Futures Sink After Inflation Reading Comes in Hotter Than Expected; Nvidia Shares Fall Further

More People Are Falling Behind on Their Mortgage Payments

FROM 46 minutes ago

The number of homeowners beginning to fall behind on their payments rose by nearly a third over the last year, in a sign that the high cost of living is causing financial distress for more households.

That’s according to a report from credit scoring company VantageScore Thursday, which said the number of people one to two months behind on their payments rose by 30.9% over the year in January.

Though this still accounted for only 1.14% of borrowers, it was the most since the pandemic hit and a signal that more households are being stretched thin. Although inflation has fallen from its recent high in 2022, price increases for many necessities have remained high, from coffee to vet visits.

“The broad-based rise in early-stage credit delinquencies across VantageScore credit tiers underscores persistent macroeconomic pressures, particularly for more vulnerable borrowers,” Susan Fahy, chief digital, data and technology officer at VantageScore said in a press release. “Sustained cost pressures and interest rates may leave some consumers increasingly exposed to future economic shocks.”

Read the full article here.

–Diccon Hyatt

Trump Says Retirement Accounts for Workers Without 401(k)s Are Coming Next Year—Here’s How They’ll Work

FROM 1 hr 37 min ago

President Trump just unveiled a policy that would provide retirement accounts next year to workers who don’t have access to 401(k)s.

“Your 401(k)s are way up. Yet half of all working Americans still do not have access to a retirement plan with matching contributions from an employer,” said President Trump at the State of the Union address yesterday. 

“To remedy this gross disparity, I’m announcing that next year my administration will give these oft-forgotten American workers … access to the same type of retirement plan offered to every federal worker,” he said. “We will match your contribution with up to $1,000 each year.”

According to the White House, these new accounts will be similar to the Thrift Savings Plan, a retirement plan available to federal employees.

Read the full article here.

–Trina Paul

Do Investors Underestimate Nvidia? CEO Jensen Huang Thinks So

FROM 1 hr 53 min ago

Investors are underestimating Nvidia, according to its CEO.

Shares of the chipmaker fell more than 5% Thursday, even though the AI chipmaker delivered a blockbuster earnings report and strong outlook the night before.

The drop made Nvidia (NVDA) the worst-performing stock in the Dow Jones Industrial Average Thursday, and one of the biggest decliners in the Nasdaq and S&P 500. It also dragged the stock, which has had a tough start to the year amid uncertainty about the trajectory of the AI boom, back into negative territory for 2026.

CEO Jensen Huang told CNBC in a televised interview following the company’s earnings call that he believes investors may be missing how large the computing industry could become, and how much Nvidia is set to grow with it.

Read the full article here.

–Kara Greenberg

Netflix Shares Surge After Streamer Drops WBD Bid; Winning Suitor Paramount Pops as Well

FROM 2 hr 23 min ago

Netflix decided not match Paramount Skydance’s offer for Hollywood giant Warner Bros. Discovery. Investors of both bidders are cheering the news. 

Shares of Netflix (NFLX) soared 8% in premarket trading Friday, a day after the streaming giant announced it wouldn’t match Paramount’s revised bid to acquire all of Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) for $31 a share. Shares of David Ellison-led Paramount (PSKY) popped 9%, while those of WBD declined 2%.

“We believe we would have been strong stewards of Warner Bros.’ iconic brands, and that our deal would have strengthened the entertainment industry and preserved and created more production jobs in the U.S.,” Netflix co-CEOs Ted Sarandos and Greg Peters wrote yesterday. “But this transaction was always a ‘nice to have’ at the right price, not a ‘must have’ at any price.”

Earlier Thursday, WBD wrote that its board concluded Paramount’s increased offer to acquire the entire company was a “Company Superior Proposal” to its deal with Netflix, announced in December, for the streamer to acquire Warner Bros., consisting of its film and television studios, its HBO Max streaming service, and HBO.

WBD said yesterday that Netflix would have four business days to propose revisions to their merger agreement “so that the PSKY proposal would cease to constitute a “‘Company Superior Proposal,'” but Netflix elected to bow out of the race.

Stock Futures Fall Ahead of Inflation Reading

FROM 3 hr 8 min ago

Futures contracts connected to the Dow Jones Industrial Average pointed up 0.6%.

S&P 500 futures were up 0.4%.

Nasdaq 100 futures were 0.3% higher.