Midday Fly By: Tesla reports deliveries, Trump delays furniture tariff hike

The major averages were mostly unchanged near noon on the first trading day of 2026 with the markets looking to build on a strong 2025 despite a brief pullback at the end of December. The S&P 500 finished last year up 16%, marking a third consecutive year of double-digit gains. Precious metals remain near record levels after gold and silver posted big gains in 2025.

Sentiment remains cautiously constructive, with traders watching early 2026 catalysts such as upcoming U.S. labor and inflation data, expected policy signals from the Federal Reserve and initial corporate earnings previews for clues about growth and monetary policy direction.

Get caught up quickly on the top news and calls moving stocks with this midday Fly By.

1. STOCK NEWS:

• Tesla (TSLA) reported deliveries of 418,227 vehicles and production of 434,358 vehicles in Q4
• President Trump has delayed increases in tariffs for furniture for another year
• Baidu (BIDU) proposed a spinoff and separate listing of the H shares of AI chip unit Kunlunxin
• Rivian (RIVN) delivered 9,745 vehicles in Q4, while Nio (NIO) delivered 124,807 vehicles in Q4

2. WALL STREET CALLS:

• Vertiv (VRT) upgraded to Overweight at Barclays
• Apple (AAPL) resumed with a Market Perform at Raymond James
• Betterware de Mexico (BWMX) initiated with a Buy at Freedom Capital
• Cenovus Energy (CVE) reinstated with a Buy at Goldman Sachs

3. AROUND THE WEB:

• Microsoft-backed (MSFT) OpenAI is taking steps to improve its audio AI models, in preparation for its AI-powered personal device, which is expected to be largely audio-based, The Information reports
• Brookfield (BAM) is planning to start its own cloud business to lease chips inside data centers directly to AI companies, The Information reports
• During his last interview as CEO of Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A), Warren Buffett said he believes the company is better positioned than any other to endure for the next century, CNBC says
• Samsung’s (SSNLF) customers have praised the competitiveness of its next-generation high-bandwidth memory chips, or HBM4, saying “Samsung is back,” co-CEO and chip chief Jun Young-hyun said in a New Year address, Reuters says
• TSMC (TSM) told Reuters in a statement: “The U.S. Department of Commerce has granted TSMC Nanjing an annual export license that allows U.S. export-controlled items to be supplied to TSMC Nanjing without the need for individual vendor licenses”

4. MOVERS:

• Denison (DNN) increases in New York after providing capital cost update for Phoenix in-situ recovery uranium mine
• Sable Offshore (SOC) gains after Benchmark said the company is closer to a restart than ever
• Bitfarms (BITF) higher in New York after entering a purchase agreement to sell Paso Pe site for up to $30M
• UiPath (PATH) lower after being set to replace Synovus in S&P 400 at open on 1/2/26
• XPeng (XPEV) falls after announcing its vehicle delivery results for December and FY25

5. EARNINGS/GUIDANCE

• Ironwood (IRWD) backed its guidance for FY25 and provided guidance for FY26
• AAR Corp. (AIR) to report Q2 results on January 6, 2026
• Penguin Solutions (PENG) to report Q1 results on January 6, 2026
• Angiodynamic (ANGO) to report Q2 results on January 6, 2026

INDEXES:

Near midday, the Dow was up/down xxx, or xxx%, to xxx, the Nasdaq was up/down xxx, or xxx%, to xxx, and the S&P 500 was up/down xxx, or xxx%, to xxx.