Stock Movers

Listen for comprehensive cross-platform coverage of the US market close as heard on Bloomberg Television, Bloomberg Radio, and YouTube with Romaine Bostick, Katie Greifeld, Tim Stenovec and Carol Massar.

On this episode of Stock Movers:

- Lowe's (LOW) closed about 4% higher after the company reported profit that topped expectations on a pickup in online sales and growth in demand from professional contractors. Adjusted earnings per share were $3.06 in the third quarter, the company said in a statement Wednesday, compared with the $3.00 estimate of analysts surveyed by Bloomberg. Lowe’s reported positive same-store sales growth for a second consecutive quarter on strength in its digital channel and in home services.

- Alphabet (GOOGL) rose after glowing reviews for its newly released Gemini artificial intelligence model. The stock's rally extended a banner year for Alphabet, with its 57% jump in 2025 making it the best-performing member of the Magnificent 7 cohort.

 - Abbott Labs (ABT) closed 2.96% lower. Abbott Laboratories is nearing a potential acquisition of Exact Sciences, in what would be its largest deal in nearly a decade, people familiar with the matter said. A deal could be announced in the coming days, and including a premium, a takeover of Exact Sciences would be the largest deal of the year in the health-care sector, data compiled by Bloomberg show.

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On this episode of Stock Movers:
- Shares of Target Corporation (TGT) dipped in premarket trading after the company trimmed its profit forecast for the year, signaling that its turnaround push is going to take more time as the big-box retailer deals with markdowns and soft demand in key merchandise areas. The company now expects earnings per share, excluding some items, of $7 to $8 this year, cutting the high end of its previous forecast. By that same measure, third-quarter results surpassed the average of analyst estimates, but the key retail metric of comparable sales contracted more than expected. 
- Shares of Lowe's Co. (LOW) rallied after the company reported profit that topped expectations on a pickup in online sales and growth in demand from professional contractors. Adjusted earnings per share were $3.06 in the third quarter, the company said in a statement Wednesday, compared with the $3.00 estimate of analysts surveyed by Bloomberg. Lowe’s reported positive same-store sales growth for a second consecutive quarter on strength in its digital channel and in home services. It saw “continued growth” in sales to professional contractors, a market it has sought to expand in recently.
- Shares of Semrush Holdings (SEMR) soared in the early session after news Adobe agreed to buy the marketing software company for $1.9 billion, marking its first takeover announcement since the failed $20 billion acquisition of Figma Inc. in 2022. The all-cash deal will value Semrush at $12 per share and is expected to close in the first half of 2026, Adobe said in a statement Wednesday. Semrush is a platform that allows businesses to analyze and optimize their online marketing, including how their company appears in AI search results. Acquiring the company will help Adobe offer “a comprehensive solution that gives marketers a holistic understanding of how their brands appear across owned channels, LLMs, traditional search and the wider web,” the company said in the statement.

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On this episode of Stock Movers:
- WH Smith Chief Executive Officer Carl Cowling resigned, as an accounting error forced the British retailer to cut its profit outlook in North America for a second time.
- Vivendi shares slumped on Wednesday after Le Monde reported that billionaire Vincent Bolloré’s eponymous holding could escape having to pay anything to compensate minority shareholders over the recent split of the group.
- Kering dropped the most in nearly two weeks, after CEO Luca de Meo said the company must reduce its reliance on its flagship Gucci brand and further scale back its store network to return to growth, according to a Reuters report.

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On this episode of Stock Movers:
- Ocado shares slump after its biggest customer, US grocer Kroger Co., said its automated warehouse network is falling short of financial expectations and announced the closure of three sites.
-  WH Smith shares fall only modestly in early trading as analysts find some positives amid the publication of an independent review by Deloitte that led to the resignation of CEO Carl Cowling.
- Jet2 shares rise the most since April, after the budget airline reassured investors concerned about recent weakness in prices by reiterating it should meet underlying profit expectations this year.

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On this episode of stock movers:

• Microsoft (MSFT) and Amazon (AMZN) fall after Rothschild & Co Redburn's Alexander Haissl downgraded Microsoft Corp. and Amazon.com Inc. to neutral from buy, citing the industry's "trust us – Gen-AI is just like early cloud 1.0" narrative as "increasingly misplaced"
• Home Depot (HD) sinks after the company cut its full-year earnings guidance, warning that some unsteady consumers are hitting the pause button on big-ticket home purchases.
• Honeywell (HON) drops after BofA Global Research cut the recommendation on the industrial giant to underperform from buy, becoming the lone sell-equivalent rating in Bloomberg data. BofA expects shares to lag as elements of its spinoff strategy disappoint investors and the company doesn’t deliver earnings growth next year.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Listen for comprehensive cross-platform coverage of the US market close as heard on Bloomberg Television, Bloomberg Radio, and YouTube with Romaine Bostick, Katie Greifeld, Tim Stenovec and Carol Massar.

