Market Today: Cisco Surges on Strong Guidance, Major Hedge Fund Portfolio Updates

Market Summary

The major U.S. stock indices, including the S&P 500 (+1.2%), Nasdaq Composite (+1.4%), and Dow Jones Industrial Average (+0.8%), ended the day at or near record highs. This positive momentum was largely in response to the April Consumer Price Index (CPI) data, which indicated a slight easing in inflation.

Inflation Data and Market Response

The April CPI report revealed a year-over-year decrease in both total CPI (to 3.4% from 3.5%) and core CPI (to 3.6% from 3.8%). This data follows three consecutive months of higher-than-expected CPI figures and other reports suggesting persistent price pressures. Consequently, market rates dropped significantly, with the 10-year note yield falling nine basis points to 4.36% and the 2-year note yield decreasing eight basis points to 4.74%.

Retail Sales and Rate Cut Expectations

April's retail sales data showed a slowdown in consumer spending. Following this, the likelihood of a rate cut by the Federal Reserve in September increased to 75.3% from 65.1% the previous day, as per the CME FedWatch Tool.

Stock Market Performance

Broad gains were seen across many stocks. The information technology sector led the gains, closing up 2.3%, with significant contributions from semiconductor companies NVIDIA (NVDA, Financial) and Broadcom (AVGO, Financial). Conversely, the consumer discretionary sector was the weakest performer, largely unchanged from the previous day, impacted by declines in Tesla (TSLA, Financial) and Amazon.com (AMZN, Financial).

Meme Stocks and Profit-Taking

Meme stocks like GameStop (GME, Financial) and AMC Entertainment (AMC, Financial) experienced notable declines due to profit-taking after recent substantial increases.

Economic Indicators and Future Data Releases

Today's economic indicators included the Weekly MBA Mortgage Applications Index and April's CPI and retail sales data, which showed a cautious consumer spending pattern. Upcoming data releases will feature weekly jobless claims, housing starts, building permits, and the Philadelphia Fed survey.

Global Markets and Commodities

In international markets, European indices saw modest gains while Asian markets were mixed. Commodity prices varied, with increases in crude oil, natural gas, gold, silver, and copper.

Guru Stock Picks

Carl Icahn has made the following transactions:

• Add in IEP by 4.9%

Ron Baron has made the following transactions:

• Reduce in DAVA by 10.08%
• Sold out in GPCR
• Add in MSFT by 8.69%
• New position in RDNT

Mason Hawkins has made the following transactions:

• Reduce in FIS by 19.18%
• Sold out in FBIN
• Add in PYPL by 5339.31%
• New position in PCH

Kahn Brothers has made the following transactions:

• Reduce in PFE by 0.29%
• Sold out in CMCSA
• Add in TPHS by 0.24%
• New position in DIS

Paul Tudor Jones has made the following transactions:

• Reduce in KMPR by 4.41%
• Sold out in WBS
• Add in KMT by 26.05%
• New position in IWD

Chase Coleman has made the following transactions:

• Reduce in LRCX by 12.36%
• Sold out in PDD
• Add in PCOR by 46.17%
• New position in FWONK

Michael Burry has made the following transactions:

• Sold out in QRTEA
• Add in JD by 80%
• New position in FSLR

Louis Moore Bacon has made the following transactions:

• Sold out in CONX

Tiger Management has made the following transactions:

• Sold out in CART
• New position in VOO

Sarah Ketterer has made the following transactions:

• Reduce in VEU by 61.45%
• Sold out in CSX
• Add in NTES by 33.83%
• New position in EFA

Charles Brandes has made the following transactions:

• Reduce in TTE by 1.26%
• Sold out in VWO
• Add in EQC by 17.8%
• New position in KVUE

Alan Fournier has made the following transactions:

• Reduce in AMZN by 14.94%
• Sold out in TVTX
• Add in AR by 24.1%
• New position in ENOV

Mairs and Power has made the following transactions:

• Reduce in BDX by 1.71%
• Sold out in AME
• Add in ITW by 5.49%
• New position in ALTM

