Bitget UEX Daily Report | Countdown to the Federal Reserve Leadership Change; Middle East Conflict Drives Up Oil Prices; Apple and SanDisk to Release Earnings (April 30, 2026)

# 1. Hot News

Federal Reserve Dynamics

The Federal Reserve maintains interest rates for the third consecutive time, internal dissent reaches a 34-year high

• The Federal Reserve held steady as the market expected, but dissenting votes increased from 1 to 4, with Governor Milan insisting on a 25 basis point rate cut, and three regional Fed presidents opposing the retention of an accommodative stance; the statement added that the escalating situation in the Middle East increases economic uncertainty and that rising energy prices are pushing up inflation.
• Powell clearly stated at the press conference that he would continue to serve as a governor after his term ends on May 15 and would not obstruct the new chairman's work, promising to maintain a low profile.
• The nomination of Waller as Fed Chairman was approved by the Senate Banking Committee with a partisan vote of 13 to 11, clearing the way for confirmation by the full Senate in May.

This move reflects the Federal Reserve's cautious stance amid inflation and geopolitical uncertainty, with the interest rate path becoming more ambiguous in the short term, and the market facing pressure to adjust its pricing of future rate cut expectations.

International Commodities

Middle East conflict continues to drive up energy prices, U.S. gasoline prices soar 40% in two months to a four-year high

• The average gasoline price reached $4.17 per gallon on April 28, up about 40% from $2.96 before the conflict on February 26, directly impacting consumer spending.
• Disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz and the UAE's exit from OPEC have heightened supply concerns, and although Trump previously expected oil prices to fall, escalating statements have further increased market risk premiums.
• UBS significantly raised its lithium price forecast, with a target price for battery-grade lithium carbonate rising to $42,000 per ton (up 47%), emphasizing that demand for energy storage and electric vehicles exceeds supply.

The sharp rise in energy prices not only exacerbates inflationary pressures but also supports precious metals and oil-related assets, though it may dampen global economic growth expectations.

Macroeconomic Policy

Trump claims to be negotiating nuclear talks with Iran via phone, 60-day war authorization set to expire

• Trump stated at the White House that progress has been made in U.S.-Iran dialogue but emphasized that Iran must completely abandon nuclear weapons; there has been a shift within the Republican Party in Congress discussing whether formal authorization for military action against Iran is needed.
• The advancement of Waller's nomination indicates that the transition of the Federal Reserve leadership is entering a critical phase, and his commitment to balance sheet reduction and a new inflation framework will influence the long-term monetary policy framework.

Expectations of geopolitical easing combined with policy transitions may temporarily alleviate some pressure on risk assets, but uncertainty still dominates market sentiment.

# 2. Market Review

Commodity & Forex Performance

• Spot Gold: Fell to $4,560 per ounce, with continuous trends supported by rising inflation expectations due to energy prices but pressured by a stronger dollar.
• Spot Silver: Followed gold's trend, down about 1.1% over 24 hours, reported at about $72 per ounce.
• WTI Crude Oil: Significantly increased, maintaining prices in the $100-$108 range.
• Brent Crude Oil: Strengthened concurrently, reported at about $111 per barrel, with geopolitical risk premiums continuing to dominate.
• Dollar Index: Fluctuated upward, currently reported at 98.858, benefiting from the Federal Reserve's cautious statements and safe-haven demand.

Cryptocurrency Performance

• BTC: Down about 0.36% over 24 hours, priced around $76,100, currently consolidating at a high level.
• ETH: Down about 0.79% over 24 hours, priced around $2,265.
• Total Cryptocurrency Market Cap: Down about 1% over 24 hours, approximately $2.61 trillion.
• Market Liquidation Situation: Total liquidation over 24 hours approximately $549 million, with long positions liquidated at $348 million.
• Bitget BTC/USDT Liquidation Map: Current price around $76,000, with concentrated long liquidations, high leverage levels, and risks of being triggered for liquidation below. Short liquidations continue to accumulate above, and if prices rise, it may trigger a short squeeze, but in the short term, it is more likely to first release liquidity below before choosing a direction.

• Spot ETF Net Inflow/Outflow: BTC spot ETF saw a net outflow of about $10.86 million yesterday; ETH spot ETF had a slight outflow of about $48.4 million yesterday.
• BTC Spot/Contract: Spot net inflow of $19.21 million, contract net inflow of $439 million.

U.S. Stock Index Performance

• Dow Jones: Down 0.57%, reported at 48,861.81 points, marking the fifth consecutive day of decline, affected by rising energy costs and interest rate expectations.
• S&P 500: Down 0.04%, reported at 7,135.95 points, overall narrow fluctuations, with defensive sectors providing support.
• Nasdaq: Slightly up 0.04%, reported at 24,673.24 points, with storage and optical communication concepts driving a rebound in tech stocks, offsetting some adjustment pressure on AI stocks.

