US stocks are mixed premarket after a solid jobs report and a stronger earnings season. Investors are weighing resilient growth against fewer Fed rate cuts. Value is outperforming growth early in the year as traders reassess positioning. Software names like Salesforce (CRM), Workday (WDAY), and ServiceNow (NOW) are sliding, even as some argue the sell-off looks overdone. Meanwhile, Nvidia (NVDA) remains central to the AI trade, with expectations building into earnings. Consumer staples are rotating higher, but McDonald&#x27;s (MCD) is leaning on value menus to drive traffic while watching GLP-1 risk. In crypto, Robinhood (HOOD) and bitcoin face a catalyst vacuum amid investor debate over regulation and tokenization. Trending Tickers: AB InBev (BUD) on steady profit growth; McDonald&#x27;s (MCD) on value momentum; Nvidia (NVDA) into earnings. Takeaways: Retail is buying beaten-down software, institutions stay selective Value and cyclicals are leading as growth lags AI leaders remain core despite volatility McDonald&#x27;s sees value as a defense against consumer pressure Bitcoin lacks a clear near-term catalyst Yahoo Finance&#x27;s flagship show, Morning Brief, is your go-to source for smarter investing and market moves. Thoughts? Questions? Fan mail? Email us at yfpodcasts@yahooinc.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Retail buys software dip, value leads early, bitcoin hunts catalyst, McDonald's leans on value

Morning Brief 

Good morning, I'm Yahoo Finance Executive Editor Brian Sazi coming to you straight from our newsroom in New York City. It's a darn busy morning for markets and for me, I'm declaring today Hot Take Thursday. Here's what's up in the investing world. One, so much chatter on X about whether to begin buying crashed out software stocks like Salesforce, Workday, and ServiceNow. Retail investors appear game to catch falling knives. Look at this rabid buying retail investors are doing of software stocks per a new chart making the rounds from Evander Research.

I say, get real. Why are you trying to be a hero on a software trade that absolutely sucks right now? Let the dust settle before throwing on that cape. One trade that has been hot, consumer staples. So I've been spending the week looking for this trade to be justified by big food. Coke's earnings were pretty solid this week. Kraft Heinz were absolutely terrible. McDonald's US sales blew me away last night like an undercooked Big Mac. And Budweiser CEO told me this morning by video call his Super Bowl ad did the trick with consumers.

Bottom line, I'm still not sold in the consumer staples trade. And I think the space is underselling GLP-1 risk. Here's McDonald's CEO Chris Kemsiski set on GLP-1s last night on his earnings call. We don't yet see evidence of it really having a material impact on our business. We know that consumers' behavior changes. We know that in general they eat fewer calories in a day, but also what they eat, the mix of that changes.

Retail buys software dip, value leads early, bitcoin hunts catalyst, McDonald's leans on value

Read the full transcript

The candid version is on a podcast,
not the earnings call.

Retail buys software dip, value leads early, bitcoin hunts catalyst, McDonald's leans on value

Read the full transcript

The candid version is on a podcast, not the earnings call.

The candid version is on a podcast,
not the earnings call.