UAE PICKS AMERICA OVER CHINA IN THE GLOBAL AI ARMS RACE Abu Dhabi’s tech giant G42 is going all-in on the U.S.—not Beijing—as it races to become one of the world’s most powerful players in
With a $1.4 trillion investment plan aimed squarely at the U.S., the UAE is signaling a strategic pivot: America is its partner of choice for AI dominance. G42, backed by the oil-rich emirate and chaired by national security adviser Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed, has quietly launched “G42 USA” in Delaware and is expanding rapidly into American cloud services, chipmaking, and AI infrastructure. The company just pumped $335 million into U.S. chipmaker Cerebras, after cutting ties with Chinese suppliers like Huawei to meet U.S. national security demands. It already counts Microsoft, Silver Lake, and Ray Dalio’s firm among its investors. People familiar with the matter added that some of G42’s subsidiaries — which include AI applications, cloud computing and data centre companies — are expected to make announcements about US business plans in the coming months.
🔴 EU airlines saying they’re going to start buying Chinese planes instead of American planes…
▶️ The boss of Ryanair has threatened to cancel orders with American aircraft maker Boeing and buy from Chinese manufacturers instead if Donald Trump’s trade tariffs push up costs. ▶️ In a letter to top US lawmakers, Michael O’Leary criticised Washington’s trade war with Beijing and warned that a “material” impact on the price of aircraft could prompt his company to take its business elsewhere. ▶️ The Irishman said Ryanair could even turn to state-owned Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China (Comac), a threat sure to anger Mr Trump, who has made isolating China a key aim of his trade war. ▶️ Ryanair, the largest carrier in Europe, is currently waiting on the delivery of 29 Boeing 737 Max 200 planes, out of a total order of 210. It has also ordered 150 Max 10 jets, the largest in the 737 family, for delivery from 2027 with the option of another 150 afterwards. Source: Yahoo Finance
JUST IN: US JOB DATA RELEASED!
Nonfarm Payrolls, 177K Vs. 138K Est. (prev. 228K) Unemployment Rate, 4.2% Vs. 4.2% Est. (prev. 4.2%) Hourly Earnings, 3.8% Vs. 3.9% Est. (prev. 3.8%) ▶️ The US labor market has remained resilient in April. No visible impact of the tariff announcement on employment dynamics (yet?) ▶️ The US economy added 177k new jobs in April (138k expected) after 185k in March. ▶️ February and March data were revised lower (-58k overall) but remain on a decent trend, consistent with a stable unemployment rate. ▶️ As a result, the unemployment rate remains stable at 4.2% (as expected). ▶️ Wage growth slowed down slightly, to +0.2% from +0.3% (+0.3% expected). Hourly earnings are up +3.8% YoY, stable compared to the previous month. Source: Bloomberg
🔴 U.S. AND UKRAINE LAUNCH RECONSTRUCTION & MINERALS DEAL
▶️ The United States and Ukraine have officially established the United States-Ukraine Reconstruction Investment Fund, giving American companies priority access to develop Ukraine's valuable natural resources. The agreement grants the US privileged access to investment projects for Ukraine's aluminum, graphite, oil, and natural gas reserves as part of broader reconstruction efforts. ▶️Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent: "Thanks to President Trump's tireless efforts to secure a lasting peace, I am glad to announce this historic economic partnership agreement between the United States and Ukraine." Source: U.S. Treasury Department, @sentdefender thru Mario Nawfal
US earnings expectations versus US economic growth surprises dichotomy
▶️ While macro growth expectations continue to fade, EPS expectations are down only modestly (and actually starting to inflect modestly higher in the last couple of days)... Source: Bloomberg, www.zerohedge.com
UPDATE: Weekly jobless claims jump to 241,000, higher than expected
Source: Stocktwits
TRUMP: THE BIGGEST BILL IN AMERICAN HISTORY IS COMING
No tax on tips, no tax on Social security, no tax on overtime. "In the coming weeks and months, we will pass the largest tax cuts in American history and that will include no tax on tips, no tax on Social Security, no tax on overtime. It's called the One Big Beautiful Bill, and it will be the biggest bill ever passed in our country's history. It will include the biggest tax cuts, regulation cuts, military supremacy, and just about everything else." Source: @RapidResponse47 thru Mario Nawfal, FoxNews
UPS has said it will cut 20,000 jobs this year and close more than 70 buildings
as the logistics group seeks to reduce costs and prepare for a halving in package volume from Amazon, its biggest customer. The job cuts will target workers responsible for delivering packages to customers and supporting UPS’s transportation and logistics services, and come after the group last year cut about 14,000 jobs, primarily in management roles. The latest reduction in headcount is part of UPS’s plan to boost efficiency and consolidate its US domestic network after it said in January it had reached an agreement in principle with its “largest customer” to lower its volume by the second half of 2026.
