After Hours Report

Stocks traded cautiously today amid a rise in oil prices and in anticipation of tomorrow's FOMC meeting, with the S&P 500 (+0.3%), Nasdaq Composite (+0.5%), and DJIA finishing a touch off their session lows. 

Oil saw some gains this morning following headlines that Iran struck a natural gas field in the UAE and targeted another tanker in the Strait of Hormuz. The market showed some resilience to the rebound in oil prices, opening to broad gains that were steadily eroded throughout the morning. Crude oil futures settled today's session $2.70 higher (+2.9%) at $96.05 per barrel.

The energy sector (+1.2%) notched the widest gain today, with Halliburton (HAL 35.64, +1.48, +4.33%) and APA Corp. (APA 35.86, +1.32, +3.84%) leading the advance. 

While the major averages gave back most of their early gains, eight total S&P 500 sectors managed to notch a higher finish today, keeping with yesterday's trend of broad strength. 

The consumer discretionary sector (+1.0%) outperformed, boosted by a nice gain in Amazon (AMZN 215.20, +3.46, +1.63%), which was a mega-cap standout today. The stock reached session highs this afternoon after Reuters reported that CEO Andy Jassy expects AI to double AWS projections to $600 billion by 2036.

Travel and leisure names such as Expedia Group (EXPE 241.25, +9.79, +4.23%) and Booking Holdings (BKNG 4442.33, +149.31, +3.48%) added support as the group rebounds from recent weakness tied to geopolitical and energy volatility. 

Alphabet (GOOG 309.41, +4.99, +1.64%) was another mega-cap standout, helping the communication services sector (+0.7%) finish near the top of the leaderboard as several other sectors trended lower later in the session. 

The Vanguard Mega Cap Growth ETF (+0.2%) finished well off its session highs, and the S&P 500 Equal Weighted Index (+0.5%) outperformed the market-weighted S&P 500 (+0.3%). 

Several of the ETF's weaker components resided in the information technology sector (+0.2%), which finished just modestly higher after opening to solid gains this morning. NVIDIA (NVDA 181.93, -1.29, -0.70%) saw some profit-taking following yesterday's GTC conference developments that featured CEO Jensen Huang's projections for at least $1 trillion in revenue opportunity through 2027 for Blackwell and Rubin chips.

The PHLX Semiconductor Index (+0.5%) still managed a higher finish as memory storage names such as Western Digital (WDC 313.81, +27.60, +9.64%) and Micron (MU 461.69, +19.89, +4.50%) traded sharply higher again today. 

Software stocks were also relatively solid today, with the iShares GS Software (IGV 85.52, +0.57, +0.67%) finishing 0.7% higher.

Meanwhile, the health care sector (-0.9%) closed with the widest loss today as Eli Lilly (LLY 930.51, -58.61, -5.93%) lagged after HSBC downgraded the stock to Reduce from Hold, with a target price of $850. The defensive consumer staples (-0.5%) and utilities (-0.3%) sectors also moved lower this afternoon after trading flattish for most of the session.

Other noteworthy corporate developments include the outperformance of airline stocks after Delta Air Lines (DAL 64.82, +3.98, +6.54%) raised its Q1 guidance, while Uber (UBER 77.79, +3.13, +4.19%) traded higher after Reuters reported that the company plans to launch a robotaxi service that runs on NVIDIA's self-driving platform. Those developments helped offset weakness in the industrials sector (+0.3%), which faced some profit-taking in its defense names today. 

Outside of the S&P 500, the Russell 2000 (+0.7%) and S&P Mid Cap 400 (+0.9%) outperformed the major averages.

Ultimately, the market held up reasonably well in the face of higher oil prices, but the pullback from early highs highlights a more cautious bias. Focus now shifts to tomorrow’s FOMC decision, where investors will be looking for clarity on how recent energy developments factor into the Fed’s outlook.

