Dow, S&P 500 close lower Wednesday as First Republic woes eclipse Big Tech earnings: Live updates

The Nasdaq was the sole major index to end Wednesday up.

The tech-heavy composite added 0.5%, but was off highs seen earlier in the day. Meanwhile, the S&P 500 and Dow lost 0.4% and 0.7%, respectively,

— Alex Harring

Columbia Threadneedle announced the launch the Columbia Research Enhanced Real Estate ETF (CRED) on Wednesday, giving investors a way to make a contrarian bet on a beaten-down sector. The fund has now begun trading, according to market data from FactSet.

The launch comes at a time when many investors and Wall Street strategists have cast a skeptical eye at commercial real estate, seeing the sector as a potential problem area if the economy falls into recession.

The fund is part of the firm's "strategic beta" products. CRED tracks a custom index that is designed to weed out the weakest real estate investment trusts on the market.

"We think the time to get into something is when it is not obvious for everyone. We may be early, but we're not too early, and we definitely don't want to be late," said March Zeitoun, Columbia Threadneedle's head of strategic beta.

Read more about the fund on CNBC Pro.

— Jesse Pound

Jefferies downgraded shares of electric vehicle maker Tesla, citing added pressure to the company's margins.

Analyst Philippe Houchois said Wednesday that investor expectations will now shift as the company moves toward focusing on volume over margin growth.

"However fascinating the investment case remains, relative price aggression is not supportive of a high multiple investment case while unfolding," Houchois said.

Shares of Tesla have gained more than 30% so far this year. However, the stock has lost about 22% in April alone.

Read the full analyst call here.

— Brian Evans

First Republic's stock has turned south again after trimming some of its losses in midday trading.

The latest move lower comes after a Bloomberg News report that U.S. bank regulators were considering downgrading their assessments of the bank. This move could curb First Republic's ability to borrow from the Federal Reserve.

Shares of First Republic have been halted multiple times since the report. The stock was last down about 30%.

— Jesse Pound

Bullish sentiment toward stocks dropped to 48.6% from 50.7% (the highest since Nov. 2021) in the latest weekly survey of financial newsletter editors by Investors Intelligence.

"Bulls nearing 50% are suggestive of a trading top, but in a bull market they can certainly end up higher," II said.

Bearish opinion rose to 25% from 24% last week, while those believing stocks are due for a short-term pullback, or "correction," also advanced, to 26.4% from 25.3%.

The "bull-bear spread" narrowed to 23.6 points from 26.7 last week, but remained positive for a 23rd straight week. "The wider the positive spread, the higher the risk," said II.

Sentiment surveys are viewed as contrarian indicators. The greater the degree of bullishness, the greater the risk (the thinking being that most people have bought and now have less cash). The more pessimism, the less risk (because most investors would have already sold, and would now hold more cash.)

— Scott Schnipper

Financial companies aren't beating earnings or sales expectations as much as non-financials, according to data from Bespoke investment Group. And they're declining more in response.

Of 149 non-financial companies that have reported, 83% beat earnings per share expectations and 72% outperformed on sales, per Bespoke. By comparison, only 57% of 91 reporters in the financial sector beat estimates for earnings per share, while just 46% outdid sales expectations.

Financials have also fallen more on the back of earnings, averaging a one-day slide of 1.8% post-earnings report compared with a 0.7% average for non-financials in the same time period.

— Alex Harring

Alphabet's better than expected quarterly results has fueled analyst bullishness for future quarters.

The company reported both a revenue and adjusted earnings per share beat on Tuesday, despite concerns over companies slowing down ad spending.

"Revenue uncertainties continue, but we see these as cyclical versus secular, and we think street will see better evidence of cost cutting driving margin improvement by 2Q," Bank of America analyst Justin Post wrote on Wednesday. The firm also raised its price target on Alphabet stock.

Elsewhere, Morgan Stanley thinks that the company will remain "an underappreciated AI leader" while also raising its price target.

Read the full story here.

— Brian Evans

Microsoft is becoming the safe option for managers to expose clients to artificial intelligence with less risk, according to Josh Brown.

While adding that the artificial intelligence space could see a full-scale bubble this year, Brown thinks that Microsoft stock will become the safer play.

"[Microsoft] is becoming the way that active managers can say 'hey, we're playing AI,' but they're not taking ridiculous risks, they're not buying $4 billion market cap companies or SPACs that are going to buy AI targets, and that's a process that's going to frustrate people that are solely focused on AI," Brown said Tuesday on CNBC's "Halftime Report."

