By Joe Woelfel

Stocks were rising Thursday and building on record highs after Federal Reserve officials reaffirmed projections for three interest-rate cuts in 2024.

These stocks were making moves Thursday:

Apple fell 3.7% after the Department of Justice sued the tech giant, alleging the company has a monopoly over the mobile phone market. In a statement, Apple said the lawsuit "threatens who we are and the principles that set Apple products apart in fiercely competitive markets."

Micron Technology surged 17% after the chip maker reported a surprise fiscal second-quarter profit. Micron earned 71 cents a share in the period, a swing from a year-earlier loss of $2.12. Adjusted earnings of 42 cents a share smashed analysts' estimates that called for a loss of 25 cents.

The company's forecasts for third-quarter adjusted earnings and revenue also were well above estimates. Micron expects revenue of $6.6 billion at the midpoint in the third quarter, higher than estimates of $5.98 billion. Shares of fellow memory-chip maker Western Digital jumped 7.2%.

Reddit, the popular news aggregation social media site, opened for trading Thursday at $47 a share, well above the initial public offering of $34. The stock at last check was trading at $51.91, up 53%.

Astera Labs was up 25% on Thursday after shares of the company, which makes semiconductor-based connectivity products that are used to build cloud and AI infrastructure, soared 72% in their trading debut on Wednesday and closed at $62.03, well above the initial public offering price of $36.

Guess, the clothing, footwear, and accessories maker, was rising 22% after posting better-than-expected fourth-quarter earnings and saying it expects fiscal 2025 revenue to increase 11.5% and 13.5%.

Five Below shares were tumbling 16% after the discount retailer issued a fiscal-year forecast for earnings and sales below Wall Street's expectations. Fourth-quarter earnings also missed estimates, with Five Below saying that "shrink," the industry term that encompasses merchandise theft and damage, taking a greater-than-anticipated bite out of its profit.

Accenture reported fiscal second-quarter earnings that beat analysts' estimates but issued a forecast for the fiscal year that missed. Shares of the professional services company declined 9%.

Broadcom rose 8% to $1,377.74 after shares of the semiconductor company were upgraded to Outperform from Market Perform at TD Cowen and the price target was raised to $1,500 from $1,400. The analysts said Broadcom's artificial-intelligence event on Wednesday left them feeling quite optimistic about the stock.

U.S.-listed shares of Li Auto were tumbling 7.5% after the Chinese electric-vehicle maker said it expects vehicle deliveries in the first quarter of between 76,000 and 78,000, down from its prior forecast of between 100,000 and 103,000 vehicles. In a statement, Li Auto said it was reducing its forecast "due to lower-than-expected order intake."

Darden Restaurants fell 6.3% after the owner of Olive Garden and LongHorn Steakhouse trimmed its fiscal-year revenue outlook.

Shares of Chewy fell 5.9% after the online pet products retailer reported fourth-quarter net earnings of 7 cents a share, better than analysts' forecasts that called for a loss of 4 cents, and a sales jump of 4.2% to $2.83 billion, which also beat estimates. Chewy, however, said it expects a year of "modest growth" for the pet markets industry.

Earnings reports are expected after the closing bell Thursday from FedEx, Nike, and Lululemon Athletica.

Write to Joe Woelfel at joseph.woelfel@barrons.com

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March 21, 2024 14:05 ET (18:05 GMT)

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