Category: Daily Diary

Retail sales in the United States increased 0.5% in April 2026 over the previous month.

Retail sales in the United States increased 4.90 percent in April of 2026 over the same month in the previous year.

Retail-only sales rose 5.2% year over year, with notable strength in non-store retailers:  +11.1%, the strongest month in February-April

Sporting goods, hobby, musical instrument, & book stores: +13.4%

Gasoline stations: +20.9% (no surprise given the climb in gas prices)

Electronics & Appliances: +7.6%

Clothing & accessories: +5.5%

Food services & drinking places up 2.7%, a tad better than March but weaker than February.

Declines in furniture and department stores. 

Those figures are very good for the Pro Portfolio’s positions in Amazon ($AMZN), TJX ($TJX), and of course, Costco ($COST). 

Costco’s U.S. adjusted comp sales rose 8.0% – Clearly continuing to win consumer wallet share in the current environment, and poised to do so as consumers grapple with inflation headwinds. 

TJX reports next week, and tonight’s earnings from Ross Stores ($ROST) will help frame or possibly re-frame expectations. 

Position: TheStreet Pro Portfolio is long AMZN, COST, TJX. 

The shipments component of the Cass Freight Index fell 4.4% y/y in April, but rose 0.4% month over month (m/m), building on a 10.4% m/m gain in February and a 3.0% gain in March.

Per the good folks that publish the data, the normal seasonal trend would put the shipments component of the Cass Freight Index down just 1% y/y in May.

Positions: None.

JPMorgan is out with bullish comments on Netflix ($NFLX), reiterating its “Overweight” rating and $118 price target.

The action follows Netflix’s fourth annual advertising upfront. JPMorgan is positive on Netflix’s reach, content strategy, and improving advertising technology. And sees its upfront announcements demonstrating “progress towards building a scaled advertising strategy and highlight the view of Netflix becoming “Global TV.”

The Pro Portfolio recently added to its NFLX position at $88.64 on May 11. 

Position: TheStreet Pro Portfolio is long NFLX

A few more price target increases for Nvidia ($NVDA) ahead of its earnings report next week:

Cantor Fitzgerald takes its target to $350 from $300

UBS resets its at $275 from $245.

Position: TheStreet Pro Portfolio is long NVDA

Klarna’s guidance disappoints

While Klarna’s ($KLAR) March-ending quarter results topped consensus expectations, its guidance falls short:

It sees Q2 revs of $960 million to $1.00 billion vs. the $1.06 billion consensus and the $1.01 billion posted in Q1 2025. 

Many questions on this. Is Klarna’s reach slowing, or is it more indicative of the consumer’s appetite for additional credit and spending? Perhaps share loss to Affirm ($AFRM)?

Data in the New York Fed’s latewst Quarterly Report on Household Debt and Credit found:

Aggregate delinquency showed little change in Q1 2026, with 4.8% of outstanding debt in some stage of delinquency. Transitions into early delinquency held steady for auto loans, but ticked down for credit cards, from 8.7% annually to 8.6%, and for mortgages from 3.9% to 3.8%. Transitions into serious delinquency were mostly unchanged for auto loans and credit cards but accelerated slightly for mortgages from 1.4% to 1.5%.

That makes me go hmmm when it comes to Klarna.

Position: None

Upgrades:

AN2 Therapeutics ($ANTX) upgraded to Outperform from Market Perform at Leerink, target $9

Cheesecake Factory ($CAKE) upgraded to Neutral from Underweight at JPMorgan, target $68

Commercial Metals ($CMC) upgraded to Buy from Neutral at UBS, target $89

Compass Minerals ($CMP) upgraded to Neutral from Underweight at JPMorgan, target $30

Gladstone Land ($LAND) upgraded to Buy from Neutral at Lucid Capital, target $11.50

Illumina ($ILMN) upgraded to Outperform from Neutral at Daiwa, target $155

Orsted ($DNNGY) upgraded to Overweight from Equal Weight at Morgan Stanley

Starbucks ($SBUX) upgraded to Buy from Hold at TD Cowen, target $120

Staar Surgical ($STAA) upgraded to Outperform from Neutral at Wedbush, target $40

Downgrades:

Amphastar ($AMPH) downgraded to Equal Weight from Overweight at Wells Fargo, target $19