The company surpassed consensus expectations on Tuesday, beating on both earnings per share and revenue.

— Brian Evans

Despite notable gains from Microsoft and Boeing following their earnings reports, the index was still pulled slightly below its flatline by a group of lagging blue-chip stocks.

Honeywell, Home Depot, Amgen, UnitedHealth and Merck all weighed on the average with losses greater than 2%. The index was down about 0.1% with 17 out of 30 members in the red.

On the other side of the spectrum, Microsoft and Boeing were the average's two top performers with advances of more than 7% and 3%, respectively. Microsoft beat earnings expectations, while investors liked that Boeing management said it would increase its 737 Max production despite a manufacturing snafu.

— Alex Harring

Here are some of the stocks making moves during midday trading:

• Boeing — Shares added more than 3% Boeing said it would increase production of 737 Max planes later this year despite a production issue. The company's first-quarter revenue of $17.92 billion topped expectations of $17.57 billion, per Refinitiv. However, it posted a wider earnings loss than expected.
• General Dynamics — The stock dropped 4% after CEO Phebe Novakovic also said the company will incur some period costs as it builds a "considerable" number of Gulfstream G700s. However, General Dynamics beat on earnings and revenue for the first quarter.
• Enphase Energy — Shares plunged 24% after its second-quarter revenue forecast of $700 million to $750 million missed estimates of $765.2 million, per StreetAccount. Enphase CEO Badri Kothandaraman told CNBC's Pippa Stevens growth in the U.S. is at a standstill.

— Michelle Fox

Jim Cramer told investors to listen to what the market is saying. 

All kinds of tech names jumped Wednesday as Wall Street started to wake up to the huge opportunities in artificial intelligence.

Both Microsoft and Alphabet reported solid quarters after the closing bell Tuesday. The takeaway from the results and the commentary: AI is for real, right now.

Investing Club members can read the full story on the broad range of stocks that Jim sees as beneficiaries of the AI boom.

— Matthew J. Belvedere, Jim Cramer

Microsoft's climb on the back of strong earnings put shares at a high not seen since April 2022.

The stock traded at $297.95 per share after advancing more than 8%. It was last more expensive in early April of 2022 — more than a year ago — when it closed as high as $309.42 per share.

— Alex Harring

Cloud stocks advanced on Wednesday, with the WisdomTree Cloud Computing Fund last trading 2.5% higher.

Some better-than-expected results from Microsoft's cloud business were a boon to cloud stocks. Meanwhile, Google-parent Alphabet's cloud business generated a profit for the first time.

Shares of Datadog and Snowflake were among the outperformers, up more than 14% and 8% during midday trading. Cloudfare shares rose 5%.

— Sarah Min

Chipotle Mexican Grill shares soared nearly 15% to hit an all-time high after the Mexican fast food chain reported quarterly earnings and revenue that topped expectations.

The strong results were fueled by better than expected same-store sales growth. CEO Brian Niccol also said Chipotle's menu prices are up roughly 10% from a year earlier, demonstrating solid pricing power.

— Yun Li

Information technology and communication services stocks outperformed in the S&P 500 on Wednesday, with the two sectors last up about 2.1% and 0.4% during midday trading. Strong quarterly results from Microsoft and Google-parent Alphabet bolstered both sectors.

Microsoft shares were higher by more than 7% after the firm reported a third-quarter earnings beat on the top and bottom lines. Meanwhile, Alphabet shares rose 1.1%.

Information technology and communication services were one of just four sectors trading in positive territory in the broader index. The other two were consumer discretionary and real estate, last up about 0.2% and 0.05%, respectively.

— Sarah Min

The market could see rise in the near future as Wall Street's so-called fear gauge falls, according to Katie Stockton, founder and manager of Fairlead Strategies. 

The CBOE Volatility Index, or VIX, fell last week to its lowest level since November 2021. The VIX is widely looked at by investors as a gauge of uncertainty in the market, using S&P 500 stock index options prices to measure the market's expectations of near-term volatility. 

CNBC Pro subscribers can read more about Stockton's analysis here.

— Hakyung Kim

Shares of Enphase Energy tanked 25% Wednesday morning — making the solar company the worst-performer in the S&P 500 — after the company reported mixed results for the first quarter and issued disappointing second-quarter revenue guidance. Enphase warned of a solar slowdown in the U.S., which is the company's largest market by far.

"We're not growing in the U.S., basically," CEO Badri Kothandaraman told CNBC following the earnings release. He said the combination of higher interest rates and moderating utility bills in places like Texas, Florida and Arizona means consumers are delaying the decision to go solar.

