The Information : OpenAI’s Shopping Ambitions Hit Messy Data Reality

OpenAI’s Shopping Ambitions Hit Messy Data Reality

The Takeaway
  • OpenAI is still working on standardizing and structuring merchant data
  • Stripe explored acquisition or acquihire to boost AI commerce efforts
  • Merchant, consumer adoption remains a broader question

OpenAI’s efforts to turn ChatGPT into a go-to personal shopper are off to a slow start.

Challenges with wrangling product data mean in-app checkouts aren’t yet widely available to the millions of shops that OpenAI said in September would soon be coming to ChatGPT. OpenAI and its early partners, Shopify and Stripe, have been working on ways to better standardize and share merchants’ product information in order to expand the shopping service more broadly, two people with knowledge of the efforts said.

The slow introduction highlights the hurdles to making widespread AI-powered shopping a reality. While people are already flocking to chatbots like ChatGPT for product recommendations and shopping inspiration, turning those conversations into purchases has proven complicated.

Buying something through a checkout in ChatGPT isn’t quite the same as buying the same goods on the seller’s own website, since ChatGPT is inserting itself between merchants, shoppers and payment firms. The chatbot shows a list of products to shoppers in search results, but ensuring the details are as up to date as what’s on a merchant’s website isn’t always easy. ChatGPT has to interpret information like pricing and in-stock availability that is often ambiguous and spread out across multiple systems.

If the agent gathers information incorrectly, it might charge the wrong price or place orders for something that’s out of stock, which increases the risk of disputes or other payment issues.

An OpenAI spokesperson said the company is working hands-on with merchants on how best to structure and standardize product data to make sure it’s accurate, and is trying to learn from early uses and incorporate feedback from merchants and payments firms.

To promote the in-chat checkouts, OpenAI has teamed up with Shopify, which offers ties to the millions of online shops that use the e-commerce giant’s website and checkout software. And to help retail, payment and AI firms coordinate transactions, OpenAI has partnered with Stripe on standardization to ensure AI software initiates purchases and communicates with merchants correctly. This set of rules, which the two companies call the Agentic Commerce Protocol, sits on top of existing e-commerce and payment application programming interfaces.

But while the protocol sets rules, it doesn’t fix the fact that merchants’ product information is often not standardized and can be open to interpretation—for example, a retailer may normally label something as “in stock” even if it is available only for a back order or preorder.

That’s meant OpenAI and Shopify teams have to do lots of hands-on work to get the merchants that are already selling in ChatGPT up and running, according to a person who worked with one of the brands.

At least one of the high-profile brands Shopify highlighted in September, luggage seller Away, isn’t yet available for purchase inside ChatGPT. And other Shopify merchants that want to join the checkout are still waiting for more details—three merchants and people who work with them say they have applied to participate but haven’t heard back yet. Away didn’t respond to a request for comment.

That includes a merchant with roughly $300 million in annual sales—on the bigger side for a Shopify seller—that applied on OpenAI’s site to join a beta test for the checkout. When its CEO followed up with the retailer’s Shopify representative about when more Shopify merchants would be added, they said the checkout was rolling out slowly.

Shopify, for its part, says that building the checkout has required a lot of upfront work and it has been adding more merchants by the day. The company says it plans to roll out selling directly in ChatGPT for all its U.S. merchants very soon.

On the payments side, Stripe has had to build a connection between AI apps and merchants’ backend systems so agents can properly understand merchants’ product catalogs and send transaction information from users for merchants to process.

Since the September announcements, Stripe has focused on helping more merchants get set up to receive agentic transactions, according to a person with direct knowledge of the efforts. Stripe also approached at least one commerce-oriented startup that specializes in handling transaction data between AI apps and merchants to discuss a potential acquisition or acquihire that would help Stripe scale up agentic transactions more quickly, a person with knowledge of the talks said.

One result of Stripe’s efforts since the checkout launch has been an expanded set of tools for merchants it released in mid-December, including one tool that allows sellers to give Stripe access to their product data so it can share that information with any agent in a more standardized way. Merchants currently have to join a waitlist for access. Stripe didn’t have a comment.

Broader Challenges

For OpenAI, which has said it takes a cut of sales made through its in-chat checkout, shopping would generate more revenue from the ChatGPT users that don’t pay for its service, which is the majority of its nearly 900 million users. OpenAI has told investors it wants to generate around $110 billion in revenue from nonpaying users by 2030.

How OpenAI’s checkout rollout progresses also has implications for the broader e-commerce landscape.

OpenAI leaders view partnerships with payment processors as an efficient way to grow in-app shopping, since the payment firms have large customer bases of merchants, a person who spoke with the company about the strategy said. Stripe and its rivals, meanwhile, don’t want to miss out on any potential new source of payment volume.

