Shares of Nike Inc. (NYSE:NKE), Moderna Inc. (NASDAQ:MRNA) and Walmart Inc. (NASDAQ:WMT) climbed Thursday as money flowed out of tech and AI stocks for a second straight session.
A broad tech selloff stretched into a second day as a second hotter-than-expected inflation report fed fears of another Fed rate hike.
AI infrastructure names took the hardest hits. Early Thursday, Nvidia Corp. (NASDAQ:NVDA) and Broadcom Inc. (NASDAQ:AVGO) each fell 2.5%, Micron Technology Inc. (NASDAQ:MU) lost 4% and Dell Technologies Inc. (NYSE:DELL) slid more than 9%.
CoreWeave Inc. (NASDAQ:CRWV) led neoclouds lower after a 15% slide Wednesday on fears about its debt-funded build-out. IREN Ltd. (NASDAQ:IREN) fell almost 9% in late-morning trading, Nebius Group N.V. (NASDAQ:NBIS) dropped about 5% and TeraWulf Inc. (NASDAQ:WULF) lost nearly 3%, per Benzinga Pro market data.
Defensive sectors led the market Thursday as investors fled to safety, with the Consumer Staples Select Sector SPDR Fund (NYSE:XLP) up 1.50% and the Health Care Select Sector SPDR Fund (NYSE:XLV) up 2.42%.
Walmart Gets a Bull Call
Few names captured the hunt for safety better than the country’s biggest retailer. Deutsche Bank upgraded the retailer to Buy from Hold on Thursday, betting sticky inflation will make Walmart more attractive to shoppers.
Analyst Krisztina Katai expects margins to improve "as higher-margin businesses continue to outgrow core retail" and automation gains reach the bottom line, per CNBC. She boosted her price target to $136 from $113.
Nike Bounces Off the Floor
Nike shares jumped more than 5%, though the fundamentals remain rough.
The apparel company said its fiscal first-quarter revenue fell 4% to $11.2 billion, citing declines in Greater China, and announced plans to lay off staff in 2027. The company guided fiscal 2027 adjusted earnings to $1.15 to $1.35 per share versus estimates of $1.69.
Thursday’s move looks like value hunting.
See More: Top Value Stocks
Moderna Keeps Climbing
Moderna gained 5.3%, extending a run driven by its cancer pipeline. In August, Moderna and Merck & Co. Inc. (NYSE:MRK) reported that their personalized vaccine delayed both melanoma recurrence and spread. Merck was up almost 2% in midday trading on Thursday.
More fuel arrived last week. Moderna entered the Nasdaq-100, and a planned NIH-backed national campaign to speed cancer vaccine development, expected to launch in December, put mRNA back in focus.
Next up is detailed data. Phase 3 melanoma results are set for the Presidential Symposium at the ESMO Congress in Madrid on Oct. 24, with a live investor session the same day.
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