The company earned $1.37 per share on an adjusted basis during the first quarter, which was 16 cents ahead of Wall Street's forecast, according to estimates compiled by Refinitiv. Revenue came in at $726 million, shy of the expected $732.5 million. The company said revenue in the U.S. fell 9%.

For the second quarter the company projects revenue between $700 million and $750 million, while analysts had been looking for $773 million.

Kothandaraman said he expects the picture to get "incrementally better" later in the year as installers offer new financing options, among other things. And in the meantime, he pointed to Europe as a bright spot, noting surging demand in the region could offset some of the slowdown in the U.S.

"We are growing very rapidly in Europe," he told CNBC, adding that it will be a "big driving force for us."

Bank of America downgraded the stock to an underperform rating Wednesday morning, saying headwinds will linger. Piper Sandler, JPMorgan and Deutsche Bank were among the firms that lowered their price target on the stock while reiterating buy-equivalent ratings.

— Pippa Stevens

The three major indexes were up as the trading day kicked off.

The Dow and S&P 500 both added around 0.3% shortly after open. The Nasdaq Composite advanced 1% as investors parsed the first batch of Big Tech earnings.

— Alex Harring

Amazon shares rose 2.5% in Wednesday premarket trading after Microsoft's better-than-expected cloud results improved the outlook for Amazon Web Services.

In Microsoft's fiscal third-quarter results, Azure and other cloud services growth decelerated to 27% from 31% in the previous quarter. However, that was still better than investors anticipated, buoying expectations for other cloud providers.

"In addition, MSFT noted that it is starting to lap spend optimization efforts in the June 2023 quarter, resulting in easier compares that might indicate light at the end of the tunnel for AWS," UBS' Lloyd Walmsley wrote in a Wednesday note.

"Net net we feel slightly better about AWS but view the Azure read as inconclusive," Walmsley added.

— Sarah Min

Demand for long-lasting goods such as appliances, computers and transportation equipment increased far more than expected in March, indicating a resilient U.S. economy.

New orders for manufactured durable goods jumped 3.2% for the month to $276.4 billion, the Commerce Department reported Wednesday. That was far above the 0.5% Dow Jones estimate and an improvement from the downwardly revised 1.2% decline in February.

Excluding transportation, new orders increased a much smaller 0.3%, as transportation equipment orders grew by 9.1%.

Nondefense new orders for capital goods surged 10.4%, while inventories decreased 0.9% and unfilled orders rose 0.4%.

—Jeff Cox

Check out the companies making headlines before the bell on Wednesday:

• Enphase Energy — The solar inverter company slid 16% after reporting disappointing revenue guidance for the second quarter. The company said Tuesday its upcoming quarterly revenue will range from $700 to $750 million, compared to the expected $765.2 million from analysts surveyed by StreetAccount. Shares of rival Solaredge Technologies dropped 5.8%.
• Thermo Fisher Scientific — Shares fell 3.9% after Thermo Fisher Scientific reported first-quarter earnings that came in line with expectations. The Massachusetts-based supplier of scientific instruments reported adjusted per-share earnings of $5.03, in line with a StreetAccount estimate. Thermo Fisher Scientific did beat revenue expectations, reporting revenue of $10.71 billion, greater than the $10.65 billion estimate.
• PacWest Bancorp — Shares jumped 14% in early morning trading after PacWest said it has seen deposit inflows over the past month. The regional bank said deposits fell more than 16% during the first quarter to roughly $28.2 billion, but that it has added about $1.8 billion in deposits since March 20, when it last updated investors. Regional bank Western Alliance Bancorp also rose Wednesday before the bell.

Read here to see which other companies are making moves before the open.

— Pia Singh

First Republic shares were down 8% in premarket trading as the troubled regional bank continued its slide.

The San Francisco-based lender said late Monday that it lost roughly 40% of its deposits in the first quarter. First Republic was seen by customers and investors as a risk after the collapse last month of Silicon Valley Bank, which had a similar financial profile.

First Republic also said that it was reviewing strategic options to help reshape its balance sheet.

The stock lost nearly 50% on Tuesday and is down more than 90% year to date.

— Jesse Pound

Shares of Chipotle Mexican Grill popped 7% before the bell after the popular burrito chain surpassed Wall Street's estimates for the recent quarter and benefitted from strong same-store sales growth.

