The GM logo is seen on a water tank of the General Motors assembly plant in Ramos Arizpe, in Coahuila state, Mexico February 11, 2021.
Daniel Becerril | Reuters
Check out the companies making headlines in midday trading.
Energy — Energy stocks dominated the top performing spots in the S&P 500 as U.S. crude oil prices topped $80 a barrel, the highest since 2014. APA Corp gained 6.8%. Pioneer and Diamondback added 4.6%. Hess rose 6.6%. EOG leapt 5.5%. Marathon Oil gained 4.6% and Devon Energy added 3.8%.
Charter Communications — The cable company’s stock fell 4.8% after Wells Fargo downgraded it to underweight from equal weight, due to concerns about slowing cable subscriber growth. Cable One also lost 2.7% after Wells downgraded it to equal weight from overweight. Competitors Altice fell 4% and Comcast Corp fell 4.7%. Comcast owns NBCUniversal, the parent company of CNBC.
General Motors — Shares of the automaker jumped 3.5% after Credit Suisse reiterated its outperform rating on the stock, saying it has a “compelling case” for multiple expansion after the company’s investor day earlier this week. Shares of Ford also were also higher, by 1.8%.
Oatly — Shares of the oat milk maker gained less than 1% intraday, but closed 0.9% lower after JPMorgan upgraded the stock to overweight from neutral. The Wall Street firm said it sees a “favorable risk/reward” for the shares after pulling back nearly 50% from its June peak.
Sirius XM Holdings — The satellite radio company saw shares fall 3.7% after JPMorgan downgraded the stock to neutral from overweight, saying it expects the slowdown in new auto sales to affect new subscriptions. It lowered its December 2022 price target to $7 from $8.
Moderna — The biotechnology and pharmaceutical stock fell 1.4% after Finland, Denmark and Sweden announced they would limit the use of the Moderna’s Covid-19 vaccine in young people. The countries made the decision citing concerns around rare cardiovascular side effects.
Citrix Systems — The enterprise software stock continued its descent after Citi downgraded it to neutral from buy, citing the departure of the company’s CEO, announced earlier in the week. It’s unlikely a financial bidder will buy the company and that it will struggle to deliver on its long term targets, analyst Tyler Radke said. Citrix slid 5.7%.
— CNBC’s Hannah Miao and Yun Li contributed reporting
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This article was originally published on CNBC