Finance

A pedestrian walks by a Domino’s Pizza restaurant in San Francisco, Feb. 23, 2023.
Justin Sullivan | Getty Images News | Getty Images

Check out the companies making the biggest moves midday.
Domino’s Pizza — The stock popped 11.09% after Domino’s announced U.S. consumers can now order its products through Uber’s Uber Eats and Postmates apps. The agreement has the potential to add incremental orders from Uber Eats to 70% of Domino’s stores, the company said.

DraftKings — Shares of the sports betting app rallied 5.28% following an upgrade to buy by analysts at Bank of America. The Wall Street firm cited an “inflection point” in margins and profitability.
Roku — Shares of the streaming provider gained 1.18%. The company said Tuesday it’s teaming up with Shopify to allow viewers to purchase straight from Roku TV. Viewers will be able to simply press a button on their Roku remote to place an order upon seeing an ad for a Shopify merchant, the company said.
Lazard, Jefferies Financial — Shares of Lazard added 4.22% while Jefferies gained 4.88% after both were upgraded by Morgan Stanley, which said it expects growing merger and acquisition activity. Lazard was upgraded to overweight from equal weight, while Jefferies was upgraded to equal weight from underweight.
Bank stocks — Bank stocks jumped after consumer prices came in lighter than expected. Citigroupand Goldman Sachs gained 1.83% and 1.72%, respectively. KeyCorp rallied 3.12%, while Zions added 2.81% and Comerica Bancorporation rose 3.12%.
Lucid Group — The electric-vehicle maker sank 11.82% after its second-quarter deliveries fell short of analysts’ estimates. Lucid delivered 1,404 of its electric Air luxury sedans, while analysts polled by FactSet expected 2,000 deliveries.

SunPower — Shares jumped 8.19% after the solar power company was upgraded by Raymond James to strong buy from outperform. Analyst Pavel Molchanov called this year’s sell-off “excessive.” His price target of $21 implies 120% upside from Tuesday’s close.
Stellantis — The vehicle manufacturer stock added 2.67% after being upgraded by Bank of America to buy. The firm said Stellantis could benefit against peers due to ample exposure to the U.S.
Beyond Meat — The plant-based meat alternative rose 13.52% following the company’s announcement Tuesday that its steak product will now be sold at about 14,000 stores across the U.S., including Wegmans and Whole Foods. Beyond Meat shares added 4% in the previous session.
Acadia Healthcare — Shares tumbled 5.12% after the company revealed in a filing that a New Mexico jury found Acadia responsible for damages totaling $485 million in a lawsuit. According to reports, the suit is related to a sexual assault in one of its now-defunct residential treatment facilities. Acadia said it is evaluating all legal options and will challenge the verdict.
Holley Inc. — Shares of the auto parts maker jumped 21.14% following upgrades by Bank of America and JPMorgan Chase. JPMorgan said the company was “back on track,” while Bank of America noted it is “firing on all cylinders.”
— CNBC’s Yun Li, Alex Harring, Samantha Subin and Michael Bloom contributed reporting. More

Packages of Beyond Meat Inc.’s plant-based products, Beyond Burger and Beyond Sausage, are displayed at a supermarket in Katwijk, Netherlands, November 19, 2020.
Yuriko Nakao | Getty Images

Check out the companies making headlines in premarket trading.
Roku — The streaming provider climbed 2% before the opening bell. A day earlier, the company announced a partnership with Shopify to allow purchases straight from Roku TV.

Beyond Meat — The plant based meat alternative added 2% on Wednesday morning. The company said Tuesday that its steak product would expand to be now be sold at roughly 14,000 stores across the U.S., including Whole Foods and Wegmans. Beyond Meat shares popped 4% in the previous session.
SunPower — The solar power company soared nearly 6% in premarket trading after an upgrade from Raymond James, which said the stock’s recent weakness is “excessive.”
Carvana — The car retailer climbed roughly 2% after an upgrade from JMP to outperform Wednesday morning, with analyst Nicholas Jones noting the company could be on the cusp of a return to growth thanks to “durable positive” EBITDA.
Netflix — The streaming giant added 0.4% Wednesday morning after UBS increased its price target on Netflix to $525 per share, implying upside of nearly 20%. Netflix will report quarterly results on July 19.
Holley Inc. — The auto parts company soared more than 15% after an upgrade to buy from Bank of America, citing improving sales momentum and better sourcing. JPMorgan Chase upgrades shares to overweight from neutral.
Stellantis — The vehicle manufacturer gained 2% after an upgrade to buy from Bank of America, which said the company could benefit against peers thanks to ample exposure to the U.S. More

