Midday Fly By: AWS hit by outage, Kering sells beauty unit

The major averages were broadly higher near noon as markets opened with a cautiously optimistic tone amid strong corporate earnings momentum and a delayed inflation report that markets are hungry to see.

On the inflation front, markets are closely watching the yet-to-be-released consumer price data. Because of the shutdown, traditional labor and CPI metrics are blank, forcing investors to lean more heavily on alternatives and sentiment.

Looking to commodities, gold continues to trade near record levels as a hedge against policy uncertainty, while oil prices are a bit softer amid demand concerns and supply signals.

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

1. STOCK NEWS:

• Amazon Web Services (AMZN) experienced an outage, having major impacts on access to Robinhood (HOOD), Snapchat (SNAP), and others
• Boeing (BA) has secured the backing of the Federal Aviation Administration to raise production of its 737 jetliner to 42 jets a month, Bloomberg reports
• Kering (PPRUY) agreed to sell its beauty unit to L’Oreal (LRLCY) for EUR 4B
• Cleveland-Cliffs (CLF) reported lower-than-expected Q3 revenue and cut its FY25 capital spending guidance
• Blockchain.com has held talks to go public via a SPAC deal, Coindesk reports

2. WALL STREET CALLS:

• Loop upgraded Apple (AAPL) to Buy on “material upside” it sees to iPhone estimates
• Lululemon (LULU) upgraded to Neutral at BNP Paribas Exane after 65% pullback
• Progressive (PGR) downgraded to Underweight at Morgan Stanley
• Rivian (RIVN) downgraded to Underperform at Mizuho
• Astera Labs (ALAB) downgraded to Equal Weight at Barclays

3. AROUND THE WEB:

• Chinese companies, including Alibaba (BABA)-backed Ant Group and JD.com (JD), have paused plans to issue stablecoins in Hong Kong after instructions from regulators not to move ahead, FT says
• Paramount Skydance (PSKY) employees will face a new round of cuts, with the company expecting to eliminate around 2,000 jobs in the U.S., with additional layoffs internationally, Variety reports
• Starboard Value, which built a 9% stake in Tripadvisor (TRIP) earlier this year, plans to discuss the need to make changes at the company at an industry conference on Tuesday, Reuters says
• U.S. District Judge Phyllis Hamilton has blocked NSO Group from Meta‘s (META) WhatsApp platform, CNS reports
• At Castellon airport in eastern Spain, nearly new Airbus (EADSY) aircraft are being stripped for parts, Reuters reports

4. MOVERS:

• GSI Technology (GSIT) gains after announcing the publication of a paper on APU CIM architectures
• Replimune (REPL) increases after announcing the FDA accepted its BLA resubmission of RP1
• Alto Neuroscience (ANRO) higher after announcing plans to accelerate the development of ALTO-207
• Olema (OLMA) lower after providing updated data on its Phase 1b/2 study of palazestrant and ribociclib
• Exelixis (EXEL) falls after reporting detailed results from its STELLAR-303 study

5. EARNINGS/GUIDANCE:

• HBT Financial (HBT) reported Q3 results, with EPS beating consensus
• Staar Surgical (STAA) reported preliminary Q3 results
• Dynex Capital (DX) reported Q3 results, with EPS higher year-over-year
• Accuray (ARAY) provided guidance for Q1
• CorMedix (CRMD) reported preliminary Q3 results and raised its guidance for FY25

INDEXES:

Near midday, the Dow was up 0.83%, or 382.18, to 46,572.79, the Nasdaq was up 1.41%, or 320.19, to 23,000.16, and the S&P 500 was up 1.00%, or 66.34, to 6,730.35.