GMS jumps after report of competing suitors, Couchbase gets bought: Morning Buzz

Stocks are mixed near noon as investors digest fresh geopolitical news and continue to weigh the Federal Reserve’s latest stance on interest rates. President Trump’s putting off any potential military action against Iran has brought some relief to markets. Brent crude has pulled back to around $77 per barrel as the likelihood of immediate escalation diminishes.

On the macro side, the Fed’s cautious tone earlier this week is still reverberating. Policymakers kept rates unchanged but emphasized that inflation risks remain, tamping down hopes for a September rate cut. Market pricing now sees only a 50%-60% chance of easing by the fall. UBS and other strategists are warning that equity valuations are stretched, and a volatile summer could lie ahead if profit growth or labor data show signs of weakness.

For now, investors appear to be in wait-and-see mode heading into the weekend.

Get caught up quickly on the top news and calls moving stocks with these five Top Five lists. Also check out this morning’s Fly By recap on YouTube and subscribe if you want to know how the markets will open and what stocks traders will be focused on each day.

1. STOCK NEWS:

• GMS Inc. (GMS) shares have surged after billionaire Brad Jacobs’ building-products distributor QXO (QXO) made an offer on Wednesday to acquire GMS for about $5B in cash and The Wall Street Journal then reported on Thursday afternoon that Home Depot (HD) has also made a bid
• Shares of Couchbase (BASE) have jumped after the company announced an agreement to be acquired by Haveli Investments for $24.50 per share in an all-cash transaction valued at approximately $1.5B
• Meta (META) recently tried acquiring Safe Superintelligence, the artificial intelligence startup launched by OpenAI co-founder Ilya Sutskever, CNBC reports
• Darden Restaurants (DRI) shares are up after the parent company of Olive Garden, Longhorn and other restaurant brands reported what CEO Rick Cardenas called a “strong quarter”
• Conversely, Accenture (ACN) shares are sliding after the consulting giant reported fiscal third quarter results and updated its full-year guidance

2. WALL STREET CALLS:

• Mondelez (MDLZ) upgraded at Wells Fargo, here’s why
• CubeSmart (CUBE) upgraded to Outperform, named top pick in storage at BMO Capital
• Jack in the Box (JACK) downgraded to Hold at Stifel
• Seaport started “top-tier crypto disruptor” Circle (CRCL) with a Buy
• Netflix (NFLX) price targets were raised at Pivotal Research and Wells Fargo

3. AROUND THE WEB:

• Alibaba (BABA) plans to open another data center in South Korea by the end of this month, Bloomberg says
• Foxconn and Nvidia (NVDA) are in discussions to deploy humanoid robots at a Foxconn history in Houston that will produce Nvidia AI servers, Reuters reports
• Eli Lilly (LLY) said the response in India to its Mounjaro has been “positive,” adding it is focused on meeting demand for the drug in the country, Reuters says
• A potential $35M settlement of President Trump’s lawsuit against Paramount’s (PARA) CBS has been delayed as the company’s management continues to fear a potential legal backlash, NYP reports
• Google (GOOGL) is using its expansive library of YouTube videos to train its AI models, including Gemini and the Veo 3 video and audio generator, CNBC says

4. MOVERS:

• Centrus Energy (LEU) increases after securing a contract extension from the DOE to continue HALEU production
• GXO Logistics (GXO) gains after appointing Patrick Kelleher as CEO
• Capricor Therapeutics (CAPR) falls after announcing four-year data from its HOPE-2 OLE study
• KBR (KBR) lower after announcing TRANSCOM terminated HomeSafe’s role in Global Household Goods contract
• Sarepta (SRPT) declines after William Blair downgraded the stock to Market Perform

5. EARNINGS/GUIDANCE:

• Kroger (KR) reported Q1 results and reaffirmed its guidance for FY25
• CarMax (KMX) reported Q1 results, with CEO Bill Nash commenting, “We delivered our fourth consecutive quarter of positive retail comps and double-digit year-over-year earnings per share growth”
• Evolent Health (EVH) backed its guidance for Q2
• Smith & Wesson Brands (SWBI) reported Q4 results, with EPS and revenue missing consensus
• FedEx (FDX) to report quarterly results on June 24

INDEXES:

Near midday, the Dow was up 0.13%, or 56.26, to 42,227.92, the Nasdaq was down 0.47%, or 91.36, to 19,454.91, and the S&P 500 was down 0.19%, or 11.25, to 5,969.62.