Boeing’s Starliner to return without astronauts: Morning Buzz

Get caught up quickly on the top news and calls moving stocks with these five Top Five lists.

1. STOCK NEWS:

• Boeing’s (BA) Starliner will return without astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams aboard the spacecraft
• McKesson (MCK) will acquire a controlling interest in Core Ventures for $2.49B in cash
• PDD Holdings (PDD) reported upbeat Q2 earnings but lower-than-expected quarterly revenue
• IBM (IBM) is shutting down its China R&D operations, WSJ reports
• Elliott has laid out a framework for change at Southwest (LUV) in a letter to shareholders

2. WALL STREET CALLS:

• Argus downgraded Wayfair (W) to Hold
• Wolfe Research upgraded Kymera Therapeutics (KYMR) to Outperform
• Wolfe Research downgraded MoonLake Immunotherapeutics (MLTX) to Peer Perform
• Gordon Haskett upgraded Ollie’s (OLLI) to Buy amid scarcity of retail “winners”
• PTC Therapeutics (PTCT) resumed with Buy from Neutral at UBS

3. AROUND THE WEB:

• Cognizant (CTSH) TriZetto is suing Infosys (INFY) alleging the Indian tech company stole trade secrets related to its healthcare insurance software, Reuters reports
• Unilever (UL) is working with advisers to sell Kate Somerville, Sky reports
• Cheaper alternatives to Lululemon’s (LULU) leggings are becoming popular among the younger TikTok crowd, WSJ says
• Walmart (WMT) Mexico CEO Ignacio Cardie is planning an ambitious e-commerce effort to attempt to double its sales in under a decade, FT reports
• Nippon Steel (NPSCY) is locked in a standoff with the United Steelworkers union after agreeing to acquire U.S. Steel (X), NY Times says

4. MOVERS:

• Petrobras (PBR) higher in New York after Morgan Stanley upgraded the stock to Overweight
• Alight (ALIT) increases after appointing Dave Guilmette as CEO
• Rivian (RIVN) gains after announcing its Normal, Illinois plant was unaffected by the recent fire
• Guardant Health (GH) declines after announcing a market sale agreement for up to $400M in stock
• SolarEdge (SEDG) lower after announcing Zvi Lando stepped down as CEO and Ronen Faier was named as interim CEO

5. EARNINGS/GUIDANCE:

• Daqo New Energy (DQ) reported Q2 results, with EPS missing consensus
• Napco Security (NSSC) reported Q4 results, with EPS and revenue beating consensus
• Alarum (ALAR) reported Q2 results, with CEO Shachar Daniel commenting, “we announced the results of yet another strong record-breaking quarter”
• Asia Pacific Wire & Cable Corp (APWC) reported 1H of 2024, with EPS and revenue higher year-over-year
• NioCorp (NB) reported 2024 results, with EPS higher year-over-year

INDEXES:

Near midday, the Dow was up 32.19, or 0.08%, to 41,207.27, the Nasdaq was down 171.02, or 0.96%, to 17,706.78, and the S&P 500 was down 22.71, or 0.40%, to 5,611.90.