Stocks climb to a new high as traders shake off the threat to Fed independence

Citi analysts hit the buy button on Palantir Technologies Monday, citing a strong outlook for growth both in Palantir’s large government contracting and defense business as well as its rapidly growing commercial division, which sells software to corporations to help them better use AI technology.

“Our upgrade is premised on our view that 2026 is poised to be another year of significant positive estimate revisions, with recent CIO [chief information officer] + industry conversations suggesting AI budget and use cases are accelerating in the enterprise. We also see significant tailwinds in the Government driven by accelerating defense budgets and modernization urgency.”

The bank, which had a “neutral” rating on the stock since February 2024, also cited chatter at its recent IT software conference, where participants talked up the cost savings generated by Palantir’s AI Platform software and noted that its Q4 IT survey on software budgets showed an incremental rise in budgets “especially for dedicated AI workloads and data project prioritization.”

“We expect PLTR, with its Foundry and AIP platform, to be one of the key Data Analytics/ AI vendors that could see further tailwind into numbers,” Citi analysts wrote.

Palantir is expected to report Q4 results on February 18.

But it’s an open question whether the surging growth Citi now sees for the company has already been priced in for the stock. The shares have risen close to 1,000% over the last two years, pushing standard measures of valuation to arguably lunatic levels.

If there’s one thing Chinese companies are known for, it’s ruthless competition on price to make sure the nation’s products are attractive on global markets. Oftentimes, this comes with implicit or explicit state support for favored industries, which draws the ire of other countries.

Production > profitability is a pretty good shorthand for how China attempts to conquer tradable goods (see: electric vehicles). However, when it comes to consumer-oriented services, policymakers clearly don’t feel the same way.

Alibaba, Meituan, andJD.com are all soaring after the Chinese State Council’s anti-monopoly and anti-unfair competition committee said it’s investigating the food delivery sector over practices that are potentially distorting the market and weighing on brick-and-mortar firms.

These tech giants have been investing heavily in their food delivery capabilities, including via subsidies and incentives. Effectively, the market reaction here is that traders believe regulators are saving these companies from themselves.

A commentary in the state-run People’s Daily published midyear 2025, when JD.com announced plans to bolster its food delivery business, argued that there will be no “winners” in these price wars, which would lead to irrational consumption.

Cancer diagnostics company and retail shareholder favorite Tempus AI surged early Monday after issuing some fresh, though preliminary, financials ahead of an appearance at an investor conference today.

The Chicago-based company reported better-than-expected Q4 sales numbers of roughly $367 million — Wall Street had expected about $361 million — as well as a diagnostics revenue that more than doubled to $266 million. It also posted an updated corporate presentation on its website ahead of an appearance at the JPMorgan Healthcare Conference that’s expected at 4:30 p.m. ET today.

The company noted that it hasn’t completed its official full-year 2025 or Q4 financial statements yet, which it typically files in February.

Wall Street expects Tempus to lose money through 2027. But the stock has been ripping, rising 75% last year, and through Monday’s open has tacked on another 24% in 2026.