Stocks rose on Thursday, extending their gains from the previous session after easing geopolitical fears sparked a broad-based market rally.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average traded higher by 406 points, or 0.8%, effectively recovering all of its losses seen earlier this week following President Donald Trump’s new Europe tariffs announcement. The S&P 500 climbed 0.7%, and the Nasdaq Composite advanced 1%, supported by gains in Nvidia, Microsoft and Meta Platforms.
Major U.S. stock averages jumped Wednesday after Trump said he would no longer impose new tariffs on the imports of eight European nations that were set to begin Feb. 1 and announced reaching a deal “framework” over Greenland.
Trump, who has been relentlessly pushing for U.S. control of Greenland in recent weeks, said Wednesday on Truth Social that he and NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte have “formed the framework of a future deal with respect to Greenland.” The president later told CNBC that “we have a concept of a deal” with the Arctic island.
Stocks were already rising after the U.S. president earlier said in a speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, that he would not move to acquire Greenland by force. The S&P 500, Dow and Nasdaq all advanced more than 1%. The Russell 2000 index of small-cap stocks gained about 2% and notched a record close.
“The Greenland crisis appears to be defusing and reversing the recent sell-off, although details are still forthcoming around the ‘framework,'” said Eric Teal, chief investment officer for Comerica Wealth Management. He said that the relief rally sparked significant gains in traditional value sectors such as financials and energy stocks.
While equities rose in the wake of the deal “framework” announcement, the situation appears far from over. On Thursday, Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen viewed Trump’s discussion on Arctic security with Rutte as “good and natural” and said that the country is ready to hold talks with the U.S. on its “Golden Dome” missile defense plan. However, she stressed that sovereignty is non-negotiable.
“The Kingdom of Denmark wishes to continue to engage in a constructive dialogue with allies on how we can strengthen security in the Arctic, including the US’s Golden Dome, provided that this is done with respect for our territorial integrity,” Frederiksen said.
Hyatt downgraded at Evercore
Evercore ISI is moving to the sidelines on Hyatt, downgrading the stock to in line from outperform.
The risk-reward now feels more balanced and estimates are not improving, analyst Duane Pfennigwerth said in a note Thursday.
“The concerns around Playa real estate have been addressed (now sold) and the anticipated credit-card renewal is now baked (though perhaps some cleanup is needed in Street estimates),” he wrote. “Distribution segment (27% of revenue) profitability has declined 42% since 2022, while Americas ex-U.S. RevPAR (~17% of rooms, including all-inclusive) has flattened following a period of +HSD growth.”
Pfennigwerth also increased his price target on the stock to $175 from $170, implying about 9% upside from Wednesday’s close.
— Michelle Fox
Inflation stood at 2.8% in November, Fed’s main gauge shows
Inflation drifted slightly further from the Federal Reserve’s target in November though in line with expectations, according to the central bank’s preferred gauge released Thursday.
The personal consumption expenditures price index, a Commerce Department measure the central bank uses as its main forecasting tool, showed inflation at 2.8% for the month, in line with the Dow Jones consensus.
In addition, the department’s Bureau of Economic Analysis reported that the rate for October was 2.7% on both a headline and core basis, the latter excluding volatile food and energy prices. Read more.
— Jeff Cox
Stifel upgrades Datadog to buy, lowers price target
Stifel has a positive outlook on Datadog.
The bank upgraded the software company to buy from hold and lowered its price target to $160 from $205.The new estimate still implies 22% gains from Wednesday’s close.
Analyst Brad Reback expects Datadog to post better-than-expected earnings next month. He sees the company reporting more than 23% growth.
Shares were up 6% in morning trading Thursday.
Last quarter, Datadog beat analyst expectations and grew revenue 28% year over year. While competition and acquisitions in the cloud platform space have caused concerns among analysts, Reback remains optimistic.
“While Palo’s acquisition of Chronosphere and Snowflake’s recent acquisition of Observe play into the negative narrative around the crowding in the observability space and that pricing will continue to broadly compress, given the time it will take to integrate these acquisitions into their respective organizations as well as the time to adapt to the new GTM strategy/buyer, we believe the near-term impact on Datadog’s growth rate should be limited,” Reback wrote.
