration crackdowns and the Iran war, among other things.

Subscriptionflation:

The phenomenon of subscriptions draining personal finances, especially when they go up in price without the knowledge of the subscriber. In one survey in 2022, people underestimated how much they were paying in recurring automatic payments by an average of $133 per month.

Cheapflation:

The fact that during the recent bout of inflation, prices for cheaper products have gone up more dramatically than their high-end counterparts. One study found budget-brand coffee prices rose 36.4% between 2020 and 2023 versus 9.7% for luxury brands.

Chipflation:

Not to be confused with the above, analysts at Morgan Stanley reportedly used the term this month to describe the rapid increase in computer chip prices because of massive demand from the construction of data centers for AI software. Chipflation is affecting the affordability of electronic devices and even broader inflation, they said, as quoted by Reuters.

Greedflation:

When companies raise prices to increase their profits, while using inflation as an excuse. This practice of businesses attempting to make as much money as possible is also known as "capitalism." When inflation surged after the pandemic, corporate profit margins also rocketed skyward, fuelling accusations of widespread greedflation, although this is debated among economists.

Swiftflation:

It’s her, yeah, she’s the problem, it’s her: "Swiftflation" or "Swiftonomics" describes how rabid demand for Taylor Swift tickets during her 2023-2024 Eras tour drove up prices in places where she held concerts. For example, hotel and air-fare prices surged by double-digit percentages in 2023 when the singer came to town, the Singapore Business Times reported.

Funflation:

The increase in costs for live entertainment. Tickets for movies, theaters, and concerts have risen 30% since before the pandemic, higher than the 28% for the total Consumer Price Index according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Can Taylor Swift be blamed for this too?

Stagflation:

Quinion flags this as the oldest "flation" compound, a portmanteau dating back to Britain in 1965: it describes an economy with stagnant growth and suffering from high inflation at the same time, which pretty well described the U.S. in the 1970s. Fears about stagflation arose last year when the job market slowed down at the same time inflation was increasing. Since then, however, the job market has improved so those concerns have diminished.

Even with Wednesday's gains, Cracker Barrel shares are down about 17% over the last 12 months
Credit: Joe Raedle / Getty Images

Key Takeaways

• Cracker Barrel shares rallied Wednesday after the restaurant and store operator posted a surprise profit.
• The chain has been looking to drive a sales recovery after a difficult 2025 that saw its stock lose half its value.

Cracker Barrel's stock is soaring on signs of progress in its turnaround efforts.

Shares of Cracker Barrel (CBRL) were up over 25% in recent trading, a day after the restaurant operator posted a surprise profit and lifted its outlook for the full year. Cracker Barrel reported $797.37 million in sales during its fiscal third quarter, down 3% year-over-year but a smaller decline than analysts expected, with adjusted earnings per share of 29 cents, when analysts had called for a loss.

The company also raised its full-year revenue forecast to $3.27 billion to $3.3 billion, up from $3.24 billion to $3.27 billion previously, as CEO Julie Masino said the company is "well-positioned to sustain this new momentum."

With Wednesday's gains, Cracker Barrel shares are up more than 80% since the start of the year, but still about 17% off where they were a year ago.

Why This Matters to Investors

The stronger-than-expected performance from Cracker Barrel could be taken as an encouraging sign for the company's turnaround after the stock slumped last year.

Masino said during Tuesday's earnings call that the chain is introducing new menu items and "leaning into value" to draw in new customers, per an AlphaSense transcript.

The company is still recovering from a difficult 2025 after an unsuccessful rebranding effort and a decline in traffic to its restaurants and stores. Cracker Barrel has laid out plans to drive a sales recovery, including soliciting feedback from loyal customers, and boosting its marketing spend while making some changes at the executive level.

The stock lost just over half of its value in 2025, hitting its lowest point in more than a decade near the end of last year.

Gas prices are one of the main contributing factors to inflation.
Credit: Graeme Sloan / Bloomberg via Getty Images

Key Takeaways

• The Consumer Price Index rose 4.2% over the year in May, the highest since 2023 and matching forecaster expectations.
• The increase was mainly due to a surge in energy prices because of the Iran war is cutting off oil supplies.
• Concerns about the cost of living flared up amid the pandemic and have lingered in its aftermath.

An official government report has confirmed what you may have already noticed at the gas station and grocery store: inflation is on the rise.

The Consumer Price Index rose 4.2% over 12 months in May, the Bureau of Labor Statistics said Wednesday. That's up from a 3.8% annual increase in April and the highest since April 2023. The jump was in line with forecasters' expectations.