Worldpay, PayPal and Checkout.com have said they will adopt Stripe and OpenAI’s ACP standard, although Stripe is a rival to those firms. Backing a common standard, however, could boost overall adoption of in-chat shopping.

London-based Checkout.com is targeting a launch in the first quarter of 2026 for its ACP features, which will allow its merchants to make sales through ChatGPT checkouts, Chief Product Officer Meron Colbeci said in a mid-December interview.

PayPal, for its part, is planning to launch PayPal wallet payments in ChatGPT in the first half of 2026, Mike Edmonds, the company’s vice president of commercial growth for agentic commerce, said in an interview in late December.

Meanwhile, retailer enthusiasm for AI shopping tools is still a question mark. In-chat checkout could boost merchants’ sales, but they worry about damage to their brands if shoppers have a poor experience.

Shoppers also need to get used to the idea of buying stuff using AI. On PayPal’s October earnings call, executives acknowledged AI-driven shopping was still in early stages and hadn’t yet become a widespread consumer habit.

In addition to investing in the AI development work, PayPal will have to spend on marketing to drive user “habituation,” Chief Financial Officer Jamie Miller said. Those expenses, combined with other product investments, could cut into the company’s margin or earnings growth next year, she said.

FT : Moscow says US seizure of Russian tanker risks military escalation at sea

Moscow says US seizure of Russian tanker risks military escalation at sea
Russia’s foreign ministry accuses Washington of lowering the ‘threshold for use of force’

Russia’s foreign ministry warned the US seizure of a Russian-flagged tanker on Wednesday risked creating “further military and political tension in the Euro-Atlantic”, hinting that it risked provoking further violent incidents at sea.

The ministry said on Thursday that the US seizure of the Marinera was an “egregious violation of the fundamental principles and norms of international law” that “visibly lowers the threshold for the use of force” against maritime vessels.

The seizure will concern Russia, which is now likely to ship an increasing amount of its oil on sanctioned vessels such as the Marinera, that claim Russian nationality but had previously been operating without a flag state.

The US justified the interception by claiming the Marinera, added to the US sanctions list for links to the Iranian Revolutionary Guard in 2024, was “responsible for transporting sanctioned oil from Venezuela and Iran”.

In previous statements, the US had also referred to the statelessness of the ship. The Marinera was originally intercepted near the Caribbean in late December, when the empty vessel was sailing west to pick up oil from Venezuela.

According to the International Maritime Organization, at this time, it was falsely claiming to be registered as a Guyanese ship. Under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, the vessel would have been legally boardable by a warship as the ship was “without nationality”.

After refusing to be boarded, the ship sailed north-west across the Atlantic, and was pursued by the US Coast Guard ship, the USCGC Munro. It was finally seized about 325km south of Iceland.

During its journey across the sea, however, the vessel was sold to a Russian company based in Ryazan and reflagged as a Russian ship, meaning the authorities in Moscow regard it as operating under their jurisdiction and oversight.

FT analysis has identified 11 other similarly stateless ships that have recently moved Russian oil and were granted a Russian flag since November. These ships were all recent members of the so-called ghost fleet, the group of tankers whose unknown ownership complicates sanctions enforcement action. In each case, the vessel had moved Russian oil since January 2025.

A further five stateless ships in the ghost fleet were given Russian nationality earlier in 2025.

“Inspired by the dangerous and irresponsible precedent set by Washington, certain other countries and structures may consider themselves in the right to use these methods,” the Russian ministry said.

The ministry said the US sanctions cited as justification for the detention were “illegitimate” and called US claims the seizure was part of attempts to gain control over Venezuelan oil exports “extremely cynical”.

It said Russia had repeatedly sent the US “reliable information” that the Marinera changed its jurisdiction to Russia late last month and denied US claims it had sailed under a “false flag”.

John Healey, the UK defence secretary, called the legality of the switch into question on Wednesday, saying it had “tried to adopt the Russian flag”. Referring to it by its pre-switch name, the Bella 1, he said it was “a sanctioned, stateless vessel”.

NYT : The Man Who Could Be Apple’s Next C.E.O.

The Man Who Could Be Apple’s Next C.E.O.
John Ternus, a low-profile but influential executive at Apple, could be next in line to replace the company’s longtime chief executive, Tim Cook, if he steps aside.

Around 2018, Apple considered adding a tiny laser to its iPhones. The part would allow consumers to take better photos, more accurately map their surroundings and use new augmented reality features. But it would also cost Apple about $40 per device, cutting into the company’s profits.

John Ternus, Apple’s head of hardware engineering, suggested adding the component to only the more expensive Pro models of the iPhone, said two people familiar with the discussions who spoke on the condition of anonymity. Those devices, Mr. Ternus reasoned, tended to be purchased by Apple’s most loyal customers, who would be excited about new technology. Average consumers, on the other hand, probably wouldn’t care.

