5 Things to Watch on
January 9, 2026

U.S. stock markets are up in premarket trading as markets awaited the December jobs report, expected to show modest payroll growth and a steady unemployment rate. Investors are also watching a potential Supreme Court ruling today on the legality of President Trump’s tariffs, a decision that could have broad implications for trade policy and corporate costs.

Nvidia (NVDA) has hired Alison Wagonfeld, Google Cloud’s marketing head, as its first-ever chief marketing officer. Wagonfeld said she will lead marketing and communications as NVDA enters its next phase of growth, citing the companies’ close partnership. She will depart Alphabet (GOOGL) in late January after nearly a decade at its cloud unit and begin at NVDA in February. Wagonfeld will report directly to CEO Jensen Huang and oversee NVDA’s global marketing and communications teams.

Meta Platforms (META) unveiled three major nuclear energy agreements aimed at supplying up to 6.6 gigawatts of power for its data centers by 2035. The company will buy electricity from existing nuclear plants operated by Vistra (VST) in Ohio and Pennsylvania, while backing new small modular reactor projects from Oklo (OKLO) and TerraPower expected to come online in the 2030s. The deals build on a Constellation Energy agreement announced in June.

Elon Musk’s AI startup xAI is investing over $20B to build a massive data center in Southaven, Mississippi, boosting its total computing power to nearly 2 gigawatts. The project will create hundreds of jobs and begin operations as early as February. Supported by state and local incentives, the expansion underscores xAI’s aggressive infrastructure buildout despite rising losses tied to heavy AI spending.

Ondas Holdings (ONDS) is up over +1.0% in premarket trading after pricing a $1B registered direct offering of 19M shares and pre-funded warrants for up to 41.8M shares. The combined offering price is $16.45, with common warrants exercisable at $28.00. The deal is expected to close around January 12, 2026, and proceeds will fund corporate development and strategic growth.