North America:
- Boeing delivered 348 commercial aircraft in 2024, half as many as Airbus.
- Pfizer has sold 700 million shares in Haleon for approximately GBP 2.57 billion, reducing its stake to around 7%, amidst a broader decline in healthcare stocks and ongoing legal appeals related to a past insider trading settlement.
- Eli Lilly struggles on the stock market due to slowing sales growth of its anti-obesity drug.
- Wells Fargo faces regulatory penalties totaling $18.5 million against three former executives for fraudulent sales practices, even as the bank reports a fourth-quarter profit that surpassed Wall Street expectations due to a rebound in dealmaking activity.
- Meta cuts around 5% of its workforce, targeting underperformers.
- Mark Wiedman, a senior executive at BlackRock, is leaving the firm as it reports a record high of $11.6 trillion in assets and a 23.5% year-over-year increase in Q4 adjusted earnings, surpassing estimates with earnings of $11.93 per share, amidst financial markets rallying ahead of earnings and political events.
- KKR is being sued by the U.S. Department of Justice for allegedly making improper pre-merger filings and evading antitrust scrutiny, facing a lawsuit worth $650 million.
- JPMorgan Chase achieved a record annual profit, bolstered by a strong economy, interest rate cuts, and market rebounds, alongside promoting Jennifer Piepszak to COO and reporting better-than-expected Q4 earnings and revenue, which contributed to a 1% rise in financial stocks including the NYSE Financial Index and the Financial Select Sector SPDR Fund.
- Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang visits China despite US export restrictions.
- Goldman Sachs experienced a significant increase in Q4 2024 profits, primarily fueled by robust investment banking and trading activities, leading to higher-than-expected earnings and revenue, and prompting the firm to raise bonuses for dealmakers by up to 15% amid a positive outlook for mergers and acquisitions in 2025.
- Canada authorizes the $34 billion Bunge-Viterra merger, subject to certain conditions.
- The FTC prepares to sue Deere for its equipment repair practices, according to Bloomberg.
- Microsoft halts hiring in its U.S. consulting unit to cut costs, according to CNBC.
- The US Securities and Exchange Commission sued Tesla CEO Elon Musk for not disclosing his Twitter stake on time.
Today's main earnings reports: JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo, Goldman Sachs, BlackRock, Citigroup, Bank of New York...
Europe and Asia:
- Nokia enters a multi-year patent licensing agreement with Samsung for video technologies and collaborates with Zain to boost mobile coverage in Saudi Arabia and the MEA region.
- Shell expands its petrochemical operations in China with a new ethylene cracker and specialty chemical units but exits gas trading in Spain over tax concerns.
- Bayer is ordered to pay $100 million in damages due to toxic chemical exposure claims at Sky Valley Education Center, even as it anticipates pharmaceutical growth.
- Bureau Veritas is in merger talks with SGS to potentially create a $35 billion testing and certification giant.
- Nordex sees a surge in business due to record project approvals, reforms by Germany's Ampel coalition, and increased orders and prices in North America and Europe.
- UniCredit gains European Commission approval for the acquisition of UniCredit CNP Vita amid national identity concerns and Italy's soaring public debt.
- Cellnex Telecom launches an 800 million euro share buyback program.
- International Distribution Services reports a revenue increase in Q3, driven by Royal Mail's strong Christmas performance, and eyes a return to adjusted operating profit.
- Experian experiences robust Q3 revenue growth, remains on track with its fiscal 2025 outlook despite a subdued UK economy.
- Saudi Aramco and Ma'aden form a joint venture for mining energy transition minerals, while Umm Al-Qura and Southern Province Cement brace for production cost increases due to fuel price adjustments.
- OCBC uses treasury shares for employee share schemes, and its subsidiary, Great Eastern Holdings, issues $500 million in capital bonds.
- TSMC faces new US regulations restricting advanced chip exports to China, but Taiwan's exemption underscores its compliance and control measures.
- General Motors signs a multi-billion dollar deal with Vianode for electric vehicle battery materials.
- Macquarie Group commits up to $5 billion in Applied Digital's computing business and acquires a 15% stake through its asset management arm.
- Rio Tinto leases a Tasmanian industrial facility to ABx Group for producing hydrogen fluoride and other chemicals from aluminum smelting byproducts.
- Zijin Mining Group is among 37 companies facing US import bans over allegations of human rights abuses against the Uyghur community in China.
- HSBC Holdings buys back over 7.2 million of its shares in the UK and Hong Kong markets.
- Al Rajhi Bank issues a 1.50 billion Saudi riyal additional tier 1 sustainable sukuk in US dollars.
- Rolls-Royce and Polat Energy sign Turkey's largest energy storage deal, marking progress in the country's energy sector.