Threading the needle between adding new bells and whistles to Apple’s products while watching the bottom line has defined the careful, low-profile style of Mr. Ternus, who joined Apple in 2001. He is now considered by some company insiders to be the front-runner to replace Tim Cook, Apple’s longtime chief executive, if Mr. Cook decides to step aside.

Apple last year began accelerating its planning for Mr. Cook’s succession, according to three people close to the company who spoke on the condition of anonymity about Apple’s confidential deliberations. Mr. Cook, 65, has told senior leaders that he is tired and would like to reduce his workload, the people said. Should he step down, Mr. Cook is likely to become the chairman of Apple’s board, according to three people close to the company.

Despite his low profile, Mr. Ternus appears to have shot to the front of the pack to be Apple’s next C.E.O., according to four people close to the company. But Mr. Cook is also preparing several other internal candidates to be his potential successor, two of the people said. They could include Craig Federighi, Apple’s head of software; Eddy Cue, its head of services; Greg Joswiak, its head of worldwide marketing; and Deirdre O’Brien, its head of retail and human resources.

Mr. Ternus, 50, is the same age that Mr. Cook was when he took over for Steve Jobs in 2011. Like Mr. Cook, Mr. Ternus is known for his attention to detail and his knowledge of Apple’s vast supply network. Both men are also considered even-tempered collaborators, capable of navigating the bureaucracy of one of the world’s wealthiest companies without ruffling feathers.

Mr. Ternus’s rising profile has caused debate among Apple alumni and rank-and-file employees about whether he would lead like Mr. Cook, who succeeded by making the company more predictable and incremental, or Mr. Jobs, who laid the foundation for the company’s success with risky bets and visionary products.

“If you want to make an iPhone every year, Ternus is your guy,” said Cameron Rogers, who worked on product and software engineering management at Apple from 2005 to 2022.

The question for Apple is whether the company needs an innovator or another deft manager. While it has been years since the quick success of the iPhone and iPad, Apple has had many small hits under Mr. Cook and continues to be one of the most profitable companies in the world. Apple also faces tricky challenges, like navigating President Trump’s frequently changing tariff plans and its dependence on Chinese manufacturing.

Apple’s plans for artificial intelligence are also a big question. While other giant technology companies have spent tens of billions of dollars on developing A.I., Apple has largely been on the sidelines, and it has pushed off making major changes to its products with new A.I. technology.

It will be up to Apple’s board of directors to decide who will eventually replace Mr. Cook, who also sits on the board. The rest of the company’s eight board members did not respond to requests for comment, and Apple declined to comment and to make Mr. Ternus available for an interview. The Financial Times and Bloomberg previously reported on aspects of Apple’s succession planning.

Mr. Ternus, the youngest member of Apple’s executive leadership team, would be Apple’s first chief executive in three decades to have spent his career working on hardware. Unlike some of the other candidates to replace Mr. Cook, Mr. Ternus has worked on many of Apple’s devices as well as the global operations that manufacture those products.

But he would take over as a relative unknown outside Apple. Inside the company, he is known more for maintaining products than developing new ones, according to six former employees. And Mr. Ternus, who has been an engineer in Silicon Valley for all of his adult life, has limited exposure to the policy issues and political responsibilities associated with Apple’s corner office.

A California native, Mr. Ternus received a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Pennsylvania, where he was on the varsity swim team. For his senior project, he designed a device that allowed quadriplegics to use head motions to control a mechanical feeding arm.

In the four years after his graduation from Penn in 1997, Mr. Ternus designed headsets and other products at a virtual reality start-up. He then joined Apple, first working on screens for Macs as the company transitioned away from the colorful iMacs of the late 1990s.

Within about three years, he became a manager, said Steve Siefert, Mr. Ternus’s first boss at Apple. During that time, their team moved office floors, switching from a closed office plan to mostly open seating with a few offices. When he was promoted, Mr. Ternus had the option to move into one of those offices but declined.

Mr. Ternus was “a man of the people,” Mr. Siefert said, adding that the decision to sit with his team likely helped Mr. Ternus manage and motivate his staff. When Mr. Siefert retired in 2011, freeing up his office, Mr. Ternus once again said he wanted to remain in the open space.

By 2005, Mr. Ternus had been promoted to lead Apple’s hardware engineering team for iMacs as it made the G5 series, said Michael D. Hillman, who helped hire Mr. Ternus and worked with him at Apple for more than a decade.

That team was working on using magnets to hold the computer’s glass screen in place, Mr. Siefert said. The technique was unusual for its time and faced skepticism, but Mr. Ternus still pushed for it.

“When presented with such an out-of-the-box idea, he would champion it,” Mr. Siefert added.

