Yesterday was the final call for Skype after 22 years of valiant service. Despite the fact that the video and voice chat service boasted 405 million users in 2009, leading Microsoft to buy it in 2011 for $8.5 billion, somehow, it fumbled its massive lead in the space to upstarts like Zoom and (checks notes) Microsoft Teams. Skype may be gone, but like the sound of a dial-up modem, its signature sound will stay with us forever. 

US stocks opened well in the red amid fresh tariffs floated by President Donald Trump and a disorderly surge in Asian currencies, particularly Taiwan’s, but spent most of the day clawing back those losses before faltering into the close. The S&P 500’s nine-session winning streak was snapped with a 0.6% decline. The Nasdaq 100 gave back 0.7% and the Russell 2000 brought up the rear with a 0.8% drop.

Retail trader favorite Palantir reported earnings after the bell, and after a period of volatility, fell as much as 9% in after-hours trading.

That said, there are still plenty of reasons to be bullish about the stock. The company also raised its full-year outlook for sales to between $3.89 billion and $3.90 billion, up from the previous target of roughly $3.75 billion. 

On the other hand, there is certainly one thing on the mind of everyone who earns a crust by selling to Uncle Sam, and yes, I’m talking about the guy with the chainsaw.

“Live by the sword, die by the sword” is just so archaic. When the government wants to go to war now, they don’t use swords — they rely on an army of consultants and an arsenal of code, the exact trade plied by Palantir. But the lesson remains: if you live by the sale of swords, you better hope that the main customer responsible for the overwhelming majority of your business isn’t getting skittish about how much money it’s spending on swords. 

With US tariffs expected to impact Chinese-made drones, the demand for American-built alternatives will increase. 

Hylio is ahead of the curve, manufacturing ag-tech drones right here in Texas. With over $30M in lifetime revenue¹ and a new US facility that will produce 5,000+ drones annually, they’re scaling quickly. With its FAA-approved swarm technology, the company is poised to disrupt a $556B addressable market.

Hylio already serves 350+ unique customers worldwide (and counting!), including big industry names like the USDA, Nutrien, Wilbur-Ellis, and King Ranch, and there could be even more demand for their USA-made products if costs for Chinese-made systems increase. 

Invest in the future of American drones today!²

¹ Lifetime revenues are for 9 years.

Hims & Hers reported earnings results after the bell yesterday that blew Wall Street expectations out of the park: its earnings per share of $0.20 were way over the $0.12 analysts polled by FactSet were expecting, and the company reported $586 million in sales, up 111% year over year, which is far above the $538.6 million analysts were penciling in. It seemed like a slam dunk of a report at first, but the stock plunged in after-hours trading. What happened?

Well, for one, the company reported that it has 2.37 million subscribers, up 38% from last year but less than the 2.42 million analysts expected. It also said it expects to make between $530 million to $550 million in revenue in the second quarter, less than the $564 million the Street was hoping for.

The stock sinking was good news for one group: the higher-than-usual number of Hims short sellers that were worried about an incoming short squeeze. The stock has been on a massive tear since the news of Hims’ partnership with Novo Nordisk last week, so investors may feel the good news was already mostly priced in. About 45 minutes after the earnings dropped, investors appeared to reconsider things as they dug into the details, and the stock ticked back into the green. Then it went back into the red.

No matter how much a company beats earnings, it seems investors are always wanting more. Hopefully, Hims’ newly named COO, an Amazon veteran, will help steer the company toward its CEO’s vision of being the Netflix of healthcare. 

Despite economic uncertainty, Amazon, Alphabet, Microsoft, and Meta combined spent about $72 billion on capital expenditures in just the first quarter of 2025. As this chart shows, it’s slightly less than the quarter before, but way, way up year over year.

Here’s what each company said about its outsized outlays.

Stay informed about the latest cross-sector tech trends, data and risk management developments, and the evolving global policy landscape with Nasdaq TradeTalks. 

Broadcasting live from Nasdaq MarketSite and beyond, discover critical insights on the forces that are shaping the global markets.