Southwest Airlines, Planet Fitness, AMD, and More

U.S. equities were mixed and little changed at midday as the markets looked ahead to this week’s Fed meeting and key consumer inflation news. The Dow was down, but the S&P 500 and Nasdaq rose. 

Southwest Airlines (LUV) was the best-performing stock in the S&P 500 after activist investor Elliott Investment Management announced it had taken a $1.9 billion stake in the carrier and called for new leadership.

Planet Fitness (PLNT) shares gained on an upgrade from Jefferies, which pointed to optimism about the company’s new CEO and franchise unit growth.

Shares of KKR (KKR), CrowdStrike Holdings (CRWD), and GoDaddy (GDDY) climbed following an announcement they will be added to the S&P 500 later this month. Shares of companies that will be leaving the index such as Comerica (CMA) and Illumina (ILMN) declined. 

Huntington Bancshares (HBAN) shares slipped as CFO Zach Wasserman told a conference the bank expects net interest income to fall more than previously anticipated.

Shares of Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) dropped following a downgrade from Morgan Stanley, which warned expectations over the financial benefits of artificial intelligence (AI) may be too high.

Oil futures and gold prices advanced. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note was higher. The U.S. dollar was up on the euro and yen, but lost ground to the pound. Most major cryptocurrencies traded higher.