Dow and S&P 500 post best day since January; Nasdaq climbs 2% as Big Tech rallies: Live updates

The Dow and S&P 500 posted their best days since January.

The Dow rose 1.6%, while the S&P 500 added 2%.

The Nasdaq Composite jumped 2.4% in its best day since last month as Big Tech rallied.

— Alex Harring

Individual investor pessimism toward stocks rose to 38.5% from 35.1% in the latest weekly survey, the 10th week in a row bearishness is above its historic average of 31%, the American Association of Individual Investors said.

Optimism that stocks will rise in price over the next six months narrowed to 24.1% from 27.2% last week, while neutral opinion (that stocks won't move much) was little changed at 37.4%, from 37.7% last week.

Neutral sentiment is above the historical average (31.5%) for the 16th week in the past 17, the AAI said.

Bearish sentiment that's "now approaching an unusually high level again," according to the AAII, is a good sign for contrarian investors. The thinking goes that the more bearish investors say they are, the closer they are to having finished their sales of stock, and the higher their cash holdings, giving them firepower to put into stocks.

AAII members answered a special question this week that asked "if they think investors are too bullish or bearish right now." Their answer:

• Investors are too bullish: 30.4%
• Investors are too bearish: 30.4%
• Sentiment toward the market is about right: 18.6%
• No opinion/unsure: 20.6%

Could there be a clearer signal of the market's current tug-of-war?

— Scott Schnipper

Shares of Hershey rose 4% on Thursday and hit a new all-time high after the candymaker's first-quarter results beat expectations on the top and bottom lines.

Hershey also raised its guidance for net sales group and earnings per share to the high end of its previous outlook.

The growth in the first quarter came from a combination of volume gains and higher prices, the company said.

And Hershey isn't done raising prices. CFO Steve Voskuil said on the earnings call that consumer demand is holding up better than previously expected, according to a transcript from FactSet.

— Jesse Pound

The three major indexes remained in the green as investors entered the final hour of Thursday's session.

The Nasdaq Composite led the way with a 2.5% gain. The S&P 500 added 2%, while the Dow rose 1.6%.

— Alex Harring

Barclays is still eyeing Activision Blizzard stock despite the collapse of the company's deal with Microsoft.

The firm raised its price target on the company on Wednesday, and said the company can remain strong on its own.

"Despite the deal likely dead in water, we view this as a strong buying opportunity given its cheap relative valuation to EA, momentum in core franchises (CoD/Candy Crush), along with upcoming catalysts in Diablo 4/Warzone Mobile," Barclays analyst Mario Lu wrote Wednesday.

Read the full story here.

— Brian Evans

Communication services stocks are on pace for their best day since Feb. 2, with the sector last up about 5.8%. Meta drove gains in the sector after posting first-quarter results that beat analysts' expectations. The tech stock was last up more than 15%.

— Sarah Min

KLA Corporation was among the notable names boosting the Nasdaq Composite during midday trading. The tech-heavy index was last up more than 2%.

KLA climbed more than 5% after the semiconductor equipment maker's latest fiscal third quarter results beat estimates on the top and bottom lines, according to consensus estimates from FactSet.

— Sarah Min

Check out the companies making headlines in midday trading.

Honeywell International —  Shares climbed 3.2% after Honeywell exceeded expectations on the top and bottom lines in its latest quarter. The conglomerate reported adjusted first-quarter earnings of $2.07 per share on revenues of $8.86 billion. Analysts polled by Refinitiv forecasted earnings per share of $1.93 on revenues of $8.52 billion.

Fidelity National Information Services — The financial products company's stock climbed 3.5% on the back of better-than-expected first-quarter results. Fidelity National earned an adjusted $1.29 per share on revenue of $3.51 billion. Analysts polled by StreetAccount expected a profit of $1.21 on revenue of $3.41 billion.

Southwest Airlines — The airline company's shares slipped 3.4% following a wider-than-expected loss for the first quarter. The carrier had a meltdown in the final days of December, when it canceled more than 16,000 flights in late December. The incident resulted in a $325 million revenue impact for the first quarter, Southwest said.

Check out the full list here.

— Hakyung Kim

Semiconductor stocks are generally sitting out the market rally on Thursday, and some cautious commentary about the auto market could be the culprit, according to Adam Crisafulli of Vital Knowledge.

