Midday movers: Apple climbs, Humana slumps, and more

investing.com:

(Updated — January 18, 2024 11:45 AM EST)

Investing.com — Main U.S. indexes were mixed Thursday, with the Nasdaq and S&P 500 lifted by strength in chip stocks and Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL), while the Dow treaded water due to weakness in health insurers.

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

Apple (AAPL) stock rose 3.3% after Bank of America upgraded its stance on the tech giant to ‘buy’ from ‘neutral’, expecting the upcoming launch of Vision Pro next month, as well as AI-powered iPhone, to drive future growth.

Discover Financial Services (NYSE:DFS) stock fell 8.5% after the financial services company reported a steep decline in fourth-quarter net income due in part to higher compliance-related expenses.

Humana (NYSE:HUM) stock fell 11.6% after the health insurer lowered its earnings per share forecast for 2023 due to an additional increase in medical cost trends. Peers UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH), Elevance Health (ELV) and CVS Health (NYSE:CVS) also declined.

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing (TSM) stock rose 8.2% after the world's largest contract chipmaker logged a smaller-than-expected decline in its fourth-quarter profit as revenue was buoyed by increased sales of its most advanced chips. Other semiconductor stocks including NVIDIA (NASDAQ:NVDA), AMD (NASDAQ:AMD) and Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU) climbed.

Plug Power (NASDAQ:PLUG) stock slumped over 12% after the fuel-cell company disclosed in an SEC filing late Wednesday that it will sell up to $1 billion in shares.

Hertz (HTZ) stock rose 9% after Morgan Stanley upgraded the stock to ‘overweight’ from ‘equalweight’. The upgrade was tied to improving risk-reward following a sharp selloff.

Birkenstock Holding (NYSE:BIRK) stock declined 9% after it reported