U.S. stock index futures ticked higher on Wednesday after President Donald Trump said he would delay tariffs on critical minerals and confirmed he has no plans to remove Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell.
Here are some of Thursday’s biggest stock movers:
Biggest stock gainers
- Dell Technologies (DELL) +2.3% – Shares moved higher after Barclays upgraded the computer products firm to overweight from equal-weight, citing strength in AI server orders. Separately, Barclays downgrades its recommendation on Nutanix to equal-weight from overweight.
- Nokia (NOK) +3.8% – Shares rose after Morgan Stanley upgraded the stock from equal weight to overweight and raised its price target to EUR6.50 from EUR4.20. According to the brokerage, AI and Cloud now represent 6% of Nokia’s revenues and are growing approximately 1 percentage point every quarter.
- Lam Research (LRCX) +6% – Stifel is forecasting wafer fabrication equipment spending to increase by 10% to 15% in calendar year 2026, which should benefit Teradyne (TER), Lam Research (LRCX) and KLA (KLAC). This equates to a $10B to $15B year-over-year increase, which will be led by advanced foundry/logic and DRAM. The financial firm had expected WFE growth of 7% to 8% in a previous forecast.
- Taiwan Semiconductor (TSM) +5% – Taiwan Semiconductor (TSM), a major supplier to companies including Nvidia (NVDA) and Apple (AAPL), reported a net profit of NT$506B (US$16B) for the October-December quarter, a 35% surge from a year earlier, better than analysts’ estimates. TSMC also said it plans to boost its capital expenditure budget to $52B-$56B for 2026, up from about $40B last year.
Biggest stock losers
- Critical Metals (CRML) -2.3% – U.S. President Donald Trump said Wednesday he is holding off—for now—on imposing tariffs on imports of critical minerals, opting instead to direct his administration to seek supplies from international partners.
- Exxon (XOM) -1% – Oil prices fell on Thursday after President Donald Trump’s remarks that executions in Iran have stopped eased geopolitical tensions and reduced concerns over supply disruptions. Chevron (CVX), meanwhile, is expected to receive an expanded Venezuela license from the U.S. government this week that could allow for increased production and exports, Reuters reported Wednesday.