Major Averages Broadly Lower as Tech Stocks Lag

The major averages were broadly lower near noon, giving back some of yesterday's gains as tech stocks lag, U.S. Treasury yields rise, and oil prices jump once again. A meeting between President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping has ended, with investors concerned that the summit resulted in no major policy breakthroughs.Brent crude has pushed above $104 a barrel as the Iran conflict and ongoing Strait of Hormuz disruptions continue pressuring global energy supplies. Rising oil prices are now feeding into inflation expectations, transportation costs, and consumer spending concerns. Markets increasingly fear a stagflationary setup where inflation stays elevated even as economic growth slows.Get caught up quickly on the top news and calls moving stocks with these five Top Five lists.1. STOCK NEWS:Applied Materialsreportedand raised its 2026 equipment growth estimateFigmaprovided areport for Q1Gemini Space Stationannounced that Winklevoss Capital Fund made ainto the companyBlackstoneand CD&R are both in the early stages of exploring bids for Magnum Ice Cream,United States Antimonyreported2. WALL STREET CALLS:Arista Networksto Outperform at Raymond JamesRBCTexas Roadhouseon better beef prices, traffic growthCiscoto Buy at HSBC on stronger AI infrastructure momentumViking Holdingsto Equal Weight at Morgan StanleyFermito In Line at Evercore ISI3. AROUND THE WEB:As Metaprepares to lay off about 10% of its staff on May 20 as part of ongoing efficiency efforts and investment rebalancing, adding to prior rounds of layoffs, sources say morale is low, Wired reportsMore than 50 researchers and engineers have left xAI since the SpaceX acquisition via layoffs, firings, and voluntary departures, with many joining Meta and TML, The Information saysGoogleis planning to announce a new Gemini model at it's I/O conference, with the release expected to land around the class of OpenAI's GPT-5.5 and short of Anthropic's Mythos, Sources reportsStarbucksis undertaking another round of corporate restructuring, including about 300 U.S. job cuts and a review of its international corporate workforce, CNBC saysMicrosoftis rolling back internal use of Claude Code after strong adoption among developers, and plans to replace most licenses with GitHub Copilot CLI as part of a broader push to consolidate engineering workflows, Verge reports4. MOVERS:Globantrises afterRXOhigher after Stifelthe stock to BuyDexComgains after announcing aYork Space Systemslower afterand provided guidance for FY26DLocaland ARS Pharmaceuticalsfalls after5. EARNINGS/GUIDANCE:Datavault, with EPS and revenue higher year-over-yearRBC Bearingsand provided guidance for Q1Enveric Biosciences, with CEO Joseph Tucker commenting "Our progress in the first quarter of 2026 reflects continued execution against our core mission"aTyr Pharma, with CEO Sanjay Shukla commenting, "2026 is off to a productive start"Mako Mining, with EPS and revenue higher year-over-yearINDEXES:Near midday, the Dow was down 1.03%, or 515.34, to 49,548.12, the Nasdaq was down 1.34%, or 356.79, to 26,278.44, and the S&P 500 was down 1.05%, or 79.13, to 7,422.11.