US EQUITY OPEN: Stocks mixed at the open; Tech weighs on NDX, while Industrials and Staples outperform

OPEN: US stocks open mixed, with selling contained in Tech. As such, the Nasdaq 100 leads underperformance (-0.7%), followed by the SPX (-0.1%), while RUT sees gains of around 0.5%. Outperformance is seen in Staples and Industrials. Macro-moving events for equities have been absent overnight and in the early morning. Mega-cap updates include an Alphabet (GOOGL, +0.4%) upgrade at Cantor, while China is reportedly set to approve some NVIDIA (NVDA) H200 chips purchases as soon as this quarter for commercial companies; however, NVDA is nonetheless lower, c. -1.6%. Data this morning had an impact on USD and USTs, with the dollar tracking US yields higher as Initial jobless claims remained at the lower end of levels seen in 2025, while RevelioLabs Total NFP gauge for December showed 71k jobs added, possibly indicative of incoming easing in the unemployment rate, given two consecutive months of gains above the general 0-50k breakeven view postulated by Fed officials. In commodities, precious metals continue to take a breather after silver and platinum failed to make new record highs in Wednesday's trade. For oil, a rebound is in effect with prices up ~USD 1.10/bbl as US-Venezuela relations remain in focus. Reports from the WSJ suggest that Trump believes his efforts could help lower oil prices to his favoured level of USD 50/bbl.

STOCK SPECIFICS

NVIDIA (NVDA): China is set to approve some NVDA H200 chip purchases as soon as this quarter.
Jefferies (JEF): Investors take focus on loss linked to First Brands exposure despite earnings beat.
Constellation Brands (STZ): Delivered an earnings beat.
Applied Digital (APLD): Adj. EPS & revenue topped expectations.
RTX (RTX), Lockheed Martin (LMT), Northrop Grumman (NOC): Trump says military budget should be raised to USD 1.5tln from USD 1.0tln.
AbbVie (ABBV): Lowered FY adj. EPS view; rejected reports its to acquire Revolution Medicines (RVMD), -8.2%.
Alphabet (GOOGL): Upgraded at Cantor Fitzgerald to 'Overweight' from 'Neutral'.
Marqeta (MQ): Downgraded at Mizuho to 'Neutral' from 'Outperform'.
Alcoa (AA): Downgraded at JPMorgan to 'Underweight' from 'Neutral'.
Nike (NKE): Downgraded at Needham to 'Hold' from 'Buy'.