John Kerry, special presidential envoy for climate, is set to visit Beijing from July 16 to 19, according to announcements from both the U.S. and China.
Kerry’s trip will mark the third time in a month that a high-level U.S. official has traveled to China for talks.
Climate talks were briefly suspended after then-U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited Taiwan in August.

US climate envoy John Kerry (L) gestures as he speaks next to China’s special climate envoy Xie Zhenhua (R) during a session at the World Economic Forum annual meeting in Davos on May 24, 2022.
Fabrice Coffrini | Afp | Getty Images

BEIJING — John Kerry, special presidential envoy for climate, is set to visit Beijing from July 16 to 19, according to announcements from the U.S. and China.
“During meetings with [People’s Republic of China] officials, Secretary Kerry aims to engage with the PRC on addressing the climate crisis, including with respect to increasing implementation and ambition and promoting a successful COP28,” the U.S. State Department said in a statement.

Kerry’s trip will mark the third time in a month that a high-level U.S. official has traveled to China for talks.
Although the meetings have yet to yield specific action, they mark a resumption of in-person communication that fell off due to the pandemic and geopolitical tensions.
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen ended a four-day trip to Beijing on Sunday. Secretary of State Antony Blinken visited Beijing in late June, months after he was originally scheduled to travel there in February.
Blinken postponed his initial plans after news of an alleged Chinese spy balloon over U.S. airspace. Beijing claims it was a weather balloon that blew off course.

While Blinken’s trip to China led to a general agreement on the need to increase flights between the two countries, the secretary of State said he failed to reinstate military-to-military communication.

“It’s clearly in the interest of both countries to avoid any kind of miscalculations, especially military,” Blinken said in an interview Tuesday with MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell, according to a State Department transcript. “So that’s something we’ll continue to look for.”
Blinken added the “lengthy discussions” he and Yellen had covered where the U.S. and China have “deep differences,” as well as areas of cooperation. “That’s going to continue,” he said.

An area of cooperation

The U.S. and China have noted they can cooperate on climate and the macroeconomy. Climate talks were suspended after then-U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited Taiwan in August. Her trip had angered Beijing, which considers the democratically self-ruled island part of its territory.
After U.S. President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping met in person in November, the two countries resumed communication on climate issues.
Xie Zhenhua, China’s special climate envoy, in April attended a virtual meeting of the U.S.-led Major Economies Forum on Energy and Climate, according to a White House readout. Xie also attended a U.S.-led event at COP 27 in Egypt in November, Kerry said in a readout.
Regarding his upcoming trip to Beijing, the U.S. and China did not specify which Chinese officials Kerry would meet.
The two sides are set to “exchange views on cooperation for tackling climate change,” China’s Ministry of Ecology and Environment said in a statement.

Rising global temperatures

The average national temperature in June was 0.7 degrees Celsius (33 degrees Fahrenheit) higher than a year ago — and the second-hottest for the month going back to 1961, according to the China Meteorological Administration.
Daily temperature highs in Beijing have neared 37.8 degrees Celsius (100 degrees Fahrenheit) or more for the last few weeks. Different parts of the country have also seen heavy rainfall or warned of flash floods.
Meanwhile, wildfires in Canada due to record heat and drought have sent smoky air over New York and other U.S. cities.
Kerry, secretary of State during the Obama administration, became special presidential envoy for climate in 2021 when Biden was inaugurated.
Disclosure: NBCUniversal is the parent company of MSNBC and CNBC. More

Rafael Henrique | Lightrocket | Getty Images

Check out the companies making headlines in midday trading.
Shutterstock — Shares of the stock image, video and music provider jumped 9% after Shutterstock announced a six-year, expanded partnership with OpenAI, the maker of ChatGPT.

