Midday Fly By: Warner Bros. urges holders to reject Paramount bid

The major averages were mixed near noon following two days of gains as investors take profits and shift focus to this week’s key economic data. Last session’s advance was driven by tech and AI-linked names, with chipmakers and large tech stocks lifting benchmarks to new records. Memory and storage technology stocks, notably, helped support the broader market rally as the industry gathers at CES 2026 in Las Vegas.

Private-sector employment increased in December, though by less than expected, according to data released by payrolls processor ADP. Companies added 41,000 jobs during the month, reversing a revised loss of 29,000 in November and offering some improvement after a period of weakness in the labor market toward the end of 2025. Private payrolls had contracted in three of the four months leading up to December.

Looking to commodities, gold was edging lower, while oil was down roughly 1% after crude numbers from the API and DOE.

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

1. STOCK NEWS:

• Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) is urging shareholders to reject Paramount Skydance’s (PSKY) amended takeover offer, saying the Netflix (NFLX) agreement will offer “superior value”
• JPMorgan (JPM) has cut ties with proxy-advisory firms and will start using an internal AI-powered platform to assist on U.S. company votes, WSJ reports
• Mobileye (MBLY) agreed to acquire Mentee Robotics in a $900M cash and stock deal
• Albertsons (ACI) reported mixed Q3 results and narrowed its FY25 earnings guidance
• Boeing (BA) and Alaska Air (ALK) announced the carrier’s largest airplane order in its history

2. WALL STREET CALLS:

• Barclays upgraded Wayfair (W) on expected market share gains in 2026
• AST SpaceMobile (ASTS) downgraded to Underperform at Scotiabank
• Oppenheimer upgraded McDonald’s (MCD) on “break-out” opportunity in 2026
• First Solar (FSLR) downgraded to Hold from Buy at Jefferies
• Regeneron (REGN) double upgraded to Buy at BofA on more bullish Eylea HD view

3. AROUND THE WEB:

• Chevron (CVX) and Quantum Capital are working together on a bid to purchase the international assets of Lukoil (LUKOY), FT says
• Amazon (AMZN) was accused of listing products from independent retailers without consent, FT reports
• Qualcomm (QCOM) is in discussions with Samsung Electronics (SSNLF) over a contract for manufacturing two-nanometer chips, Reuters reports
• In a recently published report, White Diamond Research says it sees XTI Aerospace (XTIA) “going to $2-$3 this year, depending on the extent of their cost-cutting and Drone Nerds’ revenue growth.”
• The Chinese government this week asked some tech companies to temporarily halt plans to buy Nvidia’s (NVDA) H200 AI chips, The Information reports

4. MOVERS:

• Monte Rosa (GLUE) increases after announcing Phase 1 data of MRT-8102
• Ventyx Biosciences (VTYX) gains after UBS initiated coverage with a Buy rating
• Crinetics (CRNX) higher after announcing a 7.62M share offering
• Datavault (DVLT) lower after entering a marketing collaboration with Riflessi
• Penguin Solutions (PENG) falls after divesting its remaining interest in Zilia Technologies

5. EARNINGS/GUIDANCE

• Apogee Enterprises (APOG) reported Q3 results and cut its guidance for FY26
• UniFirst (UNF) reported Q1 results and reaffirmed its guidance for FY26
• Innovative Eyewear (LUCY) reported preliminary Q4 results
• AAR Corp. (AIR) reported Q2 results, with CEO John Holmes commenting, “AAR delivered another outstanding quarter”
• PSQ Holdings (PSQH) raised its guidance for Q4

INDEXES:

Near midday, the Dow was down 0.18%, or 91.37, to 49,370.71, the Nasdaq was up 0.61%, or 142.74, to 23,689.91, and the S&P 500 was up 0.20%, or 13.74, to 6,958.56.