Stock market today: S&P 500 pops to another record while Dow, Nasdaq rise with tariffs, Fed minutes in focus
The benchmark S&P 500 (^GSPC) moved up about 0.2%, hitting a fresh record high of 6,144.15, after notching a record on Tuesday as well. The Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) and the Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) both rose about 0.1%.
Wednesday's minutes from the Fed's January meeting revealed most central bank officials supported holding policy at restrictive levels amid concerns about persistent inflation.
"Many participants noted that the Committee could hold the policy rate at a restrictive level if the economy remained strong and inflation remained elevated, while several remarked that policy could be eased if labor market conditions deteriorated, economic activity faltered, or inflation returned to 2 percent more quickly than anticipated," the minutes read.
Participants observed the committee was "well positioned" to take time to assess the "evolving outlook for economic activity" and that further progress on inflation was needed before adjusting rates. The committee pointed to "upside risks to the inflation outlook," citing the possible effects of potential changes in trade and immigration policy.
On the trade front, Trump's fast-moving policy overhaul has been top of mind for investors waiting to assess the impact of tariffs.
Another tariff threat came late on Tuesday, when the president said to expect additional duties on autos, chips, and pharmaceuticals. A flat tariff "in the neighborhood of 25%" would apply to all foreign automakers and start as soon as April 2, he said.
Last week, Trump announced global 25% tariffs on steel and aluminum imports, to take effect on March 12. He later ordered that federal agencies study reciprocal tariffs on trading partners.
Tariffs of 25% on Mexico and Canada are set to come next month, while 10% duties on China have already been implemented.
Minutes from the Federal Reserve's January meeting were released on Wednesday, and revealed officials are closely tracking risks that could worsen inflation.
But largely markets took the release in stride, with stocks maintaining the small gains on the day and the 10-year Treasury yield hitting its lows of the day at 4.53% as the minutes reiterated the Fed could continue cutting interest rates later this year.
With markets still pricing an interest rate cut from the Fed at some point this year, BlackRock's lead portfolio manager of the BlackRock Total Return Fund (MAHQX) David Rogal told Yahoo Finance that the key to stable markets remains investors believing the Fed's next move is more likely to be an interest rate cut than a hike.
"The conviction the market has around the Fed not hiking, I do think that's quite important for stability at the moment," Rogal said. "And if that were to change, I think that would be a very significant change for a lot of folks in terms of how they're thinking about things."
It's been a tough start to 2025 for traders betting against stocks.
Short sellers, who bet on stock prices to fall, have lost $73 billion between US and Canadian markets to start 2025, according to data from S3 Partners provided to Yahoo Finance.
The S&P 500 (^GSPC) has risen about 4% this year, but many companies within the index have soared higher, some in part because of short squeezes. Super Micro Computer (SMCI), the top performer in the index this year, is now up more than 110% since the start of 2025. Short sellers have lost more than $2.2 billion as the stock has run up.
S3 Partners uses a model to characterize how "squeezable" a stock is, with a "squeeze score" reading over 70 indicating a stock is exposed to a short squeeze and a reading of 90 signaling the stock is "extremely susceptible" to a squeeze. Super Micro Computer's reading currently stands at 100.
While perhaps the most high-profile, Super Micro is far from the only stock that's seen large jumps due to short squeezes thus far this year. Hims & Hers Health (HIMS) also has a reading of 100 on S3's squeeze score, while Oklo (OKLO), a popular nuclear AI play, and BigBear.ai (BBAI) are both above 70. All three stocks have rallied 80% or more this year.
"As more stocks, more sectors and more countries around the world start to participate in this bull market, any of the short sellers who overstayed their welcome are getting blown up," Parets wrote. "This is a classic characteristic of healthy bull market environments."
Read more here.
Intel (INTC) stock fell more than 5% Wednesday, ending a massive upswing in which shares notched their biggest five-day gain in its history as a publicly traded company. The decline came as analysts expressed skepticism over recent reports of potential deals with TSMC (TSM) and Broadcom (AVGO) to break up the storied US chipmaker.
Shares of Intel had surged 16% Tuesday following a Wall Street Journal report over the weekend that its rival, Taiwan's contract chip manufacturer TSMC, has looked at controlling some or all of Intel's semiconductor factories, potentially as part of an investor consortium. The Journal, citing people familiar with the discussions, also reported that Broadcom (AVGO) is considering making a bid for Intel's product business, which designs semiconductors for computers and servers.
But Wall Street analysts have voiced concerns over a potential breakup of Intel. Read the full story here.
The Federal Reserve held interest rates steady at its meeting in January. The minutes from that meeting, released on Wednesday, revealed most Fed officials supported holding policy at restrictive levels.
"Many participants noted that the Committee could hold the policy rate at a restrictive level if the economy remained strong and inflation remained elevated, while several remarked that policy could be eased if labor market conditions deteriorated, economic activity faltered, or inflation returned to 2 percent more quickly than anticipated," the minutes read.
