Jack Dorsey, Chief Executive Officer of Square Inc., second right, tours the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) on Thursday, November 19, 2015 in New York, United States.
Jana Paskova | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Check out the companies making headlines in midday trading.
Block – Shares lost nearly 3% after falling nearly 15% in the previous trading session as short seller Hindenburg Research claimed that Block facilitates fraud. Atlantic Equities downgraded the stock to “hold” on Friday, citing a lack of clarity about the payments company’s cash app following Hindenburg’s short position.
GameStop – The famous meme stock was up 2.5% in midday trade. The stock has been active since reporting its first profitable quarter in two years earlier this week.
Deutsche Bank – U.S.-listed shares of the German lender slipped 5%, recovering from their lows. Bank shares were down about 14% after the bank’s credit default swaps soared with no apparent trigger. JPMorgan defended Deutsche Bank on Friday, saying investors should focus on the European bank’s “solid” fundamentals.
Regeneron — Regeneron rose 2.2% after Jefferies upgraded the pharma stock to buy from hold and said its drug Dupixent, in development with Sanofi, could serve as the company’s next big catalyst.
Wells Fargo and JPMorgan — Shares of commercial banking giants were lower in midday trade, with Wells Fargo down 2.3% while JPMorgan fell 2.2%. Both stocks have been under pressure this month in line with the broader turmoil in the financial sector.
Incyte — Pharma stock fell about 4% after Incyte announced that the Food and Drug Administration had notified the company that the regulator would not approve an application for a new blood cancer drug pill in its current form.
Activision Blizzard and Microsoft – Shares rose 5% after the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority dropped some of its concerns about Microsoft’s potential purchase of the company. Microsoft shares rose 0.2%.
– CNBC’s Alexander Harring, Yun Li, Jesse Pound, Michelle Fox and Samantha Subin contributed to this report.