U.S. Treasuries saw yields fall back from higher levels in the overnight trade and close the regular session slightly lower than yesterday's settlement. Worries about slower growth and hesitation in front of Wednesday's FOMC decision and press conference ultimately won out as the Treasury market's driving influence. The 2-year note yield settled down one basis point to 3.67% and the 10-year note yield settled down two basis points to 4.20%. 

• S&P Mid Cap 400: +2.7% YTD
• Russell 2000: +1.5% YTD
• S&P 500: -1.9% YTD
• DJIA: -2.2% YTD
• Nasdaq Composite: -3.3% YTD

Reviewing today's data:

• February Pending Home Sales increased 1.8% (Briefing.com consensus: -0.8%; prior revised to -1.0% from -0.8%)

Overseas:

• Europe: DAX +0.7%, FTSE +0.8%, CAC +0.5%
• Asia: Nikkei -0.1%, Hang Seng +0.1%, Shanghai -0.9%

Commodities:

• Crude Oil +2.70 @ 96.05
• Nat Gas 0.00 @ 3.03
• Gold +7.20 @ 5007.50
• Silver -1.04 @ 79.74
• Copper -0.07 @ 5.76

After-Hours Spotlight:

• Bob’s Discount Furniture (BOBS) beats by $0.24, beats on revs; guides FY26 revs in-line... BOBS -7.2%
• DocuSign (DOCU) beats by $0.06, beats on revs; guides Q1 revs above consensus; guides FY27 revs above consensus; increases share buyback authorization by $2 bln... DOCU +1.7%
• HealthEquity (HQY) beats by $0.05, reports revs in-line; guides FY27 EPS in-line, revs in-line.... HQY -3.0%
• lululemon athletica (LULU) beats by $0.23, reports revs in-line, comps of +3%; guides Q1 EPS below consensus, revs below consensus; guides FY27 EPS below consensus, revs below consensus... LULU -1.5%
• SoFi Technologies (SOFI): CEO bought 28900 shares at $17.32 worth ~$501K... SOFI +0.6%
• Titan America (TTAM) misses by $0.01, misses on revs; guides FY26 revs below consensus... TTAM -4.3%

Fair Value for Wednesday, March 18:

• S&P 500: 6,771
• Nasdaq 100: 25,257
• DJIA: 47,318

For a full rundown of today's market and after hours developments, see Live In Play

