Markets Rise Amid Geopolitical Headlines
Markets are higher near noon as geopolitical headlines remain at the center of the tape. The conflict in the Middle East has entered its fifth day and while there have been reports Iran has made indirect contact about potential talks, feeding some risk appetite, uncertainty around the durability of any de-escalation continues to drive positioning. The energy complex continues to influence the broader market's direction as the easing in the recent oil price surge has provided a tailwind, but traders are still cautious amid the ongoing Iran conflict.Global equity markets outside the U.S. are showing stress, with Asian markets taking a particularly severe hit. South Korea's benchmark index experienced one of its largest historical selloffs and other major Asian indices like Japan's Nikkei and Taiwan's TAIEX traded materially lower as well.Get caught up quickly on the top news and calls moving stocks with these five Top Five lists.1. STOCK NEWS:Applecontinued a week of, with the latest being the MacBook Neo laptopA subsidiary of Roivant Sciencesand Arbutus Biopharmaentered into a COVID-19with Modernaworth up to $2.25BRoss Storesreported a, raised its quarterly dividend and approved a new two-year $2.55B stock repurchase planCoreWeaveannounced awith Perplexity to support its inference workloadsFordwere down 5.5% year-over-year in February to 149,962 vehicles2. WALL STREET CALLS:BofATeslaat Buy as the "leader" of the next era of mobilityTargetto Outperform at Telsey Advisory and to Market Perform at BernsteinPiper Sandlerto Outperform at NorthlandLegalZoomto Underweight at BarclaysFirst Solarto Hold at GLJ Research on weak guidance3. AROUND THE WEB:AmazonPublisher Services, which helps websites run ad auctions, is exploring offering technology to help other apps and sites sell ads in AI chatbots, The Information saysOpenAI is developing an alternative to Microsoft'sGitHub, The Information reportsMetais testing a shopping research feature for its AI chatbot that will allow requests for product suggestions, Bloomberg saysThe White House is debating if it will allow Tencentto maintain stakes in popular video game groups, FT reportsDraftKing'sstrategy to become a prediction market leader is to copy the formula it used to dominate the online sports betting industry, WSJ reports4. MOVERS:SCHMIDgains in New York afterthe first specialized InfinityLine H+ systemEvolushigher afterand providing guidance for FY26Babcock & Wilcoxincreases afterand announcing it has received full notice to proceed on a $2.4B design-build agreement with Base ElectronIndie Semiconductorfalls after filing to sell $150M ofGitLablower afterand authorizing a $400M share repurchase program5. EARNINGS/GUIDANCEAbercrombie & Fitchand provided guidance for Q1 and FY26Holleywith EPS missing consensusDycom, with CEO Dan Peyovich commenting, "Our strong fourth quarter performance closed a record year for Dycom"Bath & Body Works, with EPS and revenue beating consensusBayerand provided guidance for FY26INDEXES:Near midday, the Dow was up 0.68%, or 329.64, to 48,830.91, the Nasdaq was up 1.46%, or 329.81, to 22,846.51, and the S&P 500 was up 0.87%, or 59.51, to 6,876.14.
