Stocks close in the red
The three major averages finished lower on Thursday.
The S&P 500 fell 0.28% to close the session at 6,861.89, while the Nasdaq Composite slipped 0.31% to 22,682.73. The Dow Jones Industrial Average shed 267.50 points, or 0.54%, to 49,395.16.
— Sean Conlon
Rent freezes back on track could mean a negative overhang for Flagstar Bank
Sign at the entrance to a Flagstar Bank branch in Midtown Manhattan.
Erik McGregor | Lightrocket | Getty Images
New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani recently announced the appointment of six new board members to the Rent Guidelines Board, or RGB, which could mean a headwind for Flagstar Bank, Deutsche Bank analyst Bernard Von-Gizycki wrote in a Wednesday note.
Flagstar, headquartered on Long Island, provides loans to rent-regulated buildings in New York.
“It was expected that the new board mix would likely give Mayor Mamdani a majority lead on the nine-member board. What was a brief positive for FLG’s ~$15b rent-regulated portfolio is back to being a negative overhang for the stock,” Von-Gizycki said.
The analyst added that other tax proposals, which include increasing personal income taxes on New Yorkers earning more than $1 million, corporate taxes on the most profitable companies or raising property taxes, could put further pressure on rent-regulated landlords. However, these initiatives are only in the proposal stage currently and won’t be finalized until a June 30 budget deadline.
— Lisa Kailai Han
Dell Technologies has room to run, joins tactical outperform list, Evercore ISI says
Dell Technologies has joined Evercore ISI’s tactical outperform list due to signs it could gain ground in the near future, the firm’s analysts said in a new note to clients.
The investment firm has an outperform rating on Delta stock. It also has a $160 price target on shares.
“We expect management to outline a path to at least high single-digit topline growth and low-to-mid teens EPS growth, supported by HSD gross profit dollar growth, continued opex leverage and ongoing share repurchases,” Evercore analyst Amit Daryanani said Thursday in a note. “While memory driven elasticity, particularly at the low end of PCs, remains a wildcard, we expect share gains, higher ASPs and commercial mix t o support revenue growth even in a down unit environment.”
Dell is slated to report its fourth-quarter earnings results on Thursday, Feb. 26.
Shares are down 2% over the past 12 months.
— Liz Napolitano
Retail investors buy the dip on Microsoft
Signage at the Microsoft campus in Mountain View, California, Jan. 26, 2026.
David Paul Morris | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Retail investors were big buyers of Microsoft amid the stock’s recent weakness.
Microsoft has been one of the top picks for mom-and-pop investors this year, according to JPMorgan. A chunk of that buying followed the stock’s 10% drop on the back of earnings, the bank found.
Microsoft shares have tumbled 17% in 2026, on track for its worst year since 2010. The megacap tech stock is also on track for its first losing year in four.
Microsoft, year to date
— Alex Harring
Why these analysts are bullish on DoorDash after earnings miss
DoorDash‘s latest earnings may have missed expectations, but many on Wall Street liked what they heard from the delivery company.
Bank of America analyst Justin Post pointed out that DoorDash maintained its full-year margin guidance and indicated year-over-year margins would turn positive in the second half. Shares had been under pressure on margin fears since DoorDash’s third-quarter results, he said.
“Dash is executing well, and despite the recent Deliveroo expectations shortfall, the acquisition positions the company to be a strong global platform, doubling the US long-term TAM [total addressable market] opportunity,” Post wrote in a note Thursday.
He raised his price target to $272, implying nearly 57% upside from Wednesday’s close.
Goldman Sachs analyst Eric Sheridan believes DoorDash’s earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization margins will be a key anchor point for investors to gain confidence in the company’s long-term profitability trajectory.
“Longer term, we view DASH to be a lead 3P marketplace with the ability to continue to gain share across categories (particularly in grocery and retail) and geographies, which should result in compounded profit growth in the coming years,” he said in a note Thursday.
Sheridan hiked his price target to $286, suggesting the stock can move about 65% higher from Wednesday’s close.
