Early Look

Monday, December 15, 2025

Atter stock markets slumped on Friday, U.S. futures are looking higher to kick off the week with investors focused on a few notable economic data points this week, with the delayed November Nonfarm Payrolls report (Tuesday Dec 16th) and the Consumer Price Index (CPI) inflation report (Thursday the 18th) upcoming. Note Chairman Powell and others have warned that the shutdown may add a layer of uncertainty to the data while last week’s FOMC rate cut and subsequent dovish commentary on the future rate outlook has laid the groundwork for an easier path for interest rates. S&P futures rolling over to March futures contract, up +0.5% at 6,924 this morning rebounding after Friday losses. Artificial intelligence (AI) related stocks took a bruising late last week from back-to-back disappointing updates from Oracle (ORCL) and Broadcom (AVGO), reigniting concerns about frothy valuations and an AI bubble. Oracle’s shares slumped as much as 17% since Wednesday’s close after the company, which has taken on debt to finance its ambitious AI spending, warned capital expenditures for fiscal 2026 are now expected to be $15 billion higher than it estimated in September. Shares fell further mid-Friday following a Bloomberg report that the company has pushed back the completion dates for some of the data centers it is developing for OpenAI to 2028 from 2027 (Reuters later reported ORCL denied any delays). Stocks ended broadly in the red on Friday after Broadcom warned of slimmer future margins. After a 13-day wining streak for the S&P technology sector (XLK), the sectors slumped the last few days of the week, ending down 2.9% Friday. For the week, the S&P 500 fell -0.63%, the Nasdaq declined -1.62%, the Russell 2000 rose 1% and the Dow climbed 1.05% (with the S&P, Dow and Russell hitting all-time highs Thursday before slipping). Rising Treasury yields didn’t help on Friday as a roster of Federal Reserve officials expressed caution over further rate cuts as inflation remains elevated. The U.S central bank on Wednesday cut rates by 25 basis points and was interpreted as being less hawkish than markets had expected. In Asian markets, The Nikkei Index tumbled -668 points to 50,168, the Shanghai Index fell -21 points to 3,867, and the Hang Seng Index dropped -347 points to 25,628. In Europe, the German DAX is up 116 points to 24,032, while the FTSE 100 is up 84 points to 9,733. Oil prices held near the lowest level in almost two months, with improved demand in China helping to offset global output that’s running ahead of consumption.

• The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell -245.96 points, or 0.51%, to 48,458.05
• The Nasdaq Composite tumbled -398.69 points, or 1.69%, to 23,195.17
• The Russell 2000 Index declined -39.15 points, or 1.51% to 2,551.46

• 10:00 AM ET NAHB Housing Market Index for December…est. 38

• Earnings After the Close: ABVX NAVN

• The Tankan survey showed business sentiment among Japan’s largest manufacturers improved for the third consecutive quarter and capex plans exceeded expectations, ahead of the BoJ expected rate hike this week. Tankan survey showed the diffusion index for large manufacturers rose to 15 (est. 15, prev. 14). Large non-manufacturers held at a robust 34 (est. 35, prev. 34).
• China’s retail sales growth sharply misses estimates in November, deepening consumption worries. Retail sales rose 1.3% last month from a year earlier, sharply missing Reuters’ median forecast for a 2.8% growth, and slowing from 2.9% rise in the prior month.

• FMC Corp. (FMC) said its board has approved a restructuring plan, aimed at cutting costs, shutting down high-cost plants and shifting production to lower-cost locations; FMC expects to save $175M or more by the end of 2027, once the plan is fully implemented, expects to incur restructuring charges of between $560M-$635M over the life of the program and sees total severance charges and related benefit costs in the range of $50M-$80M.
• United (UAL) Flight 803, a Boeing (BA) 777-200ER, headed from Washington Dulles International Airport to Tokyo Narita Airport on Saturday had a piece of an engine cover fall off on takeoff but returned safely to its origin. The cover piece caught fire leading to a brush fire adjacent to the runway, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said in an X post.
• Palantir Technologies Inc. (PLTR) announces a three-year renewal of its contract with the DGSI, France’s domestic Intelligence agency, extending a partnership that has been ongoing for nearly a decade. This agreement relates to the supply of Palantir’s proprietary software platform, as well as the integration, support, and assistance services that are necessary for the software’s deployment and operational use.
• BlackSky Technology (BKSY) may offer/sell shares of common stock of up to $100M from time to time.

• Sanofi (SNY) shares fall after it flagged another delay to ​a U.S. regulatory decision for its experimental multiple sclerosis ‌drug and disappointing results from a late-stage study. Sanofi said the FDA  decision on its tolebrutinib drug to treat non-relapsing secondary progressive multiple sclerosis will ⁠likely be delayed until ‌the first quarter of 2026.
• In the Tools/CRO Market, Bank America upgraded shares of Charles River (CRL), Mettler-Toledo (MTD) and Schrodinger (SDGR) all to Buy from Neutral and downgraded Zoetis (ZTS), Avantor (AVTR), Icon (ICLR) and Revvity (RVTY) to Neutral from Buy. 2026 will be the third year in a row where Life Science Tools headwinds are expected to fade and markets are expected to normalize, but the firm thinks a healthy amount of caution is warranted.

• ServiceNow (NOW) is in advanced talks to buy Armis, a cybersecurity startup that had been eyeing an initial public offering next year, in a deal that may be valued at as much as $7 billion, Bloomberg News reported on Saturday, citing people familiar with the situation.  https://tinyurl.com/2p69hw85
• Live Nation (LYV) and its subsidiary Ticketmaster must face a class action on behalf of millions of Americans for allegedly overcharging them for events at major concert venues across the country according to a federal judge in California. U.S. District Judge George Wu in Los Angeles ruled that the plaintiffs met the criteria to expand their lawsuit into a class action seeking 15 years of alleged damages tied to the purchase of more than 400 million tickets.
• Keybanc provided 2026 software outlook as they downgraded ServiceNow (NOW) and Adobe Systems (ADBE) to Underweight and upgraded Akami (AKAM), Fastly (FSLY), Asana (ASAN) and GTM to Sector Weight.
• Teradyne (TER) upgraded to Buy from Sell at Goldman Sachs and up tgt to $230 from $148 saying although they had been previously cautious on the stock given expectations for a muted Mobile recovery (which has largely materialized), we expect accelerating growth in the company’s semiconductor test segment—particularly in GPUs—to more than offset this weakness in 2026.
• Infosys (INFY), Cognizant (CTSH): President Donald Trump’s $100,000 price tag for new H-1B workers hired from outside the U.S. will have significant effects for the IT outsourcing and staffing industries, Bloomberg reported