Mr. Ternus spent extended periods of time working with manufacturers in Asia, Mr. Hillman said. Mr. Ternus traveled between the continent and Silicon Valley and learned how difficult it could be to have a manufacturing supplier deliver on Apple’s design expectations. Apple also paired Mr. Ternus with an external consultant to advise him on leadership.

Mr. Ternus became a key lieutenant of Dan Riccio, his predecessor as Apple’s head of hardware. By 2013, Mr. Ternus’s role had expanded to include overseeing the Mac and iPad teams.

In recent years, Mr. Ternus has shouldered more responsibility for updates to Apple’s products. He spearheaded the iPhone Air, which was released last year with a new, slim design, and was a key leader in Apple’s transition from using Intel’s chips in Macs to using the company’s own chips in 2020. Mr. Ternus has also been involved in Apple’s experimentation with foldable phones, according to one of the people close to the company.

“He’s a nice guy,” Mr. Rogers said. “He’s someone you want to hang out with. Everyone loves him because he’s great. Has he made any hard decisions? No. Are there hard problems he’s solved in hardware? No.”

In a 2024 commencement speech at Penn’s engineering school, Mr. Ternus told graduating students that, in the future, they would be proudest not of specific projects but of the journey to make them all happen.

“Now, while you’re on that journey, there’s going to be many times in your career where you have to take on something new,” Mr. Ternus said. “And sometimes, you might wonder whether or not you can actually do it.”

FT : Soho House take-private at risk after backer pulls $200mn funding

Soho House take-private at risk after backer pulls $200mn funding
Shares in the New York-listed members’ club sank more than 20%

Shares in Soho House sank more than 20 per cent after the members’ club operator disclosed that a major backer of its take-private deal had pulled a $200mn funding commitment, putting the plans in jeopardy.

After decades of global expansion and a turbulent stint as a public company after a 2021 stock market listing in New York, Soho House announced in August that it was returning to private ownership in a $2.7bn deal with a group of investors led by New York-based MCR Hotels.

But Soho House said in a filing on Thursday that MCR Hotels had cancelled its commitment to purchase $200mn of the company’s shares at $9 per share. That price was a premium on the company’s share price in August, but well shy of the $14 price tag when Soho House floated in 2021.


Soho House shares, which had jumped last year on news of the deal, sank as much as 21 per cent in early trading in New York on Thursday, before settling at about $7.50.

The member’s club operator has grown from a trendy London venue to a global empire, but some critics argue that its focus on growth has come at the expense of exclusivity and coolness, making it too easy to get a membership while service levels dipped.

At the end of 2024, the average number of members per Soho House venue was 4,700, up 30 per cent since 2021.

MCR Hotels owns more than 25,000 guest rooms across the US, including the 1960s-themed TWA Hotel at JFK airport. When the deal with Soho House was announced in August, MCR Hotels said it planned to expand the members’ club operator by opening sites rather than adding throngs of new members to the existing houses.

MCR Hotels did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The Information : OpenAI Reserves $50 Billion for Stock Grant Pool

OpenAI Reserves $50 Billion for Stock Grant Pool

The Takeaway
  • OpenAI established a $50 billion employee stock grant pool.
  • Massive stock pool highlights OpenAI’s aggressive talent acquisition.
  • Total employee equity now comprises 26% of the company.

OpenAI last fall set aside an employee stock grant pool worth 10% of the company, which was valued in October at $500 billion, according to two people with knowledge of the plans. The $50 billion pool of restricted stock units should last for roughly five years and should rise in value as the company’s private share price continues to increase.

The employee stock grant pool, which hasn’t previously been reported, stands out for its size relative to the stock compensation expenses of much larger rivals such as Meta Platforms and Google. The move shows that OpenAI plans to continue spending heavily on recruiting and rewarding talent after a surge in employee-related expenses in the last two years.

OpenAI has already awarded about $80 billion in vested equity, according to a different person with knowledge of the company’s plans. Last year alone, employees sold about $10 billion worth of shares to other investors, according to the person, an unprecedented amount for a company only a decade old.

The vested equity, along with the $50 billion employee stock grant pool, comprises about 26% of the company following a corporate restructuring last fall. The process converted profit-sharing units held by stakeholders including Microsoft into traditional stock.

For context, OpenAI’s $50 billion pool for future rewards is three-quarters of the $66 billion Meta spent on stock compensation from 2020 to late 2025, even though Meta was expected to generate 15 times as much revenue as OpenAI last year.

The OpenAI grant pool’s value is likely to increase soon. The company is in talks to raise as much as $100 billion at a roughly $750 billion valuation before the financing.


Amid the war for AI talent, OpenAI has projected about $20 billion in additional stock compensation charges between 2025 and 2030 compared to projections made early last year. The projections from the summer expect stock-based compensation to be roughly $10 billion this year and $13 billion next year, ramping to nearly $21 billion by 2030, according to one of the people with knowledge of the plans.

