Equities added to Monday’s gains yesterday, though they’re just marking time this morning. Crude oil is up modestly, while gold and silver are pulling back. Treasuries are sliding while the dollar is flat.
Banks with exposure to Wall Street continue to rake in buckets of cash. Morgan Stanley (MS) just said investment banking fees surged 36% in Q1, while equity trading revenue jumped 25%. At Bank of America Corp. (BAC), stock trading revenue rose 30%, helping push quarterly profit up 17.3% to $8.1 billion. Still, the iShares US Broker-Dealers & Securities Exchanges ETF (IAI) is down about 1.6% year-to-date amid ongoing Middle East war and private credit concerns.
IAI, GSAT, SNAP (YTD % Change)
Data by YCharts
In the AI space, Anthropic PBC is receiving private funding offers valuing the company at around $800 billion. Bloomberg reports that several investors want exposure to the Claude model maker now that it’s generating revenue at a $30 billion-per-year pace. The company is reportedly hoping to go public in Q3, and it’s unclear if the firm will take on new investors here. Anthropic’s last funding round in February valued it at $350 billion.
Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN) just said it will buy the mobile satellite services company Globalstar Inc. (GSAT) for $11.5 billion – and investors in both stocks are cheering. The deal will allow Amazon to offer more direct-to-device broadband services via Globalstar’s existing network and its own Leo system. SpaceX’s existing Starlink platform is Amazon’s primary competitor. Globalstar stock is up 30.9% YTD.
Finally, the social media firm Snap Inc. (SNAP) is planning another round of layoffs. It will reportedly cut 1,000 jobs, which equates to 16% of its workforce. The activist investment firm Irenic Capital Management owns around 2.5% of the company and has been pushing for change. Snap has shed jobs a couple of times since 2022 already, and its stock is down 30.6% YTD.
