The Consumer Price Index next week is expected to show annual inflation still at a stubborn rate of 3.5%
The Dow Jones Industrial Average stayed strong Friday and was close to finishing the week in the green for the eighth straight day. The rally continued despite consumer sentiment reaching its lowest level in six months. The University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment Survey for May was 67.4, far below the expected 76.
The Dow was up 125 points, or 0.32%, to 39,512 as the markets closed. The S&P 500 was up 0.16%, and the Nasdaq $NDAQ dipped slightly.
Novavax witnessed a staggering 98% surge in its stock price by closing time. The vaccine-maker announced a $1.2 billion licensing partnership with French pharmaceutical company Sanofi, giving its stock a boost.
The agreement includes a $500 million up-front payment, and as much as $700 million in development, regulatory, and launch milestones. Under the terms of the agreement, Sanofi will begin to book sales of Novavax’s COVID-19 vaccine starting in 2025, and will help fund some of its research and development, regulatory, and commercial costs. Novavax will also receive double-digit percentage royalty payments on sales of its COVID-19 vaccines and its forthcoming combination COVID-19-influenza jabs.
Shares of Google $GOOGL parent Alphabet declined amid rising competition from OpenAI. Sam Altman’s AI company is reportedly planning to announce an artificial intelligence-powered search competitor as early as Monday.
The timing of the announcement could change, Reuters reports.
Google on Tuesday kicks off its annual I/O conference, where it’s expected to announce its own AI-powered products.
Alphabet stock was down about 0.77% by the end of the day.
Akamai $AKAM Technologies was the worst-performing stock on the S&P 500, as its price dropped 11% to $91.19 per share by the end of the day. In its latest earnings report, the cloud computing company announced a revenue increase of 7.8% to $986.97 million and earnings per share of $1.64, compared to $1.40 in the same quarter last year.
Despite reporting strong financials, Akamai projected a weak outlook for the upcoming quarter. The company expects its revenue for the June quarter to fall between $967 million and $986 million — below the market consensus of $1 billion. For the full year, the company anticipates revenue to be between $3.95 billion and $4.02 billion, which is also below the average analyst estimate of $4.08 billion.
The alphabet soup of U.S. government entities looking into Boeing $BA just got a few more letters. Bloomberg reports that the Securities and Exchange Commission has begun digging into statements made by the company about how it approaches safety in its manufacturing processes after a door plug blew off an Alaska Airlines-operated 737 Max 9 in January. The agency joins the Federal Aviation Administration, the National Transportation Safety Board, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation in scrutinizing Boeing.
Boeing stock was down 1.5% as the day ended.
-Rocio Fabbro, Melvin Backman, and Britney Nguyen contributed to this article
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