Stocks Jump Ahead of Nvidia Results; Tech Shares Help Indexes Rebound Further After Tumbling Monday

Guinness Parent Diageo Stock Slides on Outlook, Dividend Cuts

FROM 58 minutes ago

Diageo (DEO) shareholders do not have much spirit today.

U.S.-listed shares of the Guinness and Johnnie Walker parent sank 15% Wednesday after the spirits giant cut its fiscal 2026 forecasts and dividend amid U.S. sales weakness.

Diageo sees fiscal 2026 organic net sales declining 2% to 3% “given further weakness in the US,” down from its prior forecast of flat to slightly down. It also sees operating profit growth “flat to up low-single-digit,” down from “low to mid-single digit.”

In addition, it set an interim dividend of 20 cents per share, less than half that of a year ago.

“The Board has taken the difficult decision to reduce the dividend to a more appropriate level which will accelerate the strengthening of our balance sheet,” new CEO Dave Lewis said. “We are confident that this is the right action which will ensure that Diageo can reinforce its position as the leading international spirits business and drive stronger shareholder value over the coming years.”

U.S.-listed shares of Diageo have lost more than a fifth of their value over the past 12 months.

State of the Union 2026: What It Means for Your Money

FROM 1 hr 30 min ago

If you don’t have an hour and 47 minutes to listen to President Donald Trump’s record-long State of the Union address, here are the key takeaways for the economy.

Trump addressed a joint session of Congress Tuesday night and defended his increasingly unpopular economic policies. He said affordability problems were “a dirty, rotten lie” by Democratic politicians and that the economy had a “turnaround for the ages” under his leadership. He also introduced several new policies aimed at helping household finances. The speech was the longest since at least 1964, according to CNN.

“The roaring economy is roaring like never before,” he said.

Read the full article here.

–Diccon Hyatt

GoDaddy Stock Tanks on Soft Revenue Projections

FROM 1 hr 54 min ago

GoDaddy’s final quarterly results for fiscal 2025 outperformed expectations. The domain registration company’s revenue projections are sending its shares into a tailspin today.

GoDaddy (GDDY) was the worst-performing stock in the S&P 500 Wednesday, a day after the Tempe, Ariz.-based firm issued weaker-than-expected current-quarter and full-year revenue guidance.

Shares were down 15% in recent trading after GoDaddy guided for fiscal 2026 first-quarter revenue of $1.25 billion to $1.27 billion and full-year revenue of $5.195 billion to $5.275 billion. Analysts polled by Visible Alpha had expected $1.28 billion and $5.28 billion, respectively.

GoDaddy’s fourth-quarter earnings of $1.80 per share and revenue of $1.27 billion topped expectations.

With today’s sharp declines, shares of GoDaddy have lost more than 55% of their value over the past 12 months.

Nvidia’s Earnings Could Be a Make-or-Break Moment for the Stock Market

FROM 2 hr 13 min ago

AI chip giant Nvidia (NVDA) is slated to report quarterly results after markets close on Wednesday. The report lands at a precarious time for tech investors. 

There’s been a sharp divergence in the performance of AI stocks this year. A memory shortage has been a tailwind for shares of data storage companies Sandisk (SNDK) and Western Digital (WDC), up 165% and 70% so far this year. On the flip side, software stocks like Intuit (INTU) and Workday (WDAY), both down roughly 40%, have been battered by worries AI deployments threaten to upend the industry. 

Nvidia’s earnings report has the potential to be a wrecking ball or rocket fuel for the AI trade. Better-than-expected sales could reinforce Wall Street’s confidence in the AI infrastructure plays that have led the stock market for much of the past few years. Even a negative datapoint for Nvidia—specifically, profit margin pressure from soaring memory costs—could be a boon to stocks like Sandisk and Western Digital, whose margins would be expanding in kind. 

Read the full article here.

–Colin Laidley

AI Chip Giant Nvidia Is Set to Report Earnings—What Investors Need to Know

FROM 2 hr 51 min ago

AI chip leader Nvidia is set to report earnings after the closing bell Wednesday, in what could be a defining moment for markets.

Widely seen as a bellwether for the AI trade, the chipmaker’s results stand to influence sentiment around a wide range of stocks exposed to the industry.

Many, along with Nvidia (NVDA), have been pressured lately amid broader uncertainty about the impact AI could have on everything from individual jobs to broader markets and the economy. Nvidia shares, which were up 2% in recent trading, are up about 5% year-to-date after lingering in negative territory for much of 2026 so far.

With no signs of slowing spending on AI hardware by many of Nvidia’s Big Tech clients, several Wall Street analysts are forecasting another record quarter from the chipmaker. However, climbing expectations heading into the report could also make it more difficult for Nvidia to impress, they warned.

Nvidia is projected to report adjusted earnings per share of $1.53 on a 68% year-over-year jump in revenue to a record $66.2 billion for the quarter, according to estimates collected by Visible Alpha.

Though they’ve been held back in recent weeks, Nvidia shares have still added nearly half their value over the past 12 months.

–Kara Greenberg

Taser Maker Axon Enterprise ‘Supercharged by AI’

FROM 3 hr 27 min ago

Axon Enterprise (AXON) says its business is “supercharged by AI.” Investors are supercharging its shares Wednesday.

The Taser maker was easily the best-performing stock in the S&P 500 in late-morning trading, with shares up 22%.

