Check out the companies making headlines in midday trading. Rocket Lab – The space company soared more than 16%, hitting a 52-week high, after packing and shipping two Mars-bound spacecraft to Cape Canaveral, Fla., for launch. The two spacecraft were designed, built, integrated and tested by Rocket Lab for the University of California Berkeley’s Space Science Laboratory and NASA. Bavarian Nordic – The Danish biotech company surged more than 16% after it submitted data to the European Union’s drug regulator to extend mpox vaccine use for teens. CEO Paul Chaplin told CNBC that the expanded approval for individuals between 12 and 17 years of age is crucial to combatting the outbreak of the virus’ latest strain. H & R Block – The tax services provider jumped more than 16% after fiscal fourth quarter results topped Street estimates, it raised its dividend and authorized a $1.5 billion buyback. H & R Block also issued a fiscal 2025 forecast reflecting another year of revenue growth. Bayer – The German life sciences company popped more than 10% after winning a legal victory in its lawsuit over claims that exposure to its Roundup weed and grass killer led to cancer. That followed allegations that Bayer-acquired Monsanto violated state law by failing to add a cancer warning to the Roundup label. JD.com – The Chinese e-commerce provider jumped more than 5% after stronger-than-expected quarterly earnings. JD second-quarter earnings soared 74% year over year to 9.36 yuan per share, excluding items, while analysts polled by LSEG expected 6.07 yuan per share. The solid results were boosted by price cuts that drew cost-conscious consumers Applied Materials – The semiconductor equipment maker lost 3% even after posting stronger-than-expected fiscal third-quarter results. The company earned $2.12 per share on $6.78 billion in revenue. Fourth-quarter guidance also met expectations. The stock has climbed 51% in the past year. Amcor – The packaging stock slid more than 5% after sales slowed in the latest quarter. Amcor reported $3.54 billion in net sales for the quarter, down from $3.67 billion a year prior and below the $3.57 billion expected by analysts, according to StreetAccount. Amcor saw sales declines in both its rigid and flexibles segments. Coherent – Shares gained 3.1% after the electronic manufacturer beat Wall Street’s expectations in its fiscal fourth quarter. Coherent earned 61 cents per share, excluding items, on revenue of $1.31 billion, above the 60 cents per share on revenue of $1.28 billion that analysts polled by FactSet were anticipating. Sphere Entertainment – The live entertainment stock popped 6.2% on the back of a JPMorgan upgrade to overweight from neutral. JPMorgan said the company’s Las Vegas Sphere venue has become a “mainstay in the destination tourism market” for both travelers and artists. Sphere also said it should be able to open international venues. — CNBC’s Alex Harring, Jesse Pound, Samantha Subin, Yun Li and Pia Singh contributed reporting.
Traders work at the New York Stock Exchange on Dec. 31, 2024.
NYSE
Crypto trades jumping. Roaring Kitty boosting meme stocks. Broader market ripping on no apparent catalysts.
Animal spirits are on the run at the dawn of 2025 trading.
Many speculative pockets of the stock market surged in early trading Thursday, the first session of the new year, right after the S&P 500 closed out the best two-year run since 1998.
Stocks tied to the price of bitcoin jumped as the cryptocurrency climbed back over $96,000. Microstrategy added 4% premarket after climbing more than 360% in 2024. Crypto-related companies Coinbase, Robinhood, Mara Holdings and Riot Platforms also traded higher after a big 2024.
Elsewhere, retail traders active on social media were busy playing a guessing game after online personality Roaring Kitty posted another cryptic message on X of a short clip of the late musician Rick James. Some believe the meme stock leader, AKA Keith Gill, was referring to Unity Software, whose stock soared 10% in premarket, while others think he’s back touting his original favorite GameStop, whose shares also caught a bid in premarket.
Meanwhile, semiconductor stocks — 2024’s big winners — helped lead the market again after the artificial intelligence trade lost some steam at the end of last year. Broadcom jumped 2% Thursday, while Nvidia gained 1.6%.
What’s more, golf stock Topgolf Callaway Brands jumped 8.5% on the back of an upgrade at Jefferies to buy from hold. The investment bank said shares of the golf equipment maker looked oversold and raised its price target to 65% above where the stock closed the year.
With a pickup in market speculation, broad stock futures were on the rise to kick off 2025. Dow futures advanced as much as 300 points. S&P 500 futures added 0.8%, and Nasdaq-100 futures rose 1%.