• Earnings/Guidance (Full Earnings Calendar):
  • Bally’s Corporation Announces Preliminary Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2025 Results
  • BNP Paribas (BNPQY) targets doubling asset management pre-tax income by 2030
  • Comtech (CMTL) Announces Financial Results for Second Quarter of Fiscal 2026
  • Consolidated Water (CWCO) Reports Full Year 2025 Results
  • Delta Air Lines (DAL) sees Q1 revs above consensus
  • Elbit Systems (ESLT) beats on top and bottom lines
  • Frontier Group Holdings (ULCC) updates Q1 outlook; sees Q1 EPS in-line with consensus
  • GDS Holdings (GDS) beats by RMB 0.76, misses on revs; guides FY26 revs in-line
  • JetBlue Airways (JBLU) provides Q1 guidance; sees available seat miles negative 1-2% versus prior guidance of +0.5-3.5%; sees operating revenue per ASM of +5-7% versus +0.0-4.0% prior guidance; sees fuel price $3.01-3.06/gallon versus $2.27-2.42 prior guidance
  • Honeywell (HON) reaffirms FY26 organic sales growth guidance of 3-6% at Bank of America Global Industrials Conference; Says demand trends remain consistent with 2025, with one variable being the last two weeks given the war situation
  • HUYA (HUYA) reports Q4 (Dec) results, revs in-line
  • Semtech (SMTC) beats by $0.01, reports revs in-line; guides Q1 EPS in-line, revs above consensus
  • Steel Dynamics (STLD) sees Q1 EPS below consensus
  • Tencent Music (TME) beats by RMB0.07, beats on revs
• General News
  • Iran and the U.S. have been in direct contact in recent days, according to Axios
  • President Trump tells reporters he wants to delay his meeting with Chinese President Xi by a month or so due to the war in Iran, according to NBC News
  • Germany, Japan, and Australia are unlikely to help with the Strait of Hormuz, but the UK and France are assessing possible action, according to WSJ
  • Iran continues to attack energy supplies, according to Bloomberg
  • Israel killed Iran security chief Ali Larijani, according to NBC News
  • Trump's goal to ban institutional investors from buying up homes could be impacted by loophole, according to Barron's
  • Federal judge blocks RFK Jr from implementing pared-down list of recommended childhood vaccines, according to multiple news reports
  • Adobe (ADBE) and NVIDIA (NVDA) announce strategic partnership to deliver the next generation of firefly models and creative, marketing and agentic workflows
  • Alibaba (BABA) aiming to introduce agentic AI service for companies, according to Bloomberg
  • Amazon (AMZN) collaborates with NVIDIA (NVDA) on advanced AI assistants for cars; The technology could help automakers build AI assistants that understand group conversations and what’s happening around the car
  • Amazon (AMZN) introduces faster delivery with new 1-hour and 3-hour options
  • Amdocs (DOX) brings AI-accelerated application modernization to enterprises with NVIDIA (NVDA)
  • AptarGroup (ATR) announces that its proprietary nasal delivery system is being utilized in LTR Pharma Limited’s Phase II clinical study of SPONTAN
  • Blue Owl (OWL) triggered the collapse of a UK mortgage lender, according to FT
  • Cadence (CDNS) and NVIDIA Unveil Accelerated Engineering Solutions Purpose-Built for Agentic AI Chip and System Design
  • Cerus (CERS) announces that Vivek Jayaraman, the company's chief operating officer, will be promoted to president and chief executive officer, effective July 1, 2026
  • Cisco (CSCO) announces a major expansion of its Secure AI Factory with NVIDIA (NVDA), giving customers a framework for deploying AI across their entire infrastructure – from central data center to local sites where data is created and decisions are made
  • CoreWeave (CRWV) Advances AI-Native Cloud Platform for the Next Phase of Production-Scale AI
  • CrowdStrike (CRWD) unveils a Secure-by-Design AI Blueprint built with NVIDIA (NVDA) that integrates protection from the CrowdStrike Falcon® platform directly into NVIDIA OpenShell, an open-source runtime that enforces policy-based guardrails to make autonomous agents safer to deploy
  • CrowdStrike (CRWD) Accelerates Agentic MDR with NVIDIA, Demonstrating 5x Faster Investigations and 3x Higher Triage Accuracy
  • Dell Technologies (DELL) First to Ship NVIDIA GB300 Desktop for Autonomous AI Agents with NVIDIA NemoClaw and NVIDIA OpenShell
  • Dell (DELL) AI Data Platform with NVIDIA Supercharges Enterprise AI with Breakthrough Data Orchestration and Storage Innovations
  • Dell (DELL) provides update on FY26 headcount in 10-K filing
  • Dorchester Minerals (DMLP) and Dorchester Minerals Operating LP entered into a settlement and mutual release agreement with unrelated third parties
  • Eaton (ETN) collaborates with NVIDIA (NVDA) to unveil the Eaton Beam Rubin DSX platform to address the nearly $7 trillion data center buildout market from grid to chip
  • Everpure (PSTG) announces Evergreen//One for FlashBlade//EXA and the upcoming beta of Everpure Data Stream to help organizations reduce cost and complexity barriers that stall enterprise AI projects
  • F&G Annuities & Life (FG) announces new three-year $100 million share repurchase program
  • Flex (FLEX) announces a Architecture will integrate protection from the Falcon platform with NVIDIA (NVDA) OpenShell to run safer, autonomous AI agents both locally on DGX Spark and in the cloud
  • Fluor (FLR) announces that its Advanced Technologies business has signed a limited notice to proceed with TeraWulf large-scale data center project
  • Fortune Brands Innovations (FBIN) CEO Amit Banati to step down in May; CFO Jonathan Baksht has stepped down, effective immediately; co has begin searches for replacements for both positions
  • Google (GOOG, GOOGL) in discussions with Envicool to purchase data center cooling systems, according to Reuters
  • Greenwich LifeSciences (GLSI) provides update showing continued reduction in recurrence rate in the open label arm of FLAMINGO-01
  • Gyre Therapeutics (GYRE) announces China’s NMPA grants priority review to the NDA for hydronidone for CHB-induced liver fibrosis treatment
