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postUS stocks slid on Friday as investors digested economic data that showed US economic growth cooling in the fourth quarter, while the Fed’s favored inflation gauge heated up to end last year. Wall Street also kept an eye out for US-Iran tensions, private credit jitters, and a potential Supreme Court tariff decision.
The S&P 500 (^GSPC) moved down roughly 0.3%, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) fell by a steeper 0.4%, coming off the end of a three-day winning streak on Thursday. The Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) led the way down, falling 0.5%.
Wall Street learned Friday that US economic growth cooled last quarter, coming in at 1.4%, far behind forecasts. Meanwhile, “core” personal expenditures index — the Fed’s preferred gauge of inflation — showed signs of accelerating last month, rising more than economists expected on a monthly and annual basis
At the same time, Wall Street is on alert for stress in the private credit sector, after Blue Owl’s (OBDC, OWL) halt to withdrawals. Fears are the move is a “canary in the coal mine” financial crisis-style moment amid concerns about the sector’s holdings of software stocks threatened by AI. Blue Owl shares continued to fall in premarket after it sold $1.4 billion in private loans, including to the lender’s own insurer.
Investors are also keyed into whether the Supreme Court will strike down Trump’s “Liberation Day” tariffs on Friday, as a decision is possible. A host of outcomes remains possible, with perhaps the only certainty for investors being that markets will react, regardless of how the decision goes.
LIVE 9 updates
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For what it is worth on this GDP report….
I still think the strong earnings report out of Walmart (WMT) yesterday is a better proxy on the economy right now than a government GDP report.
I got no indication (nor saw any in the earnings report) in my chat below with Walmart CFO John David Rainey the business has slowed at all:
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Fed’s favored inflation gauge ticks up 0.4% in December, in sign inflation remains sticky
Prices rose by 0.4% in December over the previous month, marking an increase from the previous month, according to Personal Consumption Expenditures index data released Friday by the Bureau of Economic Analysis.
The growth exceeded economists’ expectations of 0.3%, according to Bloomberg’s consensus estimates.
So-called “core” PCE, which excludes the more volatile food and energy categories, also rose 0.4% on the month, a step up from the previous month’s 0.2% growth. Economists had predicted that the Federal Reserve’s preferred inflation measure would rise by 0.3%.
On an annual basis, the headline and core PCE price indexes rose 2.9% and 3.0%, respectively, in December from the previous year, also slightly above economist estimates for the two gauges.
Meanwhile, personal income remained consistent, rising 0.3% in December on a monthly basis, in line with the previous month’s growth and matching economist expectations.
Personal spending increased 0.4% from last month, coming in above expectations of 0.3% but falling below the previous month’s growth of 0.5%.
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US GDP growth disappoints, Trump blames government shutdown
The US economy grew at a slower pace than expected in the fourth quarter of 2025.
New data from the Bureau of Economic Analysis on Friday showed the economy grew at an annualized rate of 1.4% in the final three months of 2025. Economists had expected GDP to grow at an annualized rate of 2.9% in the fourth quarter.
In a post on Truth Social ahead of the report, President Trump said the government shutdown that lasted 43 days back in the fall cost the US economy “at least two points in GDP.” The president also again called for lower interest rates.
In its release, the BEA said, “Compared to the third quarter, the deceleration in real GDP in the fourth quarter reflected downturns in government spending and exports and a deceleration in consumer spending that were partly offset by an acceleration in investment.”
Underlying spending trends, however, remained solid, with real final sales to private domestic purchasers — the sum of consumer spending and gross private fixed investment — increasing 2.4 percent in the fourth quarter, compared with an increase of 2.9 percent in the third quarter.
Friday’s report had been set for release on Jan. 29, but data collection was delayed by the shutdown that covered all of October and parts of November.
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Chemours stock falls after reporting $47M loss in Q4 earnings
Chemours Co. (CC) stock slumped 9% before the bell on Friday after reporting a loss of $47 million in its fourth quarter earnings.
The AP reports:
Read more here.
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Grail stock sinks after cancer trial results fail to impress investors
Grail (GRAL) stock sank over 40% before the bell on Friday after the healthcare company’s cancer trial results failed to impress investors.
Barron’s reports:
Read more here.
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Premarket trending tickers: Chemours, Live Nation, and AppLovin
Chemours (CC) fell 9% during premarket trading on Friday after reporting a loss in its fourth quarter earnings and a dip in revenue. This was driven by a drop in its titanium technologies and advanced performance materials businesses.
Live Nation (LYV) stock rose more than 3% before the bell on Friday after the ticket provider posted an 11% increase in fourth-quarter revenue to $6.31 billion, driven by a 12% gain in concert sales.
AppLovin’s (APP) stock jumped 5% during premarket hours on Friday after the release of its fourth quarter earnings and the company’s plan to launch a social networking platform.
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Nvidia is moving in on Intel and AMD’s home turf
Beyond the splashy AI chip news, there’s something else worth a deeper look in the stepped-up data center partnership agreed by Nvidia (NVDA) and Meta (META) this week.
The agreement will also see Meta roll out Nvidia Grace CPU-only servers in its data centers, the first large-scale deployment of the chips. It’s part of Nvidia’s CPU play — and that could ring alarm bells for Intel (INTC) and AMD (AMD).
Yahoo Finance’s Daniel Howley writes:
Read more here.
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Opendoor stock rallies on 46% jump in home acquisition volume
Opendoor’s (OPEN) stock jumped 14% in premarket trading on Friday after the company reported that home purchases rose 46% quarter over quarter. Revenue reached $736 million, surpassing Wall Street estimates of $576.94 million.
The digital real estate company posted a fourth quarter loss of $1.26 per share, missing analysts’ estimates.
Investing.com reports:
Read more here.
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OpenAI and Nvidia in final negotiations for $30B investment
Reuters reports:
Read more here.