Newell Brands — Shares of the consumer goods company jumped more 11% after Canaccord initiated its coverage with a buy rating. The Wall Street firm said better days are ahead with new management at the helm, and it also expects modest top-line growth, improving profitability and cash flows, plus reduced leverage at the company.
Zillow — Zillow popped 9.1% after Piper Sandler upgraded the real estate stock to an overweight rating, saying new initiatives and improvement in the housing market could help boost shares more than 30%.
Salesforce — Shares gained nearly 4% after the software company announced it would hike prices across its cloud-based offerings starting in August.
WD-40 — WD-40 shares popped more than 18% on strong fiscal third-quarter results. The company said total net sales rose 15% from a year ago and issued better-than-expected guidance.
3M — 3M added 4.9% on the back of an upgrade to hold from underperform by Bank of America. The firm said litigation settlements, restructuring and the planned spinoff for the health-care business could all help the stock going forward.

Amazon — The stock added about 1.3% as the e-commerce giant kicked off its two-day Prime Day summer sale. Wells Fargo also named Amazon a top pick, citing better expectations for Amazon Web Services, Prime Day revenue growth and a positive risk/reward heading into earnings.
JetBlue Airways — The airline stock lost 2.6% after Evercore ISI downgraded shares to underweight, citing valuation concerns and recent negative catalysts, including a ruling to end its alliance with American Airlines in the Northeast.
Xpeng — U.S.-listed shares of Xpeng rose 5.8% after Goldman Sachs initiated coverage of the Chinese electric-vehicle company with a buy rating, citing a “compelling” model that fosters revenue and margin expansion. Goldman also expects Xpeng to benefit from ongoing declines in battery prices.
JPMorgan Chase — The bank stock gained 1.5% after Jefferies upgraded shares to a buy from a hold rating, citing a stable earnings outlook and “best-in-class” return on equity potential.
Novo Nordisk — Novo Nordisk, which makes weight-loss drug Wegovy, lost 3% after a study conducted by a pharmacy benefits manager for Reuters showed most patients stop using weight-loss drugs within a year.
Scotts Miracle-Gro — Scotts Miracle-Gro shares gained 10.7% after Truist upgraded the stock to buy from hold. The bank said the maker of consumer lawn and garden products is set to return to counter-season outperformance, with lower debt risk.
Generac — Generac shares rallied 4.5% as Argus Research upgraded the generator maker to a buy rating, citing recent cost-cutting initiatives and better growth than expected within the company’s commercial and industrial segment.
U.S. Bancorp — Shares gained more than 3% after Bank of America upgraded them to buy from neutral, saying earnings and strong execution should foster outperformance.
Iovance Biotherapeutics — Shares sank nearly 10% after the biotechnology company announced the pricing of its underwritten public offering of $150 million in common stock.
— CNBC’s Alex Harring, Michelle Fox, Sarah Min and Yun Li contributed reporting. More

Bank of America engaged in deceptive practices that hurt hundreds of thousands of its customers in recent years, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau said Tuesday.
The bank charged multiple $35 overdraft fees for the same transaction, failed to properly issue rewards to credit card users and signed up customers for card accounts without their consent, the CFPB said in a statement.
The company has to pay $150 million in fines, as well as about $80.4 million to customers who were unfairly charged bogus fees, on top of the $23 million it already paid to customers who were improperly denied card awards.

A man walks past an ATM outside Bank of America Corp. headquarters in Charlotte, North Carolina, May 2, 2016.
Chris Keane | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Bank of America, the second-largest U.S. bank by assets, engaged in deceptive practices that hurt hundreds of thousands of its customers in recent years, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau said Tuesday.
The bank charged multiple $35 overdraft fees for the same transaction, failed to properly issue rewards to credit card users and signed up customers for card accounts without their consent, the CFPB said in a statement.

