Market Beats | Morgan Stanley Turns Bullish on US Stocks with Target of 8,300; US-China Trade Teams Meet in Seoul Ahead of Beijing Summit; Trump Arrives in Beijing for High-Stakes State Visit Amid Regional Tensions; Nebius Group Sales Surge 684% on AI Infrastructure Demand; US Wholesale Inflation Accelerates in April to Fastest Pace Since 2022; Jho Low Requests Presidential Pardon from Donald Trump; Microsoft Invests Over $100 Billion in OpenAI Partnership

—— Morgan Stanley Turns Bullish on US Stocks with Target of 8,300; US-China Trade Teams Meet in Seoul Ahead of Beijing Summit; Trump Arrives in Beijing for High-Stakes State Visit Amid Regional Tensions; Nebius Group Sales Surge 684% on AI Infrastructure Demand; US Wholesale Inflation Accelerates in April to Fastest Pace Since 2022; Jho Low Requests Presidential Pardon from Donald Trump; Microsoft Invests Over $100 Billion in OpenAI Partnership

1. Morgan Stanley Turns Bullish on US Stocks with Target of 8,300

Morgan Stanley has adopted a more positive outlook on US equities, betting that blockbuster earnings and a resilient economy will sustain the current bull market. The bank’s strategists now expect the S&P 500 to reach 8,300 within the next 12 months, implying a 12% rally. The team, led by Mike Wilson, also raised their year-end price target to 8,000 from 7,800.

An exceptionally strong first-quarter earnings season has caught many forecasters off guard, with profits for S&P 500 companies surging 27%—more than double the initial estimates of 12%. Wilson noted that the resilience of corporate earnings in the face of geopolitical risks, private credit concerns, and AI disruption supports a bullish stance. Having remained upbeat throughout the volatility triggered by the war in Iran, Wilson’s outlook was vindicated as markets returned to all-time highs. He anticipates that market leadership will broaden this year beyond the narrow group of big tech firms that dominated recent growth.

Wilson currently favors industrials, financials, and consumer discretionary stocks, adding that hyperscalers are still trading at undemanding valuations.

Conversely, strategist Marina Zavolock remains less optimistic about European equities, stating they are “stuck in the swinging pendulum of Strait of Hormuz disruption uncertainty.” She expects choppy, sideways trading for the region as companies attempt to pass on rising costs to consumers.

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2. US-China Trade Teams Meet in Seoul Ahead of Beijing Summit

Trade negotiators led by US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and China’s Vice Premier He Lifeng held a three-hour meeting in Seoul on Wednesday to prepare for this week’s high-stakes summit between the world’s two largest economies. The discussions, which concluded at 3:50 p.m. local time, focused on the economic fallout from the war in Iran and recent bilateral trade developments. According to the Xinhua News Agency, the two sides held “candid, in-depth, and constructive exchanges” regarding trade issues and practical cooperation. A formal US readout is still pending.

The meeting sets the stage for Donald Trump’s visit to Beijing from May 13-15 for a summit with President Xi Jinping—the first visit by a US president to the Chinese capital in nearly a decade. The summit was originally scheduled for March but was delayed due to the conflict in the Middle East. The White House has been pressuring China to assist in reopening the Strait of Hormuz, though Beijing has so far sidestepped these requests. Bessent also urged China to join a US-led maritime escort operation, amid ongoing US sanctions against Chinese refiners processing Iranian crude.

Furthermore, both nations are reportedly discussing the establishment of a “Board of Trade,” a proposal first introduced during their previous face-to-face meeting in Paris.

This proposed mechanism aims to create a new framework for overseeing commercial ties and managing the bilateral tensions that have intensified in recent years.

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3. Trump Arrives in Beijing for High-Stakes State Visit Amid Regional Tensions

President Donald Trump arrived in Beijing on Wednesday for the first state visit to China by a US leader in nine years. The historic summit aims to stabilize relations between the world’s two largest economies, even as the ongoing war in Iran complicates the global geopolitical landscape.

Air Force One touched down at Beijing Capital International Airport shortly before 8 p.m. local time. Trump was greeted with a red-carpet ceremony featuring Chinese Vice President Han Zheng, a military honor guard, and hundreds of children.

