Midday Movers: Moderna Plunges 23%, Walmart Sinks 9% as Crypto Stocks Surge

A wave of sharp moves swept through heavyweight US stocks in midday trading on August 20. Moderna plunged over 23% to lead the pharmaceutical sector lower, while Walmart tumbled more than 9% weighing on consumer names. On the flip side, cryptocurrency-linked stocks rallied across the board with MARA surging over 12%, and Chinese ADRs showed a dramatic split between winners and losers. On the macro front, the Fed's July minutes struck a hawkish tone, and initial jobless claims came in below expectations, reigniting rate-hike concerns.

Pharma Sector Deeply Divided as Moderna Crashes 23%+

As of the latest update, Moderna (MRNA) tumbled 23.49% to $133.43 on volume exceeding 77.21 million shares, among the most actively traded large-cap names. Meanwhile, Biovie (BIVI) surged 41.42% to $1.90, and Iovance Biotherapeutics (IOVA) climbed 10.84% to $8.86. The pharma sector saw a stark internal divergence, with large-cap drugmakers under heavy pressure while small and mid-cap biotech names attracted inflows.

Walmart Tumbles Over 9%, Dragging Consumer Stocks

Walmart (WMT) dropped 9.29% to $103.69 with 58.73 million shares traded. As a heavyweight in the retail sector, Walmart's sharp pullback created a significant drag on consumer-related names. Ford Motor (F) fell 3.54% to $13.99, while Ambev (ABEV) slipped 1.60%.

Crypto-Linked Stocks Rally Broadly, MARA Jumps Over 12%

Mara Holdings (MARA) surged 12.28% to $10.84 on volume of 57.18 million shares. BTC Digital (BTCT) skyrocketed 77.48% to $1.49, Bit Digital (BTBT) gained 14.64% to $1.61, Strategy (MSTR) advanced 6.86% to $111.41, and HIVE Digital (HIVE) rose 8.56% to $3.06. The crypto sector's collective surge made it one of the brightest spots in the session.

Chinese ADRs See Stark Divergence: JZ Soars 58%, LGCL Plunges 31%+

Jianzhi Edu Tech (JZ) skyrocketed 58.24% to $2.69, while Huize (HUIZ) jumped 32.88% to $1.94. On the downside, Lucas GC (LGCL) cratered 31.51% to $0.09, and Founder (FGL) fell 21.42% to $0.29. In corporate news, Alibaba disclosed that annualized revenue from AI-related products reached RMB 49.5 billion, marking triple-digit growth for 12 consecutive quarters, while cloud revenue grew 45% year-on-year and its Pingtouge self-developed chips have entered large-scale commercial deployment. NetEase reported Q2 revenue of RMB 30.1 billion, up 8% year-on-year, though net profit fell 21% due to a RMB 3 billion unrealized loss on equity holdings including Pinduoduo.

Elsewhere, Nvidia (NVDA) edged down 0.36% to $216.78, while Super Micro Computer (SMCI) was roughly flat at $36.57. SMCI completed an independent investigation into export compliance, finding no evidence that executives were aware of transshipment plans or direct sales to restricted parties. Alphabet's Waymo announced its self-developed autonomous driving chip has entered mass production, built on TSMC's 5-nanometer process with computing power exceeding 1,000 TOPS, rivaling Nvidia's latest systems. On the macro front, the Fed's July minutes revealed three members voted in favor of an immediate 25-basis-point rate hike, warning that further tightening would be necessary if inflation does not recede. Meanwhile, initial jobless claims unexpectedly fell to 206,000, undershooting market expectations and signaling persistent labor market resilience.