Markets
Luke Kawa

US stocks end relatively unchanged as traders await Nvidia’s earnings

The S&P 500 was little changed, the Russell 2000 inched higher, and the Nasdaq 100 was up 0.2% on Wednesday.

Tech was the best-performing S&P 500 sector ETF. Consumer staples, a defensively oriented sector that had been holding up quite well, was trounced and finished at the bottom of the sector leaderboard.

Nvidia rose ahead of earnings, though the stock ended well off its highs of the day. Tesla fell along with bitcoin, which Barclays analysts think is the best comp for the company.

Adtech firm AppLovin tumbled after a pair of reports from short sellers alleged that the company was gaming Meta’s advertising platform.

Super Micro Computer spiked after completing the necessary filings to avoid being delisted from the Nasdaq.

Taser and body-cam maker Axon soared after reporting much better-than-expected quarterly results.

A top- and bottom-line beat for Workday propelled shares higher.

Shares of TJX, parent company of T.J. Maxx, also rose on the heels of its better-than-anticipated quarterly results.

Better-than-expected revenues catalyzed a bid for First Solar despite its big miss on earnings.

Like its peer Home Depot, Lowe’s gained after posting positive same-store sales in the fourth quarter.

Cava, on the other hand, sank after projecting a drop in same-store sales.

AB InBev jumped despite seeing volumes drop for the seventh consecutive quarter.

A rough year for Stellantis, which saw profits shrink by 70%, sent shares lower.

Soft revenues and lower-than-expected total spending on Instacart’s platform fueled a significant sell-off in the stock.

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Gold and silver plunge, suffering their worst losses since the 1980s

Gold and silver suffered their worst losses in decades on Friday, with the iShares Silver Trust falling more than 30% at one point during afternoon trading before recovering slightly.

After recently crossing $5,000 per ounce for the first time, golds dip was relatively muted compared to silvers rout, but nevertheless eye-watering for a traditional safe haven asset. At one point, golds intraday dip exceeded 10%, its worst intraday drop since the 1980s and surpassing its declines seen during the 2008 financial crisis, per Bloomberg.

Silvers drop was its worst in percentage terms since 1980.

Gold, and particularly silver, have been pushed higher recently by a storm of retail trader enthusiasm for the metals, as well as more traditional drivers of precious metals such as geopolitical risks and concerns over a fall in the dollars value due to trade wars and possibly waning central bank independence.

Leveraged ETFs that hold gold and silver futures have become increasingly popular trading vehicles amid the parabolic moves in precious metals prices, and likely contributed to the magnitude of the unwind today.

Case in point: look at silver futures for delivery in March. That’s the dominant contract held by the ProShares Ultra Silver ETF, which offers exposure to 2x the daily move in the shiny metal. Volumes exploded (and the contract rebounded modestly) right around 1:25 p.m. ET, which is when silver futures settled and around the time the ETF performed its daily rebalancing (which in this case, involved massive selling).

Gaming stocks plunge following release of Google’s AI tool that can create playable, copyrighted worlds

Shares of major gaming companies are plunging on Friday as investors get a deeper look at the capabilities of Google’s new generative-AI prototype, Project Genie.

The tool allows users to “create and explore infinitely diverse worlds” with a text or image prompt. Users have already exposed its ability to realistically recreate knockoffs of copyrighted games from Nintendo and other gaming companies.

As users experiment with recreations of game worlds like Take-Two’s “Grand Theft Auto 6,” shares of major gaming companies are sinking. Unity Software, the maker of the popular Unity game engine, is down over 25%, while gaming platform Roblox is down about 9%.

Collision 2019 - Day One

D-Wave Quantum CEO on what’s next after the most eventful month in the company’s history

“If 2025 was the international year of quantum, 2026 is the international year of D-Wave Quantum,” said CEO Dr. Alan Baratz.

Luke Kawa1/30/26
markets

SoFi bests Wall Street’s Q4 expectations, shares rise

SoFi Technologies reported better-than-expected Q4 sales and earnings-per-share numbers Friday before market open, sending the shares higher in the premarket. 

The online lender reported: 

  • Adjusted Q4 earnings per share of $0.13 vs. the $0.12 consensus estimate collected by FactSet.

  • Adjusted revenue of $1.01 billion in Q4 vs. the Wall Street forecast for $977.4 million.

  • Q1 2026 adjusted net revenue guidance of approximately $1.04 billion vs. the $1.04 billion consensus expectation, according to FactSet.

SoFi shares rallied roughly 70% last year, as the company’s growing menu of financial products — including trading, wealth management, mortgages, credit cards, and cryptocurrency trading — showed signs of gaining traction beyond its traditional base of student borrowers. But the stock has stumbled in early 2026, falling nearly 7% in January through Thursday’s close, though most of that slump seems to have been reversed this morning.

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