-- STMicroelectronics (STM) shares were up more than 6% in afternoon trading on Friday after Mizuho Securities upgraded the company's stock to outperform from neutral.
Trading volume stood at over 16.1 million shares against a daily average of about 8.8 million.
Price: $44.08, Change: $+2.51, Percent Change: +6.04%
Palantir Technologies (PLTR), Thales, and Air Space Intelligence were selected by the US Federal Aviation Administration to compete on a new artificial intelligence tool for air traffic management, Bloomberg reported Friday, citing a person familiar with the matter.The FAA has received $12.5 billion from Congress for the project but it needs about $20 billion more to complete the overhaul, according to the report.Palantir did not immediately respond to a request for comment by.(Market Chatter news is derived from conversations with market professionals globally. This information is believed to be from reliable sources but may include rumor and speculation. Accuracy is not guaranteed.)Price: $147.00, Change: $+4.24, Percent Change: +2.97%
Biofuels feedstock futures closed mixed on Friday, as soybean futures rose while soybean oil dropped, both caught up in a risk-off trading day amid the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz in Iran.The Chicago Board of Trade May soybean futures contract closed 0.30% higher at $11.67 per bushel, and the CBOT May soybean oil futures contract settled 1.69% lower at 68.16 cents per pound.On Thursday, the May ethanol futures contract on the Nymex ended 0.52% lower at $1.90 per gallon.Rhett Montgomery, DTN analyst, said that the soybean market bulls will be looking for reassurance of the previously indicated 25 million metric tons of export demand from China through 2026-27 in next month's Summit."At this point, it is apparent that the soybean market is weighing the tradeoffs to a conclusion of hostilities in the Middle East of lower energy prices but potentially improved US-China relations ahead of President Trump's visit in May, as a net positive to the soybean market over the long run," Montgomery stated in a daily note.
Money managers in the WTI crude futures and options markets maintained their net long positions in the week ended April 14, according to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission's latest Commitments of Traders report released Friday.The data showed that money managers reported 226,150 long positions, up 3,059 from April 7, while short positions were down 3,347 to 81,907.Producers, merchants, processors, and users held 734,500 long positions and 428,140 short positions.