ALK News & Events

The major averages closed mixed, with the S&P 500 and Nasdaq ending lower despite earlier gains, as oil prices keep rising amid continued conflict in the Middle East. Of note, President Trump said the U.S. is in "serious discussions" with Iran to end its military operations. However, he added that if a peace deal is not reached "shortly" and the Strait of Hormuz is not reopened, the U.S. will "conclude our lovely 'stay' in Iran by blowing up and completely obliterating all of their Electric Generating Plants, Oil Wells and Kharg Island (and possibly all desalinization plants!), which we have purposefully not yet 'touched.'" The comments came after the president stated that Tehran had accepted most of the U.S.'s 15-point plan to end the war.Additionally, Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell said during a discussion at Harvard University that even with rising energy prices, he views inflation expectations as "well anchored beyond the short term." Powell added that he is "optimistic" about the medium- and long-run outlook for the U.S. economy and that the Fed is watching private credit "super carefully."Get caught up quickly on the top news and calls moving stocks with these five Top Five lists.1. STOCK NEWS:SyscoJetro Restaurant Depot for a total enterprise value of $29.1BUberglobal chauffeur service leader BlacklaneAuriniaKezar Life Sciencesfor $6.955 per share in cash plus a non-transferable contingent value rightTJX'sboard raised itsand said it plans $2.5B-$2.75B of share repurchases for FY27Apollois near a deal to acquire Atlantic Aviation from KKR,2. WALL STREET CALLS:CrowdStriketo Outperform from Peer Perform at Wolfe ResearchExpediato Buy from Hold at JefferiesInstacartto Buy from Hold at JefferiesDole, Nomad Foodsto Hold at Deutsche BankStarbuckswith an Underperform at BNP Paribas3. AROUND THE WEB:JetBluetold CNBC it is increasing bag fees amid soaring fuel pricesGeneral Motorsis moving to a six days per week production schedule at its Flint plant, Reuters saysBanks led by JPMorganare dealing with pushback related to the terms of a $7.2B debt deal to fund Clayton, Dubilier & Rice's takeover of Sealed Air, Bloomberg reportsYouTubeemployees have admitted their goal was "viewer addiction" and shut down proposed safety tools for kids since they did not provide a sufficient return on investment, NY Post saysAn analysis of billions of anonymized credit card transactions by consumer transaction analysis company Indagari indicates that Claude is seeing record growth in paid subscribers, with subscriptions more than doubling this year according to Anthropic, TechCrunch says4. MOVERS:Compass Diversifiedadvanced after announcing it willto Archer for $292.5MiQiyigained in New York afteron HKEXViridiandeclined after announcing results from itsFermiclosed lower afterBoston Scientificfell after Raymond Jamesits rating on the stock5. EARNINGS/GUIDANCE:Alaska AirprovidedUSA Rare Earth, with CEO Barbara Humpton commenting, "2025 was the year that USA Rare Earth set the foundation to execute our integrated rare earth growth strategy"Spirecut itsNeumora Therapeutics, with EPS missing consensusCBAK Energy Technology, with revenue higher year-over-yearINDEXES:The Dow rose 49.50, or 0.11%, to 45,216.14, the Nasdaq lost 153.72, or 0.73%, to 20,794.64, and the S&P 500 declined 25.13, or 0.39%, to 6,343.72.

