Rebels Edge · Wed, May 13, 2026
Trump Takes Silicon Valley’s Elite to China… Markets EXPLODE Higher
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Jon and Pete Najarian discuss a reported delegation of corporate executives accompanying President Trump to China, hotter wholesale inflation, and mixed equity-index performance. They highlight semiconductor, solar, and space-related stocks benefiting from earnings, options activity, and government support, then close with football commentary.
- The hosts view the executives’ China trip as a potential opportunity for trade negotiations and business agreements.
- Wholesale inflation reportedly rose 6% in April; the Dow declined while the S&P 500 and Nasdaq advanced, with the VIX near 18.
- ON Semiconductor reached approximately $114 after repeated unusual options activity, including purchases of May 15 $105 calls.
- Nextracker rallied after reporting $881 million in quarterly revenue and $1.05 in earnings per share, beating expectations and strengthening its revenue outlook.
- Intuitive Machines gained amid reported Space Force support; the hosts also discussed space-sector interest surrounding a potential SpaceX IPO.
- Tower Semiconductor reported 15% year-over-year revenue growth to $414 million; the hosts emphasized $285 million in customer prepayments as evidence of demand.
- The hosts remain optimistic about AI-related semiconductor demand and argue that strong corporate earnings are supporting the market.
- Sports discussion covered a Clemson quarterback’s response to adversity, Lamar Jackson’s salary-cap impact, and Oklahoma State’s roster overhaul.
Full transcript
Welcome back to another Rebel's Edge, everybody. I am Jon Najarian. My brother Pete joining shortly to provide insights into stocks and sports as a plane load of the top executives in the world joins President Trump on his flight to China
and some pretty big meetings. We'll have the 411 for you on all of that on today's Rebel's Edge.
>> [music] [music] [music] >> Yeah, Pete. Imagine that. I seem to remember a time you and I were on uh
the uh Halftime Report on a four-letter network when all of a sudden Kara Swisher said they you know uh Tim Cook should not go meet with President Trump even if he asks him to. And I was kind of miffed by that. I was kind of uh
critical of her at the time and uh the host of the show actually dialed up Ms.
Swisher and got her on the phone with us because she said he should not meet with Trump. Tim Cook that was at that time, Pete. And it turns out right now we have a plane full of uh Tim Cooks and all of his competitors really, Pete. I mean
I'll just rattle off a few of them, folks. Elon Musk, Jensen Huang, Tim Cook, Larry Fink, Schwarzman of Blackstone, uh the CEO of Boeing, the CEO of Cargill, the CEO of Citi, the CEO of General Electric, the CEO of Goldman
Sachs, the CEO of Micron Computer, which we might talk about today. All of those and more are on the flight with Air Force One, Pete, and President Trump.
Imagine that.
All those business leaders thought it might be a good idea to go with the President of the United States on a state visit to China and sit down with Xi Jinping.
I mean, I guess I was just ahead of my time, Pete.
>> [laughter] >> I guess so. It is amazing, John, and it's it's it's something like we haven't seen before. That's for that's for sure. But it it sure does make a lot of sense to you. It makes a heck of a lot of sense to me that you know what?
They're all involved. They're they're big huge parts of the economy and everything else. So, why not? I mean, I I don't see the negative on it. I only see the positives that that can come out of this. So, I'm right there with you, John. I totally agree.
If you're a publicly traded company, Pete, and you got invited to go on that trip and you elected not to because you've got TDS, Trump Derangement Syndrome, I would say you are not doing your shareholders any favors. And the board
should take a serious look at such a person if one exists that would be willing to not participate given exactly the magnitude of this particular I mean, Pete, it has never happened before.
Right. We've never seen a group like this travel with the President. Now, has he supported groups in the past and perhaps has Obama or any other president supported groups that wanted to go over there? I'm sure they have. Have they escorted basically 20 or
30 of the biggest companies on Earth Yeah. to go over to China and say, "This is what we want. Right.
>> willing to negotiate or is this not going to be a negotiation instead it's just going to be tariffs? We'll see, but I'm optimistic, Pete. I am, too. Looking forward to it. I think we usually are.
