A visitor inspects a 2020 Ford Escape FWD Titan hybrid small SUV at the Canadian International Auto Show on February 18, 2020 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
Chris Helgren | Reuters
Check out the companies making headlines in midday trading.
Ford – Shares rose about 3% in midday trading after a CNBC report said both Ford and the United Auto Workers union are making progress in negotiations as the strike continues.
Squarespace – The website builder rose about 5% after UBS initiated Buy coverage on the stock. UBS said the company has a solid product range and growing brand recognition.
Scholastic – Shares of the publishing and media company fell more than 14% after it reported a decline in revenue and profit. Scholastic reported an adjusted loss of $2.20 per share on revenue of $228.5 million, while analysts polled by FactSet reported a loss of $1.35 per share on revenue of $268.79 million US dollar forecast.
Arm Holdings – Recently listed Chip Design stock fell 2.3% during Friday’s trading session after Susquehanna gave the company a neutral rating in a note on Friday. Shares rose nearly 25% in their Nasdaq debut on Sept. 14, but are now trading just above the stock’s initial public offering price of $51.
Seagen – Shares of the biotech company rose 3.5% after the company reported positive results from a clinical trial for patients with previously untreated bladder cancer. The results showed that the treatment improved both overall survival and progression-free survival compared to chemotherapy.
Deere – Shares of the farm equipment maker fell more than 2% after Canaccord Genuity downgraded shares from “buy” to “hold.” The company cited headwinds including slowing growth in large farm equipment and normalizing dealer inventories.
Chinese e-commerce stocks: U.S. shares of PDD and Alibaba rose about 4% and 5%, respectively, while JD.com shares rose 2.2%. A report from Bloomberg said earlier Friday that the Chinese government is considering easing caps on foreign investment in listed domestic companies.
Activision Blizzard – Shares of the video game company rose about 2% after British regulators said a new deal proposal from Microsoft addressed major antitrust concerns.
—CNBC’s Pia Singh, Alex Harring, Hakyung Kim and Samantha Subin contributed reporting.
Source : www.cnbc.com