Intel explodiert 30% | Starke Berichtssaison | Friedensgespräche am Wochenende?

The episode opens on Friday, April 24th with host Markus Koch covering a highly active week on Wall Street. The dominant theme is a remarkably strong earnings season: of the 27% of S&P 500 companies that had reported by Thursday evening, 86% beat earnings estimates, with an average beat rate of 12.8% — notable because estimates going in were already elevated at 12-13% profit growth expectations. This marks a significant upgrade from the prior quarter's starting estimate of 7%, which ultimately came in at 12-13%.

The biggest individual story is Intel, whose stock exploded nearly 30% pre-market (already up 48% over the prior four weeks and 300% over 12 months) after reporting earnings of 29 cents per share versus an expected 1 cent, revenue of $13.6 billion (up 7%), and 22% growth in its Data Center and AI segment. Despite these results, Bank of America maintained a sell rating with a price target of $58 (stock trading at ~$82), and JP Morgan similarly held a sell with a target of $45 (stock at ~$83). In contrast, Citigroup upgraded from neutral to buy with a $95 target, and Evercore ISI raised its target dramatically from $45 to $111, citing Intel's positioning in the CPU recovery and manufacturing competitiveness. The host is openly critical of analysts who missed the rally and are now either playing catch-up or stubbornly maintaining sell ratings at wildly misaligned price targets.

The semiconductor sector more broadly is highlighted as being on a historic run — 17 consecutive days of new highs with a 40% sector gain — driven by strong results across chips, memory, and AI components. The host notes the sector is technically overbought but continues to be pushed higher by fundamental results.

SAP is discussed as a beneficiary of lowered software-sector expectations, following disappointing results from IBM's software division and ServiceNow (which saw operating margins revised down), causing the biggest single-day divergence between semiconductor and software stocks in Wall Street history. SAP's cloud backlog growth of 24% on a constant currency basis came in slightly better than feared, providing relief to the software sector.

Other earnings highlights include Procter & Gamble (organic growth of 3% vs. 1.8% expected, though full-year EPS guided to the lower end of range), Newmont Mining (EBITDA and cash flow beat with a $6 billion buyback announced), and Baker Hughes (strong data center-related bookings). Schlumberger was a rare loser, with EBITDA slightly below expectations.

On macro topics, the Iranian foreign minister's travel to Pakistan for a second round of peace talks with the U.S. is noted as contributing to a slight decline in oil prices. The host emphasizes that Wall Street has largely decoupled from oil price movements this week, with WTI rising from ~$80 to ~$97 while the S&P 500 held roughly flat before Friday's tech-driven gains.

Trump's signaling that he may be open to dropping the investigation into Fed Chair Jerome Powell is mentioned as a potential market positive, as the host had previously argued Powell's confirmation of a successor (Kevin Warsh) was contingent on the investigation being dropped.

The host previews a packed week ahead with 181 S&P 500 companies reporting, including Amazon, Google, Meta, Microsoft, and Qualcomm on Wednesday, Apple on Thursday, and Berkshire Hathaway on Saturday. The Federal Reserve meeting result is also due Wednesday at 8 PM local time. Layoff announcements from Meta (10% of staff, ~8,000 jobs), Nike (1,400 jobs, 2% of workforce), and Microsoft's first-ever voluntary severance packages are cited as early signs of AI-driven productivity replacing human labor in the very sector developing the technology.

Oracle is noted as struggling to finance its massive infrastructure expansion, with banks reportedly unwilling to take on concentrated exposure to a single company. Berkshire Hathaway is flagged as experiencing one of its longest underperformance streaks against the S&P 500 since Buffett took control, though Barron's takes a positive view ahead of weekend results.