Charlotte, North Carolina-based Bank of America was ordered to pay a total of $150 million in penalties to the CFPB and another regulator, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency. It also has to pay about $80.4 million to customers who were unfairly charged bogus fees, on top of the $23 million it already paid to customers who were improperly denied card awards.
“These practices are illegal and undermine customer trust,” CFPB Director Rohit Chopra said in the release. “The CFPB will be putting an end to these practices across the banking system.”
Bank of America spokesman Bill Halldin said in a response the lender “voluntarily reduced overdraft fees and eliminated all non-sufficient fund fees in the first half of 2022,” resulting in a 90% drop in revenue from those fees.
The announcement Tuesday is the latest sign that some of the practices exposed by the Wells Fargo fake accounts scandal in 2016 weren’t confined to that bank.
Regulators have punished Wells Fargo for a sales culture that led to the creation of 3.5 million fake accounts. But other lenders have had similar lapses, including U.S. Bank, which paid a $37.5 million fine last year for putting customers into unauthorized accounts. More

Warren Buffett ahead of the Berkshire Hathaway Annual Shareholder’s Meeting in Omaha, NE.
David A. Grogan | CNBC

Berkshire Hathaway Energy has agreed to purchase a 50% stake in the Cove Point liquefied natural gas facility for $3.3 billion in cash.
Warren Buffett’s big energy and utility division bought the stake from Dominion Energy and will now own a 75% limited partnership stake in Cove Point LNG located in Lusby, Maryland. A subsidiary of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners holds the remaining 25% .

While the deal, which was announced Monday, isn’t large in size for Berkshire, it builds on a growing bet on energy infrastructure at the conglomerate as it gains control of one of the rare functional facilities in the U.S. that can export LNG.
“It builds on their long-term theme of energy resources becoming more valuable and ownership of one of only a few US LNG exporters,” said Bill Stone, chief investment officer at Glenview Trust and a Berkshire shareholder.
The Cove Point LNG Terminal has a storage capacity of 14.6 billion cubic feet and a daily send-out capacity of 1.8 billion cubic feet. The firm has a long-term contract with Sumitomo Corp., a Japanese trading company that Buffett also invested in.
Berkshire Hathaway first bought a stake in Dominion’s gas pipeline and storage assets for $4 billion in 2020. Greg Abel, Berkshire Hathaway Energy’s chairman and former CEO, previously told CNBC the deal in 2020 was made through a strong relationship he had with the prior Dominion CEO Tom Farrell.
Abel is now vice chairman for noninsurance operations at Berkshire Hathaway and the successor to the 92-year-old “Oracle of Omaha.” Buffett said Abel has taken on many of the responsibilities at the conglomerate.

In 2022, Berkshire proposed spending nearly $4 billion to help generate more wind and solar power in Iowa. At the same time, the conglomerate has been dramatically increasing its exposure to two traditional energy companies — Occidental Petroleum and Chevron. 
“Buffett has liked pipelines for a long time, given their toll bridge-type revenues rather than pure commodity exposure, and this is likely similar,” Stone said. “Natural gas prices are down a ton, but I think most of these exporters work on long-term take or pay contracts.”
Natural gas futures have fallen more than 40% this year to $2.709 per million British thermal units. More

JetBlue Airways Airbus A320-200 aircraft as seen on final approach landing at New York John F. Kennedy International Airport in USA.
Nicola Economou | NurPhoto | Getty Images

Check out the companies making the biggest moves in premarket trading:
JetBlue Airways — JetBlue Airways lost nearly 2% after Evercore ISI downgraded the airline to underweight, citing the recent sharp rally in shares and balance sheet concerns.

Zillow Group — The stock popped 4.7% after being upgraded by Piper Sandler to overweight from neutral. Analyst Thomas Champion also hiked his price target to $62 per share, suggesting 33% upside from Monday’s close. Product optionality and new initiatives, as well sequential improvements in the housing macro environment were among the reasons for his call.
JPMorgan Chase — The Wall Street heavyweight added 1.2% in premarket trading after an upgrade from Jefferies to buy from hold on Tuesday. The firm also labeled JPMorgan Chase as “best-in-class.”
U.S. Bancorp — Shares of the Minnesota-based bank gained 2.2% following an upgrade to buy from neutral by Bank of America. Analyst Ebrahim Poonawala said U.S. Bancorp is among the highest quality franchises in the U.S. banking industry, with its scale, earnings and strong execution expected to drive superior earnings growth and stock outperformance.
Amazon — Shares ticked 0.8% higher as the e-commerce giant kicked off its highly anticipated Prime Day summer sale, which goes through Wednesday. Wells Fargo also added Amazon to its Signature Picks list, citing better expectations for Amazon Web Services, Prime Day revenue growth and a risk-reward that is still favorable.
WD-40 — Shares jumped more than 5% after the lubricant and rust-remover maker reported fiscal third-quarter results postmarket Monday. WD-40 posted $141.7 million in total net sales, a 15% increase from the prior year.

