Corporate America is delivering the goods this earnings season, dampening fears about the economy, even as rising energy prices threaten to undermine the momentum.

Why it matters: Economic uncertainty tied to the Iran war — alongside stubborn inflation and souring consumer sentiment — don't seem to have derailed earnings in Q1.

Zoom in: Today's winners included:

• Uber: After reporting a 25% rise in bookings, CEO Dara Khosrowshahi told CNBC: "The consumers are spending, they're spending locally, and we don't see any signs of that weakening at this point."
• Disney: The company recorded better-than-expected operating income at all three of its divisions — entertainment, experiences and sports — as Bloomberg noted. Consumers are visiting parks at a "healthy" pace, Disney said.
• CVS Health: The drugstore chain and Aetna owner raised its 2026 earnings guidance as medical costs fell sharply.
• Novo Nordisk: The GLP-1 drugmaker raised its guidance after its first oral weight loss pill got off to a promising start with 2 million prescriptions already.

The big picture: About two-thirds of the way into earnings season, 84% of companies in the S&P 500 have topped earnings estimates, according to FactSet.

• That easily beats the 5-year average of 78%.
• "Both the percentage of S&P 500 companies reporting positive earnings surprises and the magnitude of earnings surprises are above recent averages," FactSet reports.
• Deutsche Bank researchers today called it "one of the best earnings seasons in 20 years."

Yes, but: The collapse of Spirit Airlines after jet fuel prices spiked illustrates how much damage the Iran war could yet cause to the economy.

• The broader airline industry is suffering with operating costs jumping.

The bottom line: Corporate earnings aren't a 1-to-1 indicator of the economy's health, but they're not a bad sign either.

Go deeper

Anthropic today said it's struck a deal to gain access to compute capacity from Elon Musk's SpaceX, a move that could help the company deal with surging demand, Axios' Ina Fried and Madison Mills write.

Why it matters: Anthropic has been struggling to meet the needs of developers, which has led to aggressive rate caps and a shift to usage-based pricing.

• Anthropic said it will lift the five-hour rate caps for most paid subscribers, including those on its Pro, Max, Team and Enterprise plans.

It also announced changes that could address recent complaints about usage limits, including:

• Ending peak-hour usage cutbacks for Claude Code Pro and Max users.
• Raising API rate limits for Opus models.

SpaceX, meanwhile, is working to become an AI powerhouse before an expected IPO this fall, which is slated to be the largest in corporate history.

• SpaceX acquired xAI in January and has a deal with Cursor that it says gives it the option to buy the coding startup for $60 billion.

Go deeper

🏀 FanDuel CEO Amy Howe was ousted after five years on the job as sportsbooks face mounting pressure from prediction markets. FanDuel President Christian Genetski will take on the top job. (CNBC)

💉 Eli Lilly will invest another $4.5 billion in Indiana to expand its manufacturing capacity there. The drug giant is flourishing amid growing demand for GLP-1 treatments. (Fierce Pharma)

✈️ Lufthansa may begin making refueling stops on previously nonstop flights in Europe as the German airline deals with potential jet fuel shortages. (Bloomberg)

⚖️ Thirty people were accused of running a decade-long insider trading scheme that involved stealing confidential information about M&A deals from corporate law firms. (Axios Pro)

One-sided tape measures are apparently falling out of favor.

• This was a big factor in Stanley Black & Decker's decision to close its tape-measure manufacturing plant in New Britain, Connecticut, WSJ reports.

Between the lines: The plant — which has 300 workers and will close later this month — wasn't fitted with the equipment needed to make double-sided tape measures.

• "Stanley said buyers these days want tape measures with numbers on both sides of the blade, a feature intended to make the tools easier to use at any angle," according to WSJ.

What's next: Production will be outsourced to a plant in Thailand.

💭 Nathan's thought bubble: I'm not sure even two sides are enough for me to look like a pro.