Major U.S. Indices Decline as Walmart Announces $30B Buyback Plan

The major averages were lower near noon, giving back some of the gains from Wednesday as investors respond to the latest slate of quarterly earnings reports and continue to monitor tensions between the U.S. and Iran. There also remain growing concerns about lingering uncertainty over the Federal Reserve's rate path.Looking to commodities, gold was fractionally higher near noon, with the "safe haven" asset hovering above the $5,000 threshold. Oil rose amid the tensions in Iran.Get caught up quickly on the top news and calls moving stocks with these five Top Five lists.1. STOCK NEWS:Walmartreported, provided its outlook for Q1 and FY27, announced a new $30B share buyback program, and raised its quarterly dividendeBayreportedand agreed to acquire Depop from Etsyfor $1.2B in cashMeanwhile, EtsyreportedDeerereportedand provided its outlook for FY26DoorDashreported2. WALL STREET CALLS:Chewyto Outperform at Raymond JamesDaiwaVerizonto Buy from Outperform and T-Mobileto Outperform from NeutralShopifyto Buy at Phillip SecuritiesCheesecake Factoryto Equal Weight at StephensFiverrto Neutral at JPMorgan and Citi3. AROUND THE WEB:Snowcap is short Sterling Infrastructure, which it calls "a poster child for the AI bubble in public markets"Kinetik, a $7.2B gas pipeline operator with roughly 4,600 miles of pipeline in the Delaware Basin, is considering a sale following interest from Western Midstream Partners, backed by Occidental Petroleum, FT saysUberplans to tighten its driver background check policies following a New York Times investigation that found drivers with certain older violent convictions were approved in some states, NYT reportsMetaplans to spend $65M to boost state politicians who are friendly to the A.I. industry, NY Times saysThe DOJ has summoned large theater chains to discuss the potential impact of a sale of Warner Bros. Discovery, with government antitrust lawyers seeking information on how a sale would impact the movie-going public and film releases in theaters, Bloomberg reports4. MOVERS:Remitlyincreases afterand appointing Sebastian Gunningham as CEOHerbalifegains afterand announcing Cristiano Ronaldo invested $7.5M in Pro2col technologyTalkspaceand Omnicomhigher afterCorcept Therapeuticsfalls after the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuitin a patent case with TevaEpam Systemand N-ablelower after5. EARNINGS/GUIDANCE:Integer, with CEO Payman Khales commenting, "Integer delivered strong performance in 2025"Travelzooand providing guidance for Q1Klarna, with revenue beating consensusUpbound Groupand providing guidance for Q1 and FY26LKQ Corp., with CEO Justin Jude commenting "Throughout 2025, our team relentlessly focused on what we could control, resulting in significant free cash flow generation despite sector headwinds across our global enterprise"INDEXES:Near midday, the Dow was down 0.59%, or 294.94, to 49,367.72, the Nasdaq was down 0.38%, or 87.21, to 22,666.42, and the S&P 500 was down 0.41%, or 28.52, to 6,852.79.