Midday Fly By: TikTok forms U.S. JV, Intel guidance underwhelms

The major averages were mixed near noon, with pressure in tech fueled by Intel’s sharp slide following a weak outlook from the chipmaker. The mixed midday standings cap off a volatile week that has reflected shifting investor sentiment around geopolitics, earnings, and economic data.

Looking to commodities, gold continues to reach record highs, with the “safe haven” asset approaching the $5,000 threshold. Meanwhile, oil prices were sharply higher following yesterday’s declines as traders await more news coming out of Venezuela.

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

1. STOCK NEWS:

• TikTok is forming a U.S. joint venture with Oracle (ORCL) to comply with President Trump’s executive order
• Intel (INTC) reported better-than-expected Q4 results but provided a conservative guidance for Q1
• Capital One (COF) reported mixed Q4 results and agreed to acquire Brex for $5.15B
• Tech firms have been told by China to begin preparing orders for Nvidia’s (NVDA) H200 AI chips, Bloomberg reports
• SLM (SLM) reported better-than-expected Q4 earnings

2. WALL STREET CALLS:

• Starbucks (SBUX) upgraded to Outperform from Market Perform at William Blair
• Melius upgraded Darden (DRI) to Buy from Hold on value discipline
• Procter & Gamble (PG) upgraded to Overweight from Neutral at JPMorgan
• Li Auto (LI) downgraded to Hold from Buy at Jefferies
• Trade Desk (TTD) downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform at Citizens

3. AROUND THE WEB:

• Beijing is deepening an investigation into Meta‘s (META) acquisition of Chinese-founded AI startup Manus, Bloomberg says
• UBS (UBS) intends to make cryptocurrency investing available for private banking clients, with the company currently in the process of selecting partners for a crypto offering, Bloomberg says
• Netflix (NFLX) co-CEO Greg Peters said the company is on track to win the backing of Warner Bros. (WBD) shareholders for its $82.7B offer for the company, FT reports
• Citigroup (C) plans to lay off more employees in March following a round of about 1,000 job cuts this month, Reuters says
• A batch of technology companies, including C3 AI (AI), Bill Holdings (BILL), GitLab (GTLB), and Datadog (DDOG), appear to be candidates to attract buyout offers, Barron’s says

4. MOVERS:

• Life360 (LIF) higher after providing guidance for FY25
• Ericsson (ERIC) increases in New York after reporting Q4 results and announcing a proposed raise to its dividend
• Fortinet (FTNT) gains after TD Cowen upgraded the stock to Buy
• Streamex (STEX) falls after delivering a prepayment notice for convertible debenture financing
• Bausch Health (BHC) lower in New York after announcing its Phase 3 RED-C program did not meet its primary endpoint

5. EARNINGS/GUIDANCE

• Booz Allen (BAH) reported Q3 results and narrowed its guidance for FY26
• Webster Financial (WBS) reported Q4 results, with EPS and revenue beating consensus
• La Rosa Holdings (LRHC) reported preliminary FY25 revenue
• First Citizens (FCNCA) reported Q4 results, with CEO Frank Holding, Jr. commenting, “We delivered solid return metrics in the fourth quarter”
• SLB (SLB) reported Q4 results, with EPS and revenue beating consensus

INDEXES:

Near midday, the Dow was down 0.51%, or 253.81, to 49,130.20, the Nasdaq was up 0.50%, or 116.13, to 23,552.15, and the S&P 500 was up 0.11%, or 7.37, to 6,920.72.