S&P 500 and Nasdaq rise to fresh record highs as tech shares jump: Live updates

Technology

The S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite scaled to record highs Wednesday, with tech shares leading the charge following strong reports from Salesforce and Marvell Technology.

The broad market index gained 0.4%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq advanced 0.9%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average traded 248 points higher, or 0.6%.

Salesforce climbed 9% after the company posted fiscal third-quarter revenue that beat estimates. Chipmaker Marvell also beat earnings expectations and issued strong fourth-quarter guidance, advancing 22%.

Those moves powered the Technology Select Sector SPDR Fund (XLK) to its first all-time high since July. It was last up 1.4%.

“People have come out and said, the tech trade’s over. If you look at sector performance, the stocks have lagged since July — but that doesn’t mean that they can’t reaccelerate,” Nancy Tengler, CEO of Laffer Tengler Investments, told CNBC. “You could argue that it’s good the market’s broadening out. But that doesn’t mean it has to be a zero-sum game, that technology cannot outperform.”

Wednesday’s moves come as investors await new U.S. employment data due Friday. Economists polled by Dow Jones expect the U.S. economy added 214,000 jobs in November.

A report released on Wednesday from ADP revealed that private payrolls grew less than expected in November. Companies added just 146,000 on the month, while economists polled by Dow Jones had estimated growth of 163,000 positions.

The data could give investors insight into the Federal Reserve’s next policy moves. Chair Jerome Powell will be speaking in New York in a moderated discussion Wednesday afternoon.

21 stocks in the S&P 500 trade at new 52-week highs

Peter Dasilva | ReutersMorning traffic outside the Meta headquarters in Mountain View, California, on Nov. 9, 2022.

During Wednesday’s trading session, 21 stocks in the S&P 500 reached new 52-week highs.

Names that hit this milestone included:

Meta Platforms trading at all-time high levels back to its IPO in May, 2012Netflix trading at all-time high levels back to its IPO in May, 2002Amazon.com trading at all-time high levels since back to its IPO in May, 1997Apple Inc. trading at all-time high levels back to its IPO in Dec, 1980Walmart Stores trading at all-time high levels back to when it first began trading on the NYSE in Aug, 1972Salesforce.com trading at all-time high levels back to its IPO in Jun, 2004ServiceNow trading at all-time high levels back to its IPO in June, 2012GoDaddy trading at all-time high levels back to its IPO in Apr, 2015Howmet Aerospace trading at all-time highs back to its Alcoa spinoff in Nov, 2016

On the other hand, just five names were trading at new 52-week lows: Mondelez, Devon Energy, Celanese, Dow and LyondellBasell.

— Lisa Kailai Han

Materials, consumer discretionary sectors set to be most impacted by Trump tariffs, says Barclays

President-elect Donald Trump’s plans to impose 25% tariffs on goods from Mexico and Canada as well as an additional 10% tariff on Chinese goods may hit the materials and consumer discretionary sectors if fully enacted, according to Barclays.

“Materials and Discretionary sectors are particularly at risk of double-digit negative EPS impact, due to their significant supply and production presence in Mexico and Canada,” analyst Venu Krishna said in a Wednesday note.

The analyst added that, in all, the tariff threats against the three countries could result in a drag of 2.8% on the S&P 500’s EPS. Having said that, he still believes the threats are more of a negotiating tactic and thinks the tariffs have a low likelihood of being enacted.

“However, our economists are also of the view that the 25% tariff on Mexico and Canada will ultimately not be implemented, and instead used as a bargaining chip to renegotiate select parts of the USMCA, which comes up for review in mid-2026,” the analyst continued.

Both sectors have seen decent gains this year, with the S&P 500 Consumer Discretionary Index outperforming the broader market by posting year-to-date gains of more than 28%. The S&P 500 Materials Index has also risen more than 8% year to date.

— Sean Conlon

Goldman sees nearly 20% upside ahead for AT&T

Jakub Porzycki | Nurphoto | Getty ImagesAT&T logo is seen at store in Washington DC on July 12, 2024. 

AT&T’s investor day Tuesday should drive more investor confidence in the sustainability of the wireless carrier’s growth, according to Goldman Sachs.

Goldman, which recently predicted a “multi-year case of double-digit annualized returns” for the stock, upped its price target to $28 per share from $25 a share on Wednesday. The new target suggests about 18% upside from Tuesday’s close.

