UBS downgraded U.S. equities to “benchmark” due to concerns about a weaker dollar, artificial intelligence challenges, and persistent inflation at home. The global equity strategist at UBS, Andrew Garthwaite, argued that the factors that contributed to years of U.S. stock outperformance are starting to fade. Corporate buybacks, a significant support for EPS growth, are also dwindling in the U.S., and UBS anticipates the euro will rise to $1.22 by the end of Q1.
President Trump stated that although he would prefer not to attack Iran, “sometimes you have to”. His comments come after expressing frustration at Iran’s refusal to comply with American demands to curb its nuclear programme. Furthermore, the U.S. embassy in Jerusalem permitted non-emergency U.S. government personnel and their family members to leave Israel due to safety concerns.
OpenAI CEO, Sam Altman, is seeking to help de-escalate tensions between Anthropic and the Department of Defense. This follows rival Anthropic’s resistance to give the Pentagon permission to use its AI models in all lawful use cases without limitation.
Dell Technologies saw a stock increase of 12% following a remarkable quarter, largely credited to the AI buildout. CoreWeave stocks, however, took a hit in light of ambitious 2026 spending plans. Other major losers include Zscaler, with shares down 11% premarket, and fintech company Block, which announced layoffs of about half its workforce.
Prominent winners included Anthropic, with intra-day stocks climbing after support from OpenAI, Netflix, which saw a 10% increase in shares, and Dell, whose shares rose by 22% due to impressive Q4 results.
Amid wider market performance, the Dow, S&P, and Nasdaq all experienced fluctuations. Lack of specific data provided.
Concerns were raised around Coreweave’s sustainability due to its business model, which relies on debt to finance the purchases of AI Nvidia chips that it rents out. Despite this, Coreweave’s CEO, Mike Intrator, defended the company’s spending plans and brushed off worries about profitability.
Sources:
UBS downgrades the U.S. stock market. Here’s what has the investment bank worried
Trump says he’d ‘love not to’ attack Iran, ‘but sometimes you have to’
Sam Altman aims to ‘help de-escalate’ tensions with Pentagon as OpenAI employees voice support for Anthropic
Jim Cramer’s top 10 things to watch in the stock market Friday
Stocks making the biggest moves midday: Bank stocks, Netflix, Duolingo, AES, Sunrun and more
Bill Clinton on Jeffrey Epstein: ‘I saw nothing, and I did nothing wrong’
CoreWeave CEO defends spending plans, tries to combat debt narrative as stock plummets nearly 20%
Block cuts about half its workforce — how to move forward after a mass layoff, career experts say
Epstein files: Rep. Mace says she’ll call Trump Commerce chief Lutnick to testify
Here’s what drove big moves in our top and bottom stocks over the past month
Leave a Reply