All right, let's Pete dive into the macro today because the macro is how we kick off every show, folks. And I mentioned wholesale inflation. Well, it was up 6% in April, biggest jump since 2022.
And I don't think we had a war going on in the Middle East in 2022, Pete, but that's certainly a big part of why wholesale prices are up. Yeah, no doubt about it, John, and I think that's the one thing that's influencing the markets to some degree. But I'll tell you what, it's amazing how quick this market digests everything. I mean, we've been
saying that for a long time. It's true.
And it's just pretty interesting. And if somebody didn't think that the energy prices were up, whatever they are, 18% or something like that, well, where are you living? I mean, because [laughter] hopefully you have a better sense of what's going on really in the rest of the world and specifically our world
in terms of where some of that inflation's really coming from and the effects of that and everything else. And is that a full-time thing that's going to happen forever? No. At some point we will reach some sort of an agreement, and I think we're going to see a lot of that fall out very rapidly. Just like it's gone in very rapidly, it's going to come out rapidly as well.
Well, right now, Pete, we're looking at about a half a point decline in the Dow Jones Industrials on that hotter than expected wholesale price move.
The S&P, however, is up 12 points. The Nasdaq is up 177. That's about 7/10 of 1%. And now I guess that leads us to the VIX, Pete. How's the VIX doing? Well, the VIX is really interesting, John, because it really isn't going anywhere.
I mean, the the reality is here we are very close to 18. We've been a little bit lower, a little bit higher, but still right at 18. Makes total sense.
There's a little built-in sort of cushion that they've got right there. We could be trading as low as 16, quite frankly given where the S&P is moving and the the kind of moves that we're seeing on a daily basis. Um, but you know, there is always that little bit of fear that's out there. So, here we are sitting right at 8 18. 1780
to 1820, that's kind of the range right now John and I I think that's uh that that makes a lot of sense. There's a little nervousness out there of course.
So, I think it makes a lot of sense that it's probably not at 16, but it certainly could be because we haven't seen the S&P move in a whole lot at one percent which is what a 16 would would be telling you.
Yeah. Well, um I I think you'll get a kick out of this one Pete. Even though of course we our hopes are that all the patients coming off that cruise ship with the hantavirus um whether or not they have to go into isolation for a bit
which they have done or whether or not we see any more deaths, but there was a prediction market Pete on the hantavirus pandemic and a week ago uh it spiked and it spiked to almost 40% the chance of a hantavirus pandemic. And
I think you and I both said, "No way." Just "No way." Well, I actually went on a site Pete with a Stanford um medical expert.
Uh his name is Jorge Salinas and he said, "If you're going on a plane or a cruise this summer, I would say your risk of getting hantavirus is very close to zero." >> [laughter] >> And you know, this is from you know, rodent feces and so forth folks. We
don't need to get into all of that, but it is uh can it be deadly? Of course it can. But uh this outbreak um infected in 2018, that's the biggest one we knew of Pete. It ultimately infected 34 people
and caused 11 deaths. Now, uh you know, uh the average Bears game causes 11 deaths, Pete. So, this is not exactly something that I think and I Yeah, I realize I'm kind of poking fun at that, but really? This is what you're going to worry about? With nukes in the Middle
East, with um you know, China, North Korea posturing, and Russia posturing, we're going to worry about Hanta virus?
Something that in the biggest outbreak that we saw this past century, it was 11 deaths? I don't think so. No.
>> [laughter] >> I'll just say that I agree with you, John, because I'm looking at that and I think that uh like we said, close to 0%.
So, yeah.
>> [laughter] >> Pretty darn close. Yeah, that spike was crazy when it got up there towards 40% though. That's That's just nuts.
Well, let's now talk about one, Pete, where we have some unusual activity. Oh, oh.
>> Yep. Let's do it.
>> always love these, and folks, we had it hit multiple times in on semiconductor.
So, when you look at on, look at those hits.
Uh the 16th of April, when the stock was 79 bucks. The 21st of April, stock had moved up to 86 bucks. The uh 23rd of April, it had moved up to 96 bucks. Kind of a steady progression here, Pete. Um and then uh
on the 23rd, like I say, that purchase of uh May 105s calls. Look at the date on that expiration, folks. May 15th, cuz options give you a target date, and many times a target level. Now, the stock was
96, now it's 111. It's actually 114 Oh. uh later this morning, but I didn't get that picture up fast enough, Pete.
