The 5-Stat

Five Figures to Start the Week — May 18, 2026

Monday, May 18, 2026

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Nvidia reports Wednesday, SpaceX is expected to file its prospectus any day now, and the consumer keeps sending the same mixed signal: feeling worse, spending anyway.

May 18, 2026

48.2

University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment Just Hit 48.2 — a Fresh All-Time Low in a Series That Began in 1952, and the Second Sub-50 Reading in History

The preliminary May reading from the University of Michigan came in at 48.2, down from April's 49.8 and below the 49.7 consensus — the lowest level in the survey's 73-year history and only the second time the index has printed below 50, after April's own record. About one-third of respondents spontaneously mentioned gasoline prices, and roughly 30% mentioned tariffs. Real income expectations have now declined for three straight months. And yet retail sales rose for the third consecutive month in April; whatever consumers are saying, they're still swiping the card.

Source: University of Michigan — Surveys of Consumers, May 2026 Preliminary / CNBC

6.45%

The Average 30-Year Mortgage Rate Climbed to 6.45% This Weekend — Its Highest Reading in Five Weeks — as the 10-Year Treasury Yield Sits at a 2026 High

NerdWallet's Sunday-evening reading on the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage was 6.45% APR, up 27 basis points in a single week and the highest since mid-April, as the bond market reprices the odds of a 2026 rate hike higher after last week's hot CPI and PPI prints. Fannie Mae's May Housing Forecast, released yesterday, now projects rates will stay near 6.3% for the rest of the year, abandoning April's call for a glide path toward 6.1%. The median monthly payment applied for by U.S. mortgage borrowers reached $2,131 in March — a record. The spring buying season many had been counting on isn't showing up the way the brochures said it would.

Source: NerdWallet / Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey / Fannie Mae Housing Forecast

$1.75T

SpaceX Is Expected to Publicly File Its S-1 This Week at a Target Valuation of $1.75 Trillion — Which Would Be the Largest IPO in History, by More Than 2x

Reuters and Bloomberg reporting puts the public S-1 filing in the May 18–22 window ahead of a June 4 roadshow launch and a June 12 Nasdaq debut under ticker SPCX. At the target valuation, SpaceX would raise up to $75 billion and price at roughly 110 times trailing revenue — multiples last seen at scale during the 2021 cycle. For context, Saudi Aramco's 2019 IPO is the current record at $25.6 billion raised against a $1.7 trillion debut valuation. SpaceX, which absorbed Elon Musk's xAI in an all-stock deal earlier this year, would become the sixth most valuable U.S.-listed company on day one — ahead of Meta and Berkshire Hathaway, behind only the four hyperscalers and Apple.

Source: Reuters / Bloomberg / TradingKey

$226

Nvidia Stock Hits $226 in Premarket Trading the Monday Before Earnings — and Sell-Side Estimates Have the Company Adding More Quarterly Revenue Than Cisco Earned in All of Last Year

Nvidia trades at $226.18 in premarket Monday morning, near an all-time high, ahead of its Q1 FY27 report Wednesday after the close. Consensus is calling for roughly $52 billion in quarterly revenue, up from $44 billion a year ago — an 18% sequential add that, on its own, would exceed Cisco's record $15.84 billion quarter from last week. With Microsoft, Alphabet, Meta, and Amazon now guiding to $725 billion in combined 2026 capex, the question isn't whether Nvidia beats; it's whether anything short of a blowout justifies a market cap that has roughly doubled in twelve months. The stock is up 0.4% premarket. Nobody is taking chips off the table yet.

Source: CNBC / Forex News / Nvidia Investor Relations

27%

Only 27% of Americans Can Pass a 7-Question Financial Literacy Quiz — Down From 42% in 2009, and the Questions Cover Inflation, Interest Rates, and Whether Bonds Go Up or Down When Rates Fall

FINRA's most recent National Financial Capability Study quizzed 25,500 adults on seven multiple-choice questions covering basic concepts — compound interest, the relationship between inflation and savings, what happens to bond prices when rates change. Just 27% got at least five right. The bond question stumped the most respondents: only 28% knew that when interest rates fall, bond prices rise. Roughly 87% of Americans surveyed by the ABA Foundation think personal finance should be required in high school, which is one of the more bipartisan numbers in any survey conducted in the last decade. Twenty-seven states have now mandated such a course; the other twenty-three are presumably reading this on their phones during a yoga class.

Source: FINRA Investor Education Foundation — 2024 National Financial Capability Study / American Bankers Association Foundation