Good morning! Wall Street banks cut 5,000 jobs in Q1 even as they posted record profits, Wells Fargo alone accounted for 4,000 of those cuts. American Eagle surged 9% after Sydney Sweeney returned with a new campaign. And Goldman's bond traders posted a rare stumble as rivals thrived.

A jury found Ticketmaster and Live Nation guilty of running an anticompetitive monopoly over major concert venues. Trump threatened to fire Fed Chair Powell again. And AI is reshaping how top undergrad talent thinks about starting out at firms like McKinsey.

Plus: SantaCon's founder was arrested for wire fraud, Blue Owl surged the most since 2022 after PIMCO bought a $400M bond from one of its BDCs, and how Quince keeps its prices so low.

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SQUEEZ OF THE DAY

Allbirds Pivots to AI

Allbirds, the sustainable wool shoe company beloved by tech bros in 2019, announced Wednesday that it is abandoning shoes entirely and pivoting to artificial intelligence compute infrastructure. 

The company, which closed all its U.S. full-priced stores in February, sold its intellectual property and brand assets for $39 million two weeks ago, and had a market cap of $21 million at Tuesday’s close, is now called NewBird AI. 

Shares jumped 582% on the news, and the company added $127 million in market cap on Wednesday after reporting just $39 million in actual assets last month. 

The pivot itself is genuinely insane. NewBird AI plans to acquire high-performance AI compute hardware and lease it out under long-term arrangements, targeting demand that “spot markets and hyperscalers are unable to reliably service.”

The company has announced a deal to raise up to $50 million in funding expected to close in the second quarter. So a shoe company that sold its shoe assets for $39 million is now raising $50 million to compete in AI infrastructure against players like CoreWeave, AWS, and Microsoft. 

This is not the first time a struggling company has discovered that slapping AI on a press release is worth more than the underlying business.

In 2017, Long Island Iced Tea pivoted to blockchain and its stock jumped 275%, before Nasdaq delisted it the following year after bitcoin fever died down. The word "AI" is apparently worth about $127 million more than a shoe company with no shoes.

The financing and asset sale are still subject to stockholder approval, with a meeting planned for May 18.

Takeaway: Allbirds was once valued at $4 billion and sold its brand for $39 million. It is now worth $148 million as an AI company that has not yet acquired a single GPU. Whether NewBird AI builds something real or becomes a footnote is genuinely unknown. What is known is that somewhere out there, a tech bro who bought Allbirds in 2021 is having a very confusing week.

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HEADLINES

Top Reads

• Wall Street banks cut 5,000 jobs even as they notched record profits (BB)

• Sydney Sweeney’s new ‘jean shorts’ ad campaign leads to 9% spike in American Eagle shares (NYP)

• Goldman Sachs bond traders stumbled as Wall Street rivals thrived (CNBC)

• Jury finds that Ticketmaster and Live Nation had an anticompetitive monopoly over big concert venues (CNBC)

• Trump threatens to fire Powell if the Fed chair doesn't leave office on his own (CNBC)

• AI influences how McKinsey, BCG, Bain hire for entry-level consulting jobs (BB)

• SantaCon founder arrested for wire fraud (NYP)

• Regulators reportedly zeroing in on suspicious trades ahead of market-moving Trump post (CNBC)

• Blue Owl surges most since 2022 amid banks' private credit calm (BB)

• How Quince gets its prices so low, from cashmere to furniture (BB)

• LIV Golf facing imminent closure as Saudi funding in doubt (WSJ)

• New York governor proposing tax on second homes worth $5 million or more (WSJ)

• Altman-backed startup raises $170 million for robocar networks (BB)

• BofA discloses $20 billion of loans to private credit firms (BB)

• Goldman, Morgan Stanley predict IPO resilience as revenue climbs (BB)

• Morgan Stanley Q1 2026 earnings: profit jumps 29% on record revenue (CNBC)

• Bank of America Q1 2026 earnings: net income rises 17% to $8.6 billion (CNBC)

CAPITAL PULSE

Markets Rundown

Market Update

• Stocks moved higher as investor focus shifted toward earnings season

• Technology and consumer discretionary led gains, signaling a return to growth leadership

