11:58 AM EST, 02/27/2026 (MT Newswires) -- All three major US stock indexes were down in late-morning trading Friday, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average down over 1%, as stocks fell after the release of a hotter-than-expected producer price index earlier in the day.
The US Producer Price Index rose by 0.5% in January, well above the 0.3% gain expected in a survey compiled by Bloomberg and up from the 0.4% rise in December. Core PPI, which excludes food and energy prices, rose by 0.8%, significantly above the 0.3% gain expected and after a 0.6% gain in December.
In company news, Netflix (NFLX) on late Thursday abandoned its plan to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) , handing the deal to Paramount Skydance (PSKY) and walking away with a $2.8 billion breakup fee. Earlier Thursday, Warner Bros. said its board determined that Paramount's revised $111 billion offer was "superior" to Netflix's (NFLX) $82.7 billion offer. Netflix (NFLX) shares were up 10.1% around midday, while Warner Bros. shares were down 1.8%, and Paramount shares were up 16.8%.
Amazon.com (AMZN) will invest $50 billion in Microsoft (MSFT)-backed (MSFT) OpenAI as part of a new multi-year strategic partnership, the companies said Friday. Amazon (AMZN) will make an initial $15 billion investment followed by another $35 billion in the coming months after certain conditions are met, they said. OpenAI and Amazon Web Services will jointly create a Stateful runtime Environment powered by OpenAI models for AWS customers to build generative AI applications and agents at production scale, they said. Separately, OpenAI Chief Executive Sam Altman said his company is working on a deal that could help solve the impasse between Amazon (AMZN)-backed Anthropic and the Pentagon over the use of AI on the battlefield, The Wall Street Journal reported Friday, citing a note the CEO sent to staff on Thursday evening it viewed. Amazon (AMZN) shares were up 0.2%, while Microsoft (MSFT) shares were down 1.9%.
BlackRock's (BLK) Global Infrastructure Partners and EQT are in advanced talks to buy AES (AES) , Bloomberg reported Friday, citing sources with knowledge of the details. A deal announcement could reportedly come as soon as next week. BlackRock (BLK) shares were down 3.7%, while AES (AES) shares were up 7.5%.
Block (XYZ) reported Q4 adjusted net income late Thursday of $0.65 per diluted share, up from $0.47 a year earlier and above the FactSet consensus analyst estimate of $0.64. Fourth-quarter revenue was $6.25 billion, up from $6.03 billion a year ago and above the FactSet consensus of $6.23 billion. Block said it expects Q1 adjusted diluted EPS of $0.67, matching analyst expectations. For full-year 2026, the company said it expects adjusted diluted EPS of $3.66, above the FactSet consensus of $3.19. Block said it plans to cut its current workforce by more than 40% to 6,000 employees. Block shares were up 13.3%.
CoreWeave (CRWV) reported a Q4 loss late Thursday of $0.89 per diluted share, widening from a loss of $0.34 a year earlier. Fourth-quarter revenue was $1.57 billion, up from $747 million a year ago and above the FactSet consensus of $1.55 billion. For Q1, the company said it expects revenue of $1.9 billion to $2 billion, below the FactSet consensus of $2.21 billion. For full-year 2026, CoreWeave (CRWV) said it expects revenue of $12 billion to $13 billion, compared with the FactSet consensus of $12.31 billion. CoreWeave (CRWV) shares were down 18.6%.
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