The plans follow an intense fight for the AI researchers that companies like Meta, Google’s Gemini, Microsoft and Anthropic see as instrumental in improving their models to produce AI that’s as smart as or smarter than humans.

Last year, Meta lured valuable researchers from OpenAI and other AI firms with huge salaries and stock grants, spending hundreds of millions of dollars on signing bonuses, cash salaries and equity compensation.

Some of OpenAI’s former employees have left to form rival companies. Ilya Sutskever, a co-founder and former chief scientist at OpenAI, held $4 billion in vested OpenAI equity in late 2023, court filings recently revealed. At the time, OpenAI Chief Operating Officer Brad Lightcap estimated OpenAI employees’ vested equity at $29 billion (the total company was about to be valued at roughly $86 billion in a share sale). The company then employed nearly 800 people; the figure has risen to about 4,000 today.


Investors in any of these companies, however, may be wary of such spending on stock awards. Issuing new shares to fund equity-based compensation dilutes the value of existing shares. Public companies frequently offset this dilution by buying back shares, something OpenAI can’t afford to do, given that it’s burning billions of dollars in cash every year.

New grants since the restructuring have come from this $50 billion pool, said one of the people. Although it isn’t clear how much of the pool OpenAI has given to employees thus far, its executives have said privately they don’t expect to allocate the full stock award pool, according to one of the people. Some investors expect the company to hand it out faster than five years, say in three years, said the other person.

TechCrunch : OpenAI unveils ChatGPT Health, says 230 million users ask about hea

OpenAI unveils ChatGPT Health, says 230 million users ask about health each week

OpenAI announced ChatGPT Health on Wednesday, which the company said will offer a dedicated space for users to have conversations with ChatGPT about their health.
People already use ChatGPT to ask about medical issues; OpenAI says that over 230 million people ask health and wellness questions on the platform each week. But the ChatGPT Health product silos these conversations away from your other chats. That way, the context of your health won’t come up in standard conversations with ChatGPT.

If people start chats about their health outside of the Health section, then the AI aims to nudge them to switch over.
Within Health, the AI might reference things you’ve discussed in its standard experience. If you ask ChatGPT for help constructing a marathon training plan, for example, then the AI would know you’re a runner when you talk in Health about your fitness goals.
ChatGPT Health will also be able to integrate with your personal information or medical records from wellness apps like Apple Health, Function, and MyFitnessPal. OpenAI notes that it will not use Health conversations to train its models.
The CEO of Applications at OpenAI, Fidji Simo, wrote in a blog post that she sees ChatGPT Health as a response to existing issues in the healthcare space, like cost and access barriers, overbooked doctors, and a lack of continuity in care.
While the healthcare system has its drawbacks, using AI chatbots for medical advice creates a new slew of challenges. Large language models (LLMs) like ChatGPT operate by predicting the most likely response to prompts, not the most correct answer, since LLMs don’t have a concept of what is true or not. AI models are also prone to hallucinations.
In its own terms of service, OpenAI states that it is “not intended for use in the diagnosis or treatment of any health condition.”
The feature is expected to roll out in the coming weeks.

>>> US Gapping down

Gapping down
In reaction to earnings/guidance:
  • PHAT -10.7% (guidance; also mixed shelf offering; also stock offering by selling shareholders), FC -10.2%, RPM -5.8%, TFX -5.2% (guidance), AYI -4.8%, HELE -4.2%, JEF -3.7%, PSMT -3.2%, LNN -1.8%, ABBV -1.2% (guidance), CRNT -0.9% (guidance), INMD -0.7% (guidance)
Other news:
  • IMRX -23.9% (updated overall survival and safety data from its ongoing Phase 2a trial of atebimetinib)
  • VNDA -11.5% (announces receipt of FDA decision letter on HETLIOZ supplemental new drug application for jet lag disorder)
  • RVMD -7% (lower after AbbVie (ABBV) says it's not in talks to purchase RVMD, according to Bloomberg)
  • CSIQ -5.9% (convertible notes offering)
  • RPM -5.8% (to acquire Kalzip GmbH)
  • RCUS -5.2% (2026 plans for Casdatifan)
  • SHEL -2.3% (provides mixed fourth-quarter 2025 outlook with pressure in Chemicals and seasonally weaker Marketing)
  • ENTA -1.7% (announces updates on its research and development programs and highlighted upcoming key milestones for 2026)
  • DRUG -1% (prices offering of 1.945 mln shares of common stock at $90.00 per share)

