Midday movers: Travelers, JB Hunt fall; United Airlines rises

(Updated - April 17, 2024 11:48 AM EDT)

Investing.com -- Main U.S. indexes declined Wednesday as the quarterly corporate earnings season continues.

Here are some of the biggest U.S. stock movers today:

United Airlines (UAL) stock rose 13% after the carrier forecast stronger-than-expected earnings in the current quarter, as well as reporting a narrower-than-expected loss in the first quarter, on robust demand for travel.

Travelers (NYSE:TRV) stock fell 8% after the insurer announced a sharp rise in catastrophe losses, net of reinsurance, up to $712 million from $535 million a year earlier, due to severe wind and hail storms in the central and eastern regions of the United States.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) (ABT) stock fell 3.8% despite the medical device company beating expectations for quarterly profit and raised the lower end of its forecast, as robust demand for medical procedures boosted sales of its devices.

JB Hunt (NASDAQ:JBHT) stock fell 7.8% after the trucking firm missed estimates for first-quarter results, hurt by a decline in revenue in its biggest segment and pricing pressures at its brokerage business.

ASML (AS:ASML) ADRs fell 7.4% after the Dutch supplier of equipment to computer chip makers reported weaker than expected first-quarter new bookings, although sales to China held up despite U.S.-led restrictions.

Morgan Stanley (MS) stock rose 1% after Bloomberg reported that the banking giant plans to start cutting about 50 investment banking jobs in Asia this week, with a bulk of the cuts aimed at Hong Kong and China.

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) stock fell 0.7% after the EV manufacturer submitted a proxy statement requesting a shareholder vote on several proposals, including asking shareholders to ratify the company’s CEO Elon Musk’s 2018 compensation, a deal which a Delaware Court had invalidated.

Eli Lilly (NYSE:LLY) stock rose 0.5% after the pharmaceutical giant said its highly popular weight loss drug Zepbound showed the potential to treat patients with sleep apnea in two late-stage clinical trials.

Autodesk (NASDAQ:ADSK) stock fell 7% after the software company announced that its internal investigation into its free cash flow and non-GAAP operating margin practices, originally disclosed at the start of April, is still underway.

Urban Outfitters (NASDAQ:URBN) stock fell 3.7% after analysts downgraded its rating on the apparel retailer to ‘underperform’ from ‘hold’, citing slowing foot traffic.

U.S. Bancorp (USB) declined 5% after it reported first quarter results that disappointed Wall Street.

Additional reporting by Louis Juricic