Chicago Bulls Dennis Rodman (91) and Michael Jordan (23) in action, rebounding vs Charlotte Hornets

A rebound for the Bulls (David E. Klutho/Getty Images)

Stocks continue to climb as tech and hyperscalers rise

Tech continued its rally ahead of tonight’s Nvidia earnings.

The S&P 500, Nasdaq 100, and Russell 2000 extended yesterday’s rally as investors resumed a risk-on posture. Every Magnificent 7 stock climbed higher, and tech was the best-performing sector while industrials fared the worst.

In the longest State of the Union address on record last night, President Trump said tech companies will pay more for electricity in areas where they build data centers, with Alphabet, Amazon, Meta, Microsoft, Oracle, OpenAI, and xAI planning to agree at a March 4 White House event to “build, bring, or buy” the power they use.

Bitcoin also bounced back following Trump’s address. Crypto assets and crypto-adjacent companies continued to rise today after stablecoin issuer Circle soared on a strong earnings report this morning. Altcoins ethereum, XRP, solana, dogecoin, hype, chainlink, and avalanche all rose.

Stocks that moved higher:

Cava skyrocketed after reporting same-store sales growth of 0.5%, beating forecasts for a 1.1% decline.
Netflix rose as Paramount’s new bid for Warner Bros. Discovery shifted the outlook of the bidding war for Warner Bros.
Western Digital and Seagate Technology Holdings jumped ahead of Nvidia’s earnings report.
A rise in crypto sentiment sent the following companies higher: bitcoin treasury firms Strategy and Strive Inc.; ethereum treasury firms BitMine Immersion Technologies, SharpLink Gaming, and Bit Digital; solana treasury firms Upexi and DeFi Development Corp.; miners MARA Holdings and Riot Platforms; and crypto trading platforms Coinbase and Robinhood. (Robinhood Markets Inc. is the parent company of Sherwood Media, an independently operated media company subject to certain legal and regulatory restrictions.)
Lithium miners Albemarle Corp., Lithium Argentina, Lithium Americas, Mineral Resources, and Sociedad Quimica y Minera jumped after Zimbabwe suspended its export of all raw minerals and lithium concentrates.
Recursion Pharmaceuticals soared after posting better-than-expected Q4 results and larger-than-expected cash reserves.
Klarna shot higher after announcing 55 million monthly active users and a 53% increase in engagement from 2025.
Axon soared after Q4 adjusted earnings per share beat estimates by 38%.
Energy companies Talen Energy, Constellation Energy, and Vistra rose after Trump announced data center electricity deals in his State of the Union address.
Uber rose amid plans to roll out robotaxis in 10 markets.
Joby Aviation ticked higher after announcing plans to offer air taxi rides via Uber’s app in Dubai this year.

Stocks that moved lower:

First Solar tumbled after its sales guidance of $4.9 billion to $5.2 billion fell way short of estimates.
Driven Brands cratered after delaying the release of its Q4 financials, saying that the previous results contained material errors.
Cancer diagnostics company and sometimes retail shareholder favorite Tempus AI reported soft Q4 adjusted EBITDA numbers after the bell yesterday, sending shares lower.
Oddity Tech plummeted after saying Q1 revenues will be down 30% year on year, blaming algorithm changes by its advertising partner.
GoDaddy tumbled as underwhelming revenue guidance overshadowed solid Q4 earnings.
Shares of Diageo got crushed as the company slashed its dividend and cut annual sales and profit guidance.
Molson Coors sank as Bank of America downgraded the stock to “underperform” from “neutral,” cutting its price target to $42 from $50.
Lowe’s dropped after its earnings forecast underwhelmed, overshadowing its 2% adjusted EPS beat in Q4.

Luke Kawa5h

Nvidia’s strong results, guidance lift AI ecosystem

Data center stocks Applied Digital, IREN, CoreWeave, and Nebius as well as foundry giant TSMC and optical communications company Corning are catching a bid in after-hours trading thanks to strong results and guidance from Nvidia.