On this episode of Stock Movers:

- Medtronic (MDT) gained 4.6%, the biggest gainer in the S&P today. The rise came after the medical device maker lifted the bottom end of its range for adjusted profit forecast for the year. The company also boosted its organic revenue outlook following better-than-expected results in the second quarter. 

- Merck (MRK) shares rose to their highest level since March after the drugmaker said a mid-stage trial of its drug for a rare form of high blood pressure met its main goal. Analysts see the trial win as a potential for an expanded market for the drug, Winrevair.

- Nvidia closed 2.8% lower. Tech weakness is persisting ahead of Nvidia's earnings report. The company, along with Microsoft, is committing to invest up to a combined $15 billion in Anthropic in a move that ties the AI developer closer to two of the biggest backers for its rival OpenAI. 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On this episode of Stock Movers:
- Amazon (AMZN) shares drop after Rothschild & Co Redburn's Alexander Haissl downgraded Microsoft Corp. and Amazon.com, Inc. to neutral from buy, citing the industry's "trust us" – Gen-AI is just like early cloud 1.0” narrative looks “increasingly misplaced,
- Home Depot (HD) shares fall after the company cut its full-year earnings guidance, warning that some unsteady consumers are hitting the pause button on big-ticket home purchases. The world’s largest home-improvement retailer said it expects adjusted earnings per share to decline 5% from a year ago, lower than its previous forecast.
- Cloudflare (NET) shares fall after a worldwide outage at the network of cybersecurity firm Cloudflare Inc. appeared to be resolving after several hours of disruption on Tuesday.The outage had taken down the websites for everything from the chief US energy regulator, ChatGPT, the New Jersey transit authority and the social-media platform X. ChatGPT and X were among the services that were back online by 10 a.m. New York time.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On this episode of Stock Movers:
- Microsoft (MSFT) shares drop after Rothschild & Co Redburn's Alexander Haissl downgraded Microsoft Corp. and Amazon.com, Inc. to neutral from buy, citing the industry's "trust us" – Gen-AI is just like early cloud 1.0” narrative looks “increasingly misplaced,
- Home Depot (HD) shares fall after the company cut its full-year earnings guidance, warning that some unsteady consumers are hitting the pause button on big-ticket home purchases. The world’s largest home-improvement retailer said it expects adjusted earnings per share to decline 5% from a year ago, lower than its previous forecast.
- Honeywell (HON) shares sink after BofA Global Research cut the recommendation on the industrial giant to underperform from buy, becoming the lone sell-equivalent rating in Bloomberg data. BofA expects shares to lag as elements of its spinoff strategy disappoint investors and the company doesn’t deliver earnings growth next year.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On this episode of Stock Movers:
- Shares of Home Depot (HD) fell ahead of the US market open after the company cut its full-year earnings guidance, warning that some unsteady consumers are hitting the pause button on big-ticket home purchases. The world’s largest home-improvement retailer said it expects adjusted earnings per share to decline 5% from a year ago, lower than its previous forecast. The company said its profit and comparable sales came in lower than expected in the last quarter, citing the overall weakness in the housing market and a lack of storms that hampered demand in roofing, generators and other categories.
- Shares of Microsoft (MSFT) and Amazon (AMZN) both moved lower in the early session after Rothschild & Co Redburn’s Alexander Haissl downgraded the stocks for the first time since initiating coverage in June 2022, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Haissl’s downgrades follow a selloff in the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100, which has wiped out almost $1.8 trillion since a late-October peak to send the gauge down 5.1% in that time. Investors have retreated from AI-related stocks amid unease over stretched valuations.
- Shares of Apple (AAPL) moved higher in premarket trading after the company's iPhone 17 series drove a 37% rise in its monthly smartphone sales in China, signaling strong momentum in a key market. iPhones accounted for one in every four smartphones sold in the country in October, the first time it’s hit that threshold since 2022, according to Counterpoint Research. The figures suggest Apple’s year-on-year upgrades are resonating with consumers and support Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook’s prediction that the company will return to growth in China this quarter.

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On this episode of Stock Movers:
- Akzo Nobel has agreed to acquire smaller rival paint maker Axalta Coating Systems Ltd. in a cross-border share deal that values the target at €7.9 billion ($9.2 billion). The Dutch company’s stock fell as much as 4.4% in Amsterdam early Tuesday, the steepest intra-day drop since Oct. 22.
- Rheinmetall sees sales of about €50 billion in 2030, according to a presentation for its capital markets day. Shares rose as much as 2.4%
- Amundi will buy into the alternative investment firm ICG as it seeks to tap into the booming demand for unlisted assets. Shares rose us much as 11% this morning. Tiwa Adebayo

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