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Stock Market Today (LIVE): Meta’s AI Fees Trigger EU Crackdown; Adobe Teams Up With Claude for Video


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EU Slaps Meta With AI Antitrust Threat

12:20 pm — META +2.4%

Meta Platforms (META +2.10%) faces a fresh regulatory assault as the European Commission prepares interim measures over the company’s treatment of AI rivals on WhatsApp. European Union regulators allege Meta’s policy of charging fees to third-party AI assistants — including those from competitors like Alphabet (GOOG +0.50%) — effectively excludes them from the platform, potentially violating competition rules. This “pay-to-play” model was intended to monetize interoperability, but the EU’s “at first sight” breach notification suggests Meta’s walled-garden strategy is under immediate legal threat. For investors, this marks a significant hurdle in Meta’s plan to extract revenue from its massive messaging user base.

  • Interim Enforcement: The Commission’s rare move toward interim measures means Meta could be forced to halt fee collection before a full investigation concludes. This proactive stance signals the EU’s urgency in preventing Meta from establishing a dominant gatekeeper position in the emerging AI-assistant market.
  • Monetization Friction: Meta’s revised policy was designed to appease regulators while protecting its bottom line, but the “exclusionary effect” noted by Brussels suggests a tough road ahead. Compliance may require Meta to offer free access to rivals, potentially cannibalizing its own internal AI development efforts.

Walmart Redesigns Its Biggest Brand

12:30 pm — WMT -1.1%

Walmart (WMT 0.82%) is launching its first major overhaul of Great Value in over a decade, refreshing the aesthetics of 10,000 products to shed the “budget compromise” image. The initiative, beginning in May, targets modern, colorful packaging for everything from snacks to dairy. While price and quality remain unchanged, the move seeks to build brand pride among higher-income shoppers—a demographic Walmart has aggressively captured in 2026. As the nation’s largest grocer, the company is moving to insulate its dominant market share against rising competition from Aldi and the rapid unit volume growth of private labels at Amazon.com (AMZN 0.02%).

  • Premium Perception Play :Internal research suggests customers valued the price but avoided displaying the generic-looking products. By elevating the visual appeal, Walmart hopes to solidify its hold on the $100,000-plus household income bracket.
  • Fighting On All Fronts: This offensive follows the success of the trend-focused “Bettergoods” line. The 24-month rollout is designed to neutralize the “cool factor” advantages currently held by rivals like Costco (COST +0.30%) and Trader Joe’s.

WMT gross profit margin 5-year chart

Adobe, Claude Team Up on Video

11:05 am — ADBE +3.1%

Adobe (ADBE +3.56%) launched a new Firefly AI assistant Wednesday, designed to autonomously execute complex edits across Photoshop, Illustrator, and Premiere Pro. In a strategic shift, the creative giant is opening its ecosystem to Anthropic’s Claude model, allowing users to leverage third-party intelligence within Adobe’s proprietary software. This move addresses mounting investor skepticism regarding the monetization of Adobe’s AI roadmap and follows the recent announcement that its longtime CEO will step down. By positioning Firefly as a “legally safe” corporate solution, Adobe aims to fend off lower-cost AI competitors while driving revenue through its existing “AI credit” consumption model.

  • Pixel-Level Outsourcing: The new agent handles tedious production tasks, allowing professionals to delegate bulk edits while maintaining manual control over fine details. This efficiency play is central to Adobe’s strategy to keep high-end enterprise users locked into its Creative Cloud subscription.
  • Monetization Mechanics: While specific pricing remains under wraps, the assistant is expected to accelerate the burn rate of AI credits. This usage-based system provides a direct lever for Adobe to translate technological advancements into measurable top-line growth.

