Check out the companies making headlines in midday trading: Broadcom — Shares added 5% following a report from The Information that the semiconductor manufacturer was assisting Apple in creating an artificial intelligence chip. Shares of Apple traded less than 1% higher. C3.ai — The enterprise artificial intelligence software company shed 7.2% following a downgrade to underweight from neutral at JPMorgan. Analyst Pinjalim Bora cited a stretched valuation as the catalyst behind the change, adding that he now expects the stock to underperform in 2025. Macy’s — Shares sank more than 4% after the department store chain cut its fiscal-year forecast . Macy’s now expects adjusted earnings per share between $2.25 and $2.50, compared to its previous outlook of between $2.34 and $2.69. GE Vernova — Shares of the energy equipment maker jumped more than 6% after announcing it would initiate a dividend of 25 cents per share and an initial $6 billion share repurchase authorization. GE Vernova also raised its 2028 margins estimate to 14% from 10%. Dave & Buster’s Entertainment — The arcade and dining operator plunged 15.1% after missing expectations for earnings and revenue, and announcing CEO Chris Morris was leaving. Dave & Buster’s posted a loss of 84 cents per share on revenue of $453 million for the third quarter. Analysts surveyed by LSEG anticipated a loss of 37 cents per share and $466 million in revenue. Duolingo — Shares dropped 5.5% after Bank of America downgraded the language learning company to neutral from buy. The bank said Duolingo already appears to be trading at “peak valuation” and said it might be difficult for the company to beat consensus estimates for its next quarterly report. GameStop — The meme stock shot up more than 9% after the video game retailer swung to an unexpected profit in the latest quarter. GameStop reported net income of $17.4 million in the third quarter, compared with a net loss of $3.1 million during the same period last year. Patterson — The dental and animal health company soared 34% on the back of news that Patterson would be acquired by Patient Square Capital . The health-care investment firm will pay $31.35 per share, and the deal is expected to close in the fourth quarter of Patterson’s 2025 fiscal year. Stitch Fix — Shares surged 44% after the online personal styling company raised its fiscal second-quarter revenue outlook. The company also raised the top end of its full-year revenue guidance and expects between $1.14 billion and $1.18 billion, up from its previous estimate of between $1.11 billion and $1.16 billion. General Motors — The Detroit automaker shed 1.5% after exiting its Cruise robotaxi service , into which it had previously funneled more than $10 billion. General Motors said it would no longer fund development, citing an increasingly competitive market and capital allocation priorities as reasons for the decision. Bausch + Lomb — Shares plummeted 13% after Citi downgraded the contact lens supplier to neutral from buy. The bank cited increased competition as a reason for the downgrade. Wolverine World Wide — Shares gained 6% after Stifel upgraded the company , which owns the Merrell and Saucony shoemaker brands, to buy from hold. The firm said Wolverine World Wide’s earnings growth potential appears compelling and that next year is an “inflection year” for the stock. JetBlue — The airline advanced nearly 5% after revealing plans to add domestic first-class seats to planes that do not have the existing top-tier Mint class, beginning in 2026. This is the latest initiative to appeal to premium customers in JetBlue’s long-term plan back to profitability. Figs — The medical apparel maker surged 16% after The Wall Street Journal reported Figs received a takeover bid from Story3 Capital Partners. The private equity firm valued the company at more than $1 billion and offered $6 each for the common shares outstanding of Figs it did not already own, the Journal reported. Krispy Kreme — Shares fell 2% after the doughnut chain disclosed in a regulatory filing a cybersecurity breach that disrupted its operations, including online ordering in the U.S. Pharmacy benefit managers — Shares of CVS Health , UnitedHealth and Cigna each declined about 5% after lawmakers introduced a Senate bill that would prohibit companies that own health insurers or PBMs from owning pharmacy businesses. The bill would force those companies to divest from pharmacy businesses within three years. — CNBC’s Michelle Fox, Alex Harring, Hakyung Kim, Yun Li, Sarah Min and Pia Singh contributed reporting.
