MARKET WRAPS

STOCKS: Stocks slid as hopes faded for the near-term reopening of the Strait of Hormuz.

TREASURYS: Treasury yields rose amid fears the energy shock caused by the Iran war would trigger another global wave of inflation.

FOREX: The U.S. dollar rose against rivals on the implications of rising oil prices for Federal Reserve policy.

COMMODITIES: Oil futures rose 4.2% in New York, topping $105 a barrel, amid fears that global reserves that have cushioned the blow of the strait's closure would soon reach critical lows.

HEADLINES

Trump and Xi Want to Stabilize U.S.-China Ties. Now Comes the Hard Part.

BEIJING-At the end of President Trump's state visit to China on Friday, with Air Force One lifting off through the haze at Beijing's airport, both sides hailed a reset in relations-though each has a starkly different idea of what that means.

For Trump, it is about opening China's market to American business and reciprocal trade, reviving a U.S. policy he scrapped in his first presidency, when he had adopted a more hawkish attitude toward Beijing.

Chinese leader Xi Jinping, meanwhile, wants "strategic stability"-a predictable relationship in which Washington doesn't impede Beijing's economic and geopolitical rise.

SpaceX Is Aiming to Go Public on June 12 in What Stands to Be Biggest IPO Ever

SpaceX is aiming to go public on June 12, according to people familiar with the matter, setting the stage for what is expected to be the biggest initial public offering of all time.

Elon Musk's rocket company is aiming to raise as much as $80 billion or more. It is expected to list on the Nasdaq, some of the people said.

At one point, advisers on the deal had expected it to debut on or around June 17, but the timing was recently accelerated, the people said. It could still change.

Anthropic Raising $30 Billion More as AI Labs Absorb Majority of VC Funding

Anthropic is raising more than $30 billion at a $900 billion valuation as the AI giant seeks funding ahead of its widely expected initial public offering, according to people familiar with the matter.

The company and rival OpenAI have collectively raised more than $220 billion in funding since the beginning of last year, according to company announcements, not including Anthropic's new funding. The AI giants' mad dash for funding has cemented a new trend in venture capital, in which a handful of companies are absorbing an unprecedented share of VC funding.

In the first quarter of 2026, OpenAI and Anthropic, as well as xAI, Waymo and Databricks, raised about 75% of total venture investment, according to PitchBook, a level of concentration the data firm said had no modern precedent.

Starbucks Cuts Hundreds More Corporate Workers in Turnaround Bid

Starbucks is laying off 300 U.S. workers and closing several regional corporate offices in the latest move by Chief Executive Brian Niccol to turn the coffee chain around.

The company said Friday that chain leaders had been tasked with finding additional reductions beyond thousands of previous layoffs to streamline operations, lower costs and create a more sustainable business.

U.S. Industrial Production Rose in April

U.S. industrial production rose in April, according to data published by the Federal Reserve.

Production rose by 0.7% last month, after decreasing by an upwardly revised 0.3% in March. Analysts polled by The Wall Street Journal expected a 0.2% increase.

Manufacturing activity rose by 0.6%, and output from utilities increased by 1.9%. Mining output ticked down 0.1%.

Bill Ackman's Pershing Square Bets on Microsoft's AI Ambitions With New Stake

Bill Ackman's Pershing Square has taken a new stake in Microsoft, a bet that the software giant's investments in artificial intelligence aren't reflected in the company's slumping share price.

Ackman said in a post on X Friday that Pershing had started building the position in Microsoft in February, after the company's shares declined following its earnings report.

"We will disclose a new position in Microsoft, a company we have followed for many years now offered at a highly compelling valuation," Ackman said in the more than 800-word post, adding that Pershing had now made Microsoft a "core holding."

Toyota Mulls $2 Billion Investment to Add Assembly Line in Texas

Toyota Motor is considering investing $2 billion to add a vehicle assembly line near its manufacturing facility in San Antonio, Texas.

The Japanese carmaker plans to begin construction later this year, with production targeted to start in 2030, according to application documents filed by a company unit for a Texas state economic-incentive program.

The project would create 2000 jobs, the filing with the Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts showed.

Stellantis, Dongfeng Ink $1.17 Billion Deal to Make Peugeot, Jeep EVs in China

Stellantis has struck another deal with a Chinese automaker, this time partnering with Dongfeng Group to produce electric vehicles under the Peugeot and Jeep brands in China.

The $1.17 billion tie-up underscores a broader shift in the global auto industry that is driving deeper collaboration between Western carmakers and their Chinese counterparts.

