While the jobs data drove much of the conversation on Wall Street during midday trading on Friday, the earnings news continued to be the catalyst for many individual stock moves. Clorox ( CLX ) and US Steel ( X ) rose in the currency after its quarterly results. Meanwhile, Starbucks (SEX) fell as weakness in China weighed on comparable sales.
In other news, Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) rose as an analyst pointed to a potential pick-up in demand and the company revealed a year-over-year increase in sales of Chinese-made vehicles.
Winners
Tesla ( TSLA ) prices rose in midday trading amid signs of growing demand for its electric vehicles. Piper Sandler claims that recent price cuts for Model Y products have led to increased demand.
Meanwhile, Elon Musk’s electric vehicle maker reported that it sold 66,051 Chinese-made vehicles in January, up 10% compared to the same period last year. TSLA rose 5% intraday, on track for its biggest close since November.
The earnings news fueled buying in Clorox (CLX), which was up 7% in midday trading. The cleaning products maker said revenue rose 1% from last year to $1.72 billion.
Meanwhile, CLX reported that price hikes helped it increase its margin compared to last year. This allowed the company to easily beat the analyst consensus.
US Steel ( X ) also advanced after its quarterly results. Earnings and revenues were down from last year, but the numbers still easily exceeded expectations. X was up 5% in midday trading.
Decliner
Starbucks (SBUX) lost ground after its quarterly results. Shares of the coffee shop chain fell about 3% in midday trading after the company showed slower comparable-store sales growth than Wall Street had forecast.
SBUX reported global comparable store sales that rose 5% from last year, below the nearly 7% analysts had predicted. North American comparable sales exceeded projections with a 10% increase. However, China weighed on the overall results, with comparable sales in the country falling 28%.
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