Several companies were making headlines in midday trading, with Walgreens Boots Alliance seeing a 5.4% increase in stock value after announcing plans to potentially sell its Boots drugstore chain in the U.K. Xponential Fitness also experienced a volatile trading day, with shares initially dropping over 9% before rebounding nearly 11.3%. GameStop saw a massive 74.4% surge in stock price after “Roaring Kitty” returned to Reddit, causing trading halts due to the high volatility. Stocks of Reddit and Robinhood also rose on Monday as GameStop surged, with Reddit hitting its highest level since March and Robinhood gaining about 4.1%.
Squarespace announced a $6.9 billion deal to go private, causing its stock to jump 13.3%. The website platform company will be sold to private equity firm Permira for $44 per share, a 15% premium to Friday’s close, after underperforming as a public company. Arm Holdings also saw a 7.7% increase in stock price following a report that the chipmaker is planning to launch its first artificial intelligence chips next year. Incyte, a biopharmaceutical company, experienced an 8.6% increase in stock value after approving a $2 billion share repurchase program.
Nexstar Media Group, a television and digital media company, saw a 1.1% increase after Morgan Stanley upgraded its stock rating from equal weight to overweight. The bank noted strong retransmissions and improved ad sales as programming expands for the company. Intel gained 2.2% after reports of talks with Apollo Global Management for an $11 billion deal to build a factory in Ireland. SolarEdge Technologies surged 5.5% despite being downgraded to neutral at Susquehanna, with concerns over the company’s gross margin moving forward.
Airlines also saw positive movement, with American Airlines up 3.7%, United Airlines up 3.2%, and Delta Air Lines up 1% after HSBC initiated coverage with buy ratings. HSBC named Delta as its preferred stock in the sector, predicting a boost in stock value due to increasing demand for international travel, rebounding corporate travel, and tighter capacity. Overall, the market experienced significant fluctuations and positive gains in various sectors during midday trading.