>>> US Gapping up

Gapping up
In reaction to earnings/guidance:
  • NEOG +21.4%, LAB +7% (guidance), GMED +6% (guidance), APLD +5%, PHAR +4.4% (guidance), LENZ +3.7%, AZZ +2.8%, CMC +2.6%, IVVD +2.1% (guidance), STZ +1.4%, SNX +1.2%, AMRN +1.2% (guidance), SMPL +0.9%, BKE +0.8% (Dec comps)
Other news:
  • ACON +43.5% (reports strong Nociscan growth, solid cash position, and outlines 2026 milestones)
  • NOC +8.9% (President Trump wants a 50% defense budget increase, according to Bloomberg)
  • LMT +8% (President Trump wants a 50% defense budget increase, according to Bloomberg)
  • LHX +7.7% (President Trump wants a 50% defense budget increase, according to Bloomberg)
  • GD +6.7% (President Trump wants a 50% defense budget increase, according to Bloomberg)
  • RTX +5.3% (mentioned in truth social post)
  • HII +5.1% (President Trump wants a 50% defense budget increase, according to Bloomberg)
  • DVLT +3.5% (announces a distribution date of February 21, 2026 for warrants to purchase common stock to eligible record equityholders of Datavault AI)
  • AMLX +3.3% (announces the selection of AMX0318, a long-acting glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor antagonist, as a development candidate for post-bariatric hypoglycemia and other rare diseases)
  • KRMN +3% (agrees to acquire Seemann Composites and Materials Sciences; reaffirms FY25 guidance)
  • UUUU +2.7% (Announces Updated Feasibility study for Toliara rare earth and HMS project in madagascar confirming world-class scale and economics, including $1.8 billion NPV and ramping up to over $500 million of expected annual EBITDA)
  • CGEM +2.7% (provides corporate update and highlights anticipated 2026 milestones)
  • ANGI +2.6% (reduction in workforce)
  • JCAP +2.2% (prices secondary offering of 10.0 mln shares of common stock at $20.50 per share)
  • RANI +2.2% (initiation of a Phase 1 clinical trial to evaluate the safety, tolerability, bioavailability, and pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of single and multiple doses of RT-114)
  • SMTI +2.1% (innovative technology contract from Vizient for BIASURGE Advanced Surgical Solution)
  • AREN +2% (announces debt maturity extensions, supporting refinancing efforts)
  • BA +1.7% (President Trump wants a 50% defense budget increase, according to Bloomberg)
  • TXT +1.7% (President Trump wants a 50% defense budget increase, according to Bloomberg)
  • ABVX +1.5% (2026 corporate outlook)
  • USFD +1.5% (awarded a $198 mln defense logistics agency contract)

