Stocks Edge Higher, Bank Giants Rally, Palantir Skyrockets: What's Driving Markets Thursday?

It's a mixed session on Wall Street, with major indices struggling for direction as investors hold their breath ahead of a key jobs report set for Friday morning.

The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq 100 edged up 0.3%, while the Dow Jones slipped 0.1% and small caps held steady.

Among the leading sectors, financial stocks outperformed after the Fed released the framework for 2025 bank stress test. The big six banks — JPMorgan Chase & Co. JPM, Bank of America Corp. BAC, Wells Fargo & Co. WFC, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. GS, Morgan Stanley MS, and Citigroup C — all climbed more than 1%, with Citigroup surging 2.9%.

Eli Lilly Co. LLY jumped 3.2% after topping earnings estimates, while Tapestry Inc. TPR surged 12% and Philip Morris International Inc. PM skyrocketed nearly 10% on strong revenue figures. In contrast, Qualcomm QCOM slid 4.3% on concerns over slowing smartphone demand.

Shares of Palantir Inc. PLTR surged 6.5%, extending its weekly gains to 30.8%, the stock's best weekly rally since early November.

Oil prices had a volatile session. Crude initially dipped as speculation mounted over a potential Trump-Putin meeting as early as this month or next, raising hopes for possible peace talks in Ukraine. Prices rebounded after the U.S. Treasury imposed sanctions on Iran's oil network.

Gold softened, dropping 0.6% from record highs and snapping a five-session winning streak.

Bitcoin BTC/USD remained stable, hovering just below $97,000.

Thursday’s Performance In Major US Indices, ETFs

Major Indices	Price	1-day %chg
Nasdaq 100	21,742.18	0.4%
S&P 500	6,082.15	0.3%
Russell 2000	2,316.14	0.0%
Dow Jones	44,811.50	-0.1%

According to Benzinga Pro data:

• The SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust SPY rose 0.3% to $605.83.
• The SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average DIA eased 0.2% to $447.73.
• The tech-heavy Invesco QQQ Trust Series QQQ inched 0.3% up to $528.47.
• The iShares Russell 2000 ETF IWM flattened at $229.55.
• The Financial Select Sector SPDR Fund XLRE outperformed, up 1.6%; the Energy Select Sector SPDR Fund XLE lagged, down 1.7%.

Thursday’s Stock Movers

Stocks reacting to corporate earnings, ordered by market capitalization, are:

• Eli Lilly & Co.: up 3.11%
• Linde Plc LIN: up 0.34%
• Philip Morris International Inc.: up 9.97%
• Honeywell International Inc. HON: down 5.33%
• ConocoPhillips COP: down 0.71%
• Hilton Worldwide Holdings Inc. HLT: up 4.65%
• Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. BMY: down 2.04%
• Intercontinental Exchange Inc. ICE: up 4.95%
• IQVIA Holdings Inc. IQV: up 2.95%
• Yum! Brands Inc. YUM: up 8.49%
• Hershey Co. HSY: up 5.16%
• McKesson Corp. MCK: down 2.56%
• Qualcomm Inc.: down 4.41%
• Molina Healthcare Inc. MOH: down 8.68%
• O’Reilly Automotive Inc. ORLY: down 1.87%
• MetLife Inc. MET: down 1.39%
• Cognizant Technology Solutions CTSH: up 3.64%
• Corteva Inc. CTVA: down 3.92%
• Allstate Corp. ALL: down 0.07%
• Skyworks Solutions Inc. SWKS: down 23.74%
• Aflac Inc. AFL: down 3.64%
• Align Technology Inc. ALGN: down 0.66%
• Equifax Inc. EFX: down 6.24%
• Zimmer Biomet Holdings Inc. ZBH: down 3.02%
• Aptiv Plc APTV: up 4.18%
• Air Products & Chemicals Inc. APD: down 1.75%
• Kellanova K: up 0.12%
• Ford Motor Co. F: down 6.74%

Stocks reporting after the close include:

• Amazon.com Inc.
• Illumina Inc. ILMN
• Fortinet Inc.
• Expedia Group Inc. EXPE
• Take-Two Interactive Software TTWO
• Monolithic Power Systems Inc. MPWR
• Pinterest Inc. PINS
• SS&C Technologies Holdings Inc. SSNC
• Principal Financial Group Inc. PFG
• Mettler-Toledo International Inc. MTD
• AptarGroup Inc. ATR
• Post Holdings Inc. POST
• Mohawk Industries Inc. MHK
• Boyd Gaming Corp. BYD
• Encompass Health Corp. EHC
• VeriSign Inc. VRSN
• Cloudflare Inc.
• Skechers USA Inc. SKX
• Affirm Holdings Inc. AFRM
• Elf Beauty Inc. ELF

Read Next:

• January Jobs Report Preview: Speculators Bet On Strong Payroll Surge, Yet Economists Predict A Different Picture

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