Here are the companies making headlines in midday trading. Semiconductor stocks – Chip companies rallied as the VanEck Semiconductor ETF (SMH) headed toward its best quarter on record. The chip ETF is on pace for a 70% surge in the second quarter, and it was last up more than 3% on the day. Astera Labs jumped 7% in the session, while KLA Corp rose 8% and Applied Materials gained 5%. Watts Water Technologies – The manufacturer of water valves and hot water solutions jumped more than 7% on the back of an upgrade to overweight from Barclays. The firm said that Watts is “best positioned” in its waste and water tech coverage group to benefit from the data center capital expenditures cycle as it grows its portfolio of products that serve data center plumbing, drainage and cooling needs. Abivax – U.S.-traded shares of the French biotech company surged 40%. Abivax issued new data on its ulcerative colitis treatment, showing malignancies were in line with expected rates. The company also said that more than 37% of patients who initially didn’t respond to treatment saw clinical remission after about 10 months of treatment with a 50 mg dose. SolarEdge – The manufacturer of inverter systems jumped 7% after Reuters reported , citing people familiar, that the Trump administration is working on a ban against imports of foreign inverters. Enphase Energy rose 2%. Air Products and Chemicals – The maker of industrial gases rose more than 8% after the company said it would not move forward with its Louisiana Clean Energy Complex. Air Products said that expected financial returns on the project would not meeting its criteria and that this was a driver behind the decision. Air Products said it will record up to $2.9 billion in pretax charges in the fiscal third quarter. Zimmer Biomet — Shares shed 7% after Pacira BioSciences announced it will sell its Iovera pain therapy system to Zimmer Biomet for $140 million. AeroVironment — The drone maker rallied about 17% after reporting an earnings and revenue beat. AeroVironment earned $1.84 per share on revenue of $642 million . Analysts polled by LSEG expected a profit of $1.46 per share on revenue of $559 million. Digital Realty Trust — The real estate investment trust sank almost 5% after agreeing to purchase a stake in three fully leased data centers from Blackstone for $7.8 billion . Merck , AbbVie — Merck and AbbVie each slid less than 1%, after Reuters reported that a U.S. House committee began a probe into whether the drugmakers were involved in trials that took place in China that aided the country’s military capabilities. Strategy — The crypto proxy stock lost roughly 7%, giving back some of Monday’s gains. Strategy surged 22.6% in the previous session, snapping an eight-day losing streak. It was also the stock’s best one-day gain since Feb. 6, when it soared 49.6%. Bitcoin also fell in the session, down more than 3% and trading at roughly $58,430. Sellas Life Sciences — Shares took back earlier gains and were last off 4% on the day. Sellas rallied nearly 25% on Monday after the company last week disclosed a change to its employment agreements with several C-suite executives. Specifically, the changes pertained to severance benefits. This could be a routine update or an indication that a takeover could be in the works. — CNBC’s Michelle Fox, Nick Wells and Darla Mercado contributed reporting.
