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postUS stock futures faltered on Wednesday, eyeing a return to the steepest selloff in months as Wall Street took in President Trump’s speech at Davos for insight into the Greenland crisis.
Dow Jones Industrial Average futures (YM=F) edged down around 0.3%, while those on the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 (NQ=F) also backed off 0.3% in a reversal from earlier small gains. Meanwhile, S&P 500 futures (ES=F) slipped 0.1%, coming off a bruising Tuesday session that saw investors rush for the exits against a backdrop of global insecurity.
Stocks are wavering after Trump appeared to strike a less aggressive tone on Greenland, saying he thinks a deal will be reached “where NATO will be very happy.” He is expected to hold meetings with other countries in Davos over the EU-US spat after giving his keynote address at the World Economic Forum on Wednesday morning.
But Trump has also persisted with his push for control of Greenland, appearing confident the US will prevail as he left for the World Economic Forum. That kept trade-war fears and the “Sell America” trade alive, as the EU warned again it was “fully prepared” to hit back against new tariffs.
Also up ahead, the Supreme Court is set to hear arguments on Wednesday over the Trump administration’s removal of Lisa Cook as a Federal Reserve governor. The case will test the central bank’s independence and the limits on presidential power to fire Fed board members at will. Concerns about political interference in Fed policy making have haunted markets, as Jerome Powell faces a criminal probe and Bessent publicly builds a case against the Fed chair.
On the corporate front, Netflix (NFLX) stock fell in premarket trading after the streaming giant’s quarterly results showed left investors unimpressed. As the season gets underway, S&P 500 companies’ earnings beats are being met by the worst share-price reactions on record, Bloomberg data shows. Wednesday brings a busy stretch of results, including reports from Johnson & Johnson (JNJ), Charles Schwab (SCHW), and other mid-sized financial institutions.
LIVE 12 updates
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Kraft Heinz stock sinks as Berkshire Hathaway considers selling 325 million shares
Kraft Heinz (KHC) may be the target of the first major move by Warren Buffett’s successor, Greg Abel.
On Tuesday, Kraft Heinz said that Berkshire Hathaway (BRK-B, BRK-A) may begin selling its 325 million shares in the food company, according to a regulatory filing. Kraft Heinz stock dropped more than 6% on Wednesday morning.
In 2015, Buffett and 3G Capital formed Kraft Heinz by merging the two food brands. But Berkshire hasn’t been quite as happy with the direction the company has taken as of late.
According to the AP, Berkshire took a $3.76 billion writedown on its Kraft-Heinz stake last summer, and Buffett said last fall that he was disappointed in Kraft Heinz’s plan to split the company in two.
On Jan. 1, Buffett stepped down from the conglomerate he founded, and Abel took over the running of Berkshire Hathaway.
Read more here.
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Netflix stock drops after reporting earnings, offering to buy for Warner Bros. in all cash
Netflix stock (NFLX) tumbled more than 5% in premarket trading on Wednesday after the streaming giant beat quarterly earnings estimates but said it would ramp up spending on content and pause its stock buyback program.
Hanging over Netflix’s fourth quarter report was the company’s acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD), which has faced bitter competition from Paramount Skydance (PSKY). On Tuesday, Netflix sweetened its deal by offering to buy the company in all cash.
While the deal is likely to face regulatory scruiNetflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos sounded confident in the deal’s approval, saying, “We’ve already made progress towards securing the necessary regulatory approvals.”
The streaming giant reported revenue of $12.05 billion, compared to Wall Street estimates for $11.96 billion, per Bloomberg consensus data.
Earnings per share came in slightly higher than expected at $0.56, versus the Street’s forecast of $0.55.
Read the full earnings breakdown here.
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Premarket trending tickers: Kraft Heinz, United, and Ardagh
Kraft Heinz (KHC) stock fell 5% before the bell on Wednesday after news was released that Berkshire Hathaway’s new CEO, Greg Abel, may be considering selling its 325 million shares in the food giant.
