The producer price index rose more than expected in April, raising concern that the Federal Reserve will not be able to cut rates as soon as expected. PPI rose 0.5% last month. Economists polled by Dow Jones expected a 0.3% increase on PPI.

However, March’s PPI reading was revised to a 0.1% decline.

— Fred Imbert

Of the potential scenarios for the macroeconomy in the latter half of 2024, it’s most likely that U.S. won’t see any sharp weakening in the near term.

“There are several possible paths for the US macro-economy going forward … A second is that the US is still too hot, in which case higher yields and a stronger USD pose challenges for markets,” wrote Barclays analyst Ajay Rajadhyaksha. “We think the second is most likely; more importantly, markets seem very convinced of just one of these three outcomes.”

Rajadhyaksha added that at least for the time being, he prefers staying in cash assets.

— Lisa Kailai Han

Home Depot earnings topped Wall Street estimates for the sixteenth quarter in a row. But despite that, earnings per share fell 5% from a year ago – the fifth straight quarter of year-over-year declines. That also comes after earnings fell more than 6% in the year ago quarter – with earnings now down 11% from two years ago.

The home improvement retailer posted its third revenue miss in the last six quarters. Revenues are now down 6% from two years ago after falling 2.3% in the just-completed quarter and declining 4.2% in the year-ago period.

Meanwhile, same-store sales dropped 2.8% in the latest quarter on lower average ticket and customer transactions. CEO Ted Decker cited a “a delayed start to spring and continued softness in certain larger discretionary projects.” It was the third consecutive quarter that both average ticket and transactions fell, with the number of transactions contracting on a year-over-year basis for the 12th consecutive quarter.

— Robert Hum

“The home improvement customer is extremely healthy from a financial perspective,” CFO Richard McPhail told CNBC. “And so it’s not the case of not having the ability to spend. What they tell us is they’re just simply deferring these projects as given higher rates, it just doesn’t seem the right moment to execute.”

— Fred Imbert, Melissa Repko

Shares of Japanese investment group Softbank Group Corp climbed more than 4% on Tuesday as the company’s Vision Fund posted its first annual gain in 3 years.

Softbank posted a 724.3 billion Japanese yen ($4.6 billion) gain on its Vision Fund in the fiscal year ended in March.

But for the full year, Softbank recorded an overall loss of 227.6 billion yen), narrower than the 970.1 billion yen loss from the previous fiscal year.

Revenue climbed 2.8% year on year to 6.76 trillion yen, up from the 6.57 trillion in the same period last year.

The company also announced a full year total dividend of 44 yen per share, and expects the same level of dividends for its 2024 financial year.

— Lim Hui Jie, Arjun Kharpal

Daiwa Securities Group shares tumbled more than 5% in early trading after the Japanese brokerage firm said it would take a stake in Aozora Bank.

Shares of Aozora Bank jumped 5% before paring gains to trade around 0.1% higher in late morning trade.

The companies said in a filing on Monday that Daiwa will roughly take a 15.38% stake in Aozora for about 51.9 billion yen ($331.8 million).

— Shreyashi Sanyal

Data from the Bank of Japan showed that corporate inflation was steady in April compared with a year earlier, but import prices jumped last month.

Import prices in April rose 6.4% year over year amid weakness in the yen. This was the biggest jump in import prices since March 2023.

Japan’s corporate goods price index (CGPI), or producer prices, rose 0.9% year over year last month, teh same as in March. The reading was slightly higher than Reuters poll forecast of a 0.8% increase.

The CGPI is a measure of the prices companies charge each other for their goods and services.

— Shreyashi Sanyal

India’s consumer price index grew 4.83% year on year in April, down marginally from the 4.85% recorded in March and slowing for a fourth straight month.

While it was the slowest rate of inflation since June 2023, the figure was slightly above the 4.8% expected by economists polled by Reuters.

India’s statistics ministry said inflation in rural areas grew more sharply at 5.43%, while urban inflation rate came in at 4.11%.

The ministry also added that inflation cooled in clothing and footwear, housing and fuel from the previous month.

— Lim Hui Jie

Utilities, best known for their steady dividend payments, are enjoying a surge in popularity, thanks to excitement around artificial intelligence.

Consider that the Utilities Select Sector SPDR Fund (XLU) is up 6.8% in May alone, outperforming the Technology Select Sector SPDR Fund (XLK), which is up 5.2% this month.

Here’s how the utilities AI play goes: AI data centers are going to require a significant amount of electricity – and even as tech companies turn toward renewable energy sources, natural gas will play a key part in backing up those power needs.

See here for a list of dividend-paying utilities that could benefit from AI excitement, per Wells Fargo.

–Darla Mercado

Shares of meme stock favorites GameStop and AMC soared in extended trading on Monday, following sharp moves earlier in day spurred by the re-emergence of “Roaring Kitty.”

GameStop stock climbed more than 7%, while AMC soared nearly 15%. Trading in the brick and mortar video game retailer was interrupted several times on Monday due to increased volatility.

— Brian Evans

Games Global Limited is postponing its initial public offering planned for May 14, the company said on Monday.

The online casino game supplier said concerns over market conditions underpinned the decision. Games Global plans to issue 14.5 million shares priced at $16 to $19 per share.

— Brian Evans