Midday Fly By: Musk pay plan approved, ‘GTA VI’ delayed

The major averages were broadly lower near noon, putting the biggest indices on track for a down week. Stocks tied to artificial intelligence and semiconductors are under fire as investors question how much of the recent euphoria is based on sustainable earnings versus speculative growth.

Compounding this, the ongoing U.S. government shutdown, which is nearly 40 days in, is delaying key economic data, leaving the market with less clarity on employment and inflation trends and making the policy outlook for the Federal Reserve more opaque.

Looking to commodities, gold prices were marginally higher, with the “safe haven” asset still hovering around the $4,000 mark. Oil prices were fractionally higher as well near noon.

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

1. STOCK NEWS:

• Tesla (TSLA) shareholders approved CEO Elon Musk’s nearly $1T pay plan
• Expedia (EXPE) reported upbeat Q3 earnings and revenue while Airbnb (ABNB) provided a more mixed quarterly report
• Nvidia (NVDA) CEO Jensen Huang said there are no active talks to sell its Blackwell AI chips to China, Reuters reports
• Take-Two (TTWO) reported mixed Q2 results and announced that the release of “Grand Theft Auto VI” has been delayed to November 19, 2026
• Honda (HMC) reported downbeat H1 results and announced it is recalling over 406,000 U.S. vehicles over a wheel detachment issue

2. WALL STREET CALLS:

• Datadog (DDOG) upgraded to Overweight at KeyBanc
• Sweetgreen (SG) downgraded to Sell at Goldman Sachs
• Trade Desk (TTD) upgraded to Buy at Benchmark
• Intellia Therapeutics (NTLA) downgraded to Underweight at JPMorgan
• Canada Goose (GOOS) downgraded to Sell at Williams Trading

3. AROUND THE WEB:

• Several shareholders in BlackLine (BL) are urging the accounting software provider to explore a possible sale following reported takeover interest by SAP (SAP), Bloomberg reports
• Blackstone (BX) is planning to liquidate a $1.8B wager on senior housing that led to more than $600M in losses for the firm, WSJ reports
• AstraZeneca (AZN) CEO Pascal Soriot has warned that if the U.K. does not increase spending on new drugs, it could eventually be limited to only affordable generics rather than cutting-edge treatments, The Guardian says
• Google’s (GOOGL) seventh generation TPU, Ironwood, will launch in the coming weeks and is more than 4x faster than its sixth-gen TPU, CNBC reports
• Litigation against glyphosate, the chemical used in Bayer’s (BAYRY) Roundup, has cast a massive cloud over the company, leading CEO Bill Anderson to consider whether the company should continue to make the chemical, Bloomberg says

4. MOVERS:

• Globus Medical (GMED) increases after reporting Q3 results and raising its guidance for FY25
• JFrog (FROG) gains after reporting Q3 results and providing guidance for Q4 and FY25
• Holley (HLLY) and Kodak (KODK) higher after reporting quarterly results
• AirSculpt Technologies (AIRS) falls after reporting Q3 results and cutting its guidance for FY25
• Fox Factory (FOXF) and Karman (KRMN) lower after reporting quarterly results

5. EARNINGS/GUIDANCE:

• Wendy’s (WEN) reported Q3 results and reaffirmed its FY25 guidance, with CEO Ken Cook commenting, “Q3 results were in line with our expectations”
• KKR (KKR) reported Q3 results, with EPS and revenue beating consensus
• DoubleVerify (DV) reported Q3 results and lowered its guidance for FY25
• Calumet (CLMT) reported Q3 results, with revenue beating consensus
• Conduent (CNDT) reported Q3 results and provided guidance for FY25

INDEXES:

Near midday, the Dow was down 0.62%, or 290.22, to 46,622.08, the Nasdaq was down 1.84%, or 424.98, to 22,629.01, and the S&P 500 was down 1.04%, or 70.00, to 6,650.32.