Intel lands AWS deal, prepares for possible factory split: Morning Buzz

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

1. STOCK NEWS:

• Intel (INTC) said it will establish Intel Foundry as an independent subsidiary and pause manufacturing buildout projects in Poland and Germany, along with announcing an expanded deal with Amazon’s (AMZN) AWS as a customer for the company’s manufacturing business
• Microsoft (MSFT) approved a buyback of up to $60B of common stock and raised its quarterly dividend 10%
• Accenture (ACN) has delayed promotions by six months, Bloomberg says
• Uber (UBER) announced the nationwide launch of enhanced rider verification
• Walmart’s (WMT) Sam’s Club unit announced a new plan for workforce compensation

2. WALL STREET CALLS:

• HP Enterprise (HPE) upgraded to Buy at BofA
• SolarEdge (SEDG) downgraded to Underperform at Jefferies
• Shopify (SHOP) upgraded to Buy from Neutral at Redburn Atlantic
• ViaSat (VSAT) downgraded to Neutral at JPMorgan
• Carvana (CVNA) reinstated with a Buy at BofA

3. AROUND THE WEB:

• ByteDance aims to mass produce two AI chips designed alongside TSMC (TSM) in 2026, The Information says
• Google’s (GOOGL) 20% ad transaction cut was a primary subject of its antitrust trial at the end of week one, The Verge reports
• Boeing (BA) is “eliminating” first- business-class travel for executives, BI says
• Meta (META) plans to bar Russian media outlets from posting on its platforms, NY Times reports
• Central Pacific Financial (CPF) is in discussions to raise money for some alternative asset managers to help acquire American Savings Bank FSB from Hawaiian Electric (HE), Bloomberg says

4. MOVERS:

• Talkspace (TALK) gains after announcing a partnership with Amazon (AMZN) Health Services
• Torrid (CURV) higher after Blair upgraded the stock to Outperform
• SES AI (SES) increases after announcing a collaboration with Nvidia (NVDA) and Supermicro (SMCI)
• Healthcare Realty Trust (HR) falls after announcing the departure of CFO Kris Douglas
• Oracle (ORCL) lower after announcing its Opera Cloud hospitality management platform was selected by Hyatt (H)

5. EARNINGS/GUIDANCE:

• Steel Dynamics (STLD) provided guidance for Q3
• Nucor (NUE) released guidance for Q3
• Vince Holding (VNCE) reported Q2 results and provided guidance for Q3
• Compass Minerals (CMP) provided guidance for Q3 and narrowed its revenue outlook for FY24
• Ferguson (FERG) reported Q4 results and provided guidance for FY25

INDEXES:

Near midday, the Dow was up 102.34, or 0.25%, to 41,724.42, the Nasdaq was up 120.29, or 0.68%, to 17,712.42, and the S&P 500 was up 20.27, or 0.36%, to 5,653.36.