Morgan Stanley analyst Brian Nowak also remained bullish, saying DoorDash should continue to be “one of the multi-year winners we think investors should be buying through these periods of tactical consternation.”
Shares of DoorDash were up 2% Thursday.
— Michelle Fox
Stocks making midday moves: Klarna, Blue Owl Capital, Omnicom
A screen displays the company logo for Swedish fintech Klarna,during the company’s IPO on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange in New York City, U.S., Sept. 10, 2025.
Brendan McDermid | Reuters
Here are some of the stocks making big moves in midday trading.
- Klarna – Shares of the buy now, pay later provider cratered about 25% as its guidance fell short of Wall Street’s expectations. Klarna called for first-quarter operating income to range from $5 million to $35 million, excluding items, well below the FactSet consensus for $61.9 million. Fourth-quarter operating income of $47 million, excluding items, also missed the mark, as analysts sought $57 million.
- Blue Owl Capital – Shares of the alternative asset manager dropped nearly 10% after the company announced the sale of $1.4 billion in loans from three of its private debt funds at 99.7% of par value. The proceeds will go toward returning capital and paying debt. Blue Owl also halted redemptions at Blue Owl Capital Corp II, a private credit strategy that’s aimed at retail investors. Peer alternative asset managers Ares, Blackstone and KKR dropped 5%, almost 6% and more than 3%, respectively.
- Omnicom – The marketing company saw shares surge 13%. Omnicom reported fourth-quarter revenue of $5.5 billion, up nearly 28% from the year-ago period. The company’s board also authorized a $5 billion share buyback, including a $2.5 billion accelerated share repurchase.
Read the full list here.
— Michelle Fox, Darla Mercado
Bears beat bulls in weekly individual investor poll for first time in three months
The percentage of mom-and-pop investors who are bearish on the outlook for stocks over the next half year rose above those who are bullish for the first time since late November, according to the latest weekly pool conducted by the American Association of Individual Investors.
Bearish investors fell to 36.9%, down from 38.1% last week, while bulls slumped to 34.5% from 38.5% last week. Those investors who are neutral on the six-month outlook for stocks jumped to 28.5% of those surveyed from 23.3% last week.
The last time bears exceeded bulls, the extremes were wider. In late November, bears reached 42.7% of respondents against 32.0% bulls and 25.3% for those who said they were neutral.
In a special question this week, a little more than two out of five (41.2%) of those polled said they prefer companies to return cash to shareholders through a mixture of dividends, while almost as many (37.5%) said they prefer dividends alone to ensure a regular income stream. Only one in eight preferred buybacks alone for their tax efficiency, while the balance were unsure or had no opinion.
— Scott Schnipper
Global shipping stocks soar
Global shipping stocks soared Thursday as the industry weathers regulatory shifts, higher freight costs and capacity challenges.
Pan Ocean jumped 8%, HMM rose by 5%, while Mitsui O.S.K. Lines was up more than 2%. Okeanis Eco Tankers and Hafnia were each higher by 3%. The SonicShares Global Shipping ETF (BOAT), which holds these shipping stocks, hit a new intraday all-time high. The ETF is up 60% since its inception in 2021.
— Itzel Franco
Blue Owl shares fall after firm curbs investor liquidity following asset sale
Blue Owl signage outside the Seagram Building at 375 Park Avenue in the Midtown East neighborhood of New York, US, on Tuesday, Jan. 20, 2026.
Bing Guan | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Shares in Blue Owl Capital tumbled 8.7% on Thursday after the private market and alternative assets manager sold $1.4 billion of loan assets held across three of its private debt funds.
Blue Owl said Wednesday it had agreed the sale with four North American pension and insurance investors, with the loans changing hands at 99.7% of par value.
The largest sale comes out of the Blue Owl Capital Corporation II fund, also known as OBDC II, a semi-liquid private credit strategy aimed at U.S. retail investors. Read more.
