Market Movements: Key Stocks to Watch
In today’s trading, several notable stocks have experienced significant movement:
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac: Shares of these mortgage finance companies jumped after investor Bill Ackman of Pershing Square Capital Management called their stocks “ridiculously cheap” on X-Post. He even suggested that their value could increase tenfold. As a result, both Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac saw rises of over 30%.
Boston Scientific: On the other hand, this medical device company’s stock dropped by more than 9%. The decline follows a downgrade from Raymond James, which adjusted its rating from strong buy to outperform. The downgrade was attributed to disappointing forecasts and a slowdown in key growth areas.
Palo Alto Networks: A positive note here, as shares rose more than 7%. This uptick came after CEO Nikesh Arora announced he bought $10 million worth of stock on the open market.
United Therapeutics: Shares surged nearly 13% to reach a 52-week high following promising results from a Phase 3 clinical trial for its main product, Tyvaso. The company plans to seek priority FDA review to broaden the drug’s labeling to include an additional lung disease, idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, although it already treats two forms of pulmonary hypertension.
Alternative Asset Managers: Significant news from the Department of Labor, as they proposed rules allowing 401(k) plans to more readily include alternative assets such as virtual currencies and real estate. This announcement boosted stock prices for companies like Blackstone and Carlyle, which rose over 4%, while Blue Owl and Apollo Global saw increases of more than 3%.
Sysco: Conversely, this food wholesaler’s stock fell over 11% after it agreed to acquire Jetro Restaurant Depot for an enterprise value of $29.1 billion. While the deal is expected to close in the third quarter of Cisco’s fiscal 2027 and is deemed “immediately accretive,” concerns linger about the debt associated with the transaction.
Avis: Shares slid over 3% after a remarkable surge of more than 48% last week. While rental car companies were anticipated to benefit from ongoing disruptions at U.S. airports due to a funding impasse at the Department of Homeland Security, it seems investors are now cashing in on Avis’s recent gains.
Alcoa: In a different direction, aluminum companies saw their stocks rise more than 9% as aluminum prices increased over 4.5%, largely due to an Iranian missile strike that impacted critical infrastructure in the Middle East.
CrowdStrike: Shares rose more than 4% after receiving a boost from analysts. Wolf Research upgraded the stock to Outperform, believing that CrowdStrike would gain from increased cyber risks associated with artificial intelligence, contrary to previous concerns that AI might disrupt its business model. Morgan Stanley has also prioritized the stock, which had previously fallen over 21% in 2026 due to worries about AI replacing cybersecurity technology.
