Passport to Wall Street

Bitcoin Crashes to $68,000, but 'Real Test' Still Lies Ahead, Analyst Says

Benzinga News — Fri, 13 Nov 2026 16:43:31 -0500

Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) plunged toward $68,000 Friday, breaking its recent recovery trend as Bloomberg ETF analyst Eric Balchunas argued that relatively modest institutional outflows suggest investors are holding firm despite the selloff.

Speaking with crypto commentator Scott Melker, Balchunas noted that Bitcoin ETFs' $1.4 billion year-to-date outflows are encouraging despite the rough 50% price decline from its $126,000 peak.

"You're holding your ground. You're treading water in a year that sucks," Balchunas said.

He noted that ETF flows typically follow Bitcoin's price movements and compared its weakness to gold ETFs' prolonged stagnation before reaching new highs.

Balchunas believes weak sentiment does not undermine Bitcoin's long-term adoption.

Could Bitcoin's $67,000 Support Trigger A Recovery?

Melker highlighted Bitcoin's breakdown below $75,000, which disrupted the pattern of higher highs and higher lows established during its recent recovery.

He identified several technical levels worth watching:

$75,000: The former support level Bitcoin would need to reclaim to improve its market structure.
$67,000: A potential support zone supported by previous consolidation.
200-week moving average: A key longer-term trend indicator that could help determine whether the broader recovery remains intact.

Melker warned that Bitcoin's break below its 50-week moving average adds to the technical uncertainty.

He suggested the $67,000 region could attract buyers given its historical trading activity.

Bitcoin ETFs Changing How Investors Hold BTC

Balchunas highlighted roughly $3.6 billion in recent spot-to-ETF conversions, signaling a shift from self-custody toward regulated investment products.

He said ETFs offer convenience, institutional custody and oversight but lack Bitcoin's censorship resistance and independence through self-custody.

Investors should distinguish between Bitcoin's underlying network and the exchanges or custodians that hold assets on their behalf.

What Is Going on With SanDisk Stock on Friday?

Benzinga News — Fri, 13 Nov 2026 16:42:15 -0500

SanDisk Corp. (SNDK ) stock was down over 8% Friday amid a semiconductor selloff following Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang's departure. Investors are also weighing rising competition in NAND flash and concerns about AI infrastructure spending.

The S&P 500 fell 1.0%, Technology dropped 3.30%, and the Nasdaq declined 2.10%, putting SanDisk's decline against a backdrop of broader selling.

VanEck Semiconductor ETF (SMH ) fell 3.94%. Sandisk rivals SK hynix Inc. (SKHY ) and Micron Technology, Inc. (MU ) fell 4.91% and 4.50%, respectively, on Friday.

Nvidia Leadership Turmoil Pressures AI-Linked Stocks

The latest semiconductor weakness follows renewed focus on NVIDIA Corp. (NVDA ) after Huang's departure raised questions about governance, succession planning and the company's unusually flat management structure.

Those leadership transition concerns have added pressure across the AI-chip complex. Through Thursday, NVIDIA had fallen 27.28% over the past month, including a 4.34% decline that day.

Sandisk supplies NAND flash memory and storage products used in data centers and other devices.

NAND Competition Intensifies

Sandisk has lost about 34% over the past month as investors weigh whether tighter scrutiny of U.S. data-center construction after the midterm elections could delay AI infrastructure spending and weaken near-term demand for memory and storage.

Competition is also increasing.

Counterpoint Research said SanDisk's global NAND flash revenue share declined to 11% in the second quarter of 2026 from 13% in the previous quarter.

Chinese rival YMTC held a 14% share, up from 12% in the fourth quarter of 2025. The shift came even as the overall NAND market expanded 70% sequentially.

Adam Sees Opportunity After Semiconductor Pullback

In comments covered by Benzinga on Nov. 6, Raymond James CIO Larry Adam said the AI investment cycle remained intact despite the recent selloff.

Adam said some semiconductor and AI infrastructure stocks were trading at roughly 30% discounts to historical valuations, while next year's earnings expectations remained healthy and continued moving higher.

He said he would gradually rebuild semiconductor exposure following the decline.

Clode Points to Forced SellingJanus Henderson technology portfolio manager Richard Clode previously said forced selling had contributed to the earlier downturn after months of volatility and losses among long-short funds.

His comments suggest market positioning and liquidation contributed to the semiconductor decline alongside concerns about underlying AI demand.

Ives Turns More Cautious

Yorkville Ives analyst Dan Ives outlined a more cautious view of semiconductor spending in comments covered by Benzinga on Nov. 6.

Ives said he assumed roughly 10% fewer data centers in his baseline case, with the reduction potentially reaching 15%-20%. He also expected Big Tech capital-spending growth to peak in 2027, earlier than his previous 2028-2029 forecast.

He said he preferred software over semiconductors, although he still expected the AI infrastructure buildout to continue over a longer timeline rather than end.

Technical and Analyst Outlook

Sandisk remains up 251.29% over 12 months, but the current correction has pushed the stock 23.6% below its 20-day SMA, 40.5% below its 50-day SMA and 33.1% below its 200-day SMA.

The stock carries a Buy consensus rating with an average price forecast of $2,176.43. Recent actions include Rosenblatt maintaining Buy with a $2,400 forecast and Wells Fargo maintaining Equal-Weight while lowering its forecast to $1,300.

Price Action

SNDK Stock Price Activity: Sandisk shares were down 8.50% at $857.82 at the time of publication on Friday, according to Benzinga Pro data.

UnitedHealthcare Policy Assessment Urges Clearer Provider Guidance

Benzinga News — Fri, 13 Nov 2026 16:41:54 -0500

UnitedHealth Group Inc. (UNH ) hired FTI Consulting Inc. (FCN ) and physician-led advisory firm Rubrum Advising to evaluate how UnitedHealthcare builds and maintains its medical policies. The review team found the insurer follows an evidence-based approach while recommending clearer policy formatting and stronger documentation.

Independent Review Benchmarks: UnitedHealthcare Standards

The review team used a structured scoring rubric to compare UnitedHealthcare's internal processes against standards from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, the National Academy of Medicine, the Centers for Disease Control and the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association Technical Evaluation Center.

Evaluators examined policies across Medicare Advantage, Medicaid and commercial plans, covering areas such as cardiac devices, sleep apnea treatment, durable medical equipment and vertebral body tethering.

The assessment excluded drug and behavioral health policies, individual coverage decisions, cost considerations, and the completeness of UnitedHealthcare's underlying clinical literature reviews.

Strong Governance and Clinical Rigor Drive Policy Oversight

Reviewers found that UnitedHealthcare's Medical Policy team executes a transparent, checklist-driven process using peer-reviewed clinical studies, nationally recognized clinical guidelines, and public feedback loops.

Seven Medical Policy Medical Directors and more than 80 multidisciplinary staff members run the program alongside epidemiologists, while policy writers receive 18 months of formal mentorship.

Three internal committees govern the framework and re-review every medical policy at least annually. The review team highlighted UnitedHealthcare's use of internal appeals data to refine policies as a standout practice.

Reviewers Recommend Clearer Language and Standardized Templates

Despite strong overall performance, the review team identified key areas for improvement.

Evaluators noted that UnitedHealthcare lacks formal documentation for new policy criteria, subject matter expert vetting, and ongoing training for medical directors and committee members.

The report also found that lengthy, dense policy language hinders daily use by providers and members.

Reviewers urged UnitedHealthcare to simplify its writing to improve provider usability and adopt a standardized policy template that clearly links coverage rationales to clinical evidence summaries and gaps.

UNH Price Action: UnitedHealth shares were down 0.86% at $401.67 at the time of publication on Friday, according to Benzinga Pro data.

What's Going On With Lowe's Companies Stock Friday?

Benzinga News — Fri, 13 Nov 2026 16:41:33 -0500

Lowe's Companies Inc. (LOW ) stock edged lower Friday after Stifel downgraded the home improvement retailer ahead of its quarterly earnings report next week.

Stifel Downgrades Lowe's on Demand Concerns

Stifel analyst Andrew Carter downgraded Lowe's from Hold to Sell and lowered his price forecast from $195 to $190.

The revised forecast implies about 16.5% downside from Thursday's closing price of $227.46.

Carter cited weaker demand, potential operating margin pressure and rising competition as key challenges for Home Depot, Inc. (HD ) and Lowe's, CNBC reported.

The analyst expects demand to weaken in the second half of 2026, followed by operating margin pressure in fiscal 2027 and 2028.

He also flagged persistent weakness in the do-it-yourself (DIY) segment, uncertainty in housing-related spending and growing competition.

These challenges could force both retailers to increase investments to support long-term growth.

Carter's fiscal 2028 adjusted earnings per share estimates for Home Depot and Lowe's are 7% and 8% below consensus, respectively.

Upcoming Earnings in Focus

Lowe's is scheduled to report quarterly earnings on Nov. 18.

Analysts expect earnings of $2.88 per share, down from $3.06 a year earlier.

Revenue is expected to rise to $22.42 billion from $20.81 billion.

Despite Stifel's downgrade, the stock carries a consensus Buy rating and an average analyst price forecast of $253.47.

Bernstein recently raised its price forecast to $270, while JPMorgan increased its forecast to $275.

Technical Indicators Signal Mixed Momentum

Lowe's shares remain above their 20-day simple moving average (SMA) of $213.40 and 50-day SMA of $199.85.

The stock is also trading above its 200-day SMA of $223.57, suggesting improving short-term momentum.

However, the 50-day SMA remains below the 200-day SMA, signaling lingering longer-term weakness.

The MACD indicator remains above its signal line, pointing to improving buying momentum.

Traders are watching resistance near $227.50 and support around $199.50.

LOW Price Action

Lowe's shares were down 0.22% at $226.97 at the time of publication Friday, according to Benzinga Pro data.

Robinhood Stock Falls on 48% Crypto Volume Drop, Goldman Target Cut, Bitcoin Slide

Benzinga News — Fri, 13 Nov 2026 16:41:07 -0500

Robinhood Markets Inc. (HOOD ) shares are trading lower Friday after the company's October operating data showed a sharp pullback in crypto trading activity. A Goldman Sachs price target cut, a crypto selloff and a broad market decline are adding to the pressure. Here's what you should know.

Crypto Volumes Cut Nearly in Half From a Year Ago

Robinhood's crypto notional trading volumes came in at $17 billion in October. That was down 21% from September and 48% from a year earlier.

The decline hit both of Robinhood's crypto venues. Volumes on the Robinhood app fell 24% month over month to $6.8 billion and were down 51% from October 2025. Bitstamp volumes slid 18% from September to $10.2 billion, a 45% year-over-year drop.

Daily activity weakened as well. Average daily crypto volumes on the Robinhood app dropped 26% from September to $219 million, while Bitstamp's average daily volumes fell 21% to $328 million.

Platform Assets Slip Despite $15.1 Billion in Net Deposits

Total platform assets ended October at $383 billion, down 3% from September but up 12% year over year. Net deposits totaled $15.1 billion for the month, which works out to a 46% annualized growth rate based on September platform assets. Over the trailing 12 months, net deposits reached $80.5 billion.

Funded customers rose by about 130,000 from September to 28.9 million, an increase of roughly 1.8 million from a year earlier.

Cash and deposit balances fell 20% from September to $16.4 billion. Robinhood attributed most of that drop to heavy net buying by customers and said the decline had largely reversed in early November. Cash sweep balances dipped 5% month over month to $30.8 billion.

Event Contracts, Margin Balances Keep Climbing

Outside crypto, Robinhood's trading picture was mixed:

Event contracts: Contracts traded rose 5% from September to 5.9 billion, up 136% year over year.
Equities: Equity notional volumes edged up 1% month over month to $325 billion, though average daily volumes slipped 4%.
Options: Options contracts traded were flat with September at 289 million and up 8% from a year ago.

Margin balances climbed 4% from September to $22.9 billion, a 39% year-over-year increase. Total securities lending revenue rose 6% month over month to $34 million but was down 43% from October 2025.

Goldman Cut, Crypto Slide Add to Pressure

Goldman Sachs analyst James Yaro maintained a Buy rating on Robinhood but trimmed his price target to $115 from $128.

Crypto prices are also falling. According to CoinDesk, the crypto selloff picked up early Friday, with Bitcoin slipping below $70,000 and ether falling under $2,000, which set off heavy liquidations in the futures market.

The broader market is under pressure as well. The Nasdaq was down 1.72%, and the S&P 500 was off 1.10% in morning trading as wholesale inflation rose.

Robinhood Shares Under Pressure

HOOD Price Action: Robinhood shares are down 4.22% at $77.92 at the time of publication on Friday, according to Benzinga Pro.

Microsoft Stock in Focus as Massive 365 Outage Hits Outlook, Teams and Copilot: What Investors Should Know

Benzinga News — Fri, 13 Nov 2026 16:40:48 -0500

Shares of Microsoft Corp. (MSFT ) are in focus after a widespread Microsoft 365 outage that began Thursday disrupted Outlook, Teams, Copilot and other workplace applications for thousands of users.

Microsoft Works to Restore Services

Microsoft continued working to restore services Thursday evening as the outage also affected Microsoft integrations used by OpenAI and Anthropic, according to Benzinga's coverage. Downdetector recorded more than 130,000 Outlook complaints at the peak. For a business that sells workplace software on reliability, the scale is a concern.

Microsoft listed Exchange Online mailbox access and email delivery among the problems. Teams calendar and meeting scheduling, Copilot Chat, Microsoft Graph requests and parts of SharePoint, Planner and Defender were also disrupted. Core Teams messaging and meetings stayed largely functional, as did direct access to SharePoint files, so the outage hit features across products rather than shutting down every service.

Microsoft said it was not aware of any malicious activity. It reported better server stability after applying an authentication and routing patch and was working to expand the fix to active regions.

Security and Compliance Tools Were Also Hit

The outage reached Microsoft's security products too. According to an incident report maintained by the University of Pennsylvania's IT department, which draws on Microsoft's disclosures, problems affected Defender for Office 365, Defender XDR and Purview.

Safe Links could fail to process rewritten URLs, administrators had trouble releasing quarantined messages, and Defender XDR pages loaded poorly. In Purview, data loss prevention, information protection labels, audit searches and eDiscovery were among the affected capabilities.

Microsoft's disclosures don't show that customers were left unprotected or that attackers exploited the disruption.

MSFT Shares in Focus

MSFT Price Action: Microsoft shares were down 0.26% at $521.66 at the time of publication, according to Benzinga Pro.

Microsoft Just Relived the CrowdStrike Nightmare. But There’s One Crucial Difference

Benzinga News — Fri, 13 Nov 2026 16:40:28 -0500

Microsoft Corp's (MSFT ) global outage has revived memories of the 2024 CrowdStrike Holdings, Inc. (CRWD ) debacle, but the two incidents expose different vulnerabilities in the technology industry's infrastructure. Both demonstrate how a technical failure can ripple across businesses worldwide.

Yet Microsoft's latest disruption highlights a different risk: how much of corporate America depends on a single provider's cloud ecosystem.

