May 24, 2026

🛋️ MRKTcap

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🥳 Happy Sunday.

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In this newsletter we're diving into:

🧾 the AI layoff story hitting a household name

🛍️ the discount shopping play that said "inflation who?"

🏛️ the government stake guessing game traders are betting on

Plus, one home improvement comeback story that has the orange apron trying to get back in the race.

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Make yourself comfy 🛋️ and let's get into it...

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Market Crowd​
​How the market did this week.

Dow 50,579.70 +1,053.53 +2.13%

S&P 7,473.47 +64.97 +0.88%

Nasdaq 26,343.97 +118.83 +0.45%

*As of market close on Friday, May 22nd.

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Pre-Market Play​
​A market beat to start your week.
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🧾 TurboTax is laying off 3,000 people...

AI's moving into the office.

Intuit (INTU), the company behind TurboTax and QuickBooks, announced Wednesday it's cutting more than 3,000 people, roughly 17% of its workforce.

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INTU stock dropped 11% after hours on the news.

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The company is already down more than 40% this year. Not a good week for INTU.

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The reason, per the CEO: AI is reshaping what the company needs humans to do.

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Wall Street has been punishing INTU all year on fears that AI tools will displace its products. Free tax filing from the IRS is also cutting into TurboTax's territory.

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Intuit's Q3 earnings, reported the same day, beat on earnings per share ($12.80 vs. $12.57 expected) but came in slightly below on revenue ($8.56 billion vs. $8.61 billion expected).

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Revenue grew 10% from a year ago, the slowest pace since 2024.

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The company raised its full-year guidance above what analysts expected.

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The market responded with an 11% drop after hours anyway.

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This is part of a bigger wave. ZoomInfo (GTM) and Cloudflare (NET) each cut 20% of their workforces this month. Cisco (CSCO) trimmed fewer than 4,000 last week. Meta cut 8,000 on the same day.

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🥡 The Takeaway: Watch INTU, because with the stock already down 40% this year and another 11% after hours, traders are deciding whether this is a bottom or a breakdown.

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💰 Inflation shoppers found their safe house...

And TJX is collecting rent.

TJX Companies (TJX), the company behind T.J. Maxx, Marshalls, and HomeGoods, posted a Q1 quarter that had Wall Street nodding.

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Revenue hit $14.32 billion, up 9.2% from a year ago. Earnings per share jumped 29.3% to $1.19. Same-store sales (purchases at locations open for at least two years) rose 6%.

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All three beat what analysts predicted.

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TJX stock went up 6% the day of earnings, recovering from a 10% pullback since April.

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The model is simple: buy brand-name excess inventory at a discount, sell it cheaper than full-price retailers.

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That model is printing right now.

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Inflation hit 3.8% annually in April, the highest since May 2023. The Iran war sent oil prices above $100, which hit wallets hard. When people feel squeezed, they shop TJX.

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Same-store sales were strong across all four of TJX's divisions. The CFO said growth was driven equally by higher average purchases AND more transactions. New shoppers are showing up AND existing ones are spending more.

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Management raised full-year earnings guidance, targeting $5.08 to $5.15 per share.

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The stock went up 6% ahead of a historically strong stretch starting mid-June.

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🥡 The Takeaway: TJX beat earnings and raised guidance, so watch the stock over the next few weeks, because TJX enters a 4-week window in mid-June where it has historically run 5%.

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🏛️ Uncle Sam's on a shopping spree...

And traders are already placing bets on what's next in the cart.

The U.S. government has been buying stakes in private companies throughout 2025 and 2026.

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This week, it announced stakes in nine companies, including International Business Machines (IBM), continuing a program that's given Washington part-ownership in multiple sectors.

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IonQ (IONQ), a quantum computing company (think: computers that solve problems using the laws of physics), jumped 12%+ Thursday and another 7%+ Friday on the news even though it wasn't one of the nine.

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Traders on Kalshi, a prediction market where people bet real money on specific outcomes, are now calling who's next.

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IONQ: 32% odds of getting a government stake this year.

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Anduril Industries, a $61 billion private defense tech company: 31%.

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Micron Technology (MU), the memory chip maker up 160% this year on AI demand, happens to be in a window it historically runs, and traders give it 28% odds despite the White House saying last year it wouldn't fool with chip companies.

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🥡 The Takeaway: IONQ jumped 19%+ this week on rumors the government may buy a piece alone, so watch for any official announcement on IONQ or MU, because a confirmation moves these stocks hard and fast.

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💫 TMYK
​A quick pop quiz to help you learn about the market. The more you know!​
​

A company's quarterly report filed with the SEC is a 10-______.

Click your answer below:

a.) Q

b.) K

c.) B

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Gimme some mo'
​More news from 'round the market.
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📋 Meta copied Reddit. Again.
Reddit (RDDT) dropped 6% after Meta launched Forum, a standalone app for public discussion groups, and it's already down 40% this year how bad could it get →

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​🛢️ Europe's oil tank is nearly empty
The Strait of Hormuz closure has drained global inventories to near record lows and a 52-day supply gap means shortages hit Europe whether it reopens or not here's where oil prices go from here →

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​🔨 HD finally matches LOW on sales
Home Depot (HD) just matched Lowe's store-for-store sales for the first time in a year, but the stock is still 15% behind the S&P one thing standing in the way →

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​🏦 Trump's Fed chair takes over Friday
Kevin Warsh gets sworn in as the Federal Reserve's 11th chair Friday, but the rate cuts Toupee Fiasco is expecting might not arrive as fast as he'd like here's what Warsh inherits →

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🤳🏾 Let me check my palm pilot
​Earnings events on deck this coming week.

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Market Outlook
​A look at how the market does historically over the next week.

Dow Up 9 out of 15 years

S&P Up 9 out of 15 years

Nasdaq Up 11 out of 15 years

Data provided by Swingset.

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Trend of the Week

Southwest Airlines Co (LUV) has a trend of going up over the next week.

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It's gone up 12 out of the last 15 years moving an average of and projected to repeat this move May 21–29.

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How'd you like this edition of MRKTcap? ​ 😕 Meh. Needs more spice.​ ​ 🙂 Not bad. Hit the highlights.​ ​ 😍 Nailed it! I'd read this again.​

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To wealth in every sense of the word,

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