Participants observed the committee was "well positioned" to take time to assess the "evolving outlook for economic activity" and that further progress on inflation was needed before adjusting rates.
On the inflation front, "participants generally pointed to upside risks to the inflation outlook. In particular, participants cited the possible effects of potential changes in trade and immigration policy, the potential for geopolitical developments to disrupt supply chains, or stronger-than-expected household spending."
Last week, Trump announced global 25% tariffs on steel and aluminum imports, to take effect on March 12. He later ordered that federal agencies study reciprocal tariffs on trading partners.
More recently, Trump said to expect additional duties on autos, chips, and pharmaceuticals. A flat tariff "in the neighborhood of 25%" would apply to all foreign automakers and start as soon as April 2.
Tariffs of 25% on Mexico and Canada are set to come next month, while 10% duties on China have already been implemented.
Along with policy uncertainties, the minutes also highlighted recent economic unknowns, including "the values of the longer-run neutral policy rate, the economy's potential growth rate, and the level of maximum employment." These uncertainties "would remain an important factor affecting their decisionmaking."
There's something different about Trump 2.0. Yahoo Finance's Brian Sozzi reports:
President Donald Trump has long touted his love for the stock market and how strong stock prices reflect a robust US economy.
Yet in his second stay in the White House, he's been posting less about stocks.
JPMorgan strategist Antonin Delair studied 126 social media posts from Trump (mostly on Truth Social) since Election Day and found mentions of the stock market have mostly "disappeared." In his first term, Trump was "continuously" posting on positive US economic developments, such as lower unemployment, a higher stock market, or the creation of a new factory in a state, noted Delair.
This time around, the president is more keen to share hot takes on the debt ceiling, government spending/efficiency, or tariff benefits.
Out of 23,073 tweets in his first term, 156, or 57%, mentioned a strong stock market performance, per Delair. Since his reelection, Trump has mentioned the stock market only once on social media.
Delair's work aimed to assess the impact of Trump's posts on the foreign exchange market. Only a small fraction of these posts, or 10% of the total 126, have been FX market movers.
"Hawkish tariff posts can trigger a broad dollar rally, but the dovish ones (tariff delays, for instance) impact mostly the concerned currency," Delair said.
Read more here.
Apple (AAPL) may have no other choice but to raise prices if Trump follows through on his latest tariff threat.
According to a new note from Bank of America, expected tariffs from the Trump administration could hamper earnings growth and force the tech giant to increase costs across its various phones and products.
Last week, Trump ordered that federal agencies study reciprocal tariffs on trading partners, noting no company would be exempt.
BofA estimated that a 10% tariff on all Apple products imported into the US would have a negative earnings impact of 2% to 3%, depending on whether or not the company raises prices.
"In a scenario where Apple does not raise prices in the US, we see a $0.26 negative impact (-3.1%) to EPS in calendar 2026," Bank of America analyst Wamsi Mohan said. "If Apple raises prices by ~3% in the US, the earnings impact would be $0.21 (-2.4%), assuming 5% fewer units sold."
According to the firm, Apple would have to raise prices by about 9% to offset the impact of 10% tariffs.
India also poses a challenge given the reciprocal tariffs Trump could impose on the country would likely be higher than China's current 10% levy.
"Apple has been shifting manufacturing to India over the last few years and ~15% of iPhones are now produced there," Mohan said. "Currently, India imposes 16.5% to 22% tariffs on mobile phones and certain consumer electronics produced outside the country."
Apple shares have struggled so far this year, down over 2% and underperforming the benchmark S&P 500 (^GSPC) and some of its Magnificent Seven peers.
Still, the analyst maintained his Buy rating and price target of $265 a share.
As we've been writing, the "Magnificent Seven" tech stocks — Apple (AAPL), Alphabet (GOOGL, GOOG), Microsoft (MSFT), Amazon (AMZN), Meta (META), Tesla (TSLA), and Nvidia (NVDA) — have no longer been leading the market to start 2025.
And as Charles Schwab chief investment strategist Liz Ann Sonders pointed out on X this morning, most of their rankings in S&P 500 performance have tumbled year to date. In 2024, the Magnificent Seven had three of the top 30 performers in the S&P 500. This year, the cohort has just one company, Meta, in the top 200. As seen below, Amazon, Apple, Microsoft, Alphabet, and Tesla actually all rank in the bottom half of year-to-date performance among members of the S&P 500.
Read more about the rotation here.
Yahoo Finance's Dan Howley reports:
Apple (AAPL) revealed its iPhone 16e on Tuesday, a budget-friendly iPhone that includes the company's Apple Intelligence platform and its first in-house designed modem.
The iPhone 16e features a design that's more closely aligned with Apple's mid-range and high-end iPhones than its previous entry-level phone, the iPhone SE, and comes complete with the company's Face ID facial recognition technology and an upgraded camera system.
Available Feb. 28 for $599, the iPhone 16e includes the same A18 chip used in the $799 iPhone 16 and $899 iPhone 16 Plus, as well as a single 48-megapixel camera around back. Apple says the camera will also feature a built-in 2x telephoto zoom for close-up shots.
