Markets Mostly Up on Mid-East Wheeling, Dealing

Thursday, May 15, 2025

Markets closed mostly up this session on moderately good news rippling through economic concerns throughout the day. With President Trump continuing his tour through the Middle East, we’re seeing a plethora of deals being made there with American corporations:

Boeing BA will send more than 200 jets to Qatar Airways, $142 billion in military equipment investments will go to Saudi Arabia, billions more in Saudi infrastructure with supplies from AMD AMD, Cisco CSCO and others, and 18K AI chips from NVIDIA NVDA will be sent to a company chaired by Mohammed bin Salman, aka MBS.

The Dow gained +271 points today, +0.65%, while the S&P 500 rose +0.41% and the small-cap Russell 2000 +0.52%. The Nasdaq, which has risen +13% over the past month, faltered this afternoon following news reports of an SEC investigation into Coinbase COIN and a cybersecurity hack, sending the stock down -7% today. Also, reports of Meta META delaying its AI rollout has sent those shares down -2.3% today.

Earnings Reports After the Close: AMAT, TTWO, CAVA

Semiconductor equipment maker Applied Materials AMAT posted mixed results in its fiscal Q2 report after today’s closing bell, beating the Zacks consensus on earnings by 8 cents to $2.39 per share on revenues which were a smidge light of expectations, to $7.1 billion in the quarter. Next-quarter earnings guidance is up 3 dents to $2.35 per share. The company said it sees “no change in customer demand” and that it is “well equipped to navigate supply chains” based on tariff policy. (You can see the full Zacks Earnings Calendar here.)

Take Two Software TTWO, the maker of Grand Theft Auto and dozens of other video-game titles, posted a huge one-time impairment charge and missed on its fiscal Q4 bottom line by a wide margin. Revenues, however, came in slight better than expected to $1.58 billion, but lowered full-year revenue guidance. Shares are down -2.6% in after-hours trading.

Mediterranean fast-casual restaurant chain Cava Group CAVA outperformed estimates on both top and bottom lines this afternoon, with 22 cents per share — based on a one-time income tax benefit — surpassing the Zacks consensus of 14 cents per share. Revenues of $332 million outpaced the $330.6 million expected. Same-store sales grew +11% year over year, with +7% in traffic. Yet shares are giving back their +3.5% gains over the past week of trading completely.

What to Expect from the Stock Market Friday

Tomorrow, we cool off on the calendar Q1 earnings front — although we still have a couple weeks remaining of “earnings season,” which won’t unofficially end until NVIDIA reports in a couple weeks. But we we see Import and Export Prices ahead of the open, as well as Housing Starts and Building Permits — all for April. 

Earlier today, we saw a sagging Homebuilders Confidence survey for May, as high mortgage and home prices are remaining out of range for many prospective buyers, with many others feeling prices may be due to come down over the coming months. We’ll also see a new preliminary Consumer Sentiment survey for May on Friday, as well.

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This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).

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