Here are some of the companies making headlines in midday trading. SpaceX – Elon Musk’s rocket manufacturer slid 2% a day after announcing it would push back the expected date for its Starship launch to Sept. 28. Earlier this week, the company said it was aiming for Sept. 22. Peers Rocket Lab and Intuitive Machines each tumbled more than 5%. Chip stocks – Shares of chip companies rose on Friday, with the VanEck Semiconductor ETF (SMH) up about 0.6%, heading for a fourth winning day. Applied Materials rose 4%, Lam Research advanced 5%, and Broadcom jumped more than 2%. Memory chip plays also gained, as Sandisk climbed 7% and Seagate Technology rose 4%. Steel Dynamics , Nucor — Shares of both steel producers fell after they delivered third-quarter earnings guidance that showed weaker-than-expected results compared with analysts polled by FactSet’s consensus estimates. Nucor said earnings in the steel mills and steel products segments earnings will increase, while they’re expected to decrease in the raw materials segment. Steel Dynamics was down more than 4%, while Nucor last traded 6% lower. Netflix — The streamer declined almost 5% after Wells Fargo downgraded the stock to underweight. Analysts at the bank said that worrying engagement trends and weaker content expected to be released in the second half of 2026 will lead to lower margin expansion in 2027 and 2028. Xenon Pharmaceuticals — The stock sunk 30% after the company announced it was pausing enrollment for new patients in its clinical studies for treatments for major and bipolar depression. While the pause is expected to be temporary, it was put in place due to the discovery of neuropsychiatric side effects in the studies. Cryptocurrency stocks — Shares of crypto-exposed companies rose after bitcoin surpassed $80,000, last trading almost 6% higher. Trading platforms Robinhood and Coinbase rose 8% and 11%, respectively, while crypto treasury company Strategy jumped 12%. Macom Technology Solutions — The stock was up 4% after BMO Capital Markets upgraded the stock to outperform. Analysts said Macom’s valuation has become attractive following a more than 35% decline from its 2026 highs, even while fundamentals in its data center, industrial and defense businesses have remained strong. —CNBC’s Nick Wells and Darla Mercado contributed reporting.
