In partnership with

Good morning investors!

If this is your first time reading, welcome to The Investor’s Edge — a thriving community of over 23,000 subscribers striving to be better investors with an edge in the market.

Every weekend we publish “The Weekly Wrap-Up” — your ticket to being well informed and staying ahead in the investment game!

This report is designed to help investors of all skill levels break down important stories/topics within the stock market. And best of all, we cut through all of the BS and give you exactly what you need to know in easy to digest, bite sized pieces of content.

Grab your coffee and let’s dive in.

Market Talk

All three major indexes finished the week higher, with mega cap stocks (minus Apple) once again leading the charge.

3 Stories Moving the Market

These are some of the biggest stories from the second half of the week that had an influence on market action.

Meta and Microsoft dominate, Apple and Amazon face tariff headwinds

Amazon, Microsoft, Apple, and Meta Platforms just released their Q1 results — offering a powerful snapshot of how Big Tech is navigating tariffs, evolving consumer habits, and the rapid acceleration of AI. Microsoft and Meta turned in standout quarters, each fueled by relentless AI infrastructure growth and cloud momentum. Apple and Amazon delivered solid but less flashy results, with cautious guidance and tariff impacts tempering investor enthusiasm.

🔑 Key Points

• Amazon $AMZN ( ▼ 0.12% ) : Sales rose +9% YoY to $155.7B, its slowest pandemic-era growth. Operating income guidance ($13B–$17.5B) came in below expectations, citing tariff-related cost pressures on over half its imported goods.

• Microsoft $MSFT ( ▲ 2.32% ) : Revenue surged +13% YoY to $61.9B, with Azure growth at +33%. Cloud and AI demand continues to exceed expectations, sending the stock up 9% post-earnings.

• Apple $AAPL ( ▼ 3.74% ) : Revenue hit $95.4B (+5% YoY), with EPS at $1.65. China sales fell 2.3%. Apple will shift more iPhone production to India to offset a $900M expected tariff-related cost increase.

• Meta Platforms $META ( ▲ 4.34% ) : Delivered $42.3B in revenue (+27% YoY) and $6.43 EPS (+37%). Despite rising infra costs, Meta raised its 2025 CapEx forecast to $64B–$72B, signaling aggressive AI investment ahead. Shares rose 4% after hours.

👀 What You Need to Know

Meta and Microsoft are establishing clear leadership in AI monetization, while Apple and Amazon are contending with growing tariff exposure. Guidance across the board reflects economic and geopolitical uncertainty — but also Big Tech’s growing reliance on AI infrastructure to drive the next leg of growth.

*Note - our full breakdown and Edge takeaway of this report, as well as all of the companies we follow that reported this week, was sent out in Friday’s Earnings Recap.

U.S. payroll growth totals 177,000 in April, defying expectations

Job growth remained resilient in April despite rising concerns over President Trump’s newly imposed tariffs on U.S. imports. The labor market added 177,000 jobs, beating forecasts of 133,000, though slightly below March’s downwardly revised total of 185,000. The unemployment rate held steady at 4.2%, and the broader job market showed surprising strength — with 436,000 more Americans reporting they were employed.

🔑 Key Points

• Payrolls: +177K jobs in April (Est. +133K); March revised down to +185K from +228K

• Unemployment: Held steady at 4.2%; U-6 underemployment edged down to 7.8%

• Participation Rate: Ticked higher to 62.6%, a modest but positive sign of labor market strength

• Wage Growth: Monthly wage growth was +0.2% (vs +0.3% est), annual rate slowed to +3.8%, the weakest since July 2024

• Sector Breakdown: Healthcare (+51K), transportation/warehousing (+29K), financial activities (+14K), social assistance (+12K). Manufacturing lost 1,000 jobs; federal jobs fell by 9,000

👀 What You Need to Know

This report offers a “last clean print” before tariffs muddy the picture. While April’s numbers reflect pre-tariff economic conditions, economists warn that the real impact of Trump’s tariffs, and the 90-day hold on broader duties, won’t show up until summer. And though job growth is healthy, slowing wage gains and revisions to prior months suggest momentum is already softening. If tariffs persist, employment could weaken by late Q2. Traders now expect the Fed to hold rates in May, but cut as early as July.

Sponsored by Morning Brew

The gold standard of business news

Morning Brew is transforming the way working professionals consume business news.

They skip the jargon and lengthy stories, and instead serve up the news impacting your life and career with a hint of wit and humor. This way, you’ll actually enjoy reading the news—and the information sticks.

Best part? Morning Brew’s newsletter is completely free. Sign up in just 10 seconds and if you realize that you prefer long, dense, and boring business news—you can always go back to it.

Join 4.3 Million Readers Now

‘GTA VI’ release delayed to May 2026

Take-Two Interactive $TTWO ( ▼ 6.66% ) just confirmed that Grand Theft Auto VI — arguably the most anticipated game in history — will be delayed until May 26, 2026. Originally set for a Fall 2025 release, the delay pushes the blockbuster title out of the company’s FY2026 window, sparking a 5% drop in shares Friday. While the delay disappoints fans and investors, Take-Two reiterated its outlook for record bookings in both FY26 and FY27, aiming to ease long-term concerns.