At the event, AT&T outlined its plan to expand its fiber network to more than 50 million total locations and modernize its wireless networks. It also expects to return more than $40 billion to shareholders over the next three years through dividends and buybacks. The stock currently has a 4.68% dividend yield.

While AT&T’s financial targets for 2025 were largely in line with investor expectations, its targets for 2026 and 2027 represent upside to expectations, analyst James Schneider said in a note to clients.

“We believe the fact that the company provided multi-year targets through 2027 (we had anticipated that only 2025 guidance might be given) reflects management’s improving visibility and control over the business, as well as a healthier industry backdrop in wireless,” he wrote.

Shares of AT&T have gained more than 41% so far this year.

— Michelle Fox

Buy the dip in AI stocks amid upcoming volatility, UBS says

UBS predicts short-term volatility for AI assets to rise, but still believes that investors can opportunistically add to their positions.

“We expect tech volatility to pick up in the near term, especially in the event of disruption in the artificial intelligence (AI) supply chain. But we also think the near-term headwinds appear to be manageable at this stage, and that sound fundamentals should continue to support our positive outlook on the AI growth story,” the firm wrote in a Wednesday note.

Despite this, UBS said that investors can still “consider utilizing structured strategies or buying the dips in quality global AI stocks.”

“To ride the AI wave in the long term, and without taking any single-name views, we like semiconductors given their exposure to capex spending, and software due to increasing AI monetization,” UBS wrote, adding that it remains cautions on smartphones, PCs and consumer electronics — or industries found in traditional tech segments.

— Lisa Kailai Han

UnitedHealth’s investor day canceled after reports of executive shooting

Shannon Stapleton | ReutersA police officer stands near the scene where the CEO of United Healthcare Brian Thompson was reportedly shot and killed in Midtown Manhattan, in New York City, US, December 4, 2024.

UnitedHealth Group canceled its investor day on Wednesday following reports that Brian Thompson – the CEO of its insurance unit, UnitedHealthcare – was fatally shot in Manhattan.

Shares of the company were around 2% higher in morning trading.

— Annika Kim Constantino, Sean Conlon

Stocks open higher on Wednesday

The major averages opened higher to start Wednesday’s trading session.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average surged 204 points, or 0.4%. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite respectively added 0.3% and 0.6%.

— Lisa Kailai Han

Stocks making the biggest moves premarket

Brandon Bell | Getty ImagesThe interior of a Foot Locker retail store in the Barton Creek Square Mall on August 28, 2024 in Austin, Texas.

Check out the companies making headlines before the bell:

Pure Storage — Shares surged 21% after Pure Storage beat fiscal third-quarter estimates and highlighted it won a contract with a major tech company. CEO Charles Giancarlo told CNBC’s “Closing Bell: Overtime” said he expects the company could replace 90% of the customer’s storage to the company’s direct flash technology. Following the results, Piper Sandler upgraded Pure Storage to overweight from neutral. 

Foot Locker — The stock sank nearly 15% after the sneaker giant posted an earnings and revenue miss. Foot Locker also slashed its full-year sales and earnings guidance. The company cited a more promotional environment and softer demand outside of key selling periods.

Read the full list here.

— Sarah Min

PSQ Holdings down 30% after Donald Trump Jr.- triggered rally

PSQ Holdings, the owner of online marketplace PublicSquare, saw shares tumbling 30% in premarket trading Wednesday after the firm announced a $36.2 million registered direct offering in common stock. 

The stock surged 270.4% to $7.63 on Tuesday after the company announced that Donald Trump Jr., the eldest son of president-elect, is joining PSQ’s board. 

PublicSquare is a commerce and payments company with a focus on “life, family, and liberty.” PSQ is a microcap stock with a market capitalization of only $72 million as of Monday’s close.

— Yun Li

Dollar Tree jumps following earnings beat

Shannon Stapleton | ReutersA man enters a Dollar Tree discount store in Garden City, New York.

Shares of Dollar Tree rose more than 4% in the premarket after its third-quarter results topped Wall Street’s expectations.

In the period, the discounter earned $1.12 per share on $7.56 billion in revenue, above the $1.07 per share on $7.44 billion in revenue that analysts surveyed by LSEG were expecting. The company also said that CFO Jeff Davis will step down from his role.

The move comes amid a rough year for the stock, with shares falling about 49% year to date.

— Sean Conlon

Chewy slides 5% on disappointing fourth-quarter earnings

Joe Raedle | Getty ImagesIn this photo illustration, a Chewy website is displayed on a screen on July 01, 2024, in Miami, Florida. 

