North American Morning Briefing : Futures Rise, Tech Stocks Look Poised to Continue Rally

OPENING CALL

U.S. futures gained ahead of Friday’s session, a sign that Thursday’s rally in tech stocks looked set to continue and close the trading week on a high.

Tech stock including Nvidia, Broadcom and Advanced Micro Devices were up as AI regained momentum after results from Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co.

Swissquote said investors, however, will be closely watching upcoming results in the sector.

“Concerns around circular AI deals, leverage and delayed returns on investment remain front of mind for investors.”

Friday’s bullish sentiment comes ahead of industrial production and capacity utilization figures for the month of December, and follows lower-than-expected jobless claims and manufacturing surveys which supported expectations a further Federal Reserve rate cut was unlikely in the immediate term.

Investors will also likely be following speeches from the Fed’s Michelle Bowman and Philip Jefferson for insights into the open market committee’s interest-rate policy.

The weeks will be capped off with earnings from M&T Bank, PNC Financial and State Street.

Stocks to Watch

AST SpaceMobile shares rose 5.3%, extending a rally from Thursday when advanced 6.3%.

HP Inc. shares fell 2.6% after being downgraded by Barclays.

ImmunityBio jumped 17%, extending Thursday’s rally when shares rose 31%.

J.B. Hunt Transport Services shares fell 5.4% after the company published lower quarterly revenue.

Micron Technology climbed 6.2% after TSMC co-CEO Mark Liu bought some of the company’s stock .

Verizon Communications shares edged higher 0.15% after it secured final approvals needed to buy Frontier Communications.

Watch For:

Canada Housing Starts, U.S. Industrial Production and Capacity Utilization

Today’s Top Headlines/Must Reads:

– As Tech Giants Get More Hands-On With Energy, Their Risks Rise

– We Went Shopping for the $3 Dinner-and Actually Found It

– Halliburton and Its Rivals Can’t Wait to Get Back Into Venezuela

MARKET WRAPS

Forex:

The dollar traded flat against a basket of currencies. Payden & Rygel said fears of the dollar losing its dominance look overdone as there is little evidence of de-dollarization

“Foreign demand for U.S. assets– including Treasurys, corporates, and equities–remains strong.”

The euro looks range-bound versus the dollar and the one-month implied volatility for the exchange rate remains near 5%. It is being favored as a funding currency in carry trades, where investors borrow in low interest-rate currencies to invest in higher-yielding ones, ING said.

Bonds:

Long-dated Treasury yields rose, while short-end yields edged lower in Asian afternoon trade, causing the curve to steepen .

Potential drivers for Treasury yields include industrial production and capacity utilisation data for December, as well as Federal Reserve speakers Michelle Bowman and Philip Jefferson.

Continued growth, easing inflation and gradual Fed rate cuts should allow both short- and long-end Treasury yields to decline, Payden & Rygel said separately.

“If inflation continues to moderate, longer-term Treasury yields can still move lower, even without a recession.”

Compensation to hold a longer-dated bond rather than a shorter one is expected to rise in both the U.S. and Europe in the next 12 months as bond issuance is set to increase significantly, according to Danske.

“Therefore, we expect long-term U.S. rates to move higher over the coming year even if the Federal Reserve continues to cut its policy rate target.”

Danske forecasts the 10-year Treasury yield at 4.30% and 4.45% on six- and 12-month horizons, and the 10-year Bund yield at 2.90% on both six- and 12-months horizons.

Energy:

Oil prices rose as traders weighed risks of supply disruptions even as concerns over imminent U.S. military action in Iran fade.

“While risks have eased somewhat, they remain significant, keeping the market nervous in the short term. However, the longer this goes on without any U.S. intervention, the risk premium will continue to fade, allowing more bearish fundamentals to dominate,” ING said.

Gas

European natural-gas prices extended their rally, hovering near 35 euros a megawatt hour as forecasts of colder weather across parts of Europe raised supply concerns. The benchmark Dutch TTF contract is up 5.2% and is headed for a weekly gain of 23%.

Metals:

Gold prices slipped in early trading after the latest U.S. data showed unemployment claims dropped last week, lowering probabilities of imminent interest-rate cuts by the Federal Reserve.

That said gold was still on track for a weekly gain of more than 2%.