  • HPE (HPE) unveils next-generation AI factory and supercomputing advancements with NVIDIA
  • HPE (HPE) drives sovereign AI leadership with advanced systems at national research centers: HLRS and Argonne National Laboratory
  • Hycroft (HYMC) extends high-grade silver at Brimstone
  • IBM (IBM) announces expanded collaboration with NVIDIA (NVDA) to advance AI for the enterprise
  • Intuit (INTU): founder and executive leadership team terminate all pre-scheduled stock sales plans; Co also reiterated its intent to substantially accelerate repurchases
  • IPG Photonics (IPGP) announces that the Local Division of the Unified Patent Court located in Düsseldorf, Germany has issued a decision in a patent infringement case brought by Trumpf SE & Co. KG
  • IQVIA (IQV) unveils IQVIA.ai, a unified agentic AI Platform powered by NVIDIA (NVDA) to improve efficiency and decision making across life sciences
  • International Flavors (IFF) being probed by the India antitrust agency, according to Reuters
  • Itron (ITRI) Brings AI-Powered Distributed Intelligence Capabilities to Electric Grid with NVIDIA
  • JFrog (FROG) announces its new JFrog Agent Skills Registry, validated through early integration with NVIDIA
  • Lyft (LYFT) to make rides smarter and more efficient through Agentic AI, accelerate AV future with NVIDIA (NVDA) DRIVE Hyperion
  • Micron (MU) in high-volume production of HBM4 designed for NVIDIA Vera Rubin (NVDA) , PCIe Gen6 SSD and SOCAMM2
  • Nebius Group (NBIS) teams with NVIDIA to build cloud for robotics and physical AI
  • NetApp (NTAP) accelerates momentum in AI leadership with NVIDIA
  • Novanta (NOVT) announces that it has joined NVIDIA (NVDA) Halos AI Systems Inspection Lab, the first ANSI National Accreditation Board accredited inspection lab for AI-driven physical systems
  • NVIDIA (NVDA) launches space computing, rocketing AI into orbit
  • NVIDIa (NVDA) releases vera Rubin DSX AI factory reference design and omniverse DSX digital twin blueprint with broad industry support
  • NVIDIA (NVDA) Launches Nemotron Coalition of Leading Global AI Labs to Advance Open Frontier Models
  • NVIDIA (NVDA): BYD, Geely, Isuzu and Nissan Adopt NVIDIA DRIVE Hyperion for Level 4 Vehicles
  • NVIDIA (NVDA) and Global Industrial Software giants bring design, Engineering and manufacturing into the AI Era
  • NVIDIA (NVDA) announces an expanded collaboration with Hyundai Motor Company and Kia Corporation to advance next-generation autonomous driving technologies built on the NVIDIA DRIVE Hyperion autonomous vehicle development platform
  • NVIDIA (NVDA): Lambda announced at NVIDIA GTC 2026 it is a launch partner for NVIDIA’s Vera CPU platform and NVIDIA STX; launchES Lambda Bare Metal Instances as a core cloud offering for frontier AI workloads
  • NXP (NXPI) Delivers New Innovations for Advanced Physical AI with NVIDIA
  • Onto Innovation (ONTO) launches Dragonfly G5 Inspection System
  • OpenAI plans to refocus the company on coding and business users
  • Pfizer (PFE) reports positive topline Phase 2 results for next-generation CDK4 inhibitor, atirmociclib, in second-line metastatic breast cancer
  • Planet (PL) to build world’s first GPU-Native AI engine for planetary intelligence with NVIDIA (NVDA)
  • POET Technologies (POET) and Lessengers announce the joint development of a 1.6T 2×DR4 optical transceiver module designed for next-generation AI clusters and hyperscale data center networks
  • Procore (PCOR) Accelerates the Construction of AI Factories With NVIDIA
  • Regal Rexnord (RRX) provides update on CEO succession process
  • Rhythm Pharmaceuticals (RYTM) Announces Topline Results from Phase 3 EMANATE Trial
  • Rio Tinto's (RIO) (55%) joint venture with BHP (45%), Resolution Copper, completes a land exchange, unlocking the next phase of one of the world’s largest untapped copper deposits
  • Roche Hldg (RHHBY) launches NVIDIA (NVDA) AI factory to accelerate the development of new therapeutics and diagnostics solutions
  • Salesforce (CRM) teams with NVIDIA (NVDA) to bring high-performance, cost-efficient AI agents into the flow of enterprise work
  • Seadrill Ltd (SDRL) announces contract extension in Angola
  • Silicon Motion (SIMO) Showcases Differentiated Enterprise SSD Controllers and PCIe NVMe Boot Drive Solutions Aligned with NVIDIA AI Ecosystem at GTC
  • Solaris Energy Infrastructure (SEI) closes two transactions which will add approximately 900 MW of new, natural gas-fueled turbine capacity between 2026 and 2029
  • STMicroelectronics (STM) accelerates global adoption and market growth of Physical AI with NVIDIA (NVDA)
  • Supermicro (SMCI) Reveals DCBBS with New NVIDIA Vera Rubin NVL72, HGX Rubin NVL8, and Vera CPU Systems, Designed to Accelerate Customer Time-to-Market
  • Synopsys (SNPS) showcases NVIDIA (NVDA) partnership impact and ecosystem innovation at GTC 2026
  • Tesla (TSLA) and LG Energy Solutions agreed to a battery deal, according to Reuters
  • Tesla (TSLA) CEO Elon Musk says "New Roadster unveil probably in late April"
  • TI (TXN) unveils complete 800 VDC power architecture for future generation AI data centers with NVIDIA
  • T-Mobile US (TMUS): NVIDIA, T-Mobile and partners integrate physical AI applications on AI-RAN-ready infrastructure
  • TotalEnergies (TTE): The Trump administration is considering a $1 billion deal with TotalEnergies to stop new wind farms, according to NY Times
  • TotalEnergies SE (TTE) begins production at Angola’s Quiluma gas field
  • Visteon (VC) announces that they will develop and deploy an edge-to-cloud AI arbitration architecture for software-defined vehicles with NVIDIA (NVDA) technology
  • Walt Disney (DIS) company sets leadership team for expanded Disney entertainment segment
  • WeRide (WRD) showcases robotaxi powered by NVIDIA platform, targets Southeast Asia expansion
  • Western Alliance (WAL): A dispute between Western Alliance and Jefferies (JEF) is exposing private credit risks, according to WSJ