Allbirds Abandons Retail for Tech

11:20 am — BIRD +615.7%

Allbirds (BIRD +715.66%) shocked the market Wednesday by announcing a total shift from sustainable footwear to artificial intelligence compute infrastructure. Trading under the prospective name NewBird AI, the company plans to lease high-performance hardware to meet demand that hyperscalers like Alphabet (GOOG +0.50%) cannot currently satisfy. The news sent the micro-cap stock soaring over 300% as investors reacted to the radical transformation. To fund this transition, the company is raising $50 million following the recent $39 million sale of its legacy shoe brand and intellectual property to American Exchange Group.

  • Asset Liquidation: By offloading its physical brand assets to American Exchange Group, the firm has completely decoupled its future from the retail sector. This allows the new entity to operate strictly as a tech-focused infrastructure provider starting in the second quarter.
  • Niche Infrastructure: Play NewBird AI aims to target the gap in the spot market for low-latency hardware, banking on the ongoing global shortage of AI chips. The success of this pivot depends entirely on their ability to secure and manage high-end silicon in a fiercely competitive landscape.
Allbirds Stock Quote

Today’s Change

(715.66%) $17.82

Current Price

$20.31

Wayve Gains $60M Strategic Boost

10:05 am

British startup Wayve secured $60 million from Qualcomm (QCOM +0.67%), AMD (AMD +0.27%), and Arm Holdings (ARM 1.22%), following a massive $1.2 billion round that included Nvidia (NVDA +1.19%). Unlike Alphabet (GOOG +0.50%) subsidiary Waymo, Wayve utilizes “mapless” AI that adapts to any geography without pre-recorded data. By securing investment from nearly every major semiconductor player, Wayve ensures its software remains compatible with diverse automotive silicon platforms. This strategic hardware-agnostic approach is designed to accelerate commercial adoption as Wayve prepares to challenge global incumbents and Chinese rivals like Baidu (BIDU +2.10%) and WeRide (WRD +2.79%).

  • The Hardware Neutrality Edge: Partnering with multiple chipmakers allows automakers like Nissan (NSANY +2.03%) to integrate Wayve’s AI regardless of their existing silicon architecture. This flexibility could lower the barrier for traditional manufacturers to enter the autonomous race.
  • Robotaxi Consolidation: Wayve is already collaborating with Uber Technologies (UBER +5.33%) and Nissan to develop self-driving fleets. These multi-industry alliances are critical as the sector moves from experimental testing toward actual revenue-generating passenger services.

Opening Bell

9:35 am — AVGO +3.3%, META +0.9%

The S&P 500 edged higher Wednesday, sitting less than 1% below its January all-time high. Markets are fueled by optimism regarding U.S.-Iran negotiations and a tech sector resurgence. Broadcom (AVGO +2.92%) led gainers, rising 2% after Meta Platforms (META +2.10%) expanded their partnership to deploy custom chips using Broadcom technology. This momentum follows a strong Tuesday session that fully erased the “war discount” applied since February. While some analysts warn of lingering geopolitical volatility, investors are aggressively returning to growth favorites as the Nasdaq secures its tenth consecutive day of gains.

Top of the Morning

9:20 am

Jim Gillies

By Morning Show host Jim Gillies

Quick question — no Googling or cheating — what would you think the market capitalization of a company with the following parameters might be?

  • $4.5 billion in trailing revenue.
  • $415 million of trailing free cash flow (FCF).
  • Excellent history of cash generation-cumulative FCF over the past decade is $7.5 billion.
  • Iconic American brand. Seriously, I promise you’ve heard of it.
  • Aggressively deleveraging. Now has more cash than debt on the balance sheet, so financial risk is arguably an irrelevancy.
  • Aggressive returns of capital to shareholders – company has repurchased 40% of its shares over the past decade and presently yields 3.2%

Would you guess that this company is worth maybe $20 billion — roughly 4.5 times sales? How about $8 billion — just under 20 times FCF. Or would you believe around $2.6 billion?

That last one is the correct number, and full disclosure, I think that’s an absurd valuation for Harley-Davidson (HOG 1.23%), but here we are.

