1. Stock Traders Look Past AI Jitters as Bonds Climb: Markets Wrap
Stocks rose as gains in most major industries overshadowed underwhelming earnings from some tech heavyweights. Treasury yields reached 2025 lows after a weak reading on US services. About 350 companies in the S&P 500 climbed. Nvidia Corp. led gains in chipmakers. But a gauge of the “Magnificent Seven” mega caps sank 1.5% as Alphabet Inc.’s results drove Google’s parent to its worst plunge in over a year.
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2.Dow closes 300 points higher for back-to-back gains as investors look past tariff tumult:
Stocks rallied on Wednesday, pushing the major averages higher for the second day in a row, as investors looked past the trade turmoil that weighed on the market earlier in the week. The gains came even as notable technology stocks Alphabet and AMD posted steep losses following earnings. The blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 317.24 points, or 0.71%, to 44,873.28. The index’s gains were led by a sharp advance in Nvidia. The S&P 500 rose 0.39%, ending at 6,061.48. Meanwhile, the Nasdaq Composite added 0.19%, closing at 19,692.33
3.Gold holds near record peak as trade jitters boost safe-haven demand
Gold prices edged higher on Thursday, hovering near record highs hit in the previous session, as tensions in the China U.S. trade war lifted safe-haven demand, while investors awaited the U.S. jobs data for clues on the future direction of interest rates.
4.Oil pares losses after Saudi price increase
Oil prices ticked up in early Asian trading on Thursday, steadying from a sell-off the previous day after Saudi Arabia’s state oil company sharply raised March oil prices.
5.Bessent Says He, Trump Are Focusing on 10-Year Yields, Not Fed
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the Trump administration’s focus with regard to bringing down borrowing costs is 10-year Treasury yields, rather than the Federal Reserve’s benchmark short-term interest rate.
6.Trump aides defend Gaza takeover proposal, draws rebuke from others
President Donald Trump’s top aides staunchly defended his push to transfer Palestinians out of Gaza and have the U.S. take over the war-ruined enclave, but they also backed away from elements of his proposal in the face of international condemnation. This report produced by Freddie Joyner.
7.Hawkish BOJ policymaker urges raising rates to at least 1%
The Bank of Japan must raise interest rates to at least 1% by the second half of the fiscal year beginning in April, hawkish board member Naoki Tamura said on Thursday, remarks that pushed up the yen as they reinforced bets of a near-term rate hike. Inflationary risks were building up as companies continue to pass on rising raw material and labor costs, which required lifting the BOJ’s policy rate to levels deemed neutral to the economy, he said.
8.Tariffs to drive global stock markets in volatile 2025:
JPMorgan Global financial-market turbulence this week sparked by a series of US tariff announcements looks like just the beginning of a volatile year, according to a JPMorgan Chase & Co. electronic trading survey. Inflation and tariffs will have the biggest impact on markets in 2025, followed by geopolitical tension, according to the annual trading pol.
9.Disney delivered its strongest bottom line in years but investors were left wondering if the
entertainment giant can keep up a good show as the year progresses.
The latest quarter results were largely good, with revenue in line with estimates and operating income of nearly $5.1 billion beating the consensus forecast by 18%. That produced a company-wide operating margin of 20%+ that Disney hasn’t managed since mid-2019. A strong box office and sports business helped, and domestic theme parks revenue managed to come in on par with expectations despite two hurricanes in Florida during the quarter. Yet Disney’s stock fell 2.4%. During the company’s conference call, Disney executives were asked why the strong results didn’t trigger a raise to the earnings forecast they gave for the full fiscal year three months ago.
10.Uber Technologies issued a first-quarter bookings which disappointed analysts due to currency
headwinds and severe winter weather.
Gross bookings, which includes ride hails, delivery orders and driver and merchant earnings but not tips, will be $42 billion to $43.5 billion for the first quarter, Uber said. Fourth-quarter bookings grew 18% to $44.2 billion. The muted outlook may suggest Uber is not completely out of the woods after it began warning of softening rideshare demand in the US late last year. Shares of Uber fell 7.6%. The company’s legal and regulatory fees are a growing cost of business, with $462 million set aside in the fourth quarter, and it faces various legal challenges, including an antitrust probe and a racketeering lawsuit.
11.Johnson Controls shares jumped 11.3% following a boost in its profit forecast and the hiring of a
new chief executive officer.
The company named Joakim Weidemanis, who most recently served as executive vice president, diagnostics and China at Danaher Corp, as the successor to Chairman and Chief Executive George Oliver, effective March 12. The boardroom changes come amid a strong set of earnings for the quarter ending Dec. 31, with adjusted earnings per share of 64 cents, against analyst predictions of 59 cents. The company’s Building Solutions North America segment, its largest by revenue, saw sales jump 10% to $2.74 billion. Orders increased 18% organically, while backlog grew 12% to $9.3 billion.
