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Shopify, the Canadian e-commerce software company listed in the U.S. and Canada, reported first-quarter revenue above Wall Street expectations, but its second-quarter outlook failed to satisfy investors, sending shares down about 8% in premarket trading.

Revenue reached $3.17 billion, beating the consensus estimate of $3.09 billion. Gross merchandise volume rose to $100.74 billion, up sharply from $74.75 billion a year earlier, while monthly recurring revenue increased to $212 million from $182 million.

Operating income more than doubled to $382 million, compared with $203 million a year ago. Shopify President Harley Finkelstein said the company has entered the AI era with a clear advantage, supported by durable growth and two decades of commerce intelligence.

For the second quarter, Shopify expects revenue growth in the high-twenties percentage range year over year, while gross profit dollars are expected to grow at a mid-twenties rate. The company also forecast operating expenses at 35% to 36% of revenue, stock-based compensation of $145 million, and a free cash flow margin in the mid-teens.

Possible Market Effect: The revenue beat and strong GMV growth confirm Shopify’s solid commerce momentum, but the sharp premarket decline suggests investors wanted stronger margin or cash-flow guidance. The reaction may pressure high-growth software and e-commerce stocks if markets become more sensitive to valuation and expense discipline.

Source: Shopify

Palantir Technologies, the American AI software and defense analytics company, reported its fastest sales growth since at least 2020 and raised its full-year 2026 revenue guidance well above Wall Street expectations. Despite the strong report, shares fell around 3% in premarket trading on Tuesday.

First-quarter revenue reached $1.63 billion, representing 85% YoY growth. The acceleration was driven by the U.S. market, where revenue rose 104% YoY. U.S. commercial revenue surged 133%, while U.S. government revenue climbed 84%. Palantir also closed 206 deals worth at least $1 million during the quarter.

The company raised its full-year revenue guidance to $7.65 billion–$7.66 billion, compared with prior guidance of $7.18 billion–$7.20 billion and Wall Street consensus of $7.2 billion. CEO Alex Karp said the new outlook implies 71% full-year revenue growth, 10 percentage points above the prior guidance, supported by confidence in an accelerating U.S. market.

Profitability also beat expectations. Adjusted income from operations reached $984 million, while adjusted EPS came in at $0.33, above estimates of $0.28. Palantir also raised full-year adjusted income from operations guidance to $4.440 billion–$4.452 billion and adjusted free cash flow guidance to $4.2 billion–$4.4 billion.

Karp said Palantir’s Rule of 40 score reached 145%, placing the company alongside major AI infrastructure names such as NVIDIA, Micron and SK Hynix in terms of growth and profitability momentum.

Possible Market Effect: Palantir’s strong growth and upgraded guidance may reinforce investor confidence in AI software and defense-linked technology demand. However, the premarket decline suggests expectations were already very high, leaving the stock vulnerable to profit-taking despite strong fundamentals.

Source: Palantir Technologies

Pfizer, the American pharmaceutical giant, reported stronger-than-expected first-quarter results, supported by growth in its recently launched and acquired products portfolio.

Adjusted EPS came in at $0.75, beating the analyst consensus of $0.72 by $0.03. Revenue reached $14.5 billion, above expectations of $13.84 billion and up 2% operationally from $13.7 billion a year earlier. Excluding COVID-19 products Comirnaty and Paxlovid, revenue grew 7% operationally.

The strongest performance came from Pfizer’s launched and acquired products portfolio, which delivered 22% operational revenue growth YoY. Key contributors included Padcev, up 39% operationally; Eliquis, up 8%; oncology biosimilars, up 52%; and Nurtec, up 41%. These gains helped offset sharp declines in COVID-19 products, with Comirnaty down 59% operationally and Paxlovid down 63% operationally.

CEO Dr. Albert Bourla said Pfizer is off to a strong start in 2026, highlighting progress in the R&D pipeline, including positive Phase 3 results and encouraging mid-stage data, especially in oncology and obesity.

Pfizer reaffirmed its full-year 2026 guidance, expecting revenue of $59.5 billion to $62.5 billion and adjusted EPS of $2.80 to $3.00. However, the EPS midpoint of $2.90 remains below the analyst consensus of $2.96. Shares rose 0.2% after the results.