So, 114 from that's a heck of a run and that's why that graph is making me smile and it's making us some money. Yeah. I'll tell you what, John, the semiconductor world and the different spots, obviously, for everything. But, you know, we talk about memory, we talk about AI, we talk about
data centers, we talk about AI infrastructure and all of these things and it's the Microns and Qualcomms and Intels and you name it. But, ON has been on fire. Um it's great that they had that UOA. It's up what? 8% today. And by the way, 52-week highs hit at 114 like you were just talking about, John. So, right place, right time. And for all
those guys, and I keep on bringing this up, but for everybody who said AI is done, uh I just never understood why they came up with that conclusion in the first place. But, um there's still a lot a long way to go and I think that this is a great example of it. The move that we're seeing out of ON. And like I said, there are so many other names that we could pull out. But,
you know, throw in Nvidia. I didn't even talk about Nvidia. But, all of those, you know what? We're talking about anything somewhere in the world of the AI world and that's why these guys are doing so well right now. Well, another one doing really well, Pete, it's up 11 or 12% right now is Nextracker.
Um and Nextracker, basically, what do they do? They help solar power turn into power for homes and things like that.
Um so, stronger than expected Q4 results, you know, uh we know it's just going to get better and better and better. Both the panels, Pete, and then the transmission to the demand centers is going to get better and better. Uh is it all ready for prime time? No. Some of
it is. This, apparently, is one of those uh because they did uh on revenue of $881 million, yeah, uh they earned $1.05, which both of those the sales and the bottom line number were above street estimates. You
know, all of that is is is correct John.
They crushed it on on top where the top and the bottom. I mean absolutely did everything that they were asked to do basically because can you beat and we you and I been talking about this earnings continues to really give the lift to the markets and that's exactly what we're seeing because when you look at some of the numbers, you know, from yesterday you'd be like, oh my gosh, what's going to happen to the market,
you know, today and what's it going to look like and all this type of thing.
Well, it looks actually not so bad right now and you look at the they also talked about the forward revenue John that's that's going to come out for the full year of 2027. That was revised and looks a little bit stronger as well. So you've got that. You've got the conversion of energy and everything that they do, but like you said, the earnings themselves
were great, but that revenue at 881 million. That's a big number and that's a a nice big beat that they had there as well. So another one John, 52-week highs, 156 bucks. I mean this this is amazing what's going on in the market right now.
Yeah. Well, and then Pete, let's flip over to, you know, SpaceX because SpaceX is drawing a lot of attention of course cuz it'll be the biggest IPO in history.
Forever? Maybe forever because if indeed it prints 1.75 trillion Pete, that is going to be so far ahead of anything else that I don't know if it'll ever be topped and it might be Elon's last IPO.
Who knows? So the stock that I'm watching today Pete and you're watching is Lunar, which is known as Intuitive Machines.
And what do they do? Well, they do and space exploration both for the moon and Mars. So in other words, they're deeply involved with what SpaceX does. They don't build the rockets, but they do a lot of what it takes to keep
people out in space and exploring and building and so forth in space. So, Space Force, they step up, Pete, and give the the company a thumbs-up and a really nice boost today that takes it up by over 11%. Yep. And you know, it's a great position in national security, all those
things, John. Another one, by the way, up 7%. Oh, by the way, 52-week highs coming from this one, too. Over 34, now 36 bucks. I mean, this thing is running, running, running. The expansion of strategic capabilities that these guys offer and and what the US Space Force loves about them, is certainly reason to say, you know
what, this might be one of these names that I need to know a little bit more about, so you have a little more comfort. But, there's a good reason why this thing's hitting 52-week highs and and still continuing to move to the next level. Unbelievable. It's all national Yeah, national security and so forth.
So, space awareness and everything that they're doing, this is exactly one of those areas where you've just got to tip the hat that the timing of this and how well they're doing. And like you said, John, everything to do with SpaceX itself. I mean, this is this is going to be a very, very interesting time over the next months and years as we get that
exploration going. Yeah. And in fact, it's part of our space work that we've done, Pete, for ASTS, for SATs, for Lunar, LUNR, and so forth.
