Midday Fly By: Trump ups worldwide tariff to 15%, Gilead buying Arcellx

The major averages were sharply lower, with the Big Three indices all slipping 1% or more following the latest updates on the tariff front. After the Supreme Court struck down broad tariff authority previously used by the administration, the ruling also introduced uncertainty around trade policy when the administration promptly announced a new 15 % global tariff plan under a different statute.

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The tariff developments have spilled over into currency and commodity markets, with the U.S. dollar softening and safe haven assets such as gold and silver seeing support as traders brace for policy-driven volatility and reposition for uncertainty.

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

1. STOCK NEWS:

• President Trump raised the so-called “Worldwide tariff” on countries to 15% from 10%
• Meanwhile, Trump demanded that Netflix (NFLX) fire board member Susan Rice or “pay the consequences”
• Novo Nordisk (NVO) said its REDEFINE 4 trial did not achieve its primary endpoint
• Gilead (GILD) (ACLX) in a deal with an implied equity value of $7.8B payable at closing
• Domino’s Pizza (DPZ) reported mixed Q4 results and raised its quarterly dividend 15%

2. WALL STREET CALLS:

• Alphabet (GOOGL) upgraded to Overweight at Wells Fargo
• Aletheia (NVDA) to Buy into Q4 earnings report
• Deere (DE) downgraded to Underperform at Jefferies
• VF Corp. (VFC) downgraded to Underweight at JPMorgan
• York Space Systems (YSS) initiated with mostly Buy and equivalent ratings as Wall Street rolls out coverage

3. AROUND THE WEB:

• Apple (AAPL) CEO Tim Cook’s increased mentions of Visual Intelligence, AI technology that can see the surrounding environment and use that context to take action, hint it will be a major part of Apple’s new wearables, Bloomberg says
• Merck (MRK) is planning to split its human-health business into two divisions, one that will house its cancer drugs and the other will sell noncancer products, WSJ reports
• JPMorgan (JPM) CEO is looking to persuade investors that spending $2B a week is necessary to drive the bank’s future growth after previously telling shareholders to “trust him” that the investment would pay off, FT says
• Paramount Skydance (PSKY) is preparing to submit an improved offer above $30/share for Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) by Monday’s 11:59p.m. ET deadline, aiming to outbid Netflix (NFLX), Variety reports
• Investor Ed Garden has built a stake in Fortune Brands Innovations (FBIN) and is seeking to replace incoming CEO Amit Banati, citing concerns about leadership, WSJ says

4. MOVERS:

• Enhabit (EHAB) increases after entering an agreement to be acquired by Kinderhook Industries in an all-cash transaction for a total of $1.1B
• Vanda Pharmaceuticals (VNDA) gains after the FDA approved Bysanti tablets
• PayPal (PYPL) higher after Bloomberg reported the company is drawing takeover interest
• Satellogic (SATL) falls after announcing the launch of Aleph Observer
• DocuSign (DOCU) lower after Jefferies downgraded the stock to Hold

5. EARNINGS/GUIDANCE:

• Dominion (D) reported Q4 results and provided guidance for FY26
• Emera (EMA) reported Q4 results, with CEO Scott Balfour commenting, “Without question, 2025 was a strong year for Emera”
• Freshpet (FRPT) reported Q4 results, with EPS beating consensus
• Freightos (CRGO) reported Q4 results and provided guidance for Q1 and FY26
• Axsome Therapeutics (AXSM) reported Q4 results, with EPS and revenue beating consensus

INDEXES:

Near midday, the Dow was down 1.45%, or 717.60, to 48,908.37, the Nasdaq was down 1.11%, or 253.14, to 22,632.92, and the S&P 500 was down 1.00%, or 69.12, to 6,840.39.