Countdown to Walmart Earnings and What’s Next in the Musk/OpenAI Battle? 5/18/26

18 May 2026 · 44 min · 20 chapters

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In short

Fast Money (5/18/26) focuses on: (1) Walmart’s upcoming Q1 earnings and what it signals about consumer resilience amid higher gas prices, higher yields, and weak consumer sentiment; (2) the “Musk vs. OpenAI” legal fallout; (3) whether oil-driven inflation risk could trigger a market correction; (4) several stock-specific catalysts (Regeneron, Netflix, Seagate, memory chips, Bitcoin); and (5) an energy/utility deal tied to AI data-center power demand.

Guests/backgrounds

Julian Emanuel (Evercore ISI senior managing director) discusses oil/yield-driven downturn timing. Other on-desk analysts: Melissa Lee (host) with Tim Seymour, Dan Nathan, Guy Adami, and Katie Stockton (Fairlead Strategies founder/partner).

Key claims/examples

Walmart is “best in breed” but valuation is rich (about 48x trailing, 45x forward); watch resistance ~135 and support ~125. Emanuel: if WTI stays $93–$98 for 3–4 months, risk peaks around July 4; triple-digit oil could drive a ~10% correction (with VIX/hedging low). Musk lost quickly: jury found his claims untimely; judge dismissed breach of charitable trust and unjust enrichment; Musk plans appeal.

Notable examples

Walmart “trade down” since COVID; Regeneron’s phase 3 skin cancer combo missed endpoints; Netflix had no original series in Nielsen top 10 (Apr 13–19) with Grey’s Anatomy leading.

Written by AI. May contain mistakes. Listen to the episode to check what was said.

Chapters

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Analyzing Walmart's Upcoming Earnings

1:51 to 4:36

Discussion on Walmart's expected earnings and consumer sentiment.

“but we start off with what could be the most important earnings report of the week.”

Consumer Trends and Market Implications

4:38 to 6:04

Insights on consumer behavior and its impact on the economy.

“And I don't think that the expectations are particularly different than what we've seen coming out of earnings.”

Global Economic Concerns

6:06 to 8:49

Exploring global economic influences affecting consumer spending.

“And the more central banks around the world, not just the Fed, would consider rate hikes.”

The Resilience of the AI Trade

8:50 to 10:00

Examining the stability of the AI market despite economic challenges.

“You saw some of that data, you know, is kind of weak consumer data.”

Predictions for Market Corrections

10:01 to 14:00

Speculation on potential market corrections and influences of oil prices.

“If you do see a pullback in the spend, that obviously derails the whole thing.”

Market Correction and Oil Prices: Analyzing Risks

14:00 to 17:48

Discussion on potential market corrections and the impact of oil prices on earnings.

“Are we talking about technically a correction?”

Bitcoin Price Movements and Market Correlation

17:48 to 20:10

Examining Bitcoin's recent price movements and its correlation with tech stocks.

“For crude oil prices, we are looking for them to uphold sort of that newfound momentum.”

Elon Musk vs. OpenAI: Trial Outcomes and Implications

21:20 to 24:38

Overview of the jury's decision in Elon Musk's lawsuit against OpenAI and its aftermath.

“Lawyers for the Tesla CEO saying they plan to appeal.”

Investment Sentiment: SpaceX vs. OpenAI

24:38 to 27:35

Debate on the investment merits of SpaceX compared to OpenAI amid recent trial outcomes.

“regardless of the merits of the legal case, you know, there was a lot about Sam Altman that spilled out in this that it was just unflattering.”

Energy Deal: NextEra and Dominion Transforming AI Trade

27:35 to 28:00

Discussion on the $67 billion energy deal between NextEra and Dominion Energy.

“Plus, a major blow to Regeneron as its latest cancer drug fails a key clinical milestone.”
Show all 20 chapters

Dominion's Major Deal and Its Impact on AI Power Needs

28:00 to 30:25

Learn about Dominion Energy's acquisition of Dominion and its implications for AI data centers.

“others are busy talking, we're busy building.”

Biotech Market Update: Regeneron’s Setbacks

30:25 to 30:58

Get insights on Regeneron’s disappointing trial results and the implications for its stock.

“The CEOs of both NextEra and Dominion will sit down with Squawk Box tomorrow morning to talk through this deal.”

Analyzing Regeneron's Recent Clinical Trials

30:58 to 31:39

Understand the details and impact of Regeneron's recent clinical trial failures.

“Stocks mixed to start the week, but all closing well off their lows of the day.”

Regeneron’s Future: Strategies and Concerns

31:39 to 35:44

Discuss Regeneron's prospects, cash reserves, and potential partnerships moving forward.

“The firm's head of health care research, Evan David-Segerman, joins us now for more.”

Netflix's Streaming Challenges: Analyzing Recent Data

35:44 to 37:33

Explore the challenges Netflix faces as revealed by recent Nielsen data.

“It could be one of those scenarios where bad news is good because with the gap down, we last saw a gap down of this nature with very, very heavy volume on May 30th in 2025.”

The Future of Netflix: Merging with Spotify?

37:33 to 40:39

Consider the potential for Netflix to expand into new areas, including podcasts and live programming.

“Netflix shares rebounding today after five straight weeks of losses, but the media giant has still lost nearly 17 % since earnings just last month.”

Market Reactions to Political Developments

40:39 to 42:00

Review the implications of President Trump's comments regarding military actions and oil market responses.

“Jim is chatting exclusively with Intel CEO Lipu Tan.”

Market Reactions to Oil and Memory Chip Concerns

42:00 to 44:36

Understanding how oil prices and memory chip supply issues are impacting the market.

“It's going to be the same until it isn't.”

Final Trades and Market Insights

44:36 to 45:34

Discussion of final trades and insights into various investment strategies.

“I think this is a great way to play what is Size Matters.”

Final Trades and Market Insights

46:03 to 47:27

Discussion of final trades and insights into various investment strategies.

“Ask your doctor about ZepBound, Terzepatite, the first and only FDA-approved prescription medicine for moderate to severe obstructive sleep apnea, OSA, and adults with obesity.”
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Transcript

Automatic transcript. May contain errors.