🔑 Key Points

• Release Date Moved: GTA VI now expected May 26, 2026 — missing FY2026 entirely

• Market Reaction: Shares fell 5% midday after the news

• Revenue Impact: Bookings for FY26 may take a hit, but FY27 is expected to benefit from the shifted release

• Other Titles: Borderlands 4 and Mafia: The Old Country remain on track for next fiscal year

• Industry Effect: Delay may weigh on gaming sector growth, already pressured by tariffs and weaker consumer demand

👀 What You Need to Know

While delays are frustrating, Take-Two reaffirmed expectations for back-to-back record booking years — hinting at confidence in its pipeline beyond GTA VI. Still, with the gaming sector under pressure from tariffs and hardware inflation, all eyes will be on the company’s May 15 earnings for more clarity.

In Other News

In this section, we'll be curating a selection of news headlines we think you'll find interesting. If a topic catches your eye, click the provided links to read more about it.

• Tesla chair denies board explored replacing CEO Elon Musk

• US, Ukraine may wait decade or more to see revenue from minerals deal

• Eli Lilly sales soar 45% on weight loss drug demand, but drugmaker cuts profit outlook after cancer treatment deal

• Qualcomm tops estimates but gives light revenue forecast

• Mastercard Q1 Earnings Beat Estimates on Cross-Border Transactions

• McDonald’s reports largest U.S. same-store sales decline since 2020

• Exxon Mobil earnings beat as production growth and cost cuts offset the sting of falling oil prices

• Chevron to slow pace of share buybacks as Trump tariffs and OPEC+ production weigh on oil prices

• CVS posts Q1 earnings beat, raises full-year guidance

• GM Pulls Profit Guidance, Citing ‘Significant’ Tariff Impact

• Airbnb issues disappointing revenue guidance for second quarter

• Block shares plunge 18% as company takes ‘cautious stance,’ issues weak guidance for year

• Reddit reports strong sales and issues optimistic guidance

• Roblox Stock Jumps On First-Quarter Beat-And-Raise Report

Edge+ Posts of the Week

We continue to push out more and more content every week to give investors that edge. Here are the posts Investor’s Edge+ subscribers received this week.

The Edge Report

Mondays are for the investors. Every Monday morning we share exactly what we’re watching in the week ahead, how we’re positioning, and even share a sneak peek into our systems and models. This week we discussed the huge week of earnings reports ahead. See the latest full report here:

The Options Edge Report

This week we dropped the latest Edge Options Report for our members—packed with actionable insights and options strategies. We broke down a play on SPY following the recent move. See the latest report here:

Earnings Recap

Every week during earnings season is extremely busy for us here at the Edge as we dive into over 100 reports and provide our members with top tier breakdowns and insights. This week we saw earnings from Apple, Microsoft, Amazon, Meta and 15 other names we cover. See this week’s recap:

The Week Ahead

Earnings season rolls on, while a key Fed rate decision could impact markets. It’s another big week on the calendar.

Earnings Reports

Next week is another busy week of the earnings season with 9 names we cover here at Edge on the calendar. Here is the list of names we will be covering:

• Monday 5/5: Palantir and Realty Income

• Tuesday 5/6: AMD

• Wednesday 5/7: Disney and Uber

• Thursday 5/8: Shopify, Coinbase, and The Trade Desk

• Friday 5/9: Enbridge

Here is the full calendar of scheduled earnings releases:

Economic Reports

Next week’s main focus will be the Fed interest rate decision - not so much the decision itself as a pause is expected but more so what Powell and the Fed say in terms of future cuts.

We also get initial jobless claims, trade balance and services PMI.

The Investor’s Edge Discord is a HUGE benefit of being a subscriber - don’t miss out, it’s FREE!

If you are only reading the newsletter, you are only getting a fraction of the benefits of being an Edge subscriber.

Our Discord server is tailor-made for investors like you who want to dive deeper into stocks, share insights, and engage directly with us. And it’s completely free!

Here’s what you’re missing in the Discord:

🗨️ Chat rooms: Investors discussed the the huge moves from mega cap tech. Members also dove into the number of jobs reports and shared their views on the overall economy.

📊 Earnings / Economic reports: No more waiting for our newsletters to hit your inboxes - see earnings results and economic data as they are released. And more importantly, get our reactions and insights immediately.

🚨 Trade Alerts: Chris and Mark shared several trades, including additions to the portfolio and trades that set up their portfolios for the week.

Join us on Discord and let's level up our investing game together. The future of trading awaits—and you're invited to be a part of it! 🌟

Want more? Check out our other resources

If you haven’t done so, check out the social media pages of our collaborators and give them a follow:

Mark (Dividend Seeker)

• YouTube

• Twitter

• Instagram

Chris (CMG Venture)

• YouTube

• Twitter

• Instagram

• TikTok

Thank you for reading this edition of the Weekly Wrap-Up. Have a great weekend!

Until next time investors!

Mark & Chris

The Investor’s Edge

Disclosure

This is not investing advice. It is very important that you do your own research and make investments based on your own personal circumstances, preferences, goals and risk tolerance.