OWL, 1-day
— Hugh Leask
Stephens sidelines The Cheesecake Factory on modest earnings beat
Stephens sees limited upsides for The Cheesecake Factory.
The bank downgraded the restaurant chain to equal weight from overweight and reiterated a $65 price target. This suggests 6% gains from Wednesday’s close.
The Cheesecake Factory posted its fourth quarter earnings on Wednesday, delivering strong revenue and adjusted earnings per share. However, it also reported a 2.2% decline in same-store sales growth.
Though shares are up 22% year to date, performing well above its competitors, analysts say growth will slow. “We still view [The Cheesecake Factory] as a solid operator with a durable business, but feel that its valuation reflects its steady growth against a pressured backdrop,” wrote analyst Jim Salera.
The stock suffered losses in Thursday morning trading.
CAKE year to date
— Itzel Franco
Walmart is dethroned as largest company by revenue
A customer waits for a ride outside a Walmart Supercenter retail store in North Bergen, New Jersey, U.S., Nov. 21, 2025.
Mike Segar | Reuters
Amazon now wears the crown as the world’s largest company by revenue, as it grew its top line at a faster clip than Walmart last year.
Earlier Thursday, Walmart said its revenue rose to $713.5 billion for the year ended Jan. 31. Amazon, meanwhile, tallied 2025 net sales of $716.9 billion. Revenue at both companies includes more than just their retail businesses. Amazon has its massive cloud computing and tech services business, while Walmart has been nuturing a growing advertising unit.
More important for Walmart investors is that the retailer is continuing to gain market share, especially among higher income consumers. Both its e-commerce and its advertising business grew at a double-digit pace, up 24% and 37%, respectively, in the fiscal fourth quarter. Walmart Connect, its ad platform, grew revenue 33%.
Walmart shares were trading about 1% higher in premarket trading. The stock initially sank as its forecast fell short of estimates.
— Christina Cheddar Berk
Stocks open lower
Stocks opened Thursday’s session in negative territory.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average shed 185 points, or 0.4%, just after the opening bell. The S&P 500 dropped 0.3%,while the Nasdaq Composite declined 0.4%.
— Sean Conlon
Hims & Hers Health, Deere among the stocks making premarket moves
Piotr Swat | Lightrocket | Getty Images
Here are some of the names moving before the opening bell:
- Hims & Hers Health — The telehealth firm added 4% following the announcement that it will acquire Australian digital health company Eucalyptus. The deal is valued at up to $1.15 billion.
- Deere— The seller of farm equipment reported a beat on both the top and bottom lines, sending shares 6% higher. Deere’s first quarter earnings came it at $2.42 per share on revenue of $8 billion. Analysts polled by LSEG had expected EPS of $2.05 on revenues of $7.69 billion.
To see more stocks making premarket moves, read the full story here.
— Michelle Fox
Jobless claims slide, trade deficit jumps
Economic data Thursday was mostly better than expected though the trade deficit showed an unexpected spike to close out 2025.
- Initial jobless claims totaled a seasonally adjusted 206,000 for the week ending Feb. 14, tumbling 23,000 from the prior week and below the Dow Jones consensus estimate for 223,000, the Labor Department reported. Continuing claims, which run a week behind, edged higher to 1.87 million.
- The trade deficit jumped to $70.3 billion in December, up $17.3 billion from the prior month and much higher than the $55.5 billion forecast. However, for the full year, the deficit fell just 0.2%, despite the Trump administration’s tariffs aimed at easing the trade imbalance.
- The Philadelphia Federal Reserve’s manufacturing index climbed to 16.3, its highest since September and better than the 10.0 estimate. However, the employment index slumped to -1.3, its first negative reading since June 2025. The prices paid index hit its lowest since January 2025.
— Jeff Cox
Raymond James upgrades Chewy following sell-off
A severe pullback in Chewy has resulted in an attractive entry point for investors, according to Raymond James.
The investment firm upgraded the pet services and products e-commerce provider to outperform from market perform. Analyst Rick Patel also set a $28 price target, which implies a 16% upside from Wednesday’s close.