Mobileye Global, a software company that works on assisted and autonomous driving, slashed its outlook for the year on Thursday morning, citing a slowdown in China.

"There were a handful of weak semiconductor reports Wed night (including MXL and WOLF), but this quote from MBLY is spooking people the most – "The China electric vehicle market has been negatively impacted by meaningful pricing actions by a global EV OEM, reduction of government electric vehicle subsidies, and general economic weakness in the country," Crisafulli said in note on Thursday.

Shares of Mobileye were down 22% in midday trading. The VanEck Semiconductor ETF (SMH) was shuffling between gains and losses.

— Jesse Pound

Self-driving company Mobileye fell more than 23% after the company pulled back its expectations for full-year performance.

The company now expects 2023 revenue to finish between $2.065 billion and $2.114 billion. Mobileye also said to expect an operating loss for the year between $166 million and $195 million.

In January, Mobileye said to expect revenue between $2.192 billion and $2.282 billion. It also estimated a smaller operating loss of between $110 million to $160 million.

Management cited weakness in China's electric vehicle market as a driver of the chilled expectations.

— John Rosevear, Alex Harring

Post-earnings losses to Merck and Caterpillar kept gains to the Dow restricted.

Though both beat Wall Street expectations, both were down as investors parsed management commentary and share prices. The two stocks were the worst performers in the 30-stock index, with Merck shedding around 1.5% and Caterpillar sliding just over 3.2%.

The index as a whole, meanwhile. was up 0.9% at the same time. McDonald's and JPMorgan were the two best performers, with each gaining around 1.3%.

— Alex Harring

Post-earnings rallies from Meta and Comcast have pushed the communication services sector of the S&P 500 far above the rest of the index.

The sector is up more than 4.5% Thursday, led up by advances of more than 14% and 6% from Meta and Comcast, respectively. Consumer discretionary, by comparison, was the second best performing sector with a relatively muted 1.5% gain.

Eight of the 11 sectors were trading up in what's so far been a winning day for the index. As of whole, the S&P 500 has gained around 0.8%. Health care and energy were the two worst performing sectors, with each dropping around 0.8%.

Disclaimer: Comcast owns NBCUniversal, the parent company of CNBC.

— Alex Harring

Video game company Electronic Arts could face pressure after the collapse of Microsoft's takeover bid of Activision Blizzard, according to BMO Capital Markets.

U.K. regulators blocked the deal on Wednesday, citing concerns over competition in the industry. Microsoft said it plans to appeal the decision.

But the fallout could deter company's from making similar attempts, which can bring negative consequences to EA.

"We think the tumultuous and costly MSFT/ATVI experience, culminating with a critical UK rejection, could dissuade potential suitors from attempting big, multi-billion dollar deals, perhaps turning towards more bite-sized, sub-$1 billion deals, thereby reducing the takeout premium built into EA shares," BMO analyst Gerrick Johnson said.

Read the full story here.

— Brian Evans

Shares of beleaguered regional bank First Republic were climbing on Thursday, giving the stock a reprieve after two days of heavy selling.

The stock rose 71 cents, or about 12%, but is still trading below $7 per share.

First Republic's stock closed at $16 per share on Monday before the bank released its first quarter results, which showed that deposits shrank by about 40% in the first three months of the year.

First Republic and its advisors are trying convince other banks to buy some of its assets at above market rates to allow First Republic to reshape its balance sheet, CNBC reported Wednesday.

— Jesse Pound

Southwest Airlines' stock shed 5.6% after it reported a $159 million loss in the first quarter as the effects of its December 2022 meltdown carried over into the first quarter.

The carrier posted a higher-than-expected adjusted losses of 27 cents per share. Analysts had expected a loss of 23 cents per share, according to Refinitiv data. The airline's revenue of $5.71 billion also fell short of analysts' estimates of $5.73 billion.

The company canceled more than 16,000 flights in the final days of December 2022 due to software and scheduling issues. The cancellations resulted in a $325 million revenue hit.

— Hakyung Kim

A leading indicator for the housing industry provided another piece of bad news Thursday.

Pending home sales declined 5.2% in March, the first decrease since November 2022, according to the National Association of Realtors. Economists surveyed by Dow Jones had been expecting a 0.5% increase. A 30-year mortgage rate near 7% has provided a substantial impediment to the industry, as has a generally slowing economy and lack of supply.