Apple's stock was largely flat on the news.
Read more here.
Super Micro Computer stock (SMCI) spiked 6% Wednesday, extending a weeklong surge that has seen the stock fully recover its losses from a scathing report that accused the server maker of accounting violations last summer.
Super Micro shares gained more than 16% Tuesday, reaching their highest level since Aug. 26, the day before short-selling firm Hindenburg Research published the report, which, in addition to accusations of accounting 'manipulation,' alleged that the company had violated export controls and that its executives had not properly disclosed its relationships with suppliers.
Super Micro makes computer server products for data centers using Nvidia's (NVDA) AI chips and has a major deal with Elon Musk's mammoth xAI data center in Tennessee. The stock has been on a tear in 2025, up 83% year to date, making it the top-performing member of the S&P 500.
But even with its recent upswing, Super Micro shares remain far below their record closing price of $114 last March, just before the server maker was added to the S&P 500.
Read the full story here.
Hims & Hers (HIMS) stock rallied as much as 20% early Wednesday morning after the health and wellness platform said it plans to introduce at-home lab testing through its platform.
The company will provide the new service through its acquisition of at-home lab testing facility Trybe Labs. The acquisition will allow Hims & Hers to support at-home blood draws and comprehensive blood testing.
Shares of Hims & Hers, which were heavily shorted, have been on a wild ride this year. The stock is now up more than 180% since the start of 2025.
DeepSeek, the operator of an upstart Chinese AI chatbot, may be seeking funding from Alibaba (BABA, 9988.HK) and Chinese-state affiliated funds, according to a report from the Information.
The Information noted that Alibaba declined to comment on the report but added that if DeepSeek accepts its funding, that could mark a shift in the Chinese startup's business model.
It could lead DeepSeek to "pivot away from a primary focus on research toward building a business that generates meaningful revenue and eventually profits, according to people with knowledge of those discussions," the Information said.
Alibaba's stock, which has rallied nearly 50% this year in part due to AI excitement, was little changed just after the open.
Read more here.
Stocks opened lower on Wednesday as markets digested Trump's latest tariff threat and awaited Fed minutes, due later this afternoon.
The benchmark S&P 500 (^GSPC) and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) each slipped roughly 2%, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) fell 0.3%.
Nikola (NKLA) filed for bankruptcy Wednesday morning, ending a slow decline for the electric vehicle maker that was once a retail trader darling.
The filing ends several embattled years of struggles for the EV company that came public via a special purpose acquisition company in 2020. In its Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing, Nikola listed assets between $500 million and $1 billion and liabilities between $1 billion and $10 billion.
Read more here.
Etsy (ETSY) shares slid roughly 6% in premarket trading after the online marketplace's holiday sales fell short of Wall Street estimates.
Fourth quarter revenue came in at $852.2 million, compared with the $862.8 million expected, as spending on gifts and hand-made goods faltered. It still grew 1.2% fr Q4 a year ago, thanks to strength in Etsy ads, the company said.
Another key metric — consolidated gross merchandise sales (GMS) — also missed the mark, coming in at $3.74 billion, versus the $3.88 billion expected. GMS indicates the total dollar value of everything sold on Etsy's platform.
The downbeat revenue figures eclipsed a profit beat, with earnings per share of $1.03 topping the $0.93 estimated by analysts.
The record-setting rally in European stocks hit a wall on Wednesday as disappointing earnings added to caution over Trump's plan for tariffs on cars, chips, and drugs.
The pan-European Stoxx 600 (^STOXX) index pulled back 0.5% after closing at an all-time high on Tuesday. Philips (PHG, PHIA.AS) shares fell over 10% in Amsterdam after the medical gear maker forecast a drop in sales thanks to weak Chinese spending.
In London, the FTSE 100 index (^FTSE) slid 0.4% as a surprise jump in inflation to its highest level in 10 months dented hopes for interest rate cuts.
Elsewhere, Germany's DAX (^GDAXI) sank 0.8%, while the CAC (^FCHI) in Paris retreated 0.7% as concerns about security and trade built amid tariff threats and a warming in US-Russia relations.
President Trump has turned his tariff bazooka on imports of autos, chips, and pharmaceuticals, vowing late Tuesday to impose additional duties of at least 25%.
Reuters reports:
Automakers around the world — including the US — were already facing a risk that Trump's already announced tariffs on Mexico would hit their plants there. US-listed shares of Stellantis (STLA) slid over 2% in premarket trading on Wednesday, while Toyota (TM) shed 1%. Volkswagen's (VOW3.DE) pulled back over 2% in Europe.
Read more on the planned tariffs here.