Microsoft Outage Draws CrowdStrike Comparisons

Microsoft is working to restore services across its Microsoft 365 ecosystem after a disruption that affected Outlook, Teams, SharePoint, Copilot and other enterprise tools.

The outage disrupted businesses and government operations, leaving employees struggling to access email and coordinate workflows. Microsoft attributed the disruption to infrastructure problems that caused servers to become unavailable, shifting traffic onto remaining capacity and creating further strain.

The comparison with CrowdStrike came from Australian Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke, who said Microsoft had indicated that an update had gone wrong.

"They don't believe they are dealing with a cyber event," Burke said Friday, adding that Microsoft viewed the incident as similar in some ways to the CrowdStrike disruption.

The comparison is notable, but the underlying failures are not identical.

CrowdStrike Crippled Windows PCs. Microsoft's Servers Failed

In July 2024, cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike released a faulty content configuration update for its Falcon security software. The update triggered Windows system crashes, leaving millions of computers displaying the dreaded blue screen of death.

Microsoft estimated that approximately 8.5 million Windows devices were affected, less than 1% of all Windows machines. Yet the disruption grounded flights, interrupted hospital operations and banking services, and exposed the risks of software updates reaching critical systems at scale.

This week's incident, which began Nov. 12, unfolded differently. Microsoft's disclosures point to Exchange Online infrastructure becoming unavailable after servers began failing automated health checks. The resulting capacity loss shifted traffic onto remaining servers, creating additional strain and connectivity problems across services dependent on Exchange Online.

Microsoft has been isolating affected infrastructure, restarting servers and testing previous software configurations to prevent further failures. The company has yet to publish a definitive root cause, however, so an update-related explanation remains unconfirmed.

The Bigger Risk Is Technology Concentration

The distinction matters because the outages expose different points of failure in an increasingly interconnected technology ecosystem.

CrowdStrike demonstrated how a third-party security vendor's faulty update could cripple Windows computers. Microsoft's latest disruption shows how a failure inside a major cloud provider's infrastructure can spread across seemingly separate enterprise products.

The risk is particularly relevant as businesses consolidate email, collaboration, identity, security and AI workflows within integrated cloud ecosystems.

Even Microsoft's own security products were affected, with incident disclosures identifying disruptions to Defender XDR, Safe Links and several Purview capabilities.

For Microsoft, restoring services is only the immediate challenge. Investors should watch for its eventual root-cause report, changes to deployment and recovery safeguards, and whether enterprise customers demand greater infrastructure redundancy.

The outage may not trigger an immediate exodus from Microsoft, but it gives corporate IT departments another reason to question how much of their business should depend on one technology provider.

MSFT Price Action: Microsoft shares were down 0.30% at $521.45 at the time of publication Friday, according to Benzinga Pro data.

GTA 6 Nears Launch With $1 Billion in Estimated Preorders: Bettors See 97% Chance of Record First-Day Sales

Benzinga News — Fri, 13 Nov 2026 16:40:06 -0500

Grand Theft Auto V took just three days to make $1 billion. Thirteen years later, its sequel has reportedly reached that figure before even hitting store shelves.

GTA VI has drawn an estimated $1.09 billion in preorders ahead of its Nov. 19 release, setting the stage for a potentially record-breaking launch for Take-Two Interactive Software Inc. (TTWO ), the parent company of Rockstar Games.

A Billion Dollars Before Launch

Market intelligence firm Sensor Tower estimates GTA VI has generated 11.27 million digital console preorders as of November 12, up from 7.71 million on Nov. 3.

That's nearly 3.6 million additional preorders in nine days.

Sony confirmed GTA VI is the most-preordered game in PlayStation Store history, while Microsoft announced the same record for its own storefront.

Sony began allowing players to download the game nine days early, citing unprecedented demand and urging customers to prepare for launch day.

The excitement extends beyond preorders. An estimated 12.5 million American gamers plan to take time off or change their work or school schedules for GTA VI's release, according to a PCMag survey conducted by YouGov.

Bettors See Record-Breaking Launch

GTA V sold 11.21 million copies on its first day in 2013, according to Guinness World Records, slightly fewer than GTA VI's estimated preorders.

Those sales generated $815.7 million. Traders on Polymarket now see a 97% chance GTA VI will beat that benchmark. The market has attracted about $22,000 in trading.

The bet requires GTA VI to generate more than $815.7 million in first-day revenue, with qualifying sales figures reported by January 31, 2027.

Despite the extraordinary demand, Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick isn't ready to celebrate.

"We still aren't ready to declare victory," he told analysts Monday.

Take-Two maintained its fiscal 2027 net bookings forecast of $8 billion to $8.2 billion, even as it raised its separate revenue outlook.

The $815.7 million record is the hurdle for bettors. For TTWO shareholders, the bigger test is whether GTA VI can push Take-Two beyond its company-wide December-quarter bookings forecast of $3.35 billion to $3.5 billion.

How Did Dell Servers With Restricted NVIDIA Chips End Up in China?

Benzinga News — Fri, 13 Nov 2026 16:39:41 -0500

Dell Technologies Inc. (DELL ) stock plunged nearly 9% Friday amid a broader technology sell-off and a report linking Dell servers containing restricted NVIDIA chips to a Chinese data center.

The Nasdaq fell 1.68%, while the S&P 500 declined 0.75%. The Technology sector dropped 2.7%, making it the day's worst-performing sector.

Bloomberg Report Raises China Chip Concerns

A Chinese company founded by Alice Huang obtained servers containing restricted NVIDIA Corp. (NVDA ) chips that were installed at a Shanghai data center, Bloomberg reported Friday.

According to documents Bloomberg reviewed, Singapore-based Aperia Cloud Services purchased 22 Dell servers containing NVIDIA's H800 chips.

The chips were restricted from sale to China in 2023. However, the report added that the servers later appeared at a Shanghai data center linked to companies founded by Alice Huang.

Dell told Bloomberg it stopped selling to and supporting Aperia International in February 2025 because of concerns about unauthorized diversion.

The findings add to concerns surrounding U.S. export restrictions on advanced artificial intelligence chips.

Dell did not immediately respond to Benzinga's request for comment.

Earnings Ahead

Dell is scheduled to report quarterly earnings Nov. 24.

Analysts expect earnings of $6.55 per share, up from $2.59 a year earlier. Revenue is projected to reach $49.21 billion, up from $27 billion a year ago.

Dell trades at a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.6.

The stock carries a consensus Buy rating, with an average analyst price forecast of $584.76.

On Oct. 14, Barclays downgraded Dell to Equal-Weight and lowered its price forecast to $574.

Meanwhile, Mizuho raised its price forecast to $650 on Oct. 6 while maintaining an Outperform rating.

TD Cowen also raised its price forecast to $550 on Sept. 29 while maintaining a Hold rating.

DELL Price Action

DELL Stock Price Activity: Dell Technologies shares were down 8.78% at $338.58 at the time of publication on Friday, according to Benzinga Pro data.

What's Going on with Chevron Shares on Friday?

Benzinga News — Fri, 13 Nov 2026 16:39:13 -0500

Chevron Corporation (CVX ) shares are trading slightly higher on Friday. Oil prices rebounded on Thursday after President Donald Trump said on social media that the U.S. "doesn't need a deal with Iran," dampening hopes of near-term de-escalation.

At the time of writing, Brent crude was near $96.06, while WTI crude stood at $88.73.

Chevron Restarts Iowa Biodiesel Facility

On Thursday, Chevron disclosed it will resume operations at its biodiesel production facility in Ralston, Iowa, under a commercial and operational agreement with farmer-owned Landus Cooperative, following improved market conditions.

Landus' neighboring soybean processing facility handles more than 28 million bushels annually, making it the largest mechanical soybean crushing facility in the U.S. Iowa is the country's second-largest soybean-producing state.

The Ralston plant has an annual production capacity of nearly 42 million gallons, enough to fuel more than 275,000 typical 18-wheelers.

The restart is expected to increase regional biodiesel supplies, support diesel markets and create additional opportunities for Iowa soybean farmers. It could also generate local jobs and contracting opportunities.

Chevron idled the facility in 2024 following a market downturn.

Operations will resume in stages, with staffing, maintenance, safety and operational-readiness work taking place before production begins. Chevron said the move will help strengthen fuel supplies amid tight global oil markets.

The company added that its U.S. refineries operated at nearly 98% utilization in the third quarter, achieving record crude throughput.

Monthly renewable diesel and biodiesel production also reached record levels in 2026.

CVX Stock Price Activity: Chevron shares were up 0.92% at $218.34 at the time of publication on Friday.

Microsoft Outage Hit More Than Outlook: Even Its Cybersecurity Defenses Were Affected

Benzinga News — Fri, 13 Nov 2026 14:36:20 -0500

Beyond email and productivity tools, Microsoft Corp.'s (MSFT ) latest outage disrupted several cybersecurity and data-protection functions.

An incident report maintained by the University of Pennsylvania's IT department, drawing from Microsoft's service incident disclosures, lists disruptions across Microsoft Defender for Office 365, Microsoft Defender XDR and Microsoft Purview.

The reported problems went beyond administrators being unable to access security dashboards. Microsoft's updates identified failures involving Safe Links and Safe Attachments, protection policies, security quarantine, Threat Explorer and email remediation events.

Users clicking URLs rewritten by Safe Links could encounter navigation failures because the service couldn't process those links. Administrators could also face difficulties releasing quarantined messages, while Defender XDR users reported problems loading portal pages and individual solution tabs.

Safe Links and Safe Attachments help protect employees from malicious URLs and files, while Defender XDR gives security teams visibility across their environments.

The Bigger Risk Is Dependence on One Technology Ecosystem

The disruption also extended into Microsoft Purview, the company's data governance and information-protection platform.

Affected capabilities included data loss prevention (DLP) across Microsoft 365 services, information-protection labels, automatic labeling, data classification and communication compliance. The outage could also disrupt audit searches, eDiscovery searches and exports, and access to protected content.

For enterprises, these are not merely administrative inconveniences. DLP policies help organizations prevent employees from improperly sharing sensitive information, while information-protection labels let them control how teams handle confidential data.

When services that supply signals to security policies or enforce governance actions become unreliable, security teams could face delays in investigating threats, managing quarantined messages, or enforcing certain data-protection rules.

Importantly, Microsoft's disclosures do not establish that customers were left completely unprotected or that attackers exploited the disruption. They identify specific affected capabilities, not a wholesale shutdown of cybersecurity protection.

What Enterprises Should Take Away From Microsoft's Outage

The incident raises a broader question for corporate technology buyers: How much security and operational resilience should enterprises entrust to a single provider?

Microsoft's integrated ecosystem offers centralized management and tighter connections between productivity and security applications. But those same connections can create dependencies that become apparent when shared services fail.

For investors, the episode highlights a less-discussed dimension of Microsoft's enterprise software business: reliability. Customers pay for cybersecurity products not just for their detection capabilities, but also for the assurance that critical protection and response workflows remain available when needed.

Microsoft's forthcoming post-incident report should explain the root cause, detail the extent of the disruption and outline the safeguards the company plans to introduce to prevent a recurrence. Those details will matter to enterprise customers evaluating whether this was a temporary infrastructure failure or evidence of a deeper resilience challenge.

Meta’s TikTok Threat Just Became Bigger Than Oracle

Benzinga News — Fri, 13 Nov 2026 14:35:23 -0500

TikTok's parent ByteDance is now being valued at more than Oracle Corp. (ORCL ), the very company helping secure its U.S. operations. A proposed $6 billion share buyback puts ByteDance's valuation at $400 billion, exceeding Oracle's roughly $384 billion market capitalization. This also highlights the scale of the competitor Meta Platforms Inc. (META ) faces.

ByteDance's Valuation Moves Past Oracle

ByteDance plans to buy back up to $6 billion in shares from existing investors at a valuation approximately 20% higher than its previous buyback a year ago, according to The Information, which cited a shareholder letter and a person familiar with the plans.

The proposed valuation is particularly striking against Oracle's public-market value. Oracle's market capitalization stood at approximately $384.4 billion on Nov. 13, according to Stock Alarm, putting ByteDance ahead by nearly $16 billion.

The comparison is not strictly like-for-like: ByteDance's figure is a private-market valuation implied by a share buyback, while Oracle's is based on its publicly traded stock. Still, it offers a striking benchmark for the scale of TikTok's parent company.

Oracle Has a Stake in Both TikTok and OpenAI

Oracle became a central player in TikTok's U.S. restructuring, alongside Silver Lake and Abu Dhabi's MGX. Each received a 15% stake in the new U.S. joint venture, while ByteDance retained 19.9%.

Oracle provides the secure U.S. cloud infrastructure for TikTok and serves as the joint venture's trusted security partner, while the venture oversees data protection, algorithm security and content moderation. ByteDance retained the app's revenue-generating operations, preserving its exposure to TikTok's commercial success.

Oracle also has a multiyear agreement with OpenAI to develop up to 4.5 gigawatts of additional U.S. data center capacity. The Wall Street Journal reported that the deal involves approximately $300 billion in computing purchases over five years.

That puts Oracle at the intersection of two major technology battles: TikTok's U.S. future and the race to build infrastructure for AI.

Why Meta Investors Should Pay Attention

ByteDance's rising valuation matters for Meta because the two companies compete for the same scarce resource: consumer attention and the advertising dollars that follow it.

TikTok's recommendation engine has made it a formidable rival to Instagram Reels, while its advertising and e-commerce businesses give ByteDance additional ways to monetize engagement.

ByteDance's first-half 2026 revenue reportedly climbed approximately 30% to $120 billion, although net profit declined to around $20 billion amid heavier AI spending, The Information reported.

For Meta investors, the $400 billion valuation is a reminder that TikTok's competitive strength remains intact despite the U.S. restructuring. Oracle may be helping secure the platform and powering the AI ambitions of OpenAI, but ByteDance is the company Meta must continue competing against.

What Is Going on With Micron Stock on Friday?

Benzinga News — Fri, 13 Nov 2026 14:34:42 -0500

Micron Technology Inc. (MU ) stock edged little higher in Friday premarket trading as investors reassessed AI-hardware exposure following NVIDIA Corp.'s (NVDA ) leadership transition, while S&P 500 futures rose 0.2%.

Micron has gained 16% over the past five days, while Nvidia has fallen 11% over the same period.

Nvidia Transition Pressures AI Chip Complex

NVIDIA said Jensen Huang resigned effective immediately as president, CEO and a board member.

The company named CFO Colette Kress interim CEO while its board searches for a permanent successor and appointed Harvey C. Jones as its first chair.

The transition pressured AI-linked semiconductor names Thursday, with the iShares Semiconductor ETF and VanEck Semiconductor ETF falling roughly 4%-5% as investors reassessed NVIDIA-linked exposure across the chip supply chain.

Baruch Highlights Valuation And Buybacks

Blue Line Capital founder and CIO Bill Baruch highlighted Micron as his final trade, pointing to its valuation and expected capital returns.

Baruch told CNBC that Micron "trades at four times" and added that "significant buybacks are coming down the pipeline."