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0:36Through innovation, Venture Global is not only building some of the largest energy facilities in the world right here in the United States, but delivering American energy at a fraction of the cost and a fraction of the time. So while others are busy talking, we're busy building. That's Venture Global. That's unstoppable energy.

1:02Tim Seymour:Live from the Nasdaq MarketSite in the heart of New York City's Times Square, this is Fast Money. Here's what's on tap tonight. A blockbuster verdict in the Elon Musk OpenAI case. A jury ruling against the Tesla and SpaceX CEO. The ripple effects of this decision coming up. Plus, it's not just NVIDIA's earnings we're watching this week. Walmart headlining a massive week for retail results. What we can expect, the big box stores to say about the consumer, the economy, and more. We'll break it down. And later, is it time to buy Bitcoin? Regeneron shares sink on some disappointing data. And did Netflix get chilled?

1:35Tim Seymour:The streaming giant seeing two of its weakest weeks for original content streaming, the details, and what it could mean for the stock. I'm Melissa Lee. Come to you live from Studio B at the NASDAQ. On the desk tonight, Tim Seymour, Dan Nathan, Guy Adami, and Katie Sockton, founder and managing partner at Fairleaf Strategies. We'll get to the latest on the Elon Musk OpenAI verdict, but we start off with what could be the most important earnings report of the week. Huh, which one would that be? Walmart, of course. Posting Q1 results on Thursday before the bell, analysts expect the retail giant to deliver earnings of 66 cents a share on revenues of nearly$175 billion.

2:10Tim Seymour:But the real focus will be on what the company has to say about the strength of the consumer. After all, gas prices just about doubled during the quarter as the Strait of Hormuz remains stubbornly shut down. Concerns the Fed will have to raise rates rather than cut them have sent the benchmark 10-year yield above 4.6%, and a preliminary reading of consumer sentiment for May came in at its lowest level on record. So what kind of picture can we expect Walmart to paint for the consumer? What could that mean for the overall market? Sky, what do you say? Not a particularly good one, but I think they went to that.

2:42Now, here's somewhat of the problem. Closed basically at an all-time high today, same level we saw a couple months or so ago. So valuation, obviously, a concern. What we've seen the last couple of quarters, at least, is run up in earnings and a sell-off post-earnings, which is what I think you're going to see here. But with all that said, Walmart's the name you want to be in, whether you do it before earnings or after earnings. I still think this is best in breed for a myriad of different reasons. And in my opinion, they deserve the premium valuation. I agree with the premium valuation, but boy, it sure does have it.

3:10I mean, it's 48 times trailing. It's 45 times forward. And you're kind of right up. Katie's, I think, got some strong opinions on the chart. So I'll just say that I'm not sure it's going to get away from you on the upside in terms of the valuation and what they can tell you. I think they're going to talk about resilience. I think they're going to talk about their margin. I think they're going to talk about where U.S. comps, same-store sales are going to be very impressive. I think they're going to talk a little bit about their ability to continue to kind of dominate. They can push prices around, and they can at least extract as much value as they can at a difficult time.

3:42I just don't think you're chasing Walmart here. And I think there's other places in the consumer, and I would be long target over Walmart.

3:47Tim Seymour:I hear, Katie, that you have some strong opinions on the Walmart chart. You sound like you're so vociferous on this. I do, in a way. So I don't feel like it's actually chasing because it has underperformed this month. And with that, we have just digestion near the highs. I think it's a case of just watching the levels as we come into our earnings. We have resistance at the highs around 135 and support, which is pretty strong, around 125. So those who own it, especially if they're long-term holders, it's a really substantial long-term uptrend, and it still has momentum and no confirmed sell signals.

4:20But below$125, it would start to look pretty vulnerable.

4:23Melissa Lee:Yeah, so the question you just asked is, like, what's more important from a market standpoint? I think for, like, 12 quarters, we've been saying that NVIDIA is the most important company to report and offer guidance, you know. And, again, it might be, but this is a situation where this week, you know, we've had all of their competitors, for the most part, report. And I don't think that the expectations are particularly different than what we've seen coming out of earnings. But Walmart, on the other hand, if you go back and look at like five weeks ago, we saw all the major money center bank CEOs talk about a very resilient consumer.

4:52Melissa Lee:And that's something that they've been consistent in saying, I feel like, for, you know, a year, year and a half, going all the way back towards, you know, the tariff rollout. And I think it has surprised a lot of people. But what's happened in the last five weeks, and Katie just mentioned, the underperformance in a stock like Walmart really speaks to, I guess, investor trepidation about what might come out from a report like this and what they have to say about a consumer. And if you look around, you know, you're not seeing a lot of great action in many of the retailers. We're going to get a bunch of them, you know, Home Depot and Lowe's and a bunch of others this week.

5:22Melissa Lee:So, you know, what does it mean for a stock market that's like 1 % from the all-time highs? It's probably not a whole heck of a lot, but the longer this war goes, the longer the Strait of Hormuz is closed, the longer we have oil above$100, it is going to start wearing on a consumer. And, you know, it really won't matter what a lot of those other retailers have to say. It's going to matter what Walmart does because it's become a very crowded institution. We've been hearing about, you know, the trade down at Walmart, I guess, goes back to COVID in a way, you know, like a higher end consumer trading down.

5:52Melissa Lee:So to me, I find this more interesting because I do think at this point, the consumer is kind of the linchpin of the economy, not so much the AI spend, because at some point that's going to decelerate.

6:02Tim Seymour:I mean, the longer oil prices remain high, the longer rates will remain high, theoretically. And the more central banks around the world, not just the Fed, would consider rate hikes. I mean, keep in mind, in other parts of the world, it's not a dual mandate. It is an inflation mandate. Is inflation in Europe? Yes. Well, we probably see the ECB raise rates. It might be in the cards there. It might be in the cards here, according to the pricing. And with every hike into an inflationary environment, you have to think, is this the right step? And does this introduce a greater probability of a mistake?