Economic data: MBA Mortgage applications (week ending Feb. 14); Housing starts (January); Building permits (January preliminary); FOMC meeting minutes (January Fed meeting)
Earnings: Carvana (CVNA), the Cheesecake Factory (CAKE), Etsy (ETSY), Garmin (GRMN), Toast (TOST), Wingstop (WING)
Here are some of the biggest stories you may have missed overnight and early this morning:
Trump plans 25% auto tariffs, new duties on chips, pharma
Musk controversy is hitting Tesla at a bad time for EVs
Russian wealth fund sees US companies returning in 2025
Investors aren't just buying US stocks anymore
Why Trump is looking to Wall Street to bring down rates
Saylor's Strategy to raise another $2B for bitcoin, cut workforce
Chinese investors plow another $2.9 billion in Hong Kong stocks
How mass layoffs of Federal employees could affect the economy
Asian markets have slumped, reversing a five-day rally, under pressure from President Donald Trump's tariff threats and concerns over the sustainability of a $1 trillion rally in Chinese stocks.
Bloomberg reports:
Read more here.
HSBC (HSBC) released reports from last quarter Wednesday, with the multinational banking corporation unveiling a 6.6% rise in annual profit — beating market expectations and falling interest rates.
Reuters reports:
Read more here.
Oil pushed upward Wednesday against the backdrop of the Ukraine-Russia war continuing to cause oil disruptions. Markets are poised for a quick response to the US-Russian peace talks in an evolving situation.
From Reuters:
Read more here.
Minutes from the Federal Reserve's January meeting were released on Wednesday, and revealed officials are closely tracking risks that could worsen inflation.
But largely markets took the release in stride, with stocks maintaining the small gains on the day and the 10-year Treasury yield hitting its lows of the day at 4.53% as the minutes reiterated the Fed could continue cutting interest rates later this year.
With markets still pricing an interest rate cut from the Fed at some point this year, BlackRock's lead portfolio manager of the BlackRock Total Return Fund (MAHQX) David Rogal told Yahoo Finance that the key to stable markets remains investors believing the Fed's next move is more likely to be an interest rate cut than a hike.
"The conviction the market has around the Fed not hiking, I do think that's quite important for stability at the moment," Rogal said. "And if that were to change, I think that would be a very significant change for a lot of folks in terms of how they're thinking about things."
It's been a tough start to 2025 for traders betting against stocks.
Short sellers, who bet on stock prices to fall, have lost $73 billion between US and Canadian markets to start 2025, according to data from S3 Partners provided to Yahoo Finance.
The S&P 500 (^GSPC) has risen about 4% this year, but many companies within the index have soared higher, some in part because of short squeezes. Super Micro Computer (SMCI), the top performer in the index this year, is now up more than 110% since the start of 2025. Short sellers have lost more than $2.2 billion as the stock has run up.
S3 Partners uses a model to characterize how "squeezable" a stock is, with a "squeeze score" reading over 70 indicating a stock is exposed to a short squeeze and a reading of 90 signaling the stock is "extremely susceptible" to a squeeze. Super Micro Computer's reading currently stands at 100.
While perhaps the most high-profile, Super Micro is far from the only stock that's seen large jumps due to short squeezes thus far this year. Hims & Hers Health (HIMS) also has a reading of 100 on S3's squeeze score, while Oklo (OKLO), a popular nuclear AI play, and BigBear.ai (BBAI) are both above 70. All three stocks have rallied 80% or more this year.
"As more stocks, more sectors and more countries around the world start to participate in this bull market, any of the short sellers who overstayed their welcome are getting blown up," Parets wrote. "This is a classic characteristic of healthy bull market environments."
Read more here.
Intel (INTC) stock fell more than 5% Wednesday, ending a massive upswing in which shares notched their biggest five-day gain in its history as a publicly traded company. The decline came as analysts expressed skepticism over recent reports of potential deals with TSMC (TSM) and Broadcom (AVGO) to break up the storied US chipmaker.
Shares of Intel had surged 16% Tuesday following a Wall Street Journal report over the weekend that its rival, Taiwan's contract chip manufacturer TSMC, has looked at controlling some or all of Intel's semiconductor factories, potentially as part of an investor consortium. The Journal, citing people familiar with the discussions, also reported that Broadcom (AVGO) is considering making a bid for Intel's product business, which designs semiconductors for computers and servers.
But Wall Street analysts have voiced concerns over a potential breakup of Intel. Read the full story here.
The Federal Reserve held interest rates steady at its meeting in January. The minutes from that meeting, released on Wednesday, revealed most Fed officials supported holding policy at restrictive levels.
"Many participants noted that the Committee could hold the policy rate at a restrictive level if the economy remained strong and inflation remained elevated, while several remarked that policy could be eased if labor market conditions deteriorated, economic activity faltered, or inflation returned to 2 percent more quickly than anticipated," the minutes read.
Participants observed the committee was "well positioned" to take time to assess the "evolving outlook for economic activity" and that further progress on inflation was needed before adjusting rates.
On the inflation front, "participants generally pointed to upside risks to the inflation outlook. In particular, participants cited the possible effects of potential changes in trade and immigration policy, the potential for geopolitical developments to disrupt supply chains, or stronger-than-expected household spending."