Autohome ($ATHM) downgraded to Hold from Buy at HSBC, target $17.30

Bandai Namco ($NCBDF) downgraded to Sell from Buy at Goldman

Camden Property ($CPT) downgraded to Underperform from Sector Perform at Scotiabank, target $95

Doximity ($DOCS) downgraded to Equal Weight from Overweight at Wells Fargo, target $18

Doximity ($DOCS) downgraded to Hold from Buy at Jefferies, target $19

Doximity ($DOCS) downgraded to Neutral from Buy at BTIG Research

Doximity ($DOCS) downgraded to Neutral from Outperform at Robert W. Baird, target $18

Doximity ($DOCS) downgraded to Sector Weight from Overweight at KeyBanc

Everpure ($P) downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Citigroup, target $90

Flex LNG ($FLNG) downgraded to Reduce from Hold at Kepler Cheuvreux, target $25

JBS ($JBS) downgraded to Neutral from Overweight at JPMorgan, target $18.50

KT Corp. ($KT) downgraded to Neutral from Buy at BofA Securities, target $23.08

MAA ($MAA) downgraded to Underperform from Sector Perform at Scotiabank, target $120

Prestige Consumer ($PBH) downgraded to Perform from Outperform at Oppenheimer

Solv Energy ($MWH) downgraded to Neutral from Buy at UBS, target $50

Solstice Advance Materials ($SOLS) downgraded to Hold from Buy at Vertical Research; target $90

Tango Therapeutics ($TNGX) downgraded to Hold from Buy at Jefferies, target $27

Whirlpool ($WHR) downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Goldman, target $53

Wix.com ($WIX) downgraded to Equal Weight from Overweight at Wells Fargo, target $54

Wix.com ($WIX) downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Citigroup, target $66

Wix.com ($WIX) downgraded to Sector Perform from Outperform at RBC Capital, target $60

Initiations

Academy Sports ($ASO) initiated with an Overweight at Stephens, target $78

Brightstar Lottery ($BRSL) initiated with a Neutral at BNP Paribas Exane, target $12.60

Cipher Mining ($CIFR) initiated with a Buy at Jefferies, target $32

DraftKings ($DKNG) initiated with an Underperform at BNP Paribas Exane, target $20

Flutter Entertainment ($FLUT) initiated with an Underperform at BNP Paribas Exane, target $80

Hut 8 ($HUT) initiated with a Buy at Jefferies, target $156

Kalaris Therapeutics ($KLRS) initiated with an Outperform at Wedbush, target $17

Riot Platforms ($RIOT) initiated with a Hold at Jefferies, target $24

Suncrete ($RMIX) initiated with a Buy at Roth Capital, target $21

TeraWulf ($WULF) initiated with a Buy at Jefferies, target $28

Position: None

We have another positive data point for chip demand as well as semi-cap equipment ahead of quarterly results tonight from Applied Materials ($AMAT):

TSMC the world’s largest contract chipmaker, expects the global semiconductor market to exceed $1.5 trillion by 2030, topping its previous forecast ​of $1 trillion, according to its presentation materials ahead of a tech ‌symposium on Thursday.

Position: The Street Pro Portfolio is long AMAT.

Here we go.. as of now, equity futures point to a positive market open and we’re getting headlines about Pres. Trump’s visit with China’s Pres. Xi.

US clears H200 chip sales to 10 China firms as Nvidia CEO looks for breakthrough

US Says China Wants More Of Its Oil to Cut Middle East Reliance

Trump, Xi Discussed Raising Purchases of American Crops, US Says

China Renews Import Permits for US Beef Plants as Xi, Trump Meet

But also…

Xi tells Trump that mishandling of Taiwan could spark conflict

White House has few tools for gas-price relief as Iran war drags on

And..

Cerebras set for debut in stock market gripped by AI mania

Cisco jumps on strong revenue forecast, AI push with job cuts

As you can see, we’re going to have a lot to talk about today, and we’ve got more than 2 hours until the market open. 

Get some coffee, and let’s get ‘er done. 

Position: None

After-Hours % Advancers

After-Hours % Decliners

Position: None

Closing Volume

– NYSE volume 9% above its one-month average

– NASDAQ volume 7% above its one-month average

– VIX index: down 0.61% to 17.88

Breadth

S&P 500 Sectors

% Movers

Nasdaq 100 Heat Map

Closing S&P 500 Heat Map

Position: None