6:36Tim Seymour:And therefore, that's an issue for the markets. A mistake on how to handle the inflation that we are seeing right now. Well, let's just be clear again. What was the trigger for rates last week? There's been so many for a long time. And I think we've talked about it, but it was in Japan. It was a PPI 2.3 percent up month over month. 4.9. Bank of Japan is finally saying what it kind of feels like the Fed in 2021. Like, oh, it's not transitory. And I think there's a lot more that we're going to hear on the inflation side. And I think equities are not priced for it. I think the tax tailwinds for the consumer are great.

7:13I think Walmart will continue to talk about resiliency. But I mean, you know, the most important periods for Walmart and Target and Costco are coming up. It's back to school. It's holiday season. I don't think we're going to hear a whole lot, but I don't know why things get better for them. And I think the comps are great. I think the retail is an incredibly narrow trade right now. Outside of those names, it's not really pretty. And, you know, we talked about names like TJX that are vulnerable, that have been darlings. I don't know.

7:39Tim Seymour:Equal weight consumer discretionary is a terrible chart, right? I mean, most of it is Home Depot and others like it. Where Home Depot, it's interesting. It's coming into its report with a short-term oversold indication, whereas Walmart has somewhat of the opposite as it tests the highs. So it'll be really interesting to scrutinize the reaction to earnings, as I think it will be telling. Home Depot tomorrow before the bell, so we're going to know pretty quick. I mean, yes, it is probably oversold, but this is a stock that made its all-time high a few years ago. and the backdrop of the tape has been extraordinarily strong.

8:11So something's going on here. I think it speaks to the inflation problem and consumers are strapped. And what is fascinating, in my opinion, is you have a stock market until recently at an all-time high. You have the University of Michigan's consumer sentiment at multi-year lows. So something's got to give here. I think it comes into form of the market. Quickly on the bond market, people are not going to agree with me and I'm not suggesting I'm right, but I think the most bullish, if you want rates to go lower, I think the most bullish thing would be the Fed to actually raise rates, not cut rates, because that would speak to the independence of the Fed and the fact that they know that there's a problem here.

8:41The bond market's going to go lower or the rates are going to go higher if the Fed gives a hint that they're looking to ease into what I don't think is an easing situation.

8:49Melissa Lee:Yeah, just say about the consumer, it's not just the U.S. consumer that might be on the brink. It's also China. You saw some of that data, you know, is kind of weak consumer data. We know that their export, you know, situation is really good away from the U.S. I mean, I think they're growing more in their exports like year over year than they were right after the tariff situation. And it's really kind of moved to, you know, it sounds like Europe. It sounds like South America, that sort of thing. But I think a weak China is probably not a great place to be because a lot of that energy inflation is going on in Asia and they're having a bit of a problem.

9:20Melissa Lee:So, you know, a weak global economy right now with inflation right here, that could be a really nasty setup.

9:25Tim Seymour:I mean, I think the question here for the stock market is, in part, you know, how strong is that K-shape in terms of the AI trade being able to move higher when the bottom part of the trade moves lower? And at what point, if there is a point, does that bottom trade drag down that AI trade? Or can the AI trade independently because for whatever reason, maybe it's viewed as defensive. Maybe the AI spend is so secure because you've got to invest in AI that it doesn't matter what the consumer does. The AI trade lives on its own, I think, unless something were happening in the economy where companies start saying, you know, we're spending a lot of money here.

10:00We're not getting the return on invested capital that we should be getting by now. And they're going to cut back. If you do see a pullback in the spend, that obviously derails the whole thing. But, you know, you look at all these earnings reports and you haven't seen even a whisper of that, Mel. Sure. I don't think there's any question about the durability of the AI trade and what we're seeing in terms of demand. It's, you know, ultimately just a question of where the market wants to take a breather. Remember, we had 35 percent outperformance by the semiconductor index relative to the S &P from that more low.

10:27And I know we said it was the low. I mean, maybe maybe it's not the low, but certainly the recent one. So it's been an extraordinary run. I think we just have to remind ourselves that that's what's going on here as much as anything.

10:38Tim Seymour:All right. Our next guest is pinpointing the date when triple digit oil could spark an economic downturn and send yields sharply higher. Julian Emanuel is Evercore ISI senior managing director. Julian, what is that date? So the work that we did starting in 2022 with the original Ukraine oil spike going back 40 years basically suggests that once you get to a level, which we identified this time around, between$93 and$98 a barrel, and you stay there for three to four months, and we're giving the economy the benefit of the doubt, like everyone around the table here is, that gets you to the 4th of July.

11:15Think about it. There's a concept here where if you are not celebrating the nation's 250th birthday and you're thinking about triple digit oil, that's when it starts to bite in terms of the market and the economy, in our view.

11:31Tim Seymour:So we've got a little bit over a month at this point in order to open up the Strait of Hormuz. I mean, what is your thing? I mean, you're not a political analyst, obviously, but even if the Strait of Hormuz is open, that could still mean triple digit oil. So an end to the conflict wouldn't override in terms of sentiment, triple digit oil? If you opened up the straight, you would get the back end of the curve start to moderate. And so you'd look through those first few months much the way you did in the beginning of all this until the back months started picking up to a level that we are pretty uncomfortable with.

12:05Tim Seymour:OK, so Fourth of July happens. We're celebrating. Tim's got the little sparkle. That's a big flag. It's a big flag. Big flag waving burgers on the grill. Fireworks at my house, too. WTI is still triple digit. Rates are higher. What does the markets do? The market's going to come off. It will come off. I mean, and then the other aspect of this, if you go back to March, the end of the world hedging levels we had never seen. We were on here talking about that, which is why you got the degree of the rip that you did. And now you're almost the exact opposite of that, where very few people are hedged.

12:44And actually, over the last several weeks for the options nerds, you've had a situation where the NASDAQ has gone up at the same time the NASDAQ VIX has gone up. And that usually means a pullback is in store. And, you know, throw in triple digit oil. I think Julian must be a mind reader as well, because I was going to say, does it surprise you that the VIX is sub 18? an environment where Japanese bond market is just melting down. I think we would agree. And over here, it's not that rosy. I mean, people just don't feel they need to be hedged right now? Yeah. I mean, so think of it. Go back to last year, right?

