First Solar shines after UBS says new tax guidance brightens clean energy outlook

First Solar shares jumped 9% Monday after UBS named the solar panel maker a top pick, pointing to fresh IRS guidance that largely preserved 2030 tax credits for the industry. The decision clears a cloud that’s hung over the solar sector for more than a year.

UBS analysts said demand for US utility-scale solar projects is outpacing supply, fueled in part by Big Tech’s build-out of AI data centers with 100% clean energy targets. Analysts now see First Solar’s adjusted earnings growing to $32 per share by 2027, up from $12 per share last year.

The rally adds to momentum from earlier this month, when First Solar topped Q2 estimates and raised its full-year outlook. Rival Sunrun was also up about 8.4% Monday afternoon on the news and recently beat the Street’s forecasts amid record energy storage demand.

First Solar shares are now up 19% year to date.

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David Crowther18m

Visualizing why yesterday’s stock market reversal was so weird and unnerving

Technically, America’s flagship stock market index is only ~5% away from all-time highs. But an excellent observation from Sherwood’s Markets Editor leant a bit of perspective on why yesterday’s remarkable stock market reversal feels so much more unnerving than it might look on paper.

Mostly, it’s down to the fact that what most people expected to feel like a party that raged long into the night — Nvidia did everything right, blowing the lights out on earnings and answering its harshest critics — was shut down at 8pm. Then the house caught on fire.

US stocks just suffered one of their most stunning reversals in 32 years

Millie Giles50m

Gap rises as Q3 sales beat expectations following viral denim ad campaign

US-based apparel maker Gap is up 4% in early trading on Friday after posting better-than-expected Q3 results after the bell on Thursday.

The clothing and accessories retailer reported comparable sales rising 5% in the third quarter — the strongest growth that it’s seen since its 2017 holiday quarter, per CNBC — surpassing Wall Street’s forecast of 3.1%, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

Adjusted EPS came in at $0.62, some ~6% ahead of consensus expectations. The company also hiked its sales guidance for the year, and now expects revenue to grow 1.7% to 2% (up from 1% to 2%).

Gap CEO says its viral denim campaign wasn't just a hit online — it drove double-digit growth in sales, fueled by Gen Z

Luke Kawa14h

US stocks just suffered one of their most stunning reversals in 32 years

Only four times in the more than 32-year history of the SPDR S&P 500 ETF has the fund opened at least 1.5% higher only to end the session down 1.5% or more.

And one of those days was today, with early enthusiasm over Nvidia’s strong earnings report turning into a wave of selling as speculative assets, chief among them bitcoin, cratered and dragged everything down with them. The S&P 500’s winners in particular saw heavy selling. Among the 15 stocks in the index that are up at least 70% year to date, the average performance on Thursday was down 5.6%.

The other occasions where US stocks have suffered such a violent turnabout:

April 8 of this year (the bottom, year to date!), when the White House said tariffs on China were going up to above 100%, kneecapping a nascent bounce-back attempt after a 10% drubbing in the three days after the Rose Garden tariff announcements. President Donald Trump would go on to announce that he was slashing reciprocal tariffs for 90 days the following session.

And the other two such instances both occurred in October 2008 (on the 7th and the 9th), as the fallout from the unfolding financial crisis was spreading after the prior month’s collapse of Lehman Brothers and the VIX Index, Wall Street’s so-called “fear gauge,” was routinely above 50, making immense volatility par for the course.

Tasha Matsumoto

15h

Stocks sink as strong Nvidia earnings fail to ease Wall Street’s AI anxiety

The S&P 500, Nasdaq 100, and Russell 2000 all fell, with tech leading the sell-off.

Chicago Bears wide receiver Trent Taylor (15) fumbles a punt during the first quarter of the National Football League game between the Chicago Bears and Cleveland Browns

Matt Phillips19h

Insurance against Oracle default becomes favorite AI-bust hedge, Bloomberg reports

Volume in the market for credit default swaps — essentially a kind of insurance against a company defaulting on its debts — on Oracle is surging as the company has supercharged its borrowing to finance its AI ambitions, Bloomberg’s Caleb Mutua reports:

“The price to protect against the company defaulting on its debt for five years tripled in recent months to as high as about 1.11 percentage point a year on Wednesday, or around $111,000 for every $10 million of principal protected, according to ICE Data Services.

As AI skeptics rushed in, trading volume on the company’s CDS ballooned to about $5 billion over the seven weeks ended Nov. 14, according to Barclays Plc credit strategist Jigar Patel. That’s up from a little more than $200 million in the same period last year.”

A Hedge Against AI Crash Emerges as Oracle CDS Market Explodes

“The price to protect against the company defaulting on its debt for five years tripled in recent months to as high as about 1.11 percentage point a year on Wednesday, or around $111,000 for every $10 million of principal protected, according to ICE Data Services.

As AI skeptics rushed in, trading volume on the company’s CDS ballooned to about $5 billion over the seven weeks ended Nov. 14, according to Barclays Plc credit strategist Jigar Patel. That’s up from a little more than $200 million in the same period last year.”

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