The chip designer’s massive outlook for Q1 sales — with the midpoint at $78 billion, versus a consensus estimate of $72.8 billion — underscores the magnitude of the near-term demand for AI compute and chips. As if the hyperscalers’ massive capex budgets hadn’t already done that!

To be sure, the advances in these stocks in after-hours trading are fairly mild, since most had been on fire in recent sessions in anticipation of a strong quarter.

Nvidia rises after better than expected Q4 results, big upside surprise in Q1 sales guidance

To be sure, the advances in these stocks in after-hours trading are fairly mild, since most had been on fire in recent sessions in anticipation of a strong quarter.

Luke Kawa

Nvidia rises after better-than-expected Q4 results, big upside surprise in Q1 sales guidance

The chip designer delivered its 13th consecutive bottom-line beat and 14th on the top line.

Max Knoblauch5h

Joby posts smaller loss, larger cash pile than expected in Q4, says it expects US early operations to begin this year

Air taxi maker Joby Aviation reported its fourth-quarter earnings after the bell on Wednesday. Shares climbed more than 3% in after-hours trading.

The company posted a loss of $0.14 per share, beating estimates of a $0.20 loss.

Joby ended the fourth quarter with $1.41 billion in cash (and cash equivalents), compared to Wall Street expectations of $1.01 billion.

Investors have closely watched Joby’s progress with FAA certification, which will be the determining factor for launching commercial air taxi services in the US. As of the end of Q4, Joby said it is 80% complete with the fourth stage of its five-stage certification process, up from 77% in the third quarter. Joby is 12% complete with the fifth stage, up from 10% in Q3.

Earlier on Wednesday, Joby announced it plans to partner with Uber to offer air taxi rides on the ride-hailing app in Dubai later this year. The companies already partner on Blade helicopter rides.

Joby also said it expects US early operations to begin this year, with the White House’s eVTOL (electric vertical takeoff and landing) Integration Pilot Program “set to select at least five sites for mature eVTOL aircraft to begin operating ahead of Type Certification.”

Matt Phillips5h

The Trade Desk plunges on weak Q1 sales guidance

Ad tech platform The Trade Desk offered weak Q1 sales guidance as part of its Q4 earnings numbers, sending the stock down sharply after-hours on Wednesday.

The advertising software company reported:

Adjusted Q4 earnings per share of $0.59 vs. the $0.58 consensus estimate, per FactSet.
Q4 revenue of $847 million vs. the $840.6 million expectation.
Q1 sales guidance of “at least” $678 million vs. Wall Street’s $688.6 million expectation.

The Trade Desk specializes in helping client advertisers shift their ads from traditional linear television toward online streaming services. And the shares posted some impressive gains at times, rising more than 400% over five years starting at the end of 2019.

But the company’s shares have cratered in recent years, in part because of a daunting competitive threat from Amazon’s demand-side advertising platform. Through Wednesday’s close, the stock was down roughly 80% from where it was trading at the end of 2024.

Max Knoblauch5h

Paramount misses on earnings and revenue in its fourth-quarter report

Paramount Skydance reported underwhelming fourth-quarter earnings after the bell on Wednesday, in the midst of its attempt to win the Warner Bros. Discovery bidding war.

For the last three months of 2025, Paramount reported:

An adjusted loss of $0.12 per share, compared to Bloomberg estimates of $0.07 earnings per share.
Revenue of $8.1 billion, missing Wall Street’s expectations of $8.15 billion.

Looking ahead, the company expects Q1 revenue of between $7.15 billion and $7.35 billion, below the $7.39 billion Wall Street consensus estimate.

Earlier this week, Paramount hiked its offer for Warner Bros. to $31 per share. Warner’s board, which has rejected Paramount’s acquisition attempts several times in recent months, said it’s reviewing the new bid.

If WBD determines the Paramount deal to be a superior offer, Netflix will have four days to match it, beat it, or exit the process. Paramount shares have fallen 24% since it made its initial offer for WBD in December.