The company reported earnings of $10.50 a share on revenues of $2.37 billion. Analysts surveyed by Refinitiv had anticipated EPS of $8.92 and $2.34 billion in revenue.

In this inflationary environment, Chipotle also profited off of higher menu prices, which rose about 10% from a year ago.

— Samantha Subin

Boeing shares rose nearly 4% in premarket trading after the company reported earnings before the bell.

The company reported $1.27 in an adjusted loss per share and $17.92 billion in revenue. Analysts polled by Refinitiv anticipated an adjusted loss per share of $1.07 on $17.57 billion in revenue.

Boeing also said it would increase production of 737 Max planes later this year despite a prior production issue.

— Leslie Josephs, Alex Harring

Activision Blizzard shares dropped more than 12% in the premarket after a UK regulator blocked Microsoft's purchase of the video game publisher.

"The final decision to prevent the deal comes after Microsoft's proposed solution failed to effectively address the concerns in the cloud gaming sector," wrote the UK's Competition and Markets Authority.

The $69 billion deal also raised concerns with other regulators around the world. The European Union is still probing the deal, while the U.S. Federal Trade Commission sued to block it.

— Fred Imbert

Tesla shares were downgraded by Jefferies to hold from buy, with analyst Philippe Houchois noting the company's push to ramp up sales volume could hinder margins. The analyst also cut his price target on the stock to $185 from $230.

CNBC Pro subscribers can read more here.

— Brian Evans

Europe's Stoxx 600 index opened lower and extended losses in early trade, trading down 1% at 8:45 a.m. London time.

Tech stocks dropped 2.1%, industrials were down 2% and banks fell 1.5% as investor sentiment soured on U.S. recession fears and banking sector nerves.

France's CAC 40 was down 1%, Germany's DAX was down 0.85% and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 fell 0.5%.

Singapore's industrial production for March dipped 4.2% year on year, performing better than Reuters' expectations of a 6.1% fall.

The reading marks the sixth consecutive contraction since October, and comes after November's figure of an 8.9% drop.

On a month-on-month basis, Singapore's manufacturing output data rose 9.3%, compared against a 11.7% decline in the previous month.

—Lee Ying Shan

The Bank of America revised downwards South Korea's 2023 GDP growth forecast to 1.4% year on year from 1.9% previously.

The adjustment is a reflection of "persistent headwinds from tech cycle downturn and high interest rate environment," a report released by the bank stated.

"We expect the higher interest rate to gradually press households' spending capacity, and to see slower consumption growth in 2H23," BofA economists Benson Wu and Tim Him Ho wrote.

Headwinds from the tech cycle downturn could also weigh on both exports and facility investment this year, they added.

South Korea's headline GDP for the first quarter grew 0.8% year on year.

—Lee Ying Shan

South Korea's composite consumer index for April has improved to 95.1 points, 3.1 points higher than March's figure of 92.

The index tracks how optimistic consumers are about the performance of the economy, with a reading above 100 indicating an improving outlook and a reading below 100 pointing to a deteriorating outlook.

In a release, the Bank of Korea said consumer sentiment regarding current living standards was four points higher than in March, at 87, and that concerning the future outlook was three points higher than in the previous month, at 90.

The survey also showed that consumers' inflation for the upcoming year stood at 3.7%.

— Lim Hui Jie

Australia's inflation for the first quarter of 2023 slowed to 7% year-on-year, down from a 23-year high of 7.8% in the quarter ended December 2022.

This also marked the end of a streak of five straight increases in the consumer price index since the quarter ended September 2021.

The country's bureau of statistics reported that the largest contributors for the March quarter were costs of gas and household fuels, which surged 14.3%, as well as costs of tertiary education and domestic holiday travel, which increased 9.7% and 4.7% respectively.

The trimmed mean CPI - which excludes the most volatile 30% of items in the cost calculation - came in at 6.6%, compared to 6.9% in the previous quarter.

— Lim Hui Jie

Tech earnings may give comfort to investors, but it's hard to see those leading the average stock higher amid the near-term headwinds in central bank policy, said Yung-Yu Ma, chief investment strategist at BMO.

"Today saw a one-two punch of banking sector challenges and consumer concerns after First Republic reported massive deposit outflows and UPS pointed to weak consumer demand," Ma told CNBC.

"The regional bank index is sitting right at its lows, which is a reminder that liquidity in the economy is set to tighten in the months ahead. That these pain points are taking place a mere week ahead of what is likely to be another Fed interest rate hike is difficult mix for investors to swallow," he added.