Pet supplies retailer Chewy slid 5% on Wednesday morning after posting disappointing third-quarter earnings.

Chewy’s earnings for the past quarter came in at 1 cent per share, while analysts had expected 8 cents, according to LSEG. Chewy’s revenue came in at $2.88 billion, which was in line with expectations.

For both its fourth-quarter and full-year outlook, Chewy guided for revenues that were higher than FactSet consensus.

— Lisa Kailai Han

Foot Locker falls on earnings miss, disappointing outlook

Shares of Foot Locker tumbled more than 14% in premarket trading after the sneaker giant reported a quarterly earnings miss and cut its full-year guidance.

Foot Locker’s adjusted earnings came in at 33 cents per share for its third fiscal quarter, well below the 41 cents expected from analysts polled by LSEG. Revenue was $1.96 billion versus the $2.01 billion consensus estimate.

The company now expects full-year sales to decline between 1% and 1.5%, compared to previous guidance of down 1% to up 1%. Analysts were expecting a decline of 0.4%, per LSEG. It also lowered its full-year adjusted earnings per share guidance to between $1.20 and $1.30, from between $1.50 and $1.70 per share. Analysts were expecting $1.54 per share.

Foot Locker CEO Mary Dillon said in a release that it expects a more promotional environment and softer demand outside of key selling periods.

— Gabrielle Fonrouge, Michelle Fox

HSBC upgrades Merck to a buy

HSBC anticipates a better year ahead for shares of Merck.

The firm upgraded the pharmaceutical giant to a buy rating, citing opportunities for a recovery in China Gardasil vaccine revenues and its Keytruda combination clinical trials.

“We think that the current valuation leaves a significant margin of safety in valuation for Merck, especially given its strategy to extend its oncology portfolio’s earning potential in the medium term,” wrote Rajesh Kumar.

The analyst retained the firm’s $130 price target, implying 28% upside from Tuesday’s close. The stocks is down 6.6% this year.

— Samantha Subin

GM falls on China venture restructuring

CFOTO | Future Publishing | Getty ImagesA worker checks the quality of a vehicle before rolling off the assembly line at the production workshop of SAIC General Motors Wuling in Qingdao, East China’s Shandong province, Jan. 28, 2023. (Photo credit should read

General Motors shares were down more than 1% after the automaker said it expects the restructuring of a joint China venture with SAIC Motor to cost more than $5 billion.

“As we have consistently said, we are focused on capital efficiency and cost discipline and have been working with SGM to turn around the business in China in order to be sustainable and profitable in the market.  We are close to finalizing our restructuring plan with our partner, and we expect our results in China in 2025 to show year-over-year improvement,” GM said in an emailed statement.

— Fred Imbert, Michael Wayland

JPMorgan downgrades M&T Bank

Spencer Platt | Getty ImagesAn M&T Bank stands on April 17, 2024 in the Brooklyn borough of New York City. 

JPMorgan is moving to the sidelines on shares of M&T Bank, citing its recent outperformance.

“We view MTB’s earnings outlook as solid, with large benefit in 2025 from roll off of receive fixed swaps driving sizable uplift to net interest income (NII),” wrote analyst Andrew Dietrich. “However, we expect its office [commercial real estate] exposure and relatively lower loan loss reserves to remain a headwind.”

Shares of the regional bank stock have rallied more than 56% this year, outperforming the firm’s coverage by 21%. This, and a lack of a near-term catalyst, warrants a breather, Dietrich said. Trades also currently trade slightly above their historical average.

— Samantha Subin

European markets open higher

European markets edged slightly higher at the opening bell on Wednesday, with the Stoxx 600 index climbing into positive territory during early trades.

Investors in the region are awaiting the outcome of a vote by French lawmakers on whether to topple Prime Minister Michel Barnier’s government. The motion is widely expected to pass.

Read the latest on European markets here.

— Chloe Taylor

South Korea stocks drop as opposition parties move to impeach President Yoon

Kim Hong-ji | ReutersSouth Korea’s main opposition Democratic Party leader Lee Jae-myung, lawmakers and people attend a rally to condemn South Korean President’s surprise declarations of the martial law last night and to call for his resignation, at the national assembly in Seoul, South Korea December 4, 2024. 

South Korean markets fell Wednesday as pressure mounted on President Yoon Suk Yeol to step down after he imposed and then lifted a martial law decree within hours.

