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NEWS
Powell: Slow Down, You Crazy Child

Source: tenor

The market fell for the second day, waking up negative after overnight posts from Nvidia and AMD that they would face high costs trying to export their lower-end chips to China. The White House said that, with old tariffs considered, some Chinese goods would see tariffs as high as 245%.

The market doubled its fall after Fed Chair Jerome Powell said the Fed was waiting to see what will happen next, just like the rest of us. 👀

Today’s issue covers Hertz shorts hit hard, Powell preaching ‘slowdown and wait,’ and semiconductor shutdown. 📰

Here’s the S&P 500 heatmap. 1 of 11 sectors closed green, with energy (+0.65%) leading and technology (-6.98%) lagging.

Source: finviz

And here are the closing prices: 

COMPANY NEWS
Shorts Feeling the Hertz 🍩 

Car rental company Hertz $HTZ flew Wednesday afternoon after the firm disclosed Bill Ackman’s Pershing Square bought nearly 4% of shares for $46.5 million.

The stock was up 56%, to a new market cap of $1.76 billion.

According to MarketBeat, nearly 40% of HTZ shares available to trade were shorted, and Bloomberg’s Romaine Bostick remarked that the flying stock could be a sign that shorts are buying to cover their positions. 🤯 

The Stocktwits community seems to be betting on a short squeeze as sentiment enters into ‘extremely bullish’ territory and prices hit 11-month highs. Time will tell! 📈 

Source: Stocktwits.com

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STOCKS
Powell: Slow Down, Vienna Waits For You

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell took the stage late this afternoon at his planned Economic Club of Chicago meeting. The market started to fall further after the news published his planned remarks, which made no indication that the FOMC would adjust rates soon.

Instead, Powell said their technique over the past year has been to slow things down and wait a while.

Powell said the U.S. slowed down in the past quarter, after a solid comeback last year, and large tariffs will likely bring inflation back and slow things down more.

He said that at the end of 2024, inflation was 2.5%, unemployment was low, and the economy was doing well. In March, PCE inflation was even lower, and he thought the economy was at or near maximum employment, though since then, everything has changed.

He said he would not “characterize” what happened, except that the economy is now focused on trade, and the effects of trade policy will likely move the U.S. away from the Fed’s goals.

Dr. Raghu Rajan, Professor at the University of Chicago School of Business, went on to ask Powell some frank questions.

Source: Bloomberg TV

“Some think the Fed will intervene if the stock market crashes: ‘The Fed put.’ Is that correct?”

“No,” Powell said, “I will say ‘no’ with an explanation.”

His explanation? The market was scared, but functioning fine.

He went on to describe how economic uncertainty is hitting all fronts. Households are uncertain where prices will go next, the bond market is pricing in trade with uncertainty, and tariff policy itself is changing every day.

In March, retail sales showed the highest increase for two years, but many suspect that the +1.4% change came from consumers buying more before trade cuts back. Powell said GDP in the quarter will see a climb from this pre-buying. He said don’t wait for a monetary policy life raft any time soon.

“[The Fed] is still waiting to see what the policies ultimately are, and then we can make a better assessment of what the economic effects will be,” Powell said.

The conversation veered into the worst-case scenario- not a falling market, but an illegal removal of Powell, similar to the recently fired FTC leaders. Powell said Congress has the right to remove anyone at the Fed, and doesn’t expect it to happen.

Rajan: “Do you feel like a god?”

Powell laughed.

Source: AP Live Feed, Stocktwits editing skills

He ultimately said his staff does not feel very God-like, but they are “blessed” with a large number of well-paid critics who try to undercut them. 👼 

STOCKS
Other Noteworthy Pops & Drops 📋️ 

Biomerica ($BMRA -26%): Medical diagnostic firm Biomerica fell 26% after the company said it would implement a 1-for-8 reverse stock split of the issued and outstanding shares of its common stock to increase its bid price. Outstanding shares will drop from 20.4 million to about 2.5 million.

LYFT ($LYFT -0.5%): Ride-hailing firm LYFT said it will acquire European multi-mobility app FREENOW for €175 million ($197 million) in cash. The firm said it will nearly double its total addressable market to 300 billion vehicle trips a year.