“Over the medium term, we note that DDOG has effectively worked with customers to ensure value based pricing and we think the platforms overall ease of use should enable the company to at least sustain current growth rates,” he added.
— Itzel Franco
Stocks open higher
The three leading U.S. indexes began Thursday’s session in positive territory.
The S&P 500 rose 0.7% just after the opening bell, while the Nasdaq Composite jumped 1%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 405 points, or 0.8%.
— Sean Conlon
Abbott Laboratories, McCormick, Mobileye Global among the stocks making premarket moves
Here are some of the names moving before the opening bell:
- Abbott Laboratories — The maker of glucose monitoring systems and other medical devices tumbled 5% after fourth-quarter revenue and first-quarter earnings per share guidance both trailed Wall Street estimates, according to FactSet data.
- McCormick — The spice maker sank 6.3% after its adjusted earnings of 86 cents per share fell short of the 88 cents expected from analysts polled by FactSet. Revenue came in at $1.85 billion, slightly above the $1.84 billion consensus estimate.
- Mobileye Global — Shares lost nearly 6% after the maker of autonomous vehicle tech’s full-year guidance disappointed investors. Mobileye expects revenue to come in between $1.9 and $1.98 billion, versus the $2 billion FactSet consensus estimate. Its guidance for adjusted operating income also fell short of expectations.
To see other stocks making premarket moves, read the full story here.
— Michelle Fox
U.S. economy grew at a 4.4% pace in Q3, better than expected
The U.S. economy expanded at a slightly faster than expected period in the third quarter, the Commerce Department reported Thursday.
Gross domestic product rose at a 4.4% annualized pace for the July-through-September period, up 0.1 percentage point from the prior estimate and better than the 3.8% in the second quarter, according to numbers adjusted for seasonality and inflation.
The uptick reflected higher revisions in consumer spending, exports, government and investment. Also, imports decreased amid the ongoing global tariff skirmish between the U.S. and its trading partners.
Consumer spending, which accounts for more than two-thirds of all U.S. economic activity, rose at a 3.5% rate for the quarter. Final sales to domestic purchasers, a proxy for demand across the $31 trillion economy, accelerated at a 6.3% rate, the highest since Q3 of 2023.
The stellar year for U.S. growth is expected to continue through the fourth quarter. The Atlanta Federal Reserve’s GDPNow running tracker of incoming data is putting the Q4 figure at 5.4%.
— Jeff Cox
Jobless claims flat as trend hits two-year low
Initial jobless claims were little changed last week, continuing a low-layoff trend that is putting a floor under the labor market.
First-time filings for unemployment benefits totaled a seasonally adjusted 200,000 for the week ended Jan. 17, up 1,000 from the prior week and below the Dow Jones consensus estimate for 208,000, according to a Labor Department report Thursday. On a four-week moving basis, claims have averaged 201,500, the lowest since Jan. 13, 2024.
Continuing claims, which run a week behind, edged lower to 1.85 million, down 26,000 from a week ago. The FactSet consensus was for 1.89 million.
— Jeff Cox
Five takeaways from Trump’s CNBC interview
President Donald Trump on Wednesday gave an interview to CNBC’s Joe Kernen on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
The conversation came hours after Trump addressed foreign leaders and business executives in Davos, and shortly after he made headlines by announcing he had “formed the framework of a future deal with respect to Greenland,” the Danish-owned island that he had insisted must belong to the United States.
Read here for the top five takeaways.
— Garrett Downs
BTIG says buy Sphere Entertainment
Shares of Sphere Entertainment have more room to run as the company’s long-term growth strategy becomes clearer, according to BTIG.
The investment firm upgraded the live entertainment and media company to buy from neutral. BTIG’s newly established $110 price target is approximately 18% above Wednesday’s close.
Sphere Entertainment stock has surged 124% over the past 12 months.
Analyst Tyler DiMatteo said Sphere’s momentum continues to accelerate after the company announced this week that it would expand its U.S. portfolio by building a second venue in Washington, D.C. This could imply between $30 million to $50 million per year of “high margin revenue.” In contrast to the Vegas venue, which has 20,000 seats, this D.C. space will seat 6,000.