13:22And active managers, the public never sold on the way down into the tariff tantrum low. Active managers spent six months chasing the tape. The decision was this time, I'm not spending six months. I'm going to do it in six days or a couple of weeks. And boom, there you go. And that's why you got the momentum you got. And you're not going to spend money on hedges when you're likely still behind the index anyway. Okay. So let's push you a little bit to not just call a date, but maybe call. I heard you also on your weekly call last week say, based upon you talked about the hedges that essentially have not happened or that were used up and the complete opposite.

14:03I heard you calling for a correction. I mean, is that fair? And what's that number? Are we talking about technically a correction? Are we talking about 10 %? What are we talking about? So, and again, there's another break point before the 4th of July, and it's Memorial Day. All of a sudden, we're going to be remembering - Also big flags and fireworks at my house. There we go. There we go. And$5 a gallon. Okay. Now, our view is, again, to your point earlier, Melissa, is that the upside of the K-shape has been relatively immune. But the psychology around that changing and horns getting pulled back in, in our mind, you could get the kind of correction that you got in March was on the order of 10 percent.

14:49Tim Seymour:A bull would say, but Julian, the earnings growth has been there for the S &P 500 and specifically for the AI trade and the job market is holding up. So why should we really be worried? All this is fine. And it has. No question about it. You know, again, long term, we are big proponents of the AI trade. And we think that even if you got this 10 percent pullback, you could still get a rip to 9000 if you got through the oil issue. But the oil issue is the sticking point. And, you know, the outcome is very, very unknown. And from where we sit is that in the same way, the potential for earnings to drive the market higher like it did in April, is the potential for oil to drive the market lower now is underappreciated.

15:40Tim Seymour:Julian, great to see you. As always, Julian Emanuel. So we're not positioned for this risk at this point, we being collectively the market.

15:48Melissa Lee:Yeah. So on the closing bell today with Scott Wapner, there was a guest and I'm sorry, I can't remember who it was, but they said 85 percent of the earnings growth, the S &P 500 is coming from we know the names. Right. So it's AI driven. Now, that might have been the case for a long time. But when you see the sort of parabolic move that we had in the S &P 500 over the last five, six weeks, at some point you have to start to consider what that has pulled forward. Right. And so you see yields coming higher. This is where to me it kind of all comes together a little bit. you have an equity risk premium that is not really that enticing here, especially as the trade gets narrower and narrower.

16:19Melissa Lee:And you do hear about, you know, the broadening out. But I think the guest also said that without those top 10 names, you have S &P 500 earnings growth of 3%. So it's not that impressive right now. So to me, I just think a lot of it has to do with the slope of the gains that we've had in the period in which we've had it. And if you had to pull back in the S &P back to 7 ,000, which was the breakout level, I want to say three weeks ago, that's a 6.5 % pullback. That seems pretty healthy. And if you start to see the easing of the war and you see crude oil coming lower and you see inflation readings, you know, like you can make a bet that they're going to come in.

16:53Melissa Lee:Well, that's probably a pretty decent spot to reload if you're really bullish right here.

16:57Tim Seymour:What do the charts of oil and the S &P say? You know, I very much agree with Julian on a lot of points in that the crude oil shocks tend to have a negative impact. And it's historically evident. You just compare the two charts, the S &P and crude oil prices. And we feel that that obviously hasn't happened yet. So we're on guard for it. As it stands, the S &P 500 reached a measured move projection from 2025's breakout, and that was around 7 ,500. Support is around 7 ,000. So it'd be a natural place to see a pullback. And yet we're not convinced it's the start of a major correction because, listen, breakouts have been working in this environment.

17:34So we do have still an actionable breakout in our opinion. So the timeline that Julian presented of July 4th could actually align pretty well with the follow through we could receive from a breakout and ultimately a pullback. For crude oil prices, we are looking for them to uphold sort of that newfound momentum. In fact, if you look at the daily, the weekly, the monthly charts, they all have upside momentum. It's pretty rare to see that happen and we wouldn't want to fight against it. So we do think that they'll remain an overhang. I'm sure Tim will agree with me because he brought it up. Okay.

18:07All right. That's a lot of pressure. No, it's not pressure. Not pressure.

Read the full transcript

18:10Tim Seymour:Pressure on him for assuming that he knows. I don't know. Pressure is a privilege. What are you going to say? The OIH, look at the single-day move in the OIH day, and the fact that it didn't give it up during the day, and it made a new not only 52-week high, multi-year high. One thing we've been saying for a while, the fact that the OIH does not sell off with crude when it did sell off suggests that the crude move, in my opinion, is far from over. You know what, Guy? I agree with you. You do agree with you. I agree with you. I knew you would. I agree with you. And I also just think, why aren't you buying energy as a hedge for your portfolio?

18:39Exactly.

18:39Tim Seymour:Yep. Bitcoin touching 76 ,000 at its lows today. The crypto down almost 6 % in the past week. But does the recent weakness create an opportunity to buy? So, Katie, what do you see in the charts? You know, I'm interested because with the recent stabilization that we've seen in the price of Bitcoin, the longer term indicators have improved to a pretty strong degree. We have on the monthly chart an upturn in our primary overbought oversold metric. It's an oversold upturn, the first of its kind since the last major low. So it gives us that hint that the February low for Bitcoin was indeed an important one.

19:13We can see that with some hindsight here too. Right now, the pullback is from resistance at the 200-day moving average, another natural place for pullback to unfold. But because of that oversold upturn on a long-term basis and because it occurred above some key long-term support, including from a big Fibonacci retracement level and former resistance on the chart. That to us was pretty compelling where it ended up ultimately finding its footing. And once we have the short-term gauges pick up, that's where we want to revisit it. I look at Bitcoin and it's, you know, the correlation to tech, specifically AI semiconductors, I think it's pretty big.

