Morning Note - 05/27/26: Stocks Continue Run, Paxton Wins Texas. A Blue Texas In November?
Overnight Summary and Early Morning Trading:
The S&P 500 finished Tuesday higher by 0.61% at 7519.12 from Friday higher by 0.37% at 7473.47.
The S&P 500 sees support now at 7500 from 7400. Resistance is now at 7600 from 7500. In the last two months, support has moved from 6300 to 7500.
S&P 500 hit its 18th All-Time Closing High of 2026 yesterday.
Futures are higher this morning by +22.50 (+0.30%) at 7560.25 on the SP 500 at 6:40 a.m. EDT.
Bond Market is higher today on price with the 10-Year Yield at 4.465% from 4.489%.
Executive Summary:
Stocks had an eighth up week, with the S&P 500 gaining 17.81% in the last eight weeks. We are now up 7.10% since the peak in January on the S&P 500 as of last Friday’s close.
U.S. moves into Week 14 of its attack on Iran. Key to this week is to see if an end to the war can be negotiated.
Key Geopolitical Events of Note:
Economic news of note.
Weekly - MBA Mortgage Applications and API Petroelum Institute Data of note.
Monthly - None of note
Fed Speakers of Note today: Logan 4:00 a.m. EDT, Cook 3:55 p.m. EDT, Jefferson 8:00 p.m. EDT, Goolsbee 8:25 p.m. EDT.
5-Year Note Auction at 1:00 p.m. EDT.
President Trump’s schedule:
Participates in Executive Time at 8:00 a.m. EDT.
Participates in a Cabinet Meeting at 11:00 a.m. EDT.
Participates in a Policy Meeting at 3:00 p.m. EDT.
Participates in a Policy Meeting at 4:00 p.m. EDT.
Notable Earnings Out After The Close:
Beats: MOD +-0.16, ZS +0.07, SMTC +0.06, BOX +0.01 of note.
Misses: SQM -0.27 of note.
Flat: None of note.
Capital Raises of Note/Pricings:
IPO Filings: None of note.
Secondaries Filed Or Priced:
NN files for 15,100,000 share common stock offering, relates to warrants.
MWH announces launch of public offering of Class A common stock
FPS files for 11,258,602 share common stock offering.
Notes Filed Or Priced: None of note.
Convertible Offerings Filed or Priced:None of note.
Private Placement: None of note.
Direct Offering: None of note.
Exchangeable Subordinate Voting Shares: None of note.
Private Placements: None of note.
Selling Shareholders:
FPS also files for 23,741,398 share common stock offering by selling stockholders.
Mixed Shelf Offerings:
AIFU files for $300 million mixed securities shelf offering.
FIBK files mixed securities shelf offering.
After The Close:
Firefly Aerospace (FLY) awarded a $75 million subcontract from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory to deliver four drones to the Moon’s south pole.
Zscaler (ZS) beats but revenue guidance is weak, so stock is lower.
Verra Mobility (VRRM) received a termination notice from Avis Budget Group regarding its contract with the company; Issues downside FY26 guidance.
Firefly Aerospace (FLY) announces the commencement of a public offering of common stock by Firefly and certain selling stockholder.
DuPont (DD) approves a reverse stock split of its common stock at a ratio of 1-for-3 as well as a reduction in the number of authorized shares of its common stock by a corresponding ratio.
lululemon athletica (LULU) close to settlement with founder Chip Wilson to end proxy fight. (Reuters)
RTX awarded a $1.02 billion firm-fixed-price Army contract for the procurement of NASAMS fire units.
LMT awarded a $100.5 million firm-fixed-price Navy order.
IREN announces it has entered into a purchase agreement with Dell for air-cooled Blackwell systems to service its previously announced five-year, $3.4 bln managed services AI cloud contract.
SpaceX’s upcoming Nasdaq IPO revives potential SpaceX-Tesla (TSLA) merger discussions. (CNBC)
President Trump notes it is critically important that the CFTC’s exclusive authority over Prediction Markets is maintained.
10-Q Delays BRUN
Tuesday’s Winners:
APPS +13.9%, SMTC +6.1%, VRDN +4.1%,
Tuesday’s Losers:
VRRM -41.7%, ZS -18.6%, FPS -6.9%, MWH -6.3%, TRNS -4%, BOX -2.9%
Executive, Corporate Changes:
StoneXGroup (SNEX) announces a 3-for-2 split of its common stock.
MED announces that its Board of Directors has formally appointed Nicholas Johnson as Chief Executive Officer, effective June 1, 2026. Johnson will succeed Dan Chard as CEO, who will continue to serve as Chairman of the Board.
Dividend Announcements:
Top Names Ex-Dividend Wednesday: EA DLO NEM SFL TRU VAC WLK WPM YUM PSEC SOLS TSCO YUMC of note.
Top Names Ex-Dividend Thursday: None of note.
Buybacks: None of note.
What Happening This Morning:
Futures S&P 500 +25, NASDAQ 100 +184, Dow Jones +177. Europe is higher while Asia is mixed. Bond yield is at 4.467% from 4.487% on the 10-Year. Crude Oil and Brent Crude are lower with Natural Gas lower. Gold, Silver and Copper lower. The U.S. Dollar is lower versus the Euro, higher against the Pound and higher against the Yen. Bitcoin is at $75,803 from $77,337.
