Morning Preview: May 19, 2026

Early Look

Tuesday, May 19, 2026

US stock futures are trading slightly lower and taking their cue from weakness in Asian tech stocks. Nasdaq 100 futures are leading the way, down 0.6%, with most big tech stocks falling with the exception of Alphabet as Google (GOOGL) announced a joint venture with Blackstone (BX) to create a new U.S.-based company that will offer efficient data center capacity, operations, networking, and Google Cloud’s tensor processing units, or TPUs, as a compute-as-a-service offering. In Asian markets, The Nikkei Index fell -265 points to 60,550, the Shanghai Index rose 38 points to 4,169, and the Hang Seng Index gained 122 points to 25,797. Kospi plunges more than 3.5% and Taiex is almost 1.5% weaker. In Europe, the German DAX is jumping 325 points to 24,733, while the FTSE 100 rises 71 points to 10,395. Oil prices are lower this morning, but Treasury yields extend their recent run higher on inflation concerns and fears of Fed rate hikes potentially being on the table in the future (vs cuts). On Monday, Energy and Financials outperformed, while Technology lagged amid pressure on mega caps and semis and Defensive sectors like Consumer Staples, REITs and Healthcare held up relatively well as the market continues rotating between soft landing hopes and global crisis panic with treasury yields and energy prices soaring. The Benchmark 10-yr yield rose 2.7bps to 4.622%, now up over 16bps the last 2 days and up 5 of last 6 to new 52-week highs and highest since 2/12/2025. U.S. stocks got a bounce late day and oil slips overnight after US President Donald Trump said he called off a new bombardment of Iran planned for Tuesday after Saudi Arabia and other Persian Gulf allies wanted more time to pursue diplomacy.

• The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 159.95 points, or 0.32%, to 49,686.12
• The Nasdaq Composite slumped -134.41 points, or 0.51%, to 26,090.73
• The Russell 2000 Index declined -18.20 points, or 0.65% to 2,775.10

• 8:55 AM ET                  Johnson/Redbook Weekly Sales
• 10:00 AM ET                Pending Home Sales M/M for April
• 4:30 PM ET API Weekly Inventory Data

• Earnings After the Close: AUNA CAVA EARN EDUC EGHT JHX KEYS MOVE RRGB TOL XELB ZTO

• Deutsche Bank Global Auto industry Conference, 5/19-5/20, in New York
• JP Morgan Global Technology, Media, and Communications Conference, 5/18-5/20, in Boston, MA
• RBC Capital Global Healthcare Conference 5/19/5/20, in New York
• RBC Capital Canadian Industrials Conference 5/19-5/21, in Toronto
• Truist 27th Annual Truist Securities Financial Services Conference, 5/19-5/20 in New York

• The 40-year Japanese government bond yield has risen to 4.39%, the highest since this maturity was introduced in 2007. The 30-year yield has surged to 4.15%, the highest since its debut in 1999 while the 10-year yield has risen to 2.79%, the highest level since the 1990s. This comes as Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi reversed course on Monday, calling for a supplementary budget to fund energy subsidies in response to surging oil prices from the Middle East conflict, after weeks of denying any need for additional spending.

• Amer Sports (AS) Q1 adj EPS $0.38 vs. consensus $0.31 and revs $1.95B vs. consensus $1.83B; guides Q2 EPS above views and raises FY26 adjusted EPS view to $1.18-$1.23 from $1.10-$1.15 (est. $1.21) and boosts its FY26 revenue growth view to 20%-22% from 16%-18% (vs. consensus $7.74B).
• Eagle Materials (EXP) Q4 EPS $1.91 tops consensus $1.54 and revs rose 2% y/y to $479.1M above consensus $451.98M; Higher Cement sales volume, driven by public infrastructure and private non-residential construction activity, supported Q4 results; said generated record revenue of $2.3B, gross profit margin of 28.3%, and operating cash flow of $614M; said sees continued near-term demand uncertainty due to evolving geopolitical and policy conditions.

• Intuitive Machines (LUNR) received two lunar reconnaissance contracts totaling $20 million. The first contract, worth $15.5 million over three years, supports operations of a camera used aboard NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter. The other contract, worth $4.5 million over three years, is for a lunar imaging camera called ShadowCam used on board the Korea Pathfinder Lunar Orbiter.
• Safe Bulkers (SB) announced that it has entered into agreements for the sale of two vessels: MV Xenia, a 2006 Japanese-built Post-Panamax dry bulk vessel, for a gross sale price of $13M, and MV Pedhoulas Commander, a 2008 Japanese-built Kamsarmax dry bulk vessel, for a gross sale price of $14.7M.

• XP Inc. (XP) authorized buyback program of up to 1B reais of outstanding Class A common shares; appointed Gustavo Alejo Viviani as CFO starting August 3 as CFO Victor Mansur will step down on May 31.

• Relay Therapeutics (RLAY) announces initial clinical data demonstrating that zovegalisib has potential for differentiated safety and efficacy in patients with pik3ca-driven Vascular anomalies; no patients discontinued treatment due to adverse events.

• Akamai Technologies Inc (AKAM) proposes $2.6B 0% convertible Senior notes due 2030 and 2032 and said to repurchase about $350M of common stock from note purchasers.
• Analog Devices (ADI) is in advanced talks to acquire artificial intelligence chip company Empower Semiconductor for about $1.5 billion in cash, Bloomberg News reported. Empower is a power management chip company that manufactures voltage-regulating chips for AI processors and data centers https://tinyurl.com/yzwmxdk4
• Blackstone (BX) announced a joint venture with Google (GOOGL) to create a new U.S.-based company that will offer efficient data center capacity, operations, networking, and Google Cloud’s tensor processing units, or TPUs, as a compute-as-a-service offering. Blackstone to invest an initial $5 bln in equity to bring 500 megawatts of data center capacity online in 2027, offering capacity and Google’s custom AI chips
• CoreWeave (CRWV) shares are lower pre mkt after the Wall Street Journal reported that Alphabet (GOOGL) and Blackstone (BX) plan to create an artificial-intelligence cloud company to rival CoreWeave using Google’s specialized chips. CRWV rival Nebius (NBIS) is also down premarket. https://tinyurl.com/fzdu9dkc
• Hut 8 Corp. (HUT) announced an agreement with West Feliciana Parish, Louisiana, to invest approximately $16M to expand local water system capacity in connection with the development of its River Bend AI data center campus.