• Palantir shares plunged 12.5% Wednesday after CEO Alex Karp adopted a new stock trading plan, allowing him to sell nearly 10 million shares over the next six months. The stock also reacted to a report that the Pentagon has been ordered to prepare for 8% annual defense budget cuts over the next five years. Palantir, known for its defense contracts, saw its stock close down 10% at $112.06, with an additional 5% drop in after-hours trading. Before this decline, the company had been one of the top-performing U.S. stocks, gaining nearly 50% year-to-date.

• Investor sell-offs continued Thursday, raising concerns that Palantir, a recent favorite among retail traders, may be losing momentum. The stock dropped another 9%, marking its worst decline since May and extending Wednesday’s slide, which followed an all-time high earlier that day. Despite Wednesday’s drop, Palantir remains a major player in the tech sector, with a market cap exceeding $255 billion. The company reported $828 million in Q4 2024 revenue, with adjusted earnings of 14 cents per share. Palantir has benefited from strong demand for its software and technology services in defense. However, concerns remain over its valuation, as the stock trades at a price-to-earnings ratio of nearly 600-to-1.