The increase mainly reflects a surge in fuel prices driven by the Iran war. Fighting has effectively cut off oil supplies that would normally flow through the Strait of Hormuz between Iran and Oman. Core prices excluding food and energy rose 2.9% over 12 months, up from 2.8% in April, an indication that higher transportation costs are being passed along into other products.

“Americans are getting squeezed financially by inflation that’s back at a three-year high," Heather Long, chief economist at Navy Federal Credit Union, wrote in a commentary. "It’s not just bad vibes about the economy now; there are real financial pressures, especially on middle-class and lower-income households."

What This Means For The Economy

Although inflation is running high and squeezing household budgets, the smaller-than-expected uptick of core inflation reduces pressure on the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates later in the year.

Although gasoline prices have fallen since late May, they remain well above pre-war levels, with a gallon of regular averaging $4.15, up from $2.98 at the end of February, according to AAA. The price hikes have added to the cost-of-living worries that have piled up since the pandemic: key inflation measures have been above the Federal Reserve's 2% annual target since 2021.

The rise in energy prices, which were up 23.5% over the last year, more than offset decreases in the prices of new cars, car insurance, and household furnishings. Energy was responsible for more than 60% of the increase, the bureau said.

Rising inflation is eating into household budgets, outpacing pay raises. The buying power of a typical hour's pay was down 0.1% in May compared to April, and down 0.7% compared to last May, the bureau said in a separate data release about inflation-adjusted earnings.

The report held a few silver linings for the trajectory of price increases going forward. Core prices rose 0.2% from April, below forecasters' expectations.

Economists generally view core prices as a better guide to persistent inflation trends. The fact that the biggest price hikes were in gasoline and air fares suggested the war-related inflation was less "contagious" than it seemed in April, at least for the time being.

The limited uptick of core inflation could take some of the pressure off the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates later in the year. Some Fed officials have grown increasingly vocal about the possibility of lifting the central bank's fed funds rate, which influences borrowing costs on all kinds of loans. Officials may want to discourage borrowing and spending and allow supply and demand to rebalance.

Relatively tame core inflation takes away some of the urgency for rate hikes, however.

"Overall, this report may be slightly comforting to the Fed, given milder core inflation," Preston Caldwell, chief U.S. economist at Morningstar, wrote in a commentary. "But it’s not too late for high energy prices to spread into the rest of the index."

Whether May is as high as inflation gets depends largely on what happens with the Iran war, especially whether shipping can resume through the strait. Energy prices have fallen on the assumption that the U.S. and Iran are close to a peace deal that would reopen the waterway, but prices could rise again if the negotiations fail to yield progress.

"Based on current prices and market expectations, May should be the peak for energy prices," Caldwell wrote. "As it stands, we should see a large drop in CPI energy when the June data is released. However, current market and futures prices are arguably predicated on a high probability that the Strait of Hormuz will begin reopening within the next month."

Some economists saw evidence that inflation was held in check in May by the reduction in tariffs resulting from the Supreme Court's striking down most of the import taxes President Donald Trump imposed last year. Prices for physical products other than food and energy, the category most influenced by tariffs, actually fell slightly in May, the first such decline in a year. That relief may prove short-lived as the administration moves to impose more tariffs later this summer.

"The reduction in tariffs, even if temporary, may have been serendipitously timed and may be offsetting some of the effects of the spike in energy prices on core inflation," David Royal, chief investment and financial officer at Thrivent, wrote in a commentary.

Update, June 10, 2026ı—This article has been updated after publication with more detail from the CPI report and commentary from experts.

News of the day for June 10, 2026

The S&P 500 and Nasdaq closed lower yesterday but well above their intraday lows.
Credit: Michael M. Santiago / Getty Images

Stock futures are lower Wednesday as investors await key inflation data and keep tabs on developments in the Middle East; the Consumer Price Index for May is expected to show the highest inflation reading in three years as the economy absorbs the impact of the Iran war; Oracle is slated to release its quarterly results after the closing bell; Super Micro Computer shares are tumbling after the hardware maker announced a $7 billion fundraising effort; and Cracker Barrel shares are climbing after the restaurant chain posted a surprise profit and lifted its outlook. Here's what you need to know today.

Futures Fall as Tech Stocks Remain Under Pressure

Stock futures are losing ground this morning as weakness in the tech sector continues to weigh on the overall market. Futures tied to the S&P 500 and the tech-heavy Nasdaq were recently down 1% and 1.6%, respectively, while Dow Jones Industrial Average futures fell 0.9%. The iShares Semiconductor ETF (SOXX) was down 3% ahead of the opening bell. On Tuesday, the S&P 500 and Nasdaq each closed lower though well above their intraday lows, while the Dow ticked higher.