Last week, Trump announced global 25% tariffs on steel and aluminum imports, to take effect on March 12. He later ordered that federal agencies study reciprocal tariffs on trading partners.
More recently, Trump said to expect additional duties on autos, chips, and pharmaceuticals. A flat tariff "in the neighborhood of 25%" would apply to all foreign automakers and start as soon as April 2.
Tariffs of 25% on Mexico and Canada are set to come next month, while 10% duties on China have already been implemented.
Along with policy uncertainties, the minutes also highlighted recent economic unknowns, including "the values of the longer-run neutral policy rate, the economy's potential growth rate, and the level of maximum employment." These uncertainties "would remain an important factor affecting their decisionmaking."
There's something different about Trump 2.0. Yahoo Finance's Brian Sozzi reports:
President Donald Trump has long touted his love for the stock market and how strong stock prices reflect a robust US economy.
Yet in his second stay in the White House, he's been posting less about stocks.
JPMorgan strategist Antonin Delair studied 126 social media posts from Trump (mostly on Truth Social) since Election Day and found mentions of the stock market have mostly "disappeared." In his first term, Trump was "continuously" posting on positive US economic developments, such as lower unemployment, a higher stock market, or the creation of a new factory in a state, noted Delair.
This time around, the president is more keen to share hot takes on the debt ceiling, government spending/efficiency, or tariff benefits.
Out of 23,073 tweets in his first term, 156, or 57%, mentioned a strong stock market performance, per Delair. Since his reelection, Trump has mentioned the stock market only once on social media.
Delair's work aimed to assess the impact of Trump's posts on the foreign exchange market. Only a small fraction of these posts, or 10% of the total 126, have been FX market movers.
"Hawkish tariff posts can trigger a broad dollar rally, but the dovish ones (tariff delays, for instance) impact mostly the concerned currency," Delair said.
Read more here.
Apple (AAPL) may have no other choice but to raise prices if Trump follows through on his latest tariff threat.
According to a new note from Bank of America, expected tariffs from the Trump administration could hamper earnings growth and force the tech giant to increase costs across its various phones and products.
Last week, Trump ordered that federal agencies study reciprocal tariffs on trading partners, noting no company would be exempt.
BofA estimated that a 10% tariff on all Apple products imported into the US would have a negative earnings impact of 2% to 3%, depending on whether or not the company raises prices.
"In a scenario where Apple does not raise prices in the US, we see a $0.26 negative impact (-3.1%) to EPS in calendar 2026," Bank of America analyst Wamsi Mohan said. "If Apple raises prices by ~3% in the US, the earnings impact would be $0.21 (-2.4%), assuming 5% fewer units sold."
According to the firm, Apple would have to raise prices by about 9% to offset the impact of 10% tariffs.
India also poses a challenge given the reciprocal tariffs Trump could impose on the country would likely be higher than China's current 10% levy.
"Apple has been shifting manufacturing to India over the last few years and ~15% of iPhones are now produced there," Mohan said. "Currently, India imposes 16.5% to 22% tariffs on mobile phones and certain consumer electronics produced outside the country."
Apple shares have struggled so far this year, down over 2% and underperforming the benchmark S&P 500 (^GSPC) and some of its Magnificent Seven peers.
Still, the analyst maintained his Buy rating and price target of $265 a share.
As we've been writing, the "Magnificent Seven" tech stocks — Apple (AAPL), Alphabet (GOOGL, GOOG), Microsoft (MSFT), Amazon (AMZN), Meta (META), Tesla (TSLA), and Nvidia (NVDA) — have no longer been leading the market to start 2025.
And as Charles Schwab chief investment strategist Liz Ann Sonders pointed out on X this morning, most of their rankings in S&P 500 performance have tumbled year to date. In 2024, the Magnificent Seven had three of the top 30 performers in the S&P 500. This year, the cohort has just one company, Meta, in the top 200. As seen below, Amazon, Apple, Microsoft, Alphabet, and Tesla actually all rank in the bottom half of year-to-date performance among members of the S&P 500.
Read more about the rotation here.
Yahoo Finance's Dan Howley reports:
Apple (AAPL) revealed its iPhone 16e on Tuesday, a budget-friendly iPhone that includes the company's Apple Intelligence platform and its first in-house designed modem.
The iPhone 16e features a design that's more closely aligned with Apple's mid-range and high-end iPhones than its previous entry-level phone, the iPhone SE, and comes complete with the company's Face ID facial recognition technology and an upgraded camera system.
Available Feb. 28 for $599, the iPhone 16e includes the same A18 chip used in the $799 iPhone 16 and $899 iPhone 16 Plus, as well as a single 48-megapixel camera around back. Apple says the camera will also feature a built-in 2x telephoto zoom for close-up shots.
Apple's stock was largely flat on the news.
Read more here.
Super Micro Computer stock (SMCI) spiked 6% Wednesday, extending a weeklong surge that has seen the stock fully recover its losses from a scathing report that accused the server maker of accounting violations last summer.
