Market Beats | Eli Lilly Issues Bullish 2026 Sales Forecast; US Private Payrolls Growth Slows to 22,000 in January; Uber Names Driverless-Bull Balaji Krishnamurthy as CFO; Anthropic Plans Staff Share Sale at $350 Billion Valuation; Chinese Firm Zhongcai Futures Reaps $500 Million Profit from Aggressive Silver Shorts; Blue Owl Sells Pennsylvania Warehouse to DHS; AMD Shares Plunge Most Since 2018

—— Eli Lilly Issues Bullish 2026 Sales Forecast; US Private Payrolls Growth Slows to 22,000 in January; Uber Names Driverless-Bull Balaji Krishnamurthy as CFO; Anthropic Plans Staff Share Sale at $350 Billion Valuation; Chinese Firm Zhongcai Futures Reaps $500 Million Profit from Aggressive Silver Shorts; Blue Owl Sells Pennsylvania Warehouse to DHS; AMD Shares Plunge Most Since 2018

1. Eli Lilly Issues Bullish 2026 Sales Forecast

Eli Lilly & Co. provided an upbeat sales forecast for fiscal 2026 on Wednesday, as insatiable demand for its weight-loss treatments cemented its dominance in the obesity market. The company projects 2026 sales to reach between $80 billion and $83 billion—a potential 27% year-over-year increase—shattering Wall Street’s average estimate of $77.6 billion. Shares of the Indianapolis-based drugmaker surged as much as 9.1% in New York pre-market trading following the announcement.

Lilly’s optimistic outlook stands in stark contrast to its main rival, Novo Nordisk, which rattled investors on Tuesday by warning that its 2026 sales could plummet by as much as 13% due to intensifying price competition and patent expirations. While both companies are navigating price-cutting pressures from the Trump administration, Lilly remains in a strategically superior position. Its blockbusters Mounjaro and Zepbound retain patent protection for another decade, whereas Novo’s older treatments face generic competition as early as this year in certain markets.

Analysts noted that Lilly’s proactive manufacturing expansion and higher realized volumes have allowed it to outpace Novo in the high-stakes global obesity race.

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2. US Private Payrolls Growth Slows to 22,000 in January

US companies added just 22,000 jobs in January, according to data from ADP Research Institute released Wednesday, marking a significant slowdown from the previous month and missing the consensus analyst estimate of 45,000. With the official Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) jobs report delayed due to a partial government shutdown, the ADP figures provided the week’s most comprehensive look at a cooling labor market. The December addition was also revised downward to 37,000 from the previously reported 41,000.

Hiring was highly polarized across sectors, as education and health services led gains with 74,000 new positions, while professional and business services shed 57,000 jobs. Manufacturing continued its long-standing decline, losing 8,000 positions during the month. ADP Chief Economist Nela Richardson noted a “continuous and dramatic slowdown” in job creation over the past three years.

While medium-sized businesses accounted for all net hiring, large firms cut 18,000 staff members. Despite the hiring slump, wage growth remained steady, with year-over-year pay for job-stayers holding at 4.5%.

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3. Uber Names Driverless-Bull Balaji Krishnamurthy as CFO

Uber Technologies Inc. gave a lackluster profit forecast on Wednesday and promoted an outspoken proponent of autonomous technology, Balaji Krishnamurthy, to be its new chief financial officer. The company’s shares tumbled as much as 10% in New York premarket trading after its projected adjusted earnings for the current quarter—ranging from 65 to 72 cents per share—fell short of the 77 cents estimated by analysts. The stock’s decline later moderated to approximately 6%.

Krishnamurthy, a six-year veteran of the firm currently serving as VP of strategic finance and investor relations, will succeed Prashanth Mahendra-Rajah, who is departing after less than three years. Mahendra-Rajah will step down on February 16 and remain as a senior adviser through July. The promotion of Krishnamurthy signals Uber’s intent to double down on its robotaxi ambitions, as the company seeks to position its platform as the primary marketplace for autonomous fleets.

