Key Takeaways
- IBM (IBM) and Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) led pre-market gains, with IBM rising 4.3% on a strategic partnership with Anthropic and AMD surging 4% after a Jefferies upgrade to a $300 price target following a significant OpenAI deal.
- Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) announced positive Phase 2b study results for its investigational oral drug icotrokinra in ulcerative colitis, demonstrating a 63.5% clinical response rate at the highest dose, and reaffirmed the known safety record of its drug Tremfya.
- BofA Global Research made notable sector adjustments, upgrading the Healthcare sector to Overweight from Underweight while simultaneously downgrading the Utilities sector to Underweight from Overweight and Consumer Discretionary to Market Weight from Overweight.
- Mercedes-Benz Group AG reported a 12% year-over-year decline in its Q3 group sales, with significant drops of 17% in the U.S. and 27% in China contributing to the overall decrease.
- IREN Limited (IREN) saw its shares jump 6.2% in pre-market trading following the announcement of additional multi-year cloud services contracts for NVIDIA Blackwell GPU deployments, with annualized run-rate revenue potential now exceeding $500 million.
Early trading activity is highlighted by significant movements in technology and pharmaceutical sectors, alongside key shifts in analyst sentiment and mixed global sales reports.
Tech Giants Rally on AI Partnerships and Upgrades
International Business Machines (IBM) climbed 4.3% in pre-market trading after announcing a strategic partnership with Anthropic, a leading AI safety and research company. The collaboration aims to integrate Anthropic's Claude large language models into IBM's software portfolio, promising measurable productivity gains and enhanced security for enterprise software development. Early internal testing by over 6,000 IBM adopters reported average productivity gains of 45%.
Meanwhile, Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) surged 4% following an upgrade from Jefferies to a "Buy" rating with a new price target of $300, up from $170. This upgrade comes after OpenAI revealed plans to purchase 6 gigawatts of AMD equipment, a deal estimated to be worth $80-100 billion for the chipmaker. Analysts view this as strong validation of AMD's AI roadmap and the escalating demand for AI infrastructure.
IREN Limited (IREN) also experienced a notable pre-market rise of 6.2% after securing additional multi-year cloud services contracts for NVIDIA Blackwell GPU deployments. The company anticipates achieving over $500 million in annualized run-rate revenue from its 23,000 GPUs by the end of Q1 2026, with contracts already secured for 11,000 of these GPUs.
Pharma Sector Sees Positive Clinical Trial Results
Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) reported positive topline results from its Phase 2b ANTHEM-UC study of icotrokinra (JNJ-2113), an investigational oral peptide for adults with moderately to severely active ulcerative colitis. The study met its primary endpoint of clinical response across all dose groups, with the highest dose achieving a 63.5% response rate at Week 12 compared to 27% for placebo. The drug also showed a favorable safety profile. Additionally, J&J confirmed the known safety record of its drug Tremfya (TREMFYA), with data from the ASTRO study reinforcing its established safety profile across multiple patient groups.
BofA Global Research Realigns Sector Ratings
BofA Global Research announced significant changes to its sector ratings. The Healthcare sector was upgraded to Overweight from Underweight, indicating a more bullish outlook for the industry. Conversely, the Utilities sector was downgraded to Underweight from Overweight, and the Consumer Discretionary sector was moved to Market Weight from Overweight. These adjustments reflect evolving market conditions and analyst expectations for sector performance.
Constellation Brands Beats Earnings, Mercedes-Benz Sales Dip
Constellation Brands (STZ) saw its shares rise 3.3% in pre-market trading after reporting a beat on both its top and bottom lines. The beverage alcohol company's fiscal second-quarter adjusted earnings per share were $3.63, surpassing estimates of $3.38, despite a 15% year-over-year decline in sales to $2.48 billion. Management noted that beer sales fell 7% and wine and spirits sales fell 65% in the fiscal second quarter.
In other news, Mercedes-Benz Group AG reported a 12% year-over-year decrease in its Q3 group sales, totaling 525,300 units. The luxury automaker's car sales were down 12% to 441,500 units. Sales in the U.S. fell 17% to 70,800 units, and in China, sales slumped 27% to 125,100 units. However, sales in Europe showed a slight increase of 2% to 160,800 units, and battery electric vehicle (BEV) group sales rose 9% to 51,200 units. The company cited challenging market conditions in China and U.S. tariff impacts as contributing factors to the decline.
Ed Liston is a senior contributing editor at TheStockMarketWatch.com. An active market watcher and investor, Ed guides an independent team of experienced analysts and writes for multiple stock trader publications.