OPEC extends its cuts, Nvidia presents a new chip

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OPEC+ extends cuts
OPEC and its allies agreed to extend official crude production cuts until 2025 amid lackluster demand. A smaller group in the alliance, including Saudi Arabia and Russia, will also extend voluntary cuts of 1.7 million barrels per day. Saudi Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman said OPEC+ wanted concrete rate cuts before taking into account the potential impact on energy demand. Separately, oil giant Saudi Aramco launched a massive stock sale to raise about $12 billion to fund the country’s ongoing efforts to diversify its economy.

New Rubin AI chip
Nvidia has unveiled its next-generation artificial intelligence chip, Rubin, just three months after launching its Blackwell model. This accelerated pace of development comes as competition intensifies from AMD and Intel and tech giants like Microsoft, Google and Amazon invest in their own AI chip designs. Rubin, scheduled for deployment in 2026, will feature new graphics processing units, central processing units and networking chips.

Dow releases best day of 2024
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose more than 550 points after the Federal Reserve’s preferred inflation measure cooled. Salesforce and UnitedHealth gave the Dow Jones bullish momentum. The S&P 500 added 0.8%, while the Nasdaq Composite fell as Nvidia and Tesla declined. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq posted losses for the week, snapping a five-week winning streak. For the month, the Dow rose 2.3%, the S&P rose 4.8%, and the Nasdaq rose 6.8%. With inflation matching economists’ expectations, the 10-year Treasury yield fell to 4.501%.

Ackman to raise $1 billion
Billionaire investor Bill Ackman is selling a 10% stake in his hedge fund, Pershing Square, at a valuation of $10.5 billion. The company hopes to raise $1.05 billion through this sale. The move aims to pave the way for an IPO. The sale is expected to attract new investors and provide liquidity to existing investors. Pershing Square had total assets under management of $18.6 billion at the end of April.

Moderna obtains RSV approval
The Food and Drug Administration has approved Moderna’s respiratory syncytial virus vaccine for people over 60 years old. This is Moderna’s second product to enter the US market and the first mRNA vaccine approved for a disease other than Covid-19. The vaccine is expected to compete with similar vaccines from GSK and Pfizer. This is a crucial new revenue stream for Moderna amid falling demand for its COVID vaccine.

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Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is on track to win a rare third term, while South Africa’s ruling African National Congress has lost its 30-year parliamentary majority. British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak appears destined to lose in next month’s election.

As important as these elections are, there is one that will have truly global resonance: the election of the leader of the free world in the world’s largest economy. A New York jury found former President Donald Trump guilty of all 34 counts of falsifying business records during his hush-hush criminal trial last Thursday.

Shockwaves from the jury’s decision immediately shook shares of Trump Media & Technology Group, which fell 15% in extended trading. Trump owns about 65% of the company, a stake valued at about $5.7 billion. On Friday, the stock ended down 5%, valuing owner Truth Social at $8.7 billion. This assessment is based entirely on Trump’s brand and personal supporters.

According to the company, most of its 621,000 shareholders are retail investors. Its first filing as a public company showed first-quarter losses of $327.6 million on revenue of less than $1 million.

“It’s a meme stock that has no fundamentals,” Art Hogan, chief market strategist at B Riley Wealth, told Reuters. “The valuation of this stock has always been a question mark. It certainly doesn’t make money and is trading at an almost unfathomable level.”

Trump’s megadonors ignored the verdict. Before the decision, Blackstone CEO Steve Schwarzman told Axios he planned to vote for Trump, and hedge fund executive and billionaire Bill Ackman is also likely to support Trump, according to people familiar with the matter.

Although the verdict had little impact on the market as a whole, it made global headlines and created a buzz on social media. After all, Trump’s legal troubles won’t stop him from running for president, and if his first term is any indication, world leaders will be wary.

His presidency was marked by a trade war with China, a destabilization of the Turkish lira and tweets warning OPEC against “rising oil prices”. His statements have often moved the markets.

As earnings season draws to a close, attention will shift Friday to May’s nonfarm payrolls report, which will shed light on the health of the labor market and economy.

But strategists anticipate increased market volatility in the coming months as the 2024 election approaches, which could become a significant market driver. “Without a near-term catalyst, stocks will continue to fluctuate,” Christopher Harvey, an equity analyst at Wells Fargo, wrote in a Friday note. “Politics remains a wild card.”

— CNBC’s Ruxandra Iordache, Natasha Turak, Brian Schwartz, Alex Harring, Sarah Min, Rebecca Picciotto and Annika Kim Constantino contributed to this report.