3M — Shares rose nearly 2% in premarket trading following an upgrade to neutral from underperform by Bank of America. The bank said 3M has positive catalysts ahead related to litigation settlements, restructuring and the planned spin-off for the health care business.
Zions Bancorp, Truist — The bank stocks were under pressure Tuesday morning after Jefferies downgraded both Zions and Truist to hold from buy, lowering its earnings estimates for the two companies. Shares of Zions fell 1.5% in premarket trading, while Truist’s were down 1%.
Iovance Biotherapeutics — Iovance Biotherapeutics fell more than 11%. The biotech company on Monday said the pricing of its underwritten public offering, of 20 million shares of common stock, would be at $7.50 per share. The gross proceeds from the offering are set to be about $150 million.
— CNBC’s Jesse Pound, Alex Harring, Samantha Subin, Brian Evans, Sarah Min and Michael Bloom contributed reporting. More

India’s IDFC First Bank expects to see robust credit growth following its recent merger, according to managing director and CEO V. Vaidyanathan. 
Last week, IDFC First Bank said its board had approved its merger with IDFC Ltd., the latest in a wave of consolidation in India’s financial sector.
This comes just days after a $40 billion mega merger between India’s largest private lender HDFC Bank  with Housing Development Finance Corporation, the country’s biggest mortgage lender.

IDFC First bank signage is seen outside a branch in Mumbai, India, 04 July, 2023. IDFC First Bank merges with IDFC Limited. 155 shares of IDFC First Bank will be alloted for 100 shares of IDFC according to an Indian media report.
Nurphoto | Nurphoto | Getty Images

India’s IDFC First Bank expects to see robust credit growth following its recent merger, according to managing director and CEO V. Vaidyanathan. 
Last week, IDFC First Bank said its board had approved its merger with IDFC Ltd., the latest in a wave of consolidation in India’s financial sector.

This comes just days after a $40 billion mega merger between India’s largest private lender HDFC Bank  with Housing Development Finance Corporation, the country’s biggest mortgage lender.
Vaidyanathan said, as a country, India is on a “massive trajectory,” which holds immense growth potential for the merged entity in the near term. 
“We are insiders of this country and we can see for ourselves on day-to-day basis how the country is growing,” he told CNBC’s “Street Signs Asia” on Tuesday.
“For India’s credit market, let me say about a 15% credit growth would be a fair expectation in the near future. And for our bank, a 25% credit growth would be a fair expectation with stable asset quality.”

Last week, IDFC First Bank said the proposed merger would boost the bank’s standalone book value by 4.9% compared with its financials as of March 31. It also said it aims to increase its balance sheet by 20% to 25% per year in the near to medium term.

“The merger will lead to simplification of the corporate structure of IDFC FHCL, IDFC Limited and IDFC FIRST Bank by consolidating them into a single entity and will help streamline the regulatory compliances of the aforesaid entities,” the release added. 
Vaidyanathan noted the bank has key “strategic goals” and since the “Indian market is so large and wide and we’re still a tiny player, we think that we can grow at a good rate for a long time to come with a holding like this.”
Still, the deal is subject to approvals from India’s key regulatory authorities, including the Reserve Bank of India, Securities and Exchange Board of India and India’s stock exchanges.
Analysts have noted the recent merger will not dent IDFC First Bank’s prospects for inclusion in the MSCI standard index for August.
Inclusion in the index “would be a big deal,” said Vaidyanathan. “Whether we make it now or later in our mind, we have no doubt. We are very confident and frankly, it’d be an honor to be part of MSCI index for us,” added the CEO. More