China Blocks Meta's $2B AI Acquisition, OpenAI Partners with Qualcomm on Smartphone

Your Daily Market Update in under 10 minutes. My name is Zayd Admani and today is Monday, April 27th. In today's episode, we'll preview this upcoming week. We got big tech earnings and a Fed meeting. We'll also break down all the news coming out of OpenAI, including rumors of a smartphone. Then stick around to the end of the show to find out why Nike is taking another L. We got a great show for you today. Let's go. Stocks are coming off the fourth straight week of gains. The S&P 500 went up half a percent last week, while the Nasdaq added 1.5 percent, both closing at record highs on Friday. Semiconductor stocks continue to lift up the overall market. Intel, Nvidia, AMD were just some of the companies to hit all-time highs on Friday. In fact, it was Intel's first record close in 26 years. If you want to learn more about why Intel is surging right now, check out our episode from Friday, where we break down their latest earnings. Now, zooming out, let's talk about geopolitics real quick. There were some new developments on the Iran situation. Peace talks were supposed to happen in Pakistan over the weekend, but then President Trump canceled plans to send the U.S. delegation, saying that there was too much infighting and confusion within Iran's leadership. But then there were reports that Iran sent the U.S. a new proposal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and end the war. So we'll see if that goes anywhere. Whale traders are still cautious, though. Brent Crude is trading around $106 a barrel, while WTI is around $95 a barrel. Looking ahead to this week, we have a stacked week coming up. I mean, this might be the most important week of the year for the stock market. Microsoft, Google, Amazon, and Meta all report earnings after the bell on Wednesday. And then Apple reports on Thursday. I kind of wish these companies would coordinate and spread out their earnings a bit. But no, they're all reporting at the same time. So we're going to be really busy reading earnings reports on Wednesday night. On top of the big tech earnings, there's also a Fed meeting this week. Now, the Fed isn't expected to cut interest rates at this meeting. But I'm really curious what Jerome Powell has to say if the markets will react to what he has to say, given the fact that there's a new Fed chair coming in. So, yeah, we're going to be breaking that down as well. Like I said, a lot going on. I'm loading up on my Celsius Energy drinks and locking in for the week. So definitely get subscribed to the podcast and tune in every day to stay in the loop. Let's run through some headlines. Starting with OpenAI. OpenAI has reportedly partnered with Qualcomm to build a smartphone. According to tech analyst Ming-Chi Ku, Qualcomm is working alongside Taiwanese chipmaker MediaTek to develop the processors for the smartphone, with Chinese manufacturer LuxShare co-designing and building the actual device. Mass production of this device is expected to start in 2028, so in about a couple years. Now, Qualcomm shares jumped 14% initially after this report came out, but have now given back most of those gains. Maybe the market doesn't think this report is legit. I don't know. Qualcomm has been a rare semiconductor loser this year. Before this morning's news, Qualcomm had been down 13% in 2026. What's also interesting is that Apple shares are down about 2% this morning. I guess the market is worried that a potential OpenAI smartphone could be a threat to the iPhone dominance in the future. So that's one more thing for incoming Apple CEO John Ternus to worry about. By the way, if you want to learn more about John Ternus, go check out our weekend deep dive from this past weekend. Moving on to more OpenAI news. They also announced this morning that they are revamping their partnership with Microsoft. I think the big change in the partnership is that OpenAI's cloud partnership with Microsoft is no longer exclusive, meaning that OpenAI can now work with other cloud providers like Amazon. So that could help expand OpenAI's usage in the enterprise. Now, OpenAI will still have to pay Microsoft a 20% revenue share as part of the original agreement, but that's now subject to a total cap that runs through 2030. Last up, one more OpenAI headline that I'm keeping an eye on is the Elon Musk versus Sam Altman trial, which kicks off today in federal court in Oakland. Elon Musk sued OpenAI and Sam Altman for $134 billion, claiming that OpenAI broke its promise to stay a nonprofit. Both Elon Musk and Sam Altman are expected to testify in this trial. So this trial could have major implications for the entire AI industry. So we'll keep you guys posted on any big developments as this all plays out. Now, sticking with AI, let's talk about meta. Late last year, Meta acquired a Chinese AI startup called Manus. Now, Manus is an AI agent company that got a lot of hype when it launched in March of 2025. Their agents can autonomously execute tasks like coding, market research, and data analysts. In fact, the company reached $100 million in annual revenue in just eight months. So Zuck saw the potential and