>>> US Research Calls I

Research Calls I
  • Upgrades:
    • Airbnb (ABNB) upgraded to Neutral from Underweight at Cantor Fitzgerald, tgt $141
    • Air Products & Chemicals (APD) upgraded to Neutral from Underperform at BofA Securities, tgt $275
    • Alphabet (GOOGL) upgraded to Overweight from Neutral at Cantor Fitzgerald, tgt $370
    • Chubb (CB) upgraded to Buy from Neutral at Goldman, tgt $351
    • Coinbase Global (COIN) upgraded to Buy from Neutral at BofA Securities, tgt $340
    • Elevance Health (ELV) upgraded to Outperform from Peer Perform at Wolfe Research, tgt $425
    • Enhabit Home Health & Hospice (EHAB) upgraded to Buy from Neutral at UBS, tgt $12
    • Figma (FIG) upgraded to Overweight from Equal Weight at Wells Fargo, tgt $52
    • Ford Motor (F) upgraded to Overweight from Neutral at Piper Sandler, tgt $16
    • Fortrea (FTRE) upgraded to Buy from Hold at Truist, tgt $22
    • Gap (GAP) upgraded to Buy from Neutral at UBS, tgt $41
    • Generac Holdings (GNRC) upgraded to Buy from Neutral at Citigroup, tgt $207
    • General Motors (GM) upgraded to Overweight from Neutral at Piper Sandler, tgt $98
    • HF Sinclair (DINO) upgraded to Overweight from Neutral at Piper Sandler, tgt $68
    • J.B. Hunt Transport Services (JBHT) upgraded to Positive from Neutral at Susquehanna, tgt $240
    • Jack Henry (JKHY) upgraded to Outperform from Peer Perform at Wolfe Research, tgt $220
    • Merck (MRK) upgraded to Outperform from Peer Perform at Wolfe Research, tgt $135
    • Nurix Therapeutics (NRIX) upgraded to Overweight from Equal Weight at Morgan Stanley, tgt $36
    • Omnicell (OMCL) upgraded to Overweight from Sector Weight at KeyBanc, tgt $60
    • PBF Energy (PBF) upgraded to Overweight from Underweight at Piper Sandler, tgt $40
    • Progressive (PGR) upgraded to Overweight from Equal Weight at Barclays, tgt $265
    • Repsol (REPYY) upgraded to Buy from Hold at Jefferies
    • Roku (ROKU) upgraded to Outperform from In Line at Evercore ISI, tgt $145
    • Steven Madden (SHOO) upgraded to Buy from Hold at Needham, tgt $50
    • Stellantis (STLA) upgraded to Overweight from Neutral at Piper Sandler, tgt $15
    • Terreno Realty (TRNO) upgraded to Outperform from Neutral at Robert W. Baird, tgt $64
    • TotalEnergies (TTE) upgraded to Buy from Hold at Jefferies
    • Tyson Foods (TSN) upgraded to Outperform from Market Perform at BMO Capital, tgt $67
    • Wabtec (WAB) upgraded to Outperform from Peer Perform at Wolfe Research, tgt $245
    • Yum! Brands (YUM) upgraded to Buy from Hold at Gordon Haskett
  • Downgrades:
    • AbbVie (ABBV) downgraded to Peer Perform from Outperform at Wolfe Research
    • Absci (ABSI) downgraded to Equal Weight from Overweight at Morgan Stanley, tgt $4.32
    • Alcoa (AA) downgraded to Underweight from Neutral at JPMorgan, tgt $50
    • AMH (AMH) downgraded to Neutral from Outperform at Mizuho, tgt $32
    • Arcus Biosciences (RCUS) downgraded to Equal Weight from Overweight at Morgan Stanley, tgt $20
    • Axsome Therapeutics (AXSM) downgraded to Equal Weight from Overweight at Morgan Stanley, tgt $204
    • Ball Corp. (BALL) downgraded to Equal Weight from Overweight at Morgan Stanley, tgt $63
    • BorgWarner (BWA) downgraded to Neutral from Overweight at Piper Sandler, tgt $51
    • Clarivate (CLVT) downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Goldman, tgt $3.60
    • Contineum Therapeutics (CTNM) downgraded to Equal Weight from Overweight at Morgan Stanley, tgt $14
    • Darden Restaurants (DRI) downgraded to Hold from Buy at Truist, tgt $207
    • Digital Realty Trust (DLR) downgraded to Neutral from Buy at BofA Securities, tgt $170
    • Euronet Worldwide (EEFT) downgraded to Underperform from Peer Perform at Wolfe Research, tgt $80
    • Exelixis (EXEL) downgraded to Equal Weight from Overweight at Morgan Stanley, tgt $48
    • ICON plc (ICLR) downgraded to Hold from Buy at Truist, tgt $222
    • Intuit (INTU) downgraded to Equal Weight from Overweight at Wells Fargo, tgt $700
    • Invitation Homes (INVH) downgraded to Neutral from Outperform at Mizuho, tgt $27
    • IO Biotech (IOBT) downgraded to Underweight from Equal Weight at Morgan Stanley, tgt $0.36
    • J.B. Hunt Transport Services (JBHT) downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Citigroup, tgt $221
    • Leidos Holdings (LDOS) downgraded to Hold from Buy at Stifel, tgt $220
    • Logitech International (LOGI) downgraded to Neutral from Outperform at BNP Paribas Exane, tgt $106
    • Marqeta (MQ) downgraded to Peer Perform from Outperform at Wolfe Research
    • Marqeta (MQ) downgraded to Neutral from Outperform at Mizuho, tgt $4.50
    • Neurocrine Biosciences (NBIX) downgraded to Equal Weight from Overweight at Morgan Stanley, tgt $175
    • Nike (NKE) downgraded to Hold from Buy at Needham
    • PotlatchDeltic (PCH) downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform at BMO Capital, tgt $45
    • Prologis (PLD) downgraded to Neutral from Outperform at Robert W. Baird, tgt $130
    • Ryder System (R) downgraded to Peer Perform from Outperform at Wolfe Research
    • Saia (SAIA) downgraded to Peer Perform from Outperform at Wolfe Research
    • Sigma Lithium (SGML) downgraded to Underperform from Neutral at BofA Securities, tgt $13
    • Toast (TOST) downgraded to Peer Perform from Outperform at Wolfe Research
    • Tractor Supply (TSCO) downgraded to Hold from Accumulate at Gordon Haskett, tgt $50
    • Travelers (TRV) downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Goldman, tgt $304
    • Unilever (UL) downgraded to Neutral from Outperform at BNP Paribas Exane, tgt $71
    • UPS (UPS) downgraded to Peer Perform from Outperform at Wolfe Research
    • Vale (VALE) downgraded to Sector Perform from Outperform at Scotiabank, tgt $15
    • Vestis (VSTS) downgraded to Sell from Neutral at Goldman, tgt $5.30
    • XPO (XPO) downgraded to Peer Perform from Outperform at Wolfe Research
    • XPO (XPO) downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Citigroup, tgt $171
  • Others:
    • Bicara Therapeutics (BCAX) initiated with a Buy at BTIG Research, tgt $28
    • Bread Financial Holdings (BFH) initiated with a Buy at UBS, tgt $92
    • Capri Holdings (CPRI) resumed with a Neutral at Goldman, tgt $27
    • Equinor (EQNR) reinstated with a Hold at Jefferies
    • Evommune (EVMN) initiated with a Strong Buy at Raymond James, tgt $40
    • Figma (FIG) initiated with a Hold at Stifel, tgt $40
    • Intuit (INTU) initiated with a Buy at TD Cowen, tgt $802
    • Polaris Industries (PII) initiated with a Buy at Seaport Research, tgt $83
    • Reddit (RDDT) initiated with a Neutral at Cantor Fitzgerald, tgt $240
    • Rithm Capital (RITM) resumed with a Buy at UBS, tgt $16
    • Tyler Technologies (TYL) initiated with a Buy at Stifel, tgt $550