Tech Giants Dynamics

• NVIDIA (NVDA): $209.25, down 1.79% Core Reason for Fluctuation: After recently hitting a historical high, profit-taking occurred, while WSJ reported that OpenAI's revenue and user growth targets both fell short of expectations, raising market concerns about a slowdown in AI capital expenditure, putting overall pressure on the semiconductor and AI sectors.
• Google (GOOGL): $349.94, down 0.05% Core Reason for Fluctuation: As the April 29 earnings report approaches, investors are taking a cautious wait-and-see attitude, resulting in minimal volatility.
• Apple (AAPL): $270.17, down 0.20% Core Reason for Fluctuation: The earnings report is set to be released on April 30, with the market taking a wait-and-see approach regarding consumer electronics demand and the progress of AI functionalities, resulting in a slight pullback.
• Microsoft (MSFT): $424.46, down 1.12% Core Reason for Fluctuation: As a major partner of OpenAI, it was directly dragged down by the news of OpenAI's growth target falling short, while also undergoing positioning adjustments ahead of its earnings report.
• Amazon (AMZN): $263.04, up 1.29% Core Reason for Fluctuation: Strong AI orders in AWS cloud business, with Meta announcing large-scale adoption of AWS Graviton chips and additional commitments from companies like Anthropic, driving the cloud and AI sectors to rise against the trend.
• Broadcom (AVGO): $405.45, up 1.41% Core Reason for Fluctuation: Continued strong demand for AI custom chips, with multiple collaborations with Google, Meta, and Anthropic, offsetting overall sector adjustment pressure and demonstrating strong resilience.
• Meta (META): $669.12, down 0.33% Core Reason for Fluctuation: Ahead of the April 29 earnings report, investors remain cautious about the sustainability of AI capital returns and advertising business growth, leading to a slight decline.

Overall Market Interpretation: On April 29, the U.S. tech sector showed a mixed performance, with OpenAI's disappointing results being the main catalyst for a short-term adjustment in AI themes, while Amazon and Broadcom achieved gains against the trend due to concrete AI orders, highlighting the market's differentiated pricing of actual commercialization progress in AI. Investors are closely watching this week's concentrated earnings reports for signals validating the pace of AI capital expenditure.

Sector Movement Observation

Storage Concept shows significant gains (multiple stocks up over 5%-45%)

• Representative stocks: Phison Electronics up 45.8%, Seagate Technology up 11.1%, Western Digital up 5.57%.
• Driving factors: Explosive demand for AI servers combined with market positioning ahead of Q1 earnings reports, with clear signals of recovery in the semiconductor supply chain.

Philadelphia Semiconductor Index up 2.35%

• Representative stocks: NXP Semiconductors up 25.55%, Intel up 12.1%.
• Driving factors: Continued demand for AI chips, with storage and optical communication sectors moving upward together.

# 3. In-Depth Analysis of U.S. Stocks

1. Google's Parent Company (GOOGL) - Q1 Revenue Exceeds Expectations, AI Drives Growth Across All Businesses

Event Overview: Google's Q1 revenue grew 22% year-on-year to $109.9 billion, far exceeding expectations of $107.1 billion, with net profit soaring 81% year-on-year to $62.6 billion (including non-current equity earnings). The CEO emphasized that AI is permeating every corner of the business, with record search volumes and Google Cloud order backlog nearly doubling quarter-on-quarter to $460 billion, and Gemini paid user monthly active users growing 40% quarter-on-quarter. Market Interpretation: Institutions generally believe that the commercialization of AI is accelerating, and the surge in cloud business orders indicates strong enterprise-level demand, with after-hours stock prices briefly surging over 7%, highlighting market recognition of Google's AI moat. Investment Insight: The monetization capability of AI exceeds expectations; it is recommended to pay attention to subsequent improvements in cloud business gross margins, highlighting long-term allocation value.

2. Amazon (AMZN) - AWS Revenue Growth Rate Hits Highest in Nearly Two Years, AI Capital Expenditure Pressure Emerges

Event Overview: Amazon's Q1 revenue grew 17% year-on-year, exceeding expectations, with operating profit margin rising to over 13%, a new high, and net profit increasing by 77% (including investment income from Anthropic); AWS revenue grew 28% year-on-year, with real estate equipment spending increasing by 160% year-on-year over the past 12 months, while free cash flow fell by 95%. Q2 revenue guidance exceeded expectations, but profit guidance was slightly below expectations. Market Interpretation: Analysts point out that AWS order backlog and expectations for Prime Day support growth, but high AI capital expenditures suppress cash flow in the short term, with after-hours stock prices rising over 3%. Investment Insight: Although AI infrastructure investments increase expenditures, they will solidify cloud market leadership in the long term; attention should be paid to the turning point of free cash flow.