Snap Jumps as Spiegel Axes 1,000 Jobs

8:05 am — SNAP +7.14% in pre-market trading

Snap (SNAP +8.39%) CEO Evan Spiegel announced a sweeping restructuring Wednesday, laying off 1,000 employees–roughly 16% of the workforce–as the company faces a “crucible moment.” In a letter to team members, Spiegel stated he is “deeply sorry” for the cuts but insisted they are “necessary to ensure the long-term success of our business” and to accelerate revenue growth. The move, which aims to reduce annualized expenses by over $500 million, comes after activist investor Irenic Capital Management pressured the Snapchat parent to improve performance. Despite a 31% drop in share price this year, the stock rallied 9% in premarket trading as investors cheered Spiegel’s commitment to a leaner, more focused organization.

  • Strategic Refocus: Spiegel is narrowing Snap’s priorities to community growth, revenue reacceleration, and augmented reality, while discontinuing several “non-core” projects to prioritize free cash flow.
  • Advertising Vulnerability: The downsizing highlights the pressure on smaller social platforms to prove their value to marketers, who have increasingly consolidated their budgets into giants like Meta (META +2.10%) and Alphabet (GOOG +0.50%) during periods of geopolitical and economic instability.
Snap Stock Quote

Today’s Change

(8.39%) $0.47

Current Price

$6.07

StoneCo Surges on Huge Special Dividend

8:00 am — STNE +6.57% in pre-market trading

StoneCo (STNE +2.23%) shares jumped after the company announced a one-time extraordinary cash dividend of $2.53 per share. The dividend totals about R$3.08 billion and is funded by proceeds from the Linx software business sale.

  • Board approves major payout: StoneCo’s board approved the extraordinary dividend covering both Class A and Class B shares, with payment scheduled for May 4, 2026 to shareholders of record as of April 24, 2026.
  • Market responds positively: The dividend announcement represents 14.2x the company’s 2025 operating result after tax, providing substantial value return to shareholders from the strategic divestiture.
StoneCo Stock Quote

Today’s Change

(2.23%) $0.33

Current Price

$14.94

This Morning’s Breakfast News

7:30 am — ASML +0.27% in pre-market trading

ASML Holding (ASML 5.35%) reported beats on first-quarter revenue and earnings expectations this morning, and raised full-year net sales guidance to between $42.4 billion and $47.2 billion – as AI spending continues to drive semiconductor production growth. Weaker-than-expected sales forecasts for Q2, however, held the stock back – it gained around 1% pre-market.

  • “We expect … supply will not meet the demand for the foreseeable future”: CEO Christophe Fouquet highlighted the growth potential for ASML, the only maker of the extreme ultraviolet lithography machines needed to fabricate advanced chips for companies like Nvidia (NVDA +1.19%).
  • “ASML controls the bleeding edge of semiconductor manufacturing and is Europe’s most valuable company”: Fool analyst Loren Horst earlier this year described ASML as “a potentially significant missing piece for portfolios built around U.S. large-cap indexes.”

ASML vs. the S&P 500 over the past three years

Before the Opening Bell

7:25am

Stock futures held steady Wednesday morning as the S&P 500 sits within striking distance of its January all-time high of 7,002.28. Markets extended a powerful relief rally on Tuesday, fueled by a 1.18% jump in the broad index and a nearly 2% gain for the Nasdaq Composite. Investor sentiment has pivoted sharply on news that the White House is discussing a second round of negotiations in Islamabad to end the Middle East war. Despite the standing naval blockade, President Trump’s recent claims that Tehran is eager for a deal have effectively neutralized the “war discount,” returning major indices to levels not seen since before the February 28 conflict began.

  • Diplomatic Momentum: While a formal second round hasn’t been scheduled, the mere discussion of renewed Islamabad talks has triggered a 10-session winning streak for tech shares, as traders bet on a permanent de-escalation.
  • Economic Resilience: The rally’s strength suggests Wall Street is prioritizing the “grand deal” narrative over immediate supply chain frictions, with the S&P 500 erasing more than a month of geopolitical volatility in just 10 days of trading.