— Tanaya Macheel

Google parent Alphabet saw shares rise more than 1% in extended trading after it posted first-quarter revenue that topped estimates.

Alphabet reported first quarter earnings of $1.17 per share on revenues of $69.79 billion. Analysts had expected earnings of $1.07 per share on revenues of $68.95 billion, according to Refinitiv.

Alphabet also reported a profit in its cloud business for the first time on record, and the company's board authorized a $70 billion share buyback.

— Tanaya Macheel, Jennifer Elias

Cryptocurrencies rose on Tuesday evening following several days of sideways trading amid a lull in crypto's characteristic volatility.

Bitcoin advanced 3.2% to $28,253.00, according to Coin Metrics, while ether gained 2.1% to $1,869.46. 

"Bitcoin held up well today despite the market turmoil," Yung-Yu Ma, chief investment strategist at BMO, told CNBC. "With Microsoft and Alphabet up after hours, it seems to be trading up in sympathy."

"For crypto, the action points to investors looking for a reason to buy rather than the equity market where investors may be looking for a reason to sell," he added.

— Tanaya Macheel

Microsoft shares rose 9% in extended trading on Tuesday after the software maker reported quarterly earnings and revenue that exceeded analysts' expectations.

Microsoft reported earnings of $2.45 per share on revenues of $52.86 billion, according to Refinitiv. Analysts expected earnings per share of $2.23 on revenues of $51.02 billion.

Amy Hood, Microsoft's finance chief, made optimistic comments about the potential in artificial intelligence during a conference call with analysts.

"As with any significant platform shift, it starts with innovation, and we're excited about the early feedback and demand signals from the AI capabilities we've announced to date," she said. "We will continue to invest in our cloud infrastructure, particularly AI-related spend, as we scale to the growing demand driven by customer transformation. And we expect the resulting revenue to grow over time."

For more, read the full story here.

— Jordan Novet, Tanaya Macheel

It's been shaping up to be an ugly April for the Nasdaq Composite, but the tech-heavy index is still clinging above a key market level.

The Nasdaq closed at 11,799.16 on Tuesday, slipping nearly 2%, but the index remains above its 50-day moving average level of 11,785.97.

The 50-day moving average is a technical indicator, and when a security or an index closes below it, that suggests a downward trend. The Nasdaq hasn't slipped below this key threshold since March 16.

Month to date, the Nasdaq is off by nearly 3.5%. However, it still has a comfortable buffer: The index is up 12.7% in 2023 as the tech sector enjoyed a resurgence to begin the year.

Earnings season promises to put the market – and tech's huge gains – to the test, particularly as strategists question whether Big Tech names' rally can last. Tuesday's after-hours action – in which Nasdaq 100 futures popped, and Microsoft and Alphabet shares surged – suggests these stocks could have higher to go at least for now.

—Darla Mercado, Gina Francolla

Billionaire hedge fund investor Stanley Druckenmiller said in Oslo on Tuesday that he's betting against the U.S. dollar and has a short position in the currency, the Financial Times said. Druckenmiller spoke at an event sponsored by the Norwegian sovereign wealth fund.

According to the FT, Druckenmiller told the gathering that missing the rally in the dollar over the past few years, "was probably the biggest miss of my career." The former head of Duquesne Capital bases his short dollar view on a belief the Federal Reserve will respond to any economic slowdown in the US. with lower interest rates.

The United States Dollar Index is down 1.7% in the past month, off 2.1% year-to-date and lower by 9.5% since late October, FactSet data shows.

Over the past five years, however, the DXY is higher by 11.7% and over the past 10 years is ahead 22%.

— Scott Schnipper

These are the stocks making the biggest moves in after-hours trading:

• PacWest Bancorp — Shares of the regional bank jumped 15% after PacWest said it has seen deposit inflows over the past month. PacWest also reported a net loss of $1.21 billion for the quarter, due largely to a goodwill impairment charge.
• Chipotle Mexican Grill — The burrito chain jumped 7.7% after hours after posting earnings and revenue for the first quarter that beat analysts' estimates, according to Refinitv.
• Enphase Energy — The solar inverter company saw shares slide about 16% after hours after reporting a mixed quarter that included disappointing revenue results. Competitor SolarEdge slid more than 6%.

For more details and more stocks on the move, check out our full list here.

— Tanaya Macheel

Futures tied to the major averages opened higher Tuesday evening.

Dow Jones Industrial Futures added 74 points, or 0.2%. S&P 500 futures rose 0.4%. Nasdaq 100 futures jumped 1.08%.

— Tanaya Macheel