• Upgrades:
  • Adecoagro (AGRO) upgraded to Equal Weight from Underweight at Morgan Stanley, tgt $13
  • Align Technology (ALGN) upgraded to Overweight from Equal Weight at Barclays, tgt $200
  • Alpine Income Property (PINE) upgraded to Strong Buy from Outperform at Raymond James, tgt $22
  • Canadian Solar (CSIQ) upgraded to Neutral from Underperform at Mizuho, tgt $19
  • Dover (DOV) upgraded to Overweight from Equal Weight at Wells Fargo, tgt $230
  • Essential Properties Realty Trust (EPRT) upgraded to Strong Buy from Outperform at Raymond James, tgt $37
  • Ichor Holdings (ICHR) upgraded to Buy from Hold at Stifel, tgt $55
  • LatAm Airlines Group (LTM) upgraded to Buy from Neutral at Citigroup, tgt $58
  • Lemonade (LMND) upgraded to Overweight from Equal Weight at Morgan Stanley, tgt $85
  • MSCI (MSCI) upgraded to Strong Buy from Outperform at Raymond James, tgt $710
  • Neste (NTOIY) upgraded to Overweight from Equal Weight at Barclays
  • Tandem Diabetes Care (TNDM) upgraded to Overweight from Neutral at Piper Sandler, tgt $33
  • Target Hospitality (TH) upgraded to Outperform from Perform at Oppenheimer, tgt $11
  • W. P. Carey (WPC) upgraded to Outperform from Market Perform at Raymond James, tgt $76
• Downgrades:
  • CONMED (CNMD) downgraded to Neutral from Overweight at Piper Sandler, tgt $39
  • DraftKings (DKNG) downgraded to Hold from Buy at Argus
  • Eli Lilly (LLY) downgraded to Reduce from Hold at HSBC, tgt $850
  • EPR Properties (EPR) downgraded to Outperform from Strong Buy at Raymond James, tgt $60
  • Li Auto (LI) downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Goldman, tgt $19
  • MarketAxess (MKTX) downgraded to Hold from Buy at Argus
  • National Retail Properties (NNN) downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform at Raymond James
  • Netstreit (NTST) downgraded to Outperform from Strong Buy at Raymond James, tgt $22
  • PlayStudios (MYPS) downgraded to Hold from Speculative Buy at Benchmark
  • Sony (SONY) downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform at Bernstein, tgt $22
• Others:
  • Arthur J. Gallagher (AJG) resumed with an Outperform at RBC Capital, tgt $260
  • Ingredion (INGR) initiated with a Buy at Benchmark, tgt $130
  • Navan (NAVN) initiated with an Outperform at BMO Capital, tgt $13
  • Nektar Therapeutics (NKTR) initiated with a Buy at TD Cowen
  • PTC (PTC) reinstated with an Overweight at Barclays, tgt $180
  • QuinStreet (QNST) initiated with an Outperform at Northland, tgt $17
  • Tenax Therapeutics (TENX) initiated with an Overweight at Cantor Fitzgerald, tgt $35
  • TIC Solutions (TIC) initiated with a Buy at Roth Capital, tgt $10

