These are the early headlines and other items poised to influence the market at the start of the trading day. As we share this collection of market drivers, U.S. equity futures point to a lower market open when U.S.-listed equities begin trading later on Thursday morning.
1. A record-breaking rally in U.S. stocks came to a halt as peace talks in the Middle East remained in limbo, sending Brent crude further above $100 a barrel… High-flying manufacturers of semiconductors extended gains in premarket trading. Texas Instruments Inc. set the pace with a 10% jump on booming demand from data center builders. Software firms tumbled after ServiceNow Inc. said deals have been delayed by the war. Tesla Inc., meanwhile, fell 3.3% as it raised its spending forecast for an artificial intelligence and robotics push. (Bloomberg)
With the pace of quarterly earnings picking up, we are starting to see the cracks in corporate forecasts relative to those stepped-up Wall Street expectations that did not account for the issues we’ve flagged and discussed almost ad nauseam with you in recent weeks. To the above, we can add Honeywell (HON) forecasting second-quarter revenue below Wall Street estimates as disruptions caused by the U.S.-Israel war on Iran weighed on the industrial giant’s business. American Airlines (AAL) cut its 2026 profit forecast this morning as well, which will come as no surprise following recent comments from Alaska Airlines (ALK) and United Airlines (UAL) , which was due to “sky-high” jet fuel costs.
With the pace of those earnings reports accelerating further in the coming days, the Pro Portfolio will remain owners of its market hedging, inverse ETF positions.
2. U.S. software stocks fell in premarket trading on Thursday, following quarterly results from IBM and ServiceNow that reignited fears about AI-driven disruption across the sector. International Business Machines said its revenue growth slowed in the first quarter, pressured by weakness in its software business… ServiceNow also flagged a hit to its first-quarter subscription revenue service, citing delays in Middle East deals due to the ongoing Iran conflict. (Reuters)
When we finally pulled the plug on the Portfolio’s position in ServiceNow (NOW) on March 31, we called out the potential for extended deal conversion cycles as a risk due to U.S.-Iran related uncertainty. We also voiced our view that a sequential decline in remaining performance obligations (RPOs) would reignite AI-related concerns that weighed on software stocks between November 2025 and March 2026. Once again, software stocks will be back in the penalty box, and we are likely to see the knee-jerk market reaction and its wide brush weigh on the Portfolio’s shares in Palantir (PLTR) and Axon (AXON) near-term. Frustrating given the fundamentals and drivers behind both of their respective businesses, but it could give Pro members who missed our recent buys in both stocks an opportunity.
3. South Korea’s SK Hynix reported a 398% increase in first-quarter net profit to a record 40.35 trillion won, ($27.28 billion), outstripping analyst expectations. Revenue nearly tripled to 52.58 trillion won… The bigger picture still looks positive. SK Hynix executives told analysts that demand for high-bandwidth memory — a crucial component for artificial-intelligence chips from the likes of Nvidia — outstrips current supply capacity for the next three years. (Barron’s)
To that, we’ll add Texas Instruments (TXN) , sharing that AI demand fostered a 90% year-over-year gain for its data center segment. Also, on Wednesday night, semi-cap company Lam Research (LRCX) increased its wafer fab equipment (WFE) forecast for this year to $140 billion, up from its $135 billion figure in January.
Lam also shared its expectations for “total data center bits this year to be greater than both PC and mobile segments combined, with continuing growth in data center mix into the future.” This tells us that chip industry capacity is poised to remain tight amid strong AI and data center demand, a nice point of support for our position in Applied Materials (AMAT) .
4. United Rentals has raised its guidance for the full year, with revenues now expected in the US$16.9 to $17.4 billion range, up $100 million at both limits… Matthew Flannery, chief executive officer of United Rentals, said, “The increases to our full-year guidance are supported by the momentum we are carrying into our busy season and the growth opportunities our customers see on the horizon, particularly within large projects and key verticals.” (International Rental News)
American Express
(AXP) , opens new tab sailed past Wall Street expectations for first-quarter profit on Thursday, as the credit card giant’s affluent customers spent on travel and discretionary purchases. (Reuters)
We’ll have much more to say on these quarterly earnings reports that are lifting the shares of Portfolio residents United Rentals (URI) and American Express (AXP) in premarket trading. We will admit the strength in United’s business is surprising given the severe winter weather in the first half of Q1 2026, but that also speaks to the underlying strength in data center, power and other non-residential markets. With American Express, while headlines focus on spending, the real driver was the 18% year-over-year increase in net card fees, which ties back to continued gains in both the number of cards in force and average fee per card. More to come on both.
5. Netflix said on Thursday its board has authorized an additional $25 billion share repurchase program, resuming capital returns after the streaming giant walked away from a $72 billion deal to buy Warner Bros Discovery’s (WBD) … The new authorization is on top of a buyback approved in December 2024 and has no expiration date. Netflix had about $6.8 billion remaining under its previous buyback plan as of March end. (Reuters)
We see that bringing a nice layer of support for Netflix (NFLX) shares, and one that adds to the likelihood the Portfolio will look to increase its position in the shares following the post Q1 2026 earnings pullback.
6. At 9:45 a.m. ET, S&P Global will publish its Flash April Manufacturing and Service PMI report, and what it says about input and output costs will be high on our interest list on Thursday morning. With input price pressures stepping up, the question we’re looking to answer is to what degree companies are able to pass through price increases? To the extent they can’t, that spells margin headwinds, a factor that will weigh on corporate guidance.
Ahead of that report, S&P’s Flash April PMI for the U.K. found the following:
April data signaled the fastest rise in average cost burdens across the private sector economy for nearly three-and-a-half years. Manufacturers again recorded a particularly steep increase in their input prices, linked to escalating raw material and transportation bills.
And for the Eurozone, S&P found:
Continuing the picture seen in March following the outbreak of war in the Middle East, inflationary pressures strengthened during April. Input costs increased at the fastest pace since the end of 2022. Rates of cost inflation quickened across both goods and services, but manufacturers registered the sharper rise.
7. Economic data today per TipRanks: Initial & Continuing Jobless Claims (Weekly), S&P Global Flash Manufacturing & Services PMI (April), EIA Natural Gas Inventories (Weekly).
8. Companies reporting today per TipRanks: AM – American Airlines (AAL) , American Express (AXP) , Dow (DOW) , Helen of Troy (HELE) , Honeywell (HON) , Keurig Dr Pepper (KDP) , Mobileye (MBLY) , NextEra Energy (NEE) , PulteGroup (PHM) , SAP SE (SAP) , STMicroelectronics (STM) , Union Pacific (UNP) . PM – Ameriprise Financial (AMP) , Digital Realty Trust (DLR) , Intel (INTC) .
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At the time of publication, TheStreet Pro Portfolio was long PLTR, AXON, AMAT, AXP and NFLX shares.