Shares of Chewy have plunged 36% in the past 12 months and are down 27% this year. Patel noted the stock has stumbled 33% since its fiscal third-quarter earnings print, while the S&P 500 is flat in the same time.
CHWY, 1-year
CNBC Pro subscribers can read more here.
— Lisa Kailai Han
Etsy shares jump 20% after announcing sale of Depop to eBay
Shares of Etsy popped more than 20% in premarket trading Thursday on the heels of the company announcing that it’s selling resale platform Depop to eBay for $1.2 billion.
The deal is expected to close in the second quarter of 2026.
Etsy, 1-day
— Annie Palmer, Sean Conlon
Wayfair falls despite Q4 earnings beat
Wayfair shares were down more than 6% despite the furniture and home goods company reporting its first annual sales gain since 2020 and its Q4 results topping analyst expectations.
The company earned an adjusted 85 cents per share in the final three months of the year. That exceeded an LSEG consensus forecast of 66 cents per share. Revenue of $3.34 billion was also ahead of estimates.
W 5-day chart
— Fred Imbert
Walmart shares fall 3% after forecast misses expectations
A shopper pushes a cart outside a Walmart store in Pittsburg, California, US, on Thursday, Nov. 20, 2025.
David Paul Morris | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Walmart said on Thursday that holiday-quarter sales rose nearly 6% and its quarterly earnings and revenue surpassed Wall Street’s expectations as gains in e-commerce, advertising and its third-party marketplace boosted its business.
For the full current fiscal year, Walmart said it expects net sales to increase by 3.5% to 4.5% and adjusted earnings per share to range from $2.75 to $2.85. That earnings outlook fell short of Wall Street’s expectations of $2.96 per share, according to LSEG.
WMT, 1-day
— Melissa Repko
‘Mag-7’ not cheap even after correction, says Yardeni
The valuations among “Magnificent Seven” stocks are less expensive, but they are still not cheap, according to Ed Yardeni of Yardeni Research.
“Purely from a valuation standpoint, the Mag-7 isn’t as expensive as it was, but it’s not cheap either. The group’s forward price-to-sales (P/S) ratio has fallen to 7.10, down from its November 3, 2025 peak of 8.33. But the P/S ratio remains higher than it has ever been outside of the past two years,” he said in a note to clients.
— Fred Imbert
Investor David Einhorn shuns AI in favor of a unique mix of companies
Greenlight Capital’s David Einhorn has been vocal about his concerns around artificial intelligence driving overvaluation in the stock market.
His fund’s latest moves reflect those views.
Einhorn spent tens of millions of dollars buying shares of Graphic Packaging, Capri Holdings and healthcare stocks in the fourth quarter of 2025, avoiding big tech names and clear beneficiaries of artificial intelligence investment, regulatory filings show. The hedge fund manager also established a position in software payments stock Global Payments, suggesting he views it as safe from AI’s technological disruption. More here.
— Alex Harring
Carvana, Etsy, DoorDash among stocks moving in after-hours trading
Check out the companies making headlines in after-hours trading.
- DoorDash — The food delivery company’s stock price jumped about 10%, reversing an earlier decline. The company reported that its total orders increased 32% in the fourth quarter from the year-ago period. Revenue for the period was also up 38%. Still, fourth-quarter results on the top and bottom line missed estimates.
- Figma — Shares of Figma jumped 16% after the company’s fourth-quarter results and quarterly guidance blew past the Street’s expectations. The design software manufacturer reported adjusted earnings of 8 cents per share on $303.8 million in revenue, while analysts polled by LSEG expected 7 cents per share in earnings on $293.15 million in revenue. On a year-over-year basis, Figma’s revenue grew 40% in the fourth quarter, according to a statement.
- Etsy — Etsy shares jumped nearly 16% after the e-commerce company agreed to sell Depop, a consumer-to-consumer fashion marketplace, to eBay for $1.2 billion in cash, subject to certain price adjustments. EBay stock rose more than 6%.
For the full list, read here.
— Pia Singh
