Meta's 10% layoff is a confession that its AI bet is behind schedule.

Meta is cutting 8,000 employees on May 20, roughly 10% of its total workforce, and simultaneously reassigning 7,000 others to AI-focused roles. In a separate move that looks more like a land grab than generosity, the company offered rival chatbots including OpenAI limited free access to WhatsApp in Europe, with a monetization switch ready to flip once usage thresholds are hit. META shares fell 1.38% on the day.

A company confident in its AI lead does not need to gut its headcount and hand competitors a distribution channel at the same time. The WhatsApp gambit is clever but reveals the underlying anxiety: Meta needs AI developers building on its pipes before a stronger player locks them out. The layoffs fund the pivot, but the pivot itself is an admission that the current product lineup is not winning.

A $75 billion valuation prices in SpaceX execution that has not happened yet.

SpaceX is targeting a June 12 Nasdaq debut at a $75 billion valuation, which would make it the largest market debut in history. The company is preparing its upgraded Starship V3 for a 12th uncrewed test flight this week, but an OSHA investigation is open following a worker death at the Starbase facility in South Texas last Friday. Analysts are already warning that an offering this size could crowd out other prospective IPOs by monopolizing institutional capital allocation.

The OSHA investigation is not a deal-killer, but it is a material overhang that prospectus readers will have to price. More broadly, a $75 billion valuation demands that Starship commercialization, Starlink growth, and government contracts all execute on an ambitious timeline simultaneously. The sheer gravitational pull of this offering on the broader IPO calendar is itself a market story worth watching through June.

Home Depot's narrow beat changes nothing about the housing drag on its margins.

Home Depot posted Q1 EPS of $3.43 against a $3.40 consensus and reported 4.8% sales growth, reaffirming full-year 2026 guidance of up to 4% adjusted EPS growth and 2.5-4.5% sales growth. HD shares gained 0.88%, one of the stronger moves in the group today. Management credited professional customers and budget-conscious homeowners for holding the line on demand.

The beat is narrow and the underlying picture is messier: profit declined year-over-year, margins are contracting, and comparable sales grew just 0.6%. Elevated interest rates and stagnant housing turnover mean the big-ticket remodel jobs that drive HD's best margins are still sitting on the sideline. A guidance reaffirmation in this environment is reassuring, but it is not a signal that the housing drag has lifted.