The country’s Kospi index dropped 1.44% to end at 2,464, and the Kosdaq fell 1.98% to 677.15, recovering some losses after dropping over 2% earlier in the day.

A coalition of lawmakers from South Korea’s opposition parties put forward a bill to impeach Yoon on Wednesday afternoon, according to the spokesperson’s office of the main opposition Democracy Party.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 ended nearly flat at 39,276.39, while the Topix dropped 0.47% to 2,740.6. Mainland China’s CSI 300 fell 0.54% to end trading at 3,930.56. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index was trading down 0.1% to 19,730 in its final hour of trade.

Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 fell 0.38% to end the trading day at 8,462.6 after the country’s economic growth came in slower than expected for the third quarter.

— Dylan Butts

Stocks making the biggest moves after hours

Check out the companies making headlines in extended trading.

Salesforce — The software stock advanced 6% after the company posted a revenue beat in the third quarter. Revenue of $9.44 billion topped consensus forecasts calling for $9.35 billion, according to LSEG. Meanwhile, adjusted earnings of $2.41 per share slightly missed estimates for $2.44 per share. 

Marvell Technology – The developer of integrated circuits jumped 10% after issuing rosy guidance for the current quarter. The company sees fourth-quarter revenue coming in at $1.80 billion, compared to Wall Street’s estimate of $1.65 billion, per LSEG. Adjusted earnings and revenue in the third quarter also topped expectations.

The full list can be found here.

— Hakyung Kim

Individual Investors are skeptical of continued market strength in December, BofA says

Individual investors are skeptical that this year’s rally in the S&P 500 will continue in December, Bank of America said, citing data from the American Association of Individual Investors.

The latest weekly AAII poll showed the percentage of investors who think stock prices will rise over the next six months fell to 41.3% from 49.9% the week before. Bearish opinion — that prices will fall between now and next May — grew to 33.2% from 28.3%.

With bears growing and bulls shrinking and the S&P 500 above 6,000, the market is climbing a “wall of worry,” said Stephen Suttmeier, BofA’s technical research strategist. “Individual investors are not raging bulls on last week’s rally to SPX 6000,” he wrote Monday. Survey results suggest “that individual investors are not convinced that the SPX will continue its 2024 rally in December, but if the SPX does rally into yearend, these investors may be forced into a catch-up trade that fuels the rally” further, he added.

— Scott Schnipper

Stock futures open flat

U.S. stock futures were little changed Tuesday night.

The S&P 500 added 0.05%. Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 83 points, or 0.2%. Nasdaq 100 futures gained 0.1%.

— Hakyung Kim

Also on CNBC

US Launches SERVIR Central America to Enhance Climate Resilience with Satellite Technology.

Technology

The United States has launched a new initiative aimed at strengthening climate resilience in Central America through advanced satellite technology. The SERVIR Central America center, a collaboration between the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), NASA, and the Tropical Agricultural Research and Higher Education Center (CATIE), will provide crucial geospatial data to help local authorities make informed decisions on issues like agriculture, food security, air quality, health, and water security.

SERVIR Central America will leverage satellite data to address urgent environmental challenges, including deforestation, soil erosion, coastal ecosystem degradation, and climate crises like hurricanes and droughts. The project also emphasizes gender equity and social inclusion, ensuring that all communities benefit from the initiative.

With an estimated initial investment of $6.6 million over five years (2024-2029), SERVIR Central America will offer innovative solutions to support local, national, and regional decision-making. The data and technology provided will be used to bolster climate resilience and disaster mitigation efforts across the region.

William Duncan, the U.S. Ambassador to El Salvador, highlighted the importance of this initiative for prevention and disaster efforts, stating, «There is much that can be done in prevention, and this is where the SERVIR initiative can be of great help.»

SERVIR Central America joins the global SERVIR network, which has been operating in Asia, Africa, and Latin America since 2005. The initiative aims to work closely with governments, indigenous communities, and local leaders to tackle pressing environmental and socioeconomic issues.

Jaqueline Rivera, director of the Observatory of Threats and Natural Resources, emphasized the value of the data in supporting the Ministry of Environment’s efforts to predict and mitigate environmental impacts. «This effort is important in our region as it will help the quality of life of citizens,» she stated.

Dan Irwin, Global Manager of the SERVIR Program, described the launch as a milestone in combining space technology with the local needs of Central America. «This initiative represents the commitment of NASA and USAID to put advanced technology at the service of the region,» he said.