Silver prices were on track for a weekly gain of 15% after hitting a fresh record earlier this week

“Silver continues to attract speculative interest, increasingly from both buyers and sellers, resulting in erratic price swings and challenging trading conditions,” Saxo Bank said.

Copper prices fell back below the $13,000 mark as investors booked profits after they hit a fresh record last week.

“This week the market was reminded of the strong demand dynamics in China, with imports remaining near record highs. However, a surge in investor appetite for real assets such as commodities in recent weeks has raised concerns that recent gains have been driven by speculators,” ANZ Research said.

   TODAY'S TOP HEADLINES 

Mitsubishi to Buy Shale Gas Assets in Texas, Louisiana for $5.2 Billion

Mitsubishi has agreed to acquire Aethon’s shale gas assets in Texas and Louisiana for $5.2 billion, its biggest acquisition ever.

The Japanese trading house said Friday that Aethon’s natural gas is currently sold in the Southern U.S. market and that the company is considering exporting part of the production as liquefied natural gas to Asia, including Japan, and Europe.

Trump to Push Plan for Tech Companies to Fund New Power Plants

WASHINGTON-The Trump administration is planning to propose that the nation’s largest power grid operator hold an emergency auction in which tech companies would bid to have new power plants built, according to people familiar with the matter.

The directive, expected Friday, would be an unprecedented attempt by the federal government to check rising electricity prices within PJM Interconnection, a 13-state power market spanning from New Jersey to Kentucky. The build-out of data centers there in response to the artificial-intelligence boom is straining the grid’s capacity and has resulted in substantially higher costs in several of the grid operator’s recent power auctions.

Meta Triples Down on AI. It Could Be a Wild Ride for the Stock.

Meta Platforms CEO Mark Zuckerberg has never shied away from big moves, from dropping out of Harvard University to work on a fledgling social-media company to changing the name of that company even after it crossed $100 billion in annual sales. This week, he may have signaled his largest move yet-a massive multiyear program, probably in excess of a trillion dollars, to build a global network of artificial-intelligence data centers. A trillion dollars is a lot of money, even more than Meta’s Facebook and Instagram can provide, so the company also hired a banker as its new president and vice chairman.

At this moment, no one is more all-in on AI than Meta.

Micron’s stock gets an $8 million vote of confidence from this industry veteran

A Micron Technology board member just sent a confident signal about the high-flying memory stock.

Often corporate insiders buy stock on the decline, scooping up shares they view as cheap and sending a message to investors that they’re willing to bet their own money on a rebound.

Porsche Deliveries Fall on China Woes and Model Gaps

Porsche car deliveries fell 10% in 2025 as demand was hit by a slowdown in luxury spending in China and as it ceased production of its 718 Boxster and 718 Cayman models through the year.

The German luxury sports-car maker said Friday that it delivered 279,449 cars in the year, down from 310,718 in 2024.

Powell Investigation Upends Final Stretch of Fed Chair Contest

The criminal investigation into Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell threatens to upend the contest over whom President Trump will choose to succeed him as it enters its final stretch.

The episode is creating new obstacles on Capitol Hill and raising hard questions about whether any nominee can be seen as independent-tension that was always present but is now much harder to ignore. Trump has made clear he prizes loyalty in his pick, but the Justice Department probe-which Powell said was part of a pressure campaign to get the Fed to lower interest rates-threatens to make that quality a liability.

Japan’s Finance Minister Issues Fresh Verbal Warning as Yen Falters

TOKYO-Japan’s Finance Minister issued another verbal warning on the yen, suggesting authorities are prepared to act to stem excessive currency depreciation.

A joint statement between the U.S. and Japan says that “decisive action-meaning intervention-can be taken against sharp currency moves that do not reflect fundamentals,” Satsuki Katayama said at an event held by the Japan National Press Club on Friday.

Philly Fed’s Paulson Says Rate Cuts Can Wait, Shows Support for Powell

PHILADELPHIA-Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell has become an unlikely folk hero, the subject of internet memes celebrating his stewardship of the central bank. Philadelphia Fed President Anna Paulson knows this because her 20-year-old son sends them to her.

“So many people have been impressed by his leadership, myself included,” Paulson said in an interview Wednesday, her first with a national outlet since taking the job last July.

China Sells Treasuries for 9 Straight Months as Foreign Buyers Snap Up Debt

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