U.S. Movers: Darden Restaurants, Home Builders, SLB, Steelcase, Tech Stocks

Scott Peters
19 Sep, 2024
New York City

Home builders jumped after the Federal Reserve lowered rates by 50 basis points in the hopes that lower mortgage rates will spur demand for new homes. 

Lennar Corp. jumped 0.9% to $190.29, NVR Homes gained 1.7% to $9,624.67, KB Home gained 1.9% to $88.31, Toll Brothers added 1.4% to $152.02, PulteGroup inched higher 0.6% to $141.88, and DR Horton added 0.9% to $195.97. 

Chipmakers and artificial intelligence stocks rallied after lower interest rates spurred investors to return to high-growth stocks. 

AMD increased 4.2% to $154.55, Apple gained 3% to $227.27, Alphabet increased 1% to $162.54, Microsoft advanced 1.5% to $437.12, and Nvidia jumped 4.5% to $118.41. 

SLB increased 2.1% to $42.27 after the company announced a partnership with Nvidia to develop AI modes for subsurface exploration and operations and data management. 

Steelcase declined 11% to $12.56 after the office furniture maker reported weaker-than-expected quarterly results. 

Revenue in the second quarter stood at $855.8 million, and the company forecast a third-quarter revenue range between $785 million and $810 million, lower than the previous upper range of $812.1 million. 

Darden Restaurants jumped 7.4% to $170.86, and the company announced weaker-than-expected quarterly results because of the weakness in its fine dining restaurants. 

The parent company of Olive Garden reported revenue in the fiscal first quarter decreased 1% to $2.76 billion, net income rose to $207.2 million from $194.5 million, and diluted earnings per share advanced to $1.74 from $1.59 a year ago. 

Same store sales at Olive Garden declined 2.9%, and the company said it is reviving its Never Ending Past Bowl later this month in the hopes of attracting more customers. 

Despite the weakness in the current quarter, the company reiterated its full-year sales forecast between $11.8 billion and $11.9 billion and earnings per share from continuing operations between $9.40 and $9.60.