Growth Ignores The Vibes

 

CLOSING BELL The market climbed Friday after Nvidia kept the AI trade standing and Thursday’s bond scare started to slow slightly. Maybe the swearing-in ceremony of new FOMC chair Kevin Warsh helped calm vigilantes.  Tech led the midday tape again, but the move was not just another mega-cap victory lap. The market spent the week arguing over oil, inflation, Fed hikes, and mortgage rates, then finished by reaching back for the same growth trades that keep surviving every macro warning label.  Speaking of macro signals, consumer sentiment hit a record low in May, according to the University of Michigan's survey. The number hit 44.8, worse than 2022, and worse than in 1978.  On Stocks, $NVDA was most watched post report, but the live chatter spread fast into quantum names like $QBTS and $RGTI, and the wider AI infrastructure crowd in $DELL and $ARM.  Today’s Briefing:  Sector News: Quantum and portable computing trades kept the speculative tape busy  Macro News: Fed speakers and consumer sentiment kept the rate debate alive  Macro News: Trump's spending spree visualized  Pops and Drops & More

AFTER THE BELL Lenovo Lifts Dell, Hardware  Dell, the AI server and PC maker, and HP, the PC and printer giant, ripped Friday after Lenovo’s quarter gave traders a cleaner reason to chase the hardware trade. Strong PC demand and AI infrastructure growth at a major peer turned both U.S. names into sympathy bids before their own earnings tests.  The RIP:  $DELL ( ▲ 16.77% ) rose +17%. $HPQ ( ▲ 15.25% ) jumped +15%. Lenovo fourth-quarter revenue grew 27% to $21.6B. Its Infrastructure Solutions Group revenue rose 37%. Lenovo PC shipments grew 9% to 16.5M in Q1, with 26% global market share.  Check $DELL: Lenovo read-through or hardware chase → Quantum Still Flying  D-Wave and Rigetti, two public quantum computing developers, kept ripping Friday after Washington turned the sector’s funding pitch into a tradable catalyst. IBM got the biggest award, but retail traders chased the smaller names where federal money hits a much louder valuation debate.  The RIP:  $QBTS ( ▲ 14.22% ) rose +14% and $RGTI ( ▲ 19.87% ) climbed +19%. The Commerce Department signed letters of intent for $2.013Bacross 9 quantum companies. IBM is slated for $1B, D-Wave for $100M, and Rigetti for up to $100M.  Jump into the QBTS conversation on Stocks -> Community is bullish, message volume is extremely high across ~53.6K Watchers.  Trending posts:  @Steve_TheBull_Rogers: "$RGTI Guys take a look at RIGETTI'S front door HAHAHA" (post)  @GekkoVsFox1987: "$RGTI Expect to move to $30 which coincides with .382 fib retracement where it will meet some short term resi..." (post)  @Steve_TheBull_Rogers: "$QBTS 8 million in rev to a 8 billion market cap " (post)  @Steve_TheBull_Rogers: "$QBTS Now 11 billion market cap 8m in rev. 400m in cash burn. negative 800m P/S ratio over 900 now This is cr..." (post)  That is the split holders have to watch. IBM gets the quantum foundry credibility, while D-Wave and Rigetti get the momentum trade, with Stocktwits message volume extremely high as bulls call it government validation and bears call the stock moves bigger than the checks.  Check the $QBTS stream: funding spark or frenzy → TRENDING ON STOCKS Pops & Drops $FJET ( ▲ 39.81% )  Starfighters :surged +47% after STARLAUNCH private placement  $HYLN ( ▲ 42.62% )  Hyliion : soared +42% after KARNO data-center power chatter  $BB ( ▲ 18.95% )  BlackBerry : ripped +20% after CIBC conference sparked QNX buzz  $RDW ( ▲ 13.94% )  Redwire : climbed +15% after space trade momentum spread  $QCOM ( ▲ 11.6% )  Qualcomm: surged +12% after chip rally reached mobile semis  $IMPP ( ▲ 10.72% )  Imperial Petroleum : climbed +9% after tanker trade caught bid  $F ( ▲ 9.22% )  Ford: jumped +9% after auto cyclicals caught risk bid  $GNRC ( ▲ 9.02% )  Generac: climbed +9%after backup-power demand chatter  $ROST ( ▲ 8.11% )  Ross : popped +8%after off-price earnings beat  $MRK ( ▲ 5.64% )  Merck: climbed +6%after pharma rotation caught bid  $AXTI ( ▲ 16.37% )  AXT : jumped +16%after semiconductor materials trade heated  $SATG ( ▼ 7.03% )  SATS ETF : fell -3%after EchoStar weakness hit leverage  Q2 2026 Forecast  How are you feeling about the market this Quarter?  Bearish  Bullish  It's Complicated              MACRO NEWS Warsh Meets the Bond Market as he Takes the Reins  Kevin Warsh gets sworn in as Fed chair Friday with the job description already mutating under him. President Trump picked him after a year of demanding lower rates, but rising inflation and climbing bond yields are forcing markets to price the opposite risk: Warsh may have to prove his credibility by entertaining hikes first. Trump rang in the ceremony with his typical speech of economic success, but Warsh looked tired.  “I intend to fill the role of chairman with energy and purpose,” Warsh said, bringing what he called reform-oriented leadership.  The RIP: The Fed funds target range sits at 3.5%-3.75%. The 2-year Treasury yield has climbed above 4.1%, the 10-year nearly touched 4.7% this week, and markets have shifted from debating how soon cuts arrive to pricing real odds of tighter policy if inflation stays hot.  The Iran war scrambled the handoff. Higher oil, tariffs still passing through prices, and an AI capex boom that is adding demand now have Wall Street asking whether standing pat is already too soft. Minutes from the Fed’s April meeting said a majorityof officials thought “some policy firming” could become appropriate if inflation keeps running above 2%.  Jerome Powell, whom the cast of CNBC Halftime Report called the GOAT, is still on the board but has officially left the office of ‘having to make everyone agree on a vote.’  Christopher Waller made that turn louder Friday.The Fed governor, who backed cuts as recently as January, said in Frankfurt the Fed should stop signaling that easing is the default next move and added, “I can no longer rule out rate hikes further down the road if inflation does not abate soon.” The bond market is saying temporary shocks still matter when they arrive in a pile: tariffs, war-driven energy pressure, and an economy still strong enough to absorb higher rates. Trump said Tuesday he would let Warsh “do what he wants to do,” but the first test is whether markets believe him.