Stocks are back near record highs. Investors still aren't buying this rally:

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Stocks came under pressure Tuesday but continue to hover near record highs, staging a ferocious comeback since their April lows.

But despite the rally, investor sentiment remains cautious as markets contend with a wave of uncertainty ranging from Trump’s tariff rollout and its inflationary ripple effects to the Fed’s murky rate-cutting path and, most recently, renewed geopolitical tensions in the Middle East. Yahoo Finance reports.

🤖 Musk’s xAI Burns Through $1 Billion a Month as Costs Pile Up: Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence startup xAI is burning through $1 billion a month as the cost of building its advanced AI models races ahead of the limited revenues, according to people briefed on the company’s financials.

The rate at which the company is bleeding cash provides a stark illustration of the unprecedented financial demands of the artificial intelligence industry, particularly at xAI, where revenues have been slow to materialize. Yahoo Finance reports.

🛢️Oil Dips in Volatile Market as Trump Spurs War Escalation Fear: Oil gave back some of the rally driven by speculation the US may join the Middle East conflict, with traders focused on flows through the region’s vital shipping chokepoint.

The oil market’s main concern is the threat to vessel traffic in the Strait of Hormuz, through which about a quarter of the world’s crude shipments flow, and to supplies from Iran itself. Yahoo Finance reports.

🏦 Fed Might Not Cut Rates Until September. But how will it handle its balance sheet? The Trump administration’s tariffs so far haven’t flowed into U.S. inflation data in a big way, but that seems unlikely to move the Federal Reserve from its wait-and-see approach on interest rates as investors await the outcome of its policy meeting this week.

“I think the Fed will have a window to cut rates in September,” Rick Rieder, BlackRock’s chief investment officer of global fixed income and head of the firm’s global allocation investment team, said in a phone interview. MarketWatch reports.

👀 Stock market today: Dow, S&P 500, Nasdaq futures stall as Fed takes front seat from Mideast fears US stock futures stalled on Wednesday, with the prospect of the US joining Israel-Iran hostilities keeping investors on edge as they braced for the Federal Reserve's interest-rate decision later in the day.

Futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500 both fluctuated along the flat line. Contracts on the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 were also little changed following a losing day for the major gauges. Markets are on alert for any sign that the US has joined the Middle East conflict, which has swung stocks around since it broke out last week. Yahoo Finance reports.

🤖 China’s trillion-yuan gamble on AI and chips is creating strange bedfellows: China’s bold push to achieve tech self-sufficiency is triggering a wave of unexpected corporate alliances, investment surges and speculative bets.

As U.S. sanctions choke access to advanced semiconductors and artificial-intelligence hardware, Beijing is responding with a top-down industrial mobilization — and an estimated trillion dollars’ worth of combined public and private capital now flowing into domestic chip and AI startups. MarketWatch reports.

💻 Amazon Says It Will Reduce Its Workforce as AI Replaces Human Employees: Amazon is warning its employees that artificial intelligence will help the company have a smaller workforce in the future. In a blog post Tuesday that was sent out earlier to employees, Amazon CEO Andy Jassy said that efficiency gains from AI would allow the company to eventually have a reduced human workforce.

“As we roll out more Generative AI and agents, it should change the way our work is done. We will need fewer people doing some of the jobs that are being done today, and more people doing other types of jobs,” he wrote. CNN reports.

(All pricing and percent gains are based on Early Pre-Market from 4:00 AM to 7:00 AM Eastern Time)
Benzinga reports.

1) $BDRX: Biodexa Pharmaceuticals

Total gain: +83.97%

2) $LSE: Leishen Energy Holding

Total gain: +62.70%

3) $SAFX: XCF Global Capital

Total gain: +44.70%

4) $MTR: Mesa Royalty

Total gain: +33.33%

5) $RELI: Reliance Global Group

Total gain: +33.17%

The closing price of the top three market percent gainers trading near or above $3 on June 17.
Benzinga reports.

*All pricing and percent gains are based on regular market trading hours from 9:30am to 4:00pm Eastern Time

1) $EYEN: Eyenovia

Total gain: +138.04%

The company announced that it has entered into a securities purchase agreement for a $50 million private placement in public equity with institutional accredited investors. Eyenovia will use the funds to build a reserve of a token called HYPE, which is native to the decentralized digital asset exchange and Layer-1 blockchain, Hyperliquid. The company expects to receive aggregate gross proceeds of approximately $50 million, before deducting offering expenses. In connection with the transaction, the company is also announcing today that it has appointed Hyunsu Jung as its Chief Investment Officer and as a member of the Board. Benzinga reports.

2) $RBNE: Robin Energy

Total gain: +92.02%

The company announced that it has entered into a securities purchase agreement with several institutional investors to purchase 965,000 common shares at an offering price of $5.25 per share, for gross proceeds of approximately $5.1 million before deducting commissions and offering expenses, in a registered direct offering priced at-the-market under Nasdaq rules. Benzinga reports.

3) $VERV: Verve Therapeutics

Total gain: +81.41%

Eli Lilly and Company and Verve Therapeutics a Boston-based clinical-stage company developing genetic medicines for cardiovascular disease, announced a definitive agreement for Lilly to acquire Verve. Benzinga reports.

*Estimate and Actual numbers represent Earnings Per Share in US Dollars


KFY: Korn Ferry
4Q 2025

Before Market Open
Estimate: 1.260
Actual: N/A

GMS: GMS
4Q 2025

Before Market Open
Estimate: 1.110
Actual: 1.290

ACB: Aurora Cannabis
4Q 2025

Before Market Open
Estimate: 0.110
Actual: N/A

Time (ET) / Report / Period

8:30 am - Housing starts - May

8:30 am - Building permits - May

8:30 am - Initial jobless claims - June 14

“Patience in trading is as valuable as timing. It's not just about when you enter, but how long you're willing to stay in the game.” - Morgan Housel

Sourced in: "The Psychology of Money’’, by Morgan Housel, published in 2020.