The major averages were broadly higher near noon to start the week following last week's declines. Amid continued conflict in the Middle East and rising energy prices, President Trump said the U.S. is in "serious discussions" with Iran to end its military operations. However, he added that if a peace deal is not reached "shortly" and the Strait of Hormuz is not reopened, the U.S. will "conclude our lovely 'stay' in Iran by blowing up and completely obliterating all of their Electric Generating Plants, Oil Wells and Kharg Island (and possibly all desalinization plants!), which we have purposefully not yet 'touched.'" Following the comments, oil prices are rising once again past the $100 per barrel mark.Get caught up quickly on the top news and calls moving stocks with these five Top Five lists.1. STOCK NEWS:SyscoJetro Restaurant Depot for a total enterprise value of $29.1BUberglobal chauffeur service leader BlacklaneAuriniaKezar Life Sciencesfor $6.955 per share in cash plus a non-transferable contingent value rightSpirewill sell itsto Boardwalk Pipelines for $215M in cashTJX'sboard raised itsand said it plans $2.5B-$2.75B of share repurchases for FY272. WALL STREET CALLS:CrowdStriketo Outperform from Peer Perform at Wolfe ResearchExpediato Buy from Hold at JefferiesInstacartto Buy from Hold at JefferiesDole, Nomad Foodsto Hold at Deutsche BankStarbuckswith an Underperform at BNP Paribas3. AROUND THE WEB:In a recently published report, Morpheus Research says that MakeMyTrip, a $3.5B online travel agency that is sometimes referred to as the "Booking.com of India" with 50% of the Indian OTA market, "openly defies regulators, scams customers, and pads profits through accounting tricksBanks led by JPMorganare dealing with pushback related to the terms of a $7.2B debt deal to fund Clayton, Dubilier & Rice's takeover of Sealed Air, Bloomberg reportsYouTubeemployees have admitted their goal was "viewer addiction" and shut down proposed safety tools for kids since they did not provide a sufficient return on investment, NY Post saysIQM Quantum Computers has secured $57.64M in venture financing from funds managed by BlackRockto accelerate growth, Reuters saysAn analysis of billions of anonymized credit card transactions by consumer transaction analysis company Indagari indicates that Claude is seeing record growth in paid subscribers, with subscriptions more than doubling this year according to Anthropic, TechCrunch says4. MOVERS:Compass Diversifiedincreases after announcing it willbusiness to Archer for $292.5MiQiyigains in New York afteron HKEXViridiandeclines after announcing results from its REVEAL-1 phase 3Fermilower afterBoston Scientificfalls after Raymond Jamesits rating on the stock to Outperform from Strong Buy5. EARNINGS/GUIDANCE:Alaska AirUSA Rare Earth, with CEO Barbara Humpton commenting, "2025 was the year that USA Rare Earth set the foundation to execute our integrated rare earth growth strategy"Spirefor FY27Neumora Therapeutics, with EPS missing consensusCBAK Energy Technology, with revenue higher year-over-yearINDEXES:Near midday, the Dow was up 0.88%, or 395.42, to 45,562.06, the Nasdaq was up 0.29%, or 60.40, to 21,008.76, and the S&P 500 was up 0.48%, or 30.52, to 6,399.37.

Alaska Airlines (ALK) announced the election of Lindsay-Rae McIntyre to chief people officer. In this role, McIntyre will oversee talent strategy, total rewards, employee experience, employee relations, leadership development, culture, and HR operations. McIntyre brings 28+ years of human resources and organizational leadership experience, most recently serving as Chief Diversity Officer and Corporate Vice President of Talent and Learning for Microsoft (MSFT). McIntyre succeeds Andy Schneider, who became the CEO of Horizon Air, Alaska's regional affiliate, in September 2025. McIntyre, who will report directly to CEO Ben Minicucci and serve on the company's Executive Committee, will begin April 1 and will be based in Seattle.

Alaska Air previously forecast Q1 EPS ($1.50)-(50c). "Despite what has become another challenging first quarter operating environment in 2026, Air Group continues to execute well on its strategy and areas of the business within its control, with encouraging revenue trends heading into the peak travel season. Demand has shown continued strength throughout our network, with unit revenue tracking in line with prior expectations and capacity toward the high end of the previously guided range, up ~2%, supported by one of the most reliable operations in the industry. The clear underlying demand strength that began in Q4 of 2025 and accelerated into the new year has recently been challenged by several external events. These include demand pullback in Mexico due to unrest in Puerto Vallarta as well as severe rainstorms and historic flooding in Hawaii, which combined represent ~30% of our capacity. Impacts are being seen in both March and April, including during peak West Coast Spring Break travel periods. With respect to Hawai'i, we do not believe there will be a longer-term structural impact and expect demand to fully recover. Revenue trends across the rest of the network heading into Q2 2026 are encouraging. Managed corporate demand remains a standout, with forward bookings over the next 90 days up more than 25% year over year. Held second quarter yields and load factors are also up year over year with significant strength in May and June. With 55% of the quarter's revenue still to come, Air Group is well positioned for peak travel periods during our seasonally strongest quarter. Fuel costs have increased materially due to sharply higher crude and refining prices - with refining margins that have been particularly volatile in recent weeks. Our lowest cost source of fuel typically comes from Singapore which represents approximately 20% of Air Group's fuel supply. These refining margins have surged 400% since early February, from an average of $0.45 to $2.25 per gallon. This compares to US refining costs that are up 140% in the same period. As a result, economic fuel price is now expected to average $2.90 to $3.00 per gallon, representing an incremental EPS headwind of at least ($0.70)."