Abbott ($ABT +3%): Healthcare product manufacturer Abbott climbed after the company’s Q1 earnings of $1.09/share beat estimates, despite a revenue miss. The firm kept its forward guidance steady for 2025.

Ford ($F -0.5%): Car giant Ford made $900 million in earnings before taxes last year, selling cars in China, Reuters reported. Last week, the firm cut its expectations for vehicle sales this year by nearly 10% to 15 million.

The Travelers Companies ($TRV +1%): Travelers Insurance climbed after its Q1 earnings surpassed Wall Street estimates despite a massive hit due to the California wildfires. Total revenue rose 5% YoY, while core income declined 60% to $443 million, and net income fell 65% to $395 million.

Tesla Inc.’s ($TSLA -5%): EV giant Tesla reported a 15% drop in California car registrations in the first quarter, compared to last year’s numbers. It marks the sixth quarter of decline, and the California New Car Dealers Association said it is now a lasting trend.

PRESENTED BY STOCKTWITS
NEW: Options Hour With @EliteOptionsTraders 👀 

Welcome to Options Hour with Brando Le (@EliteOptionsTrader)! In this inaugural episode, he walks through his process and unveils the three macro signals he expects to signal the next real market bottom. Plus:

• The bearish tape & which key S&P 500 levels to watch

• Analysis of Nvidia, Apple, Palantir, and other key leaders

• Gold hitting all-time highs and why $4k could be next

• Tactical trading takeaways to navigate this tough market

COMPANY NEWS
NVDA, AMD Burned By Trade, TSM tomorrow, and Other Burning Earnings  🫠 

It has been a wild ride for semis, and it’s not stopping anytime soon. Nvidia and AMD were leading declines after they both disclosed in SEC filings that new licensing for exported chips would cost them $5.5 billion and $800M this quarter, respectively.

They were not the semiconductor firms hurt today by tariffs.

$ASML fell nearly 7% after the Dutch Semiconductor equipment maker reported earnings this morning. The firm gave underwhelming sales guidance, and blamed tariffs for heightened uncertainty, expecting about EUR7.2 billion, below estimates of EUR7.8 billion. CFO Roger Dassen said it was “impossible” to predict this market.

$TSM fell about 3%, though the Tawaineze semiconductor maker reports tomorrow, AMD is the firm’s largest customer, followed by Nvidia. 🤦 

According to Bloomberg estimates compiled by moomoo, analysts expect TSMC to report a 26.5% revenue growth to 3.66 trillion New Taiwan dollars ($112.6 billion) for the past year, slower than last year’s 33.9%. Despite the news, Stocktwits is betting further on the upside with bullish sentiment.

Source: Stocktwits

WHAT’S ON DECK
Tomorrow’s Top Things 📋

Economic data: European Central Bank Rate Decision (8:15 am), Initial Jobless Claims (8:30 am), Housing Starts/Building Permits (8:30 am), Fed’s Bar Speaks (11:45 am) . 📊

Pre-Market Earnings: Taiwan Semiconductor ($TSM), UnitedHealth Group ($UNH), American Express ($AXP), Blackstone ($BX), Charles Schwab ($SCHW), Ally Financial ($ALLY), D.R. Horton ($DHI), Truist ($TFC), State Street ($STT). 🛏️

After-Hour Earnings: Netflix ($NFLX). 🎧

P.S. You can listen to all of these earnings calls and more straight from the Stocktwits app or website. You’ll find them on the calendar page and individual symbol pages once they’re set to begin! We’ll see you there. 👍

Links That Don’t Suck 🌐

🥳 Join Stocktwits in NYC for the hottest night in social finance. April 30th, The Stand at Union Square. We’ll see you there!

🤠 Meet ‘Captain Condor,’ the Options Trader Whose Crew Can Move Markets

⚠️ Figma confidentially files for IPO more than a year after ditching Adobe deal

😨 White House’s 245% tariff figure for some Chinese products causes confusion

📷️ Inside Mark Zuckerberg’s Failed Negotiations to End Antitrust Case

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