Thursday’s dramatic moves resembled the initial rallies on the back of Donald Trump’s election victory in November, as investors bet his pro-business policies would drive companies and the economy to strong growth. Those gains slowed toward the end of 2024 as concern grew that the president-elect’s protectionist policies could stir inflation or disrupt chains, and as the Federal Reserve signaled fewer interest rate cuts in 2025.
“Many investors assume that the incoming administration’s push for deregulation will unleash ‘animal spirits,'” Lisa Shalett, chief investment officer of Morgan Stanley Wealth Management, said in a recent note to clients. “But what if it only accelerates the concentration of monopoly power in the hands of a few, diluting the efficacy of broad economic measures and leaving behind even larger swaths of the populace?”
Check out the companies making headlines in premarket trading. Synaptics — The semiconductor company climbed 5.9% after announcing a partnership with Google on Edge AI. Through the collaboration, Google’s machine learning core will be integrated on Synaptics’ Astra hardware. Nvidia — Shares of the chip maker popped 1.7%, marking a positive start to the new trading year after being one of the best performers of 2024. Loop Capital told clients that Nvidia is in a “nirvana” moment and is showing signs that its rally can be sustained. China stocks — U.S.-listed shares of Chinese stocks struggled, with the iShares MSCI China ETF (MCHI) sliding 1.4%. Chinese stocks led losses in Asia after a purchasing managers’ index missed economist expectations. Xpeng and JD.Com also both retreated by more than 1%. Crypto stocks – Stocks tied to the price of bitcoin rose, as the cryptocurrency climbed back over $96,000 and investors shrugged off losses from the final trading session of 2024. Coinbase and MicroStrategy each advanced about 4%. Miners Mara Holdings , Riot Platforms and Bitdeer were higher by more than 3% each. Uber , Norwegian Cruise Line — Both stocks traded higher after Goldman Sachs added the pair to its conviction buy list for January. Uber advanced 1.4%, while Norwegian popped 2.4%. Topgolf Callaway Brands — The golf stock jumped 8.5% on the back of an upgrade at Jefferies to buy from hold. The firm said shares appeared oversold. It raised its price target to $13 from $11, suggesting 65% upside ahead. Cloudflare — The cloud cybersecurity company jumped 5.6% after Goldman Sachs double upgraded the stock to buy from sell. The firm also nearly doubled its price target, citing “several positive catalysts” heading into 2025 including in sales and marketing productivity improvements and edge compute solutions. US Bancorp — The bank stock added 1.8% on the heels of a D.A. Davidson upgrade to buy from neutral. The firm said the bank is “turning a corner” and should see positive operating leverage return to a level above 0.5%. RTX — Shares rose 1.5% following Deutsche Bank’s upgrade to buy from hold and price target hike. The Wall Street firm said the defense company previously known as Raytheon Technologies is a “better earnings compounding story” than its peers. The price target, raised to $140 from $131, implies more than 20% upside from Tuesday’s close. — CNBC’s Tanaya Macheel, Sarah Min, Pia Singh and Michelle Fox contributed reporting
Check out the companies making headlines in midday trading: Intel — The struggling chip stock bounced into year-end, rising close to 1.2% in midday trading. Intel has plunged more than 60% in 2024, making the stock poised to see its worst year on record and be the second-worst performer in the S & P 500 . Nvidia — The artificial intelligence giant and retail investor favorite shed 1.3% as traders took profits as the trading year wraps up. With a rally of more than 170%, Nvidia is poised to be the third-best performer in the S & P 500 for 2024. Sangamo Therapeutics — Shares tumbled 54% after the genomic medicine company said partner Pfizer terminated a license and development agreement for a gene therapy for hemophilia A. Sangamo retained rights to the product. Biohaven — The biopharmaceutical stock popped nearly 2% after director John Childs disclosed a purchase of 29,000 shares. Childs now owns around 6.5 million shares. Nutriband — Shares jumped more than 8% after Nutriband said it expects an expedited review process for its abuse-deterrent opioid patch called AVERSA Fentanyl, which could position the company to achieve regulatory approval before the end of 2025. This comes after Nutriband announced last week that it extended its Chinese patent to Macao for the technology. Zivo Bioscience — Shares rose nearly 3% after Mark Strome, an investor who owns 10% of the biotech research and development company, bought 75,000 shares. — CNBC’s Sean Conlon, Yun Li and Pia Singh contributed reporting.