The major indexes continue to languish below breakeven as the third quarter gets underway. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI) is off 25 points at midday, while the S&P 500 Index (SPX) and the Nasdaq Composite (IXIC) are both sporting muted losses as well. A slew of corporate profit warnings are weighing on investor sentiment, with names like Kohl's (KSS), Micron Technologies (MU) and General Motors (GM) all sharing cautious quarterly projections.  

Meanwhile, the Institute for Supply Management (ISM) released worse-than-expected manufacturing activity data for June, with its index of national factory activity falling to 53 -- the worst reading since June 2020. Moreover, the ISM's new orders index fell into contraction territory for the first time since May 2020.

Coupang Inc (NYSE: CPNG) is seeing a surge in options activity this afternoon, with 18,000 calls and 6,693 puts across the tape so far, which is six times what is typically seen at this point. Most popular is the January 2023 25-strike call, followed by the 7/1 15-strike call, with positions being opened at the latter, which expire later today. CPNG was last seen up 14.3% at $14.58, after Credit Suisse raised its rating to "outperform" from "neutral," but cut its price target to $19 from $28. Though it still suffers a 65.6% year-over-year deficit, the equity is now set to close back above its 60-day moving average for the first time since early March. 

One of the best-performing stocks on the Nasdaq today is Inter & Co Inc (Nasdaq: INTR). The Brazil-based fintech concern was last seen up 31.9% at $2.77, after UBS yesterday initiated coverage on the security with a "buy" rating and a $6 price target. The stock, which went public late last week, hit a low of $2.10 during yesterday's session. 

Talaris Therapeutics Inc (Nasdaq: TALS) is one of the worst stocks on the Nasdaq today. Though the pharma concern posted mostly upbeat data from its ongoing phase 3 trial of its FCR-001 allogenic cell therapy treatment for living kidney donors, the stock is down 51.9% at $2.17. The update also sparked a downgrade from SVB Securities to "market perform" from "outperform," and price-target cut to $7 from $21. The equity earlier hit a record low of $2.04, and is down 85.1% year-to-date.