WSJ : U.S. Shipyard Key to Trump’s American Revival Is Already Too Busy

U.S. Shipyard Key to Trump’s American Revival Is Already Too Busy
‘More space’ needed at Korean-owned Philadelphia site, with talks under way to potentially make U.S. naval vessels

  • Hanwha, owner of Philly Shipyard, plans to invest $5 billion to increase annual output from one or two vessels to 20.
  • Hanwha is in discussions with U.S. government officials to expand capacity and property in the Philadelphia region due to high demand.
  • Hanwha Defense USA has partnered with HavocAI to develop 200-foot unmanned surface vessels, aiming for U.S. Navy supplier arrangements.

SEOUL—The new South Korean owner of the historic Philly Shipyard has a problem: too much demand.

It was just over a year ago that Hanwha Ocean 042660 7.01%increase; green up pointing triangle, one of the world’s largest shipbuilders, bought the Philadelphia facility, a storied naval yard that has shriveled under competition from Asian competitors, particularly in China.

Today, Philly Shipyard is central to President Trump’s goal of reviving American shipbuilding and enlarging the U.S. Navy’s fleet. Hanwha, which has deep pockets and extensive shipbuilding know-how, has vowed to plow $5 billion into upgrades and dramatically multiply the workforce.

Hanwha is already in active conversations with the Trump administration, and primarily the Pentagon, for potential deals to make surface, subsurface and unmanned vessels, said Michael Coulter, who heads Hanwha Defense USA, the U.S. subsidiary of the South Korean conglomerate that makes ships, munitions and other military hardware.

But first, “we simply need more space,” he said.

The company aims to ultimately crank out up to 20 ships a year in Philadelphia, up from annual output of just one or two vessels recently. It plans to bring in modernized manufacturing methods—such as automation and robotics—from the firm’s world-class South Korean operations.

But Coulter said it appears the manufacturing need will exceed the capacity of the two docks it currently owns in Philadelphia. To accommodate more volume, Hanwha is in active discussions with multiple federal, state and local officials about opportunities to expand capacity and property for storage around the Philadelphia region.

That includes potentially gaining access to the unused or underutilized docks at the sprawling Philadelphia shipyard that Hanwha doesn’t own. Hanwha is also exploring arrangements where the company’s excess orders could be built at other shipyards’ docks, Coulter added.

“From a demand standpoint,” he said, “every time we turn around there is an interest in using Philly.”

Hanwha is also seriously considering a purchase of a second U.S. shipyard in another region within the next several years, Coulter said: “We think there’s a unique time in history right now.”

Hanwha has pre-existing orders of nearly 20 vessels at the Philadelphia site. That includes commercial ships, including a big order from the shipping subsidiary of Hanwha, as well as vessels for the U.S. Maritime Administration, a federal agency within the Transportation Department.

It also could include construction of a nuclear-powered submarine for the South Korean navy. In October, Trump said the stealthy submarine—technology that required U.S. signoff—would be built in Philadelphia. But Seoul has argued for the vessel to be constructed in South Korea.

Coulter said Hanwha is fully capable of making submarines in the U.S. or South Korea, adding that the decision will be left to the two governments.

The potential interest in expanding the manufacturing footprint in Philadelphia is highlighted by a new partnership, set to be announced Thursday, between Hanwha Defense USA and HavocAI, a Rhode Island-based firm specializing in the software for sea drones.

The two companies hope to win supplier arrangements with the U.S. Navy for hundreds of these autonomous surface vessels, which can shoot missiles, ferry cargo and conduct surveillance, said Paul Lwin, CEO of HavocAI. The Trump administration has recently earmarked more than $3 billion for medium and small surface sea drones.

The new partnership with HavocAI could add more work in Philadelphia. HavocAI has already sold more than 30 of its smaller autonomous surface vessels to the U.S. military. The two companies will collaborate on the development of 200-foot unmanned vessels.

“Hanwha knows how to design vessels, so that’s the expertise Hanwha brings,” said Lwin, a former U.S. Navy weapon systems officer, who co-founded HavocAI two years ago.