Inflation at 4-Year Highs, Oil at $105, and Wall Street Just Hit Records — Pick a Struggle

Let's set the scene: Brent crude surged to ~$105/barrel, the 30-year Treasury yield hit 5.10%, PPI came in at +6% YoY — a four-year high — and the S&P 500 closed at a record 7,444. Totally fine. Everything is fine. Meanwhile, Kevin Warsh just got confirmed as Fed Chair in the most partisan vote in Fed history, inheriting an economy running a 6% GDP deficit with shelter inflation sticky above 7%. No pressure, Kevin.

The week's undeniable winner was $CBRS (Cerebras Systems), which debuted in the year's biggest IPO at $185/share, surged as much as 108% intraday, and settled up ~74% — because apparently when the AI wave is this big, even the warm-up acts are tsunamis. $CSCO also had its best day since 2011, ripping +15% on AI infrastructure demand. Meanwhile $RDDT is down 32% YTD despite posting 61% ARPU growth — nearly double Meta's — which is either a screaming opportunity or a classic social sentiment trap. The Apple-OpenAI breakup drama is escalating into potential litigation, with $AAPL now testing Anthropic and Gemini as replacements. Siri remains, somehow, the villain of this story.

The macro read: Bank of America is warning of profit-taking in early June, HSBC just raised its S&P year-end target to 7,650 with an 8,000 stretch goal, and Ford popped 13% on an analyst calling its energy storage business a hidden $10 billion asset. Beer sales are down 6% YoY — apparently when gas is $4.50, people stop buying Bud Light at 7-Eleven, which tracks. The vibe this week was less 'bull market' and more 'everyone is lying to themselves at the same time and it's somehow working.'