Check out the companies making headlines in midday trading: Hershey , Mondelez International — Hershey shares jumped roughly 13% after Bloomberg News reported that Cadbury and Oreo maker Mondelez is again trying to buy the chocolate company. News of the attempted takeover put Hershey shares on pace for their best day since June 2016, when Hershey previously publicly disclosed a $23 billion bid from Mondelez. Mondelez fell 2%. China-based stocks — U.S.-listed shares of stocks PDD Holdings , JD.com and Trip.com each skyrocketed more than 10% after China’s Politburo pledged to ease its monetary policy stance to boost domestic growth in 2025. Alibaba and Tencent shares gained 9% and 5% on the news, respectively, while automaker Nio rallied more than 14%. Macy’s — The stock gained 1% following activist investor Barington Capital’s call for the department store chain to cut spending and reevaluate alternatives for its Bloomingdale’s and Bluemercury operations. Workday , Apollo Global Management — Shares of software firm Workday jumped 5% after S & P Dow Jones Indices announced that the stock would be added to the S & P 500 later this month. Apollo Global Management was also announced as a new S & P 500 addition and hit a new 52-week high on Monday, but the stock was down about 2%. Warner Bros. Discovery , Comcast — Warner Bros. shares added 2% after the media company signed a wide-ranging, multiyear cable distribution deal with Comcast, which allows for the European launch of the Max streaming service and resolves a legal dispute over the “Harry Potter” television series rights. Comcast shares fell 9%. Stellantis — Shares of automaker Stellantis edged nearly 2% higher after CNBC reported that well-known executive Tim Kuniskis is returning to the automaker effective immediately to again lead the company’s Ram Trucks brand. The decision comes just about a week after Stellantis CEO Carlos Tavares unexpectedly resigned amid the company’s problems with its North American market. Nvidia — Shares slid about 2%. China’s State Administration for Market Regulation launched an investigation into the chipmaker over its potential violations of the country’s antimonopoly law, particularly in relation to Nvidia’s acquisition of Mellanox. Advanced Micro Devices — The chipmaker slid about 4% on the back of a Bank of America downgrade to neutral from buy. The firm cited higher competitive risks in artificial intelligence given Nvidia’s market dominance, and growing preference for custom chips from other chipmakers that could limit AMD’s market share gain potential. Dow — The chemical maker climbed 3% after announcing it would sell a 40% equity holding in some of its U.S. Gulf Coast infrastructure assets to a Macquarie Asset Management-run fund. The deal is expected to close in the first half of 2025. Interpublic Group of Companies , Omnicom Group — Interpublic gained 7%, while Omnicom lost more than 8%. Both companies announced that Omnicom will acquire Interpublic in a stock-for-stock transaction . The deal is expected to close in the second half of 2025. Super Micro Computer — Shares of the beleaguered server maker rose about 5% after Super Micro was given an extension from Nasdaq that allows the company to publish its delayed annual report . The company now has until February to maintain its listing on the exchange. SoFi Technologies — Shares dipped almost 2% after Bank of America Global Research downgraded the fintech company and lender to underperform from neutral, saying the stock is overvalued after more than doubling over the past three months. Shares had rallied in the aftermath of Donald Trump’s election victory, as investors figured the company would benefit from more stringent student loan forgiveness policies expected under Trump. SolarEdge Technologies — Shares jumped 16% after the solar energy company announced it has started shipping its “USA Edition” home battery . This product was designed to qualify for the domestic content bonus tax credit , a provision that is part of the Inflation Reduction Act that incentivizes the development of green technology that is built with specified percentages of steel, iron or manufactured products that were domestically produced. Disclosure: Comcast’s NBCUniversal is the parent company of CNBC. — CNBC’s Alex Harring, Jesse Pound, Sarah Min and Michelle Fox Theobald 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.