Technical Analysis

Micron remains in an intermediate pullback despite holding above its longer-term trend gauge.

The stock trades 6.1% below its 20-day SMA and 16.4% below its 50-day SMA, while remaining 3.7% above its 200-day SMA.

That setup leaves the shorter-term trend under pressure while the stock continues to hold above its longer-term moving average.

Earnings & Analyst Outlook

Micron's next estimated earnings report is scheduled for Dec. 16, 2026.

EPS Estimate: $35.07, up from $4.78 a year earlier
Revenue Estimate: $56.55 billion, up from $13.64 billion a year earlier
P/E: 10.7x

Micron carries a Buy consensus rating with an average price forecast of $1,622.38, based on 50 analysts, with forecasts ranging from $1,100 to $3,000.

Recent analyst actions include:

Rosenblatt: Maintained Buy with a $1,900 forecast on Oct. 22
Needham: Maintained Buy with a $1,650 forecast on Oct. 22
Rosenblatt: Maintained Buy with a $1,900 forecast on Oct. 13

Top ETF Exposure

Micron carries an 8.73% weighting in the Invesco S&P 500 Momentum ETF (SPMO ), an 8.25% weighting in the State Street SPDR NYSE Technology ETF (XNTK ) and an 8.47% weighting in the Pacer Data and Digital Revolution ETF (TRFK ).

MU Price Action: Micron Technology shares were down 0.71% at $792.76 during premarket trading on Friday, according to Benzinga Pro data.

Lucid Group Stock Is Falling Thursday: What's Going On?

Benzinga News — Thu, 12 Nov 2026 17:42:34 -0500

Lucid Group Inc. (LCID ) stock fell more than 8% Thursday as investors weighed disappointing third-quarter results, analyst price-target cuts, and continued weakness in electric-vehicle stocks.

The decline came despite modest gains in the broader market. The Nasdaq Composite rose 0.06%, while the S&P 500 gained 0.09%. Meanwhile, the Russell 2000 fell 0.94%, reflecting pressure on smaller companies.

Lucid Misses Third-Quarter Estimates

Lucid reported third-quarter revenue of $350.32 million Monday, missing analysts' estimate of $407.31 million.

The EV maker posted an adjusted loss of $2.30 per share, wider than the expected $2.28 loss.

Revenue increased 4% year over year. Lucid produced 2,954 vehicles and delivered 3,806 during the quarter.

The company said it achieved approximately $800 million in year-to-date savings and is on track to meet its full-year cash flow improvement plan.

Lucid ended the quarter with approximately $2 billion in total liquidity, expected to fund operations and key investments through the fourth quarter of 2027.

Analysts Cut Lucid Price Forecasts

Several Wall Street firms lowered their price forecasts following the earnings report.

On Tuesday, TD Cowen cut its price forecast to $4 while maintaining a Hold rating. Cantor Fitzgerald reduced its forecast to $6 and kept a Neutral rating.

Citigroup maintained its Buy rating Wednesday but lowered its price forecast to $9.

Lucid carries a consensus Hold rating and an average price forecast of $5.17 across eight analysts.

Technical Indicators Signal Continued Weakness

From a trend perspective, LCID is still in a bearish long-term structure: it's trading 10.1% below its 50-day SMA ($3.76), 32.2% below its 100-day SMA ($4.99), and 48.2% below its 200-day SMA ($6.53).

The 20-day SMA ($3.31) is the nearest reference the stock has held recently, but the 20-day SMA below the 50-day SMA keeps the intermediate trend tilted lower.

Momentum is best framed through RSI, which is at 47.45-basically neutral-suggesting Thursday's downdraft is more about trend pressure than an already "stretched" oversold condition.

The stock has key support around $2.50, a level where buyers have previously stepped in. It sits near the lower end of the recent trading range and just above the 52-week low of $2.37.

LCID Price ActionLCID Stock Price Activity: Lucid Group shares were down 8.31% at $3.37 at the time of publication on Thursday, according to Benzinga Pro data.

Bitcoin Slumps to $72,000: Blame the 'Known Unknowns,' Says Schwab Analyst

Benzinga News — Thu, 12 Nov 2026 17:42:00 -0500

Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) fell 4% in a single day, slipping below $72,000 as inflation concerns, hawkish Federal Reserve commentary and uncertainty surrounding AI investments influence crypto markets.

Speaking on Schwab Network's Crypto Corner, crypto strategist Jim Feroli said Bitcoin has recovered more than 30% from its earlier lows, technically entering a new bull market.

Although, without a strong new crypto-specific catalyst, Bitcoin has become increasingly sensitive to macroeconomic developments.

He distinguished between two types of market uncertainty:

Known unknowns: Scheduled events such as inflation reports, Fed meetings and elections, where the timing is known but the outcome remains uncertain.
Unknown unknowns: Unexpected shocks, including exchange hacks, that can trigger sudden selling.

Feroli said Bitcoin's volatility-adjusted reactions to scheduled economic events have generally been smaller than those of traditional assets such as stocks, currencies and oil.

In contrast, a recent exchange hack initially sent Bitcoin down 5%, but selling eased as customer reimbursements and asset freezes became clearer.

Could Slower AI Spending Help Bitcoin Miners?

Feroli said uncertainty around AI spending could push Bitcoin miners toward a more balanced business model.

Bitcoin mining companies have increasingly redirected computing infrastructure toward AI services, where demand and potential returns have been attractive.

Some miners have sold Bitcoin to fund AI expansion, but slower investment could shift their priorities.

He suggested miners could use infrastructure for AI inference during peak demand and switch to Bitcoin mining during quieter periods.

Such an approach could improve data center utilization while preserving revenue opportunities from Bitcoin mining.

What Is Going on With Apple Stock on Thursday?

Benzinga News — Thu, 12 Nov 2026 17:41:41 -0500

Apple Inc. (AAPL ) stock was trending on Thursday as investors weighed the company's capital-return capacity, pricing power and expanding AI strategy against a relatively flat Technology sector.

The move came as the S&P 500 gained 0.1%, the Nasdaq rose 0.12%, and the Dow advanced 0.20%, while broader market breadth remained mixed.

$5 Trillion Valuation And Buybacks Support Sentiment

Apple recently reclaimed a $5 trillion market capitalization and raised $7.5 billion through a high-grade bond offering that attracted about $31 billion in peak orders.

The company plans to use the proceeds for general corporate purposes, including share repurchases, adding to its capital-return capacity.

Apple is also accelerating its AI strategy under CEO John Ternus, with the company pushing Siri toward more agent-like capabilities.

Apple Expands AI And Product Development

Apple is reshaping its operating-system development process ahead of iOS 28, iPadOS 28 and macOS 28, while giving engineers more time for coding, exploration and feature development.

The company is also rolling out Apple Intelligence in China through beta software and has launched a new touch-screen MacBook Pro.

Pricing Drives Holiday Growth Outlook

CNBC's MacKenzie Sigalos said Thursday that Apple's holiday-quarter growth is being driven more by higher pricing than by increased iPhone unit sales.

Citing UBS data, Sigalos said iPhone revenue could climb 12% to $95 billion even as unit sales decline 3%.

Apple itself guided to 7%-10% total holiday-quarter revenue growth.

Sigalos also highlighted the $2,000 foldable iPhone Duo, which remains difficult to obtain, with deliveries extending into late January despite shorter wait times.

She said Apple's pricing power is helping the company maintain a market capitalization above $5 trillion and widen its lead over NVIDIA Corp. (NVDA ) to roughly $900 billion.

She also said investors are favoring Apple's lower exposure to the AI infrastructure spending cycle.

Technical Trend Remains Constructive

Apple trades above each of its major moving averages.

The stock sits 3.4% above its 20-day SMA of $345.65, 5.6% above its 50-day SMA of $338.53, 9.6% above its 100-day SMA of $326.04 and 18.9% above its 200-day SMA of $300.78.

The 20-day SMA remains above the 50-day SMA, while the 50-day SMA remains above the 200-day SMA.

Analyst Outlook

Apple carries a Buy consensus rating with an average price forecast of $345.94.

Recent analyst actions include:

China Renaissance: Upgraded Apple to Buy with a $425 forecast on Nov. 11
Bernstein: Maintained Buy while raising its forecast to $380 on Nov. 4
JPMorgan: Maintained Overweight while lowering its forecast to $355 on Nov. 3

AAPL Price Action: Apple shares were down 0.03% at $355.53 at the time of publication on Thursday. The stock is trading near its 52-week high of $355.91, according to Benzinga Pro data.

What's Going On With Alphabet Stock Thursday?

Benzinga News — Thu, 12 Nov 2026 17:41:14 -0500

Alphabet Inc. (GOOGL ) (GOOG ) stock rose about 3% Thursday as the Google parent raised nearly $4 billion through Asian bond sales and expanded its artificial intelligence offerings with new smart glasses and Gemini features.

The developments highlight Google's push to expand its AI business while securing financing for its growing technology investments.

Alphabet Raises Nearly $4 Billion In Asia

Alphabet raised approximately $3.78 billion through its first Hong Kong dollar- and Singapore dollar-denominated bond offerings, Bloomberg reported Thursday.

The company sold 16 billion Hong Kong dollars ($2 billion) in bonds across two-, five- and 10-year maturities.

It also raised 2.28 billion Singapore dollars ($1.78 billion) through bonds with maturities ranging from two to 30 years.

Investor demand was strong. Orders exceeded 32.5 billion Hong Kong dollars for the Hong Kong bonds, while Singapore dollar orders topped 4 billion Singapore dollars.

Alphabet plans to use the proceeds for general corporate purposes, potentially including debt repayment.

The fundraising follows a $6.7 billion euro bond sale earlier this month as major technology companies seek financing for AI infrastructure.

Google Challenges Meta With AI Smart Glasses

Meanwhile, Google and Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. (SSNLF ) opened preorders Thursday for AI-powered smart glasses developed with Warby Parker and Gentle Monster, Bloomberg reported.

The companies will offer nine styles, with prices starting at $395 for Warby Parker models and $449 for Gentle Monster versions.

Shipping begins Dec. 10.

The glasses feature Google's Gemini AI assistant, a 12-megapixel camera, real-time translation and navigation capabilities.

They offer up to nine hours of battery life and work with iPhones and select Android devices.

The launch positions Google to compete more directly with Meta Platforms Inc. (META ) in the growing AI wearables market.

Gemini Expands To Apple CarPlay

Google is also bringing its Gemini voice assistant to Apple Inc. (AAPL ) CarPlay, Bloomberg reported.

The feature allows drivers to interact with Gemini hands-free, search for nearby destinations and manage emails through connected accounts.

The global rollout for iOS users began Wednesday.

Earlier this week, Google also expanded access to its Gemini 4 Carbon AI model and outlined plans for new AI chips expected in 2027.

The developments underscore Alphabet's efforts to expand Gemini across consumer devices, enterprise software and AI infrastructure.

GOOGL Price Action

GOOGL Stock Price Activity: Alphabet shares were up 3.03% at $302.35 at the time of publication on Thursday, according to Benzinga Pro data.

What Is Going on with Amazon Stock on Thursday?

Benzinga News — Thu, 12 Nov 2026 17:40:47 -0500

Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN ) stock rose more than 1% on Thursday for no company-specific reason.

Meanwhile, investors weighed the company's expanding AI exposure through Anthropic alongside its holiday-season hiring push and a modestly positive broader market.

The move came as the Consumer Discretionary sector gained 0.09%, the S&P 500 rose 0.18%, the Nasdaq advanced 0.15% and the Dow climbed 0.31%.

Anthropic Investment Comes Into Focus

Amazon's investment in Anthropic is drawing increased attention ahead of the AI company's IPO.

Amazon holds $6.2 billion in outstanding convertible notes that could convert into Anthropic equity, subject to a 12% ownership cap that Amazon can waive.

In its September-quarter filing, Amazon valued those notes at an estimated $146.2 billion as of Sept. 30, up from $97.9 billion in June.

The company also held $92.5 billion in Anthropic nonvoting preferred stock, compared with $14.8 billion at the end of 2025.

The exposure gives Amazon another financial link to Anthropic alongside its broader AI strategy.

Amazon Ramps Up Holiday Operations

Amazon has also started its holiday operations ahead of Black Friday Week on Nov. 19, while launching its largest seasonal workforce drive to support peak shopping demand.

The company plans to hire more than 300,000 workers in the U.S. across full-time, part-time and seasonal roles.

Seasonal and full-time operations associates will start at a minimum of $20 per hour, while average compensation for full-time employees exceeds $32 per hour, including benefits.

Seasonal employees working at least 30 hours per week can access healthcare options beginning in the new year.

In India, Amazon previously created more than 160,000 seasonal work opportunities across more than 400 cities ahead of the festive shopping period.

Technical Trend Remains Constructive

Amazon trades above its major moving averages, sitting 5.2% above its 20-day SMA of $256.64 and 10.5% above its 200-day SMA of $244.48.

The 20-day SMA remains above the 50-day SMA, while the golden cross formed in May, with the 50-day SMA above the 200-day SMA, remains intact.

Analyst Outlook

Amazon carries a Buy consensus rating with an average price target of $333.56.

Recent analyst actions include:

Freedom Broker: Maintained Buy while raising its price target to $330 on Nov. 3
UBS: Maintained Buy while raising its price target to $352 on Oct. 30
Scotiabank: Maintained Sector Outperform while lowering its price target to $300 on Oct. 30

ETF Exposure

Amazon carries a 9.16% weighting in the Eagle Capital Select Equity ETF (EAGL ), a 9.96% weighting in the First Trust Dow Jones Internet Index Fund (FDN ) and a 9.34% weighting in the REX FANG & Innovation Equity Premium Income ETF (FEPI ).

Those positions leave Amazon exposed to broader fund flows alongside company-specific developments tied to AI and holiday retail demand.

AMZN Price Action

Amazon.com shares were up 1.20% at $269.37 at the time of publication on Thursday, according to Benzinga Pro data.

Gold Stocks Dip: What's Going On?

Benzinga News — Thu, 12 Nov 2026 16:57:20 -0500

Gold shares like Agnico Eagle Mines Ltd. (AEM ) and Newmont Corp. (NEM ) are falling Thursday as gold slides to a one-year low on fading Middle East peace hopes.

Gold Slumps on Iran Standoff

Thursday's 3% slide left spot gold prices near $3,868 an ounce, and December futures dropped 3.2%, Reuters reported.

U.S. President Donald Trump argued Washington has no reason to strike a deal with Iran, adding that "those days had long since passed," so hopes of ending a war that began in February's final weeks faded.

How Oil, Inflation and Rates Pressure Gold

Oil sets off the chain. When peace hopes fade, crude climbs and inflation worries build. Traders then expect the Federal Reserve to keep rates high for longer, and markets now see a 91% probability of a quarter-point December hike, with a half-point move gaining odds as well. Because bullion pays no interest, higher rates strengthen the case for bonds and cash instead.

The dollar adds a second layer of pressure. Gold is priced in dollars, so when the dollar strengthens, buyers abroad need more of their own currency to buy the same ounce. That can weaken demand and push the price lower. Expectations of Fed rate hikes can support the dollar, and the dollar index recently touched its highest level in almost 19 months.

