Intercontinental Exchange is a network of regulated exchanges and clearing houses for financial and commodity markets, fixed-income pricing, and analytics. It also has a growing mortgage technology unit. The company has a multi-asset-class derivatives and cash market franchise, spanning interest rates, equity and equity derivatives, credit, foreign exchange, metals, and agricultural commodities. ICE operates the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) and the NYSE in Texas. The company has around 12,800 employees.

Stocks did their thing on Thursday -- and with one more day in May, equities seemingly have put together yet another impressive month. The S&P 500 is up 5% for the month, the Nasdaq has ripped higher by 8% after April's 15% surge, and the Nasdaq 100 has popped 10% following last month's 15.7% jump. As the legendary investor Marty Zweig said, 'The trend is your friend until it bends at the end.'

The Portfolio Selector features the Argus Focus List, a group of 30 "best idea" stocks generated and regularly updated by Argus' analysts and investment policy committee. It also includes the director of research’s monthly investment strategy column, stock recommendations and sector picks, economic forecasts, and an asset allocation model. This month, the Focus List additions are RTX Corp (RTX); Robinhood Markets Inc (HOOD); Costco Wholesale Corp (COST); Targa Resources Corp (TRGP) and the Focus List deletions are Baker Hughes Co (BKR); Intercontinental Exchange Inc (ICE); Kroger Co/The (KR); Trane Technologies plc (TT).

Argus is hosting a five-part webinar series on AI, examining the ways that different sectors are incorporating AI practices. We recently completed our third webinar, featuring the Financial sector. AI is helping Financial companies become leaner, more efficient, and more service/customer focused. Financial sector companies tend to be big spenders on technology and have been early leaders in adopting AI practices. There are many ways these companies use AI strategies, including in back-office processes, fraud detection, compliance, improved customer service, marketing, or for completing mundane or repetitive tasks (like reading or analyzing data). Banks, brokerages, payment processors, insurance companies are some of the industries within the overall sector. For our list this week, we've put together a cheat sheet from our recent webinar, highlighting some of our BUY-rated Financial sector companies that are taking the lead in the use of AI.