Super Micro shares gained more than 16% Tuesday, reaching their highest level since Aug. 26, the day before short-selling firm Hindenburg Research published the report, which, in addition to accusations of accounting 'manipulation,' alleged that the company had violated export controls and that its executives had not properly disclosed its relationships with suppliers.
Super Micro makes computer server products for data centers using Nvidia's (NVDA) AI chips and has a major deal with Elon Musk's mammoth xAI data center in Tennessee. The stock has been on a tear in 2025, up 83% year to date, making it the top-performing member of the S&P 500.
But even with its recent upswing, Super Micro shares remain far below their record closing price of $114 last March, just before the server maker was added to the S&P 500.
Read the full story here.
Hims & Hers (HIMS) stock rallied as much as 20% early Wednesday morning after the health and wellness platform said it plans to introduce at-home lab testing through its platform.
The company will provide the new service through its acquisition of at-home lab testing facility Trybe Labs. The acquisition will allow Hims & Hers to support at-home blood draws and comprehensive blood testing.
Shares of Hims & Hers, which were heavily shorted, have been on a wild ride this year. The stock is now up more than 180% since the start of 2025.
DeepSeek, the operator of an upstart Chinese AI chatbot, may be seeking funding from Alibaba (BABA, 9988.HK) and Chinese-state affiliated funds, according to a report from the Information.
The Information noted that Alibaba declined to comment on the report but added that if DeepSeek accepts its funding, that could mark a shift in the Chinese startup's business model.
It could lead DeepSeek to "pivot away from a primary focus on research toward building a business that generates meaningful revenue and eventually profits, according to people with knowledge of those discussions," the Information said.
Alibaba's stock, which has rallied nearly 50% this year in part due to AI excitement, was little changed just after the open.
Read more here.
Stocks opened lower on Wednesday as markets digested Trump's latest tariff threat and awaited Fed minutes, due later this afternoon.
The benchmark S&P 500 (^GSPC) and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) each slipped roughly 2%, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) fell 0.3%.
Nikola (NKLA) filed for bankruptcy Wednesday morning, ending a slow decline for the electric vehicle maker that was once a retail trader darling.
The filing ends several embattled years of struggles for the EV company that came public via a special purpose acquisition company in 2020. In its Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing, Nikola listed assets between $500 million and $1 billion and liabilities between $1 billion and $10 billion.
Read more here.
Etsy (ETSY) shares slid roughly 6% in premarket trading after the online marketplace's holiday sales fell short of Wall Street estimates.
Fourth quarter revenue came in at $852.2 million, compared with the $862.8 million expected, as spending on gifts and hand-made goods faltered. It still grew 1.2% fr Q4 a year ago, thanks to strength in Etsy ads, the company said.
Another key metric — consolidated gross merchandise sales (GMS) — also missed the mark, coming in at $3.74 billion, versus the $3.88 billion expected. GMS indicates the total dollar value of everything sold on Etsy's platform.
The downbeat revenue figures eclipsed a profit beat, with earnings per share of $1.03 topping the $0.93 estimated by analysts.
The record-setting rally in European stocks hit a wall on Wednesday as disappointing earnings added to caution over Trump's plan for tariffs on cars, chips, and drugs.
The pan-European Stoxx 600 (^STOXX) index pulled back 0.5% after closing at an all-time high on Tuesday. Philips (PHG, PHIA.AS) shares fell over 10% in Amsterdam after the medical gear maker forecast a drop in sales thanks to weak Chinese spending.
In London, the FTSE 100 index (^FTSE) slid 0.4% as a surprise jump in inflation to its highest level in 10 months dented hopes for interest rate cuts.
Elsewhere, Germany's DAX (^GDAXI) sank 0.8%, while the CAC (^FCHI) in Paris retreated 0.7% as concerns about security and trade built amid tariff threats and a warming in US-Russia relations.
President Trump has turned his tariff bazooka on imports of autos, chips, and pharmaceuticals, vowing late Tuesday to impose additional duties of at least 25%.
Reuters reports:
Automakers around the world — including the US — were already facing a risk that Trump's already announced tariffs on Mexico would hit their plants there. US-listed shares of Stellantis (STLA) slid over 2% in premarket trading on Wednesday, while Toyota (TM) shed 1%. Volkswagen's (VOW3.DE) pulled back over 2% in Europe.
Read more on the planned tariffs here.
Economic data: MBA Mortgage applications (week ending Feb. 14); Housing starts (January); Building permits (January preliminary); FOMC meeting minutes (January Fed meeting)
Earnings: Carvana (CVNA), the Cheesecake Factory (CAKE), Etsy (ETSY), Garmin (GRMN), Toast (TOST), Wingstop (WING)
Here are some of the biggest stories you may have missed overnight and early this morning:
Trump plans 25% auto tariffs, new duties on chips, pharma
Musk controversy is hitting Tesla at a bad time for EVs
Russian wealth fund sees US companies returning in 2025
Investors aren't just buying US stocks anymore
Why Trump is looking to Wall Street to bring down rates
Saylor's Strategy to raise another $2B for bitcoin, cut workforce
Chinese investors plow another $2.9 billion in Hong Kong stocks
How mass layoffs of Federal employees could affect the economy
Asian markets have slumped, reversing a five-day rally, under pressure from President Donald Trump's tariff threats and concerns over the sustainability of a $1 trillion rally in Chinese stocks.
