Check out the companies making the biggest moves midday: Verizon Communications — The New York-based telecom provider sank nearly 4% after CEO Hans Vestberg stepped down , replaced by independent lead director and former PayPal CEO Dan Schulman. Starbucks — The global coffee chain dropped almost 4% after a late September series of North American store closures and layoffs as part of its “Project Bloom” turnaround . Critical Metals — The critical mineral project developer surged more than 90% after Reuters reported that the company has discussed the Trump administration taking an equity stake. Critical Metals is developing a rare earths project in Greenland. However, a senior Trump administration official told Reuters that “there is absolutely nothing close with this company at this time.” Intellia Therapeutics — The gene editing company rallied almost 6% after Citizens JMP upgraded the stock to market outperform and hiked its price target to $33 on enthusiasm for its hereditary angioedema treatment trial. Abercrombie & Fitch — The clothing chain slid more than 6% after a JPMorgan downgrade to neutral from overweight. The bank also slashed its price target to $103 from $145, though that still signals nearly 22% upside. Analyst Matthew Boss said there’s a “‘hangover’ effect relative to 1H25’s outsized promotional/clearance activity which is constraining improved customer conversion rates and regular-price selling.” Comerica , Fifth Third Bancorp — Fifth Third Bancorp announced a $10.9 billion all-stock deal to buy regional bank Comerica, sending shares of the latter bank 14% higher. Fifth Third Bancorp’s stock lost more than 1%. Boeing — Shares added almost 2% after Bloomberg reported that the airplane maker plans to accelerate its production of jets in its 737 Max line. The company could reach a 42-jet output per month for its 737 Maxs as soon as October, the report said. Micron Technology — The memory storage stock climbed 4% on the back of Morgan Stanley’s upgrade to overweight from equal weight. Morgan Stanley said to expect multiple quarters with price increases in the double digits. Tesla — Shares gained more than4% after Tesla posted a teaser video on social media platform X that sparked speculation that the electric vehicle maker is ramping up the release of a new car. AMD — The chipmaker surged almost 30% following a deal reached by OpenAI and Advanced Micro Devices that could see the ChatGPT parent take a 10% stake in AMD. Heidrick & Struggles International — The executive advisory firm will be taken private at $59 a share in cash by Advent International and Corvex Private Equity. International Paper — The corrugated box and sheet paper manufacturer dropped almost 4% after weak results from U.K. peer Mondi Plc and a downgrade to neutral from buy at Seaport Research. Rival Smurfit WestRock also fell more than 3%. Marketaxess Holdings — The electronic trading platform slumped almost 5% after September trading statistics showed year-over-year declines in average daily volumes in Credit, Rates and Trading. — CNBC’s Fred Imbert, Spencer Kimball, Michelle Fox, Alex Harring and Liz Napolitano contributed reporting. ( Learn the best 2026 strategies from inside the NYSE with Josh Brown and others at CNBC PRO Live. Tickets and info here . )
