Midday Fly By: Ellison backstops Paramount bid for Warner Bros.

Stocks are trading up near noon following a flurry of M&A news to kick off the holiday-shortened week. Traders are holding onto hopes for a year-end “Santa Claus rally” and anticipating softer monetary policy in the new year. Investors are also positioning ahead of key U.S. economic data releases expected later in the week, including GDP and consumer confidence figures that may influence early-2026 market direction. 

Gold, silver and other precious metals have climbed to record highs, supported by expectations of further rate cuts and safe-haven demand, a dynamic that has played into commodity-linked equity strength, particularly for mining stocks. Meanwhile, oil prices have rallied as short-term supply risks pick up against the background of mounting tensions between the U.S. and Venezuela and no firm sign of progress on efforts to end Russia’s war with Ukraine. 

Markets this week are operating in a thin-liquidity environment, typical of the end of December, which can amplify price swings and volatility around any fresh news or geopolitical developments. 

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

1. STOCK NEWS:

• Paramount Skydance (PSKY) amended its $30 per share all-cash offer for Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD), for which Larry Ellison has agreed to provide an irrevocable personal guarantee of $40.4B of the equity financing
• Cintas (CTAS) submitted a new, $275 per share proposal to acquire UniFirst (UNF)
• Janus Henderson (JHG) to be acquired by Trian and General Catalyst for $49 per share
• Clearwater Analytics (CWAN) agreed to be acquired by a Permira and Warburg Pincus-led investor group for $24.55 per share in cash
• Honeywell (HON) lowered its Q4 and FY26 adjusted EPS view as a result of the reclassification of Advanced Materials to discontinued operations

2. WALL STREET CALLS:

• Cummins (CMI) upgraded at Raymond James, marking second upgrade in as many sessions
• Loop upgraded Ollie’s Bargain Outlet (OLLI) to Buy after store tour
• Raymond James double downgraded Sealed Air (SEE) to Market Perform from Strong Buy
• BNP downgraded Lamb Weston (LW) on lack of earnings bottom
•  Wells Fargo initiated Arcellx (ACLX) at Overweight on multiple myeloma potential

3. AROUND THE WEB:

• AMD’s (AMD) China-compliant AI accelerator is nearing commercial rollout, with Chinese tech companies and cloud-service providers mulling orders, MLex reports
• Nvidia (NVDA) has told Chinese customers it plans to begin shipping its second-most powerful AI chips to China before the mid-February Lunar New Year, Reuters says
• Uber (UBER) and Lyft (LYFT) are partnering with Baidu (BIDU) to test out driverless taxis in the U.K. in 2026, Reuters reports
• In October, YouTube (GOOGL) TV viewers streamed over 700M hours of podcasts on their living room devices, nearly doubling the amount of time in the same period last year, Bloomberg says
• As part of an investigation into the risk of electric door handles, Bloomberg found at least 15 deaths in a dozen incidents over the last 10 years where the occupants or rescuers were unable to open the doors of a Tesla (TSLA) vehicle that had crashed and ignited, Bloomberg reports

4. MOVERS:

• Velo3D (VELO) increases after entering into an Other Transition Agreement contract with the U.S. Department of War’s Defense Innovation Unit
• Adeia (ADEA) gains after entering a long-term media IP license agreement with Disney (DIS) and raised its guidance for FY25
• BlackSky (BKSY) higher after Jefferies initiated coverage of the stock with a Buy rating
• Stellantis (STLA) falls in New York after The Financial Times reported CEO Antonio Filosa has warned Brussels failed to deliver a “clear roadmap for growth” in its revised climate policy
• Fastenal (FAST) lower after announcing CEO Daniel Florness will step down from his role

5. EARNINGS/GUIDANCE:

• Honeywell (HON) cut its guidance for Q4 and FY26
• 1933 Industries (TGIFF) reported Q1 results, with revenue lower year-over-year
• Ennis (EBF) reported Q3 results, with CEO Keith Walters commenting, “Our performance for the quarter met our expectations”
• Sempra Energy (SRE) backed its guidance for FY26 and provided guidance for FY25
• Amen Properties (AMEN) reported Q3 results, with revenue lower year-over-year

INDEXES:

Near midday, the Dow was up 0.48%, or 233.41, to 48,368.30, the Nasdaq was up 0.57%, or 133.33, to 23,440.95, and the S&P 500 was up 0.59%, or 40.00, to 6,874.50.