Bloomberg reports:
Read more here.
HSBC (HSBC) released reports from last quarter Wednesday, with the multinational banking corporation unveiling a 6.6% rise in annual profit — beating market expectations and falling interest rates.
Reuters reports:
Read more here.
Oil pushed upward Wednesday against the backdrop of the Ukraine-Russia war continuing to cause oil disruptions. Markets are poised for a quick response to the US-Russian peace talks in an evolving situation.
From Reuters:
Read more here.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Politico
24 minutes ago
- Politico
Putin got a warm Trump meeting. Europe is afraid Zelenskyy won't.
While publicly Europe and Ukraine have appeared upbeat, privately officials were wary of Putin's red carpet welcome back to the West, where he secured the veneer of global legitimacy without making the kind of gestures toward peace the U.S., Europe and Ukraine have sought. 'Worries have been there all the way this year, and yesterday's meeting did not really help,' a European official said. Trump's position on the war has yo-yoed in recent weeks. While he had for months blamed Ukraine for the conflict, he had been more critical of Putin and Russia in the lead-up to the summit. He even said Putin would face 'severe consequences,' if he did not agree to stop the war after Friday's gathering. But after several hours of meetings with Putin in Alaska, Trump backtracked on a demand for an immediate ceasefire, again said it would be up to Ukraine to end the fighting and advised Kyiv to 'take the deal,' without specifying what Putin had suggested. Trump said after the summit that he negotiated with Putin over land swaps but declined to provide more details. The White House didn't immediately respond to a request for comment. French President Emmanuel Macron and U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Sunday will lead a teleconference among the 'coalition of the willing' — countries that have indicated they will provide troops and other support to Ukraine at the end of the war, according to a European official. Ahead of the summit, Trump said he supported some American role in providing security guarantees — some form of assurance or support from Washington to deter Russia from attacking again after a peace deal is agreed. Nordic and Baltic leaders welcomed those commitments again after Trump spoke with European officials late Friday. While Trump did much more than usual to consult with Europe in the lead-up to the summit with Putin and after, the frequent contact does not seem to have yielded tangible results. European officials are relieved that Trump did not agree to a deal with Putin but disappointed that the threat of steep secondary tariffs targeting third countries buying Russian oil was tabled. 'They want to try to influence the negotiation process as much as possible, because they know Trump really wants to do it this way, and they don't want to leave the initiative to Putin,' said Giuseppe Spatafora, a former NATO official who is now a research analyst at the EU Institute for Security Studies. 'In general, the Europeans talk much more often to Trump than during the first 100 days, which is good. They have influence. But it's limited.' Zelenskyy's last visit to the Oval Office in February quickly went off the rails when Vice President JD Vance and later Trump both lectured him for not being grateful enough for American support and overplaying what they said was a weak diplomatic position. Zelenskyy's decision to wear a black polo, black pants and boots rather than a suit further soured the atmosphere. But Trump and Zelenskyy have been on better terms in recent meetings, as Kyiv's allies sought to improve the relationship and Trump's frustration with Putin mounted.
Los Angeles Times
an hour ago
- Los Angeles Times
Bessent says he's not pushing Fed cuts, just touting models
U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said he isn't calling for a series of interest-rate cuts from the Federal Reserve, just pointing out that models suggest a 'neutral' rate would be about 1.5 percentage points lower. 'I didn't tell the Fed what to do,' Bessent said Thursday in an interview on Fox Business, referring to his comments a day before about how the central bank 'could go into a series of rate cuts here.' Bessent said Thursday that 'what I said was that to get to a neutral rate on interest, that that would be approximately a 150-basis-point cut.' The so-called neutral rate is the level at which policy neither stimulates nor restricts the economy. Fed Chair Jerome Powell said July 30 that there are 'a range of views of what the neutral rate is at this moment for our economy' and that his own estimate was that the current setting was 'modestly restrictive.' 'I believe that there is room, if one believes in the neutral rate,' for a series of rate cuts, Bessent said. 'I'm not calling for one. I didn't call for one. I just said that a model of a neutral rate is approximately 150 basis points lower.' The Fed last month kept its target range for the benchmark rate at 4.25% to 4.5%. The median estimate of the neutral rate among Fed officials over the long run is 3%. Powell and many of his colleagues have for months argued that more time was needed to assess any impact on inflation and inflation expectations from President Donald Trump's tariff hikes. Trump has regularly criticized Powell for holding rates. Bessent, after taking the Treasury's helm, said he would only address past Fed actions, not future ones, but later weighed in on what he thought markets were expecting monetary policymakers to do. This week, he has taken to referring to economic models, and has repeatedly suggested a 50-basis-point rate cut is possible at the Fed's September meeting. 'It's not really the role of the Treasury secretary to opine' on the neutral rate, said Julia Coronado, founder of the research firm MacroPolicy Perspectives and a former Fed economist. 