Check out the companies making the biggest moves midday: Verizon Communications — The New York-based telecommunications provider sank nearly 4% after CEO Hans Vestberg stepped down , replaced by independent lead director and former PayPal CEO Dan Schulman. Starbucks — The global coffee chain dropped almost 4% after a late September series of North American store closures and layoffs as part of its “Project Bloom” turnaround . Critical Metals — The critical mineral project developer surged more than 90% after Reuters reported the company has discussed the Trump administration taking an equity stake. Critical Metals is developing a rare earths project in Greenland. However, a senior Trump administration official told Reuters that “there is absolutely nothing close with this company at this time.” Intellia Therapeutics — The gene editing company rallied almost 6% after Citizens JMP upgraded the stock to market outperform and hiked its price target to $33 on enthusiasm for its hereditary angioedema treatment trial. Abercrombie & Fitch — The clothing chain slid more than 6% after a JPMorgan downgrade to neutral from overweight. The bank also slashed its price target to $103 from $145, though that still signals nearly 22% upside. Analyst Matthew Boss said there is a “‘hangover’ effect relative to 1H25’s outsized promotional/clearance activity which is constraining improved customer conversion rates and regular-price selling.” Comerica , Fifth Third Bancorp — Fifth Third Bancorp a …