CNBC Pro subscribers can read more here.
— Lisa Kailai Han
Procter & Gamble shares fall after latest quarterly results
Procter & Gamble on Thursday reported mixed quarterly results as demand for its Gillette razors and Pampers diapers fell.
Shares of the company fell more than 2% in premarket trading. Read more.
— Amelia Lucas
Tariff tensions cool after business leaders tell CNBC Europe must consider retaliating against Trump’s ‘blackmail’
Tariff tensions have cooled after business groups told CNBC that the EU must consider retaliatory measures in response to U.S. President Donald Trump’s threats to impose tariffs on the bloc.
The EU has frozen its EU-US trade deal in response to Trump announcing plans to impose 10% tariffs on six EU nations, alongside the U.K. and Norway from Feb. 1 on Saturday. There were calls for the bloc to consider using its anti-coercion instrument (ACI), a set of measures that allow it to impose sweeping trade sanctions, before Trump announced a tariff climbdown on Wednesday evening.
“All EU trade defense instruments — including the Anti-Coercion Instrument (ACI) — must now be reviewed,” Volker Treier, chief executive of foreign trade at the German Chamber of Commerce and Industry (DIHK), which represents nearly 4 million businesses, told CNBC on Wednesday afternoon. He added that the ACI should be a “last resort.” Read more.
— Tasmin Lockwood
European markets advance at the open after Trump’s Greenland ‘deal’
European stocks advanced on Thursday after U.S. President Donald Trump said a “framework” agreement had been reached over Greenland, and called off imposing escalating tariffs on a group of European countries.
The pan-European Stoxx 600 was 1.13% higher shortly after the opening bell in London.
— Tasmin Lockwood
GameStop shares rise in extended trading as CEO buys more shares
GameStop CEO and chairman Ryan Cohen snapped up more of the video game retailer’s shares, according to a Wednesday regulatory filing.
The executive bought 500,000 shares at a weighted average price of $21.60 each on Wednesday, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. That’s in addition to a purchase of 500,000 shares he made on Tuesday.
In this latest SEC filing, Cohen said it is “essential” for the CEO of a public company to purchase that company’s shares with his or her own personal funds “in order to strengthen alignment with stockholders.”
CEOs who fail to do so “should be fired,” the filing went on.
Shares rose about 3% in extended trading.
— Darla Mercado, Yun Li
Intel shares pop to highest level since Jan. 2022 ahead of quarterly results out Thursday
Investors are piling into Intel ahead of the chipmaker’s quarterly earnings report scheduled for after Thursday’s market close.
The stock jumped more than 11% on Wednesday, touching its highest level since January 2022. Much of the bullish sentiment is driven by enthusiasm on Intel’s latest server chips, as well as investments last year from the U.S. government and Nvidia into Intel.
Ben Reitzes, head of technology research at Melius Research, wrote in a note to clients that Intel’s strong performance could signal more value ahead for its foundry business.
“Since Lip-Bu Tan was announced as CEO, shares of Intel have risen about 160%, with most of that performance coming since September when shortages started to become a big thing. Intel has the backing of Nvidia and the U.S. Government, who both look very smart right now. Intel is also now part of the vast ‘shortage cohort’ along with Micron, Western Digital and other rocket ships … Surging data center capex is driving up demand for Intel’s server CPUs and advanced packaging assets for chips,” Reitzes wrote.
“There is another issue reverberating throughout ‘the shortage world,’ specific to Intel but forgotten by haters. The more TSMC raises prices and is forced to give Nvidia and Broadcom huge AI chip allocations, the more an elephant like Apple will be forced to engage with Intel for its Foundry,” he added
— Pia Singh
Knight-Swift Transportation drops on fourth-quarter earnings, revenue miss
The truckload carrier sees first quarter adjusted earnings landing between 28 cents to 32 cents per share, compared to the FactSet consensus call for 31 cents a share.
Fourth-quarter results also missed the mark on the top and bottom lines. Knight-Swift reported adjusted earnings of 31 cents per share on revenue of $1.86 billion, while analysts polled by LSEG expected earnings of 36 cents per share on $1.9 billion in revenue.
— Pia Singh
