Mornings like this remind me why I still get up at 4:30 a.m. to watch the futures. One minute everything looks quiet, the next you’ve got cannabis stocks acting like it’s 2021 again and semiconductor giants dropping even though they crushed numbers. December 12, 2025 is delivering exactly that kind of chaos, and honestly? I love it.
The Wildest Premarket Session We’ve Seen in Months
Sometimes the market hands you a story so clear you almost can’t believe it’s real. Today is one of those days. We have policy rumors, CEO departures, monster earnings beats that somehow disappoint, and a mysterious energy company losing a nine-figure deal overnight. Let’s unpack the stocks moving the most before the opening bell, because a lot of money is about to change hands.
Tilray Brands (TLRY) – Up roughly 28% and Still Climbing
If you’d told me yesterday that a cannabis name would lead the entire premarket, I’d have asked what you were smoking. Turns out the answer is apparently whatever the Trump administration is planning to ease up on.
A major newspaper reported late Thursday that the incoming Trump team is seriously looking at removing some of the federal barriers around marijuana. We’re not talking full legalization tomorrow, but even the hint of re-scheduling or banking reform is enough to send the whole sector into orbit.
Tilray, already one of the bigger pure-play names left standing, is catching the brunt of the buying frenzy. The Amplify Alternative Harvest ETF (MJ) is up 20% alongside it, which tells you this isn’t just a TLRY-specific move. Volume is already stupid high for 6 a.m.
Markets hate uncertainty, but they love the removal of uncertainty even more.
In my experience, these policy-driven gaps can stick around longer than people expect, especially when short interest is elevated. Just something to keep in mind if you’re thinking about chasing at the open.
Lululemon (LULU) – Up 9.4% on CEO Exit and Solid Numbers
Here’s a sentence I never thought I’d write: a CEO suddenly stepping down is being treated as the best news a company could deliver.
Calvin McDonald is out, the company beat top and bottom line estimates pretty comfortably, and for whatever reason the market has decided this is a changing of the guard moment investors wanted. Maybe the street was tired of margin pressure talk, maybe they just want fresh energy, hard to say. But the price action doesn’t lie, +9% premarket on heavy volume.
I’ve owned LULU on and off for years. The brand is still ridiculously strong with its core customers, but the stock has been in this ugly range all 2025. A double-digit gap that holds could finally break it out of that funk.
Broadcom (AVGO) – Down 6% Despite Beating Everything
This one hurts to watch.
Broadcom reported $1.95 adjusted EPS against $1.86 expected, $18.02 billion revenue against $17.49 billion expected, raised guidance to $19.1 billion for next quarter, and hiked the dividend from 59 cents to 65 cents. By any rational measure that’s a grand slam.
Yet here we are, down 6% premarket. Why? Because the market has decided that if you’re an AI-related name and you don’t grow 300% year-over-year anymore, you’re yesterday’s news. Never mind that Broadcom’s AI revenue is still growing triple digits, never mind the dividend increase, never mind the higher guide, apparently it wasn’t “AI enough.”
I’ve been saying for months that we were due for some AI fatigue rotation. Looks like today is the day it shows up in a big name. If this holds, expect more semi weakness across the board.
Citigroup (C) – Quietly Up 1.5% on Analyst Love
Sometimes the best moves are the boring ones.
JPMorgan came out this morning and upgraded Citi to overweight, saying it should benefit disproportionately from a strong economy and vibrant markets activity. Translation: if rates stay higher for longer and trading desks keep printing money, Citi’s particular mix of businesses does well.
Only up 1.5% so far, but bank stocks have been on fire lately and this feels like continuation fuel rather than a one-day wonder.
Costco (COST) – Basically Flat Despite Another Beat
Costco does what Costco always does, beats earnings ($4.50 vs $4.27) and revenue ($67.31B vs $67.14B), and the stock yawns. Down two-tenths premarket after being down 3% year-to-date.
At this point the market has priced Costco to perfection. Any hint of margin pressure or slowing membership growth and it gets punished, any beat and it’s “yeah, expected that.” Classic mature mega-cap behavior.
RH (RH) – Up 3% on In-Line Quarter, Softer Guide
Luxury home furnishings in a high-rate environment isn’t exactly the easiest sell. RH reported revenue right on the number ($884M) but softened Q4 outlook for EBITDA margins and revenue. Stock still up 3%, which probably tells you how beaten down expectations already were.
Fermi – Down 33% on Lost $150M Deal
The least known name on the list, but wow what a move. Fermi is building private power grids for hyperscale AI data centers (11 gigawatts worth). They just lost the first anchor tenant and the associated $150 million funding package. Stock absolutely cratered.
This is your reminder that for every AI winner, there are ten companies in the picks-and-shovels ecosystem that live and die by execution risk. Brutal, but that’s the game at the bleeding edge.
What I’m Watching at the Open
- Whether TLRY and the cannabis complex can hold the gap or if profit-taking hits immediately
- How much follow-through selling we see in semiconductors after AVGO’s reaction
- If LULU can break out of its year-long range on volume
- If Citi and the banks keep running while tech rolls over
Days like this separate the traders from the investors. The noise is deafening, but underneath it are real shifts in policy expectations, sector leadership, and risk appetite.
I’ll be glued to the screens at 9:30. You probably will be too.
