Big Tech on Deck: 8 Key Items Shaping the Stock Market Wednesday

These are the early headlines and other items poised to influence the market at the start of the trading day. As we share this collection of market drivers, U.S. equity futures point to a positive start to the trading day ahead.

1. President Trump has instructed aides to prepare for an extended blockade of Iran, U.S. officials said, targeting the regime’s coffers in a high-risk bid to compel a nuclear capitulation Tehran has long refused. (WSJ)

The word that jumps out to us is “extended,” and it is one that indicates duration of higher energy and related prices, and their follow-through will continue at least for the foreseeable future. On company earnings calls, we’ve started to hear more about upcoming pricing moves, and that suggests another layer of inflation sapping consumer buying power alongside higher gas prices. That headwind is a positive for several Portfolio holdings, such as Costco (COST) and TJX (TJX) .

2. Shares of Bloom Energy rallied more than 12% in after-hours trading Tuesday as the alternative-energy company touted an expanded AI-related partnership with Oracle and its quarterly sales more than doubled year over year… The company said its first-quarter revenue rose 130% year over year to $751.1 million, which came ahead of Wall Street’s expectations for $540 million… Bloom also raised its outlook for the year, saying it expects 2026 revenue between $3.4 billion and $3.8 billion. (MarketWatch)

We have some nice exposure to Bloom Energy (BE) shares courtesy of our EPS Diplomats model strategy that focuses on companies with both a track record of and significant prospects for outsized EPS growth. It’s one of the many models we’ve developed over at Tematica Research, and as of Tuesday night’s close, that model basket was up 26.1% YTD compared to the 9.35% move in the S&P 500.

3. Visa beat estimates for Wall Street profit on Tuesday as the world’s largest payment processor benefited from a steady rise in payment volumes despite ongoing macroeconomic uncertainty… Payments volume, a gauge of overall consumer and business spending on Visa’s network, jumped 9% in the second quarter. (Reuters)

That 9% figure posted by Visa (V) was impressive given the consumer backdrop, but the company continues to benefit from the ongoing shift to card and digital payments from cash and checks across the globe. What’s more impressive was the 11% network volume figure posted by Portfolio resident American Express (AXP) for the same quarter.

On Thursday, April 30, Mastercard (MA) will deliver its quarterly results, and we’ll be comparing transaction volumes across all three of those platforms. As we do that, we’ll want to remember what differentiates Amex from Mastercard and Visa – its membership-driven business model.

4. Booking Holdings cut its annual revenue ‌growth forecast on Tuesday and warned that the war in the Middle East could weigh on bookings through the end of June… The company said growth in room nights — a key gauge of occupancy and revenue generation — was reduced by roughly 2 percentage points in the first ⁠quarter due to the conflict, which erupted in late February… “We are mindful that a sustained disruption could introduce broader inflationary pressures, including fluctuations in jet fuel prices, airline capacity reductions, as well as weigh on traveler sentiment more broadly,” (Reuters)

Comparing Visa’s comments above with the one from Booking Holdings (BKNG) and recent ones from Hilton (HLT) , travel spending is being curbed in some parts of the world, while in others, consumers are also starting to pay more for necessities.

Tying in item one above, the greater the duration, the greater the impact on disposable income, the greater the risk to travel spending. That, paired with higher jet fuel prices, could place a squeeze of airline margins, which explains why JetBlue (JBLU) and others have pulled their guidance for this year.

5. Fed policymakers are widely expected to keep rates steady between 3.50% and 3.75% today. Officials may soften language around the labor market. They might also signal if they think the Iran war will lead to pass-through inflation. (Barron’s)

At 2 p.m. ET on Wednesday, the Federal Reserve will share its latest monetary policy decision, and the market does not expect a rate cut. In fact, the CME FedWatch Tools shows the market calling for the next rate in late 2027. Before we get to that unveiling, the nomination for Fed Chair nominee Kevin Warsh is expected to advance, but odds are that he won’t be a factor until the Fed’s June policy meeting. When that happens, we will want to walk through the corresponding Set of Economic Projections (SEP) carefully.

6. Investors appeared to be buying the dip on Wednesday, with Google parent Alphabet, online retailer Amazon, Facebook owner Meta Platforms, and IT giant Microsoft set to report after the closing bell. All four are plowing money into AI, so their capital spending guidance could help ease the recent jitters. (Barron’s)

There is no other way to say it than quarterly results this afternoon from Amazon (AMZN) , Alphabet (GOOGL) , Meta (META) and Microsoft (MSFT) will be in the spotlight for at least two reasons. Expectations are high given the numerous AI and data center announcements over the last few months as well as their efforts to tie up needed chip, power and networking capacity. Backlogs and RPOs will be key metrics, but as great a focus will be on margins and capital spending figures, especially after reports on Tuesday that OpenAI was falling short of internal targets.

Aggregate results from these four hyperscalers will paint a truer picture of AI and data center demand, and that will reverberate through other companies tied to digital infrastructure. Given the weighting of AMZN, MSFT, META and GOOGL shares in the S&P 500 — roughly 18.3% — those aggregate results will also have an impact on that broader market index.

7. Economic data today per TipRanks: MBA Mortgage Applications Index (Weekly), Housing Starts & Building Permits (March), Durable Goods Orders (March), New Home Sales (March), EIA Crude Oil Inventories (Weekly)

8. Companies reporting today per TipRanks: AM - AbbVie (ABBV) , ADP (ADP) , Cognizant (CTSH) , Extreme Networks (EXTR) , GE Healthcare (GEHC) , General Dynamics (GD) , IDEX Corp. (IEX) , Stanley Black & Decker (SWK) , TradeWeb Markets (TW) , Vulcan Materials (VMC) , Wingstop (WING) , Yum China (YUMC) , Yum! Brands (YUM) .

PM - Alphabet, Amazon, American Water Works (AWK) , Cheesecake Factory (CAKE) , Chipotle (CMG) , Equinix (EQIX) , Ethan Allen (ETD) , Ford Motor (F) , Mattel (MAT) , Meta Platforms, MGM Resorts (MGM) , Microsoft, Pilgrim’s Pride (PPC) , Qualcomm (QCOM)

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At the time of publication, TheStreet Pro Portfolio was long AMZN, GOOGL, META, MSFT, COST and TJX.