Toyota Motor (7203.T) posted a 49% drop in fourth-quarter profit for the fiscal year ended March 2026, as U.S. tariffs inflicted severe damage on earnings despite a 1.89% year-on-year revenue increase. The result underscores the structural exposure of Japan's automakers to U.S. trade policy, with the broader sector expecting earnings downgrades as Honda and Nissan report in coming weeks.
The U.S. Court of International Trade ruled on May 7 that Trump's 10% across-the-board import tariffs exceed presidential authority under the 1977 IEEPA. The decision injects legal uncertainty into the administration's tariff regime but does not automatically suspend collection while appeals proceed.
Datadog ($DDOG) reported blockbuster Q1 2026 earnings that sent shares up 31%, confirming the company as a primary AI workload beneficiary. The results lifted cloud infrastructure peers Snowflake and MongoDB, signaling that AI-driven data volumes are broadly expanding the cloud observability market.
Cloudflare ($NET) shares dropped 16% after Q1 2026 earnings missed expectations and the company announced 1,100 layoffs -- 20% of its workforce -- citing agentic AI as fundamentally reshaping its operations. The cuts contrast sharply with Datadog's 31% surge the same week, illustrating the divide between AI-enabled and AI-disrupted cloud companies.
April nonfarm payrolls came in at 115,000, more than double the Dow Jones consensus of 55,000, in the strongest labor market upside surprise in recent months. Unemployment ticked up to 4.3% as more workers re-entered the labor force. The beat sharply reduces the case for a June Fed rate cut, with market expectations now pointing toward September 2026.
DoorDash shares rose 12% after posting Q1 2026 EPS of $0.42 vs $0.36 expected and revenue of $4.04 billion (+33% YoY). Q2 gross order value guidance of $32.4-$33.4 billion topped analyst estimates.
Novo Nordisk raised its full-year 2026 guidance after Q1 sales hit $15.2 billion (+32% constant currency), driven by the oral Wegovy pill which now commands 65% of new GLP-1 prescriptions in the United States.
Whirlpool shares fell 20% Thursday after the appliance maker declared the Iran war caused a 'recession-level industry decline' in the U.S. as consumer confidence collapsed in late February and March. Skyrocketing fuel costs are driving demand destruction in large-ticket household goods.
South Korea's KOSPI touched a record 7,531.88 on Thursday before closing up 1.43% at 7,490.05. The rally pushed Korea's total market cap to $4.59 trillion, surpassing Canada to become the world's seventh-largest equity market, just ten days after overtaking the UK.
ADP's National Employment Report showed 109,000 private sector jobs added in April 2026 — the strongest monthly gain since January 2025. The figure came in 9.2% below economist consensus of 120,000, leaving markets weighing two competing signals: the labor market is recovering but slowly. The official BLS Non-Farm Payrolls report, due later this week, is the definitive read on US labor market health.
The Walt Disney Company ($DIS) reported Q2 2026 EPS of $1.57, topping the $1.51 analyst consensus by approximately 4%. The standout result was a sharp expansion in streaming segment profitability, with Disney+, Hulu, and ESPN+ collectively posting surging profits after years of subscriber-growth investment. Shares rose 6% in premarket trading.
Korea Zinc (010130.KS) reported Q1 2026 revenue of ₩6.072 trillion (+58.4% YoY) and operating profit of ₩746.1 billion (+175.2% YoY) — the highest single-quarter operating profit in company history. Operating margin improved to 12.3% (+5.2pp YoY). Safe-haven-driven gold and silver price gains, antimony demand expansion, and new business profitability combined to drive the record. The board declared a Q1 dividend of ₩5,000 per share (₩102 billion total).