Midday Fly By: Carnival cuts forecast on fuel cost, Novartis to buy Excellergy

The major averages were broadly lower once again amid tensions in the Middle East, as incidents in the Strait of Hormuz exacerbated traders’ energy supply concerns. Oil prices are rising again, with Brent crude trading above $110 per barrel. Meanwhile, the Wall Street Journal reported that the Pentagon is considering sending another 10,000 ground troops to the Middle East, even as President Trump said he is pausing Iran “energy plant destruction” plans until April 6.

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

1. STOCK NEWS:

• Carnival (CCL) reported upbeat Q1 results, announced a new set of long-term targets, and announced an initial $2.5B share buyback program, but trimmed its annual profit target due to higher fuel costs
• Unity (U) raised its Q1 revenue guidance and said it will sunset ironSource Ads Network
• AstraZeneca (AZN) said its COPD treatment tozorakimab met its primary endpoint in Phase 3 trials
• Novartis (NVS) agreed to buy biotech company Excellergy for up to $2B
• Entergy Louisiana (ETR) announced a new data center agreement with Meta (META)

2. WALL STREET CALLS:

• TripAdvisor (TRIP) upgraded to Buy at BofA on “clearer catalyst path”
• Primo Brands (PRMB) upgraded to Buy at Jefferies
• Wix.com (WIX) downgraded to Underweight at JPMorgan
• Bilibili (BILI) upgraded to Buy at Citi following share price correction
• Upstream Bio (UPB) downgraded to In Line at Evercore ISI

3. AROUND THE WEB:

• BASF (BASFY) has sold a $290.6M stake in Harbour Energy through a share placing, WSJ reports
• American Airlines (AAL) is in discussions with SpaceX’s Starlink and Amazon (AMZN) to overhaul its in-flight internet and entertainment, CNBC says
• Apple (AAPL) granted out-of-cycle bonuses worth several hundred thousand dollars to iPhone hardware designers, as OpenAI and others poach its engineers, Bloomberg reports
• Carlyle (CG) and KKR (KKR) have been selected by the U.S. Army to build two data centers on military bases that are estimated to cost $2B each, FT says
• Volkwagen’s (VWAGY) partnership with Rivian (RIVN) has passed a key milestone, with winter tests of the first vehicles using the software successfully completed, Reuters reports

4. MOVERS:

• Adma Biologics (ADMA) increases after responding to the short seller report by Culper Research
• Kopin (KOPN) gains after reporting Q4 results
• Brown-Forman (BF.B) higher after confirming discussions with Pernod Ricard (PDRDF)
• Satellogic (SATL) lower after reporting a subcontract agreement with Innovative Defense Technologies
• Lithium Argentina (LAR) falls in New York after announcing a 15M share offering

5. EARNINGS/GUIDANCE:

• Super League Enterprise (SLE) reported Q4 results, with EPS beating consensus
• Autolus (AUTL) reported Q4 results, with CEO Christian Itin commenting, “Autolus had a strong first year of launch of AUCATZYL in the US”
• Legence (LGN) reported Q4 results, with EPS missing consensus
• Sanuwave Health (SNWV) reported Q4 results and provided guidance for Q1 and FY26
• SBC Medical (SBC) reported Q4 results, with EPS beating consensus

INDEXES:

Near midday, the Dow was down 0.68%, or 313.71, to 45,646.40, the Nasdaq was down 1.06%, or 227.67, to 21,183.49, and the S&P 500 was down 0.68%, or 44.13, to 6,433.03.