19:48So I think you have to think that AI is going to sort of, not that it hasn't, it's going to continue to move to the upside because this bond, I think it all hinges on the bond market. Higher yields is negative for Bitcoin, in my opinion.

20:01Tim Seymour:Coming up, a quick decision from the jury in Elon Musk's lawsuit against OpenAI. So what is next after the three weeks of courtroom drama right after this? Plus the blockbuster energy deal that might as well be an AI merger inside the utility tie-up that would create the world's biggest data center power producer. Don't go anywhere. Fast Money is back in two.

20:23This is Fast Money with Melissa Lee, right here on CNBC.

20:32Never bet against American grit or American energy. Through innovation, Venture Global is not only building some of the largest energy facilities in the world right here in the United States, but delivering American energy at a fraction of the cost and a fraction of the time. So while others are busy talking, we're busy building. That's venture global. That's unstoppable energy.

21:19Tim Seymour:Welcome back to Fast Money, a jury taking less than two hours to decide against Elon Musk in his lawsuit against Sam Altman and OpenAI Today. Lawyers for the Tesla CEO saying they plan to appeal. CNBC's Kate Rooney is outside the courthouse with the very latest. Kate. Hey, Melissa. So we did get that decision quickly, the judge and jury today, rejecting Elon Musk's claims against OpenAI and its CEO. Sam Altman, it does cap off a dramatic chapter in this tech rivalry. Musk just now chiming in on X, calling the loss a, quote, calendar technicality. He says he's going to appeal and, quote, creating a precedent to loot charities is incredibly destructive to charitable giving in America.

22:00The jury today did decide that Musk didn't file that lawsuit on time. So that actually streamlined the decision. It came down to that statute of limitations. It was an advisory jury as well, meaning the judge actually had the final say. But she ruled just minutes after we did get that initial decision today earlier. It was a lot faster than we did expect. And OpenAI and Altman, she said, are not liable. She dismissed the two claims here, breach of charitable trust and unjust enrichment. She called those untimely. The judge showed some skepticism, too, about an appeal. She said there is substantial evidence to support the jury's finding all this.

22:38I did speak to lawyers on both sides after that decision. He's a formidable adversary, of course, and he hires terrific lawyers, of course, and he is tenacious in his opinions, of course, and his positions. But we find that the persistent application of legal principles and the remorseless search for evidence is what wins cases, even against Elon Musk. I have a one word reaction. Appeal. It is a sigh of relief for OpenAI as that AI giant now looks to go public. Mel.

23:13Tim Seymour:You know, Kate, what came across in this trial is that both figures are kind of unlikable. And I'm just wondering how you think that translates as both the companies are preparing to go public and are seeking a retail base of some sort. It's a great point, Mel. I mean, even when as soon as the jury got in the room, that was clear that whether it was Elon Musk, whether it was Sam Altman, we heard so much witness testimony. First of all, how much money both of these characters have made in the process of building OpenAI. And we talk about Greg Brockman, too. The billions of dollars that these CEOs have made in the process of building these companies was just unrelatable to a lot of average people in the jury.

23:54Both of these companies are looking to get a massive retail base as they are going public. It's not clear. I mean, SpaceX, it seems like there's the Elon Musk effect. It's more of a space company than AI. But with the unpopularity that's really apparent after this case, it seems like OpenAI might have a harder time convincing a large retail shareholder base that ChatGPT and AI in general are something that they want to buy into based on what we've seen in this case, based on what we've seen with some of the graduation speeches getting booed recently. I think it's becoming more and more apparent that this is not an inherently popular technology.

24:26And that is one takeaway from this case that it has just brought to light some of the bad sides, I guess, the unflattering sides of this entire technology. And some of the leaders here, regardless of the merits of the legal case, you know, there was a lot about Sam Altman that spilled out in this that it was just unflattering.

24:45Tim Seymour:All right. Kate, thank you. Kate Rooney, who's been covering this trial every step of the way. And it's not like there's nowhere else to invest if you want to be, you know, if you want a piece of the AI trade in terms of an IPO.

24:57Melissa Lee:I mean, Google makes new all-time highs every day and they have like this vertical integration from the models to the TPUs to a whole host of distribution. And like, you know, one of the things that I guess is an interesting takeaway here is that if OpenAI, you know, having some sort of judgment against them in this situation, might it have made their IPO roadshow if it comes this year, you know, that much more, I don't know, that much more skepticism about the company and the way it's operated. But, you know, what I think is more interesting is about XAI. And XAI is obviously was bought by SpaceX.

25:28Melissa Lee:SpaceX is going public next month. There's a lot of questions about Grok, the model that they built. Elon went out and bought hundreds of thousands of GPUs from NVIDIA, and they just did a deal for their first giga factory, whatever the hell they call it, the Colossus one or something like that. They rented out the entire compute that comes out of that data center to Anthropic. So OpenAI and Anthropic are desperate for compute, but XAI is leasing or renting out all of their compute. They also did a deal with Cursor where they're using a bunch of their compute. So the question is whether they're seeing adoption for Grok and where does that put them competitively?

26:07Melissa Lee:And then what are, you know, what are Elon's real motives in doing this and trying to slow down maybe what OpenAI is doing? So I think there's a lot of things going on there. But at the end of the day, none of it sounds interesting for Grok if that is really what this comes back to. I was just thinking that they're both such likable guys. I mean, it would be so difficult. If I were Jordan, it's the side between the two. To choose. That's me. I tell you what, I'm reluctant to say this, but I don't think there's a question at all about SpaceX. I mean, the fact of the matter is when you're buying SpaceX, you're buying exposure to three different businesses that are part of the leading edge of where people want to be.

26:47And as much as maybe, as we've just discussed, the likability of these two guys, I mean, Elon, his retail base is insanely powerful and remains so. So I share the sentiment. I'm not putting words in anybody's mouths, but SpaceX over OpenAI all day.

