📈 Salesforce's $8B Data Play

Good morning.

⚡ The Fast Five → Circle Eyes $6.7B IPO Debut, Nippon Closes U.S. Steel Deal, GM Invests $888M in Manufacturing, Hologic Rejects $16B Buyout Bid, Okta Plunges Despite Steady Guidance

🔎 Market Trends → US stocks end sharply higher on Trump's tariff reprieve; US Futures Steady Ahead of Nvidia Earnings

🚨 Start Your Day with Market Movers: Opening Bell LIVE on FinTech.tv from 9-10AM EST

And now…

⏱️ Your 5-minute briefing for Wednesday, May 28, 2025:

MARKET BRIEF
Before the Open

Pre-Market

Fear & Greed

Markets in Review

Markets Rebound as Tariff Timer Ticks On

Wall Street snapped a 5-day losing streak. The S&P 500 jumped 2.1% to 5,921.5, and the Dow climbed 1.8% to 42,343.7. The Nasdaq surged 2.5%, closing at 19,199.2.

The Big Picture:

Markets caught a second wind Tuesday after President Trump delayed EU tariffs until July 9. Investors exhaled, lifting all 11 sectors of the S&P into the green — a rare, full-board rally.

Driving the optimism: a global reprieve on protectionism. With a U.S.–China trade pause in effect and Europe now spared (for now), sentiment got a jolt. Consumer confidence bounced hard in May, suggesting traders and households alike are seeing past the short-term noise — or betting on it.

That said, cracks in fundamentals remain. April’s durable goods orders dipped less than feared, but capital spending is still weak. Meanwhile, WTI crude (CL=F) slid 0.8% to $61.06, and gold (GC=F) dropped 1.9% — both signs of a market cautiously optimistic but far from euphoric.

Market Movers:

• Hologic (HOLX) +14.5%
  Blackstone (BX) and TPG offered $16B+ to take the med-tech firm private. Hologic said “no thanks” — investors said “we like the attention.”

• Salesforce (CRM) +1.5%
  CRM is doubling down on AI, snapping up Informatica (INFA) for $8B. Informatica spiked 6.1%, a nod to its strategic AI positioning.

• PDD Holdings (PDD) -14%
  China’s e-commerce giant missed Q1 targets. Blame it on “external environment” jitters and platform investment drag. Not what the bulls ordered.

What They’re Saying:

“The rebound was already visible before the May 12 U.S.-China deal, but gained momentum afterwards.” — Stephanie Guichard, Conference Board

WHAT WE’RE WATCHING
Events

• Today: Federal Reserve - Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) Meeting Minutes - 2:00pm

  Why You Should Care: It's a detailed record of the FOMC's most recent meeting, providing in-depth insights into the economic and financial conditions that influenced their vote on where to set interest rates

Earnings Reports

• Today: NVIDIA, Salesforce, HP, Dick's Sporting Goods, U-Haul, Abercrombie & Fitch, Macy's

• Tomorrow: Costco, Dell Technologies, Ulta Beauty, Best Buy, Gap, Inc., Bath & Body Works, Burlington Stores

MARKET BRIEF
Leading News

Salesforce's $8B Informatica Bet: AI Data Play Gets Real

Why it matters:

This acquisition signals that the AI boom is shifting from flashy demos to the unglamorous infrastructure work that actually makes artificial intelligence profitable.

Zoom Out:

The market got this one backwards a year ago. When acquisition rumors first surfaced in April 2024, both stocks tumbled as investors fretted about integration risks and strategic fit. Classic behavioral finance at work—humans are terrible at pricing uncertainty, especially when it involves buzzwords like "AI transformation."

Data is the new oil, but most companies are still using stone-age refineries. Salesforce (CRM) is paying $25 per share for Informatica—an 11% premium that's actually quite reasonable by today's M&A standards. The real premium is strategic: access to enterprise-grade data plumbing that 5,000+ customers already trust.

This isn't Marc Benioff's first data rodeo. The September acquisition of Own Company for $1.9 billion was the appetizer. Informatica is the main course—a play to make Salesforce's Agentforce AI actually useful rather than just impressive in demos.

Key Insights:

• Follow the money trail: Private equity firm Permira bought Informatica for $5.3 billion in 2015, took it public in 2021, and now exits at $8 billion. That's patient capital getting rewarded—a 50% return over a decade isn't spectacular, but it's solid.

• The integration math works: Unlike many AI acquisitions that are glorified talent grabs, Informatica has real revenue streams across 100+ countries. This reduces execution risk significantly.

• Timing advantage: While competitors chase the latest AI fad, Salesforce is building the boring-but-essential infrastructure that enterprises actually need to deploy AI safely.

Market Pulse:

"Data security has never been more critical," Salesforce's Steve Fisher noted about their previous acquisition—a reminder that AI without proper data governance is just expensive chaos.

Bull’s Take:

Smart money follows the plumbing, not the parade. Salesforce is building the unsexy foundation that will likely dominate enterprise AI for the next decade.

Headlines

• Stablecoin giant Circle targets $6.7B valuation in IPO (link)

• Japan’s Nippon expected to close acquisition of U.S. Steel at $55 per share (link)

• SpaceX prepares for ninth Starship test flight (link)

• GM to invest $888 million for engine production at New York facility (link)

• Hologic rejects over $16 billion take-private proposal from TPG and Blackstone (link)

• Okta shares plunge 11% as company maintains guidance (link)

CRYPTO
Fear & Greed

Headlines

• Miners Finally Join Bitcoin Rally; Analyst Eyes $145,000 (link)

• Wall Street Giant Cantor Debuts Bitcoin Lending Business With First Tranches to FalconX, Maple (link)

• Bitcoin Wallet Firm Exodus Unveils Crypto Debit Card With Baanx (link)

• Trump Media Raising $2.5B for Bitcoin Treasury Strategy (link)

DAILY SHARE
On the Socials