Check out the companies making headlines before the bell. Warner Bros. Discovery – Shares jumped nearly 9% after Warner said it will split into two publicly traded companies by next year. One company will host WBD’s streaming services and movie properties, while the other will include its cable networks such as CNN and TNT Sports. Tesla – Shares of the electric vehicle maker dropped about 2% after Baird downgraded the stock to neutral from buy. The firm said that CEO Elon Musk’s comments on robotaxi plans are “a bit too optimistic” and that Musk’s relationship to President Donald Trump adds “considerable uncertainty.” EchoStar – Shares tumbled 11% after the Wall Street Journal, citing people familiar, said the telecommunications company is considering filing for bankruptcy under chapter 11 . The company is trying to protect its wireless spectrum licenses that are under review by the Federal Communications Commission, the report said. Robinhood , Applovin – Shares of Robinhood and Applovin each fell about 4% after neither name was added to the S & P 500 on Friday, as both names were considered possible candidates for inclusion in the index . Robinhood soared more than 13% last week leading up to the rebalance announcement, while Applovin advanced more than 6%. IonQ – The quantum computing stock gained more than 7% after the company announced that it’s agreed to acquire Oxford Ionics in a deal valued at $1.075 billion in cash and stock. The deal is expected to close in 2025. McDonald’s – The fast-food chain’s stock slipped nearly 1% on the heels of a Morgan Stanley downgrade to equal weight from overweight. Morgan Stanley said the company hasn’t been insulated from pressures on the fast food sector. Moelis & Co. – Shares were marginally lower. On Monday, The Wall Street Journal reported that CEO Ken Moelis is planning to step down from the role at the investment bank. He said in an interview that he’s expected to become executive chairman, effective Oct. 1. Co-president Navid Mahmoodzadegan is slated to become CEO, the report said. — CNBC’s Alex Harring, Fred Imbert and Sarah Min contributed reporting.
People wait in line for T-shirts at a pop-up kiosk for the online brokerage Robinhood along Wall Street after the company went public with an initial public offering earlier in the day on July 29, 2021 in New York City.
Spencer Platt | Getty Images
Robinhood shares sold off on Monday as the online brokerage was snubbed in the latest quarterly rebalance of the S&P 500 Index after months of speculation that it could earn a coveted spot in the benchmark.
Shares of Robinhood dropped nearly 5% in premarket trading. The stock has rallied 3.3% Friday to bring last week’s gain to over 13% before the S&P Dow Jones Indices said after the bell that the S&P 500 would remain unchanged.
Just last week, Bank of America called Robinhood a top candidate to join the S&P 500 during the big reshuffling in June. The S&P 500 rebalance, which typically comes on the third Friday of the last month in a quarter, is usually an impactful event as it can spark billions of dollars of trading and spur passive funds to snap up its shares. Companies being added to the index can generally expect funds like that to buy huge amounts of their shares in the coming weeks.
Crypto exchange Coinbase was the latest beneficiary of such an inclusion. The stock skyrocketed 24% in the next trading session following the announcement last month.
Still, Robinhood has had a major comeback this year so far with shares doubling in price. The online brokerage’s shares hit a fresh record high last week amid a rebound in both stocks and crypto. The company had fallen out of favor after the GameStop trading mania of 2021 fizzled and the collapse of FTX triggered a sell-off in digital assets.
LONDON — Britain’s financial services watchdog on Monday announced a new tie-up with U.S. chipmaker Nvidia to let banks safely experiment with artificial intelligence.
The Financial Conduct Authority said it will launch a so-called Supercharged Sandbox that will “give firms access to better data, technical expertise and regulatory support to speed up innovation.”
Starting from October, financial services institutions in the U.K. will be allowed to experiment with AI using Nvidia’s accelerated computing and AI Enterprise Software products, the watchdog said in a press release.
The initiative is designed for firms in the “discovery and experiment phase” with AI, the FCA noted, adding that a separate live testing service exists for firms further along in AI development.
“This collaboration will help those that want to test AI ideas but who lack the capabilities to do so,” Jessica Rusu, the FCA’s chief data, intelligence and information officer, said in a statement. “We’ll help firms harness AI to benefit our markets and consumers, while supporting economic growth.”
The FCA’s new sandbox addresses a key issue for banks, which have faced challenges shipping advanced new AI tools to their customers amid concerns over risks around privacy and fraud.
Large language models from the likes of OpenAI and Google send data back to overseas facilities — and privacy regulators have raised the alarm over how this information is stored and processed. There have meanwhile been several instances of malicious actors using generative AI to scam people.
Nvidia is behind the graphics processing units, or GPUs, used to train and run powerful AI models. The company’s CEO, Jensen Huang, is expected to give a keynote talk at a tech conference in London on Monday morning.
Last year, HSBC’s generative AI lead, Edward Achtner, told a London tech conference he sees “a lot of success theater” in finance when it comes to artificial intelligence — hinting that some financial services firms are touting advances in AI without tangible product innovations to show for it.
He added that, while banks like HSBC have used AI for many years, new generative AI tools like OpenAI’s ChatGPT come with their own unique compliance risks.