Target names CEO successor, Guess to go private: Morning Buzz

The major averages were trending lower near noon as investors absorb a tech-led pullback and await pivotal catalysts, including Federal Reserve minutes and the highly anticipated Jackson Hole symposium. Meanwhile, President Trump is calling on Fed Governor Lisa Cook to resign, a move that follows a criminal referral letter from Federal Housing Agency Bill Pulte, sent last week, to Attorney General Pam Bondi alleging mortgage fraud.

Looking to commodities, gold prices are rebounding following the week’s earlier declines. Oil prices are also trading higher near noon following yesterday’s crude numbers.

Get caught up quickly on the top news and calls moving stocks with these five Top Five lists, and subscribe to the Fly By on YouTube.

1. STOCK NEWS:

• Target (TGT) reported upbeat Q2 results, reiterated its FY25 outlook, and announced CEO Brian Cornell will switch to a chair role, with COO Michael Fiddelke set to succeed him
• Lowe’s (LOW) provided a “beat and raise” report for Q2 and agreed to acquire Foundation Building Materials for $8.8B
• TJX (TJX) also provided a “beat and raise” report for Q2
• Authentic Brands will be involved in taking Guess (GES) private in a $16.75 per share acquisition
• Dayforce (DAY) said it is engaged in “advanced discussions” with Thoma Bravo on an acquisition

2. WALL STREET CALLS:

• Snowflake (SNOW) upgraded to Buy at BofA on signs of momentum
• Upstart (UPST) upgraded at JPMorgan, here’s why
• Novavax (NVAX) downgraded to Underperform at BofA on “murky outlook”
• Figma (FIG) initiated with bullish view at Piper Sandler
• Citi downgraded Abercrombie & Fitch (ANF), Gap (GAP) and Urban Outfitters (URBN), all to Neutral

3. AROUND THE WEB:

• Google (GOOGL) will pay $30M to settle a class action lawsuit alleging it violated kids’ privacy on YouTube by collecting data without parental consent for targeted ads, Reuters reports
• U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick is looking into the government taking equity stakes in Intel (INTC) as well as other chipmakers in exchange for CHIPS Act grants, Reuters reports
• McDonald’s (MCD) will be lowering the cost of its combo meals after weeks of discussions with its restaurant operations, WSJ says
• Oracle (ORCL) is on the hook for tens of billions to build “unprecedentedly” large data centers, including $1B per year on a gas-powered megasite in West Texas, Bloomberg reports
• Microsoft (MSFT) has limited Chinese companies’ access to advance notifications about cybersecurity vulnerabilities after investigating a potential leak, reported Bloomberg

4. MOVERS:

• Shineco (SISI) gains in New York after executing a cooperation agreement with Plus Me
• Rocket Pharmaceuticals (RCKT) higher after announcing the clinical hold placed on RP-A501 trial was lifted
• Hertz (HTZ) increases after announcing shoppers will be able to browse, finance, and purchase pre-owned vehicles on Amazon (AMZN) Autos
• EnCore (EU) lower after announcing a $75M share offering
• James Hardie (JHX) falls in New York after reporting Q1 results and providing guidance for FY26

5. EARNINGS/GUIDANCE:

• Toll Brothers (TOL) reported Q3 results, with EPS and revenue beating consensus
• Baidu (BIDU) reported Q2 results, with EPS and revenue lower year-over-year
• La-Z-Boy (LZB) reported Q1 results, with CEO Melinda Whittington commenting, “We were pleased to deliver sales and margin growth in our Wholesale segment for the quarter”
• Kanzhun (BZ) reported Q2 results and provided guidance for Q3
• ZIM Integrated (ZIM) reported Q2 results and narrowed its guidance for FY25

INDEXES:

Near midday, the Dow was down 0.18%, 80.64, to 44,841.63, the Nasdaq was down 1.37%, or 292.68, to 21,022.27, and the S&P 500 was down 0.74%, or 47.33, to 6,364.04.