American Gold Exchange analyst Jim Wyckoff pointed to Tuesday's hot consumer price data, hawkish comments by Fed policymakers and the dollar's rally. Those forces "are working to press the gold market lower," Wyckoff said. Wyckoff also called an oil spike bearish for gold because of its inflation effect.

Traders now wait for Friday's producer price index for fresh insight into both monetary policy and the inflation report.

Gold Shares Are SlidingPrice Action: Newmont shares were down 3.26% at $114.61, and Agnico Eagle shares were down 2.70% at $180.93 at the time of publication on Thursday, according to Benzinga Pro.

AMD Stock Upgraded as AI Chip Rival Nvidia Spirals

Benzinga News — Thu, 12 Nov 2026 16:56:42 -0500

Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (AMD ), Nvidia Corp's (NVDA ) most direct competitor in the graphics processing unit (GPU) market, picked up a bullish call from William Blair on Thursday, hours before Nvidia founder Jensen Huang resigned as CEO.

William Blair analyst Sebastien Naji lifted AMD to Outperform from Market Perform, CNBC reported.

The Bull Case

The firm pointed to a potential leadership vacuum at Nvidia as an opening for AMD to win share in AI chips. Its growth forecast is aggressive. William Blair expects AMD revenue to rise more than 80% in 2027 and projects data center AI revenue will surpass the server CPU business in the fourth quarter.

Two of the biggest AI spenders, Meta Platforms Inc. (META ) and OpenAI, are designing chips of their own. William Blair weighed those efforts against the upheaval at Nvidia.

"Meanwhile, Nvidia is facing increased scrutiny and a potential leadership vacuum, and while ASIC competition remains a risk to Instinct, we see an opportunity for AMD to benefit from custom programs as an opportunity for CPU attach," the analyst wrote.

Naji added AMD can stay focused on execution while its largest rival contends with "a growing leadership and regulatory imbroglio."

Huang, 63, had no obvious successor, leaving Nvidia under interim CEO Colette Kress, who will also keep her role as CFO.

The board also named Harvey C. Jones as its first-ever chair.

How Nvidia Got Here

The crisis unfolded in five days. Huang admitted Sunday to an affair with Alice Huang, a Megaspeed executive who U.S. intelligence agencies say has been passing information to Beijing.

The New York Times later reported a second relationship, with Kimberly Powell, Nvidia's vice president of health, who reported to Huang.

The board met Wednesday night after The Wall Street Journal reported directors were preparing to force him out. Lawmakers including Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.) had also called on Huang to resign.

AMD's Opening

AMD enters the moment with a foothold at one of the largest AI buyers. OpenAI agreed last year to build a one-gigawatt facility on AMD's MI450 chips beginning in the second half of 2026, a deal AMD executives expected to bring in tens of billions of dollars in annual revenue.

Leadership uncertainty at Nvidia could push other hyperscalers to hedge their bets. William Blair sees AMD as the natural beneficiary, with two ways to win. Instinct accelerators compete head-on for GPU spending. Where customers build custom chips instead, AMD processors can still ride along.

The firm expects the shift to show up quickly. Data center AI revenue is on track to pass server CPU sales in the fourth quarter, a first for a company built on processors.

Nvidia has to steady its own ship before it can fight for new orders. AMD gets a window in the meantime.

AMD Stock Price Activity: AMD stock was up more than 5.5% at $583.43 at the time of publication on Thursday, according to Benzinga Pro.

McDonald's Latin America Operator Says Its Stock Is Undervalued, Unveils $25 Million Buyback

Benzinga News — Thu, 12 Nov 2026 16:56:24 -0500

Arcos Dorados Holdings Inc. (ARCO ), the largest independent McDonald's Corp. (MCD ) franchisee, reported better-than-expected third-quarter earnings Thursday, driven by strong sales growth and rising digital demand across Latin America.

The company reported earnings of 15 cents per share, beating analysts' estimate of 14 cents.

Revenue rose 11.3% year over year to $1.328 billion, topping expectations of $1.320 billion.

CEO Luis Raganato said the company gained market share and delivered growth across all three divisions despite challenging consumer conditions.

Digital Sales Drive Growth

Systemwide comparable sales climbed 15.5%, supported by higher average checks and increased customer traffic.

Digital sales jumped 22%, accounting for roughly two-thirds of systemwide sales.

Identified sales reached 29% of total sales, while loyalty program membership surged 60% to nearly 38 million members.

Regional Performance Strengthens

Brazil's comparable sales rose 3.5%, while dollar-denominated revenue grew more than 15%. Adjusted EBITDA increased $6.2 million to $68.1 million, excluding a year-earlier tax benefit.

NOLAD comparable sales remained nearly flat but improved sequentially. Adjusted EBITDA climbed nearly 10%, despite continued pressure in Mexico.

Meanwhile, Argentina and Venezuela led growth in SLAD. Colombia, Peru and Uruguay also posted strong results.

Profitability Improves Despite Wage Pressures

Adjusted EBITDA rose 9% on an underlying basis to $125.9 million, excluding a year-earlier Brazilian tax benefit. However, reported adjusted EBITDA fell 37.4% due to the prior-year tax benefit. Adjusted EBITDA margin reached 9.5%.

Food and paper costs declined 90 basis points as a percentage of revenue.

However, wage inflation outpaced average check growth, putting pressure on payroll expenses.

Trailing 12-month adjusted free cash flow increased to $156.3 million from $52.6 million a year earlier.

Restaurant Expansion and Buyback Plans

Arcos Dorados opened 35 restaurants during the quarter, including 28 freestanding restaurants.

The board also approved a share repurchase program of up to $25 million over the next six months.

CEO Luis Raganato said the company believes its shares are undervalued at current levels. He described the buyback as an attractive investment opportunity, reflecting management's confidence in Arcos Dorados' long-term growth plans.

Long-Term Growth Outlook

The company expects mid- to high-single-digit annual revenue growth and high-single-digit to low-double-digit adjusted EBITDA growth over the long term.

Between 2027 and 2030, Arcos Dorados plans to open 550 to 600 restaurants and invest $1.3 billion to $1.5 billion in capital expenditures.

Its updated development model has improved first-year returns by 3 to 5 percentage points while reducing investment costs per restaurant.

These objectives reflect long-term growth expectations rather than guidance for any single year.

ARCO Price Action: Arcos Dorados Holdings shares were up 2.81% at $7.13 at the time of publication on Thursday, according to Benzinga Pro data.

What Is Going On With Intel Stock on Thursday?

Benzinga News — Thu, 12 Nov 2026 16:55:48 -0500

Intel Corp. (INTC ) shares were down about 1% Thursday morning after falling nearly 5% earlier in the session, as semiconductor stocks came under pressure following a major leadership upheaval at NVIDIA Corp. (NVDA ).

The pullback pointed to broader caution across chip and growth stocks rather than an Intel-specific development. The Nasdaq-tracking QQQ was down 0.12% and the Russell 2000-tracking IWM was off 0.87% in late-morning trading.

Nvidia CEO Transition Weighs on Chip Sector

NVIDIA said Jensen Huang resigned effective immediately as president, CEO and a board member.

The company named CFO Colette Kress interim CEO while the board searches for a permanent successor. NVIDIA shares were down 5.05% at $164.95 in late-morning trading after an 8.4% premarket drop.

NVIDIA also kept its fiscal third-quarter 2027 earnings report scheduled for Nov. 17.

Nvidia Is an Intel Partner and Shareholder

NVIDIA and Intel are strategic partners that also compete in parts of the semiconductor market.

The companies are jointly developing multiple generations of data-center and PC products, while Nvidia agreed to invest $5 billion in Intel common stock in September 2025 and reported holding about 214.8 million Intel shares in a February filing.

That relationship gives Intel exposure to NVIDIA's broader product strategy while the companies continue to compete across certain chip categories.

Technical Picture Remains Weak

Intel trades at $61.92, about 17.7% below its 20-day simple moving average (SMA) of $75.22 and 29.1% below its 200-day SMA of $87.34.

The stock therefore remains below major short- and long-term trend indicators.

The 20-day SMA also sits below the 50-day SMA, reinforcing weakness in the intermediate trend after the stock's earlier advance.

Analyst Outlook

Intel carries a Hold consensus rating with an average price forecast of $96.33.

Recent analyst actions include:

Wedbush: Maintained Neutral while lowering its forecast to $75 on Oct. 30
UBS: Maintained Neutral while lowering its forecast to $80 on Oct. 30
Freedom Broker: Downgraded Intel to Hold and lowered its forecast to $90 on Oct. 30

ETF Exposure

Intel carries an 8.56% weighting in the iShares Semiconductor ETF (SOXX ), a 5.64% weighting in the Invesco Semiconductors ETF (PSI ) and a 5.65% weighting in the State Street SPDR NYSE Technology ETF (XNTK ).

Those positions leave Intel exposed to broader semiconductor fund flows alongside company-specific developments and changes in sentiment across the AI chip sector.

Price Action

INTC Price Action: Intel shares were down 0.93% at $61.92 at the time of publication Thursday, according to Benzinga Pro data.

Solana Scores Regulatory Win as Tokenization Tsunami Swells

Benzinga News — Thu, 12 Nov 2026 16:32:55 -0500

Solana (CRYPTO: SOL) is set to become part of the Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation's (DTCC) tokenization infrastructure, potentially expanding institutional access to blockchain-based securities.

DTCC announced plans to connect its Tokenization Service, launched on Oct. 28, to the Solana blockchain in the second half of 2027.

It will allow eligible traditional securities to be converted into digital tokens.

The planned Solana integration could enable asset tokenization, improved liquidity, collateral mobility and capital efficiency.

DTCC CEO Frank La Salla said the expansion would give market participants more choices in accessing and using tokenized securities.

Tokenized assets would retain the same ownership rights, investor protections and regulatory safeguards as traditionally held securities.

What Does This Mean For Solana?

The integration would connect Solana's blockchain infrastructure with one of the largest providers of securities clearing and settlement services.

Nick Ducoff, general manager of institutional operations at the Solana Foundation, highlighted, "Institutions choose Solana because it already runs real financial activity at scale."

He added that the partnership could help tokenized securities settle and move more easily on chain.

Who is Colette Kress? 5 Things to Know About New Nvidia CEO

Benzinga News — Thu, 12 Nov 2026 16:32:32 -0500

NVIDIA Corporation (NVDA ) is looking for a permanent successor after Jensen Huang's resignation from the company he helped create in 1993. In the interim, current executive vice president and CFO Colette Kress is CEO.

Here are five things you may not know about Kress.

Long Nvidia Tenure

Huang received most of the attention in recent years for Nvidia's direction. Still, Kress has appeared on Nvidia conference calls and regularly shares the company's financials and quarterly results. She joined Nvidia in 2013 in her current role, after serving 13 years at the company before taking over the interim CEO title.

Prior Work Experience

Prior to coming to Nvidia, Kress worked at Cisco, Microsoft and Texas Instruments. According to her LinkedIn profile, Kress served as Senior VP and CFO of Business Technology and Operations Finance at Cisco from November 2010 to September 2013. Kress worked as a Corporate VP at Microsoft from April 2006 to November 2010. She also worked at Texas Instruments in various finance roles, according to Business Insider.

Sons Convinced Her to Join Nvidia

When Kress joined Nvidia, the company was worth less than $10 billion, a far cry from its multi-trillion valuation now. Kress credits her two sons with helping convince her to join Nvidia. According to an interview with Globes, Kress said her sons who were eight and 10 years old at the time, "advised" her to join Nvidia due to the company's video gaming presence.

Huang Closed the Deal on Hiring

Kress credits Huang for her joining the company. At the time of her hiring, Nvidia was the smallest company by valuation that Kress had ever worked for. In a past interview, Kress noted how Huang went out of his way to recruit her by spelling out his vision of the AI revolution on a whiteboard.

Nvidia Stake Created a Billionaire

In July 2025, Bloomberg estimated that Kress had officially become a billionaire thanks to her stake in the company. At the time, this made Kress one of the few people with the CFO title to become billionaires, a wealth level typically reserved for CEOs and founders of companies. A pre-planned sale of Nvidia stock in September 2026 showed that Kress owned 765,103 NVDA shares directly and more than three million shares owned in annuities and by her family.

Robinhood Stock in Focus Thursday: What's Going On?

Benzinga News — Thu, 12 Nov 2026 16:32:12 -0500

Shares of Robinhood Markets Inc (HOOD ) are seeing increased attention on Thursday after the company's October operating data showed a surge in prediction-market activity alongside a steep drop in crypto trading.

Klarna Group plc (KLAR ) also named Robinhood's head of investor relations as its next CFO.

Robinhood's October Metrics: Prediction Markets Soar, Crypto Slumps

According to Robinhood's Nov. 11 investor presentation, about 5.9 billion event contracts were traded in October, up 136% from a year earlier and 5% from September. The business is now meaningful for Robinhood, generating more than $100 million in annualized revenue as of the third quarter.

Crypto went the other way. Notional crypto volume fell to about $17 billion, down 21% from September and 48% from a year ago. Robinhood app volume dropped 51% year-over-year to about $7 billion, and Bitstamp volume fell 45% to about $10 billion.

The weakness follows a 55% year-over-year drop in third-quarter crypto revenue, and persistent weakness could weigh on fourth-quarter transaction revenue. Event contract volume doesn't translate directly into revenue, so the growth in prediction markets may not fully offset the loss.

The core business held up. Equity notional volume reached about $325 billion, up 2% from a year ago. Options contracts traded rose 8% to about 289 million, and margin balances climbed 39% to about $23 billion. Net deposits were about $15 billion in October, bringing the 2026 total to about $70 billion year-to-date.

Klarna Names Robinhood's Chris Koegel as CFO

Separately, Klarna appointed Chris Koegel as chief financial officer, effective Jan. 1, 2027, subject to regulatory approval. He will succeed Niclas Neglén, who stays on through the end of 2026.

Koegel is Robinhood's vice president and head of corporate finance and investor relations, a role he has held since joining in 2022. Robinhood's valuation grew from less than $10 billion to more than $100 billion during that time. He previously led investor relations at LPL Financial Holdings and spent 13 years at Bain & Company.

Klarna CEO Sebastian Siemiatkowski pointed to Koegel's experience at a US-listed consumer fintech with a "strong track record of growth and shareholder value creation." Neither company said when Koegel will leave Robinhood.

HOOD Shares in Focus

HOOD Price Action: Robinhood shares were down 1.37% at $83.39 at the time of publication on Thursday, according to Benzinga Pro.

Americans Are Cashing In on Home Equity at the Fastest Pace Since the Financial Crisis

Benzinga News — Thu, 12 Nov 2026 16:31:52 -0500

American homeowners are borrowing against their houses at a pace last seen in the run-up to 2008.

The amount owed on home equity lines of credit, or HELOCs, rose to $481 billion in the third quarter, up from $422 billion a year earlier, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. The 14% jump marks the sixth straight quarter of faster growth.

