— Jeff Ward, Lehigh Valley News Briefs
The Lehigh Valley’s three New York Stock Exchange-traded companies are all on a roll.
The shares of Air Products, the biggest local company, closed Friday at $287.98, about $8 below its 52-week high. The maker of industrial gases didn’t put out any news during the week, but the shares have been gaining steadily. Air Products is based in Upper Macungie Township in Lehigh County.
Allentown-based PPL Corp. has been rising steadily since July, with shares finishing Friday at $32.46, just 36 cents of the 52-week high.
PPL may have risen a bit due to the attention paid to Constellation Energy, which announced plans to reopen a Three Mile Island nuclear generator to provide power to Microsoft Corp. data centers. The generator to be reopened is not the one that melted down in 1979. This one operated until five years ago and will be restarted by 2028.
PPL has also discussed adding data center clients. Artificial Intelligence requires data centers, which use immense amounts of energy.
Shift4 Payments shares (FOUR) finished last week at $86.90, a little more than $5 below its 52-week high. The Upper Saucon Township-based payment processer gained some publicity from founder Jared Isaacman’s journey to space. Isaacman rode on a SpaceX mission that he helped fund. He also embarked on a spacewalk.
Lehigh Valley News Briefs 