Morning Movers: Workday surges after Elliot stake, stock buyback program

Stock futures were mostly flat to slightly down. Markets opened with a muted tone and cautious optimism as investors zeroed in on the Federal Reserve’s meeting later in the day. The widely expected 25 basis point interest rate cut is priced in, but traders are watching closely for guidance about how many more cuts are coming this year and what the Fed’s “dot plot” will show.

The dollar, which had been weakening, bounced back somewhat against the euro and other major currencies as expectations for a dovish tone from the Fed are high, but not guaranteed. Investors are especially attentive to Fed Chair Jerome Powell’s remarks for clues about how aggressively the central bank sees easing in the coming months. Sectors that tend to do well when rates come down are in focus.

In Europe, shares in the STOXX 600 drifted slightly higher driven by tech elements, while cautiousness was evident in rate-sensitive financial stocks. Global markets overall are holding near recent highs but lack strong conviction ahead of the Fed announcement.

A notable backdrop is the rise in optimism over more rate cuts by year-end. Market participants are now assuming more easing than perhaps before, but evidence is mixed. Strong retail sales in some recent reports contrast with signs of softness elsewhere.

In pre-market trading, S&P 500 futures fell 0.03%, Nasdaq futures fell 0.02% and Dow futures rose 0.07%

Check out this morning’s top movers from around Wall Street, compiled by The Fly, and subscribe to the FlyBy on YouTube.

HIGHER –

• Workday (WDAY) up 9% after Elliot disclosed a $2B stake in the company and announcing a $4B stock buyback
• IonQ (IONQ) up 3% after entering into a definitive agreement to acquire Vector Atomic
• Alibaba (BABA) up 3% after announcing the signing of a contract with China Unicom to deploy its Pingtouge artificial intelligence accelerators
• Netflix (NFLX) up 1% after Loop Capital upgraded the stock to Buy from Hold with a price target of $1,350, up from $1,150
• Cytokinetics (CYTK) up 1% after announcing the private placement of $550M convertible senior notes

DOWN AFTER EARNINGS –

• Manchester United (MANU) down 6%
• General Mills (GIS) down 3%

LOWER –

• Nvidia (NVDA) down 1% after The Financial Times reported China’s internet regulator has ordered top technology firms to halt purchases of Nvidia’s AI chips and cancel existing orders as part of a broader push to cut reliance on U.S. technology