Midday Fly By: U.S. oil majors rise on Venezuela news, Versant completes spinoff

The major averages were broadly higher near noon as the markets begin their first full trading week of the year. Energy and defense stocks have been among the early leaders after a dramatic weekend in geopolitics. The United States captured Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, and traders appear to be pricing in potential long-term implications for U.S. oil access and defense spending, even as oil prices themselves have been mixed.

The geopolitical shock has added a dose of uncertainty but has not triggered broad market panic. Instead, some investors are seeing it as a catalyst for sector rotation. Major U.S. oil companies and energy services firms are outperforming, while safe-haven assets like gold have jumped to multi-week highs as uncertainty rises. Precious metals are drawing renewed interest, with gold climbing nearly 3% towards a record high, reflecting traditional haven demand as geopolitical risk reenters the market picture.

At the same time, the U.S. dollar has strengthened against major currencies as traders look past weekend developments toward a busy week of economic data including employment and manufacturing reports that could reshape the outlook for Federal Reserve policy in 2026.

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

1. STOCK NEWS:

• Shares of oil majors Chevron (CVX), Halliburton (HAL), Exxon Mobil (XOM), and Baker Hughes (BKR) were rising af the U.S. is expected to be “strongly involved” in Venezuela’s oil
• Versant (VSNT) has completed its spin-off from Comcast (CMCSA) and has commenced trading on Nasdaq
• Novo Nordisk’s (NVO) Wegovy pill is now available in the U.S.
• QXO (QXO) announced a $1.2B convertible equity investment led by Apollo Global (APO)
• Toyota (TM) reported Q4 North America auto sales rose 8.1%

2. WALL STREET CALLS:

• IBM (IBM) upgraded to Buy from Hold at Jefferies
• Fortive (FTV) downgraded to Underperform from Outperform at Mizuho
• Costco (COST) upgraded to Outperform at Mizuho
• Adobe (ADBE) downgraded to Hold at Jefferies
• Duolingo (DUOL) upgraded to Buy at BofA on underappreciated entertainment value

3. AROUND THE WEB:

• Australia’s BlueScope Steel (BLSFY) said on Monday it received an $8.78B takeover proposal from an investor group comprising billionaire Kerry Stokes-owned SGH and Steel Dynamics (STLD), Reuters reports
• Samsung (SSNLF) plans to double the number of mobile devices it produces with the “Galaxy AI” feature, which is powered by Google’s (GOOGL) Gemini, Reuters says
• London is set to become the first city where both U.S. and Chinese robotaxis operate, as Waymo (GOOGL) and Baidu (BIDU) prepare to launch their robotaxis in the city in 2026, FT reports
• Cisco (CSCO) is in advanced talks to acquire cybersecurity company Axonius for $2B, CTech reports
• Palo Alto Networks (PANW) is in talks to acquire Israeli cybersecurity startup Koi for $400M, CTech reports

4. MOVERS:

• GH Research (GHRS) increases after U.S. FDA lifted the clinical hold on its Investigational New Drug Application for GH001
• Altimmune (ALT) gains after receiving the U.S. FDA Breakthrough Therapy Designation for pemvidutide
• Kosmos (KOS) higher after providing an operational update
• Zenas BioPharma (ZBIO) lower after announcing its Phase 3 INDIGO trial of obexelimab met its primary endpoint
• Omnicom (OMC) falls after BofA downgraded the stock to Underperform

5. EARNINGS/GUIDANCE

• AmpliTech Group (AMPG) provided guidance for FY25 and FY26
• Healthy Choice Wellness (HCWC) reported revenue for FY25
• Crinetics (CRNX) reported Q4 PALSONIFY U.S. preliminary net product revenue
• Commercial Metals (CMC) to report Q1 results on January 8, 2026
• PriceSmart (PSMT) to report Q1 results on January 7, 2026

INDEXES:

Near midday, the Dow was up 1.50%, or 725.13, to 49,107.52, the Nasdaq was up 0.91%, or 211.90, to 23,447.53, and the S&P 500 was up 0.85%, or 58.33, to 6,916.80.