MARKET WRAPS
STOCKS: Stocks rebounded after the U.S. and Iran signed their interim pact to wind down the war.
TREASURYS: Treasury yields fell as markets continued to adjust to Kevin Warsh's first meeting as the new Federal Reserve chairman.
FOREX: The U.S. dollar strengthened on increased expectations for the Fed to raise rates this year.
COMMODITIES: Oil futures settled a touch lower as euphoria over the agreement to reopen the Strait of Hormuz eased.
HEADLINES
Kroger Seeing Costs Outrun Sales Growth
Kroger's operating costs are growing faster than its sales, presenting a major challenge for the grocery chain's new management team.
"That's not sustainable, and frankly, it's not acceptable," Chief Executive Greg Foran, the former Walmart executive who took the helm earlier this year, said on a call with analysts. "Taking costs out of this business is not optional."
The grocer reported fiscal first-quarter results on Thursday, saying it posted a bigger profit while sales rose about 2% to $46.12 billion, ahead of analyst targets.
Accenture Takes a Hit on Worsening Outlook and Cloudy AI Future
Accenture, one of the world's largest professional-services firms, warned it could bring in less revenue in the current fiscal year than expected, dogged by upheaval to its business in the Middle East and investor worries about its AI future.
The firm's stock plunged 18% in early-afternoon trading-to its lowest level in nearly a decade-after the information-technology consulting firm lowered its revenue guidance for the fiscal year and said it had taken a $400 million hit to its Middle East sales.
CEO Julie Sweet told analysts the Iran conflict had interrupted business in the region and caused ripple effects beyond it, as the war prompted corporate clients to tighten discretionary spending.
Intel Shares Surge After Trump Announces Apple Partnership
Intel stock jumped after President Trump said Apple agreed to work with the company to design and build chips in the U.S., an endorsement of the once-mighty chip maker's turnaround plan.
In a Truth Social post, the president said the Apple-Intel partnership was the latest step in U.S. help for Intel. The company's shares have surged fourfold since the federal government announced a 10% stake in it last August.
Shares rose another 10% to more than $133 in early trading on Thursday. It would be a record closing high if the price holds all day for the Santa Clara-based company.
U.S. Jobless Claims Fell Last Week
U.S. jobless claims fell last week, signaling employers held back from widespread layoffs.
The number of people who filed for unemployment benefits fell to 226,000 in the week through June 18, compared with the upwardly revised 230,000 reported a week earlier, the Labor Department said Thursday. Economists surveyed by The Wall Street Journal were expecting to see 225,000 new claims.
Continuing claims, which scale with the total size of the unemployed population, totaled 1.81 million in the week through June 6, versus a revised 1.79 million a week earlier. The data on continuing claims lag the initial-claims data by a week.
Canada Producer Prices Continue to Rise, Climbing 1.2% in May
OTTAWA-Producer price in Canada continued to rise last month as Iran war and disruption to shipping through the Strait of Hormuz buoyed crude oil costs and hit supply chains.
Statistics Canada's industrial product price index increased for a fifth straight month, climbing 1.2% in May from the month before. Compared with the same month last year, the producer-price index jumped 13.6%, a 20th consecutive year-over-year increase and the steepest since mid-2022.
Stripping out energy and petroleum products, the index was up a slightly softer 0.9% for the month, lifting the annual rate to 9.3%, hinting at possible pressures on core consumer inflation that so far has shown little sign of broadening widely.
Mars Is Spending Millions to Give M&M's a MAHA Makeover
TOPEKA, Kan.-M&M's will mark a milestone in its 85-year history in August, debuting a version made without artificial dyes. The bags of chocolate will also be missing two hallmarks: The colors brown and blue.
Under pressure from Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and his "Make America Healthy Again" campaign, M&M's maker Mars pledged to offer options for some of its iconic products without those dyes this year. The chocolate giant planned instead to color the foods with dyes derived from natural sources.
The task is proving much harder and more expensive than it sounds.
Grand Theft Auto VI Preorders to Begin June 25
Take-Two Interactive Software said preorders for its hotly anticipated Grand Theft Auto VI begin June 25 on digital storefronts and at select retailers.
The game is set to be released Nov. 19.
The latest entry in Rockstar Games' flagship franchise has been delayed on multiple occasions over the past year. Take-Two had previously targeted a May release.
TALKING POINT Even More Investors Want Out of Private Credit
Individual investors accelerated their withdrawal requests from once-hot private-credit funds in the second quarter, adding to the squeeze the industry is facing as fundraising slows and money heads for the exit.
So far, investors in four large credit funds, including those managed by Blackstone and BlackRock, have requested to redeem about $12 billion in the second quarter, up from $7.7 billion the previous quarter, according to data from the investment bank Robert A. Stanger & Co. The requests add to pressure on the industry, continuing months of turmoil that executives have tried to calm by arguing investors are overreacting to a few losses and a lot of scary headlines.
Investors will get a clearer picture after Apollo Global Management, Ares Management and Blue Owl Capital tally requests from their shareholders later this month.
Executives in the industry have maintained that private credit is sound.
"I think the town cryers of private-credit doom are going to be disappointed," Blackstone President Jonathan Gray said at a conference this month. No financial crisis is imminent, and while some funds will take losses, investor demand remains strong because returns are higher than in public-debt markets, he said.
The pace of withdrawals did slow down for one fund managed by Oaktree Capital Management, which is owned by Brookfield. Redemption requests in the second quarter fell to about $200 million, or 4.5%, of the fund's shares, down from $400 million, or 8.5%, in the prior quarter.
-- Matt Wirz, The Wall Street Journal
Expected Major Events for Friday
06:00/GER: May PPI
06:00/UK: May Public sector finances
06:00/UK: May Retail sales
08:30/UK: May Monthly Insolvency statistics
08:30/UK: 1Q Bank of England statistics on UK banks' external claims
12:30/CAN: Apr Retail trade
13:00/RUS: Weekly International Reserves
All times in GMT. Powered by Onclusive and Dow Jones.
Expected Earnings for Friday
Cyanotech Corp (CYAN) is expected to report for 4Q.
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This article is a text version of a Wall Street Journal newsletter published earlier today.
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
June 18, 2026 16:26 ET (20:26 GMT)
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