The primary diplomatic proceedings will begin Thursday morning when Trump meets Chinese President Xi Jinping at the Great Hall of the People. President Xi enters these talks from a position of perceived strength; during their meeting in South Korea last year, Beijing successfully leveraged its rare earth reserves to pressure the US into rolling back proposed tariffs. Since then, the US Supreme Court has restricted the president’s ability to impose new levies, and the conflict in Iran has weighed on Trump’s domestic approval ratings.

However, Trump and his administration officials indicated prior to the visit that they still intend to address contentious issues. The agenda is expected to cover China’s role in the Middle East conflict and the administration’s continued push for Beijing to reduce trade barriers for American businesses.

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4. Nebius Group Sales Surge 684% on AI Infrastructure Demand

Cloud computing provider Nebius Group NV reported a 684% jump in first quarter sales on increased demand for its data centers. The Amsterdam-based company said in a statement on Wednesday that revenues reached $399 million for the quarter, slightly above analyst expectations. Adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization were $129.5 million, after a loss during the same period last year.

Nebius competes with CoreWeave Inc. and a range of neo-cloud startups that rent out computing resources to artificial intelligence developers. It’s a costly business with rapidly growing competition, including from Silicon Valley’s largest cloud operators. During the first quarter, Nebius spent around $2.5 billion buying chips, equipment and expanding data centers.

The company, which split from Russian internet giant Yandex, has made a number of recent acquisitions, such as California research lab Eigen AI and the engineering team of AI startup Clarifai.

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5. US Wholesale Inflation Accelerates in April to Fastest Pace Since 2022

US wholesale inflation accelerated in April to the fastest pace since 2022 on a war-driven increase in energy prices that’s feeding into higher freight transportation costs. The producer price index rose 6% from a year ago, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics data out Wednesday. That topped all estimates in a Bloomberg survey of economists. The monthly gain was also the sharpest since 2022. A core measure of wholesale inflation that excludes food and energy increased 5.2% from April 2025—the biggest advance in more than three years. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note moved higher and stock-index futures fluctuated after the figures.

The inflation snapshot at the wholesale level follows Tuesday data that showed a steep annual increase in consumer prices. With a fragile truce in place and no end to the Middle East conflict in sight, other goods and services risk becoming more expensive as companies seek to pass on high energy and transportation costs. The PPI data likely reinforce Federal Reserve officials’ views that inflation should remain their top concern in the face of the war-driven surge in oil prices that’s starting to ripple through to other parts of the economy.

“This report will set off alarm bells at the Fed and add fuel to the political conversation about affordability,” Carl Weinberg, chief economist at High Frequency Economics, said in a note. “They suggest that energy price increases are indeed ‘bleeding’ into core prices at the producer level.”

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6. Jho Low Requests Presidential Pardon from Donald Trump

Jho Low, the alleged mastermind behind the multibillion-dollar 1MDB scandal, has asked Donald Trump for a pardon, a US Department of Justice filing shows. The fugitive Malaysian financier, whom US prosecutors charged in 2018 with conspiring to launder billions of dollars of embezzled funds, made the request this year, according to a document from the Office of the Pardon Attorney. The request is marked as “pending”.

The looting of Malaysia’s 1MDB investment fund was described by a prosecutor in court last year as “the biggest financial crime in world history”. US authorities alleged that Low, who was known for throwing lavish celebrity parties, masterminded schemes that siphoned at least $4.5bn from the fund. They have accused him of conspiring to launder cash embezzled from the fund and of conspiring to violate bribery laws. Low remains at large and has maintained his innocence.

A White House official said that President Trump is the ultimate decider on any clemency-related actions and the pending status simply reflects that an application has been submitted.

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7. Microsoft Invests Over $100 Billion in OpenAI Partnership

Kalshi Inc., the New York-based prediction market platform, announced on Thursday that it has completed a $1 billion Series F funding round led by Coatue Management. The latest infusion of capital values the firm at $22 billion, doubling its $11 billion valuation secured just five months ago.

The round saw participation from a powerhouse lineup of investors, including Sequoia Capital, Andreessen Horowitz, IVP, Paradigm, Morgan Stanley, and ARK Invest. The valuation surge comes as prediction markets go mainstream among retail investors trading on political and economic outcomes. According to a company blog post, Kalshi’s annualized trading volume has tripled over the last six months, skyrocketing from $52 billion to $178 billion.

A spokesperson confirmed that Kalshi’s annual revenue run rate has now surpassed $1.5 billion. The funding highlight’s the intense competition in the sector; its chief rival, Polymarket, was reported last month to be seeking fresh funding at a $15 billion valuation.

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