- Earnings news, IPOs and more regulation from the Chinese government provided the main themes of midday trading on Friday. This included an intraday gain from Carnival (NYSE:CCL), which rallied on signs that its cruise business is coming back following the pandemic lockdowns.
- Meanwhile, a pair of IPOs showed significant strength in their early Wall Street careers. Both Cue Health (NASDAQ:HLTH) and Clearwater Analytics Holdings (NYSE:CWAN) posted gains of more than 20% in their debuts.
- On the downside, China continued to drive the headlines. Alibaba (NYSE:BABA) and Baidu (NASDAQ:BIDU) dipped on signs of further intervention from the Beijing government.
Gainers
- Carnival (CCL) got a boost in midday trading following the release of its quarterly results. While it announced a Q3 adjusted net loss of $2B, the cruise company also said it had cash-flow positive voyages during the quarter, a sign that its business was coming back after the COVID shutdowns.
- CCL climbed nearly 4% on the results.
- Cue Health (HLTH), a maker of COVID-19 tests, popped in its early trades as a public company. HLTH made its Wall Street debut after setting an IPO price at $16 a share. In intraday trading, shares sat at $19.79, an advance of nearly 24%.
- Fellow IPO Clearwater Analytics Holdings (CWAN) also received significant investor attention on its first-ever trading session.
- The maker of investment management software priced an IPO at $18 per share. CWAN was trading at $24.07 in midday action, a gain of nearly 34% on the day.
Decliners
- Continued government intervention pushed Alibaba (BABA) more than 3% lower in intraday action. The company now plans to dispose of its holdings in a unit of China's state-run Hunan TV. The move comes under pressure from Beijing authorities.
- Another move by the Chinese government put pressure on Baidu (BIDU). The stock dropped about 2% on reports that its $3.6B deal to buy JOYY's (NASDAQ:YY) domestic video streaming business will likely be rejected by China's antitrust regulators.
- YY edged up on the news, rising about 1% in midday trading.
- Looking for more of today's biggest movers on Wall Street? Head over to SA's On The Move section.