Mark Hillman has made the following transactions:

• Reduce in CRM by 1.04%
• Sold out in LRCX
• Add in K by 16.36%
• New position in MMM

Francis Chou has made the following transactions:

• New position in LSXMK

Mario Gabelli has made the following transactions:

• Reduce in CHRD by 7.93%
• Sold out in VRM
• Add in LLYVK by 3.1%
• New position in GTES

Leon Cooperman has made the following transactions:

• Reduce in EFC by 45.45%
• Sold out in PXD
• Add in ADT by 98.39%
• New position in SE

Seth Klarman has made the following transactions:

• Reduce in LSXMK by 70.7%
• Sold out in TSEM
• Add in CLVT by 19.99%
• New position in EXP

Jana Partners has made the following transactions:

• Reduce in EHAB by 0.13%
• Add in MRCY by 32.89%
• New position in QDEL

Robert Karr has made the following transactions:

• Reduce in ADSK by 39.31%
• Sold out in RIVN
• Add in BROS by 428.88%
• New position in MTCH

Today's News

Shares of Cisco Systems (CSCO) saw a notable increase of 5% in extended trading on Wednesday following the announcement of fiscal third-quarter results that exceeded expectations. The company raised its full-year revenue forecast to between $53.6B and $53.8B, up from the previous $51.5B to $52.5B, surpassing analysts' projections. Cisco's CFO Scott Herren highlighted the stabilization of demand and the strategic addition of Splunk to their product line as key growth catalysts. Meanwhile, competitors Juniper Networks (JNPR) and Arista Networks (ANET, Financial) experienced declines following the news.

Bridgewater Associates, the hedge fund founded by Ray Dalio (Trades, Portfolio), revealed significant portfolio adjustments in its latest 13F filings. The fund initiated new positions in Amazon (AMZN, Financial), Advanced Micro Devices (AMD, Financial), and Medtronic (MDT, Financial), while exiting stakes in CME Group (CME, Financial), Discover Financial Services (DFS, Financial), and Monolithic Power Systems (MPWR, Financial). Notably, the fund increased its holdings in Nvidia (NVDA, Financial), Apple (AAPL, Financial), and Microsoft (MSFT, Financial), signaling a bullish stance on these tech giants.

Stanley Druckenmiller (Trades, Portfolio)'s Duquesne Family Office also made headlines with its new investments in Coherent Corp (COHR, Financial), Kinder Morgan (KMI, Financial), Meta Platforms (META, Financial), and Discover Financial (DFS, Financial). The office strategically exited positions in UBS (UBS), Lamb Weston (LW), and Chevron (CVX), among others. Additionally, it increased its holdings in Natera (NTRA, Financial) and Woodward (WWD, Financial), while reducing stakes in Eli Lilly (LLY, Financial) and Nvidia (NVDA, Financial).

Corvex Management, led by Keith Meister, disclosed new investments in Air Products and Chemicals (APD, Financial), Blackstone (BX, Financial), and TKO Group Holdings (TKO, Financial) in its latest 13F filings. The hedge fund increased its stake in Illumina (ILMN, Financial) and reduced holdings in CSX (CSX, Financial) and Fomento Economico Mexicano (FMX, Financial), adjusting its portfolio to align with its strategic objectives.

Saudi Arabia's sovereign wealth fund, the Public Investment Fund (PIF), made significant changes to its investment portfolio, as seen in its recent 13F filing. The fund completely exited its positions in BlackRock (BLK, Financial), JPMorgan (JPM, Financial), and Home Depot (HD, Financial), while more than doubling its stake in Walmart (WMT, Financial) and taking a new position in Nu Holdings (NU, Financial).

GameStop (GME, Financial) and other meme stocks such as AMC (AMC, Financial), SunPower (SPWR, Financial), and BlackBerry (BB) experienced a sharp decline on Wednesday, pulling back from their recent speculative surge. The stocks saw significant losses during the trading session, with GameStop dropping 31% and AMC losing 25%, highlighting the volatile nature of these meme-driven movements.

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