Gold futures were down 2.5% at $4,175, trading at their lowest level since last November. WTI crude oil futures were up 2% at $90 per barrel as the U.S. and Iran traded strikes early this morning after the U.S. blamed Iran for the crash of an American military helicopter, and Iran responded by attacking other countries in the region. Bitcoin was trading just below $61,000, down from yesterday's high near $64,000. The 10-year Treasury yield, which influences rates on a variety of consumer loans, was at 4.54%, up from yesterday's close of 4.52%.,

Key Inflation Report Due This Morning

Investors are anxiously awaiting the release of inflation data this morning amid concerns that the Federal Reserve will be forced to raise interest rates this year to contain price increase. The Consumer Price Index report for May, due at 8:30 a.m. ET, is expected to show that prices rose 4.2% in May from a year ago, which would mark the highest level of inflation since April 2023. Economists estimate that "core" inflation, which excludes volatile food and fuel prices, stood at 2.9% last month, up from 2.8% the previous month. Prices have surged since the start of the the Iran war, as the dramatic slowdown in shipping through the Strait of Hormuz sent oil prices skyrocketing, which has led to price increases across the economy. Inflation is running well above the Fed's 2% annual target. The Fed's policy committee is due to meet next week to discuss interest rates. It will be the first meeting under new chairman Kevin Warsh.

Oracle to Release Earnings After Closing Bell

Cloud services giant Oracle (ORCL) is scheduled to release its quarterly results after the closing bell . The company is expected to report another quarter of strong revenue and profit growth, but analysts have said the focus will likely be on updates about Oracle's construction of new data centers and the massive fundraising effort it has undergone to finance the project. Shares have pulled back alongside the broader tech sector recently and were down another 3% in premarket trading.

Supermicro Stock Drops on Plans to Raise Money For AI Spending

Shares of Super Micro Computer (SMCI) are falling after the chip and server maker announced plans to raise $7 billion to fund purchases of equipment and components needed to increase production and meet the $39 billion in orders it has received recently. Supermicro said it will raise $5 billion through underwritten stock offerings, with another $2 billion coming from an at-the-market offering program. Supermicro shares were down 12% ahead of the opening bell, the latest sign that investors are uneasy about the number of companies raising new capital to pay for AI needs.

Cracker Barrel Stock Climbs on Surprise Profit, Raised Outlook

Cracker Barrel (CBRL) stock is rallying after the restaurant operator posted a surprise profit in its fiscal third quarter and lifted its outlook for the full year. Cracker Barrel said late Tuesday that it generated $797.4 million in sales in the quarter, down 3% year-over-year but a smaller drop than analysts had forecast, with adjusted earnings per share of 29 cents, well above the loss analysts had forecast. The company raised its sales and adjusted EBITDA forecasts as CEO Julie Masino said the company is "well-positioned to sustain this new momentum." Shares were up 11% recently after entering the day down 40% in the last 12 months.

Adobe shares have lost nearly a third of their value since the start of the year.
Credit: Jeff Spicer / Getty Images / SXSW London

Key Takeaways

• Adobe's latest earnings report is set to be released Thursday afternoon, and traders expect a sizable swing from the software stock to follow.
• The Photoshop maker is projected to report growing sales and profits, but analysts are cautious on Adobe's outlook for the rest of the year amid worries about growing competition.

Adobe is scheduled to report earnings after the closing bell Thursday, with traders anticipating a big move from the Photoshop maker's stock following the results.

Based on current options pricing, Adobe (ADBE) shares are seen swinging up to 8.5% in either direction by the end of the week. A move of that size from Tuesday's close could see shares rise as high as $258, recovering some of their recent losses, or drag them down to $217, which would be their lowest level since early 2019.

Adobe shares have given up nearly a third of their value since the start of the year, and more than 40% in the last 12 months, as worries about AI disrupting the software market have battered the stock. The shares were also pressured following Adobe's last earnings report in March, when the company announced longtime CEO Shantanu Narayen will step down once a successor is found.

Why This Matters to Investors

Thursday's report will give Adobe executives their latest chance to convince investors that their business is not being substantially disrupted by developments in AI products.

Jefferies analysts said that investors will likely focus on the company's CEO transition and any changes to Adobe's outlook. Citi analysts, who said they are "cautious" ahead of the report, voiced some concern about risks to Adobe's full-year forecasts from growing competition.

Adobe is seen reporting fiscal second-quarter revenue of $6.45 billion, up about 10% year-over-year, along with adjusted earnings per share of $5.81, up from $5.06 a year ago, according to Visible Alpha estimates.

Of the eight analysts with current ratings tracked by Visible Alpha, three have recommended selling the stock, with five neutral ratings. Their mean target around $270 would suggest a close to 14% rise from Tuesday's close, but is still more than a fifth below where the stock started the year.