In the third quarter alone, borrowing rose by $23 billion, roughly the value of 55,000 typical American homes. That is "a clear sign of how much equity homeowners are tapping," Jefferies analyst Jonathan Matuszewski said in a note on Wednesday.

More people are joining in, too. The number of open HELOC accounts climbed to 13.35 million, growing at the fastest pace since early 2023.

The Stocks Noticed First

Home Depot Inc. (HD ) has rallied 21% over the past month, from about $290 in mid-October to $351.31 at Wednesday's close. The stock rose another 0.6% to $353.50 in premarket trading Thursday, according to Benzinga Pro data.

Lowe's Companies Inc. (LOW ) has gained 25% over the same period.

The State Street SPDR S&P Homebuilders ETF (XHB ) is up 9.2% over the past month, while the State Street SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY ) is down 2.4%.

Jefferies rates both retailers Buy, betting that homeowners will spend the gains in their home values on their houses.

The Last Time Borrowing Grew This Fast, It Ended Badly

In the mid-2000s, home prices seemed to only go up. Homeowners borrowed against their houses to pay for cars, vacations and second homes.

HELOC balances roughly tripled, from about $250 billion in early 2003 to around $700 billion as the crisis hit, according to the New York Fed figures in the Jefferies note.

Then home prices fell, and the value people had borrowed against shrank with them.

Balances declined for more than a decade and bottomed near $320 billion in 2022. Today's surge started from that low.

The trend looks like 2006. The reasons behind it are different.

Homeowners Are Fixing Up Instead of Moving

The main reason is cost.

Home equity line rates have fallen by more than 2.5 percentage points over two years to around 7.5%, according to Jefferies. That is barely above the 7.2% rate on a new mortgage. In the past, the gap was several percentage points.

At the same time, millions of Americans are locked in much cheaper mortgages before 2022. Selling would mean giving up that low rate. Borrowing against the house lets them keep it.

"In a housing market where moving remains expensive, we think those economics make renovating in place an increasingly compelling choice," Matuszewski said.

Historically, about 40% of this borrowing has gone into home improvement, such as new kitchens, roofs and extra rooms, according to Jefferies.

Jefferies expects that spending to keep growing into 2027, as homeowners finally take on large projects they put off after the pandemic.

Rising Rates Have Not Slowed the Borrowing

The risk is the cost of the loans themselves.

Most home equity lines have variable rates, so payments go up when the Federal Reserve raises interest rates. After October's hot inflation report, Ulrike Hoffmann-Burchardi of UBS expects at least two more Fed hikes.

So far, that has not stopped homeowners. These credit lines still cost about the same as a new mortgage.

The big difference from 2006 is why people borrow. Back then, Americans borrowed against their homes to spend elsewhere. Today, they borrow to stay put, and Jefferies expects much of that money to keep flowing to Home Depot and Lowe's into 2027.

Nvidia ETFs Have a New Problem: Life After Jensen Huang

Benzinga News — Thu, 12 Nov 2026 16:31:30 -0500

Nvidia Corp's (NVDA ) leadership shake-up raises fresh questions for investors holding the chipmaker through exchange-traded funds (ETFs).

According to ETFIQ data, 666 U.S.-listed thematic and core ETFs held Nvidia as of Wednesday, with aggregate holdings worth approximately $554 billion across 666 funds with available data.

That is up from the $540.3 billion exposure identified in the previous analysis on Nov. 6.

A 10% decline in Nvidia, alone, would translate into an estimated $55.4 billion reduction in the combined market value of these ETF positions, assuming holdings remain unchanged. This represents a mark-to-market impact, not actual investor losses or fund outflows.

Since Jensen Huang's resignation became official, the company's share price is down more than 5% at last check on Thursday.

Semiconductor ETFs Face Concentrated Exposure to Nvidia

The VanEck Semiconductor ETF (SMH ) allocated 20.75% of its portfolio to Nvidia, while the VanEck Fabless Semiconductor ETF (SMHX ) had a 20.04% weighting, based on Nov. 6 holdings. Nonetheless, on Wednesday, SMH sharply reduced its Nvidia allocation to 8.9%, and SMHX to 17%.
The Vanguard Information Technology ETF (VGT ) had 17.58% exposure.
The Invesco QQQ Trust (QQQ ) holds approximately 6.8% of its portfolio currently.
The Global X Magnificent Six ETF (BATS:SIX), should find special mention. The fund was launched on Wednesday, right in the middle of the scandal around Jensen Huang and the uncertainty around Nvidia's future, with almost 20% weightage assigned to Nvidia.

Will ETF Investors Start Rotating?

With Nvidia CFO Colette Kress now serving as interim CEO, passive ETF holdings don't automatically change. Funds tracking market-cap-weighted indexes will continue holding Nvidia according to their benchmark allocations, unless index changes or market movements alter its weight.

Active ETF managers, however, could reassess their exposure if leadership uncertainty threatens Nvidia's competitive position or growth outlook.

The transition also puts Nvidia's ability to maintain its dominance in AI infrastructure under scrutiny. Investors must now assess whether its technology roadmap and customer relationships can remain intact without its co-founder. Whether Nvidia's leadership transition can spur diversification across the semiconductor and AI ecosystem remains to be seen.

Dogecoin Moves Beyond Meme Coin Status With DogeOS

Benzinga News — Wed, 11 Nov 2026 17:27:23 -0500

Dogecoin (CRYPTO: DOGE) could move beyond payments and its meme coin status as DogeOS opens the door to DeFi, prediction markets and gaming applications.

Dogecoin Director of Product Timothy Stebbing outlined the ecosystem's 2026 roadmap in an X post on Nov. 11, highlighting how smart contracts and artificial intelligence could accelerate development without changing Dogecoin's core blockchain.

Stebbing said Dogecoin will remain focused on its original purpose as a fast, simple and accessible payment network.

Rather than adding complex features directly to its blockchain, developers are building applications on separate networks that use DOGE for transactions and fees.

The Ethereum-compatible Layer 2 network, DogeOS, developed by the team behind the MyDoge wallet, is leading that effort.

The public testnet uses DOGE as its gas token, potentially creating additional demand for the cryptocurrency as network activity grows.

Could DOGE Get a Major Upgrade?

Stebbing highlighted OP_CHECKZKP, a proposed upgrade allowing Dogecoin to verify zero-knowledge proofs and support DogeOS transactions without processing every smart contract.

The proposal remains unapproved, while DogeOS must address centralization risks tied to its permissioned validators.

Stebbing believes AI could accelerate development, favoring network upgrades as demand grows rather than years in advance.

What's Next?

Stebbing expects the next three to four years to focus on expanding smart-contract applications rather than overhauling Dogecoin's underlying blockchain.

Dogecoin Foundation will continue prioritizing payment tools, developer support and commercial adoption.

Micron, Sandisk Soar as CoreWeave CEO Says AI Demand Outpaces World's Capacity

Benzinga News — Wed, 11 Nov 2026 17:27:07 -0500

Memory and storage stocks surged Wednesday after CoreWeave (CRWV ) reported blockbuster earnings, with CEO Michael Intrator dismissing fears that the artificial intelligence infrastructure boom was slowing.

Sandisk (SNDK ) jumped nearly 17%, while Micron Technology (MU ) gained almost 14%. Seagate Technology (STX ) climbed more than 12%, and Western Digital (WDC ) rose nearly 10% in early afternoon trading.

"The demand for this infrastructure ... outpaces the world's capacity to deliver infrastructure," Intrator told CNBC Wednesday.

He said CoreWeave had 10 times as much demand as its remaining computing capacity for 2027, with available capacity for 2028 already oversubscribed several times over.

"The demand for the infrastructure is and remains overwhelming," he added.

Memory Stocks Recover From Brutal Selloff

The rally follows a sharp memory selloff last week, when the midterm results fueled fears that a Democratic-controlled Congress could slow data-center construction.

Intrator pushed back against those concerns, telling CNBC that CoreWeave expected no impact on its ability to complete the U.S. facilities needed to fulfill its existing backlog.

During Tuesday's earnings call, he explained that the overwhelming majority of CoreWeave's Texas power capacity was already operational or fully permitted and under construction.

CoreWeave's third-quarter earnings report showed revenue jumping 168% to $3.66 billion and a backlog of $132.5 billion.

The company also raised the lower end of its annual capital spending forecast to $37 billion, signaling continued investment in AI infrastructure.

That's encouraging for memory manufacturers. AI data centers need enormous quantities of high-bandwidth memory to feed their processors, along with conventional server memory and storage.

Memory Shortages Extend Into 2028

Despite the recent stock declines, memory manufacturers continue to report strong demand for future production.

Micron CEO Sanjay Mehrotra said during the company's September earnings call that more than 75% of its 2027 output was already committed to customers, and that he expects demand to exceed supply in both 2027 and 2028.

Research firm TrendForce forecasts conventional DRAM contract prices rising 10% to 15% in the fourth quarter, while NAND flash prices could climb 15% to 20%. Enterprise SSDs are the only category where it expects price increases to accelerate.

CoreWeave has experienced the storage squeeze firsthand. In August, it signed a multiyear agreement with SK Hynix-owned Solidigm to secure priority access to enterprise solid-state drives.

The rebound offers relief after the sector's recent losses. But sustaining it will depend on whether data-center operators can finance and complete the infrastructure their customers are demanding.

What Is Going On With Snap Stock on Wednesday?

Benzinga News — Wed, 11 Nov 2026 17:26:51 -0500

Snap Inc. (SNAP ) stock surged on Wednesday as technology and artificial intelligence-related equities rebounded across Wall Street.

The advance follows a sharp drop in the company's stock price last week after the release of its third-quarter earnings report, drawing dip-buying activity from market participants.

Broader indexes supported the upward move, with the tech-heavy Nasdaq gaining 2.81% and the S&P 500 rising 1.50% during the session.

Tech Sector Rebounds

Renewed investor confidence in technology and AI infrastructure sectors fueled the wider market rally on Wednesday.

Gains in major industry names such as NVIDIA Corp (NVDA ), alongside strong performance reported by CoreWeave Inc (CRWV ), lifted beaten-down consumer technology and social media companies.

Broader Market Tailwinds

Trading activity reflected broad market-wide gains on Wednesday. The Technology sector led all market groups with a 4.20% increase, while the Communication Services sector gained 0.98%.

The advance across both sectors provided upward momentum for higher-volatility names like Snap, as investors allocated capital back into beaten-down equities following recent declines.

Technical Analysis

From a trend perspective, SNAP is trying to stabilize above its longer-term baselines: it's trading 1.2% above the 100-day SMA ($5.33) and 0.8% above the 200-day SMA ($5.35). The near-term picture is still a tug-of-war, with shares trading 7.1% below the 20-day SMA ($5.81) and 5.8% below the 50-day SMA ($5.73), which can act like "ceiling" levels during rebounds.

Momentum looks more range-bound than breakout-ready, with RSI at 45.49 (neutral), which typically signals neither buyers nor sellers have clear control. In plain English, RSI helps gauge whether a move is getting stretched; here, it suggests the stock has room to swing either way without being "overheated."

The moving-average structure is a constructive backdrop - the 20-day SMA is above the 50-day SMA, and the golden cross (50-day SMA above the 200-day SMA) that occurred in October still argues the bigger downtrend has been trying to transition. The key question for bulls is whether price can reclaim the cluster of short-term averages (20-day/50-day) to turn that longer-term setup into a cleaner uptrend.

Key Resistance: $6 - a round-number area that often caps rebounds and sits above the current short-term moving-average zone
Key Support: $5 - a nearby round-number level that can act as a line in the sand if the rebound fades

SNAP Stock Price Activity: Snap shares were up 8.20% at $5.41 at the time of publication on Wednesday, according to Benzinga Pro data.

What's Going On With Apple Stock Wednesday?

Benzinga News — Wed, 11 Nov 2026 17:26:33 -0500

Apple Inc. (AAPL ) stock rose almost 2% Wednesday as investors weighed the company's reclaimed $5 trillion market capitalization, fresh debt-funded buyback capacity and a broader push to accelerate its AI strategy.

The gain came alongside a strong market backdrop, with the Technology sector up 4.02%, the S&P 500 higher by 1.34% and the Nasdaq advancing 2.67%.

Apple Reclaims $5 Trillion Valuation

Apple retook a $5 trillion market capitalization and moved ahead of NVIDIA Corp. (NVDA ) on Nov. 9, 2026.

The move has also drawn attention to Apple's lower dependence on massive AI data-center construction compared with other large technology companies. That could leave the company less exposed if restrictions slow new infrastructure development.

Apple also raised $7.5 billion through a high-grade bond offering that attracted about $31 billion in peak orders.

The company plans to use the proceeds for general corporate purposes, including share repurchases, adding another element to its capital-return strategy.

Pushes Siri Toward Agent-Like AI

Apple is accelerating its AI strategy under CEO John Ternus, who is pressing software chief Craig Federighi to move faster and take Siri beyond basic assistance toward more capable, agent-like functionality, Bloomberg reported on Sunday.

Apple rebuilt Siri's underlying system and added deeper access to on-screen information and personal context.

The company is also preparing more advanced actions across Apple and third-party applications.

Ternus said Siri's new architecture gives Apple "real room to expand its capabilities over time," including more agent-like functionality while maintaining security and privacy safeguards.

Apple Reshapes Software Development

Apple is also changing how it develops its next generation of operating systems.

Engineers are receiving more time for coding, exploration and feature development ahead of iOS 28, iPadOS 28 and macOS 28.

The company has also launched its new touch-screen MacBook Pro and introduced Apple Intelligence in China through its latest beta software.

Technical Picture Remains Constructive

Apple trades near its 52-week high of $355.38.

The stock stands 2.9% above its 20-day SMA of $344.83, 5% above its 50-day SMA of $337.86 and 18.2% above its 200-day SMA of $300.27.

The 20-day SMA remains above the 50-day SMA, while the 50-day SMA stays above the 200-day SMA.

Analyst Outlook

Apple carries a Buy consensus rating with an average price forecast of $345.94.

Recent actions include China Renaissance upgrading Apple to Buy with a $425 forecast on Nov. 11, Bernstein maintaining Buy while raising its forecast to $380, and JPMorgan maintaining Overweight while lowering its forecast to $355.

ETF Exposure

Apple carries a 9.70% weighting in the Invesco S&P 500 Momentum ETF (SPMO ), 9.89% in the Principal U.S. Mega-Cap ETF (USMC ) and 9.88% in the Fidelity Fundamental Large Cap Growth ETF (FFLG ).

Price Action

AAPL Stock Price Activity: Apple shares were up 1.68% at $354.35 at the time of publication on Wednesday, according to Benzinga Pro data.

What's Going On With Microsoft Stock Wednesday?

Benzinga News — Wed, 11 Nov 2026 16:56:38 -0500

Microsoft Corp. (MSFT ) stock fell Wednesday as investors weighed potential restrictions on Chinese-made data-center components and rising competition in workplace artificial intelligence tools.

The decline came as the Nasdaq gained 2.87% and the S&P 500 rose 1.46%. Meanwhile, the Technology Select Sector SPDR Fund (XLK) climbed 4.24%, leading all 11 sectors.

