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FINWIRES

Alphabet Shares Expected to Reach New Highs on AI Tailwinds, Oppenheimer Says

-- Alphabet's (GOOG, GOOGL) shares are expected to reach new highs as Google's AI-powered Search's potential to boost revenue growth stokes investor confidence, Oppenheimer said in a note Thursday.

Wall Street is "irrationally" assuming that Search revenue growth will decelerate over the next two years, the brokerage said.

Google has yet to benefit from its AI conversion enhancements, analysts said as they noted that advertisements in AI Overviews were launched globally only at the end of 2025, AI Mode ads are still in the early stages, and AI chatbot Gemini currently has no ads.

Meanwhile, revenue growth in the Google Cloud Platform is accelerating and could hit 60% in 2026, analysts said, as the company's capital spending on capacity starts to make an impact.

Google is in the early stages of using data from Search, Maps, Gmail, and Calendar to deliver agentic AI with a "claw-bot" experience, according to the note.

Oppenheimer kept its outperform rating on Alphabet stock, with a $360 price target.

Price: $335.91, Change: $-1.84, Percent Change: -0.54%

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Commodities

EMEA Natural Gas Update: Prices Flat as Traders Weigh Iran Peace Talks and Mixed Weather Outlook

European natural gas futures were little changed in after-hours trade on Friday after a choppy session driven by geopolitical developments and shifting expectations around renewed Iran-related peace talks scheduled for this weekend in Islamabad.Front-month Dutch TTF gas contracts edged up 0.009% to 44.40 euros ($52.02) per megawatt hour, while the UK NBP benchmark rose 0.46% to 111.40 pence ($1.51) per therm.Markets moved back and forth through the day as reports circulated that US President Donald Trump is sending special envoy Steve Witkoff and son-in-law Jared Kushner to Pakistan for discussions with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi. The talks are expected to take place this weekend.US Vice President JD Vance will not attend, as the perceived counterparty, Iranian parliamentary speaker Mohammad-Bagher Ghalibaf, is also reported not to be participating.Trump declined on Thursday to offer a timeline for resolving the conflict with Iran, telling reporters, "Don't rush me." The two sides remain divided on key issues presumably to be central to the Islamabad discussions.The US Navy began a blockade of Iranian ports on Apr. 13 after the collapse of the first round of talks in Islamabad. Trump reiterated on Thursday that the US has "total control over the Strait of Hormuz." However, a Financial Times report, citing Vortexa data, indicated continued vessel movements in and out of the Gulf during the blockade, including ships linked to Iranian crude exports totaling roughly 10.7 million barrels.In Europe, weather models continue to show mixed signals for late April and early May. Forecaster Atmospheric G2 said in a social media post Friday that a general warming trend is expected, but noted the possibility of colder air reaching Western Europe between Apr. 28 and May 11. Some models also indicate a potential shift toward warmer conditions from the west, which could affect central and western regions. Overall confidence in the forecast remains low.Gas market fundamentals are also being shaped by ongoing storage replenishment ahead of the next winter season. Data from Gas Infrastructure Europe shows EU gas storage levels at 30.82% capacity, below the year-ago level of 37.54%.

US Markets

Intel's Post-Earnings Remarks Indicate Full-Year Revenue Upside Potential, UBS Says

Intel's (INTC) post-earnings commentary suggests revenue upside potential for 2026 despite a likely conservative outlook for the second half of the year, UBS Securities said in a note e-mailed Friday.Late Thursday, the chipmaker posted stronger-than-expected first-quarter results amid artificial intelligence-driven demand for its products. The company issued an upbeat outlook for the ongoing quarter."We're prudently planning for (personal computer) demand to weaken in the second half of the year and expect the full-year PC unit (total addressable market) to be down low-double-digit percent in line with industry peers and experts," Intel Chief Financial Officer David Zinsner said on an earnings conference call late Thursday, according to a FactSet transcript.The CFO's outlook implies full-year revenue of about $58 billion, or roughly $4 billion higher than the pre-call Wall Street estimate, and up 10% year over year, UBS analysts, including Timothy Arcuri, said in a note to clients."The rapid inflection in server (central processing unit) demand has put (Intel) in a position to better control its destiny this year, so the odds are that even the implied commentary for (the second half) is still probably conservative and numbers still have upside," the analysts wrote.UBS raised its price target on the Intel stock to $83 from $65 while maintaining its neutral rating.The company's shares were up 21% in Friday afternoon trade. So far this year, the stock has surged 118%."The newsflow on foundry should also remain positive as the release of the 14A production design kit late this year probably catalyzes one or more foundry deals with [Nvidia (NVDA), Apple (AAPL), maybe Amazon (AMZN)] and a high-end consumer product," the UBS analysts said. "The manufacturing narrative is playing out about as we expected, but we have under-estimated how much the market was willing to overlook a lack of earnings power."Customer order patterns in the near term continue to be "very robust" across Intel's businesses, Zinsner said on the call. Over the past 90 days, the company's outlook for server CPU demand has improved, with expectations for a strong year of double-digit unit growth for Intel and the broader industry, Zinsner said, adding that the momentum is seen extending into next year.Price: $81.22, Change: $+14.44, Percent Change: +21.62%

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Sectors

Sector Update: Tech

Tech stocks were higher Friday afternoon, with the State Street Technology Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLK) rising 2.7% and the State Street SPDR S&P Semiconductor ETF (XSD) jumping 6.4%.The Philadelphia Semiconductor index climbed 4.4%.In corporate news, Intel (INTC) shares surged 20%. The chipmaker reported Q1 results above Wall Street's estimates as it benefited from AI-driven demand for its products.

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