Midday Fly By: Ford takes $19.5B EV writedown, Apple expanding iPhone lineup

The major averages were broadly lower near noon as traders eyed a key jobs report and additional economic data that could influence the Federal Reserve’s interest-rate path next year. Though November’s jobs report came in better-than-expected, with an increase of 64,000 jobs for the month, the Bureau of Labor Statistics also reported that 105,000 jobs were shed in October, with the unemployment rate climbing to 4.6%.

Record highs earlier in December have given way to a softer backdrop as investors weigh the release of the delayed nonfarm payrolls and other indicators like retail sales and CPI inflation, which were postponed by the longest U.S. government shutdown in history.

Looking to commodities, gold edged higher once again, while oil fell sharply ahead of API crude numbers set for release this afternoon.

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

1. STOCK NEWS:

• Ford (F) said it expects $19.5B in special charges to “rationalize” U.S. EV-related assets
• Pfizer (PFE) reiterated its guidance for FY25 and provided a mixed outlook for FY26
• PayPal (PYPL) has submitted applications to establish an industrial bank
• Apple (AAPL) will expand its iPhone lineup to seven models by 2027, The Information reports
• Databricks said it is raising a greater than $4B Series L investment, valuing the company at $134B

2. WALL STREET CALLS:

• Roku (ROKU) double upgraded to Overweight from Underweight at Morgan Stanley
• Lockheed Martin (LMT) downgraded to Equal Weight at Morgan Stanley
• Okta (OKTA) upgraded to Buy at Jefferies
• StubHub (STUB) downgraded to Market Perform at Citizens
• Wells Fargo upgraded Gap (GAP) to Overweight

3. AROUND THE WEB:

• Oracle (ORCL) signed roughly $150B of data center leases in the three months ending November 30, raising its total data center and cloud capacity commitments to $248B, Information says
• Meta (META) earned more than $18B in annual ad sales from China in 2024, making up over 10% of its global revenue, with more than $3B linked to fraudulent ads, like for scams, Reuters reports
• The U.K. government wants Apple (AAPL), Google (GOOGL), and others to block explicit images at the OS level by default to protect kids and have adults verify their ages, FT says
• Stellantis (STLA) has hired over 1,000 employees for its Windsor, Ontario plant, aiming for 1,500 new jobs for a third shift, WSJ reports
• Nasdaq (NDAQ) is looking to submit paperwork with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to roll out 24/7 stock trading, Reuters says

4. MOVERS:

• Cementos Pacasmayo (CPAC) increases in New York after announcing Holcim will purchase Inversiones of the Hochschild Group, which controls 50.01% of the company
• Rezolve AI (RZLV) gains in New York after reaffirming its FY26 annual recurring revenue view of $500M or more
• Aldeyra (ALDX) higher after announcing the FDA extended the PDUFA target action date for the reproxalap New Drug Application
• Lightwave Logic (LWLG) falls after announcing an 11.7M share offering
• Navan (NAVN) lower after announcing the departure of CFO Amy Butte

5. EARNINGS/GUIDANCE:

• Vestis (VSTS) reaffirmed its guidance for FY26
• Vital Farms (VITL) cut its outlook for FY25
• Organigram (OGI) reported Q4 results, with Executive Chair Peter Amirault calling fiscal 2025 “marked by purposeful growth”
• Humana (HUM) reaffirmed its guidance for FY25
• CSP Inc. (CSPI) reported Q4 results, with EPS and revenue higher year-over-year

INDEXES:

Near midday, the Dow was down 0.53%, or 254.20, to 48,162.36, the Nasdaq was down 0.27%, or 61.48, to 22,995.93, and the S&P 500 was down 0.49%, or 33.55, to 6,782.96.