U.S.-China talks continue, IBM making large-scale quantum computer: Morning Buzz

The major averages were fractionally higher as trade talks between the U.S. and China continue in London for a second day. Commenting on the talks, U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said that they are “going well” and that he anticipates discussions to continue all day.

With yesterday’s jobs and trade-talk-driven momentum now fading into the rearview, the spotlight is firmly on this week’s key releases such as the CPI report. Meanwhile, the U.S. NIFB small business sentiment rebounded 3.1% to 98.8 in May, which follows a 1.6% drop to 95.8 in April.

Looking to commodities, gold prices are inching lower, keeping the commodity firmly below the $3,400 level for another day. Meanwhile, oil prices are sharply higher, continuing recent strength. 

Get caught up quickly on the top news and calls moving stocks with these five Top Five lists.

1. STOCK NEWS:

• Trade talks between the U.S. and China are continuing, as a second day of negotiations in London aim to improve relations between the two biggest global economies
• J.M. Smucker (SJM) reported better-than-expected Q4 earnings and provided earnings and revenue guidance for FY26
• IBM (IBM) plans to build a large-scale, fault-tolerant quantum computer
• Brown & Brown (BRO) agreed to acquire Accession Risk Management Group for $9.825B
• Meta (META) agreed to pay nearly $15B for a nearly 49% stake in Scale AI, The Information reports

2. WALL STREET CALLS:

• McDonald’s (MCD) double downgraded to Sell at Redburn Atlantic on GLP-1 weight-loss drug worries
• Meanwhile Redburn upgraded Yum! Brands (YUM) to Buy, citing its international footprint
• Informa TechTarget (TTGT) downgraded to Underweight at JPMorgan
• Atlantic Union (AUB) upgraded to Strong Buy at Raymond James
• KeyBanc initiated coverage of Dynatrace (DT) with an Overweight rating and Elastic (ESTC) with a Sector Weight rating

3. AROUND THE WEB:

• Microsoft (MSFT)-backed OpenAI plans to add Google’s (GOOGL) cloud service to meet its growing needs for computing capacity, Reuters says
• After unveiling plans in February to spend $1B on Mexican production over the next four years, Netflix (NFLX) co-CEO Ted Sarandos has made a similar commitment to Spanish originals, Deadline says
• Live Nation (LYV) CEO Michael Rapino told Fox News Digital that after President Donald Trump’s March executive order targeting ticket scalpers and strengthening protection for artists and their fans that the company is investing $1B to build new and revitalized live music venues
• Tencent Music (TME) plans to buy long-form audio platform Ximalaya for roughly $2.4B in cash and stock, Reuters reports
• Paramount Global (PARA) is cutting its U.S.-based staff by 3.5% and notified its staff of the latest round of layoffs on Tuesday morning in a memo from the office of the CEO that was viewed by CNBC

4. MOVERS:

• Arrive AI (ARAI) gains after securing a patent for its last-mile delivery solutions platform
• Insmed (INSM) higher after announcing its Inhalation Powder met its endpoints in Phase 2b PAH trial
• Webull (BULL) increases after launching Kalshi’s hourly crypto markets on its investing platform
• eToro (ETOR) lower in New York after reporting quarterly results
• Rubrik (RBRK) falls after announcing a $1B notes offering

5. EARNINGS/GUIDANCE:

• United Natural Foods (UNFI) reported Q3 results and backed its guidance for FY25
• Designer Brands (DBI) reported Q1 results and withdrew its guidance for FY25
• Academy Sports (ASO) announced results for Q1, with EPS and revenue missing consensus
• Core & Main (CNM) reported Q1 results, with CEO Mark Witkowski commenting, “We are proud to report another quarter of record performance”
• Orion Group (ORN) reiterated its guidance for FY25

INDEXES:

Near midday, the Dow was up 0.07%, or 30.78, to 42,792.54, the Nasdaq was up 0.26%, or 50.07, to 19,641.30, and the S&P 500 was up 0.27%, or 16.40, to 6,022.28.