Your Evening Briefing

January 09, 2026

S&P 500 climbs to a new record high after mixed jobs report

Stocks jumped on Friday with the S&P 500 notching a new record high. The Nasdaq 100 and the Russell 2000 also climbed higher.

The jobs report showed that although fewer than expected jobs were added in December, the unemployment rate dropped by more than expected. Traders’ odds that the Fed would hold interest rates steady in its January meeting climbed to 97% following the news. The report seemed to ease economic concerns without precluding the possibility of cuts later on in the year.

(Event contracts are offered through Robinhood Derivatives, LLC — probabilities referenced or sourced from KalshiEx LLC or ForecastEx LLC.)

Gaining:

AI utility darling Vistra and zero-revenues nuclear company Oklo soared after both companies announced deals with Meta.
Sandisk spiked amid Wall Street price target hikes.
Southwest Airlines climbed to its highest level since 2022 on a double upgrade and 66% price target hike from JPMorgan.
Mortgage lenders Rocket Cos, UWM, and LoanDepot; homebuilders DR Horton and Lennar; and online real estate platform Opendoor Technologies rose after Trump called for a $200 billion mortgage bond purchase.
ASML jumped as TSMC posted higher than expected Q4 sales and Wall Street analysts hiked their price targets.
Novo Nordisk moved higher as Amazon Pharmacy will begin to offer home delivery for the company’s Wegovy pill.
Intel spiked after Trump touted its "very successful" CEO and applauded the government’s investment in the company.
Compass jumped as it closed a merger with Anywhere Real Estate to become the largest residential real estate brokerage.
The native token of polygon, a proof-of-stake side chain of the ethereum network, led crypto market gainers.
Tilray ticked higher after it reported earnings results that beat Wall Street expectations after the bell yesterday.

Falling:

A basket of “Trump Tariff Losers” stocks compiled by UBS, which includes Under Armour, American Eagle, Mattel, and Deckers Outdoor, fell after the Supreme Court declined to give a ruling on tariffs imposed by President Donald Trump under the IEEPA.
Glencore and Rio Tinto ticked lower amid talks to form the world's biggest miner.
GM slid as it says it will take a $6 billion write-down on its EV pullback.

America now has more job seekers than available jobs

Fewer job openings and a pullback in hiring are pushing job seekers into a more crowded and competitive market. Read more.

American patients are increasingly turning to AI for medical advice — so are their doctors

As OpenAI announces the launch of ChatGPT Health, it seems everyday Americans and professional physicians alike are already using the tech to help with healthcare.

Read more.

Grok has been climbing Apple and Google’s app store rankings amid calls to remove it for sexualized images
Critics have pointed out that Apple and Google have removed other apps for less.
xAI’s revenue is growing, but so are its staggering losses
The company’s very expensive goal is to build AI to power AI robots like Tesla’s Optimus.
Uniqlo’s shiny international stores are pumping its sales as it targets Inditex’s crown
Even Uniqlo’s Japan business now sees 10% of its revenue coming from foreign tourists.
Tamagotchis are making a comeback, 3 decades after first becoming a global toy craze
As the beloved Japanese virtual pets turn 30 this year, increasing interest is giving owner Bandai Namco plenty to celebrate.
Report: Anthropic cuts off xAI’s access to its models for coding
Anthropic is taking steps to make sure they aren’t helping the competition in any way.
UK prime minister vows to take action against Elon Musk’s X over AI-generated images of minors, as Grok limits image generation to paid users
Sir Keir Starmer has threatened action over the “unlawful” images produced by X’s AI chatbot tool. In response, Grok has limited image generation only to paid users.
Analysts see “signs of stabilization” for bitcoin ETFs, previous crypto position reduction “behind us”
Bitcoin ETFs have seen over $1.1 billion leave the funds in the past three days, but the worst may be over, JPMorgan analysts say.

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