FedEx to separate Freight unit, Nike reports Q2 beat: Morning Buzz

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

1. STOCK NEWS:

• FedEx (FDX) reported lower-than-expected Q2 results and announced it will separate FedEx Freight into a new publicly traded company
• Nike (NKE) reported upbeat Q2 earnings and revenue but guided to a Q3 revenue decline
• Novo Nordisk (NVO) says patients on Cagrisema lost 22.7% of their weight in a trial
• Carnival (CCL) reported upbeat Q4 results
• The CFPB is suing JPMorgan (JPM), Bank of America (BAC), and Wells Fargo (WFC) over Zelle-related errors

2. WALL STREET CALLS:

• Loop upgraded FedEx (FDX) to Buy after the announcement of its “value creating spin”
• Telsey downgraded Nike (NKE) with its turnaround taking longer to execute
• Affirm (AFRM) upgraded to Outperform at JMP Securities
• Merck (MRK) downgraded to Market Perform at BMO Capital
• Guggenheim initiated coverage of “industry revenue growth leader” Reddit (RDDT) with a Buy

3. AROUND THE WEB:

• The U.S. Department of Commerce recently asked Nvidia (NVDA) to look into how the company’s products ended up in China over the past year, The Information reports
• A union representing Starbucks (SBUX) workers said baristas in three cities will walk off the job Friday morning and strikes will spread to hundreds of stores unless the company improved its wage offer, NY Times says
• Suzano (SUZ) is exploring an offer for Clearwater Paper (CLW), Bloomberg reports
• TPG (TPG) is in advanced talks to buy Crown Castle’s (CCI) fiber business for approximately $8B, Bloomberg says
• Lumen Technologies (LUMN) has initiated a process to sell its consumer fiber business, Reuters reports

4. MOVERS:

• Humacyte (HUMA) higher after the FDA granted full approval for Symvess
• Freyr Battery (FREY) gains in New York after BTIG upgraded the stock to Buy
• Enovix (ENVX) increases after announcing its first major milestone of shipping second-generation EX-2M samples to customers manufactured in its Malaysian Fab 2 plant
• Eos Energy (EOSE) rises after receiving its first loan advance from the DOE for $68.3M
• Rezolve AI (RZLV) falls in New York after pricing a $15M share offering

5. EARNINGS/GUIDANCE:

• Scholastic (SCHL) reported Q2 results and reaffirmed its FY25 guidance
• Winnebago (WGO) reported Q1 results, with EPS and revenue missing consensus
• U.S. Steel (X) provided guidance for Q4
• BlackBerry (BB) reported Q3 results, with CEO John Giamatteo commenting on “a significant inflection in its results this past quarter”
• enGene (ENGN) reported FY24 results, with EPS lower year-over-year

INDEXES:

Near midday, the Dow was up 1.81%, or 765.53, to 43,107.77, the Nasdaq was up 1.71%, or 330.46, to 19,703.23, and the S&P 500 was up 1.70%, or 99.86, to 5,966.94.