U.S. Equities Stabilize Ahead of Trump’s Davos Remarks

Key Moments

Market Overview

U.S. stocks ticked higher in choppy trading on Wednesday, staging a modest rebound from the sharpest equity selloff in three months, as investors assessed President Donald Trump’s latest comments from Davos, Switzerland, including his renewed push to acquire Greenland.

Trump told world leaders in Davos that only the United States can fully ensure Greenland’s security. He also stated he would not “use force” to take control of the territory and instead called for immediate negotiations on a deal to acquire Greenland.

The tone remained cautious after Tuesday’s steep declines, when the three major U.S. stock indexes each fell nearly 2% following Trump’s warning that new tariffs could be imposed on European allies unless the U.S. is allowed to buy Greenland, an autonomous territory of Denmark.

“That likely put (hint of not using force) a floor in the recent sell-off was that we’re not going to use force to acquire Greenland. So that’s a sigh of relief for markets,” said Art Hogan, chief market strategist at B Riley Wealth.

“But we’re certainly concerned about reigniting a trade war.”

The CBOE Volatility Index eased from the mid-November highs reached in the prior session, falling 1.22 points to 18.87.

U.S. megacap names Nvidia and Tesla, which had been among the hardest hit in Tuesday’s decline, were up 0.4% each.

Index Performance

By 09:38 a.m. ET, the major U.S. equity benchmarks showed modest gains as the market attempted to stabilize:

Policy, Data and Davos in Focus

Investors were also tracking commentary from other business and political leaders speaking at Davos. In Washington, attention turned to the U.S. Supreme Court as it prepared to hear arguments on Trump’s effort to remove Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook.

The week featured a packed U.S. data calendar, with third-quarter GDP, January PMI releases and the Personal Consumption Expenditures report, described as the Federal Reserve’s preferred inflation gauge, all on the radar. A busy earnings schedule that includes reports from Procter & Gamble and Intel was also expected to shed light on consumer demand and the broader economic outlook.

Corporate Movers

Netflix shares fell 4.2% after the company paused share buybacks to help finance the purchase of Warner Bros Discovery’s studio and streaming assets.

United Airlines gained 3% after issuing an upbeat outlook for both the current quarter and the full year. Competitors American Airlines and Delta Air Lines advanced more than 1.5% each.

Halliburton climbed 2.7% after reporting fourth-quarter profit that exceeded analysts’ expectations.

Johnson & Johnson slipped 1.6% even though it projected 2026 sales and earnings above Wall Street forecasts.

Of the 33 S&P 500 companies that had reported quarterly results through last Friday, 84.8% beat profit estimates, according to LSEG I/B/E/S data, compared with a long-term average beat rate of 67.3%.

Nuclear and Other Notable Stock Moves

U.S. nuclear-related companies moved higher after Trump expressed support for nuclear energy procurement.

Kraft Heinz slipped nearly 1% after a regulatory filing indicated that Berkshire Hathaway may reduce its 27.5% stake in the consumer products company.