1. JP Morgan upgrades Nikkei year-end target to 70,000 on AI boom.

"Although some think the Nikkei 225 is overheated, rising to record highs while crude oil prices remain elevated, we think the Japanese equity market's longer-term growth potential has increased further," J.P. Morgan analysts wrote in a note.
The S&P Global flash Japan Manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) rose to 54.9 in April, the highest since January 2022, from 51.6 in March. The 50-mark separates growth from contraction.

2. SK Hynix sets record as quarterly profit jumps five-fold (!), says AI chip demand exceeds capacity.

The outlook by the Nvidia supplier signals strong momentum remaining intact for high bandwidth memory chips used in AI chipsets, keeping supplies constrained and prices high.
"Client requests for (HBM) chip supplies over the next three years already far exceeds our production capacity," Ki Tae Kim, head of HBM sales and marketing, said on an earnings call.
The world's second-largest memory chipmaker after Samsung Electronics also said it sees limited impact from war in the Middle East, having secured inventory and diversified suppliers of key chemicals, and securing energy through long-term contracts, minimising the impact of price volatility.

3. Mobile data traffic is still growing by ~16% annually.

Wearables and autonomous vehicles are two examples of AI driving mobile data traffic.
In the case of wearables, the Meta glasses are a good starting point for what could eventually evolve into high levels of low latency compute at the edge of the network. To the extent these edge devices deliver real-time AI inference activity and/or deliver high bit-rate content such as high resolution video in a mobile environment.
In the case of autonomous vehicles, low-latency mobile connectivity is critical.
Low-latency mobile connectivity requires significant 5G coverage and we can imagine increasing levels of AI related video delivery in-vehicle to passenger or passengers that are no longer required to focus on the road. This is the kind of bandwidth intensive mobile use cases that could significantly ramp mobile data traffic.

4. Small caps take the lead in 2026.

So far in 2026, the small‑cap Russell 2000 has climbed about 13%, easily beating the S&P 500’s roughly 4% gain. If this pace holds, it would mark the first time in six years that small caps outperform the broader market. In fact, the Russell 2000 is tracking its best year relative to the S&P 500 since 2016.
The story gets even more interesting when you zoom in on technology. While mega‑cap tech names have struggled, smaller tech companies have pulled ahead.
As a result, small‑cap tech is gaining ground on its large‑cap counterpart at a pace not seen since the ETF launched roughly 15 years ago.
From a longer‑term perspective, the shift looks increasingly meaningful.

5. The short squeeze on Avis.

Avid Budget Group shares have jumped from about $170 at the start of the month, to an insane $713 at tuesday’s close.
Barron’s reported the real deal: two investors, SRS Investment Mgmt. and Pentwater Capital Mgmt. own nearly all of Avis's actual shares and hold swap contracts that give them economic exposure to even more. Their combined interest exceeds the total shares that exist.
The brokers on the other side of those swaps have to hold real shares as a hedge, so between direct ownership and hedging, there's almost no free float left to trade. Short sellers borrowed 9M shares they now need to return and there's nobody to buy them from. Shares have ripped sixfold since March 20, surging +17% Tuesday with three trading halts before adding +4.2% after hours.
The stock trades at 175x projected 2026 earnings of $4 a share with $6B in corporate debt. Both Deutsche Bank and Barclays have downgraded, calling it purely mechanical. The squeeze has structural staying power: SRS is an insider and can't sell during the quiet period ahead of Q1 earnings, and Pentwater likely can't sell before September without triggering short-swing profit rules.
Two whales, a locked float, and trapped shorts with nowhere to cover.

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