swooped in to buy the company for $2 billion. Well, now the Chinese government is blocking this deal. See, Manus was originally founded in China, but the company did move its team and headquarters to Singapore last year. But the Chinese government has still blocked the deal. In fact, they've restricted two of Manus' co-founders from leaving the country. And what makes this complicated is that this deal has already closed. Employees at Manus have already joined Meta, the money has been paid out, and Meta has already started integrating Manus' technology into their products. But the Chinese regulators don't care. They have ordered this deal to be canceled, saying that it violates Beijing's investment rules. They want the whole thing unwound, the money returned, the company re-registered, and Meta to stop using the Manus technology. Meta has pushed back, saying the transaction complied with all the laws. But the Chinese government has threatened penalties and even criminal charges if the deal isn't fully reversed. So yeah, we'll see what happens. I'm not even sure how you unwind a deal like this. So all of this just adds to the US-China tensions, especially when it comes to AI. And remember, President Trump is meeting with Chinese President Xi next month. So I don't know, I wonder if he brings this up. Let's talk about some stocks making moves today. Verizon is up this morning after the mobile carrier reported mixed earnings. The company saw a strong subscriber growth, adding 55,000 post-paid phone plans in the quarter, which was better than expected. It's actually the first time since 2013 that Verizon has added post-paid subscribers in Q1, which is typically the slowest quarter of the year. This is also the first full year under new CEO Dan Shulman, he was the former head of PayPal, and he's wasting no time putting his stamp on the company. Verizon closed its $9.6 billion acquisition of Frontier Communications in January, which expands the company's fiber network and sets up a play to bundle mobile and home internet together. Now, revenue did come in slightly below expectations at $34.4 billion, but investors are looking past that and focusing on the subscriber momentum. Verizon stock is up more than 3% this morning and up more than 18% for the year. Who would have thought that a boring company like Verizon would be outperforming the big tech companies? Now, on the flip side, Domino's stock is down this morning after the pizza company missed earnings estimates across the board. Revenues came in at $1.15 billion, just below expectations, but I think the bigger concern is same-store sales. U.S. locations only grew 0.9% in the quarter, and internationally, same-store sales actually declined by 0.4%. And that really stands out because international same-store sales were up 3.7% in the same quarter of the prior year. So Domino's is now increasingly relying on new store openings to drive growth rather than getting more sales out of existing restaurants. The company opened nearly 800 net new stores globally in 2025, and they're planning to add nearly 1,000 more locations in 2026. Domino's stock is down around 7% this morning, and if you zoom out, shares have dropped 30% over the last year. Let's wrap the show with a fun fact. Something incredible happened in sports over the weekend, and I'm not talking about the Houston Rockets somehow avoiding a sweep against the Los Angeles Lakers. I'm talking about a guy who ran a marathon in under two hours. At the London Marathon, a Kenyan runner named Sebastian Sawe finished the race in one hour, 59 minutes, and 30 seconds. This was the first time that anyone has ever broken the two-hour barrier in an official race. I mean, this just blows my mind. This guy was running a four-and-a-half-minute mile for 26.2 miles. And what's even crazier is that the runner who finished second was Ethiopia's Youmif Kajilchka. He also went under two hours, finishing just 11 seconds behind Sawe. And that was his first marathon ever. The dude almost broke a world record in his first try. And you know, the biggest winner here might be Adidas, because both runners were wearing Adidas' brand-new super shoe called the Adizero Adios Pro Evo 3, which is a mouthful of a name. But these shoes are insane. They only weigh 97 grams. They have a carbon fiber plate in the sole and a new type of foam, and they cost like $500 a pair. Investors seem to notice this. Adidas' stock popped 2% this morning on this news. And what's funny here is that Nike just takes yet another L. Nike has spent a ton of money over the years to develop a running super shoe, but it was Adidas that got the first sub-two-hour record at an official marathon race. Well, all right, guys. That's the rundown for today. Hope you guys enjoyed today's episode. If you did, and you have like five extra seconds, consider giving us a five-star rating on Apple, Spotify, YouTube, wherever you listen to your podcasts. All that engagement really does help us out, and it helps other people find the show. Thank you guys so much for listening, watching, and commenting. Shout out to Mike and Connor for all the work behind the scenes. And we'll see you guys back here tomorrow.