• Treasury yields edged higher, reflecting steady economic expectations

• Oil prices continued to pull back, easing recent inflation concerns

• Global markets were mixed, with Asia stronger and Europe lagging

Earnings Take the Wheel

• Early results from major banks came in ahead of expectations, setting a constructive tone

• Management commentary pointed to healthy consumers, active markets, and stable credit conditions

• Earnings growth this quarter is expected to be strong and broad-based, not just tech-driven

• A wider set of sectors contributing to growth could support more balanced market leadership

• Markets are beginning to shift from macro-driven → earnings-driven narratives

Inflation Pressure Shows Signs of Containment

• Import prices rose, but less than expected, offering some relief on cost pressures

• The increase was largely energy-driven, while underlying trends remained contained

• Year-over-year import inflation is still below broader consumer inflation, a positive signal

• If oil continues to normalize, inflation pressure could ease faster than feared

• This supports the view that recent inflation spikes may be temporary, not structural

Movers & Shakers

• (+) Robinhood ($HOOD) +10% after the SEC eliminated the $25,000 minimum margin account requirement for pattern day traders.

• (+) Snap, Inc. ($SNAP) +8% because the social media company announced plans to cut ~1,000 jobs (16% of its workforce) and raise its Q1 revenue outlook.

• (–) SolarEdge ($SEDG) -45% after Goldman Sachs downgraded the stock to Sell from Neutral and cut its price target.

Prediction Markets

• Earnings Call Special (today before markets open): JPMorgan

• Trade on real-world events with Kalshi. Use code OWS to get a $10 bonus when you trade $10.

Private Dealmaking

• Suntory agreed to buy the OTC pharma unit of Daiichi Sankyo for around $1.6 billion

• Fluidstack, a cloud computing startup, is in talks to raise $1 billion

• Eli Lilly agreed to acquire CrossBridge Bio, an ADC developer, for up to $300 million

• Deutsche Börse invested $200 million for a 1.5% stake in crypto trading platform Kraken

• Terremoto Biosciences, an oncology biotech, raised $108 million

• Hertha Metals, a producer of low-carbon steel and high-purity iron, is raising $100 million

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BOOK OF THE DAY

Inside the Box

Description:
A counterintuitive look from David Epstein at how limitations can actually fuel creativity, performance, and innovation. Instead of viewing constraints as obstacles, the book shows how boundaries force sharper thinking, better decisions, and more inventive solutions. Drawing on research, real-world examples, and storytelling, it reframes constraints as a strategic advantage rather than a handicap.

Book Length: 288 pages
Release Date: May 5, 2026

Ideal For:
Builders, creatives, and operators who want to turn limitations into leverage and produce better outcomes under pressure

Constraints do not limit us, they focus us on what actually matters.

DAILY VISUAL

Michaels Are Winning

PRESENTED BY MOSAIC

How Reliable Are LLMs for Financial Modeling?

AI has transformed Wall Street's language work: summarizing earnings calls, processing CIMs, drafting memos. But financial modeling is a different problem entirely.

LLMs are probabilistic. Run the same model twice, get two different answers. For an expert call summary, that's fine. For an LBO backing a multi-billion dollar decision, that's a structural flaw. A 99% accurate LBO is still a wrong LBO.

What firms need is purpose-built software where the math never varies. That's Mosaic.

Read the full article here.

DAILY ACUMEN

One Conversation

There is usually one conversation standing between you and the thing you want, and most people are doing everything except having it.

Sending emails around it. Dropping hints near it. Waiting for circumstances to create the opening naturally so nobody has to say the uncomfortable thing out loud.

The direct conversation feels risky because it makes the outcome real and binary. But the alternative is not safety.

It is just a slower, more expensive version of the same uncertainty, with the added cost of time.

ENLIGHTENMENT

Short Squeez Picks

• The rarest form of discipline

• The hidden currency of office life

• Can probiotics help protect brain health?

• How to measure the good life

• Why progress addicts struggle in retirement

MEME-A-PALOOZA

Memes of the Day

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