What You Missed On Wall Street

What You Missed On Wall Street

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NEWS
What You Missed On Wall Street

Source: Tenor.com

It was a long day in the markets, with earnings news and the Fed’s decision driving most of the notable moves. Chinese stocks bounced back sharply while U.S. commodities like cattle, corn, coffee, and more climbed quietly in the background. While the major indexes were down marginally, individual stock action kept traders and investors very busy. 👀 

Today’s issue covers the Fed’s latest policy decision, earnings from 3 of the 7 “Magnificent Seven,” and many more noteworthy pops and drops. 📰

Here’s the S&P 500 heatmap. 4 of 11 sectors closed green, with communication services (+0.41%) leading and real estate (-1.19%) lagging.

Source: Finviz.com

And here are the closing prices: 

S&P 500

6,039

-0.47%

Nasdaq

19,632

-0.51%

Russell 2000

2,283

-0.25%

Dow Jones

44,714

-0.31%

POLICY
Trump Turns Up The Heat On Fed Policy 🔥 

The Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) left rates unchanged as expected, ending its streak of three straight cuts. Its statement was largely the same as December’s though it adjusted the language to indicate that the labor market remains solid and inflation remains “somewhat elevated.” 📝 

In his press conference, Fed Chair Jerome Powell said that the labor market has not been a significant source of inflationary pressure. He indicated the committee would need to see “real progress on inflation or some weakness in the labor market before we consider making adjustments.”

The labor market has stayed strong, and inflation stubbornly hangs above its 2% target, so there is not much for the Fed to do here. The market has seemingly come to terms with the Fed’s projections from last month, which indicated they see just two rate cuts during 2025 and another two in 2026. 🔮 

As for Trump, Powell said he has had no contact since the president said he would “demand” that interest rates be lowered “immediately.”

Just hours after the press conference ended, the president took to Truth Social to slam Jerome Powell and the central bank, saying they “failed to stop the problem they created with Inflation” and have done a “terrible job on Bank Regulation.”

This quote sums it up: “If the Fed had spent less time on DEI, gender ideology, ‘green’ energy, and fake climate change, Inflation would never have been a problem,” Trump wrote. “Instead, we suffered from the worst Inflation in the History of our Country!” 😡 

Clearly, President Trump’s battle with the Fed and its independent stance is just beginning. So, the FOMC Committee and the markets will have yet another uncertain variable to deal with as they navigate the current policy environment.

In the meantime, stocks sold off marginally on the rate news. However, as with most meetings, the real market reaction will take a few days to kick in, so traders should stay on high alert through the weekend. 🚨 

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EARNINGS
Recapping Today’s Mag 7 Results 🧐 

As we covered yesterday, Wall Street and Main Street have high expectations for big tech stocks. Today, Tesla, Microsoft, and Meta gave us a quick glimpse into how the rest of earnings season could go.

Tesla shares dipped, then ripped after reporting adjusted earnings and revenue that missed estimates. Total revenue rose just 2% YoY, but automotive revenues sank 8% YoY to $19.8 billion, with $692 million coming from regulatory credits. 🪫 

Lower average selling prices across its product lines drove the decline, with its operating margin shrinking from 8.2% last year to 6.2%. However, total deliveries also posted their first annual decline amid high financing costs and increased competition.

Tesla did not provide specific guidance for 2025 but said it expects the vehicle business to return to growth. Still, the company continues to encourage investors to look beyond the autos and ahead to its future of autonomy and robotics. It will need to unlock an unsupervised FSD option and launch its driverless ride-hailing business sometime this year to assure investors that its vision is feasible.

Shares are up 6% after the bell, but Stocktwits sentiment is ‘extremely bearish.” 🤔 

Microsoft is moving lower after the bell. Earnings per share and revenue topped estimates, but its Intelligent Cloud segment (which contains the Azure cloud), came in below estimates despite 19% YoY growth. 🌦️ 

CEO Satya Nadella noted that Microsoft’s artificial intelligence (AI) annualized revenue run rate now exceeds $13 billion. Contributing to a $2.29 billion in “other expenses,” its CFO revealed a projected $1.5 billion loss at OpenAi, where the company has invested nearly $14 billion.

Shares are down 5% after hours, but Stocktwits sentiment is ‘extremely bullish.’ 😢 

Meta hit a new all-time high after its earnings per share and revenue both topped estimates. CEO Mark Zuckerberg expects 2025 to redefine the company’s relationships with governments.

