Midday Fly By: Home Depot reports Q4 beat, AMD and Meta expand partnership

The major averages were broadly higher near noon in a bounce-back from yesterday’s declines, though sentiment remains fragile with tariff worries and AI-related risk aversion still front and center. Investors continue to digest more and more AI news, including AMD‘s newest GPU partnership with Meta as well as Anthropic’s latest partnerships with companies like Intuit and DocuSign. Big corporate earnings reports are still spilling in as well, particularly from home retailers.

Looking to commodities, gold dipped following yesterday’s sharp gains as the “safe haven” asset continues seesawing in value. Oil prices were lower near noon ahead of API crude data 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:

• Home Depot (HD) reported upbeat Q4 earnings and revenue, provided its outlook for FY26, and increased its quarterly dividend
• AMD (AMD) and Meta (META) announced an expanded partnership to deploy 6-gigawatts of AMD GPUs
• Bed Bath & Beyond (BBBY) reported mixed Q4 results and provided FY26 revenue guidance
• Intuit (INTU) and Anthropic announced a multi-year AI agents partnership
• Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) received a revised takeover proposal from Paramount (PSKY)

2. WALL STREET CALLS:

• Qualcomm (QCOM) upgraded to Buy at Loop Capital and to Equal Weight at Wells Fargo
• Morgan Stanley (BKNG), says “just as important in agentic world”
• Comcast (CMCSA) downgraded to Underperform at BNP Paribas on fiber headwinds
• Barclays(GOSS) to Underweight from Overweight
• Hims & Hers (HIMS) downgraded to Neutral at BTIG after “disappointing” Q4 report

3. AROUND THE WEB:

• Omnicom (OMC) is planning to eliminate an additional 94 roles in the U.S. starting March 1, which comes following its $13B November acquisition of Interpublic Group and 4,000 related redundancies, Adweek says
• Irenic Capital Management, holding roughly a 2% stake in Ralliant (RAL), is urging the precision technology company to accelerate stock buybacks, reduce costs, and increase focus on its defense and electronics business, according to sources familiar with the private discussions, Reuters reports
• Honda (HMC) has suspended operations at its facility in Guadalajara, Mexico, while employees at other manufacturers work from home, after a wave of violence was unleashed by the killing of one of the country’s most wanted cartel leaders, FT says
• Glencore (GLNCY) has agreed to purchase 2,000 metric tons of cobalt worth about $115M from Rami Weisfisch, Reuters says
• JPMorgan (JPM) Chase CEO Jamie Dimon said fears of AI are overblown, noting the company will use the technology to its advantage, WSJ reports

4. MOVERS:

• Larimar Therapeutics (LRMR) increases after the FDA granted Breakthrough Therapy Designation to nomlabofusp
• Iovance Biotherapeutics (IOVA) gains after announcing results from its trial for TIL cell therapy and reporting quarterly results
• Clarivate (CLVT) and Vir Biotechnology (VIR) higher in New York after reporting quarterly results
• Shoals Technology (SHLS) falls after reporting Q4 results and entering an agreement with ON.energy
• Xometry (XMTR) lower after reporting Q4 results and appointing Sahni as CEO

5. EARNINGS/GUIDANCE

• Chewy (CHWY) backed its guidance for FY25
• Playboy (PLBY) reported preliminary Q4 results, with CEO Ben Kohn commenting, “Our preliminary fourth quarter results demonstrate the significant progress we have made executing our strategic transformation”
• NRG Energy (NRG) reported Q4 results, with EPS and revenue beating consensus
• Harmony Biosciences (HRMY) reported Q4 results and backed its guidance for FY26
• FIS (FIS) reported Q4 results and provided guidance for Q1 and FY26

INDEXES:

Near midday, the Dow was up 0.65%, or 316.39, to 49,120.45, the Nasdaq was up 0.88%, or 198.31, to 22,825.59, and the S&P 500 was up 0.55%, or 37.32, to 6,875.07.