Closing Bell: Circle Soars, Kroger Beats, Nvidia Slumps

On this episode of Stock Movers:

Listen for comprehensive cross-platform coverage of the US market close as heard on Bloomberg Television, Bloomberg Radio, and YouTube with Romaine Bostick, Scarlet Fu, Alix Steel, Carol Massar and Tim Stenovec.

- Circle (CRCL) shares soared after Seaport Global gave the stablecoin issuer its first buy rating in the wake of the US Senate’s move this week to pass legislation setting up regulatory rules for cryptocurrencies pegged to the dollar. The company behind USDC, the second-largest stablecoin by market share, has seen its shares rise more than 600% since they started trading earlier this month. Optimism around stablecoin regulations has driven the strength. Seaport analyst Jeff Cantwell sees the global stablecoin market having the potential to reach $2 trillion at some point, from about $260 billion now. That would translate into annual revenue growth of 25%-30% for Circle, he wrote in a note to clients Friday.

- Kroger (KR) shares were higher after its sales surpassed expectations during the latest quarter, a sign that consumers are still spending on groceries and other essentials despite economic turbulence. The nation’s largest supermarket operator said its comparable sales, excluding fuel, rose 3.2% — better than what Wall Street analysts were expecting. The company also raised its full-year sales guidance to a range of 2.25% to 3.25%. It reaffirmed the rest of its outlook. Chief Financial Officer David Kennerley told analysts on the company’s conference call that Kroger has seen an improvement in grocery volumes in recent quarters, which contributed to growth in the latest quarter. Kroger expects further volume expansion over the rest of 2025. Interim Chief Executive Officer Ronald Sargent said he’s optimistic about the rest of the year while citing broader economic uncertainty.

- Nvidia (NVDA) shares slumped, along with shares throughout the chip sector on the Wall Street Journal's reporting that a top US official told chipmakers that it's possible waivers they've used to access American technology in China could end up revoked.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:02):
Bloomberg Audio Studios, podcasts, radio news.

Speaker 2 (00:09):
This is the closing bell on the stock mover's report
the company's making moves at the close of US trading
with Carol Master, Tim Stenebeck, Romain, Bostik, and Scarlet Food.

Speaker 3 (00:22):
To the individual gainers Kroger number one gain in the SNP,
nation's largest supermarket operator, sales surpassing expectations, COMP sales coming
in better than expectations too. This is during the latest quarter,
so consumers are still spending on groceries and other essentials
even amid economic turbulence. So the company raised its full
year guidance reaffirmed the rest of its outlook, citing an

(00:43):
uncertain though macroeconomic environment. So Kroger, as I said, Number
one gain in the sn P five hundred that' stock
op just shy of ten percent. CarMax an outperformer, up
nine and a half percent in its highs, finishing with
a six point five percent gain. Number three gainer in
the s and P five hundred reported first quarter comp
sales and earnings per share that beat concessus estimate. Stock,

(01:03):
though is still down about seventeen percent year to day.
Eight percent of the float is short and so there's
still some investors certainly within a wary eye to that one.
GMS this one up almost twenty four percent. This company
definitely in demand. Home Depot making an offer for the
building product distributor, possibly setting off a bidding war with QXO,

(01:25):
which this week made a five billion dollar offer for
the company. The Wall Street Journal reporting this out initially yesterday.
QXO has come out and said it will not raise
its five billion dollar offer for the company. So keep
an eye on this one. We'll probably watch that into
next week.

Speaker 1 (01:38):
And I'm doing I love a good old fashioned bidding work.
I mean, I guess it's not a bidding war too.
EXO doesn't do anything, but.

Speaker 3 (01:44):
Close enough, Okay, close enough, we're gonna. We're gonna at
least go with it. This is what I'm doing, because
Tim's like Carol, you have to do Circle if you
don't do anything else. Circle Internet up another twenty percent today.
This is the company behind USDC, second largest stable coin
by market share. It shares rallying again in today's session.
It's up about six hundred and seventy maybe seventy percent.
I'm meant to check the DEES screen. It is up

(02:07):
a lot since it's IPO earlier, We'll just round up
seven Seaport Global that came out and gave it its
first by rating. In the wake of the US Senate's
move this past week to pass legislation setting up regulatory
rules for cryptocurrencies PEG to the dollars. So yeah, a
super app orformer here. You're welcome.

Speaker 4 (02:25):
About time you okay, been up like every day he's
been on my case. I have Hey, I want to
get to the decliners in video shares falling today by
about one point two percent. I watched shares of chip
companies after the Journal reported that the US Commerce Department
are rather an official in the US Commerce Department has
told top semi companies that he wants to revoke those
waivers they've used to access American tech in China. We

(02:47):
saw LAMB Research fall Applied Materials KLA. They were among
the biggest decliners in the socks and video though, also
falling today about one point two percent. Also, keep an
eye on shares of Accenture. They were down as much
as close US to eleven percent after the company reported results.
Analysts highlighted bookings as a weak spot. Bookings were down

(03:07):
seven percent Bloomberg Intelligence says that that decline lower suggests
soft discretionary it demand. The CEO in the earnings called
Julie Sweet, said, the company quote continues to see a
significantly elevated level of uncertainty in the global economic and
geopolitical environment as compared to calendar year twenty twenty four. Interestingly, though,

(03:28):
as opposed to what we saw with Booz Allen a
few weeks ago. The company said that the Federal Business
Division had an immaterial impact on the overall growth of
the quarter. Shares down six point nine percent today. And finally,
Smith and Wesson Brands, I didn't realize this was such
a small market cap company. It's like three hundred and
eighty million dollar company through an eighty six million dollar company.

(03:50):
Shares down twenty percent today. They reported justed earnings per
share for the fourth quarter that missed the average analyst estimate.
The president's EO, Mark Smith said, looking at the overall
firearms market, continue to see consumers generally being cautious due
to macroeconomic factors pressuring discretionary spending, so people are pulling
back on all kinds of purchases. I guess, at least
according to the CEO of Smith and Wesson.

Speaker 1 (04:12):
All right, let's take a quick look at yields here.
Modest the lines across the curve here on this Friday afternoon,
we should point out on a weekly basis, it's really
the short end of the curve the saw most of
the action seeing yields their drop for a second straight
week week. Meanwhile, on the longer end of the curve
ten to thirty years, who actually had an increase in
yields here, So it's seeping up the yield curve. In fact,

(04:32):
the biggest deepening that we've seen in about a month
on a weekly basis, and that of course is the
setup heading into next weekend beyond as folks Carol start
to refocus in on macro conditions and especially on the
labor market.

Speaker 2 (04:45):
This Stock Movers report from Bloomberg Radio. Check back with
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