We've done a lot of work on this, folks, and we're publishing a big report on it shortly.
And then you'll start seeing it everywhere. But, this is a big, big deal. And another one, Pete, happens to be another 52-week high. And it's Tower Semiconductor, TSEM. in their their
15% year-over-year revenue increase to $414 million.
A lot of momentum, you know, whether it's Micron for DRAM, or AMD, or any of the places where you would look to either semiconductors or storage, they're all crushing it right now. Yeah.
Well, and and and you want to talk about crushing it, John? How about these guys?
Their gross profits 52%.
Their operating profits 96%. Not so bad.
I mean, you know, these these guys are absolutely crushing it, John. They delivered a really, really strong quarter. You already talked about that.
Stock's up whatever.
At one point, last I looked, it was up 20% hitting, like you said, 52-week high. So, 267 or wherever it might be trading right now, this is another one where right place, right time, and they're absolutely killing it. Their revenue were up 15% year-over-year, John. So, everywhere you look, you just go, you know what? That looked pretty damn good. That looked pretty damn good.
I mean, you know, when you look at what's going on right now, this just extending that 85% beat rate that we've been talking about about the earnings this particular season once again. So, this one just added to the group. I mean, they are they are absolutely doing everything that they can, and they're crushing it, and they're talking about the future being just as bright it is as
it is today.
Well, Pete, one of the things that really impressed me was this operating cash flow, $510 million.
Um $285 million of that, folks, is prepayments.
Now, many of you might say, "Hm, when when my company bills somebody, we get it 30 or 60 or even 90 days later." Why would somebody prepay? I'll tell you why. Because the stuff that Tower Semiconductor makes is in high demand.
So, if you want to stay on that list, you probably are prepaying for some of what you're hoping to get delivered in the next quarter or the next 6 months, Pete. So, I think that is a huge number that people should be paying attention to when they look at this one, TSEM, because that shows you how strong
the demand is for their products, at least in my opinion. Yep, absolutely.
Well, let's take a look at another video.
>> [laughter] >> You guys are too good. We love to share these videos and you know, sports videos are something that's pretty interesting and this is a player that Pete talked about last year. Right maybe not this time. You were probably talking about him in July and August,
Pete. As Clemson was you know, about to have we hope we thought, at least I thought and I think you did too, a great season. Partly because of this guy. But let's give a listen to what happened when he got drafted. You know, a lot of draft experts were forecasting you as a
potential first round pick. So, First round. you go in the fourth. I'm just wondering now, does that give you motivation? Does it put a chip on your shoulder at all? To be honest, not really. I'm just got to have a plan for me and and this is where I'm at right now and um I'm thankful for it. I'm thankful for what happened this last year cuz I feel like I'm more prepared for the future because [music] of it. In
my mind, I'm a winner and I don't mean that in a boastful way. I just I think that that's the mentality you have to have [music] as a quarterback and I think that my resume has kind of showed that as well and this past year I you know, we didn't win as much. You know, we started out the year three and five at Clemson. [music] It's a tough place to be. You know, it's a really tough place to be and with my senior year,
huge aspirations and dreams that we had as a team and and we didn't really fulfill those. [music] Battled two major injuries throughout the year, sitting there three and five with all of our dreams and goals out the window and kind of had to look in the mirror and look to my teammates and say, this is bigger than us. This is going to be special though and end up you know, turn that thing around going to win four straight wins at the end of the year, and for me,
I think that I really learned how to [music] truly face adversity and just attack it. If I would have gone and had the exact year that I dreamed and worked for, I don't think I'd be prepared as much as I am now because I learned really how to face that adversity and and [music] get up every single day, even though the end goal that I was chasing originally isn't there anymore.
It's tough. It was really hard to go through, but I'm really thankful that it happened. There you go. A lot of tricks.
