Check out some of the biggest movers in midday trading. Defense plays — The iShares US Aerospace & Defense ETF (ITA) rose nearly 1% to reach a new all-time high. The move occurred amid rising geopolitical tensions, including the U.S. seizure of a Venezuela-linked Russian-flagged oil tanker . AAR jumped more than 4%, while L3Harris advanced nearly 2%. Karman Holdings gained 2%. Western Digital , Seagate — Data storage plays were lower as investors cashed in some of their chips after a big rally in the prior session. Western Digital, which surged nearly 17% on Tuesday, was off more than 9% a day later. Seagate, fresh off a 14% jump, tumbled about 8% in Wednesday’s trading. Sandisk , up nearly 28% Tuesday, retreated more than 1% the following day. Amgen — The maker of Repatha, an anti-cholesterol treatment, rose more than 3%, gaining for a second day, after buying Dark Blue Therapeutics , a private U.K. biotech specializing in small-molecule targeted protein degraders for oncology, for $840 million. Deckers Outdoor — The maker of UGG boots and Hoka sneakers dropped more than 3% after downgrades from analysts at both Robert W. Baird and Piper Sandler on Wednesday. First Solar — The solar panel manufacturer fell nearly 10% after Jefferies downgraded the stock to hold from buy, citing questionable strategic decisions and limited booking visibility. The bank also lowered its price target to $260 from $269, implying a 3% dip. Ventyx Biosciences — The pharmaceutical stock soared 38% after The Wall Street Journal reported Eli Lilly is in talks to take over the firm for about $1 billion. The newspaper, citing people familiar with the matter, said a deal could come together as soon as Wednesday. GameStop — Shares rose 4% after the company unveiled its compensation package for CEO Ryan Cohen that included objectives to grow the videogame retailer to $100 billion. Strategy — The bitcoin treasury firm gained more than 3% after MSCI backed away from its plan to remove digital asset treasury companies from MSCI Indexes. Albemarle — Following its upgrade to outperform from Baird, the lithium stock rose more than 3%. Baird also hiked its price target for the stock to $210 per share from $113, citing surging lithium prices and strong demand for the resource due to stationary storage. — CNBC’s Yun Li, Itzel Franco, Scott Schnipper, Nick Wells and Gina Francolla contributed reporting.