While profit guidance disappointed, Uber’s fourth-quarter gross bookings grew 22% to $54.1 billion, with monthly active platform consumers surpassing 202 million for the first time.

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4. Anthropic Plans Staff Share Sale at $350 Billion Valuation

Anthropic is working on a deal to let some employees sell shares in the company at a valuation of at least $350 billion, according to people familiar with the matter. The secondary tender offer is coming together at the same time as a massive funding round that could bring in more than $20 billion. The plan would allow staffers at one of the world’s most valuable artificial intelligence startups to cash out a portion of their equity. The $350 billion pre-money valuation aligns with the figures being discussed in the company’s ongoing primary fundraising.

While the details of the tender offer have not been finalized, secondary share sales have become an increasingly vital tool for elite AI startups to provide liquidity and retain talent while remaining private. Anthropic declined to comment on the effort. The record valuation follows a period of meteoric financial growth for the company, which saw its annual run-rate revenue jump from roughly $1 billion at the start of 2025 to over $5 billion by August.

The success of its enterprise-focused tools, such as Claude Code, has further bolstered investor confidence in its long-term commercial potential.

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5. Chinese Firm Zhongcai Futures Reaps $500 Million Profit from Aggressive Silver Shorts

President Donald Trump announced late Monday that he is seeking $1 billion in “damages” from Harvard University, renewing his long-standing battle with the institution. The statement, posted on Truth Social, came hours after a New York Times report suggested his administration had backed off a previous demand for $200 million. Trump dismissed the report as “nonsense” and insisted the legal pursuit would continue until justice is served.

Since the start of his second term over a year ago, Trump has targeted Harvard’s federal research funding and threatened its tax-exempt status. What began as an investigation into the university’s handling of campus antisemitism following the October 2023 Hamas attack has expanded into a broader debate over academic freedom and ideological diversity. Unlike other Ivy League peers like Columbia or Brown that have reached settlements with the administration, Harvard has fought back through litigation.

Harvard President Alan Garber maintained that the government’s excessive demands signal an intent to punish the school rather than address core issues, leading the university to file two lawsuits against the administration.

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6. Blue Owl Sells Pennsylvania Warehouse to DHS

A fund managed by Blue Owl Capital Inc. sold a 1.3 million-square-foot warehouse in Tremont, Pennsylvania, to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) for nearly $120 million. The acquisition aligns with the Trump administration’s expanding deportation initiative, which has created an urgent need for additional detention space across the country. According to county records, the sale was finalized last month as DHS continues a nationwide spree of purchasing industrial facilities for conversion into immigration jails.

DHS has also acquired similar properties in Maryland, Texas, and Arizona, spending at least $379 million on these facilities so far. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) clarified that the sites will be transformed into well-structured facilities meeting federal detention standards. The site sold by Blue Owl, formerly a Big Lots distribution center, is slated to become a “mega center” jail with 7,500 beds, positioning it as one of the largest detention centers in the United States.

While protests against these conversions have prompted some owners to cancel government sales, Blue Owl’s deal proceeded despite the growing public controversy.

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7. AMD Shares Plunge Most Since 2018

Elon Musk’s X offices in Paris were raided by French and European investigators on Tuesday following a public outcry over the Grok chatbot’s role in spreading sexualized images of women and children. French prosecutors also summoned Musk and former CEO Linda Yaccarino for voluntary interviews in April as part of a widening investigation into the platform. Simultaneously, the UK’s Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) launched a new probe into both X and xAI, citing serious concerns regarding the use of personal data and the potential for producing harmful AI-generated content.

The global regulatory scrutiny intensifies as Musk faces backlash over users leveraging Grok to create unauthorized deepfakes. Tuesday’s raid involved the Paris public prosecutor’s office, the national cybercrimes unit, and Europol.

While the French probe initially focused on X’s algorithms last year, it has since expanded to examine the distribution of AI-generated abuse material and posts denying crimes against humanity.

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