United Airlines (UAL) stock rose 3% before the bell on Wednesday after reporting fourth quarter earnings that beat estimates.
Ardagh Metal Packaging stock rose 7% during premarket hours today. Analysts at BMO Capital upgraded the stock to Outperform.
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The bond market is starting to speak up again
Treasury yields continued to sell off on Wednesday morning, pushing yields higher as the Greenland turmoil unnerved markets. The 10-year yield (^TNX) rose 6 basis points to 4.29% in premarket trading, while the 30-year yield (^TYX) rose 8 basis points to 4.92%.
As Yahoo Finance’s Hamza Shaban writes in today’s Morning Brief Takeaway, the US’s geopolitical fight over Greenland highlighted the sensitivity of the bond market:
Read more here from the Morning Brief newsletter.
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S&P 500 profit beats draw worst stock price reaction on record
From Bloomberg:
S&P 500 (^GSPC) companies are handily beating earnings estimates, yet unimpressed investors are delivering the worst share-price reactions on record as the outlook for 2026 turns murky.
While it’s still early days, data compiled by Bloomberg Intelligence show about 81% of S&P 500 firms have beaten fourth-quarter profit expectations so far. However, their shares have trailed the benchmark by an average of 1.1 percentage points — the worst relative performance across data going back to 2017.
Among the stocks that underwhelmed, 3M Co.’s (MMM) shares fell 7% on Tuesday even as the company topped profit estimates, with investors focusing instead on a glum forecast. State Street Corp. (STT) dropped 6.1% as a dimmer net interest income outlook overshadowed better-than-expected quarterly results. Netflix Inc. (NFLX) also declined about 6% in premarket trading Wednesday after a disappointing outlook.
The trend emphasizes just how high the stakes are for corporate earnings this quarter as US stocks kicked off the year scaling record highs. That’s lifted valuations above long-term averages just as analysts have been cutting profit estimates ahead of the reporting season.
“Beating consensus isn’t the hurdle right now. The hurdle is raising the forward path enough to justify already rich valuations in a market that’s still sensitive to rates and policy uncertainty,” said Aneeka Gupta, macroeconomic research director at WisdomTree. “In that environment, a beat without strong guidance becomes a ‘sell-the-news’ event.”
Read more here.
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Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang on job risk from AI
Jensen has talked about this topic many times, but always good to hear his latest thinking.
He is seeing a “boom” in trade jobs, six figure salaries, helping to build out AI infrastructure.
“Everyone should be able to make a great living,” Huang said.
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Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang on demand backdrop
From Jensen’s talk at Davos: He says he’s seeing the “largest infrastructure build out in human history.” There are “trillions of dollars” of infrastructure that needs to be built out.
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Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang takes the stage at Davos
Jensen sporting a simpler leather jacket than the one he wore at CES. This is Jensen’s first time at Davos for the World Economic Forum.
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Trump doubts Greenland threats will spoil
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China stocks rally on growing tech bets, defying global sell-off
Bloomberg reports:
Chinese stocks defied a pullback in global markets Wednesday, as optimism about Beijing’s stronger push to achieve technology self-reliance eclipsed concerns over rising geopolitical uncertainties.
The Nasdaq-style STAR 50 Index jumped 3.5% to the highest level since October. The broader onshore benchmark CSI 300 (000300.SS) ended the day slightly higher.
… Driving the outperformance of the world’s second-largest stock market was a fresh pledge by Chinese policymakers to accelerate efforts to develop homegrown artificial intelligence and aim for technological breakthroughs. Chinese markets have shown surprising resilience in the past year, with strong exports and policy support for advanced manufacturing and technologies cushioning the blow from tariff tensions.
Read more here.
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Bitcoin drops below $90,000 threshold following equities in risk-off sale
Bloomberg reports:
Read more here.
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Gold reaches new record high with Greenland instability pushing haven higher
Bloomberg reports:
Read more here.