Proposed China Tech Ban Threatens AI Expansion

Microsoft and industry groups are urging the Trump administration to reconsider a proposed ban on certain Chinese-made optical transceivers used in AI data centers.

These components help transmit data at high speeds, making them essential for large-scale AI infrastructure.

Industry groups warn that the restrictions could increase costs and delay data-center construction. Such disruptions could slow the expansion of U.S. AI infrastructure.

The proposal has drawn discussions involving White House science policy and National Security Council officials.

Earlier reports indicated that the Federal Communications Commission was considering restrictions over concerns about data theft, malware and operational disruptions.

For Microsoft, the proposed ban adds uncertainty as the company invests heavily in data centers to meet growing demand for cloud computing and AI services.

Anthropic Challenges Microsoft's Workplace AI Business

Meanwhile, Microsoft faces growing competition as Anthropic expands its Claude AI platform into workplace productivity tools.

On Tuesday, Anthropic unveiled several features in San Francisco aimed at automating everyday business tasks.

Claude Sheets, now in beta for paid users, can create and edit spreadsheets, add formulas and export files in Excel or CSV formats.

The company also introduced Claude Meetings for Team and Enterprise customers. The tool can join Google Meet calls, record notes and identify action items.

Additionally, Claude Whiteboards offers paid users a collaborative space for brainstorming.

Anthropic said its Marketplace now supports more than 9,000 connectors. It is also expanding plugins that allow Claude to interact directly with applications.

Initial partners include Adobe Inc. (ADBE ), Atlassian Corp. (TEAM ) and HubSpot Inc. (HUBS ).

The expansion puts Claude in closer competition with Microsoft's Copilot and Microsoft 365 productivity tools.

Together, the developments highlight two challenges for Microsoft: potential supply-chain disruptions that could raise AI infrastructure costs and intensifying competition for enterprise AI customers.

Technical Analysis: Key Support In Focus

Microsoft remains above its longer-term moving averages despite Wednesday's decline.

The stock trades about 9% above its 100-day simple moving average (SMA) of $477.04 and 18% above its 200-day SMA of $440.76.

Additionally, the golden cross formed in August continues to support the longer-term bullish trend.

However, near-term momentum has weakened.

Microsoft trades 1.7% below its 20-day SMA of $530.47 but remains 0.6% above its 50-day SMA of $518.20.

Its relative strength index (RSI) stands at 47.42, indicating neutral momentum.

Traders are watching resistance near $551 and support around $505. A break below support could signal further weakness.

MSFT Stock Price Activity: Microsoft shares were down 2.34% at $520.71 at the time of publication on Wednesday, according to Benzinga Pro data.

Google Could Buy Uber to Win the Robotaxi Wars, Reuters Columnist Argues

Benzinga News — Wed, 11 Nov 2026 16:56:16 -0500

Alphabet (GOOGL ) could buy Uber Technologies (UBER ), combining its Waymo robotaxi business with America's largest ride-hailing network, Reuters Breakingviews columnist Jennifer Saba argued Tuesday.

The deal could benefit both companies. Waymo would gain Uber's customers and expertise in running a ride-hailing service, while Uber would secure a place in a future where cars drive themselves.

The proposal comes as Waymo prepares to loosen the companies' existing partnership, and as rivals including Tesla (TSLA ) and Amazon's Zoox weigh on Uber's stock, Saba wrote.

A Breakup That Could End in a Takeover

Waymo plans to end Uber exclusivity in Austin and Atlanta in January 2028. Waymo Co-CEO Tekedra Mawakana has called getting a driverless car through Uber "a little bit of a crapshoot," because passengers can't be sure they'll get one.

And Uber is also looking beyond Waymo. "We want to make sure that we're not dependent on one partner," CEO Dara Khosrowshahi said in August. The company now has relationships with around 30 autonomous-vehicle developers.

But Saba argues the two companies have plenty to gain from joining forces.

Uber controls roughly 75% of the U.S. ride-hailing market, while Waymo operates an estimated 77% of the country's autonomous-vehicle fleet. Combining them would bring together a huge customer base and the technology to serve it without human drivers.

There could be significant savings, too. Uber says driverless cars on its platform complete 30% more trips per day than comparable vehicles operating through their own services. With Waymo's costing upwards of $100,000 each, keeping those cars busy could make a big difference to profitability.

The biggest hurdle is the cost of a takeover. Uber was valued at around $143 billion on Tuesday, meaning a deal with a hypothetical 25% premium could approach $180 billion.

Tesla's Robotaxi Ambitions Meet a Reality Check

Elon Musk is betting heavily on robotaxis as Tesla looks beyond selling electric cars for growth.

Last week, Musk announced plans to wind down production of the Cybertruck at Tesla's Texas factory by mid-2027 to make room for more Cybercabs. Tesla's automotive sales revenue fell 1% in the third quarter.

Musk wants Tesla to operate its own driverless ride-hailing network, putting it in direct competition with Waymo and potentially cutting Uber out of the booking process.

But Polymarket traders give Tesla only single-digit odds of launching a qualifying driverless taxi service in California by Dec. 31. Tesla's California rides still carry a safety driver.

A second Polymarket contract puts the strongest odds on Waymo operating in 12 to 15 cities at year-end. Alphabet said Waymo already operated in 15 major U.S. cities in October.

Saba argues a purchase would give Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai a way to turn Waymo's technology into a paying business, and give Uber a plan for a driverless future.

What's Going On With Intel Stock Wednesday?

Benzinga News — Wed, 11 Nov 2026 16:52:21 -0500

Intel Corp. (INTC ) stock jumped nearly 8% Wednesday as strong demand signals for artificial intelligence infrastructure and a broader technology rally lifted semiconductor stocks.

The Nasdaq gained 2.63%, while the S&P 500 rose 1.24%. Technology led all 11 sectors, climbing 3.89%.

AI Demand Fuels Chip Rally

Chip stocks gained after South Korean semiconductor shares rallied and CoreWeave Inc. (CRWV ) reported better-than-expected quarterly results. The AI infrastructure company also raised its full-year revenue forecast.

Meanwhile, NVIDIA Corp. (NVDA ) rebounded, adding to the sector's momentum.

Intel outperformed the broader technology sector, gaining 7.84% compared with the sector's 3.89% advance.

However, the rally remained concentrated. Only five of the 11 market sectors advanced, highlighting investors' preference for technology stocks.

Technical Analysis: Intel Faces Key Resistance

Despite Wednesday's rally, Intel remains below its major moving averages.

The stock trades 17.5% below its 20-day simple moving average (SMA) of $77.01. It also sits 34% below its 50-day SMA of $96.21 and 27.2% below its 200-day SMA of $87.29.

Moreover, the moving average convergence divergence (MACD) indicator remains below its signal line. This suggests momentum is still weak despite the rebound.

Traders are watching resistance at $77.01, while $62.69 marks a near-term support level.

Analyst Outlook

Intel carries a consensus Hold rating and an average analyst price forecast of $96.33.

On Oct. 30, Wedbush and UBS lowered their price forecasts to $75 and $80, respectively. Freedom Broker also downgraded Intel to Hold and reduced its price forecast to $90.

INTC Price Action

INTC Stock Price Activity: Intel shares were up 7.82% at $62.68 at the time of publication on Wednesday, according to Benzinga Pro data.

Micron Stock Jumps 13% as CoreWeave Outlook Eases AI Spending Fears

Benzinga News — Wed, 11 Nov 2026 16:51:58 -0500

Shares of Micron Technology Inc (MU ) are trading sharply higher on Wednesday after customer CoreWeave Inc (CRWV ) raised its 2026 revenue outlook and eased fears that spending on AI infrastructure is slowing.

CoreWeave's Raised Outlook Lifts Micron

CoreWeave raised its 2026 revenue outlook after Tuesday's close to $13 billion to $13.3 billion, up from $12.4 billion to $13.2 billion. Backlog reached $132.5 billion, and CEO Michael Intrator called it a "breakout quarter."

On the company's earnings call, Intrator said CoreWeave is largely sold out of AI compute capacity through 2027. He added that any infrastructure brought to market for 2028 has also been sold.

The numbers matter to Micron because CoreWeave is one of the biggest buyers of AI hardware, and the AI cloud company has long-term supply deals with Micron. Micron has said more than 75% of its fiscal 2027 output is already committed, so strong demand from customers like CoreWeave supports its order book.

The relief was needed. Last week, chip stocks sank on fears that the Democratic win in the midterms could slow the AI infrastructure build-out, which could reduce orders for Micron's memory chips. Micron shares fell more than 20% over five days and hit a recent low of $650 on Thursday.

Anthropic's IPO Adds to the Momentum

Micron is also getting positive attention from Anthropic's updated IPO prospectus on Tuesday, which showed that Micron is among seven tech companies that have agreed to buy a combined $26 billion of Anthropic's stock. The purchases will happen through a private placement at the IPO price.

Anthropic is expected to make its stock market debut on Nov. 19. The company is expected to offer 825 million shares at $70 to $78 each, which could raise up to $64.35 billion.

On Tuesday, Goldman Sachs analyst James Schneider reiterated a $1,250 price target on Micron and kept a Neutral rating, according to Benzinga Pro. The target sits well above where the shares currently trade.

Micron has a consensus Buy rating among analysts with an average price target of $1,463.15, according to Benzinga data.

MU Shares Rebound

MU Price Action: Micron shares were up 13.19% at $820.76 at the time of publication on Wednesday, according to Benzinga Pro.

Costco Stock Moves Higher: What's Going On?

Benzinga News — Wed, 11 Nov 2026 16:51:17 -0500

Costco Wholesale Corp. (COST ) shares are rising Wednesday. Investors react to its $30 per share special dividend, a payout of about $13.3 billion, and a reauthorized stock buyback.

Costco Stock Rises On $30 Special Dividend

Costco's board revealed the one-time payout Tuesday. Anyone who owns shares when trading ends Nov. 24 collects $30 each on Dec. 4, for a total near $13.3 billion. Costco's last special dividend, in January 2024, was $15 a share and cost roughly $6.7 billion, so this one is twice as large.

The company has made similar payments in 2012, 2015, 2017 and 2020, typically after leaving cash to build for several years.

Costco has already put $3.1 billion into buybacks under a 2023 program that was due to end in January 2027. A new authorization of up to $4 billion is taking over, and it lasts through November 2030.

Mizuho Raises Costco Target After Special Dividend

Mizuho analyst David Bellinger responded by keeping an Outperform rating and raising the price target to $1,100 from $1,065. Mizuho had predicted a dividend of $18 to $20, so $30 came in well ahead, Bellinger wrote.

Beyond the usual quarterly dividend, the $30 works out to roughly 2.8% of extra yield, and the buyback comes in addition to the $13.3 billion. Costco has so much cash that finding uses for it is a challenge, Bellinger said, which Mizuho labels "a high-quality problem."

Bellinger hopes this was the last special dividend and expects steady cash generation to let Costco shore up areas viewed as weak: online shopping, rapid delivery and advertising on its own platforms. Mizuho also lifted its estimates slightly, pointing to a strong start in the fiscal first quarter.

Cost Shares Are Rising

COST Price Action: Costco shares were up 1.15% at $1078.37 at the time of publication on Wednesday. The stock is approaching its 52-week high of $1096.50, according to Benzinga Pro.

Could Bitcoin Lose $73,000 as Demand Weakens? The Data Says It Might

Benzinga News — Wed, 11 Nov 2026 16:50:41 -0500

Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) faces renewed downside pressure as data shows short-term holders slipping into losses, weakening demand and growing risks of a breakdown below $73,000.

In an X post on Nov.11, CryptoQuant's analysis highlighted that Bitcoin's recent pullback erased the profit cushion of short-term investors.

By Nov. 9, Bitcoin's short-term holder Market Value to Realized Value (MVRV) ratio had fallen to 0.994 from 1.17 in early October.

During that period, Bitcoin declined 13%, while the average cost basis of short-term holders increased 2.4%.

Bitcoin's short-term holders are facing mounting pressure as signals suggest recent buyers are taking losses and could sell into rallies near breakeven.

Could BTC Fall Below $73,000?

CryptoQuant warned that Bitcoin's failure to reclaim its $75,700 short-term holder cost basis could signal a broader downtrend and August rebound was only a temporary pause.

A sustained break below $73,000, followed by a failed recovery, would strengthen the bearish outlook.

A report on Nov. 3 showed demand turning negative as futures selling and long liquidations overwhelmed spot buying, weakening Bitcoin's rebound toward $78,700.

Long positions accounted for 70% of roughly $100 million in liquidations across 13 exchanges, pushing Bitcoin toward $76,800.

Oracle Stock Jumps: What's Going On?

Benzinga News — Wed, 11 Nov 2026 15:23:34 -0500

Oracle Corp. (ORCL ) shares are rising Wednesday. The company is saying utilities using its Opower software set a record for cutting peak electricity demand. Here's what you should know.

Oracle Stock Rises After Opower Demand Reduction Record

Electric utilities use Oracle's Opower software to coax customers into cutting or shifting power use when demand peaks, relying on AI and behavioral science. Oracle said Wednesday that utilities running the programs trimmed a combined 1 gigawatt during 73 events over the winter and summer seasons, a North American record. The event count is roughly 50% higher than the 49 in 2025.

Two methods drive the results. Behavioral demand response asks customers to curb use at peak times, while peak time rebates pay them for doing it. Oracle says the programs open virtual power plants, which are pools of flexible demand that support the grid, to homes lacking connected gadgets as well as those that have them.

Each event saved about 16,592 kilowatts on average, close to the peak demand of 4,150 homes by Oracle's count, which relies on ERCOT data. Roughly 4.3 million customers joined, a 30% jump from 3.3 million in 2025.

Utilities Report Record Results With Oracle Opower

Puget Sound Energy, based in Washington state, reported peak load cuts as large as 16.6 megawatts per event across three seasons of its Flex Events program. The utility added a 50 cents per kilowatt-hour bill credit this year. San Antonio's CPS Energy said over a third of its nearly one million customers joined events, and a dozen summer events reached nearly 19 megawatts in August.

Utilities can now also run the programs in winter, even around storms, and tailor messages by customer segment, Oracle said. Matt O'Keefe, who heads Opower at Oracle, said "behavioral demand response and peak time rebates are growing pillars of demand reduction."

ORCL Shares Are Popping

ORCL Price Action: Oracle shares were up 7.04% at $126.30 at the time of publication on Wednesday, according to Benzinga Pro.

What Is Going on With AMD Stock on Wednesday?

Benzinga News — Wed, 11 Nov 2026 15:23:16 -0500

Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (AMD ) stock is up more than 2.5% at the last check on Wednesday as investors weighed continued AI infrastructure demand and an expanded partnership with Google's parent company, Alphabet Inc. (GOOG ) (GOOGL ).

Google selected AMD's fifth-generation EPYC processors for its new TPU 8tx AI computing system. Google Cloud executive Mark Lohmeyer said the partnership brings hardware-enforced confidential computing to cloud TPUs for the first time.

The agreement gives AMD exposure to AI infrastructure spending even when cloud providers deploy their own AI chips.

