Equity Indexes Wrap🎐: Solar S🐻tocks Leads S&P 500 Higher; Tech Lags

The Dow

Merck (MRK) led the index higher, rising 5% after 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:the FDA approved its treatment for pul꧅monary arterial hypertension. 

Industrial stocks gained ground, with Caterpillar (CAT) rising 2.3% and Honeywell (HON) gaining 2.1%. 

Disney (DIS) ticked up 0.9% after it reached a settlement with Florida that resolves disputes about the governance of the special district in which its parks are located. 💞;

Amazon (AMZN) also gained 0.9% as it invest💟ed an additional $2.75 billion in AI startup Anthropic, bringing its total investment to $4🦂 billion. 

Salesforce (CRM), one of only three components to lose ground, fell 1.5%. Visa (V) and Microsoft (MSFT) dipped 0.6% and 0.1%, respectively. 

The S&P 500

Enphase Energy (ENPH) gained 9.6% after analysts at Mizuho reiterated their buy rating and argued “restocking, revenue growth and margin recovery appear on track for the year.” Peer First Solar (FSLR) rose 9.3%. 

Albemarle Corp. (ALB)ꦡ gained 8.2% after the Chilean government laid out a plan for doubling lithium production in the country. The plan opens the door for private developers, a departure from last year’s proposal that emphasized state control. 

M&T Bank Corp. (MTB) rose 2.5% despite it being one of five banks to have its 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:credit outlook downgraded by S&𒐪P due to its high commercial real e🐠state exposure. 💫;

Carnival Corp. (CCL) ticked up 0.7% after reporting a 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:narrower-than-expected loss in the first qua♊rter. Competitor Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings (NCLH) rose 5.9%. 🏅;

Nvidia (NVDA) fell for a second consecutive session, dipping 2.5%. Super Micro Computer (SMCI), also a major AI stock, slipped 0.2%. 

Netflix (NFLX) slid 2.5% after a judge refused to dismissed a defamation lawsuit against the company over its miniseries “Inventing Anna.”

The Nasdaq 100

Cintas Corp. (CTAS) rose 8.3% after the business service🌟s provider topped Wall Street’s estimates with its quarterly sales and earn꧅ings. 

Moderna (MRNA) rose 3% after it secured 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:$750 million in financing from Blackstone Life Sciences toﷺ develop flu shots. 

Coinbase Loses Bid To Dismiss SEC Lawsuit Against It�🐭�, Stock Slips

Coinbase Global Inc. (COIN) suffered a setback as 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:a judge den𒅌ied the company’s motion to dismiss a lawsuit filed by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for violating securities laws. The company's💝 stock traded 3.🧔6% lower late Wednesday following the news.

U.S. District Judge Katherine Polk Failla’s decision will allow the lawsuit to go forward, finding that the SEC has "sufficiently pleaded" that Coinbase operates as an exchange, broker, and 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:clearing agency under federal securities laws, and through its stakinಞg program engages in the unregistered offer and sale of securities.

The regulator sued Coinbase in June, alleging that the🏅 company violated securities laws by operating as an unregistered exchange, broker-dealer, and clearing agency. Coinbase filed a motion to dismiss in August. The case now mo💫ves to discovery ahead of a trial. 

But it wasn't all bad for Coinbase, either. The court did grant the 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:crypto exchange's motion to dismiss the SEC’s claims that the company acts as an unregistered broker by making its wallet application available to customers.

-澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:Christiana Sciaudone

Carnival Stock Risesꦿ After Posting Smaller-Than-Expect🅺ed Q1 Loss

Carnival Corp. (CCL🌠) shares turned higher in intraday trading Wednesday after the cruise line posted a smaller adjusted first-quarter loss than analysts expected.

Carnival posted record first-quarter revenue of $5.41 billion, narrowly missing analyst estimates compiled by Visible Alpha of $5.43 billion. The cruise line also posted a smaller adjusted net loss than expected of $180 million, or an adjusted loss of 14 cents per share.

The company raised its full-year guidance, while noting that Tuesday's 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:collapse of Bal🌸timore's Francis Scott Key Bridge isn't yet included, due to how receꦰntly it took place. Carnival is currently projecting full-year 2024 adjusted income of about $1.28 billion, up from a prior outlook of $1.2 billion but still below analyst estimates of about $1.36 billion.

Carnival shares were up 1.8% ꦬat $17.34 late in the session Wednesday after slipping to $16.17 in the morning. They have gained 90% over the last 12 months.

-澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:Aaron McDade

Moderna Gets $750 Million in Flu Shot Funding, Sto🔯ck Advances

Moderna Inc. (MRNA) shares advanced Wednesday as the biotech firm used its “Vaccines Day” event to make key announcements about new funding and the results of several 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:vaccine trials.

The drugmaker said it recently entered into a development and commercialization funding agreement with Blackstone Life Sciences (BX) in which Blackstone will provide up to $750 million to advance Moderna’s program to create a flu vaccine. It added that Blackstone’s return would be “based on cumulative commercial milestones and low-single digit royalties."

Moderna also reported positive clinical data from three new vaccines to fight Epstein-Barr virus, Varicella-Zoster virus, and norovirus, and they will be advanced toward 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:Phase 3 trials.

The announcements come amid a push by Moderna to develop and bring to market new products to offset waning demand for its Covid-19 vaccine, presently the biotech's only marketable product.

Moderna shares were up 1.5% at $109ꦍ.05 Wednesday afternoon, and have gained𒅌 about 10% so far in 2024. 

-澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:Bill McColl

Sunrun Surge💞s After S&P Bumps From Mid-Cap to Small-Cap Index

Shares of Sunrun (RUN) climbed more than 15% Wednesday after S&P Dow Jones Indices bumped the solar company from the 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:S&P Mid-Cap 400 index to the 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:S&P Small-Cap 600 index.

The reindexing is something of a downgrade for Sunrun, which has lost 72% of its market value since its inclusion in the mid-cap index was announced in July 2020, but it could actually be a boon to shares. That’s because Sunrun will have more weight in the 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:capitalization-weighted small-cap index than it did in the mid-cap index. Thus, to reflect the rebalancing, passive funds t🉐hat track the small-cap index will need to buy more Sunrun stock than will need to be sold by mid-cap index funds. 

Research has born this out. One 2013 study found that stocks often rise when they move from the Russell 1000, which consists of the 1,000 largest U.S. stocks, to the Russell 2000, which consists of the next 2,000 largest, due to index fund buying.

But being bumped up from a small to a large-cap index doesn’t necessarily have the opposite effect. Shares of Roivant Sciences (ROIV), which will replace Sunrun in the mid-cap index, rose more than 9% on Wednesday, bringing their return over the past 12 months to 53%. Despite Wednesday’s gains, Sunrun shares are down 28% in the l🍷ast year.

Merck🔜 Stock Hits Record High as FDA Approves Its Cardiovascular Disease Drug

Merck & Co. (MRK) shares hit an all-time high Wednesday, a day after the drug maker announced that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved its treatment for a rare condition that causes high blood pressure in patients because of restrictions in their lung arteries.

The injectable drug, which goes by the brand name of Winrevair, is for adults suffering from pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH).

Winrevair reportedly is priced at $14,000 per dose, and patients take the injection once every three weeks to treat the disease, which affects nearly 40,000 people in the U.S. Merck, which paid $11.5 billion for the company developing the medicine in 2021, generates more than 40% of its revenue from cancer treatment Keytruda, the world’s top-selling drug.

Shares of Merck𝔍 were up 4% a꧋t $130.50 midday Wednesday after hitting a record-high $133.10 earlier in the session. They are up almost 20% so far this year.

-澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:Bill McColl

Robinhood Stock Rises on Launc꧅h of Credit Card With 3% Cash Back

Shares in Robinhood Markets (HOOD) rose Wednesday morning after the online trading app said it was launching a credit card, as it moves to become a one-stop shop for financial services.

Robinhood said the card is available exclusively to its premier Robinhood Gold customers and comes after it 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:bought X1, a credit-card startup, last ye💟ar.

Chief Executive Officer Vlad Tenev said the 3% cash back is well above industry norms and would appeal to the online trading app’s typical customers in their 30s, college students, or recent graduates in their first jobs—as well as draw new people to its platform.

Robinhood shares were up 3.4% at $19.94 Wednesday morning. They hav꧂e gained about 60% year to date.

-澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:Fatima Attarwala

GameStop Stoc𝐆k Plunges After Earnings Fall Short of ꦯExpectations

Shares in 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:brick-and-mortar video game retailer and legacy 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:meme stock GameStop (GME) plunged Wednesday after the company disclosed quarterly earnings that fell considerably short of Wall Street’s expectations amid an ongoing shift to digital downloads and softening 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:consumer spending.

In the three-month period ending Feb. 3, the Grapevine, Texas-based company posted 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:adjusted earnings of 22 cents per share, compared to analysts’ estimates of 30 cents a share. Revenue of $1.79 billion in the period fell from $2.23 billion a year earlier and missed the $2.05 billion consensus view.

GameStop's share price has remained entrenched within a multi-year 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:downtrend, pressured by a long-term trendline connecting several prominent 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:countertrend swing highs.

Amid the earnings-driven sell-off, investors should monitor how the stock’s price responds to the 2023 low at $11.83. A reversal at this level could mark the beginning of a potential 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:double bottom pattern, while a failure to hold this important chart level could act as a catalyst for further declines.⭕

Gamestop shares were doꦗwn 14.8% at $13.20 in early tr💛ading on Wednesday.

-澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:Timothy Smith

Stocks Making the Biggest Moves Premarket

Gains:

• Trump Media & Technology Group (DJT): Shares of the Truth Social parent company jumped 16%, adding to 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:yesterday’s 16% gain on the stock’s first day of trading. 
• Robinhood Markets Inc. (HOOD): Shares of the digital trading platform and brokerage gained more than 7% after it said it planned to launch a credit card for premium Robinhood Gold customers. 
• Merck & Co. Inc. (MRK): Shares of the pharmaceutical giant rose more than 5% after the FDA approved its new drug for the treatment of pulmonary arterial hypertension. 
• Moderna Inc. (MRNA): Shares of the vaccine maker rose more than 3% after it secured $750 million in funding from private equity firm Blackstone to develop a flu vaccine. 
  

Losses:

• GameStop Corp. (GME): Shares of the video game retailer fell more than 17% after it reported 澳ܫ洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:lower-than-expected quarte🃏rly earnings of 22 cents per share. 
• Nio Inc. (NIO): American depositary receipts of the Chinese electric vehicle maker fell 3% after it lowered its forecast for first-quarter deliveries amid a slowdown in demand and price war in the world’s largest EV market. 

Stock Futures Rise After Two Losing Days

Futures contracts♍ connected to the Dow Jones Industrial Average were up 0.4% in premarket trading on Wednesday.

S&P 500 futures were also up 0.4%.

The Nasdaq 100 also traded 0.4% higher about an hour and a half before markets opene💜d.