27:04Tim Seymour:And by the way, if SpaceX gets waved right into the NASDAQ 100 to the S &P 500, then you out there will own a piece of it, whether you like it or not. Well, it's going to be a fast track from what the short answer is, yeah, it will. There's a lot more fast money to come. Here's what's coming up next. The$67 billion energy deal that could transform the AI trade. NextEra and Dominion Energy announcing a utility tie-up that would create the world's biggest data center power supplier. The details next. Plus, a major blow to Regeneron as its latest cancer drug fails a key clinical milestone. We'll debate what's next for the biotech name as it goes back to the drawing board.

27:47You're watching Fast Money, live from the NASDAQ MarketSite in Times Square. We're back right after this.

28:17others are busy talking, we're busy building. That's venture global. That's unstoppable energy.

28:28A key moment for the economy. How might the May jobs data influence the first Warsh Fed decision? Employment numbers and analysis. Squawk Box, tomorrow, 830 a.m. Eastern and streaming on CNBC+. us.

28:45Tim Seymour:Welcome back to Fast Money. Next, Sarah inking a$67 billion all-stock deal to buy Dominion Energy, creating the world's largest regulated electrical utility and a company that could radically change the AI data center power landscape in the U.S. Dominion currently powers the world's largest data center market in Northern Virginia. The combined company would have 110 gigawatt generation capacity with a 130 gigawatt pipeline. Next, Sarah currently plans to build more than 30 data center hubs to meet AI demand. What a deal. I mean, it speaks to the demand and all the things we talked about before.

29:23It shows no sign of waning whatsoever. And maybe it makes sense that Bloom Energy was down today. I'm not exactly sure why, but this entire space continues to be in play. I don't think it's a stop anytime soon. You know, when I look at Nextera and others, the long-term uptrends are very well established at this point. We had a big triangle formation completed by NextEra last year and now came up against some resistance. But I would see this as an opportunity to add exposure. It's so rare that we get these sharp pullbacks. The support's pretty good in the mid 80s for the stock, former resistance there.

29:59This deal shows that you need size and you need scale. And this is where we are. And I think this is I mean, I'm on Constellation Energy. I think the utility space is ripe for consolidation. I think there's a lot more deals on the table. I think you need to have the ability to ramp up quickly and you need diversification in some of your physical asset base. So I think you stay long.

30:24Tim Seymour:All right. We do have a quick programming note. The CEOs of both NextEra and Dominion will sit down with Squawk Box tomorrow morning to talk through this deal. Do not miss that tomorrow at 7 o 'clock a.m. Eastern Time, only on CNBC. Coming up, biotech pain trade. Regeneron seeing its worst day in almost a year after disappointing trial results. Phase three trial results for its skin cancer treatment. We'll hear from the analyst who just slashed his price target by almost 20 percent. Fast Money's back in two.

30:54Missed a moment of fast? Catch us anytime on the go. Follow the Fast Money podcast. We're back right after this.

31:08Tim Seymour:Welcome back to Fast Money. Stocks mixed to start the week, but all closing well off their lows of the day. The Dow adding 159 points, but the S &P and Nasdaq both posting back-to-back losses for the first time this month as drops in chip names like Micron weigh on the tech trade. Meantime, Regeneron Pharmaceuticals having its worst day in almost a year. Shares are down almost 10 % after the biotech company missed late-stage trial goals for its skin cancer treatment. And Libteo, BMO Capital Markets, cut its price target on the stock from$900 to$730. The firm's head of health care research, Evan David-Segerman, joins us now for more.

31:42Tim Seymour:Evan, great to have you with us. So it's not just that there is a failure here in this phase three trial, but this is a back-to-back failure in terms of key potential drugs in the pipeline. What does Regeneron have to do at this point? Well, that's a great question. So let's talk about what has happened. And so a year ago, they had a closely watched trial for this drug called ipoticumab for COPD, a common condition. That didn't work. That was a surprise. I mean, actually, last year, he wrote that they needed to get the ship right on the right track. And then this trial was supposed to be simiplumab plus fianlimab, so libtile plus an investigational asset versus Keytruda in melanoma.

32:21And while you did see a benefit, the stats weren't there. And that's why the stock dropped today.

32:27Tim Seymour:Is there a possibility? Because as I understand it, Evan, you actually removed the forecast of all of the sales of this particular drug out of the model. But is there a chance? It does have another ongoing trial, which pits it against a Bristol-Myers immunotherapy in this indication. So there's a chance, but we did that because we wanted to prove a point in showing that they need to be able to develop these drugs. And I'm sick of the missteps that we're seeing. I'm a little frustrated with them, as you can tell. So we took it out. there is a chance they may have data from this trial that could show overall survival.

33:00And the Abdulagg trial you were referring to could be used for a potential package. But just given this failure and the fact that they don't really know what caused the failure, I'm very skeptical that this will be a core part of their portfolio.

33:14Tim Seymour:Do they actually not know what caused the failure or are they just not disclosing it to the investor community? TBD. The stats were done last week, so we need to see the data presented at a medical conference. It could be the patient stratification. It could be overperformance of a particular arm. They did highlight that early on in the trial, the separation between the combo investigational arm and Contrudo were not separating as quickly. You got that separation later on, but that's kind of wonky, and they should have adjusted for that in the statistics. You know, this has been a year or a year of deals in this space.

33:51Tim Seymour:Evan, Regeneron has not been among the company. I mean, is that what they have to do at this point? I mean, they have$18 billion in cash,$2 billion in debt, so they have a lot of flexibility. And I think they're going to buy back shares. They have about$3.7 billion in authorization. Frankly, at this point, they need to do some bigger transactions because we are getting worried about the ILEA HD franchise. We put out another note today highlighting some potential IP issues. do Pixit will go off patent at some point. They need to do something and they need to do something large and soon. Evan, David, so I guess the question, though, is, again, independent of this news, there are analysts on the street out there that are very bullish on the stock because they see a growth rate of 12 to 15 percent top line either way.

34:34And therefore, it's somewhat compelling. Would you agree with that? So I, you know, I've gone back and forth on the stock. You know, when And we have hype and kind of reason to believe. I'm more positive and I can see the fundamentals supporting that. But with multiple phase three failures, I take pause because there's something going on there that is just not quite right. And that is the lifeblood of biotech. You have to keep developing drugs and be successful. One failure, okay. But two that are so hyped and closely watched, that's where my concern is. Evan, is there something to do with Sanofi with Regeneron?

