Midday Fly By: Alphabet, Qualcomm slip despite quarterly beats

The major averages were broadly lower as investors grow more cautious around tech stocks, AI investments, and a decline in bitcoin. Traders are also continuing to assess the implications of Alphabet’s earnings and spending plans as well as position ahead of Amazon’s upcoming results due later today.

In commodities, gold continues to have a volatile couple of weeks, as the so-called “safe haven” asset slips once again. Oil prices were also plunging near noon following EIA gas storage data.

Get caught up quickly on the top news and calls moving stocks with these five Top Five lists.

1. STOCK NEWS:

• Alphabet (GOOGL) reported better-than-expected Q4 results and provided 2026 CapEx guidance
• Qualcomm (QCOM) reported upbeat Q1 results, saying it is on track to achieve its FY29 revenue goals
• Arm (ARM) reported better-than-expected Q3 earnings and revenue
• President Trump said he will stay out of the fight between Netflix (NFLX) and Paramount Skydance (PSKY) to buy some or all of Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD), according to CNBC
• Hims & Hers (HIMS) will offer a $49 monthly starting price for a copy of Novo Nordisk’s (NVO) Wegovy pill, with Novo saying the product from Hims & Hers is an “unapproved, inauthentic, and untested knockoff”

2. WALL STREET CALLS:

• Stifel cut Microsoft (MSFT) to Hold, sees 2027 estimates as “too optimistic”
• Snap (SNAP) upgraded to Buy at B. Riley
• Wolfe upgraded Zoom Communications (ZM) on confidence in growth pickup
• Steven Madden (SHOO) downgraded to Underperform at Jefferies
• Fox Corp. (FOXA) downgraded to Equal Weight at Wells Fargo

3. AROUND THE WEB:

• Police plan to question Coupang’s (CPNG) interim CEO Harold Rogers over allegations that he committed perjury during a parliamentary hearing by falsely claiming the company conducted an internal probe into a data breach at the direction of South Korea’s intelligence agency, Yonhap News says
• Workday (WDAY) is cutting roughly 2% of its workforce, or about 400 employees, primarily in customer-facing roles, with the move anticipated to help it invest in priority areas, Bloomberg reports
• Pinterest (PINS) has fired two engineers for tracking which workers lost their jobs in the recent set of layoffs, BBC says
• HSBC (HSBC) is preparing to award little or no bonuses to some bankers and push underperforming staff to exit after payouts, including at senior levels, Bloomberg reports
• The sales of Nvidia’s (NVDA) H200 AI chips to China have been waiting final approval from Washington for 2 months as the U.S. government conducts a national security review before granting licenses to Chinese customers, FT says

4. MOVERS:

• FormFactor (FORM) gains after reporting Q4 results and providing guidance for Q1
• Regal Rexnord (RRX) and Tenable (TENB) increase after reporting quarterly results
• Cardinal Health (CAH) higher after reporting Q2 results and raising its guidance for FY26
• FMC (FMC) falls after reporting Q4 results and announcing it will be exploring strategic options
• Genius Sports (GENI) lower in New York after announcing it will acquire Legend in a transaction valued at up to $1.2B

5. EARNINGS/GUIDANCE

• HII (HII) reported Q4 results, with CEO Christ Kastner commenting, “We made solid progress on our operational initiatives”
• Rockwell Automation (ROK) reported Q1 results and narrowed its guidance for FY26
• Peloton (PTON) reported Q2 results and provided guidance for Q3
• Ralph Lauren (RL) reported Q3 results and raised its guidance for FY26
• ScanSource (SCSC) reported Q2 results and cut its guidance for FY26

INDEXES:

Near midday, the Dow was down 0.75%, or 363.33, to 49,137.97, the Nasdaq was down 0.92%, or 209.63, to 22,694.95, and the S&P 500 was down 0.79%, or 54.64, to 6,828.08.