Happy Thursday afternoon to everyone on The Street. Here's a snapshot of where markets ended the trading session, plus tomorrow's trade idea delivered to you today.

• 🟩 | US stocks rose slightly, moderating from sharp gains intraday, as investors digested more earnings and tariff threats from President Trump.

• 📈 | One Notable Gainer: IBM’s (IBM) stock soared 13% on an earnings beat that showed 10% annual growth in its software segment.

• 📉 | One Notable Decliner: Shares of UPS (UPS) saw a record selloff, plummeting more than 14% after it announced it would halve its business with its largest customer, Amazon (AMZN).

Plus, no matter how you responded to yesterday’s DeepSeek poll, our readers agreed on one thing. Scroll to the end to see what it is.

Sponsored by TuneGO

Get the VIP Treatment

The $95 billion global music ecosystem is evolving. You deserve a front-row seat for the show.

TuneGO and its CEO John Kohl are using a patented tech platform to revolutionize the relationship between musicians and fans. Much like a loyalty program, TuneGO rewards fans for supporting their favorite artists with tracks, early access to new releases, and even private concerts or meet and greets, simply by doing what they already love to do.

Want to learn more? Kohl will happily tell you himself. Yes, you read that right. TuneGO gives every fan the VIP treatment — and that extends to every investor as well.

MARKET MOVERS

Microsoft, Vistra, Comcast

MSFT (-6.2) Microsoft shares slip on weak quarterly revenue guidance (CNBC)

VST (+13.6%) Vistra: DeepSeek’s Narrative Created A Buy Opportunity (SeekingAlpha)

CMCSA (-11%) Comcast stock sinks as Peacock fails to add more subscribers, broadband losses disappoint (YF)

LVS (+11.1%) Las Vegas Sands Stock Soars After Earnings. Bull Case Is Back on Track, Analyst Says. (Barron’s)

CI (-6.7%) Cigna Plunges as Catastrophic Medical Costs Hurt Profit (Bloomberg)

OVERHEARD ON THE STREET

CNBC: An American Airlines flight from Wichita, Kansas collided with a helicopter en route to DC, leaving 67 dead, the worst air disaster on US soil since 9/11.

Reuters: The US economy showed resilience with 2.3% GDP growth in the fourth quarter.

WSJ: OpenAI is in early talks to raise up to $40B in a funding round that would value it at $340B, with SoftBank leading.

TOMORROW’S TRADE IDEA, TODAY

Bitcoin, But Better

MacroStrategy

MicroStrategy (MSTR) has exploded over the past 12 months, up over 560%. Investment firm Mizuho thinks it has a lot higher to climb.

Mizuho recently initiated coverage at an Outperform rating with a $515 price target — meaning it thinks MicroStrategy shares can climb more than 50% from current prices.

Why Buy a Bitcoin Proxy?

MicroStrategy issues debt and equity securities and uses the proceeds to purchase Bitcoin to increase its position per diluted share.

Because of this, the firm is considered a Bitcoin proxy by investors. But it has the added benefit of being an actual company that can adjust its strategy based on market conditions, rather than simply a digital currency subject only to supply and demand.

The core of Mizuho’s Dan Dolev’s bull case is simple. The analyst believes that the company will continue to buy more Bitcoin, and the price of Bitcoin will continue to rise.

However, the analyst added that thanks to its business structure, MicroStrategy’s debt and equity issues should give it the ability to immediately increase its Bitcoin holdings and take full advantage of any upswing — unlike most retail traders.

Best of the Bunch

Bitcoin outperformed all other asset classes in 2024, rising around 125%.

Dolev believes that will continue. He projects Bitcoin to grow at an annual compound rate of 25-30% through 2027, citing increasing global adoption, a slowdown in supply, and a pro-crypto administration as tailwinds.

6 of 8 analysts covering the stock have given it either a Buy or Strong Buy rating. The stock has already gained more than 12% YTD.

Together With TuneGO

The Next Episode for the Music Industry

Snoop Dogg. Usher. Sony Music Publishing. Those are just a few of the prominent names to join the TuneGO revolution.

TuneGO is the essential, all-access pass for music fans looking to connect with their favorite artists. It skips the middleman by empowering artists to sell music, merchandise, and experiences directly to fans through its platform. 

With more exciting partnerships on the horizon, TuneGO is primed to capitalize on the music industry’s monumental shift toward direct-to-consumer sales — and the innovative company is looking for investors right now.  

Don’t miss your chance to invest in the company that’s redefining how music is monetized.

ON OUR RADAR

AP: The ECB lowered its key interest rate by a quarter percentage point to stimulate growth in a sluggish and tumultuous EU economy.

WSJ: Meta will pay $25M to settle a 2021 lawsuit filed by President Trump after his accounts were suspended following the Jan. 6th Capitol attack.

Bloomberg: Sam Bankman-Fried’s parents have met with lawyers and Trump associates in recent weeks to discuss seeking a pardon for their son.

WEDNESDAY’S POLL RESULTS

Will DeepSeek ultimately prove a headwind or a tailwind for the US tech sector?

🟨🟨🟨🟨⬜⬜ 🌬️ Headwind

🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 ✈️ Tailwind

And, in response, you said:

• 🌬️ Headwind — “DeepSick, like so many other Chinese upstarts, gleaned their code off another source (OpenAI), just like OpenAI scraped the internet for their startup code. So DeepSick didn't really need a lot of $ to get going. They may have modified the code and streamlined it, but they didn't start from scratch, I mean scrape.”
  

• ✈️ Tailwind — “They stole our intellectual property and it will come back to haunt them!”

Last Words From Our Sponsors

The Smart Choice for Nutrition

Huel Black Edition combines 40g of protein with essential vitamins & minerals for a meal that’s ready when you are.

Enjoy convenient, affordable, complete nutrition in seconds.

Get 15% off your first order, plus a free t-shirt and shaker with code BEHUEL15.

Upgrade Your Meals Today