Regional banks are more stable than investors expect even after New York Community Bancorp’s problems renewed concerns about the industry, according to RBC Capital’s Gerard Cassidy.

In fact, Cassidy expects worries about liquidity problems, which led to several institutions including Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) and Signature Bank going under last year, are overblown. He said regional banks are more stable after bringing their deposit levels back to what they were before the regional banking crisis last March.

“There’s plenty of liquidity in the system,” Cassidy told CNBC’s “Squawk on the Street.”

“What’s interesting is that the deposit flows from all the smaller banks, there was outflows around March of 2023. And we’re almost back now, with the smaller banks, at deposit levels where we were before March Madness hit,” Cassidy said. “So, there really isn’t a liquidity problem today.”

— Sarah Min

Oil prices rallied Thursday on a weakening dollar after shaking off earlier losses fom a weak demand forecast for 2024.

The West Texas Intermediate contract for March gained $1.46, or 1.91%, to $78.10 a barrel. The Brent contract for April traded at $82.83 a barrel, adding $1.23 or 1.51% a barrel.

Oil prices were finding support from a weakening dollar after January U.S. retail sales fell more than expected, said Phil Flynn, analyst with the Price Futures Group.

Futures declined about 1% earlier in the trading session after the Paris-based International Energy Agency forecast demand would grow by 1.2 million barrels per day this year, down nearly 50% from growth of 2.3 million bpd in 2023.

— Spencer Kimball

Upside for stock allocations could be limited from this point forward, according to JPMorgan.

It could be “constrained by the fact that investors’ equity allocation globally is approaching the post-Lehman high seen in early 2015,” wrote analyst Nikolaos Panigirtzoglou. “At the same time, we recognize that a further increase in equity allocations from current levels to the previous 2007 cycle peak is not necessarily an unreasonable assumption given the current backdrop of higher interest rates.”

However, the analyst noted that portfolios currently have a relatively lower share of bonds. This means that the stock market would have to rally at least double digits to reach 2007’s equity allocation highs.

— Lisa Kailai Han

54 stocks in the S&P 500 hit new 52-week highs during Thursday’s trading session.

Here are a few of the names that hit this milestone:

— Lisa Kailai Han, Christopher Hayes

These are some of the companies moving the most during midday trading:

• Cisco Systems — The tech company’s shares dropped 4.4% after it posted declining fiscal second-quarter revenue.
• Twilio — The cloud communications stock shed 14% after issuing disappointing first-quarter guidance.
• Super Micro Computer — The technology name added 8.5% after Bank of America said shares could rise to $1,040, a Wall Street high.

Read the full list of stocks on the move here.

— Samantha Subin

January’s softer-than-expected retail sales data sent stocks sliding on Thursday, dampening an equities rebound.

But Art Hogan, chief market strategist at B. Riley Wealth Management, told CNBC that investors shouldn’t put too much consideration on a singular data point.

“I always think it’s important not to look at any one piece of data, especially retail sales for the month of January, which has a lot of weather and seasonality in it,” he told CNBC. “There might have been pull forward and some weather effects.”

— Lisa Kailai Han

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency ended an consent order that Wells Fargo had been operating under since 2016. Wells Fargo shares rose as much as 6% on the news.

Following a fake accounts scandal, the bank had operated under several different consent orders, but six have ended since 2019. In a press release, CEO Charlie Scharf said the closing of the order is “an important sign of our progress.”

The consent orders impacted how Wells Fargo was allowed offer and sell products to consumers. Its termination should give the bank more operating flexibility.

—Christina Cheddar Berk

The S&P 500 is headed for losses this week, dragged down by technology names.

The information technology sector has lost around 2% this week, making it the worst performer of the 11 that comprise the broad index. The S&P 500 as a whole is down 0.5% on the week.

Akamai Technologies has the led sector down this week, dropping more than 11% in a post-earnings selloff. Arista Networks was the next biggest loser in the sector, falling nearly 6%.

On the other hand, energy, financials and materials stocks helped curb losses for the S&P 500 this week, with each sector up more than 1%.

— Alex Harring

Red Sea shipping disruptions, geopolitically induced spikes in costs and low water levels in the Panama Canal have all thrown a wrench in global supply chains. These obstacles may also “lead to renewed inflation pressures, especially in destination countries, and give rise to downside risks for trade volumes,” according to Bank of America economist Antonio Gabriel.

On the upside, it seems that shipping costs in Europe have come down in recent weeks. On the other hand, shipping costs have climbed in routes bound for the U.S., almost tripling relative to their December levels.

“Therefore, risks seem to have marginally tilted away from Europe into the US, even if Europe remains most exposed to the shock in absolute terms,” Gabriel said.

The economist added that the fallout from these disruptions could be mitigated by the latest movements in energy prices. However, producers may also be forced to absorb more losses, since their pricing power to pass costs onto consumers has weakened in the last year.

— Lisa Kailai Han

Lofty mortgage rates and elevated home prices have been no match for the strength of demand in the U.S. housing market. And according to UBS, this trend should continue, at least over the next few years.

