—— Nvidia Revenue Triples Again; U.S. Jobless Claims Drop; AAA-Rated Loan Suffers 30% Loss; U.S. New Home Median Price Falls; Capital and KKR Form Strategic Alliance; Musk’s xAI Eyes $6B Raise; Starwood Restricts Investor Withdrawals

1. Nvidia Revenue Triples Again

Nvidia reported first-quarter revenue of $26 billion, more than tripling year-over-year. Adjusted earnings per share came in at $6.12, beating the $5.65 analyst estimate.

The company expects Q2 revenue to hit $28 billion. CEO Jensen Huang called this moment the beginning of a new industrial revolution, saying it’s “incredibly exciting.”

Shares jumped as much as 7.4% in early trading, adding nearly $173 billion in market value—more than Intel’s entire market cap. Nvidia also announced a 10-for-1 stock split and a 150% dividend hike to $0.10.

AI accelerator chips have become the hottest hard commodity, and Nvidia, with its deep competitive moat, is the biggest beneficiary.

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Source：Bloomberg – Nvidia Stock Surges as Sales Forecast Delivers on AI Hopes

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2. U.S. Jobless Claims Drop

The U.S. Department of Labor reported today that for the week ending May 18, initial jobless claims fell by 8,000 to 215,000—the biggest two-week drop since last September.

Layoffs have recently slowed, and fluctuations in claims are narrowing. However, many indicators show the job market is cooling.

Recent corporate earnings reports rarely mention layoffs or worker shortages, suggesting that labor supply and demand are reaching a balance.

Ongoing jobless claims are holding steady at around 1.79 million.

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Source：Bloomberg – US Jobless Claims Post Biggest Back-to-Back Drop Since September

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3. AAA-Rated Loan Suffers 30% Loss

ccording to Barclays, a $308 million AAA-rated loan backed by a Midtown Manhattan office building was sold at just 70 cents on the dollar, showing even top-rated commercial real estate debt is under major pressure.

The property, located at 1740 Broadway, returned less than 75% of principal to AAA tranche investors, while subordinate investors lost everything.

Analysts say loans backed by older, low-occupancy offices are especially risky. As more bonds are offloaded in the market, losses may widen further.

Investors below the A tranche of the property’s loan lost their entire investment.

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Source：Bloomberg – Losses Pile Up in Top-Rated Bonds Backed by Commercial Real Estate Debt

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4. U.S. New Home Median Price Falls

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, April new home sales dropped to an annualized rate of 634,000, below economists’ forecast of 679,000, as high mortgage rates continued to suppress demand.

Over the past five weeks, 30-year fixed mortgage rates have remained above 7%, keeping many buyers out of the market.

At the current sales pace, it would take 9.1 months to clear existing inventory, up from 7.1 months in March.

The median new home price dropped from $439,500 in March to $433,500 in April.

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Source：Financial Times – US new home sales fall short of forecasts as mortgage rates bite

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5. Capital and KKR Form Strategic Alliance

Capital Group and KKR announced today that they will partner to offer alternative investment products to high-net-worth investors.

Capital is the world’s largest active asset manager, with $2.6 trillion in assets, but does not offer KKR-style alternative strategies.

The partnership will launch both public and private credit funds next year. The two firms aim to expand access beyond institutions and ultra-wealthy clients.

KKR wants to bring alternative investments to a broader audience.

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Source：Financial Times – Capital Group and KKR team up to offer alts to wealthy investors

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6. Musk’s xAI Eyes $6B Raise

Elon Musk’s AI startup xAI has secured funding from Silicon Valley VCs including Lightspeed Venture Partners, Andreessen Horowitz, Sequoia Capital, and Tribe Capital.

The round values xAI at $18 billion, with a funding goal of up to $6 billion. However, one investor said the company is still a few hundred million dollars short of the target.

xAI’s main rivals—OpenAI, Anthropic, and Google—have all released more advanced models.

Musk believes xAI’s advantage is its ability to integrate with his other companies.

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Source：Financial Times – Elon Musk’s xAI secures new backing from Andreessen, Lightspeed, Sequoia and Tribe

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7. Starwood Restricts Investor Withdrawals

Starwood Capital, which manages a $10 billion real estate fund, announced it will strictly limit investor redemptions to avoid a run on the fund.

Starwood’s Sreit fund told investors today that redemptions are now capped at 0.33% per month—an 80% reduction.

Sreit’s assets include student housing in Arizona, logistics centers in Norway, and loans backing Blackstone deals.

Earlier this month, the Financial Times reported Sreit had drawn $1.3 billion from its $1.55 billion credit facility.

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Source：Bloomberg -Target Sales Decline as Discretionary Spending Remains Tepid

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This content is sourced from Financial Times, Bloomberg, and The Real Deal, among other financial news outlets.