Possible Market Effect: The earnings beat and stronger non-COVID product growth may support confidence in Pfizer’s portfolio transition, but the below-consensus EPS guidance midpoint could limit upside in the stock. Investors may focus on whether oncology, obesity, and acquired products can keep offsetting the decline in COVID-related revenue.

Source: Pfizer

Alphabet (GOOGL) supported Wall Street on Tuesday after reports said Anthropic committed to spend about $200 billion over five years on Google Cloud services and chips. The deal strengthens Alphabet’s AI infrastructure story and suggests Anthropic may account for more than 40% of Google Cloud’s disclosed revenue backlog. Latest available pricing showed GOOGL at $388.43, up $5.18 or 1.35%, after touching an intraday high of $399.01.

AMD (AMD) became the main post-earnings focus after reporting stronger-than-expected Q1 results, driven by AI data-center demand. The company posted adjusted EPS of $1.37 and revenue of $10.25 billion, while data-center revenue rose 57%. AMD guided Q2 revenue to about $11.2 billion, above analyst expectations. The stock reportedly surged after hours following the results; latest available pricing showed AMD at $355.26, up $13.71 or 4.01%, with an intraday high of $414.12.

The two moves reinforce the same market theme: investors are still rewarding companies with direct exposure to AI infrastructure, whether through cloud capacity, custom chips, CPUs, GPUs, or data-center demand. Nvidia remains the AI-chip market leader, but AMD’s strong server momentum keeps it positioned as the key challenger in high-performance AI processing. Latest available pricing showed NVDA at $196.50, down 1.01%.

Possible Market Effect: Strong Alphabet and AMD moves may keep Nasdaq and semiconductor sentiment supported, especially if investors continue to price AI infrastructure as a multi-year growth cycle. However, high expectations also raise correction risk if future cloud spending, chip margins, or data-center guidance disappoint.

Source: Reuters, AMD, Investing.com, market pricing data

U.S. stock index futures moved higher early Wednesday after Wall Street closed at record levels on Tuesday. The S&P 500 closed at 7,259.23, up 0.8%, the Nasdaq Composite closed at 25,326.13, up 1.0%, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at 49,298.25, up 0.7%. The rally was supported by easing oil prices, strong corporate earnings, and hopes that tensions around the Strait of Hormuz may de-escalate.

Current futures pricing shows the positive tone continuing. S&P 500 futures traded near 7,309.00, up 21.75 points or 0.30%; Nasdaq 100 futures traded near 28,338.25, up 202.25 points or 0.72%; and Dow Jones futures traded near 49,507.00, up 92.00 points or 0.19%. Bloomberg’s latest futures board showed similar levels, with S&P 500 mini futures at 7,309.25, Nasdaq 100 mini futures at 28,341.50, and Dow mini futures at 49,507.00.

The futures advance followed President Donald Trump’s announcement of a pause in the operation aimed at reopening Hormuz, alongside comments that a deal with Iran was close. That helped investors price a lower near-term risk of further military escalation and a possible easing of oil-driven inflation pressure.

Possible Market Effect: If de-escalation hopes continue, U.S. equities may remain supported, especially technology and AI-linked shares. However, futures are still vulnerable to sudden reversals if Hormuz talks fail, oil rebounds, or bond yields rise again.

Source: Reuters, AP, Investing.com, Bloomberg, Markets Insider

Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), the U.S. semiconductor company based in Santa Clara, California, reported stronger-than-expected first-quarter results and guidance, supported mainly by powerful demand from the artificial intelligence industry.

AMD earned $1.37 per share on an adjusted basis in Q1 2026, beating analyst expectations of $1.27. Revenue reached $10.25 billion, above the expected $9.85 billion. The company also guided for Q2 revenue of about $11.2 billion, plus or minus $300 million, ahead of the $10.50 billion forecast. That guidance implies 50.6% YoY growth and 9.1% QoQ growth.

Shares surged more than 16% in after-hours trading to $413.41, after CEO Lisa Su said AMD’s server and data center momentum remains strong. She said data centers are now AMD’s main revenue driver and that server revenue is expected to jump more than 70% YoY in the current quarter.

AMD’s data center revenue rose 57% YoY to $5.78 billion in Q1, driven by demand for EPYC processors and Instinct GPUs, which are used in cloud computing and AI workloads. The company also highlighted its partnership with Meta, including a $60 billion chip supply deal, with shipments expected to begin in the second half of the year.

