WS #7829

NVIDIA's Q1 earnings beat was the dominant signal in this window, with revenue of $81.6B (beat by ~$2.6B), EPS $1.87 (beat by $0.10), and Q2 guidance of $89.18B-$92.82B (above $86.62B consensus). The company also announced an $80B share buyback authorization and a dividend increase from $0.01 to $0.25. While the beat was strong, after-hours price action was muted initially, with some reports of a dip and rebound, suggesting high expectations were already priced in. The company noted it is not assuming any Data Center compute revenue from China in its outlook, which could be a headwind. Separately, Intuit reported Q3 earnings but announced a 17% workforce reduction (~3,000 jobs) and $300M-$340M in restructuring charges, sending shares down ~11% after hours. This counters the positive earnings beat and signals AI-driven disruption in enterprise software. Other notable earnings beats include e.l.f. Beauty (EPS $0.32 beat by 10%, revenue $449.29M beat by 6%), EnerSys (Q4 EPS $3.19 beat by $0.20), and Nordson (Q2 EPS $2.86 beat $2.82, raised FY guidance). On the geopolitical front, the US DOJ indicted former Cuban leader Raúl Castro for the 1996 shootdown of two planes, escalating US-Cuba tensions. Ukrainian drone strikes continue to disrupt Russian oil refining capacity. The Fed minutes from April showed officials open to rate hikes if inflation stays sticky, with markets now pricing 63% odds of a hike by year end. The NVDA earnings are the highest-impact event for the next 1-8 hours, likely driving a tech rally, while INTU's layoffs may weigh on enterprise software names. The Fed minutes introduce a hawkish tilt that could cap broader market gains.