5 Things You Need to Know to Start Your Day: Americas

Good morning. Meme stocks rise again, ambitious plans for AI chips and signs of fading resilience among US consumers. Here’s what’s moving m [View in browser]( [Bloomberg]( Good morning. Meme stocks rise again, ambitious plans for AI chips and signs of fading resilience among US consumers. Here’s what’s moving markets. — [Sam Unsted]( Want to receive this newsletter in Spanish? [Sign up to get the Five Things: Spanish Edition newsletter](. Futures tick higher US stock futures are ticking higher, following the lead of broad gains across European equity markets and a jump in Asia. A degree of extra optimism about the prospect for interest-rate cuts by the Federal Reserve following last week’s PCE data, along with [better manufacturing figures from China](, filtered through markets. Oil was volatile after the OPEC+ group [set out a plan to restore some production]( as early as October. Roaring back The meme-stock craze has been given another revival after the Reddit account that drove the mania in 2021 posted what appeared to be [a $116 million position in GameStop](. A screenshot by Keith Gill, known on X as Roaring Kitty, showing the position and accompanying call options couldn’t be verified. Still, that didn’t prevent GameStop shares from more than doubling in premarket trading. AI chip ambitions Nvidia boss Jensen Huang said the group plans to [update its AI accelerators every year](, underlining its bullish outlook on the demand for chips. It announced a Blackwell Ultra chip for 2025, along with a next-generation platform in development called Rubin for 2026. Rival Advanced Micro Devices is seeking to [dent the dominance]( that Nvidia has over the AI chip market by speeding up introductions of new processors. Fading resilience The main reasons for the remarkable resilience of the US consumer are [starting to lose steam all at the same time](, indicating that a recent pullback in household demand may prove more than a one-off. Real disposable income is cooling, saving rates are at a 16-month low and more Americans are turning to credit cards to support spending. That could help reassure the Federal Reserve that higher rates are restraining the economy, though policymaker Neel Kashkari told the Financial Times that rates will likely be on hold for an “extended period of time.” Mexico Landslide Claudia Sheinbaum has become the [first female president of Mexico]( after a landslide victory. She capitalized on the popularity of outgoing president Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, known as AMLO, but inherits a country dealing with rampant criminal violence and a large fiscal deficit. [The Mexican peso slipped on the news](, with concerns among investors of the potential for more meddling in the economy as the ruling Morena party and its allies may be set for a supermajority in the senate. What We’ve Been Reading This is what’s caught our eye over the past 24 hours. - A Trump win could [threaten Fed independence](, according to the Markets Live Pulse survey respondents. - Paul Krugman says China is [“bizarrely unwilling”]( to boost demand. - Airlines are on track for [$30 billion of profit]( in 2024. - Stocks in India [hit a record]( as exit polls point to a Modi win. - A [$12 billion stock offering]( sells out in hours. And finally, here's what Joe’s interested in this morning The first week of every month is always a big one for economic data. As we start June, there seems to be a glimmer of optimism that we're seeing another cooling leg, when it comes to inflation. After a hot first quarter, the latest pricing data has come in, well, less hot. [According to CME data](, it's basically a coin flip at this point over whether we get a rate hike by the September meeting. Obviously, FOMC members want to see more real evidence of inflation continuing to slow and returning to trend. Signs of a slowdown in economic activity will also lower the bar to cuts. So as for the calendar this week, today we get ISM manufacturing and total US vehicle sales. Tomorrow it's JOLTS and factory orders. Wednesday it’ll be ISM services and on Thursday initial jobless claims. And then the big one on Friday will be non-farm payrolls. Economists are looking for 190,000 new jobs, with the unemployment rate holding steady at 3.9%. Meanwhile, hourly earnings are expected to rise by 0.3% versus a 0.2% increase last month. Generally speaking, the labor market has been mellowing out. We still don't have a lot of layoffs, as initial jobless claims keep bouncing along the bottom. But the pace of hiring has chilled out somewhat. While Friday is still along way away, we'll see if this mellowing trend continue tomorrow, when we get that JOLTS report. As of the prior month, total job openings continue to slide (though remain above pre-Covid levels) while the Quits Rate has fallen decisively below where it was in 2019. Follow Bloomberg's Joe Weisenthal on X [@TheStalwart]( [Bloomberg Markets Wrap: The latest on what's moving global markets. Tap to read.]( Follow Us Like getting this newsletter? [Subscribe to Bloomberg.com]( for unlimited access to trusted, data-driven journalism and subscriber-only insights. Before it’s here, it’s on the Bloomberg Terminal. Find out more about how the Terminal delivers information and analysis that financial professionals can’t find anywhere else. [Learn more](. Want to sponsor this newsletter? [Get in touch here](. You received this message because you are subscribed to Bloomberg's Five Things to Start Your Day: Americas Edition newsletter. 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