Fourth-quarter revenues rose 21% YoY, while net income rose 49%. Daily active users of rose about 2% QoQ to 3.35 billion, topping analyst estimates of 3.32 billion. Meta’s AI chatbot topped 700 million monthly active users, up from 600 million in December. It expects that number to scale to more than a billion this year. 🤖 

As for DeepSeek, Zuckerberg said it validates Meta’s commitment to an open-source approach to AI. “There’s going to be an open source standard globally. For our own advantage, it’s important that it’s an American standard,” he added.

Meta reiterated its $60 to $65 billion capex forecast for 2025, with its investments in AI infrastructure anticipated to be a strategic long-term advantage. While it did not provide a revenue outlook for 2025, finance chief Susan Li said investments in the core business “will give us an opportunity to continue delivering strong revenue growth throughout 2025.”

Meta shares rose as much as 5% after hours but are now flat. Stocktwits sentiment remains in ‘extremely bullish’ territory. 🫠 

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STOCKS
Other Noteworthy Pops & Drops 📋️ 

ImmunityBio ($IBRX +3%): Announced a collaboration and supply agreement with BeiGene to conduct a confirmatory Phase 3 clinical trial.

NRx Pharmaceuticals ($NRXP -10%): Secured a $27 million funding deal that will support its planned purchase of Hope Therapeutic’s clinics.

Cargo Therapeutics ($CRGX -80%): Discontinued its FIRCE-1, its Phase 2 clinical study of firi-cel for large B-cell lymphoma patients resistant to CD19 CAR T-cell therapy.

Bakkt Holdings ($BKKT -26%): In November, the Financial Times reported that Trump Media was in advanced talks to buy Bakkt. However, today it announced a partnership with Charles Schwab to expand into financial services. Nangi Research revealed a short position on Bakkt, citing it lacks a catalyst outside of an acquisition.

Faraday Future Intelligence Electric ($FFIE +3%): The EV maker confirmed it had received the full net proceeds from a $30 million financing announced in December.

Rivian ($RIVN -2%): Bernstein initiated coverage with an ‘Underperform’ rating and a $6.10 price target, implying roughly 50% downside.

Henry Schein ($HSIC +5%): KKR will invest an additional $250 million in the company’s common stock and will become the largest non-index fund shareholder in the company, with a 12% position.

T-Mobile U.S. ($TMUS +7%): The telecom giant’s fourth-quarter earnings and revenues topped estimates, driven by a growing customer base and reduced churn.

SuperCom Ltd. ($SPCB +9%): The electronic monitoring company won a multi-year contract with a Nordic European country.

Signing Day Sports Inc. ($SGN +130%): The company, focused on aiding high school athletes in recruitment, signed a stock purchase agreement to buy 99.13% of Dear Cashmere Group Holding Co.’s (DRCR) issued and outstanding share capital.

XPLR Infrastructure ($NEP -11%): Announced a strategic pivot yesterday, causing analysts at Scotiabank and Wells Fargo to trim their price targets due to limited visibility regarding the company’s near-term growth catalysts.

General Dynamics ($GD -4%): The industrial giant forecasted 2025 revenue below analyst estimates, even as its fourth-quarter earnings and revenue topped estimates.

Whirpool ($WHR -12%): Reported an 18.7% YoY decline in net sales and overall earnings that came in well below analyst estimates.

IBM ($IBM +10%): Posted a fourth-quarter earnings and revenue beat, with its software segment growing 10% YoY due to artificial intelligence demand.

Reddit ($RDDT +4%): Retail sentiment and message activity soared on Stocktwits as the stock hit new all-time highs ahead of its fourth-quarter earnings report.

WHAT’S ON DECK
Tomorrow’s Top Things 📋

Economic data: European Central Bank Rate Decision (8:15 am ET), GDP Growth Rate Q4 (8:30 am ET), Initial/Continuing Jobless Claims (8:30 am ET), European Central Bank Press Conference (8:45 am ET), Pending Home Sales (10:00 am ET). 📊

Pre-Market Earnings: Nokia ($NOK), Southwest Airlines ($LUV), Caterpillar ($CAT), Mastercard ($MA), Altria Group ($MO), Sirius XM ($SIRI), United Parcel Service ($UPS), Comcast ($CMSCA), Blackstone ($BX), Mobileye ($MBLY), Dow Inc. ($DOW). 🛏️

After-Hour Earnings: Apple ($AAPL), Intel ($INTC), Visa ($V), U.S. Steel ($X), Atlassian ($TEAM), KLA Corp. ($KLAC), Weyerhaeuser ($WY), Deckers Outdoor ($DECK). 🎧

P.S. You can listen to all of these earnings calls and more straight from the Stocktwits app or website. You’ll find them on the calendar page and individual symbol pages once they’re set to begin! We’ll see you there. 👍

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