What a mature kid, right? I mean, you know, he's putting everything in perspective. I watched him right right in front of me, John. I was at the my the Florida State game, rather, up there at Clemson, and I'll tell you what, Clemson's got a lot of players all over the place, and this guy, you know what? It wasn't it wasn't the season he wanted, but like he said, he learned probably more about what he
needed to know and and put that into his pocket or whatever for when he gets into the NFL, which he was definitely going to the NFL one way or the other, but he's there now, and now he can show his stuff. Uh fun fun to watch that kid. I like I love that video. That was great.
You know, sometimes sometimes it doesn't go perfect, right? Right. And I don't know how many times, Pete, I've heard Ray Lewis say that, too. Yep. Uh you know, he's a friend of yours and a friend of mine, Ray is, and you know, I've heard him say, "Yeah, you learn a lot more." And, you know, they're not the only ones to say it. You learn more from adversity than just from winning.
Yeah. Winning's great, and it's a byproduct of, you know, getting through the tough times. And uh this kid certainly did that, and uh Pete was down there to talk to the team Yeah.
for that Florida State game, right?
That's right. It was great. It was great. I'll tell you what, the Clemson Tigers, man, they're awesome. All right, John.
Let's stick with quarterbacks. Since we just saw a quarterback who's coming into the NFL, and he should he will make the team. There's no doubt in my mind. I would be shocked if he wasn't. And if he doesn't make it with the Jets, he'll be somewhere else, but cuz he's that good.
But another guy who's damn good, Lamar Jackson. And and and I love this guy. I I love the fact that he represents himself, John. He does not have an agent. So, he's not giving away anything. He's holding everything he's got. Now, the one negative that I see and I don't really understand and I'm hoping that I
see something happen like like the I've we've seen some of the greats, but going into 2027, he's going to be 26% of the salary cap just for Lamar. That's one player. Now, is he Why do Why do you think that they had to release uh you know, one into
free agency? They had the opportunity.
They couldn't do it was they lost their center. Their center's now going to be lost in Las Vegas. So, you don't have him. That's kind of a big deal in my opinion. There's a lot of guys, John, that they have to sit there and move around the money in the cap and try to figure out who they can say have with them and it's going to be a really difficult if if indeed he holds down
like you what he's looking like he's going to do right now. Now, he might end up changing his mind a little bit, John, but I was looking into Tom Brady again just on what he did and what how he did it, John. He oftentimes just said, "Look, I know you're going to go out and find some people and you're going to need the money. I'll take less money for this
contract." And it wasn't like he suddenly took less money after he'd already signed something, but he was letting them know, "Look, I'm probably worth let's just say for a number $10 million.
Um I'll I'll play for eight." Meanwhile, all these other guys are getting money money money money and and meanwhile, Tom, who was very smart with his money, did just fine, but he was always willing to be the guy who's going to give up something so they can win, which is why the guy's got so damn many Super Bowl rings on his hands and
everything else, John, but I I find it really interesting and I'm hoping like heck Do you think Lamar is going to wake up to the idea that maybe uh he's taken too big of a chunk of the of the salary for 2027? What do you think? I I think he's that big of a player um that understands that. I hope I'm right
when I say that. What do you think?
Well, um for instance, Pete, like you said, Brady did that. Um he deferred payment. Um Michael Jordan did that. He deferred payment. I I'm not going to claim that I'm the expert on how that works in terms of do you have to count
it under 2027 or 2028 or whatever, but I think a lot of these players, Pete, uh sometimes it's because the management, like with the Mets, the New York Mets, they elected with one of their great home run hitters to defer his payment way out for like 20 years rather than
paying him what he was due right now.
They said, "Okay, how about if we give you a million a year for 20 years for you to defer it so it doesn't hit us right now and so forth." And players that have done that have done very well. Um and like I just said, and you just said, Brady and Jordan did it so they could make their teams better. I
think he's going to have to think about that, Pete, because this is 2026. When we get to that 2027 and he's 26% of it, if he doesn't do one of those deals where he defers, I'm not saying don't take what you negotiated. Take what you negotiated, but if you can kick some of
that into years when you might not be playing anymore, but it's still money coming to you, I think that would be better for him and better for uh his chances of having a winning team on the field. Otherwise, like you said, you lose your starting center, that ain't pretty.
