Good morning.

The Fast FiveTraders trigger euphoric rally with Trump seeking war exit, average gas price hits $4/gallon, OpenAI closes record-breaking $122B funding, Microsoft closes worst quarter on Wall St since ‘08, and The highlights and lowlights of a tumultuous Q1

📌 Hottest stock in Silicon Valley about to go public (get in for under $10)
(from InvestorPlace)

  • Today:
    ADP Employment Change, 8:15A
    ISM Manufacturing PMI, 10:00A

  • Tomorrow:
    Unemployment Claims, 8:30A

Your 5-minute briefing for Wednesday, Apr 1:

BEFORE THE OPEN

As of market close 3/31/2026.

Pre-Market:

US Investor % Bullish Sentiment:
↑ 32.10% for Week of MAR 26 2026

Previous week: 30.40%

Market Wrap:

  • Futures flat Dow -61, S&P flat, Nasdaq flat

  • Tuesday surged Dow +1,100, S&P +2.9%, Nasdaq +3.8%

  • Rally driven by hopes of Iran war resolution

  • Reports suggest Trump open to ending conflict

  • Oil remains elevated Brent ~$118 signaling caution

  • Skepticism grows on rally durability

  • Earnings and data ahead retail sales, ADP, ISM

EARNINGS

Here’s what we’re watching this week:

The ONE Move You Need to Make Before
OpenAI’s Historic IPO

You're running out of time to claim your pre-IPO stake in what many expect will become the hottest stock in Silicon Valley.

And if you wait until the official announcement comes… you will almost certainly miss out on the biggest potential gains.

- a sponsored message from InvestorPlace -

HEADLINES

The president suggested the US had largely accomplished its military goals and would leave it to other nations to resolve issues with the Strait of Hormuz.

The first quarter's big narrative updates, stock scorecard, winners and losers, and exec power rankings.

  • Stocks cap March with ‘Hormuz Hope’ rally on possible end to war (more)

  • US average gas price hits $4 a gallon (more)

  • Oil and gas prices continue to rise in choppy trade (more)

  • US consumer confidence rises, but job openings and hiring drop sharply (more)

  • Trump admin eyes 401(k) rule change for private credit fix (more)

  • OpenAI closes record-breaking $122B funding round, IPO anticipation builds (more)

  • Microsoft closes worst quarter on Wall Street since 2008 (more)

  • Nike shares fall 9% on pessimistic outlook (more)

  • Snap climbs 13% as activist Irenic suggests changes to boost stock (more)

  • Oracle cutting thousands in latest layoff round amid AI push (more)

  • Unilever, McCormick strike deal to create $65B food giant (more)

  • Microsoft in talks with Chevron, Engine No. 1 over $7B Texas power plant (more)

  • Musk lawsuits reassigned on judge bias allegations (more)

  • M&A tally hits $1.3T as Unilever joins megadeals parade (more)

DEALFLOW

M+A | Investments

  • Unilever food arm to join McCormick in $44.8B deal

  • Lilly to buy sleep drug maker Centessa in $7.8B deal

  • Biogen buys Apellis for $5.6B to expand kidney drugs

  • ContractorHUB receives strategic investment

VC

  • OpenAI valued at $852B after completing $122B round

  • Saronic Technologies, a defense tech company, raised $1.75B in Series D funding

  • Whoop, a human performance company, raised $575M in Series G funding

  • Ambrosia Biosciences, a drug discovery company, raised $100M in Series B funding

  • OpenFX, an FX infrastructure company empowering cross-border money movement, raised $94M in Series A funding

  • depthfirst, an applied AI lab developing new security solutions, raised $80M in Series B funding

  • Censys, a company developing solutions for proactive incident response, raised $70M in strategic funding

  • Kestra, an open-source platform unifying data, AI, business workflows, raised $25M in Series A funding

  • Valinor Digital, a privider of credit solutions, raised $25M in Seed funding

  • Create Wellness, Inc., a creatine brand, raised $20M in Series B funding

  • memQ, quantum networking solutions for quantum computing, closed a $10M Series A financing

  • Nomadic, a startup building the spatial intelligence layer for physical AI, raised $8.4M in funding

  • Cara, an AI platform for insurance brokerages, raised $8M in Seed funding

  • Tenkara, a company building ops agents for US manufacturers, raised $7M in funding

  • OpenBox AI, a company developing solutions for enterprise AI systems, raised $5M in Seed funding

CRYPTO

  • ‘Blockchain Island’ faces off against EU over crypto regulation (more)

  • Bitcoin is closer to its 'buy zone' than it's been in three years (more)

  • Bitcoin-backed municipal bond clears hurdle with Moody’s rating (more)

  • BitGo rolls out portfolio-based crypto lending platform for institutions (more)

BULLISH BITES

🛟 Jamie Dimon's plan to rescue the American Dream.

📉 When great stocks take a dive.

🤖 New poll finds 55% of Americans think AI will do more harm than good in daily lives.

🔥 Trends that are big in Japan.

DAILY SHARES

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