Here are some of the stocks posting the biggest moves in midday trading Friday. Mohawk Industries , Builders FirstSource – Home construction plays jumped after Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell hinted that rate cuts could be around the corner, sparking hopes for lower borrowing costs. Builders FirstSource jumped 8%, while flooring company Mohawk Industries added 7%. Homebuilder Lennar and the iShares U.S. Home Construction ETF (ITB) both added more than 5%. Semiconductor stocks — Names in the sector jumped alongside the broader market on indication that the Fed could start lowering interest rates next month. The VanEck Semiconductor (SMH) climbed nearly 3%. Microchip Technology rallied about 6%, and On Semiconductor jumped more than 5%. Nvidia popped about 2%, while Broadcom added 3%. Caterpillar — The construction equipment maker rallied about 4%, helping to drive the Dow Industrials to a new record, on optimism that the Federal Reserve will lower interest rates starting in September, boosting commercial and industrial activity. S & P 500 industrial stocks (+2%) were outperforming the rest of the market (+1.6%) at midday. Goldman Sachs , American Express – The financial services sector jumped 1.7% on hopes for lower interest rates. Goldman Sachs and American Express jumped 3.7% and 4%, respectively. Regional banks also saw a boost, with the SPDR S & P Regional Banking ETF (KRE) jumping more than 4%. Intuit — The stock pulled back more than 4%. While the financial technology company’s fourth-quarter results surpassed expectations, its revenue growth for the first quarter came in weaker than expected. The company guided growth of between 14% and 15% year over year for that quarter, below the 15.9% that analysts polled by FactSet had penciled in. Workday — The human resources software company shed 3% after it issued third-quarter subscription revenue guidance of $2.24 billion, in line with analysts’ expectations, per StreetAccount. It expects third-quarter adjusted operating margin to be 28%, just slightly below the 28.1% StreetAccount consensus estimate. Workday warned of challenges in its government and education businesses. Zoom Communications — Shares of the communications technology company popped more than 10% after its second-quarter results beat Wall Street’s expectations. Zoom Communications posted adjusted earnings of $1.53 per share on revenue of $1.22 billion, while the LSEG analyst consensus had anticipated earnings of $1.37 per share on revenue of $1.2 billion. RLX Technology — Shares of the China-based e-vapor company jumped more than 7% after its second-quarter top and bottom line results topped analysts’ expectations, per FactSet. Its revenue for the quarter also saw a 40.3% increase from the same period a year ago. Cenovus Energy — The Canadian oil and gas producer rose 4% after it said it will acquire MEG Energy in a cash-and-stock deal valued at $7.9 billion, or $5.68 billion, including debt, as noted in Canadian currency. The deal is expected to close in the early fourth quarter this year. — CNBC’s Alex Harring, Michelle Fox Theobald, Sean Conlon, Fred Imbert and Scott Schnipper contributed reporting.
