Core inflation (which strips out volatile food and energy prices) rose by more than expected in April.

Your Evening Briefing

May 12, 2026

Stocks retreat from records as chip stocks fall, core inflation rises

The S&P 500, Nasdaq 100, and Russell 2000 retreated from yesterday’s records as core inflation came in hotter than expected for April.

The April reading of the Consumer Price Index showed headline inflation rose 0.6% month on month (as economists expected), with core inflation (which strips out volatile food and energy prices) rising 0.4%, more than the 0.3% economists had anticipated.

Consumer discretionary was the worst-performing sector, dragged down by losses in Amazon and Tesla, while information technology was the second-worst as chip stocks pulled back. Healthcare was the best performer.

Stocks that moved higher:

  • PACS Group, Inc. soared after beating estimates for Q1 earnings and revenue.
  • BuzzFeed surged after Byron Allen agreed to buy a controlling stake at $3 a share and become CEO.
  • Quantum Computing soared after posting better-than-expected Q1 sales.

Stocks that moved lower:

  • Micron, Western Digital, Seagate Technology Holdings, and Sandisk fell after a prominent South Korean policymaker floated a “citizen dividend” funded by AI tax revenues, rattling the memory chip sector.
  • Hims & Hers plunged after taking a $33 million restructuring charge and entering a “strategic pivot” following blowback from its copycat Wegovy pill.
  • Under Armour tumbled after forecasting an annual sales decline, while analysts had anticipated a 2% increase.
  • GitLab fell after announcing a workforce reduction plan tied to the “agentic era”.
  • Tesla slipped as a Reuters report poured water on its Texas robotaxi expansion plans.
  • AST SpaceMobile sank after a big revenue miss, though the company maintained full-year guidance.
  • D-Wave Quantum fell after reporting lower-than-expected Q1 sales, despite a boom in backlog from major deals.
  • Shares of Rigetti Computing fell despite the quantum computing firm reporting Q1 sales that exceeded analysts’ estimates after the bell yesterday.
  • Bitcoin miner and data center operator MARA Holdings dipped after releasing its Q1 earnings report yesterday, missing analysts’ expectations on revenue and earnings per share.
  • T1 Energy dipped despite posting a much-smaller-than-feared quarterly loss this morning.
  • Shares of Power Solutions International extended yesterday’s losses after the engine and power system provider released its Q1 results.
  • Shares of CleanSpark fell after the bitcoin miner and data center developer reported its second-quarter earnings yesterday, missingWall Street estimates on the top and bottom lines.

Smartphones are 12% cheaper than last year, according to the latest inflation data... except they’re not

Phones are one of a few important categories that get quality, or “hedonic,” adjustments in the Consumer Price Index — which make their price go down in the official statistics. Read more.

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Samuel L. Jackson, Michael Jordan, and John, Paul, George, and Ringo all make the cut.

Read more.

Netflix announced today that it has spent more than $135 billion on licensing and original film and TV over the past decade.

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  • eBay rejects GameStop’s unsolicited $56 billion takeover bid, calls it “neither credible nor attractive”
    In its rejection letter, eBay’s board cited “uncertainty” around GameStop’s financing proposal.
  • Bitcoin’s bull-bear cycle signal turns green
    When the indicator moves out of bear territory and enters the early bull zone, it often suggests that the worst phase of the correction has already passed and that market structure is beginning to recover, according to one analyst.
  • Report: China seeking access to Anthropic’s Mythos model
    The news of China’s approach to Anthropic reportedly caused alarm inside the White House. 
  • Google launches Googlebook, an AI-first, Android-ready successor to the Chromebook 
    We don’t know what it will cost but the blog post mentions “premium” four times.
  • Trump snubs Jensen Huang for his trip to China
    Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang regularly appeared at formal White House functions and trips overseas with Trump. Nvidia is eager to sell its H200 chips to China.
  • Nintendo brings back the $500 Switch 2 bundle before the console’s September price hike
    Nintendo last week announced it will raise the price of the Switch 2 in the US in September.
  • Waymo recalls 3,800 robotaxis after software issue leads to flood incident
    The recall follows an April 20 incident in which an unoccupied Waymo drove into a flooded lane in San Antonio, prompting Waymo to review similar scenarios. 
  • Amazon rolls out 30-minute delivery in 4 cities with plans to expand to dozens more
    If you live in Atlanta, Dallas-Fort Worth, Philadelphia, or Seattle, you can currently get AirPods, groceries, or cleaning supplies delivered in under an hour.
  • North Korean actors have stolen $6.75 billion in crypto since 2016
    Stealing cryptocurrencies has turned into a primary state revenue mechanism for North Korea, according to a Tuesday report from security firm Certik. 
 

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