JPM News & Events

The major averages advanced as investors weighed AI enthusiasm against mounting concerns about the U.S. fiscal outlook, the long-term direction of interest rates and the situation in the Middle East. Axios reported that the U.S. and Iran have reached an agreement on a 60-day memorandum of understanding to extend the ceasefire and launch negotiations on Iran's nuclear program. The report noted, however, that President Trump has yet to give the proposed deal his final approval.Get caught up quickly on the top news and calls moving stocks with these five Top Five lists.1. STOCK NEWS:Snowflakereported, agreed to acquire Natoma, and expanded its Amazoncollaboration with a $6B commitment to AWSSalesforceprovided areport for Q1Caesarsby Fertitta Entertainment for $31 per share in cashBig retailers Best Buy, Kohl's, and Dollar TreeallAnthropic has raised $65B in Series H funding at a2. WALL STREET CALLS:JPMorganDick's Sportingwith Q1 supporting bull caseBaxterto Sell at CitiTrade Deskwith a Sell at Rothschild & Co RedburnDominionto Buy at Jefferies following NextEradealFirst Solarto Buy at GLJ Research3. AROUND THE WEB:Toyotahas stopped development of its Lexus next-gen EV, Nikkei Asia reportsCybersecurity company SentinelOneis preparing for layoffs and is expected to announce the cuts alongside earnings, Calcalist reportsJPMorganCEO Jamie Dimon said the bank could spend up to $20B on an acquisition in the next couple of years, CNBC reportsSamsungplans to invest about $1.5B to build a semiconductor testing plant focused on legacy chips in Vietnam, Reuters saysAustralia has launched a record $1.43B+ lawsuit against 3Mover PFAS-contaminated firefighting foam, citing extensive environmental, economic, and cultural damage tied to the "forever chemicals," Reuters reports4. MOVERS:Hormel Foodsrose afterUnusual Machines, AeroVironment, Ondas, and RedCatincreased after WSJthe Trump administration is pursuing funding deals with drone companiesAgilentwas higher afterand raising its guidance for FY26Photronicsfell after, with EPS and revenue missing consensusSidus Spacewas lower after5. EARNINGS/GUIDANCE:HP Inc.reportedand narrowed its FY26 earnings guidanceBuild-A-Bearand provided guidance for FY26Sono-Tek, with CEO Steve Harshbarger commenting, "We are greatly encouraged by our fiscal 2026 results"Seanergy Marine, with EPS and revenue beating consensusLi Auto, with EPS and revenue lower year-over-yearINDEXES:The Dow rose 24.69, or 0.049%, to 50,668.97, the Nasdaq gained 242.74, or 0.91%, to 26,917.47, and the S&P 500 advanced 43.27, or 0.58%, to 7,563.63.

The major averages were higher near noon as investors weigh AI enthusiasm alongside mounting concerns about the U.S. fiscal outlook and the long-term direction of interest rates. Additionally, Axios is reporting that the U.S. and Iran have reached an agreement on a 60-day memorandum of understanding to extend the ceasefire and launch negotiations on Iran's nuclear program. The report noted, however, that President Trump has yet to give the proposed deal his final approval.Get caught up quickly on the top news and calls moving stocks with these five Top Five lists.1. STOCK NEWS:Snowflakereported, agreed to acquire Natoma, and expanded its Amazoncollaboration with a $6B commitment to AWSSalesforceprovided areport for Q1Caesarsby Fertitta Entertainment for $31 per share in cashHP Inc.reportedand narrowed its FY26 earnings guidanceBig retailers Best Buy, Kohl's, and Dollar Treeall reported2. WALL STREET CALLS:JPMorganDick's Sportingwith Q1 supporting bull caseBaxterto Sell at CitiTrade Deskwith a Sell at Rothschild & Co RedburnDominionto Buy at Jefferies following NextEradealFirst Solarto Buy at GLJ Research3. AROUND THE WEB:Cybersecurity company SentinelOneis preparing for layoffs and is expected to announce the cuts alongside earnings, Calcalist reportsUnileveris investing $270M to build a new research facility in New Haven, Connecticut, slated to open in 2029, WSJ saysJPMorganCEO Jamie Dimon said the bank could spend up to $20B on an acquisition in the next couple of years, CNBC reportsSamsungplans to invest about $1.5B to build a semiconductor testing plant focused on legacy chips in Vietnam, Reuters saysAustralia has launched a record $1.43B+ lawsuit against 3Mover PFAS-contaminated firefighting foam, citing extensive environmental, economic, and cultural damage tied to the "forever chemicals," Reuters reports4. MOVERS:Hormel Foodsrises after reporting quarterly resultsUnusual Machines, AeroVironment, Ondas, and RedCatincrease afterthe Trump administration is pursuing funding deals with drone companiesAgilenthigher afterand raising its guidance for FY26Photronicsfalls after, with EPS and revenue missing consensusSidus Spacelower after filing to5. EARNINGS/GUIDANCE:Build-A-Bearand provided guidance for FY26Sono-Tek, with CEO Steve Harshbarger commenting, "We are greatly encouraged by our fiscal 2026 results"Seanergy Marinewith EPS and revenue beating consensusLi Auto, with EPS and revenue lower year-over-yearIcon, with CEO Barry Balfe commenting, "ICON demonstrated continued commercial momentum through the fourth quarter"INDEXES:Near midday, the Dow was up 0.12%, or 59.28, to 50,703.56, the Nasdaq was up 0.62%, or 166.50, to 26,841.23, and the S&P 500 was up 0.51%, or 38.07, to 7,558.43.

JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon said the bank could spend up to $20B on an acquisition in the next couple of years, telling analysts at a New York conference that M&A is nearly a last resort and warning that executives who lean on dealmaking are often compensating for weak organic growth, CNBC's Hugh Son reports. Any target would need to integrate cleanly into JPMorgan's operations, fit its culture and enhance core businesses, Dimon said.

IBM (IBM) and Red Hat announced Project Lightwell, a $5B commitment backed by new frontier AI capabilities and a global force of more than 20,000 engineers to help enterprises secure open-source software. Together, these investments establish a new model for enterprise use of open-source software, from upstream development through production environments. Project Lightwell will establish an enterprise clearinghouse combined with a force of engineers to identify and fix vulnerabilities at scale. The clearinghouse will serve as a security coordination layer, using advanced AI capabilities to validate and test fixes across an unprecedented volume of open-source code. These capabilities will be offered through commercial subscriptions, allowing enterprises to integrate secure patches directly into their existing software supply chains with enterprise-grade validation and lifecycle management. IBM and Red Hat have already begun collaborating with a select group of early adopters on Project Lightwell, including Bank of America (BAC), BNY (BK), Citi (C), Goldman Sachs (GS), JPMorganChase (JPM), Mastercard (MA), Morgan Stanley (MS), Royal Bank of Canada (RY), State Street (STT), Visa (V) and Wells Fargo (WFC). Project Lightwell builds on IBM and Red Hat's open source, enterprise AI and security, and incorporates learnings from initiatives such as Anthropic's Project Glasswing and OpenAI's Trust Access for Cyber, with a goal of utilizing new IBM agentic security methods to protect the foundational open source layers that underpin modern enterprise and AI systems.