A general view of the Halewood Ford transmission assembly plant after Ford announced a 230 GBP investment on October 18, 2021 in Halewood, England.
Christopher Furlong | Getty Images
Check out the companies making headlines in midday trading.
Ford Motor – Shares of Ford surged more than 12% after the company announced plans to nearly double the production of its new all-electric F-150 Lightning pickup truck to 150,000 annually by mid-2023. The company opened orders this week for the electric truck, which it had previously shut down due to an overwhelming response.
Warner Music Group – Warner Music slid more than 3% a day after the company announced a sale of 8.56 million shares by affiliates of Access Industries. Warner Music will not receive any proceeds from the sale and is not selling any shares of common stock in the offering.
Bank of America, American Express – Financial stocks rallied as the benchmark 10-year Treasury yield climbed. Bank of America jumped 4.5% after Wells Fargo Equity Research named the stock a top pick in the financial sector for 2022. American Express gained 2.9%, and Signature Bank jumped more than 3% after also being named as top picks at Wells Fargo.
Occidental Petroleum, Coterra Energy, Halliburton – Energy stocks rose as oil prices moved higher with OPEC and its allies agreeing to raise its output target. Occidental jumped about 8.4%, Coterra rallied 7.9% and Halliburton added 6.5%.
Foot Locker – Shares of Foot Locker dipped 2.6% after JPMorgan downgraded the stock to underweight from neutral. The firm cited cost pressures and tougher competition for the athletic footwear and apparel retailer.
Under Armour – Under Armour shares rose more than 2% after Baird upgraded the stock to an outperform rating from neutral. Baird said it likes stocks with “visible cyclical earnings recovery prospects.”
Coca-Cola – The beverage stock rose 1.6% on Tuesday after investment firm Guggenheim upgraded Coca-Cola to buy from neutral. The firm said in a note to clients that Coca-Cola’s on-premise and emerging markets businesses were rebounding faster than expected from the pandemic.
Hewlett Packard Enterprise – Hewlett Packard Enterprise shares jumped 4.9% after Barclays upgraded the stock to overweight from equal weight. “We believe core Server and Storage is stabilizing and moving to as-a-service, while Networking and HPC should see solid growth. Valuation is lowest in the group,” the firm said in its upgrade.
General Electric – Shares of GE jumped about 2.5% after Credit Suisse upgraded the stock to outperform. GE’s stock has struggled since it announced a three-way split in November, but Credit Suisse said that shares had upside of more than 25%.
Toyota Motor – Shares of Toyota gained more than 7% after Japan’s Nikkei news service reported the company plans to launch its own automotive operating system by 2025.
— CNBC’s Jesse Pound and Tanaya Macheel contributed reporting