AMD has also benefited from investor rotation away from Nvidia Corp. (NVDA ) following a board investigation involving CEO Jensen Huang.

Goldberg Praises AMD's Supply Execution

Seaport Research Partners semiconductor analyst Jay Goldberg said CEO Lisa Su has positioned AMD well while competitors struggle with manufacturing constraints.

"This was Lisa at her best. This is a company that's executing very well," Goldberg said on The Circuit podcast.

"If you have capacity, you win and if you don't have capacity, you get punished," he added.

Goldberg contrasted AMD's position with Intel Corp. (INTC ), which has faced production and supply constraints.

Intel CFO David Zinsner similarly said on the company's October earnings call, "I really see market share next year being a function of supply."

CPUs Remain Important To AMD

Goldberg said CPUs remain more important to AMD's business than GPUs despite investor attention on its competition with Nvidia.

Google's decision to use AMD EPYC processors alongside its own TPUs reinforces that opportunity.

Goldberg also argued that the recent semiconductor selloff went too far given continued orders and cloud spending, although he sees a longer-term risk from additional chip factories and data-center capacity expected in 2028.

"I don't think we're there yet," Goldberg said when discussing the possibility of excess GPU supply.

Anthropic IPO Adds Another AI Link

AMD is among seven cornerstone investors in a separate $26 billion private placement connected to Anthropic's planned IPO.

The group also includes Alphabet, NVIDIA and more.

Dan Ives said the offering could be "a positive step for the tech sector" and expects strong institutional demand.

Technical Analysis

AMD shares were up 5.44% at $543.26 during premarket trading on Wednesday, according to Benzinga Pro data. The stock trades 5.1% above its 20-day SMA of $518.50 and 30.2% above its 200-day SMA of $418.54, while remaining 0.7% below its 50-day SMA of $548.56.

The stock's RSI of 48.80 sits in neutral territory.

The 20-day SMA remains below the 50-day SMA, while the 50-day SMA stays above the 200-day SMA.

Key Resistance: $579.00

Key Support: $502.50

Analyst Outlook

AMD carries a Buy consensus rating with an average price forecast of $640.96.Recent actions include Oppenheimer upgrading AMD to Outperform with a $600 forecast, UBS maintaining Buy while lowering its forecast to $700, and JPMorgan maintaining Neutral while raising its forecast to $575.

ETF Exposure

AMD carries a 9.47% weighting in the iShares Semiconductor ETF (SOXX ), 9.73% in the Defiance Inference AI Chip ETF (AINF ) and 9.17% in the Invesco AI and Next Gen Software ETF (IGPT ).

What Is Going on With Broadcom Stock on Wednesday?

Benzinga News — Wed, 11 Nov 2026 15:22:50 -0500

Broadcom Inc. (AVGO ) shares rose about 5% in early trading Wednesday, extending a similar premarket gain, as investors weighed stronger AI-infrastructure sentiment, fresh evidence of sustained compute demand and Broadcom's growing exposure to the broader AI ecosystem.

The move came as the broader market and chip stocks climbed, with the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust up about 0.7% and the VanEck Semiconductor ETF up about 2.7% in early trading.

Older Nvidia GPUs Support AI Infrastructure Sentiment

Investors are also weighing fresh AI-compute demand commentary from CoreWeave Inc. (CRWV ).

CEO Michael Intrator said CoreWeave could generate nearly $10 billion in incremental annualized revenue by renewing contracts for older NVIDIA Corp. (NVDA ) GPUs through 2028 without additional hardware capital spending.

Intrator said rental prices for older Ampere and Hopper GPUs increased 30%-50% in the third quarter, while more than 300,000 GPUs are expected to become available for new contracts through 2028.

The commentary keeps attention on continued demand across the wider AI infrastructure supply chain in which Broadcom participates.

Broadcom Joins Anthropic Anchor Group

Broadcom is one of seven cornerstone investors in a separate $26 billion private placement tied to Anthropic's planned Nasdaq listing under the symbol "ANT."

The group also includes Alphabet Inc. (GOOG ) (GOOGL ), NVIDIA and other major technology companies.

Yorkville Ives analyst Dan Ives said the Anthropic offering could be "a positive step for the tech sector."

Ives said the cornerstone group may prove especially important because it places major AI chip, infrastructure and distribution partners on Anthropic's shareholder register before its first public trade.

Firestone Adds to Broadcom Position

Aureus Asset Management co-founder and Chair Emerita Karen Firestone told CNBC that she added to Broadcom after the semiconductor selloff pushed the stock's valuation to roughly 11 to 12 times forward earnings.

Firestone said the decline created an opportunity to increase what had been a relatively small position.

Firestone also said investors appear to favor a more "deliberate, logical, rational" pace of AI infrastructure spending as technology companies and regulators reassess new data-center development.

Technical Analysis

Broadcom trades 6.2% above its 20-day SMA of $329.10, but remains 4.4% below its 100-day SMA of $365.71 and 4.8% below its 200-day SMA of $367.12.

The 50-day SMA remains below the 200-day SMA following an October death cross.

The stock's RSI of 49.30 sits in neutral territory.

Key Resistance: $352.50

Key Support: $343.00

Earnings and Analyst Outlook

Broadcom is scheduled to report earnings on Dec. 9.

Analysts expect EPS of $3.81, up from $1.95 a year earlier, and revenue of $34.89 billion, compared with $18.02 billion.

The stock trades at a P/E multiple of 42.3 times.

Broadcom carries a Buy consensus rating with an average price forecast of $522.92.

Recent actions include Rosenblatt maintaining Buy with a $600 forecast, DA Davidson upgrading Broadcom to Buy and raising its forecast to $400, and Tigress Financial initiating coverage with Buy and a $600 forecast.

ETF Exposure

Broadcom carries a 9.27% weighting in the Invesco PHLX Semiconductor ETF (SOXQ ), 9.43% in the Pacer Data and Digital Revolution ETF (TRFK ) and 9.95% in the Inspire 500 ETF (PTL ).

Dell Shares Heat Up Wednesday: What's Going On?

Benzinga News — Wed, 11 Nov 2026 15:22:30 -0500

Dell Technologies Inc. (DELL ) shares are trading higher Wednesday along with CoreWeave Inc. (CRWV ), after CoreWeave reported better-than-expected third-quarter results and raised its full-year revenue guidance, which may suggest more AI spending ahead.

CoreWeave Beats Estimates; Raises 2026 Revenue Guidance

CoreWeave reported a third-quarter adjusted loss of 95 cents per share, narrower than the consensus estimate of a loss of $1.16. The company reported revenue of $3.661 billion, beating the consensus estimate of $3.547 billion, and ended the quarter with a revenue backlog of $132.5 billion and about $4.12 billion in cash and cash equivalents.

CoreWeave raised its fiscal 2026 revenue guidance to $13.0 billion to $13.3 billion from $12.4 billion to $13.2 billion, versus the consensus estimate of $12.857 billion.

"This was a breakout quarter for CoreWeave, with revenue increasing by more than $1 billion sequentially and adjusted operating margins reaching double digits a quarter ahead of plan," said Michael Intrator, CoreWeave's co-founder and CEO.

Why CoreWeave's Results Could Matter for Dell

Dell sells AI servers to neocloud operators, and CoreWeave and IREN are among its named customers, according to coverage of Dell's second-quarter report. A higher revenue outlook and a larger backlog at CoreWeave may suggest it will keep buying infrastructure, which would support demand for Dell's servers. Dell booked a record $60.9 billion in AI server orders in its latest quarter and ended with a $95 billion backlog.

Concerns about neocloud financing and credit costs have weighed on the AI infrastructure trade in recent weeks, so CoreWeave's results are also being read as a sign about the health of the group.

Dell Shares Rise

DELL Price Action: At the time of publication, Dell shares are trading 8.03% higher at $361.22, according to data from Benzinga Pro.

BlackBerry: What Happened This Week And What’s Next

Benzinga News — Wed, 11 Nov 2026 15:21:56 -0500

BlackBerry Limited (BB ) is in the spotlight Wednesday after a busy week that included a new smart camera platform for advanced driver assistance with Valeo, with a series of investor conferences coming up.

BlackBerry QNX, Valeo Unveil Smart Camera Platform with Chinese Auto Design Wins

On Nov. 5, QNX, a division of BlackBerry, and Valeo announced a strategic collaboration to integrate QNX OS for Safety into Valeo's new front-view smart camera platform. The platform has already secured design wins with multiple automakers in China and is expected to enter production later this year. It combines QNX's safety-certified software with Valeo's advanced driver assistance hardware and software stack, and supports functions such as detecting vehicles, pedestrians, road markings and traffic signs.

The companies announced it at the Canada Pavilion at the China International Import Expo in Shanghai, and the release said QNX software is embedded in more than 275 million vehicles. Canada's Minister of International Trade, Maninder Sidhu, said the partnership creates new opportunities for BlackBerry in a growing market like China.

"Valeo's decision to build their new smart camera platform on QNX reflects the trust that leading companies across the automotive ecosystem place in our safety-certified foundational software," said William Dong, QNX's chief representative of Greater China.

BlackBerry to Attend Three Investor Conferences Through November

BlackBerry announced Wednesday that executives will participate in three investor conferences. At the BMO Technology and Innovation Leaders Conference in New York on Nov. 12, Grant Courville, senior vice president of products and strategy at QNX, will hold one-on-one meetings with institutional investors, with no formal presentation or webcast scheduled.

At the RBC Capital Markets Global TIMT Conference in New York on Nov. 17, Chief Financial Officer Tim Foote and John Wall, president of QNX, will take part in a fireside chat at 2:40 p.m. ET and meet with investors. At the TD Cowen Canadian Technology Conference in Toronto on Nov. 24, Foote and Wall will hold a fireside chat at 3:00 p.m. ET and meet with investors.

BlackBerry Shares Trade Higher

BB Price Action: At the time of publication, BlackBerry shares are trading 2.79% higher at $9.39, according to data from Benzinga Pro.

Wall Street Hasn't Ignored Earnings Beats Like This Since the Dot-Com Bust

Benzinga News — Tue, 10 Nov 2026 19:17:07 -0500

In the fourth quarter of 2000, seven months after the dot-com bubble burst, Wall Street stopped listening to earnings.

Companies that beat forecasts got almost no reward. Companies that missed got almost no punishment.

It happened again a year later, in the fourth quarter of 2001. Then it never happened again.

Until now.

Bank of America equity strategist Savita Subramanian said in a note Monday that the gap between how stocks trade after beats and after misses is the narrowest since 2001.

Companies that topped both profit and sales forecasts in the third quarter beat the S&P 500 by 0.9 percentage point the next day, against a historical average of 1.4 points. Those that missed on both traded in line with the market, against a usual lag of 2.5 points.

The spread has been narrower only twice, in the fourth quarters of 2000 and 2001, both after the tech bubble peaked in March 2000.

Earnings Are Not the Problem

With 88% of S&P 500 companies reported, 84% have beaten profit estimates, above the five-year average of 78%, FactSet said Friday.

Blended third-quarter earnings growth stands at 31.4%, the third straight quarter above 25%.

However, the beats have shrunk. Companies are topping estimates by 2.7% in aggregate, against a five-year average of 7.5%, the smallest surprise since the fourth quarter of 2022 if it holds.

Stocks that missed fell just 1.1% around their reports, compared with a five-year average decline of 3.1%, FactSet said.

Macro Is Drowning Out Micro

"The beat/miss performance spread is muted as macro concerns dominate micro," Subramanian said.

The biggest concern arrived with the midterm elections. The Democratic sweep turned a four-week slide in artificial-intelligence stocks into a rout, and on Nov. 5 the S&P 500 fell 4.4%, its worst day since April 2025.

According to Bank of America, a Democratic sweep raises the risk of delays to AI spending, which has been the strongest driver of S&P 500 earnings growth over the past three years.

The bank's chip analysts estimate that a 20% cut to 2027 AI capital spending could wipe out 35% to 40% or more of AI chipmakers' earnings, trimming 2027 S&P 500 earnings by 7% to 8% before knock-on effects.

Even tech companies that beat estimates fell 1.8% relative to the market the next day, according to Bank of America.

The Market Has Rarely Paid Less for This Much Growth

The S&P 500 trades at 17.7 times expected earnings for the next 12 months, its lowest multiple since Nov. 1, 2023, according to FactSet. It started the year at 22.

Since Dec. 31, the index has risen 7.4% while forward earnings estimates have jumped 33.6%. Prices did not fall. Earnings simply ran ahead of them.

Where the 2001 Parallel Breaks Down

In 2000 and 2001, the market ignored beats because profits were about to collapse. Recession arrived in March 2001, and the Nasdaq Composite lost nearly 80% from its peak by October 2002.

This time, the outlook from companies remains firm.

Only 43% of S&P 500 companies issuing fourth-quarter guidance have issued negative outlooks, below the five-year average of 60%, according to FactSet. Bank of America counts 2.7 above-consensus guides for every below-consensus one since Oct. 1, against an average of 0.8.

Deutsche Bank strategist Jim Reid said Monday that S&P 500 earnings growth of 34%, as measured by his colleagues Binky Chadha and Parag Thatte, ranks among the strongest outside recession rebounds.

"There is little doubt that we're in a period of uniquely strong earnings," Reid said.

The Next Test Is Nvidia

The SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (SPY ) is up 9.8% this year as of Monday's close, while the Invesco S&P 500 Equal Weight ETF (RSP ), which gives every company the same weight, is up 15%.

The pressure sits in the largest AI names, not the broad market. Nvidia Corp. (NVDA ), the biggest bet on AI spending, reports Nov. 17.

In 2000, investors stopped believing the numbers because the numbers were about to turn.

Today, the numbers have not turned. The market is simply refusing to pay for them until Washington, not the earnings calendar, settles the outlook for AI spending.

What's Going On With Lucid Group Stock Tuesday?

Benzinga News — Tue, 10 Nov 2026 19:16:46 -0500

Lucid Group Inc. (LCID ) stock climbed nearly 7% Tuesday, rebounding despite disappointing third-quarter earnings and weakness across the broader market.

The electric vehicle maker outperformed the Nasdaq, which fell 1.18%, and the S&P 500, which declined 0.65%. The consumer discretionary sector also slipped 0.33%.

The rally followed Lucid's disappointing quarterly results Monday, when the company missed Wall Street's earnings and revenue estimates.

Lucid Misses Earnings Estimates, Highlights Cost Savings

Lucid reported third-quarter revenue of $350.32 million, missing the $407.31 million analyst estimate.

Revenue rose 4% year over year despite a 41% decline in the broader U.S. electric vehicle market.

The company posted an adjusted loss of $2.30 per share, wider than the expected loss of $2.28.

Lucid produced 2,954 vehicles and delivered 3,806 during the quarter as it continued reducing inventory.

However, the company reported approximately $800 million in year-to-date savings and reaffirmed its full-year cash flow improvement plan.

Lucid ended September with roughly $2 billion in liquidity, which it expects will support operations and investments into the fourth quarter of 2027.