>> [laughter] >> And other players. He's just one of many, but yeah, it's amazing because I'll tell you what, good quarterbacks get better and become great quarterbacks when they've got an offensive line. And that's just a fact. If you got the protection around you, you got something to do. All All John, Oklahoma State, interesting storyline here. So, this is
a you know, they have they're a solid team, solid school. They've done well over the years. They've had some great players going to the NFL and everything else. But, they hit a pretty big low this past year and obviously changed everything about what's going on. They They hired a coach from North Texas, John, who does nothing but win. Eric
Morris, 40-year-old head coach. But, they also got this kid who along the way who also decided to follow along with the coach, this quarterback True Makker.
In his first season as the starter this past year, John, he led the nation passing yards. He was number one in scoring offense in FBS. I would say they got the right guy there for quarterback.
They also, by the way, have on the 105-man roster, they've got 85 new players. Many of which are coming from North Texas, but then they're coming from all over the place as well, John. And uh it's absolutely amazing.
They had 90 official visits from various players. 60 players were acquired in the transfer portal. I mean, it's absolutely amazing. This kid's jumping up from a $65,000, you know, that NIL money or whatever.
He's going to be now be getting a 2-year $7 million deal. So, overall, I think he's done pretty well for himself. And I love the the fact that the coach from North Texas is taking over this. It's incredible to me that in 10 weeks they have built the team that they have. But, I'll tell you what, John. Oklahoma State's probably somebody to watch in
2026. I'm not kidding. Those players from North Texas, they're they're some mean son of a guns out there. And I'll tell you what, they got I think 20 players alone from North Texas out of the 85 new guys. It's unbelievable, right? Isn't that cool?
>> Yeah, it is.
It is. And it's uh it's not the record.
I guess they got 60 guys from the portal, Pete. Supposedly the record, I asked Grok, and Grok said the record's 70 players. But, talk about totally, you know, you throw the scouting reports out because it doesn't matter. I mean, you've not scouted these guys at Oklahoma State
before.
Um so, that's an advantage because, you know, otherwise, yeah, we know the quarterback and his tendencies. We know the running back. We know the defense and what the defensive coordinator's tendencies are, you know, for this kind of blitz or this situation, this is what they do. You don't have any of that >> [laughter]
>> right now. So, I think it's pretty exciting and I bet they pack that.
You've been to that place because I I remember um T. Boone showed you around down there when your daughter was thinking about going there, right?
>> Yeah, she was looking at all these various schools and all of a sudden T.
Boone found out I was coming into town.
He was the nicest man in the world, John. Set us up. We had golf carts. We were able to ride all over the place.
Saw Garth Brooks's house, which is right next to the campus. It's unbelievable stadium, unbelievable facilities. I mean, they they can stand up right next to just about anybody else with facilities. I mean, that's just become something that's unbelievable. But, yeah, really really cool, really exciting and I'm looking forward to Oklahoma State
football this coming year, actually now.
I can't wait to see it and I love this young coach. 40 years old, John, is the coach, the head coach. So, should be fun. I like that when when you get a young guy in there and he gets fired up like Ben Johnson did with the Bears.
Instead of just some, you know, guy that might be good like McCarthy. He might be good. Um you know, I'm not saying he was terrible in Dallas or elsewhere, but, you know, now where he is, uh it's a different kind of guy talking to the players than some young 40-year-old guy
talking to the players and motivating them. So, look forward to it, Pete.
Should be fun.
>> I'm not dismissing experience. I'm just saying, you know, this guy's a lot closer to the players than, you know, some of those other coaches might be. Sure. Well, we appreciate you joining us, folks. We're going to have a lot more tomorrow, so make sure you tune in. When Pete and I I'll be coming to you. Actually, I'll be
in Miami tomorrow, Pete. I'll be at Necker Island tonight with Richard Branson.
And then tomorrow bright and early I got to take the jet. Pete was nice enough to leave it with half a tank again. Thanks.
Um It cost money up here though. I'm not filling it up at Beef Island or whatever that is. BVIS, but um I'll be back up in Miami probably with you tomorrow, Pete, for the show.
Sounds good.
Till then.
>> [laughter] >> 1:00 tomorrow.
See you guys.
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