MARKET WRAPS
STOCKS: Stocks finished mixed as a surge in financial and health-care stocks offset a slump for chip maker Broadcom.
TREASURYS: Treasury yields fell amid renewed optimism about a potential peace deal between the U.S. and Iran.
FOREX: The U.S. dollar ticked down as traders weighed the outlook for U.S.-Iran negotiations over the Strait of Hormuz.
COMMODITIES: Oil futures fell by the largest increment in more than a week in New York amid optimism about U.S.-Iranian negotiations.
HEADLINES
Anthropic Urges Global Pause in AI Development, Flags 'Self-Improvement' Risk
Anthropic is calling for top artificial intelligence labs to weigh slowing the pace of development, suggesting that AI systems are advancing so rapidly that they may soon be able to improve themselves without human intervention in ways that could pose significant societal risks.
The ability to slow global AI development would "likely be a good thing, " the company said Thursday in a blog post that disclosed internal data documenting how quickly its most advanced models are improving.
The post, written by the head of its internal research institute and head of policy, noted that model advances appear to be on a path toward "recursive self-improvement," when AI systems can improve on their own without human intervention. Some AI insiders have seen that threshold as a potential marker of danger and enormous societal upheaval.
Technology Sector Leads U.S. Layoff Plans
U.S.-based employers announced 97,006 job cuts in May with technology remaining the leading sector for staff reductions, according to a report from global outplacement and executive coaching firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas.
Employers in the tech sector announced 38,242 cuts last month. For the year, the tech sector has announced 123,653 cuts, up 66% through the same period in 2025.
Despite job cuts in the tech sector, overall layoffs have been largely stable. Job cuts this year were down 43% from the first five months of 2025, when reductions to the federal workforce drove totals to historic highs, the report said.
Brown-Forman Guides for Flat Sales Amid Struggling Spirits Market
Brown-Forman posted higher revenue in its fiscal fourth quarter, but said pressures to the broader market are expected to keep sales flat in the new fiscal year.
"Macroeconomic uncertainty continued to pressure discretionary spending in the U.S. and many developed international markets," Chief Executive Lawson Whiting told analysts on a call Thursday.
The alcoholic beverages company posted a profit of $54 million, or 12 cents a share, in the quarter ended April 30, compared with $146 million, or 31 cents a share, a year earlier. Analysts had expected 33 cents, according to FactSet.
Lululemon Cuts Outlook as Headwinds Mount
Lululemon Athletica lowered its outlook citing recent challenges after what it described as a solid start to the fiscal year.
The athleisure company said Thursday it saw some positive signals in its latest quarter due to work to improve results in North America, its largest market, where sales continued to decline. However, Lululemon said it has been navigating headwinds more recently, and is working to take additional steps to reposition and bolster its product offerings.
"We recognize that we have more work to do," interim co-Chief Executive Officer André Maestrini said.
Blackstone Investors Ask to Pull $4.4 Billion From Private-Credit Fund
Investors are trying to pull more money from the biggest private-credit fund in the world.
Investors in Blackstone's flagship private-credit fund, known as Bcred, asked to redeem 10% of their shares in the second quarter, up from about 8% in the first quarter. That amounted to investors asking for $4.4 billion.
Blackstone will limit redemptions from the $79 billion fund to 5%, a reversal from its strategy in March when it opted to pay the full amount requested. The about-face highlights rising financial strain on managers of large private-credit funds marketed to individual investors who continue to ask for their money back.
Quantinuum Stock Fizzles in Highly Anticipated Quantum IPO Debut. What Went Wrong?
Quantinuum stock popped in its trading debut, opening 13% above its initial public offering price in what seemed to be a major win for the quantum computing industry. Those gains quickly faded.
Shares opened at $68 before easing to $60.38, ending the session with a gain of just 0.6%. Regardless, the stock outperformed other notable names in the rest sector: IonQ closed down 3.8% while D-Wave Quantum and Rigetti Computing added 0.3% each.
At first, the investor appetite for Quantinuum was undeniable. The Honeywell-backed upstart raised $1.68 billion in its upsized initial public offering of 28 million shares late Wednesday, setting the stage for one of the most anticipated tech listings of the year. Underwriters were granted the option to sell an additional 4.2 million depending on demand.
U.S. Jobless Claims Rose Last Week
U.S. jobless claims rose last week, but the level was still within a range consistent with a healthy labor market.
The number of people who filed for unemployment benefits rose to 225,000 in the week through May 30, higher than the 212,000 reported a week earlier, the Labor Department said Thursday. Economists surveyed by The Wall Street Journal were expecting to see 215,000 new claims.
Continuing claims, which scale with the total size of the unemployed population, was 1.78 million in the week through May 23, versus a revised 1.79 million a week earlier. The data on continuing claims lag the initial-claims data by a week.
TALKING POINT A Guide to Buying SpaceX Shares via Your Brokerage Account
SpaceX is rolling out the red carpet for individual investors who want in on its initial public offering, and there will likely be no shortage of demand.
Fidelity Investments, Charles Schwab, Robinhood Markets, SoFi Technologies and Morgan Stanley's E*Trade are all expected to offer shares to their customers. How many shares they get to dole out will depend on how much is snapped up first by institutional investors and the ultrarich.
That is why allocating a high percentage of shares to individual investors has historically been viewed as a sign that the smart money isn't interested. But the sheer size of SpaceX's expected offering, and Chief Executive Elon Musk's expressed desire to have significant retail ownership, might make that less of a red flag this time around.
The brokerages are also gauging customer interest now to advocate for a bigger piece when the time comes.
Investing in IPOs means taking the risk that the stock price could bounce around wildly in early trading. There is a long list of stocks that have shot up in the days following their debuts, then dropped sharply, never to return to those early highs. Facebook, now known as Meta Platforms, took 16 months after its 2012 IPO to recover from an early plunge in its share price.
For investors prepared to stomach that turbulence, here is how to place an order.
-- Read the full article by Miriam Gottfried on NewsPlus
Expected Major Events for Friday
05:00/JPN: Apr Indexes of Business Conditions - Preliminary Release
06:00/UK: May Halifax House Price Index
06:45/FRA: Apr Industrial production index
06:45/FRA: Apr Foreign trade
06:45/FRA: Apr Balance of payments
08:00/ITA: Apr Retail Sales
08:30/UK: 1Q Bank of England external business statistics
12:30/US: May U.S. Employment Report
12:30/CAN: May Labour Force Survey
14:00/CAN: May Ivey Purchasing Managers Index
19:00/US: Apr Consumer Credit
All times in GMT. Powered by Onclusive and Dow Jones.
Expected Earnings for Friday
ABM Industries Inc $(ABM)$ is expected to report $0.76 for 2Q.
Children's Place Inc $(PLCE)$ is expected to report $-2.14 for 1Q.
Environmental Tectonics Corp (ETCC) is expected to report for 4Q.
Ferrellgas Partners LP (FGPR) is expected to report for 3Q.
G-III Apparel Group Ltd (GIII) is expected to report $0.21 for 1Q.
Here Group Ltd - ADR $(HERE)$ is expected to report for 3Q.
Hurco Cos $(HURC)$ is expected to report for 2Q.
Smith-Midland Corp $(SMID)$ is expected to report for 1Q.
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This article is a text version of a Wall Street Journal newsletter published earlier today.
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
June 04, 2026 16:44 ET (20:44 GMT)
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