Sector Action:
Daily Positive Sectors: All others were higher led by Materials, Industrials and Technology.
Daily Negative Sectors: Energy, Consumer Defensive and Healthcare led the way lower.
One Month Winners: Technology, Communication Services, Consumer Defensive, Healthcare and Real Estate of note.
Three-Month Winners: Energy, Materials, Utilities, Consumer Defensive and Industrials of note.
Six-Month Winners: Energy, Materials, Utilities, Industrials, Healthcare and Consumer Defensive of note.
Twelve-Month Winners: Materials, Energy, Industrials, Utilities, Communication Services and Technology of note.
Year to Date Winners: Energy, Materials, Consumer Defensive, Utilities and Industrials of note.
Bolded means the Sector is new to the period in which it falls.
Upcoming Earnings Of Note: (Erlanger Chartroom Software – sorted by market cap, highest to lowest with most visible names)
Today After the Close:
Thursday Before The Open:
Notable Earnings of Note This Morning:
Beat : BMO +1.15, BNS +0.61, CPRI +0.10 of note.
Missed : PPD -7.05 of note.
Flat: None of note.
Still to Report: None of note.
Company Earnings Guidance:
Positive Guidance: After The Close & This Morning - None of note.
Mixed - None of none.
Negative or Mixed Guidance: After The Close & This Morning - CPRI of note.
Advance/Decline Daily Update:
Gap Ups & Down In Early Pre-Market: (+2% or down more than -2%):
Gap Up: JBGS +15.6%, APPS +15.2%, EE +8.2%, RKLB +7.9%, FLY +7.7%, QFIN +6.4%, MU +5.9%, SMTC +5.8%, NN +4.4%, KEN +4.0%, MH +3.9%, IREN +3.9%, SRE +3.5%, GOOD +3.3%, MOD +3.1%, DELL +2.5%, HIMS +2.3% of note.
Gap Down: VRRM -45.9%, ZS -23.6%, DK -8.5%, MGR -4.8%, ATAT -4.3%, ZTO -3.8%, SB -3.1%, TRS -3.0%, SKM -2.8%, HBNB -2.3% of note.
Insider Action: None see Insider Buying with dumb short selling.None see Insider Buying with smart short sellers. Above $100,000 in purchases with high shorts but no history: None of note.
Other Trading Action: None of note.
Rags & Mags: Repeated stories from prior days never listed, i.e. “rehashed news”. Sorted by Global, U.S. and stock specific.
WSJ Lead Story: Trump and Democrats Get The Candidate They Wanted In Texas. (WSJ)
NY Times Lead Story: A Blue Texas May Be More Than a Dream for Democrats. (NYT)
USA Today: A Surge in Off-Lease Cars. (USA Today)
Bloomberg: Taiwan Suspects Nvidia Chips Were Smuggled Into China Via Japan. (Bloomberg)
Economic & Geopolitical:
Federal Reserve Speakers of note today:
Federal Reserve Dallas President Logan speaks at 4:00 a.m. EDT.
Federal Reserve Governor Cook speaks at 3:55 p.m. EDT.
Federal Reserve Vice Chairman Jefferson speaks at 8:00 p.m. EDT.
Federal Reserve Chicago President Goolsbee speaks at 8:55 p.m. EDT.
President Trump’s schedule for today:
Participates in Executive Time at 8:00 a.m. EDT.
Participates in a Cabinet Meeting at 11:00 a.m. EDT.
Participates in a Policy Meeting at 3:00 p.m. EDT.
Participates in a Policy Meeting at 4:00 p.m. EDT.
Economic Data Out -
Weekly
MBA Mortgage Applications are out at 7:00 a.m. EDT.
API Petroleum Institute Data is out at 4:30 p.m. EDT.
Monthly
None
M&A Activity & Daily: None of note.
Moving Average Table: 100% from 100% of Equities are Positive, and 56% from 36% Bonds are Positive.
Meeting & Conferences of Note:
Sellside Conferences:
BAC Power, Utilities and Cleantech Conference
Barrington Spring Investment Conference
Benchmark & StoneX Digital Assets Summit
Bernstein Strategic Decisions Conference
Craig Hallum Institutional Investor Conference
DB Global Financial Services Conference
GS Leveraged Finance and Credit Conference
Jefferies Japan IT, Internet & Services Summito
Jefferies Software, Internet & AI Conference
KeyBanc Industrials & Basic Materials Conference
RBC Northeast Software Bus Tour
TD Cowen Technology, Media & Telecom Conference
TD Cowen Oncology Innovation Summit
Wolfe Media & Entertainment Bus Tour
Top Analyst, Investor: DTIL EQ KOPN TTMI of note.
Shareholder Meetings: ADT META THC XOM of note.
Fireside Chat: None of note.
FDA Presentation: None of note.
R&D Day: None of note.
Meetings: None of note.
Upgrades & Downgrades:
The recommendations listed below in this “Upgrade/Downgrade” section are compiled from what we believe are Tier I, II and III firms. Recommendations posted are taken from a variety of sources each day and we only post upgrades or significant initiations as well as downgrades to underweight or sell. The purpose of this posting is to make the reader aware of market-moving recommendations.
Upgrades: BNTX ECL EQR ET ICUI MGM PEB RPM of note.
Downgrades: KMT KOS VRRM of note.