CEO Silvio Napoli said the company's transformation was showing progress as management strengthened operations and maintained spending discipline.

Meanwhile, Lucid remains on track to begin producing its midsize vehicle in the second half of 2027. The company plans to announce additional launch details in the first quarter.

According to Benzinga Pro, Lucid's shares gained after the company reported its third-quarter financial results. Meanwhile, construction of its AMP-2 manufacturing facility in Saudi Arabia is progressing as planned. The facility has entered the final stages of industrialization and commissioning.

Wall Street Cuts Lucid Price Forecasts

Several analysts lowered their price forecasts Tuesday following the earnings report.

TD Cowen maintained its Hold rating while cutting its price forecast to $4.

Cantor Fitzgerald maintained a Neutral rating and lowered its forecast to $6.

Baird also maintained a Neutral rating while reducing its forecast to $5.

Lucid carries a consensus Hold rating, with an average price forecast of $5.50 across eight analysts.

LCID Stock Technical Analysis

Despite Tuesday's rebound, Lucid remains under pressure over the longer term.

Shares have lost nearly 78% over the past 12 months.

The stock trades above its 20-day simple moving average of $3.29 but remains below its 100-day and 200-day averages of $5.02 and $6.61, respectively.

Meanwhile, the moving average convergence divergence indicator (MACD) has moved above its signal line, suggesting improving short-term momentum.

However, the $4 level remains a key resistance area.

Benzinga Edge assigns Lucid a bearish momentum score of 1.88, highlighting continued weakness in its longer-term price trend.

LCID Price Action

Lucid shares were up 6.81% at $3.85 at the time of publication Tuesday, according to Benzinga Pro data.

OpenAI Acquires AI Travel Startup Odessia, Bringing Founder of $600M Sonder Business on Board

Benzinga News — Tue, 10 Nov 2026 19:16:25 -0500

OpenAI has acquired AI travel startup Odessia, adding another consumer-focused application to its growing portfolio of AI-powered products as the company expands its push into autonomous AI agents.

Francis Davidson, who founded Odessia less than a year ago, announced the acquisition Tuesday in a post on X, saying he would join OpenAI to focus on the future of travel. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Davidson said Odessia helped tens of thousands of early adopters plan more than $60 million in annualized travel over the past summer, arguing that AI-powered tools are making it possible to plan and book complex trips.

Davidson previously founded Sonder Holdings, a hospitality company that operated furnished apartments and boutique hotel-style accommodations. The business grew to $600 million in revenue over a decade and employed more than 1,000 people before eventually running into financial difficulties.

Davidson wrote that the approach at Odessia was radically different, built around the idea that AI agents could handle much of the work traditionally performed by large teams.

"We burned the old playbooks and radicalized ourselves to truly embrace the new agentic era," Davidson wrote.

Building a Company Around AI Agents

In the same post, Davidson described how the startup relied heavily on AI agents across nearly every business function, including strategy, partnerships, design, marketing, customer support, legal and finance.

Davidson said tasks that previously required roughly 40 hours of manual work could sometimes be completed in two hours using frontier AI models and multiple rounds of agent feedback.

Rather than assigning employees individual tasks through traditional roadmaps, Davidson said Odessia encouraged workers to manage multiple agents simultaneously, review their output and make corrections.

The company also deployed agents to monitor daily analytics, investigate production errors, review customer feedback and conduct overnight software tests.

OpenAI's Expanding Acquisition Strategy

The Odessia deal adds to a growing string of acquisitions as OpenAI looks to build out the infrastructure and applications surrounding its AI models.

Just last week, OpenAI announced plans to acquire Pierre Computer Company, a developer-tools startup whose technology already powers features within its Codex platform.

The deal followed several other developer-focused acquisitions. In March, OpenAI announced plans to acquire Astral, the company behind open-source Python development tools uv, Ruff and ty. The company also agreed to acquire Promptfoo, an AI security testing startup whose technology helps businesses identify vulnerabilities in AI applications.

In June, OpenAI announced plans to buy Ona, a developer infrastructure company specializing in secure cloud environments that allow AI agents to work on software projects over extended periods.

Together, the deals point to an effort to build more of the infrastructure surrounding AI-powered work, extending beyond the underlying models themselves.

Odessia represents a different direction for that strategy, bringing OpenAI into AI-powered travel planning and potentially expanding the reach of its agents into consumer services.

Davidson did not disclose how Odessia's technology or product would be integrated into OpenAI's existing offerings, saying the companies would share more details about the future direction of the project later.

Costco Goes Bulk on Payouts with $30 Special Dividend

Benzinga News — Tue, 10 Nov 2026 19:16:00 -0500

Costco Wholesale Corp. (COST ) announced plans on Tuesday to return roughly $13.3 billion to shareholders through a special cash dividend of $30 per share.

The payout goes out on Dec. 4 to shareholders of record as of the close of business on Nov. 24. The amount doubles the $15 special dividend Costco paid in January 2024, which totaled about $6.7 billion.

Special dividends have become a habit for the Washington-based retailer. Costco also paid them in 2012, 2015, 2017 and 2020. Management tends to let cash pile up for a few years and then hand out a lump sum.

The board also reauthorized a stock repurchase program of up to $4 billion. The new plan runs through November 2030. It replaces the existing $4 billion authorization, which was adopted in 2023 and was scheduled to expire in January 2027. Costco had bought back $3.1 billion of stock under the prior program.

Membership fees anchor the Costco business model, and renewal rates have stayed high for years. Steady fee income gives the company room to reward investors without straining its balance sheet. The cash lands just ahead of the busy holiday shopping season.

COST Stock Price Activity: Costco Wholesale shares were up 1.65% at $1,083.73 during after-hours trading Tuesday, according to Benzinga Pro market data.

Two Congressmen Are Buying the Same $2B Small Cap Stock You’ve Likely Never Heard Of

Benzinga News — Tue, 10 Nov 2026 19:15:36 -0500

Rep. Gil Cisneros (D-Calif.) and Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-N.J.) have both bought shares of Benchmark Electronics (BHE ), according to data from the Benzinga Government Trades page.

Here are the trades:

Oct. 1: Cisneros bought $15,000 to $50,000 in BHE stock
Oct. 12: Gottheimer bought $1,000 to $15,000 in BHE stock

Benchmark Electronics trades with a market capitalization of $2.3 billion, making it one of the smallest stocks bought by members of Congress in recent years.

Shares traded at $63.64 on Tuesday, within its 52-week trading range. The stock is down 22% over the last month, but shares are up 48% year-to-date, hitting all-time highs in June before the recent pullback.

The company offers advanced electronics engineering for partners and covers various sectors, including defense, medical technology, commercial aerospace and semiconductor capital equipment.

Benchmark, which recently celebrated 30 years on the New York Stock Exchange, reported third-quarter financials in October. The company reported revenue up 19% year over year and raised its full-year outlook.

Benchmark has beaten analyst estimates for earnings per share for 14 consecutive quarters and revenue estimates for six straight quarters, including eight of the past 10 quarters.

The company has not gotten any government contracts since 2025.

Cisneros, Gottheimer Trading History

While the trading amount is small for both congressmen, the trades come from two of the most active members of Congress for buying and selling stocks.

Cisneros has made 2,784 trades totaling $56.5 million since 2019, according to data from Quiver Quantitative. This includes $15.4 million in trades in 2026.

Gottheimer has made 3,607 trades totaling $349.4 million since 2017, according to Quiver Quantitative data. This includes $6.4 million in trades in 2026.

What's Going on With Alphabet Stock on Tuesday?

Benzinga News — Tue, 10 Nov 2026 17:35:10 -0500

Alphabet Inc. (GOOG ) (GOOGL ) stock edged lower on Tuesday as investors weighed Google's expanding AI chip and software strategy against a weaker broader market backdrop.

The move came with the Communication Services sector down about 0.3% and the S&P 500 lower by roughly 0.6%.

Google Broadens AI Chip Lineup

Google is preparing two specialized TPU systems, TPU 8tx and 8i Max, with both expected to become available in 2027.

The 8tx targets government and regulated customers that need stronger data protection and is designed to work with Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (AMD ) processors.

The 8i Max combines two TPU chips to increase computing power and memory for workloads including drug discovery, mathematics and coding.

Gemini 4 Carbon Expands Across Google Products

Google is also rolling out Gemini 4 Carbon to developers, businesses, researchers and consumers, expanding access to a higher-end AI model designed for complex tasks across coding, cybersecurity, financial research and science.

The company is making Gemini 4 Carbon available through AI Studio, Gemini for business, the Gemini app and AI Mode in Search, while keeping its introductory pricing in line with Gemini 4 Argon.

The broader rollout gives Google more opportunities to expand paid AI usage across enterprise and consumer products while reaching more specialized workloads.

Google designed Gemini 4 Carbon for demanding, multi-step work that requires deeper reasoning, including software engineering, cybersecurity, finance and scientific research.

The model aims to give businesses, developers and researchers stronger performance on complex tasks while keeping costs competitive.

Early benchmark results showed Carbon approaching Anthropic's Claude Opus 5.5 performance at roughly one-third of the cost per task.

Technical Picture Remains Weak

At $285.70, Alphabet trades 7.5% below its 20-day SMA of $308.23 and 15.4% below its 200-day SMA of $337.07.

The 20-day SMA remains below the 50-day SMA, while the 50-day SMA also sits below the 200-day SMA following an October death cross.

Sector Performance

Alphabet was down about 0.1% versus a roughly 0.28% decline in the Communication Services sector, outperforming the group by about 0.17 percentage points.

Communication Services ranked fourth among 11 sectors during the session and has fallen 3.97% over the past 30 days and 2.95% over the past 90 days.

Analyst Outlook

Alphabet carries a Buy consensus rating with an average price forecast of $398.

Recent actions include JPMorgan maintaining Overweight while lowering its target to $375 on Oct. 29, TD Cowen maintaining Buy while lowering its target to $460, and Scotiabank maintaining Sector Outperform while lowering its target to $375.

ETF Exposure

Alphabet carries a 9.38% weighting in the State Street Communication Services Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLC ), 9.28% in the Goldman Sachs Technology Opportunities ETF (GTOP ) and 8.38% in the Principal Focused Blue Chip ETF (BCHP ).

Those weightings leave the stock exposed to broader fund flows alongside company-specific developments.

GOOG/GOOGL Price Actions: Alphabet (GOOG) shares were down 0.77% at $283.90 and Alphabet (GOOGL) shares were down 0.70% at $286.14 at the time of publication on Tuesday, according to Benzinga Pro data.

Bitcoin Drops Below $73,000: A ‘Break From Precedent,’ Peter Schiff Warns

Benzinga News — Tue, 10 Nov 2026 17:34:51 -0500

Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) is on pace for its first back-to-back annual loss in 18 years of trading history, according to critic Peter Schiff, who on Tuesday called the pattern "a break from precedent investors ignore at their peril."

Bitcoin's Two Straight Down Years Would Be a First

Schiff said that Bitcoin has never fallen two calendar years in a row since its creation, yet it dropped 6.34% last year and sits down 16.5% so far in 2026.

He warned that a third straight annual decline in 2027 would extend a pattern Bitcoin has never experienced before.

A day earlier, Schiff pointed out that stocks, tech shares, precious metals miners, gold and silver all rallied, while Bitcoin fell below key support near $75,000 the same day.

"There's a short window before the crash," he wrote. "Make sure to sell before it closes," he added.

Why Ali Martinez Sees a Different Setup Forming

Widely-followed analyst Ali Martinez pointed to Bitcoin holding its 200-day simple moving average as a bullish signal, drawing a comparison to 2023, when Bitcoin bounced off the same indicator near $20,000 before climbing toward $30,000.

His current chart shows Bitcoin around $75,000, testing that same moving-average line during its latest pullback.

"Last chance to buy the Bitcoin dip?" Martinez asked. "It was the 200-day SMA. BTC held it. Now the rebound begins," he added.

His chart offers no explicit price target, though the comparison implies he expects a similar recovery pattern to play out.

Hot CPI Data Adds to the Pressure

As Benzinga reported Tuesday, October CPI came in hotter than expected, with headline inflation rising 0.4% against a 0.3% forecast and core CPI climbing 0.3% versus the 0.2% economists expected, strengthening the case for another Fed rate hike.

Spot Bitcoin ETFs logged $201 million in net outflows Monday, extending BlackRock's IBIT to a seventh straight losing session, while the broader fund category has flipped negative for all of 2026 with $914 million in net outflows year to date.

Gilat Satellite Cuts Revenue Outlook As Launch Setbacks Delay Key Orders

Benzinga News — Tue, 10 Nov 2026 17:34:33 -0500

Gilat Satellite Networks Ltd. (GILT ) stock fell Tuesday after the company reported mixed third-quarter results and cut its full-year revenue forecast.

The satellite communications company beat earnings estimates but missed Wall Street's revenue expectations.

Gilat Earnings Beat Estimates, Revenue Falls Short

Gilat reported adjusted earnings of 18 cents per share, beating the analyst estimate of 14 cents.

Revenue reached $116.23 million, missing the $126.65 million estimate.

Adjusted EBITDA rose 13% to $17.6 million. Cash and short-term deposits totaled $260 million as of Sept. 30.

Gilat CEO Adi Sfadia said cost controls and pricing discipline helped the company improve profitability despite currency headwinds and bad debt write-offs tied to Hughes Network Systems' Chapter 11 filing.

However, delayed in-flight connectivity terminal deliveries, satellite development and launch setbacks, and slower-than-expected agreements in Peru prompted the company to slash its revenue outlook. Some expected revenue has shifted into 2027.

Sfadia also warned of growing competitive pressure as vertically integrated low-Earth-orbit satellite operators gain market share from traditional geostationary satellite providers.

To counter these challenges, Gilat is expanding its defense business, which posted 53% revenue growth during the quarter.

The planned Comtech acquisition, expected to close by year-end, could more than double Gilat's defense revenue in 2027 and strengthen its U.S. presence.

Meanwhile, the company continues to pursue opportunities in next-generation ground infrastructure, in-flight connectivity and sovereign satellite constellations.

Defense Revenue Jumps 53% As Gilat Eyes Comtech Deal

Gilat's defense revenue surged 53% year over year.

The company expects its planned Comtech acquisition to more than double defense revenue in 2027 and strengthen its U.S. market presence.

Meanwhile, Gilat secured several major contracts, including a deal worth more than $32 million for multi-band DKET systems supporting U.S. defense network resilience.

Other wins included more than $8 million in additional U.S. Department of Defense orders and over $10 million in SkyEdge IV orders.

The company also secured a $14 million broadband expansion agreement in Peru.

Gilat Cuts 2026 Revenue Forecast

Gilat lowered its 2026 revenue forecast to $455 million-$475 million from $500 million-$520 million.

The revised outlook fell below the analyst estimate of $507.06 million.

Management now expects full-year adjusted EBITDA of $61 million-$63 million.

Despite the weaker outlook, Gilat expects to complete its Comtech acquisition by year-end.

GILT Price Action: Gilat Satellite Networks shares were down 23.94% at $5.76 at the time of publication on Tuesday, according to Benzinga Pro data.