3. Meta Platforms (META) - Q1 Revenue Surges but Capital Expenditure Expectations Trigger Adjustments

Event Overview: Meta's Q1 revenue grew 33% year-on-year, but capital expenditures increased significantly to support AI infrastructure development, making the market sensitive to short-term profit margin pressures. Market Interpretation: Institutional views are divided, with some believing that AI investments will bring long-term efficiency improvements, but current high expenditures lead to valuation pressures. Investment Insight: Pay attention to the pace of AI application implementation; the dual drivers of advertising and the metaverse still hold potential in the long term.

4. Western Digital (WDC) / SanDisk - Storage Concept Leads Gains, Earnings Reports Coming Soon

Event Overview: The storage sector overall strengthened, with Western Digital and SanDisk stock prices rising by 5.57% and 6.17%, respectively, as the market positions itself ahead of AI server storage demand, with clear catalysts as the earnings report season approaches. Market Interpretation: Institutions are optimistic about the explosive demand for storage driven by AI, expecting Q2 guidance to further validate the cyclical recovery. Investment Insight: As the storage chain forms the foundation of AI hardware, there are abundant short-term catalysts; it is recommended to focus on sustainability after earnings report validation.

# 4. Cryptocurrency Project Dynamics

1. According to on-chain analysts, the "top brother" who bought 1 trillion SHIB (17.4% of the total) for only 37.8 ETH ($13,700) in 2020 transferred 800 billion SHIB ($4.91 million) to exchanges in the past day. At its peak price in 2021, his 1 trillion SHIB was worth $9.1 billion. Currently, he still holds 954.2 billion SHIB (16.2% of the total), worth $588 million, with most of his holdings still unsold.

2. Tether Investments disclosed its proposal to merge Twenty-One Capital with Bitcoin fintech company Strike and large Bitcoin mining company Elektron Energy to strengthen its structure, capital allocation, and long-term development.

3. Tech giant Meta has begun offering stablecoin payment services to select creators with the support of Stripe, initially targeting specific creators in Colombia and the Philippines. Eligible users can link their crypto wallets to receive Circle-issued USDC token payments on the Solana or Polygon blockchains.

4. Grayscale's Zcash Trust (ZCSH) had an average daily trading volume of about $1.7 million in April, doubling from the previous month and reaching the highest level since January, although still far below trading volumes in the last two months of 2025. Meanwhile, as privacy use cases continue to grow structurally, the shielded supply of ZEC continues to reach historical highs.

5. Bloomberg data shows that since early 2025, over 100,000 wallets on the prediction market platform Polymarket have lost at least $1,000, nearly double the number of users in profit. Overall, except for a few top accounts, most users are in a losing position, with a cumulative net loss of about $131 million. At the same time, nearly half of accounts' gains and losses are concentrated in the ±$10 range, indicating limited overall returns for retail investors, while large profits are mainly concentrated among a few users.

6. The Ethereum Foundation allocated approximately $9.856 million to multiple projects in various fields through its Ecosystem Support Program in Q1 2026, focusing on supporting protocol development, security, and zero-knowledge proof infrastructure.

# 5. Today's Market Calendar

Data Release Schedule

|-------|----|---------|------| | 21:45 | U.S. | Chicago PMI | ⭐⭐⭐ | | 22:00 | U.S. | Consumer Confidence Index | ⭐⭐⭐⭐ |

Important Event Forecast

Thursday (April 30)

1. Initial Jobless Claims for the week of April 25, March PCE Price Index (the Fed's preferred inflation indicator) ★★★★★
2. Apple to release Q1 earnings after hours ★★★★★ (the last of the seven giants, with AI and service business performance under close scrutiny)
3. Others: Eli Lilly, Western Digital before the market; SanDisk after hours

Friday (May 1)

1. U.S. Q1 GDP Data (the first to reflect the actual impact of the Middle East situation on the economy)
2. ISM Manufacturing PMI
3. Chevron, Exxon Mobil to release Q1 results before the market.

Institutional Views:

Several investment bank analysts pointed out that the rare dissent within the Federal Reserve, combined with geopolitical tensions in the Middle East driving up energy prices, will further compress future rate cut space. In the short term, both the dollar and oil prices still have support, but inflation concerns are also heightened. Institutions like Morgan Stanley believe that the AI capital expenditure cycle is still in its early stages, and the storage and semiconductor sectors are expected to maintain strength; Goldman Sachs noted that BTC and gold exhibit "safe-haven + growth" dual attributes in the current environment, with ETF inflows showing volatility but the trend of institutional allocation remaining unchanged. Overall, the market is shifting from "rate cut trades" to "geopolitical + AI themes" dominating, with short-term volatility likely to remain high; attention is advised on the transmission effects of energy prices on consumer spending and corporate profits, as well as the impact of the new Fed chairman's nomination on the long-term policy framework.

Disclaimer: The above content is organized by AI search, with human verification for publication, and should not be considered as any investment advice. The data in the text may inevitably contain deviations; please refer to real-time market data.