AMD also raised its long-term outlook for the broader CPU total addressable market, now expecting it to grow 35% annually and reach just over $120 billion by 2030, compared with its earlier 18% growth forecast in November.

The company’s client and gaming segment generated $3.61 billion in revenue, up 23% YoY, supported by demand for Ryzen processors and Radeon graphics cards. However, AMD warned of some future weakness in this segment due to rising memory and component costs.

AMD remains one of Nvidia’s closest competitors in high-end AI processing hardware. While Nvidia still leads in GPU market share, AMD’s stock has sharply outperformed this year, rising 65.9% YTD, compared with Nvidia’s 5.4% gain and the S&P 500’s 6.1% advance.

Possible Market Effect: AMD’s strong data center results and upbeat AI guidance could reinforce the bullish case for semiconductor and AI infrastructure stocks. The report may also support broader Nasdaq sentiment, but rising component costs and high valuation after a strong YTD rally could make AMD more sensitive to profit-taking.

Source: AMD

Jarrod M. Patten, a director at Strategy Inc. (NASDAQ: MSTR), sold 3,900 shares of the company’s Class A Common Stock for about $676,700 across April 30 and May 1, 2026. The sales were made at prices ranging from $161.61 to $178.08 per share, while the stock has since climbed to $183.97, reflecting Strategy’s high volatility, with a reported beta of 3.56.

The transactions followed the exercise of director stock options. Patten acquired 4,000 shares at $18.654 per share, for a total exercise value of $74,616. On April 30, he exercised options for 1,750 shares and sold 1,750 shares at prices between $161.61 and $165.00. On May 1, he exercised options for another 2,250 shares and sold 2,100 shares at prices between $170.17 and $178.08.

After the transactions, Patten directly holds 28,000 shares of Strategy’s Class A Common Stock. He also holds 10,000 shares of Series A Perpetual Strife Preferred Stock, 29,335 shares of Series A Perpetual Stretch Preferred Stock, and 5,000 shares of Series A Perpetual Stride Preferred Stock.

According to InvestingPro analysis, MSTR currently trades above its Fair Value, placing it among overvalued stocks.

Possible Market Effect: Insider sales after option exercises may attract attention because MSTR is highly sensitive to Bitcoin sentiment and capital-market activity. However, the sales appear linked to option exercises rather than a standalone disposal, so the market impact may remain limited unless followed by broader insider selling or weakness in Bitcoin.

Source: SEC insider filing, InvestingPro

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index fell 0.8%, pressured by a reversal in local technology shares after overnight losses on Wall Street. The pullback came as investors took profits following a strong run in Hong Kong tech stocks over recent weeks.

Technology shares had previously benefited from renewed optimism around artificial intelligence, especially after DeepSeek released a new AI model in late April. That enthusiasm helped drive sharp gains across the sector, but the latest session shows that sentiment has started to cool as traders lock in profits.

The decline suggests Hong Kong’s tech rally remains highly sensitive to both U.S. market direction and AI-related momentum.

Possible Market Effect: Profit-taking in Hong Kong technology shares may weigh on broader China-linked equity sentiment in the short term. If Wall Street tech weakness continues, the Hang Seng could remain under pressure, especially after the recent AI-driven rally.

Source: Hang Seng Indexes, HKEX market data

Australian equities remained under pressure ahead of the Reserve Bank of Australia decision, as higher oil and gas prices linked to the Iran conflict strengthened concerns over another inflation shock. The RBA’s hawkish stance has been reinforced by energy-market disruptions, with Iran-related risks already cited as a key factor behind its earlier rate hike.

The ASX 200 has fallen in 10 of the past 11 sessions leading into the RBA decision, showing how strongly local equities are reacting to the prospect of higher rates. A more restrictive policy outlook is particularly negative for rate-sensitive sectors, consumer stocks, and companies exposed to higher financing costs.

Company-specific pressure also weighed on the index. Westpac Banking, the Australian banking group, fell 1.8% after its fiscal first-half profit missed market expectations. Regis Resources, the Australian gold miner, dropped 4.9% after announcing plans to take over peer Vault Minerals.

Possible Market Effect: If the RBA keeps a hawkish tone, the Australian dollar may find support from higher rate expectations, but the ASX 200 could remain under pressure. Banks, miners, and rate-sensitive sectors may stay volatile as investors weigh inflation risk, earnings quality, and financing costs.

