Midday movers: Uber, Spotify and more

(Updated - December 4, 2023 12:11 PM EST)

Investing.com -- Main U.S. indexes were lower on Monday, with Nasdaq leading the Dow and the S&P 500 amid broad weakness in megacap tech. Investors were cautious ahead of economic data later this week, including the November payroll report on Friday.

Here are some of the biggest U.S. stock movers today:

Alaska Air (NYSE: ALK) stock slumped 15% after the carrier agreed to acquire rival Hawaiian Holdings (NASDAQ: HA), up 180%, for $1.9 billion, in a move to expand along the West Coast.

Virgin Galactic (NYSE: SPCE) stock fell 15% after billionaire Richard Branson ruled out further investment in the space travel company, saying his business empire no longer has “the deepest pockets” in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Coinbase (NASDAQ: COIN) stock rose 7%, with the crypto exchange benefiting from the news that bitcoin, the most valuable cryptocurrency, soared past $40,000, climbing to a 19-month high.

Spotify (NYSE: SPOT) stock rose 8% after the CEO of the music streaming service, Daniel Ek, said the company is planning to lay off 17% of its workforce, in a dramatic move aimed at reducing its costs and adjusting for a slowdown in growth.

Uber (NYSE: UBER) stock rose 5%, with the ride-hailing service set to join the benchmark S&P 500 index, effective at the open of trading on Dec. 18.

Carvana (NYSE: CVNA) stock rose 13% after JPMorgan upgraded the used car retailer to ‘neutral’ from ‘underweight’, citing its long-term potential.

IBM (NYSE: IBM) stock rose 0.5% after the tech giant unveiled a new quantum computing chip and machine that it hopes will serve as the building blocks of much larger systems a decade from now.

General Motors (NYSE: GM) stock rose 2.75% after HSBC initiated coverage of the auto giant with a ‘buy’ rating, saying its profitability remains high even with a 22% decline in its shares over approximately five months due to concerns about the UAW contract, electric vehicle demand, and Cruise.

'Magnificent 7' stocks traded sharply lower, but by noon all were off the worst levels of the day. Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) declined 1.8%, Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) declined 1.5%, Meta Platforms (NASDAQ: META) fell 1.8%, Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) was lower by 1.5%, Alphabet (NASDAQ: GOOGL) declined 2.4%, NVIDIA (NASDAQ: NVDA) dropped 2.6%, and Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) was lower by 0.9%.

By Louis Juricic and Peter Nurse

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