Stopping a runaway president

2024 Election

Indignity Vol. 4, No. 212 SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA – Barricades are seen at the National Assembly on December 03, 2024 in Seoul, South Korea. South Korean lawmakers voted to lift the declaration of emergency martial law announced earlier by President Yoon Suk Yeol in a televised speech. Since taking office two years ago, Mr Yoon…

These high-tech windows fight climate change – and will save you money

Technology

Thomsen declined to fully divulge his special sauce, but it includes the materials to hermetically seal the vacuum between the two panes of glass, designs to ensure the panes don’t collapse in on the vacuum (which would ruin their insulation abilities), and the manufacturing techniques to pump those designs out at high speed with lots of robots. 

LuxWall Co-Founder and CEO Scott Thomsen, second from left, joined Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer in cutting the ribbon at the factory in Litchfield in August. (LuxWall)

The result, Thomsen noted, is something that’s not as complicated or capital-intensive to manufacture as semiconductors or batteries, but which has ​“enough complexity to make it hard.” The technological challenge seems to have deterred pretty much anyone else from spinning up rival factories for this kind of product, even as Thomsen’s team beat their own expectations for improving the glass’s performance.

Single pane glass nets an insulation rating of around R1 — the cruddy end of the scale. That’s the kind of window that you might wake up to find coated in ice on the inside of your Iowa farmhouse, something that Eggers recalls from his childhood. Paying extra for double-pane might get you to R2 or R3. Triple pane pushes the rating higher, at great cost, while requiring structural redesigns to account for its extra thickness.

LuxWall launched in 2019 and within two and a half years was hitting R13 for its new windows, Eggers said. Since then, the company has achieved R18. That so wildly outperforms the efficiency of standard window offerings that the energy bill savings offset the upfront cost of the upgrade in two to seven years, depending on the building, per the company. New construction can pair the hyper-efficient glass with smaller HVAC units to save even more money.

“We sell on the financial payback to the property owner,” Thomsen said. ​“Our product does cost more [than double pane], but we’re delivering much more.”

Made in Michigan
LuxWall graduated from R&D to full-scale manufacturing at an auspicious time.

Leaders in Washington, D.C., embraced industrial policy after decades of dedication to free market principles that shipped factory jobs overseas. The Biden Administration prioritized clean energy manufacturing as a strategic sector for reshoring, using the Department of Energy to vet promising climate solutions and support their domestic production with loans and grants.

Michigan has emerged as a leading winner of the cleantech factory boom, which Gov. Whitmer has championed as a vehicle for the state’s economic growth; LuxWall, for instance, received $6 million in state grants to open its first factory, prior to the larger federal grant. But much of Michigan’s proposed factory buildout remains years away from completion — billion-dollar battery factories take a while to spin up and staff.

In the meantime, LuxWall delivered an early win that proves out the causal chain from federal climate policy to state-level support to construction and putting people to work on the line. It also diversifies Michigan’s cleantech sector beyond automobiles, where the Big Three automakers have been stepping back from earlier promises for a swift ramp-up in electric vehicle production.

Of course, opening a factory only accomplishes so much — the company needs to stay in business in order to deliver lasting economic vitality to the surrounding community. The recent funding ensures greater staying power for LuxWall, and means it can get cranking on the new factory in Detroit’s Delray, a historic industrial district hit hard by factory closures, where city leaders have looked for new sources of economic development.

So far, LuxWall has shipped primarily to the commercial retrofit market, Eggers said. These customers employ professional energy managers, who can calculate the savings to be had from upgrading leaky old glass. But the residential new construction market has shown stronger-than-expected demand, he added.

That early uptake could hint at pent-up demand for better window technologies. Bartholomy, the building decarbonization advocate, noted that the energy-efficient window market hasn’t undergone the kind of wholesale transformation that heat pumps have in the last six years. Heat pump product options, performance, and adoption have all experienced tremendous growth, such that heat pump sales outpaced sales for fossil fueled furnaces in the U.S. for the last two years.

“Windows have been pretty standard for a long time,” Bartholomy said. ​“The type of work LuxWall is doing is really needed innovation to deal with issues around affordability, comfort, and safety.”

If LuxWall can bite off even a sliver of U.S. window sales, it could end up serving a far larger market than the more familiar home cleantech offerings do. Buildings that can’t host solar on the roof or batteries in the garage still have windows. And even those customers who can go solar would benefit from slashing their home heating and cooling needs.