35:11In terms of, well, they're partnered with Dupixin. They need to figure out how they're going to continue that partnership. Sanofi did have a failure with their investigational atopic derm drugs, so they could come to the table. In terms of maybe streamlining the Dupixin partnership could be good. There's a duplicative sales force. So there are things that could be done. Sanofi is a new CEO. Maybe there's a better relationship between Regeneron and Sanofi going forward. That's also a possibility.

35:40Tim Seymour:All right. Evan, thank you. Thank you so much. We do appreciate it. Evan David Siegerman of BMO. An interesting stock story. What does the chart look like? You know, it's interesting. It could be one of those scenarios where bad news is good because with the gap down, we last saw a gap down of this nature with very, very heavy volume on May 30th in 2025. If you go back to that, it ended up being a pretty substantial low. It took a few days for it to find its footing. And in three days from now, the stock should see a countertrend signal from the DeMarc indicator. So for those that own it, they might want to just see how that plays out, see if we can get some support discovery at a Fibonacci level around 608.

36:19Tim Seymour:But if you marry what you're seeing with the charts and what Evan David Zigerman is saying, it sounds like a value trap as opposed to a value stock. I mean, the stock's had a decent bounce now since the lows, I think, of about, what, 490 or so in May of last year. So maybe this sell-off was just people looking for an excuse. It feels like there might be more room to the downside, in my opinion. Is it Evan David with a hyphen? No, there's no hyphen. I love the fact that he's going with the Evan David. Is that the middle name? Timothy J. Well, yeah, but I don't think I can pull it off. Don't they usually say that for like assassins?

36:52Melissa Lee:Well, David Lee Roth. David Lee Roth was a killer. DLR. One of the great front men of all time. Different kind of killer. Yeah, really.

37:01Tim Seymour:Do you have anything to say about Regeneron? I like Regeneron. And again, I think this is ultimately a, you know, in the space. I mean, they are still kind of a growth story. And it's fair. There should be some criticism out there for these types of failures. But otherwise, I still think that long and strong. All right. Coming up, Netflix's worst weeks ever. The new Nielsen numbers that may be flashing a warning sign for the streaming giant. More Fast Money in Two.

37:32Tim Seymour:Welcome back to Fast Money. Netflix shares rebounding today after five straight weeks of losses, but the media giant has still lost nearly 17 % since earnings just last month. There may be new cause for concern. According to new Nielsen data, the company had no original series in its top 10 for the week of April 13th to 19th. It's worth showing ever. The best-performing series on the service was Grey's Anatomy, and there were old episodes which originally ran on ABC. I mean, I know you're a big fan, Dan, but you flagged this story.

38:03Melissa Lee:I flagged it because remember Max Myers? Yeah, of course. Our fine, fine producer of years and years. He flagged this. And I know he's a big Grey's Anatomy fan, but when you see this sort of data, it is really interesting because you make some wonder, like, why do they want Warner so badly? You know, is that, you know, is the whatever you want to call it, the catalog or whatever running thin? And then if the company is obviously losing, not obviously, losing subscribers and the margins are under pressure, how much new original content they're bidding for sports stuff and everything like that. So to me, that is not a good sign.

38:33Tim Seymour:What struck me, too, is that, you know, Tom Rogers always mentions that on Disney, the most streamed show is actually Bluey, which is also not a Disney original. So it's not just Netflix sort of seeing this. It's also other streaming platforms. Yeah. And look, this kind of gets back to the future for Netflix. I mean, this is where they were. I'm sure there's a bottom line and a margin dynamic that makes a ton of sense. But no, we want to see what they're doing on original content. I mean, you know, Guy, the Squid Games for you has changed your life. Changed life. It was life changed. You know, I think Netflix is interesting here.

39:06And obviously, given the tape, I know it's probably a difficult chart and it's got to find some, it's got to find its way. But I feel comfortable owning it. Is it a difficult chart? It is. Putting words in your mouth again, I'm sorry. The slope of the 200-day movie on average kind of tells it all for Netflix. But to me, you know, it's closer than it was last time we talked about it. The support's around 75. Momentum is still growing to the downside on a long-term basis. So I think it's going to take time. Patrick Dempsey, by the way, huge fan of the show. Shout out. What do they call them, like McFry or McDreamy?

39:39McDreamy.

39:39Tim Seymour:McDreamy. Wait, was it McDreamy or was it the other one? Dr. McDreamy. No, I think that's right. McDreamy was the other one. Oh, I don't know. Who's Steamy? McDreamy. It's the other guy. You have a little. Anyway. Here's a fun fact at Grey's Anatomy.

39:51Melissa Lee:Every title of the shows is a rock lyric. Is that right? Go check them out. A rock lyric or the name of a song.

39:58Tim Seymour:That's news you can use right there. News you can use. Goldman Sachs had a positive note on both Spotify and Netflix. I actually think you can own Netflix here. A long time ago, you said Netflix and Spotify.

40:10Melissa Lee:Merge those two things together. Well, listen, if you think about it, going horizontal would make a lot of sense. And, you know, Netflix wants to get into some of the businesses that Spotify is, you know, So, and they want to do original programming. They want to do live programming. They want to do podcasts. Let's take some, you know, combine those things, take some costs out, raise those margins for Spotify.

40:28Tim Seymour:Coming up, Seagate sinking after its CEO issued a stark warning about AI-driven demand. The worrying words about the soaring digital memory space next. And here's a sneak peek at the Kramer Cam. Jim is chatting exclusively with Intel CEO Lipu Tan. Catch the full interview, top of the hour, on Mad Money. More Fast Money in two.