• Econ Data (Wednesday):
  • 07:00 ET: MBA Mortgage Applications Index (prior 3.2%)
  • 08:30 ET: February PPI (Briefing.com consensus: 0.3%; prior 0.5%) and core PPI (Briefing.com consensus: 0.4%; prior 0.8%)
  • 10:00 ET: January Factory Orders (prior -0.7%)
  • 10:30 ET: EIA Crude Oil Inventories (prior +3.82M)
  • 14:00 ET: FOMC Decision
  • 14:30 ET: Fed Chair Powell press conference
  • 16:00 ET: January Net Long-Term TIC Flows (prior $28.0B)

• Earnings:
  • Monday (March 16)
    • Pre-Market: DLTR, BEKE, SAIC
    • After-Hours: SMTC
      
    Tuesday (March 17)
    • Pre-Market: ASO, GDS, HUYA, TME
    • After-Hours: BOBS, DOCU, KMTS, LULU, OKLO, TTAM, ZTO
      
  • Wednesday (March 18)
    • Pre-Market: GIS, MOMO, JBL, M, SAIL, WB, WSM
      
    • After-Hours: DLO, FIVE, HTFL, MU
  • Thursday (March 19)
    • Pre-Market: ARX, ACN, BABA, ARCO, AVAH, CAL, CSIQ, DRI, SIG, MWH
    • After-Hours: FDX, PL
  • Friday (March 20)
    • Pre-Market: None
    • After-Hours: None