Pencils down, it’s time for lunch. Here’s what you missed this morning:

• 🟩 | Market Snapshot: US stocks rose, with the S&P 500 hitting a record high off the back of new and encouraging economic data.

• 🌞 | In focus: Just what the markets wanted to hear... The core personal consumption expenditures price index, a key measure for the Fed, increased by 2.6% from a year ago, which was in line with the Dow Jones estimate. San Francisco Fed President Daly said this is evidence that “monetary policy is working.”

• 🛢️ | Noteworthy: US crude oil is up 1.2% for the week and 5.89% for this month, bringing the price near a two-month high as fears mount of a war between Israel and Hezbollah.

• ⬆️ | The Midday Trade: A Leg Up on the Competition. Scroll down for more.

Also, it's almost the last day of the month, which means it's time for the Last Cast Letter. This month, we're examining if real estate is driving obesity and depression rates higher. One-click subscribe to read about "America's Missing Middle," which will drop in your inbox on Sunday.

Plus, 5 years from now, you’ll probably wish you’d grabbed these stocks…

🛎️ You currently have 0 referrals, only 1 away from receiving JPMorgan's Top Picks For June.

TOGETHER WITH THE MOTLEY FOOL

AI’s Golden Age Is Here

5 Years From Now, You’ll Probably Wish You’d Grabbed These Stocks

STREET STATS

MORNING MOVERS

Infinera, Nike, & Synchrony Financial

INFN: Shares of Infinera popped on news that Nokia is set to acquire the company in a $2.3 billion deal to scale up its optical network (Reuters)

NKE: Nike’s stock saw its biggest drop since 2001 after the company projected a larger sales decline than expected in 2025 (YF)

SAP: Shares of software company SAP rose after BMO upgraded the stock, citing a “high degree” of visibility into its revenue over the next few years (SA)

DLR: Digital Realty Trust saw its shares rise after JPMorgan upgraded it to Overweight from Neutral and increased its price target to $175 (Investing.com)

SYF: Shares of Synchrony Financial rose off the back of an upgrade from Baird to Outperform with a price target of $56 (Barron’s)

TOP CALLS

Xerox Holdings: Citigroup Initiates Coverage On Xerox Holdings with Sell Rating, Announces Price Target of $11 (Trade It)

Insmed: B of A Securities Maintains Buy on Insmed, Raises Price Target to $83 (Trade It)

Rocket Pharmaceuticals: Needham Maintains Buy on Rocket Pharmaceuticals, Lowers Price Target to $52 (Trade It)

International Paper: Seaport Global Upgrades International Paper to Buy, Announces $52 Price Target (Trade It)

Twilio: Tigress Financial Initiates Coverage On Twilio with Buy Rating, Announces Price Target of $75 (Trade It)

Simulations Plus: William Blair Initiates Coverage On Simulations Plus with Outperform Rating (Trade It)

THE MIDDAY TRADE

A Leg Up on the Competition

Privacy is King

Apple (APPL) has gone to great lengths to protect its customer’s privacy, and Rosenblatt thinks that could separate it from its competition. 

Apple stock has not performed as well as some of its peers YTD, but analyst Barton Crockett thinks that may soon begin to change. This comes on the back of a US consumer survey that showed that customers value privacy in the world of AI more than any other feature.

Concerted Effort

According to Crockett, Apple has made privacy much more of a focus than its AI competition. This should be a tailwind for the tech giant as we move into the AI age. It announced its new AI program, Apple Intelligence, at its recent developer’s conference.  

The tech giant recently also unveiled its Private Cloud Compute architecture. The technology safeguards personal information and does not allow it to be released to any third parties, including Apple, without permission.

High Expectations

Rosenblatt recently upgraded Apple stock to a buy rating with a $260 price target, a 21% upside from Wednesday’s close. Shares are up 14% YTD and 13% over the past 12 months. 

Data privacy has always been a focus for Apple, and in today’s world, it is more important than ever. By continuing to put privacy at the forefront of its products, Apple may be able to solidify itself as a leader in customer protection in the world of AI. This could be great news for the stock.

TOGETHER WITH THE MOTLEY FOOL

AI’s Golden Age Is Here

5 Years From Now, You’ll Probably Wish You’d Grabbed These Stocks

SURVEY THE STREET

According to Freddie Mac’s report published yesterday, the national average for a 30-year fixed mortgage rate saw a very slight decline to 6.86%, down from 6.87% the prior week.

Despite the underwhelming decline, this marks the fourth consecutive week that mortgage rates have gone down, and it’s the lowest rate since April. However, the average rate on a 30-year loan was 6.71% a year ago.

Joel Kan, the deputy chief economist for the Mortgage Bankers Association, expects rates to decline slowly for the remainder of the year.

Plus, Yesterday’s Poll + Results:

Are You Bullish or Bearish on SpaceX?

🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 Bullish 🐂 

🟨⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ Bearish 🐻