Under the arrangement, Stellantis will co-manufacture two all-new Peugeot new energy vehicles with Dongfeng at their joint-venture factory in Wuhan, China. They also plan to produce two Jeep NEVs-a category that includes fully electric variants and plug-in hybrids.

Sherritt Seeks to Dissolve Cuba Ventures, Cutting Ties With the Island

Sherritt International is seeking a quick exit from its activities in Cuba as it looks to escape the threat of being targeted in the Trump administration's efforts to force regime change on the island.

The Canadian miner said Friday it plans to tell its venture partners in Cuba it will leverage provisions in their agreements to dissolve the partnerships, which effectively would sever its Cuban interests.

The company said it has informed Cuban authorities of its intentions. Since the process of dissolution could take at least several months and possibly several years, it said it would seek relief from the Alberta Court of King's Bench to facilitate accelerated dissolution to the extent possible. Sherritt is scheduled to appear before the court on Tuesday.

TALKING POINT Vanguard Is the Costco of Finance, According to the Hosts of 'Acquired'

Most people know that Vanguard offers low-cost index funds. Some know that Vanguard is itself owned by those fund investors collectively. But few realize that this clever corporate structure is why the funds are so low cost. And why Americans have access to low-cost index funds at all.

The Vanguard Group manages the largest index funds in the world-nearly $12 trillion in passive index assets. It is the single largest owner of the majority of corporations in the S&P 500.

And together with the other large index-fund companies like BlackRock, State Street and Fidelity, it owns an estimated 24% of the entire U.S. stock market. Passive index funds are a behemoth hiding in plain sight.

Vanguard has a clever strategy. As it grows its assets and gains economies of scale, it shares that surplus value back with its customers-fundholders-in the form of reduced fees instead of keeping those dollars for itself. This playbook is akin to another great company that we studied on Acquired in 2023: Costco. Costco built a tremendous competitive advantage by capping its profit margins and sharing scale benefits with customers in the form of lower prices. As Costco scales, it becomes increasingly difficult for competitors to match its famously low prices. Vanguard is essentially the Costco of finance but taken to another level: thanks to its corporate structure, it captures no profits.

But how did this happen? Index funds owned 0% of the stock market in 1975 when Vanguard started. Today, they are the entrance to investing for millions. And Vanguard-and now other fund managers, too-offer this wildly attractive investment product for a fee that is often less than 0.05% annually, or a mere $5 on a $10,000 investment.

It all starts with the founder, John C. "Jack" Bogle.

In 1967, Bogle was the president of the respected mutual-fund firm Wellington Management Co. The arrival of the stock market's go-go years in the late 1960s drove Wellington to merge with aggressive Boston-based fund manager Thorndike, Doran, Paine & Lewis. Their newly adopted strategy worked for a few years, until the market crashed in the early 70s, leaving Wellington overexposed and bleeding assets.

--Ben Gilbert and David Rosenthal

Expected Major Events for Monday

04:30/JPN: Mar Revised Retail Sales

08:00/ITA: Mar Foreign Trade EU

08:30/UK: S&P Global UK Consumer Sentiment Index

14:00/US: May NAHB Housing Market Index

14:00/US: 1Q Quarterly Retail E-Commerce Sales

20:00/US: Mar Treasury International Capital Data

23:50/JPN: 1Q 1st Preliminary Quarterly GDP Estimates

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Expected Earnings for Monday

ASP Isotopes Inc (ASPI) is expected to report $-0.17 for 1Q.

Agilysys Inc $(AGYS)$ is expected to report $0.28 for 4Q.

Aspira Women's Health Inc (AWHL) is expected to report for 1Q.

Brady Corp - A Share $(BRC)$ is expected to report $1.27 for 3Q.

CervoMed Inc (CRVO) is expected to report $-0.70 for 1Q.

Genesis Land Development Corp (GDC.T) is expected to report for 1Q.

Golden Minerals Co (AUMN,AUMN.T) is expected to report for 1Q.

Gossamer Bio Inc (GOSS) is expected to report $-0.11 for 1Q.

IGC Pharma Inc (IGC) is expected to report for 1Q.

Lyra Therapeutics Inc $(LYRA)$ is expected to report for 1Q.

Omnitek Engineering (OMTK) is expected to report for 1Q.

Siebert Financial Corp (SIEB) is expected to report for 1Q.

Solidion Technology Inc $(STI)$ is expected to report for 1Q.

Transcat Inc (TRNS) is expected to report $0.23 for 4Q.

XWELL Inc $(XWEL)$ is expected to report for 1Q.

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This article is a text version of a Wall Street Journal newsletter published earlier today.

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

May 15, 2026 16:42 ET (20:42 GMT)

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