40:53Tim Seymour:Breaking news from Washington. President Trump making some comments about potential military action in Iran. Our Megan Cassell is at the White House with the details. Megan. Melissa, we heard earlier this afternoon that the president said he would be postponing a planned military attack from tomorrow against Iran because the two sides were getting closer to getting a deal. Now he says that that delay might only be for a short period of time, maybe only two to three days, he says, depending on how this negotiation goes. He was just speaking at a health care event inside the building, and he says that they've had very big discussions with Iran.

41:23He says we'll see what they amount to, but that he has informed Israel as well as other allies in the region about this path forward and about this decision to delay what he says were planned attacks. One key quote I do want to highlight is that the president says here, we've had periods of time where we had, we thought, pretty much getting close to making a deal and it didn't work out. This is a little bit different now, he says, Melissa. So only time will tell whether that continues to be bluster or whether we might be getting closer to some sort of an actual concession and negotiated deal. He says, though, that this is a little bit different from all the times we've been here before.

41:56Melissa.

41:56Tim Seymour:All right, Megan, thank you, Megan Casella. We do know that oil did respond on news on the post the first time around where President Trump said that he was going to delay action. It's going to be the same until it isn't. I'm just kidding. I'm with you. All right, Megan, thank you. So we did see oil come off of the highs of the session. That really helps some, you know, free up some of the other parts of the market, like a Walmart, which we talked about at the beginning of the show. But that's what I guess is going to be key here, how oil responds and rates. Look, the market has looked past oil and Julian framed it well.

42:29He gave us some dates. And at some point, oil, I mean, it obviously matters now. It's obviously feeding through. The market is totally correlated to oil and so are yields. We know what the trade is. You know what you're looking at in the morning. Yeah, 100%. I mean, this commentary to me is all predicated on the fact that 10-year yield's got to 4.6 % and oil has a triple-digit price tag associated with it. So we'll see. But I will tell you, this game of, you know, going back and forth, I think the oil market is going to sniff it out. And I still think oil will go siren the back of this.

42:59Tim Seymour:All right, let's get to C-8 shares. Sliding nearly 7 % today after the CEO suggested the memory chip maker may not be able to meet demand. Speaking at a J.P. Morgan conference, Dave Mosley saying, building new factories would take too long and could result in excess capacity. The comments dragging down other memory stocks, SanDisk, Micron, Western Digital, all lower as well. And this really calls into question this notion that has ignited the sector, that it's different this time around, that business will be smoother, it won't be as cyclical because there is a subscription, basically, for memory, contracted memory.

43:30Melissa Lee:I mean, I think there's risk to Intel, too. I mean, some of these companies are not great at manufacturing. It's one of the reasons why Taiwan Semi has such a chokehold on all of this business. And I think it's worth noting that Taiwan Semi did not materially increase their CapEx to build out new capacity until about last year or so. So it just tells you that the leader, the market leader, the guys who do it so well and have so much market share are also being somewhat cautious. Because in cyclical businesses like this, if you overbuild capacity, you think you overshot up 400 or 500 percent. You'll lose at least 50 percent.

44:02Melissa Lee:You can do the math on that. I know that doesn't sound as good as 500 percent gains, but it's not great. So this is the sort of cycles that you expect. And I would listen to these CEOs. You know, it's a notable loss of short-term momentum that we've seen. There are MACD sell signals, so to speak. And there's also a lot of room to the 50-day moving averages. For Seagate in particular, it's about 26 % downside. And that just goes to show how far and fast they've come. So to me, it would be a healthy pullback. It might take some time based on the DeMarc indicators, but ultimately should be met with buyers given the long-term upside momentum behind them.

44:36All right. Up next, Final Trades.

44:54Tim Seymour:Final trade time, Timbo. Constellation Energy also. I think this is a great way to play what is Size Matters. Katie Stockton, a fair lead. I'm going with gold or GLD to play a short-term countertrend signal.

45:09Melissa Lee:Dan Nathan. Yeah, NASDAQ last week wins the SpaceX. Probably some more behind that. Indexing fees, trading fees, a lot of stuff going on there. Give credit where credit's due. Great weekend out of shape, Tim, for the Metsies. Enjoy that. Look out. Look out. Cleveland Cliffs. I think it's just Cliffs now.

45:26Tim Seymour:Thank you for watching Fast Money. Mad Money starts right now.

45:33Tim Seymour:solely their opinions and do not reflect the opinions of CNBC or its parent company or affiliates and may have been previously disseminated by them on television, radio, internet, or another medium. You should not treat any opinion expressed on this podcast as a specific inducement to make a particular investment or follow a particular strategy, but only as an expression of an opinion. Such opinions are based upon information the Fast Money participants consider reliable, but neither CNBC nor its affiliates and or subsidiaries warrant its completeness or accuracy, and it should not be relied upon as such.

45:58Tim Seymour:To view the full Fast Money Disclaimer, please visit cnbc.com forward slash Fast Money Disclaimer. Snoring? Gasping during sleep? Feeling fatigued? Ask your doctor about ZepBound, Terzepatite, the first and only FDA-approved prescription medicine for moderate to severe obstructive sleep apnea, OSA, and adults with obesity. ZepBound is a prescription medicine used with a reduced-calorie diet and increased physical activity to help adults with moderate to severe obstructive sleep apnea, OSA, and obesity to improve their OSA. ZepBound is approved as a 2.5, 5, 7.5, 10, 12.5, or 15 milligram injection.

46:36ZetBound contains terzepatide and should not be used with other terzepatide-containing products or any GLP-1 receptor agonist medicines. It is not known if ZetBound is safe and effective for use in children. Don't share needles or pins or reuse needles. Don't take if allergic to it or if you or someone in your family had medullary thyroid cancer or if you've had multiple endocrine neoplasia syndrome type 2. Tell your doctor if you get a lump or swelling in your neck. Stop ZipBound and call your doctor if you have severe stomach pain or a serious allergic reaction. Severe side effects may include inflamed pancreas or gallbladder problems.

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From the publisher

Nvidia isn’t the only big earnings report on the calendar this week. Why Walmart could give a better read on the economy, the consumer and the markets. Plus a jury deciding against Elon Musk in his lawsuit vs. OpenAI. What we can expect next and what’s it mean for OpenAI’s IPO plans.

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