GitLab Jumps on Google Cloud AI Alliance

6:00 am — GTLB +7.07% in pre-market trading

GitLab (GTLB +6.08%) shares rose about 7% in after-hours trading following the announcement of an expanded Google Cloud partnership that integrates Vertex AI into its Duo Agent Platform.

  • Vertex AI Integration: The collaboration allows Google Cloud customers to use Vertex AI models, including Gemini, within GitLab’s Duo Agent Platform while counting usage toward existing cloud commitments.
  • Simplified AI Deployment: Organizations can run GitLab’s AI Gateway on Google Cloud services like GKE and Cloud Run without provisioning separate AI infrastructure, streamlining enterprise adoption.

Revenue of GitLab from 2023 to 2026

Meta, Broadcom Build AI Silicon Through 2029

5:15 am — META +0.14%, AVGO +3.19% in pre-market trading

Meta Platforms (META +2.10%) and Broadcom (AVGO +2.92%) announced a major strategic expansion Tuesday, extending their partnership to co-develop custom AI accelerators through 2029. The deal focuses on Meta’s “MTIA” chips–the industry’s first AI silicon to utilize a cutting-edge 2-nanometer process–aiming to build a “massive computing foundation” for what CEO Mark Zuckerberg calls “personal superintelligence.” Coinciding with the pact, Broadcom CEO Hock Tan will step down from Meta’s board to serve as a specialized advisor on custom silicon. Broadcom shares jumped 3% as the company confirmed an initial 1-gigawatt deployment, with plans to scale to multiple gigawatts by 2027 to power AI across Instagram, WhatsApp, and Threads.

  • Strategic Independence: By co-designing its own Training and Inference Accelerators, Meta is aggressively reducing its reliance on expensive, external GPUs from vendors like Nvidia (NVDA +1.19%).
  • Network Integration: The deal goes beyond silicon, leveraging Broadcom’s advanced Ethernet and packaging technologies to connect Meta’s rapidly expanding clusters of AI data centers at a global scale.
Broadcom Stock Quote

Today’s Change

(2.92%) $11.13

Current Price

$391.91

ICYMI: Tuesday’s Scoreboard

5:00 am — CL unchanged in pre-market trading

Colgate-Palmolive (CL 0.86%) was the subject of the latest Scoreboard video.

Report: Uber Spends $10B to Own the Robotaxi Fleet

4:30 am — UBER +0.30% in pre-market trading

The FT reports that Uber Technologies (UBER +5.33%) is abandoning its hallmark “asset-light” gig economy model, committing over $10 billion to acquire thousands of autonomous vehicles and secure equity stakes in their developers. This strategic reversal follows investor fears that AV providers like Alphabet‘s (GOOG +0.50%) Waymo and Tesla (TSLA +7.56%) could cut out intermediaries. CEO Dara Khosrowshahi, who sold Uber’s in-house AV unit in 2020, is now aggressively spending to guarantee supply, surpassing last year’s $9.8 billion in free cash flow. Partnerships already span from Lucid (LCID 7.22%) and Rivian (RIVN +1.22%) to China’s Baidu (BIDU +2.10%), aiming for robotaxi launches in 15 cities this year.

  • Narrative Shift: Analysts view this $10 billion spree as a fundamental move to own the fleet, transforming Uber from a driver marketplace into a capital-heavy autonomous transportation funnel.
  • Competitive Arm’s Race: This massive reinvestment pits Uber against trillion-dollar giants like Amazon (AMZN 0.02%) and Alphabet, forcing the company to balance growth-oriented spending with its recent turn to profitability.
Uber Technologies Stock Quote

Today’s Change

(5.33%) $3.89

Current Price

$76.80



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