After the bell yesterday, Axon reported fiscal 2025 fourth-quarter adjusted earnings of $2.15 per share on net sales that increased 39% year-over-year to $796.7 million. Analysts surveyed by Visible Alpha had expected $1.59 and $756.2 million, respectively.

“Axon can be the provider of the world’s largest, global sensor network, fully connected and supercharged by AI,” founder and CEO Patrick Smith said on the earnings call, according to a transcript provided by AlphaSense. “We will power the most intelligent, connected safety devices globally. We will connect those sensor devices across the full lifecycle of how they’re used, and we’ll build AI into every workflow, safely, securely, and reliably.”

For fiscal 2026, Axon sees revenue growth of 27% to 30%, also above estimates.

Morgan Stanley equity analyst Meta Marshall wrote in a note that Axon’s results and outlook were “meaningfully better than expectations,” adding that “we continue to think that AXON is a unique asset, with durable high growth potential, numerous ways to win, and some of the best demonstrated AI as a revenue driver success in the market.”

With today’s gains, Axon shares moved into positive territory over the past 12 months.

TJX ‘Continued to Defy Odds’ in Q4

FROM 5 hours ago

The TJX Companies’ (TJX) fiscal 2026 fourth-quarter earnings report impressed Aptus Capital Advisors’ David Wagner. Investors evidently had a similar takeaway.

The TJ Maxx, Marshalls, and HomeGoods parent reported better-than-expected Q4 results before the bell Wednesday, and shares rose about 2% despite issuing what Wagner, Head of Equity and Portfolio Manager at Aptus Capital Advisors, called “conservative guidance.”

TJX reported adjusted earnings of $1.43 per share on net sales that increased 9% year-over-year to $17.74 billion. Analysts surveyed by Visible Alpha had expected $1.38 and $17.34 billion, respectively.

In addition, comparable sales growth of 5% easily topped analysts’ expectations of 3.4%. For the current quarter, TJX sees comparable sales growth of 2% to 3%, below the consensus estimates of 3.45%.

The company said it intends to increase its regular quarterly dividend by 13% and plans to repurchase roughly $2.50 billion to $2.75 billion of stock during the current fiscal year, which ends Jan. 30, 2027.

“Expectations were high heading into this AM’s report, yet the company continued to defy odds with another great report, as earnings were driven by broad based sales strength, positive margin commentary and lower shrink,” Wagner said. “I think the market has become accustomed to conservative guidance from the company, so we aren’t worried about that, but overall fundamentals remain quite strong which the 13% dividend hike highlighted.”

TJX shares have risen about 30% over the past 12 months.

Cava Group Stock Pops on Strong Results

FROM 6 hr 44 min ago

Shares of Cava Group (CAVA) surged in premarket trading after the restaurant chain reported better-than-expected fourth-quarter results.

The Mediterranean-themed restaurant posted adjusted earnings per share of $0.04 on revenue of $273 million, both better than the consensus estimate of analysts compiled by Visible Alpha.

The restaurant chain’s same-store sales grew by 0.5% for the quarter, while the analyst consensus had called for a 1.1% decline.

The chain revealed it opened 24 new restaurants in the year’s final quarter, also above expectation. 

Cava shares were up 9% an hour before the bell.

–Terry Lane

Who Wins And Loses in the Latest Tariff Tumult

FROM 7 hr 22 min ago

The smoke is still clearing from the latest shakeup of U.S. trade policy this week, but economists have identified definite winners and losers from the latest changes to tariffs.

The tariff landscape got turned on its head last week when the Supreme Court ruled the majority of the import taxes President Donald Trump imposed last year under emergency powers were illegal. In response, Trump called for a 15% worldwide tariff under a different legal mechanism.

Because the old tariffs established under the International Economic Emergency Powers Act targeted individual countries with specific rates, replacing them with a one-size-fits-all rate creates definite winners and losers.

Read the full article here.

–Diccon Hyatt

Supreme Court Blocked Tariffs, Yet Consumers Won’t See Savings

FROM 8 hr 14 min ago

Most of President Donald Trump’s sweeping tariffs have been overturned—but that doesn’t mean prices will fall in accordance.

Last week, the Supreme Court ruled that most of the tariffs imposed under the Trump administration were illegal. In a 6-3 decision, Supreme Court justices said the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) of 1977, which the president used to implement about 75% of the tariffs in 2025, does not give the president the authority to enact these import taxes. Tariffs on specific items, such as automobiles and steel, remain in place.

An analysis released Friday morning by the Yale Budget Lab found that the ruling would have cut the average tariff rate on all imports almost in half, to 9.1%. Price increases from tariffs were also expected to slow from 1.2% to 0.6%, and the income loss for a typical household from tariffs would have been cut in half, to about $618.

But later that day, Trump announced he would impose a 10% global tariff under a different legal mechanism. The administration also said it will begin investigating other countries to determine if it can impose tariffs on them for unfair trade practices under Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974. These investigations could take months.

Read the full article here.

–Elizabeth Guevara

Stock Futures Point Higher Ahead of Nvidia Earnings

FROM 8 hr 39 min ago

Futures contracts connected to the Dow Jones Industrial Average pointed 0.2% higher.

S&P 500 futures also were up 0.2%.

Nasdaq 100 futures were 0.2% higher as well.