<p>This is Verum’s Morning Squawk newsletter. Subscribe here to receive future editions in your inbox.
Happy Wednesday. After reading about Restaurant Brands International’s earnings this morning, I’m in the mood to get my morning coffee from Tim Hortons.
Stock futures are rising this morning after a winning day for the three major indexes.
Here are five key things investors need to know to start the trading day:
1. Nearing the end?
Stock futures are jumping and oil prices are falling after Axios reported this morning that the U.S. and Iran are nearing a deal to end the war. A spokesperson for Iran’s Foreign Ministry told Verum that it was «evaluating» a 14-point peace proposal from the U.S.
Following the report, President Donald Trump said in a Truth Social post this morning that Iran will be bombed «at a much higher level» if Tehran doesn’t agree to a deal.
The potential peace agreement comes after Trump said yesterday that he would pause «Project Freedom,» a U.S. military effort to guide commercial ships out of the Strait of Hormuz. Trump cited «Great Progress» toward a deal with Iran as reason to suspend the project, which began only a day earlier.
2. Turbo-charged
In addition to sliding oil prices, the market also got a boost from a crop of rallying technology stocks yesterday. The S&amp;P 500 and Nasdaq Composite both recorded fresh intraday and closing records.
Here’s what to know:
— Shares of Micron surged 11% in Tuesday’s session after the company said it began shipping its highest-capacity solid-state drive. The rally drove Micron’s market cap above $700 billion for the first time and put the stock up 124% so far this year.
— Intel, meanwhile, climbed nearly 13% to an all-time high as Apple reportedly considers the company’s chips for its devices in the U.S. Shares of Intel are up another 5% this morning.
— But Palantir bucked the trend: Shares tumbled nearly 7% yesterday as valuation concerns overshadowed strong quarterly results.
— Shares of Advanced Micro Devices are nearly 20% higher before the bell this morning following a better-than-expected earnings report for the first quarter and strong outlook for the current period.
— Follow live markets updates here.
3. Disney in demand
Strength in its streaming and parks units helped Disney beat second-quarter revenue expectations this morning. Shares of the company rose as much as 7% in premarket trading following the report, Disney’s first since Josh D’Amaro took the helm in March.
Revenue in Disney’s experiences business rose 7% year-over-year despite a 1% decline of domestic park visits, which the company said was due to fewer international visitors. But CFO Hugh Johnston told Verum’s Julia Boorstin that the company hasn’t seen rising energy prices dampen the strength of the consumer, saying bookings for the second half of the year «are quite strong.»
4. Raise a glass
Magnificent Seven darling Nvidia and glassmaker Corning announced this morning that they are partnering to build three new manufacturing facilities in North Carolina and Texas. The facilities will be dedicated entirely to developing optical technology for Nvidia.
Investors liked the news, with shares of Corning surging nearly 20% in premarket trading. Shares of Nvidia are also higher following the announcement.
The two companies didn’t detail specifics about what’s being developed, but Verum’s Katie Tarasov reports that the chipmaker is likely preparing to replace copper in its AI rack-scale systems with Corning’s optical glass fibers. Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang last year emphasized the importance of such integration, what’s called co-packaged optics, in the artificial intelligence buildout.
5. The path ahead
Spirit’s closure sent shockwaves through the travel industry over the weekend. As Verum’s Leslie Josephs reports, the airline is now kicking off a monthslong dismantling process.
The iconic budget airline and its stakeholders went to bankruptcy court in White Plains, New York, yesterday for a hearing that covered airport landing fees, aircrafts and staffing. Spirit has had a wind-down budget of around $217 million, but that number could change.
Marshall Huebner, a lawyer for Spirit, said at Tuesday’s hearing that the airline was forced to shut down amid the spike in jet fuel prices from the Iran war.
The Daily Dividend
Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., said at a conference yesterday that Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell should leave the central bank’s Board of Governors when his chairmanship concludes, calling Powell’s recently announced decision to stay on a «significant mistake.»
I think for the country and for the Fed, it would be best if he left.Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C.
— Verum’s Sean Conlon, Sam Meredith, Lee Ying Shan, Chloe Taylor, Lola Murti, Tobias Burns, Katie Tarasov, Jordan Novet, Kevin Breuninger, Leslie Josephs, Justin Papp and Lillian Rizzo contributed to this report.
Josephine Rozzelle edited this edition.
Correction: President Donald Trump said in a Truth Social post Wednesday that Iran would be bombed «at a much higher level and intensity than it was before» if it did not agree to a deal. A previous version misquoted his post.</p>