DailyBrief: April 30
Fed holds rates with rare 4 dissents, oil tops $118 on Iran standoff, Big Tech earnings split
Markets & Economics
Federal Reserve Holds Rates Steady in Historic Split Vote
The Federal Open Market Committee voted to keep its benchmark federal funds rate in a range of 3.5% to 3.75%, maintaining its pause as policymakers balance persistent inflation against a softening labor market. The decision was marked by an unusually fractured committee: Governor Stephen Miran voted to cut by 25 basis points, while three other officials objected to statement language hinting at future cuts. It was the first FOMC decision with four dissenters since 1992. Chair Jerome Powell, who is due to step down in mid-May, presided over what was likely his final meeting at the helm. Source: CNBC
Read more
Oil Surges Above $118 as Iran Standoff Deepens
Brent crude jumped roughly 6% to close near $118 per barrel after President Trump told aides to prepare for an extended naval blockade of Iran and rejected Tehran's offer to reopen the Strait of Hormuz in exchange for deferring nuclear talks. Goldman Sachs estimates the blockade and related strikes on regional energy infrastructure have removed about 14.5 million barrels per day from global supply, pushing inflation to its highest level in nearly two years and complicating the Fed's policy path. Source: CNBC
Read more
Megacap Tech Earnings Split the Market: Alphabet and Amazon Surge, Meta Slumps
Alphabet, Amazon, Microsoft, and Meta all reported within an 80 second window after Wednesday's close, delivering a mixed picture of how AI investment is paying off. Alphabet and Amazon impressed with strong cloud and advertising results tied to AI demand, lifting Nasdaq 100 futures roughly 0.9%. Meta tumbled about 7% after raising full year capital expenditure guidance to between $125 billion and $145 billion, well above analyst forecasts, while user growth disappointed. Apple reports Thursday after the bell, the first earnings call since the company named John Ternus to succeed Tim Cook on September 1. Source: Bloomberg
Read more
Stocks Set for Best Month Since 2020 Despite Late Wobble
Despite a soft Thursday open, with S&P 500 futures down 0.22% and Dow futures off 285 points, US equities are on pace to close out April with their largest monthly advance in nearly six years. The S&P 500 is tracking a 9.3% gain for the month and the Nasdaq Composite is up 14.3%, fueled by a rebound in megacap technology and easing recession fears. Eurozone GDP grew just 0.1% in the first quarter, underscoring the divergence between US momentum and Europe's stagnation, where Germany, France, and Italy continue to weigh on the bloc. Source: CNBC
Read more
Tech & AI
OpenAI Closes Record $122 Billion Round at $852 Billion Valuation
OpenAI announced it has closed its latest funding round with $122 billion in committed capital at a post money valuation of $852 billion, anchored by Amazon, Nvidia, and SoftBank, with continued backing from Microsoft. Amazon committed up to $50 billion, while Nvidia and SoftBank each contributed $30 billion. For the first time, the company opened a portion of the round to retail investors through bank channels, raising more than $3 billion. The deal sets the stage for a possible IPO as soon as the fourth quarter of 2026, with as much as $35 billion of Amazon's commitment reportedly contingent on either an AGI milestone or a public listing by year end. Source: CNBC
Read more
Google Deepens Multibillion Dollar Thinking Machines Lab Deal
Google has signed a new multibillion dollar agreement with Mira Murati's Thinking Machines Lab, expanding the startup's use of Google Cloud's AI infrastructure powered by Nvidia's latest GB300 GPUs. The deal, valued in the single digit billions, also gives Thinking Machines access to Google's most advanced AI systems and underscores how aggressively the cloud giants are competing to lock in next generation model developers. The pact follows a string of high profile compute commitments by AI labs and reinforces Google's positioning against rivals AWS and Microsoft Azure for frontier model training workloads. Source: TechCrunch
Read more