The U.S. labor market showed surprising resilience with strong job growth, yet consumer sentiment plummeted to a record low, dragged down by soaring gas prices and tariffs related to the ongoing war with Iran. In the corporate world, the artificial intelligence boom fueled blockbuster earnings for chipmakers like AMD and led to a major preliminary agreement for Intel to manufacture chips for Apple, a deal pushed by the current administration. Meanwhile, the airline industry was shaken by the complete shutdown of Spirit Airlines, which blamed high fuel costs, while GameStop launched an audacious $56 billion unsolicited bid to acquire e-commerce giant eBay. Adding to market uncertainty, a U.S. trade court ruled the president's latest global tariffs illegal, even as high-profile legal battles, such as Elon Musk's lawsuit against OpenAI, continued to unfold. 

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