0955 ET - United Airlines Chief Executive Scott Kirby dodged questions on CNBC about whether he was considering a merger with American Airlines. He said he won't comment on rumors of the merger, which President Trump said earlier this week he wouldn't be in favor of. Kirby says he has been working for years on ways to create a global U.S. airline that could better compete with international carriers, which currently fly about 65% of long-haul trips into the U.S. "We've been talking about the fact that we want to create a truly global competitive airline for the United States," Kirby says. (katherine.hamilton@wsj.com)

0948 ET - At Kevin Warsh's confirmation hearing, he discussed a preference for trimmed-mean and median inflation over core PCE measures. An analysis from BofA says even if food and energy shocks are trimmed out they could still raise the trimmed mean by preventing other shocks from being trimmed. To avoid the optics of cherry-picking, the note says Warsh would need to "stick with his preferred metrics even when they are outpacing the core." Warsh also argued yesterday for looking through one-off, supply-driven increases. (jessica.coacci@wsj.com)

0945 ET - While Kevin Warsh favors substantial regime changes at the Fed and to its communication strategy--any changes he would want to implement would be tempered by the need to forge a consensus among Fed officials, a note from Oxford Economics says. "The Fed chair can't make such changes unilaterally," Oxford says. "We expect the need for Warsh to build consensus would limit the extent of changes in policy or how the Fed communicates." Potential changes to the Fed's communication strategy could include reducing the number of Federal Open Market Committee meetings per year and not committing to press briefings after each FOMC meeting. Warsh also objects to the use of forward guidance as a policy tool along with the publication of economic forecasts, the note adds.(jessica.coacci@wsj.com)

0928 ET - Crude futures are higher for a third consecutive session with Brent crude again testing $100 a barrel levels as expectations for a reopening of the Strait of Hormuz are set back. President Trump's extension of the cease-fire removes the immediate prospect of escalation, but is seen delaying talks "and likely keeps the U.S. blockade intact indefinitely," Ritterbusch & Associates says in a note. Exports via alternative routes and SPR releases dampen the price impact of the closed strait to some extent, the firm adds, while "price-related demand destruction is becoming an increased topic of conversation." Brent is up 1.6% at $100.06 a barrel and WTI is up 2% at $91.44. (anthony.harrup@wsj.com)

0922 ET - If confirmed as Fed chair, Kevin Warsh will immediately face high expectations from the president who nominated him to deliver interest-rate cuts--perhaps challenging to justify with the Fed's targeted inflation rate running well above the 2% objective. In Senate testimony Tuesday, Warsh hinted at one way to make the case for cuts: He praised the "trimmed-mean" inflation metric. Trimmed-mean inflation takes the PCE inflation rate and strips out some of the product categories that rose or fell in price by the most in a given month. By excluding outliers, it aims to show a better picture of underlying inflation trends. Trimmed-mean inflation has been running at 2% annualized over the past 6 months, versus 3.4% for the traditional PCE price index. (matt.grossman@wsj.com; @mattgrossman)

0905 ET - Demand for Treasurys bounces back a little, pushing yields down, as President Trump extends the cease-fire with Iran amid stalled peace talks. U.S. stock futures rise, but so do crude oil futures, with Brent approaching $100 a barrel. The WSJ Dollar Index is steady. Fed Chair nominee Kevin Warsh's confirmation hearing goes without major surprises and markets keep betting on a prolonged hold on interest rates. The 10-year is at 4.274%, down from 4.290% yesterday. The two-year slips to 3.766% from 3.778%. (paulo.trevisani@wsj.com; @ptrevisani)

0857 ET - Subtle but significant changes to the Fed's policy statement could be on the way after the conclusion of the April meeting next week, Derek Tang of Monetary Policy Analytics suggests. With many estimates of breakeven job creation close to zero, Tang thinks the Fed may choose to deemphasize payrolls by removing any reference to the rate of job gains and focusing on unemployment instead. More importantly, Tang thinks that the Fed may hint it is less certain that its next move will be another rate cut. He thinks the previous statement's reference to "additional adjustments" to the fed funds rate may change to "any adjustment" to the rate, signaling that the next rate move may not be in the same direction as December's cut. (matt.grossman@wsj.com; @mattgrossman)

0851 ET - GE Vernova continues to operate throughout the Middle East in areas in which it is safe to do so, CEO Scott Strazik says on a call with analysts. "We are monitoring the situation closely and have seen minimal impact to our business and financial performance to-date," he adds. The company raises its full-year outlook, reflecting higher-than-expected revenue growth in electrification, as well as further margin expansion at power and electrification. GE Vernova jumps 8% premarket. (connor.hart@wsj.com)

0848 ET - GE Vernova's electrification unit is benefiting from booming demand for data centers. The unit's backlog has grown to about $42 billion, from roughly $9 billion at the end of 2022. "We expect substantially more growth moving forward," CEO Scott Strazik says on a call with analysts. He notes that data centers accounted for roughly $2.4 billion in orders during the recent quarter. "Just to repeat that, our 1Q electrification orders to data centers were more than full-year 2025 results," Strazik says. "We expect to continue growing this portion of our backlog, as we benefit from accelerating demand and invest in new products to expand our offerings for data centers." (connor.hart@wsj.com)

0817 ET - GE Vernova is going all in on artificial intelligence. The energy equipment manufacturing and services company, entered the year focused on executing 13 AI-based process transformations, CEO Scott Strazik says on a call with analysts. GE Vernova has since doubled this goal, to 26. The company is building AI tools that automate its ability to match install-base demand, projecting demand to ensure the company has the right parts and resources available when a customer needs them. "We expect to save tens of millions of dollars every year going forward with these new tools, while freeing up tens of thousands of hours of manual work," Strazik says. "We are running this company with a very determined focus on meeting the demand for growing electricity for AI, while simultaneously incorporating the technology into how we work to transform our company." (connor.hart@wsj.com)

0813 ET - Deutsche Telekom's ability to materially increase its stake in T-Mobile US is unlikely to change any time soon, Bank of America analysts write in a note. The German telecommunications company is reportedly considering a potential combination with its U.S. subsidiary, in which it holds a majority stake. "DT's CEO has stated multiple times that he would like to own more, and could use nonparticipation in the TMUS share buyback to raise its stake, but that approach is slow," they say. Additionally, U.S. shareholders might prefer a cleaner U.S. investment rather than a combination with Europe, they add. DT shares are down 4.9% at 27.37 euros. (najat.kantouar@wsj.com)

source: https://www.tradingview.com/news/DJN_DN20260422006239:0/