Source: Reserve Bank of Australia, ASX market data, Westpac Banking, Regis Resources

Berkshire Hathaway, the U.S. diversified investment and insurance conglomerate, reported an 18% rise in first-quarter operating earnings in its first results under new Chief Executive Greg Abel, who took over from Warren Buffett at the start of the year.

Operating earnings increased to $11.35 billion, up from $9.64 billion a year earlier. The result shows continued strength across Berkshire’s operating businesses, even as the company remains cautious on capital deployment.

Berkshire’s cash pile climbed to a record $397.38 billion, highlighting the conglomerate’s ongoing difficulty finding acquisitions that meet its value-oriented standards. The company also repurchased $234 million of its own stock during the quarter, its first buybacks since May 2024, although it made no repurchases in the first two weeks of April.

Possible Market Effect: The earnings increase may support confidence in Berkshire’s operating resilience under Greg Abel, but the record cash balance could reinforce investor concerns that attractive large-scale acquisition opportunities remain limited. The modest buyback suggests management is still highly selective on valuation.

Source: Berkshire Hathaway

European stock markets closed sharply lower on Monday as investors reacted to fresh U.S.-Iran tensions in the Strait of Hormuz, rising oil-price risk, and renewed inflation concerns. The STOXX Europe 600 closed at 605.51, down 0.94%, while Germany’s DAX ended at 23,991.27, down 1.24%. France’s CAC 40 closed at 7,976.12, down 1.71%, making it one of the weaker major European benchmarks on the day.

Tuesday’s futures pricing still shows caution, but the picture is mixed. STOXX 600 futures traded at 599.80, down 1.50 points or 0.25%, while DAX futures stood at 24,012.5, down 111.5 points or 0.46%. In contrast, CAC 40 futures traded at 7,896.5, up 26.6 points or 0.34%, suggesting a modest attempted rebound in French equities after Monday’s heavy drop.

The pressure came as Middle East hostilities kept oil and inflation risks elevated. Reuters reported that European equities remain more exposed than U.S. markets to higher commodity prices, while eurozone banks and automakers were among the weakest sectors on Monday. Automakers were also hit by U.S. tariff concerns after President Donald Trump said tariffs on EU cars and trucks would rise to 25%.

Possible Market Effect: If Hormuz tensions keep oil prices elevated, European equities may remain under pressure through higher inflation expectations, weaker margins, and more hawkish ECB pricing. The mixed futures setup suggests investors are not fully capitulating, but risk appetite remains fragile.

Source: Reuters, Investing.com

Pinterest, the U.S. visual discovery and social commerce platform, reported stronger-than-expected first-quarter results, sending shares up 16.7% in after-hours trading on Monday. Adjusted EPS came in at $0.27, beating the $0.23 analyst estimate by $0.04. Revenue reached $1.01 billion, above the $965.44 million consensus estimate and up 18% from $855 million a year earlier.

User growth was the key highlight. Global monthly active users reached an all-time high of 631 million, up 11% YoY, marking the company’s tenth consecutive quarter of double-digit user expansion. CEO Bill Ready said Pinterest continues to benefit from its visual search product experience, where online discovery leads to real-world action.

The company’s second-quarter guidance was also stronger than expected. Pinterest projected revenue of $1.133 billion to $1.153 billion, implying 14%–16% YoY growth. The midpoint of $1.143 billion is above the analyst consensus of $1.12 billion. Adjusted EBITDA for Q2 is expected between $256 million and $276 million.

Profitability was mixed. First-quarter adjusted EBITDA rose 20% to $207 million, compared with $172 million a year earlier. However, Pinterest posted a GAAP net loss of $74 million, versus net income of $9 million in Q1 2025. Free cash flow fell 13% to $312 million, down from $356 million a year earlier. The company also completed $2 billion in share repurchases during the quarter.

Regional growth remained strong outside the U.S. Rest of World revenue jumped 59% YoY to $72 million, while Europe revenue rose 27% to $186 million.

Possible Market Effect: Pinterest’s strong revenue beat, record user base, and above-consensus Q2 guidance could support sentiment toward digital advertising and social commerce stocks. However, the GAAP net loss and lower free cash flow may keep investors focused on margin quality after the post-earnings rally.

Source: Pinterest