'The fact that the most senior economic official in the administration is saying these things publicly is direct, public pressure on what he wants the Fed to do.' Former Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers, who served under Democratic President Bill Clinton, said he was 'surprised' to see Bessent's remarks on Wednesday. 'Usually that kind of judgment is not made by administration officials, and I'm not sure it's helpful for the administration to be publicly prescribing on monetary policy,' Summers said on Bloomberg Television's Wall Street Week with David Westin. Summers, a paid contributor to Bloomberg TV, also suggested that a measure of the neutral rate should incorporate the effects of large budget deficits and elevated demand for funds to pay for data centers — along with higher asset prices that reduce the flow of funds into savings. Against that backdrop, 'you wouldn't be prescribing a 175 basis point cut in rates unless we see a recession.' Interest-rate futures as of Thursday morning reflect bets that the Fed will cut rates by less than a cumulative 150 basis points by the end of next year. They also show slightly less confidence in a 25-basis-point reduction at the September meeting. The retreat came after a release on US wholesale inflation showed those prices climbed by the most in three years. Speaking to Bloomberg Television on Wednesday, Bessent said 'if you look at any model' it suggests that 'we should probably be 150, 175 basis points lower' on the Fed's benchmark. He also said that officials might have cut rates if they'd been aware of the revised data on the labor market that came out a couple of days after the latest meeting. 'I suspect we could have had rate cuts in June and July,' Bessent said. 'I don't know what model he's talking about,' said Jim Bianco, president of Bianco Research and a longtime Fed and Treasury watcher. 'There is no model I'm aware of that says it should be that low,' he said of the Fed's benchmark. Other gauges of where the Fed should be, such as the Taylor rule, also aren't arguing that the main rate should be 150 to 175 basis points lower than it is, Bianco said. He added that there have been many instances over the decades of 'cajoling Fed chairs,' and they're 'welcome to offer their opinion,' but it shouldn't change the central bank leader's opinion. Bessent repeated on Thursday that, given the context of the weaker jobs figures and not having cut rates the past couple of months, 'perhaps a 50-basis-point cut in September was warranted.' Two Fed district bank presidents said they're not backing such a move at this point. San Francisco Fed President Mary Daly said in a Wall Street Journal interview Wednesday, 'I just don't see that. I don't see the need to catch up.' St. Louis President Alberto Musalem said on CNBC Thursday, that a 50 basis-point cut would be 'unsupported by the current state of the economy and the outlook for the economy.' Flatley writes for Bloomberg.
Politico
an hour ago
- Politico
Trump tariff agency plan stalls amid White House turf battle
'The silence has been deafening,' said one lobbyist, who advises some of the country's largest companies on customs policies. 'Importers have received no guidance and some companies aren't even tracking [the service] anymore.' That's a shift from the administration's early days, when officials at agencies like the Commerce Department, USTR and Treasury jockeyed to own the project, according to the people familiar with the discussions. Trump initially assigned Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent to lead the project to create the ERS, as part of a Jan. 20 directive tasking him with conducting a feasibility study, in consultation with the Commerce and Homeland Security departments' secretaries. The details or status of the study have not been made public. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick also took an interest in the ERS, which he viewed as an opportunity to position himself at the center of trade policy, not traditionally a part of that Cabinet secretary's portfolio, two of the people said. He saw it as a possible means of regaining the foremost position in the administration's trade policy hierarchy, particularly after a plan to place USTR under the Commerce Department appeared to fizzle. After embracing the idea in the press and in other public remarks, Trump handed the service to Lutnick in the spring, even though a feasibility review of the program was still ongoing, the people close to the administration said. 'Foreign companies are going to pay if they want to come and sell products to the wealthiest country on Earth,' Lutnick said at an inauguration rally on Jan. 21, adding that the ERS will 'put up tariffs.' Lutnick as recently as last week said those tariff collections could hit $50 billion a month and 'ultimately reach a trillion dollars' in total revenue, in an interview on Fox Business Network's 'Mornings with Maria.' White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt signaled that Lutnick had taken over the program in March, telling reporters that the Commerce chief is 'working very hard on [the ERS] and is quite enthusiastic about [it], if you have noticed from his media interviews.' 'I was surprised when they gave it to Lutnick,' said one of the people close to the White House, adding that Trump's decision was met with skepticism from within the administration. 'When they told us they were giving it to him, people were like, 'Really? Does he actually know what he's doing with it?'' Lutnick began to lose interest in the ERS once it became evident that the revenue would fall far short of replacing the income tax. Loftier ideas, such as using the funds to establish a new sovereign wealth fund, failed to gain traction after months of behind-the-scenes discussions, according to two people familiar with the talks and a lobbyist who regularly meets with administration officials.