“Demand continues to outstrip supply due to the largest generation in US history — millennials — moving into prime homebuying age. We believe this should support the housing market though the end of the decade,” wrote strategist Nadia Lovell.

What’s more, it’s unlikely that the U.S. housing supply will pick up anytime soon.

“The dearth of available supply shows little signs of abating as public homebuilders continue to exhibit solid capital discipline and the majority of current homeowners are locked into mortgage rates that are well below current levels,” Lovell said.

As the Federal Reserve cuts rates and mortgages fall this year, Lovell expects these to translate to headwinds that will improve affordability and unlock previously inaccessible supply.

— Lisa Kailai Han

Citi Research head of U.S. equity strategy Scott Chronert says the firm will continue to stress buying the dip in stocks moving forward, and added that he forecasts S&P 500 earnings will remain strong moving forward.

“[W]e’re using a year end 5100 target, we’re not that far away at this point, our mantra has been buy pullbacks,” Chronert told CNBC’s “Squawk Box” on Thursday.

Chronert added he thinks that the equity market has already experienced a mild earnings recession, which sets up further S&P 500 results to remain strong heading for the remainder of 2024.

— Brian Evans

Shake Shack shares surged 16% in premarket trading after the hamburger chain beat fourth-quarter expectations on the top and bottom lines.

Shake Shack posted adjusted fourth-quarter earnings of 2 cents per share on revenue of $286.24 million. Analysts polled by LSEG had expected per-share earnings of 1 cent on revenue of $280.3 million.

Check out some of the companies making headlines in premarket trading.

Twilio — Shares dropped nearly 11% after the consumer engagement company issued lower-than-expected revenue guidance for the current quarter. Twilio also reporter total active consumers for the fourth-quarter that were below Wall Street estimates.

Cisco — Shares dropped 4.4% after the tech company posted a yearly decline in revenue during the fiscal second quarter. Cisco also issued lighter-than-expected guidance for the fiscal third quarter and announced a downsizing plan that would lead to a 5% reduction in jobs.

Coinbase — Shares jumped 8% after JPMorgan upgraded the cryptocurrency exchange platform to neutral from underweight, citing rising cryptocurrency prices. On Wednesday, Bitcoin regained a $1 trillion market cap as it reached a more than two-year high. On Thursday, Bitcoin was last higher by more than 1%.

Read the full list here.

— Brian Evans

Retail sales dropped 0.8% in January from the prior month, the U.S. government said Thursday, in a sign pointing to slowing U.S. economic activity. Economists polled by Dow Jones expected a decline of 0.3%.

— Fred Imbert

Shares dropped 4% in premarket trading after the manufacturer of agricultural machinery lowered its full-year net income guidance. However, it posted a beat in its first-quarter results.

Deere said it expects net income will be weaker than it previously expected. In its full year ending October, Deere expects net income of $7.50 billion to $7.75 billion, lower than prior guidance it issued between $7.75 billion and $8.25 billion.

“Moving forward, we expect fleet replenishment to moderate as agricultural fundamentals normalize from record levels in 2022 and 2023,” CEO John C. May said in a statement.

Otherwise, Deere exceeded first-quarter expectations on the top and bottom lines. It reported earnings of $6.23 per share on revenue of $10.47 billion. Analysts polled by LSEG had expected per-share earnings of $5.21 on revenue of $10.34 billion.

— Sarah Min

Around 82% of the S&P 500’s market cap has posted fourth-quarter earnings, according to UBS. On average, the firm reports that earnings are beating consensus estimates by 7.1%,.

Tech companies are the top outperformers, per strategist Jonathan Golub. Looking both reported results and consensus estimates for companies that haven’t yet announced results, he found that the tech sector has announced earnings per share growth of 40.3%.

By comparison, the following best-performing group is financials, with 11.1% earnings. growth

Energy and materials stocks are underperforming. Earnings per share growth has declined 21.2% for the sector.

— Hakyung Kim

On the surface, the similarities may seem striking between the recent outperformance of the “Magnificent 7” tech stocks and the tech craze of the late 1990s.

“Prior to the tech bubble burst in 2000, share prices of tech stocks grew fivefold over a three-year period (the Mag 7 have more than doubled since January 2023 and are up fourfold since prior to the pandemic),” wrote HSBC strategist Nicole Inui.

But that, she says, is where the similarities end.

“Valuation premiums for tech in the late 1990s were much higher with the sector trading on average more than 40x earnings during the year 2000 compared to 27x today. And the quality of the companies were vastly different,” she added.

Inui also sees the market broadening in 2024, with opportunities emerging in sectors such as tech, industrials and consumer discretionary and staples.

— Lisa Kailai Han

Chrysler and Jeep parent Stellantis reported better-than-expected full-year adjusted earnings per share of €6.42, beating a StreetAccount estimate of €5.82 per share. The company also approved a €3 billion buyback program.

U.S.-listed shares popped 3.5% in the premarket.