12.Arm Holdings Plc gave a cautious revenue forecast for the current period, adding to recent concern
that spending on artificial intelligence computing is slowing.
Revenue will be $1.18 billion to $1.28 billion in the fiscal fourth quarter, which runs through March, the chip designer said. Though that was up from a prior forecast and in line with the average Wall Street estimate some analysts were predicting as much as $1.33 billion. Arm shares fell 6.4% in afterhours trading after the report was released. CEO Rene Haas said in an interview that the company has “phenomenal tailwinds,” but that it wants to be careful in setting targets.
13.McKesson shares fell 3.3% in afterhours trading after the drug distributor reported fiscal third-
quarter revenue that slightly missed expectations.
Still, it lifted its annual projections for revenue growth and profit. THIRD QUARTER RESULTS: Adjusted EPS $8.03 vs. $7.74 y/y, estimate $8.01. Revenue $95.29 billion, +18% y/y, estimate $95.86 billion. Adjusted operating income $1.46 billion, +16% y/y, estimate $1.44 billion. YEAR FORECAST: Sees adjusted EPS $32.55 to $32.95, saw $32.40 to $33, estimate $32.69. Sees revenue +16% to +18%, saw +15% to +17%. Sees free cash flow $4.8 billion to $5.2 billion, estimate $5.03 billion.
14.Ford Motor warned that profit may fall by $2 billion or more this year on lower vehicle prices and
costly new-model launches, adding to risks posed by potential steep new tariffs under President Donald Trump and dimming demand for plug-in cars.
The second-largest US automaker expects no more than $8.5 billion in earnings before interest and taxes this year, down from the $10.2 billion it generated in 2024. Sherry House, Ford’s incoming chief financial officer, attributed the drop to an anticipated 2% decline in industrywide prices and the expense of launching new Lincoln Navigator and Ford Expedition SUVs that will wipe out profit in the first quarter. The forecast doesn’t factor in the effect of new levies or other policy changes adopted by the Trump administration, House said.
15.Skyworks Solutions shares tumbled 22.9% in afterhours trading after the semiconductor device
company reported its first-quarter results and provided an outlook.
Skyworks, a supplier to Apple, said that “the competitive landscape has intensified,” and that “we did not get the result that we targeted.” “Although we were able to secure multiple sockets, including several highly integrated [radio frequency] modules, our content position is expected to be down 20% to 25%,” and “this decline will start impacting our revenue in the fourth quarter of fiscal 25 and throughout fiscal 26”. SWKS generates about 69% of its revenue from Apple, according to supply chain data compiled by Bloomberg.
16.Supermicro stock rises on full production of NVIDIA solutions
Shares of Supermicro, Inc. (NASDAQ: SMCI) climbed 5% after the company announced it had ramped up full production of its NVIDIA (NASDAQ:NVDA) Blackwell Rack-Scale Solutions with NVIDIA HGX B200, signaling a positive market response to its latest technological advancements. The San Jose-based IT solutions provider revealed its comprehensive portfolio of AI data center Building Block Solutions®, now fully accelerated by NVIDIA’s Blackwell platform.
17.India likely to cut benchmark rates for the first time in nearly five years as economy slows,
inflation eases.
The Reserve Bank of India is expected to trim the interest rate by 25 basis points to 6.25% at the policy meeting concluding Friday, in what would be its first rate cut in nearly five years. Indian government bonds have rallied in recent weeks, as traders ramped up wagers for an interest rate cut at the February meeting.
18.Huawei revenue rises at fastest pace since 2016 on the back of consumer segment growth
Huawei’s revenue exceeded 860 billion yuan ($118.27 billion) in 2024, Chairman Howard Liang said Wednesday, according to local state media. That’s a 22% increase in revenue from 2023, and the fastest growth since a 32% increase in 2016, according to CNBC calculations of publicly released figures. The gains came despite U.
19.Trump sued over purge at NLRB, regulator targeted by SpaceX, Amazon and others
Former National Labor Relations Board chair Gwynne Wilcox accused President Donald Trump of effectively shutting down NLRB operations by “illegally” firing her. Wilcox, an appointee of Democratic former President Joe Biden, in a federal lawsuit asked a judge to reinstate her as an NLRB member and declare that her firing was unlawful. The NLRB has come under fire from numerous companies, including Amazon and Elon Musk’s SpaceX.
20.Google scraps diversity ‘aspirations,’ citing role as federal contractor
Google is scrapping its diversity targets, citing “recent court decisions and U.S. Executive Orders.” The company’s chief people officer said in an internal memo that “in the future, we will no longer have aspirational goals,” when it comes to diversity, equity and inclusion