Luke Kawa12/11/24

Stocks surge as tech roars back

The S&P 500 rose 0.8% and the Russell 2000 was up 0.5% while the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 soared 1.8% to hit a record high.

Stocks benefited from an in-line November CPI inflation report that calcified traders’ confidence that the Federal Reserve will deliver a rate cut next week.

The top S&P 500 sector ETFs were consumer discretionary, communications services, and tech. However, more sector ETFs fell than rose, with healthcare a notable laggard.

The S&P 500’s advance-decline was negative for the eighth straight session, the longest such streak since the market bottomed in December 2018.

The Magnificent 7 cohort had their best day in over a month, up 3.1% led by Tesla — which hit its first record high in over three years — and Google.

Semiconductors bounced after an awful start to the week, with the VanEck Semiconductor ETF gaining 2.5%.

Quantum-computing firm Rigetti Computing’s surge was briefly interrupted by a tweet from Citron Research pouring cold water on the stock, but still ended up 13.7%. Competitors in the space like IonQ and D-Wave Quantum tumbled.

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J. Edward Moreno9h

Molina implodes after earnings miss, gloomy guidance

Molina Healthcare tanked after it reported earnings results that missed Wall Street expectations and gave disappointing full-year guidance.

For the last three months of 2025, Molina reported:

An adjusted loss per share of $2.75, compared to the $0.34 earnings per share analysts polled by FactSet were expecting. The company said about $2 per share of its earnings miss was due to “retroactive premium adjustments attributable to the Company’s Medicaid business in California and ongoing medical cost pressure in Medicare and Marketplace.”
Revenue of $11.3 billion, compared to the $10.8 billion the Street was penciling in.
A medical cost ratio of 94.6%, higher than the 93.1% analysts expected.

For the full year in 2026, Molina expects:

Adjusted earnings per share of at least $5.00, compared to the $13.66 analysts had forecast. Molina said its guidance takes into account ongoing losses in its traditional Medicare Advantage Part D business, which it now plans to exit in 2027.
Revenues of about $42.2 billion, compared to the $46.6 billion analysts had penciled in.
Its medical cost ratio to sit at 92.6%, while analysts had expected 91.4%.

Health insurers have been under pressure for the past year amid rising health costs. Molina, one of the largest providers of ACA Marketplace plans, has taken a hit as tax credits for the program lapsed in January.

Molina’s report also dragged down competitors, including Centene, which is also a major provider of ACA plans and reports earnings Friday morning.

Bloom Energy Reports earnings

Bloom Energy surges after topping expectations for sales, EPS

Here’s how the print looked at first glance.

Matt Phillips9h

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Max Knoblauch9h

Roblox surges as it guides for stronger-than-expected full-year bookings, touts AI vision

Kid-centric gaming platform Roblox reported its fourth-quarter results after the market closed on Thursday. Its shares surged more than 20% in after-hours trading.

For the full year ahead, Roblox guided for bookings of between $8.28 billion and $8.55 billion, which would represent annual growth of 22% to 26%. That’s well ahead of Wall Street’s estimates: analysts polled by FactSet expected $8.03 billion.

Roblox forecasts Q1 bookings to land between $1.69 billion and $1.74 billion, compared to the $1.7 billion Wall Street consensus estimate.

An average of 144 million daily users logged on to Roblox in its fourth quarter, beating estimates of 138 million and up 69% from last year. The platform paid out $1.5 billion to creators last year, up from $922 million in 2024.

Roblox engagement surged in 2025, a year marred by several legal issues surrounding child safety on the platform. Late last year, analysts began to warn that some of its most popular titles were past their peak.

Recently, shares of the company have dropped on investor fears of Google’s Project Genie AI tool, which generates playable worlds. As of Thursday’s close, Roblox had shed more than $10 billion in market cap since Project Genie launched. On Wednesday, Roblox appeared to answer Genie’s release with the open beta launch of its own “4D” generative-AI tool. Roblox’s tool lets users generate objects made up of multiple working parts (e.g., a drivable car with spinning wheels) as opposed to static 3D objects.

In its letter to shareholders, Roblox said it was “innovating aggressively in AI to accelerate the creation of content, improve the safety of our platform, and fuel ongoing user engagement, discovery and monetization improvements.”

Amazon slides as it misses on Q4 earnings, gives downbeat profit guidance

The tech giant also forecast it would spend $200 billion on capex in 2026.

New York Times DealBook Summit Held In New York City

Tasha Matsumoto

Stocks erase 2026 gains as tech and crypto continue to slide; volatility rises

Investors continued to shun risk amid rising volatility.

GREEN BAY, WISCONSIN - DECEMBER 07: Caleb Williams #18 of the Chicago Bears walks off the field after a loss to the Green Bay Packers at Lambeau Field on December 07, 2025 in Green Bay, Wisconsin. (Photo by John Fisher/Getty Images)

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