"The lack of housing inventory is a major constraint to rising sales," said NAR Chief Economist Lawrence Yun. "Limited housing supply is simply not meeting demand nationally."

Yun said he expects sales to rise through the year as employment growth continues and interest rates decline.

—Jeff Cox

Cathie Wood's Ark Invest bought the dip again in Tesla shares Wednesday as her EV darling's volatile ride continued.

The innovation-focused investor added 163,495 Tesla shares for her flagship Ark Innovation ETF (ARKK) fund, according to Ark's daily trading data. She also bought 27,481 Tesla shares for Ark Next Generation Internet ETF Wednesday. Combined, these purchases were worth nearly $30 million based on Tesla's Wednesday's close of $153.75.

Tesla sold off 4.2% Wednesday after Jefferies downgraded the electric vehicle maker to hold from buy, sounding the alarm on the company's margins.

Wood recently updated her Tesla target, seeing it hitting $2,000 in five years on the back of a robotaxi boom. Tesla is ARKK's biggest holding with a 9.66% weighting.

— Yun Li

The three major indexes opened higher on Thursday.

The Nasdaq Composite led the way with a 1% gain shortly after the opening bell. The S&P 500 was up 0.6%, while the Dow added 0.3%.

— Alex Harring

Facebook parent company Meta's better than expected quarterly results has spurred further analyst optimism.

Firms including Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase and Citigroup all updated price targets for the stock.

"Developing more open source models (including LLMs) and helping create an open ecosystem is another area of focus as an open ecosystem should enable META to stay at the forefront and drive infrastructure efficiency over time," Morgan Stanley's Brian Nowak wrote on Thursday.

Meta beat Wall Street estimates on both adjusted earnings per share and revenue on Wednesday, despite concerns over slower ad sales. The stock gained as much as 12% after the results.

"Meta earnings show the company's commitment to cost discipline while driving accelerating N-T revenue growth and also continuing to invest in longer-term transformational technologies like AI and the metaverse," JPMorgan analyst Doug Anmuth said.

Read the full story here.

— Brian Evans

Check out the companies making headlines before the bell:

• Meta Platforms – Shares jumped 12% after the Facebook parent surpassed Wall Street's expectations on the top and bottom lines and issued optimistic guidance. Meta Platforms posted its first sales increase in about a year.
• Teladoc Health – The telemedicine company saw its stock soar more than 7% after revenue topped analyst estimates in the latest quarter. The company also raised the low end of its revenue and adjusted EBITDA guidance, although it posted a wider-than-anticipated loss in the latest quarter. DA Davidson cited stable results and increasing confidence after Teladoc's earnings.
• Harley-Davidson – Harley-Davidson jumped 4.4% after the motorcycle maker topped earnings and revenue expectations, according to consensus estimates from Refinitiv. The firm reported first quarter earnings of $2.04 per share versus an estimate of $1.39, on revenues of $1.56 billion that were above the consensus $1.36 billion.

Read the full list here.

— Sarah Min

The U.S. economy expanded by 1.1% in the first quarter, a much-slower-than-expected pace, the Commerce Department said. Economists had forecast expansion of 2%, per Dow Jones. The report showed stronger inflation with prices increasing 4%, compared with an estimate of 3.7%.

— Jeff Cox

Eli Lilly rose more than 3% in the premarket after the health company hiked expectations for its full-year performance.

The company said earnings per share should come in between $8.65 and $8.85 after saying earlier it should be between $8.335 and $8.55. Eli Lilly also guided expected revenue up to between $31.2 billion and $31.7 billion from the prior anticipated range of $30.3 billion and $30.8 billion.

In the first quarter, the company beat the consensus estimate of analysts polled by FactSet on revenue, while earnings per share came in below expectations for the quarter.

— Alex Harring

Merck shares advanced 1.5% in the premarket after the health name beat analyst expectations in the first quarter.

The company reported $1.40 in adjusted earnings per share, eight cents more than anticipated by analysts polled by Refinitiv. Revenue also beat expectations, coming in at $14.49 billion against the consensus estimate of $13.78 billion.

— Alex Harring, Annika Kim Constantino

Shares of Teladoc Health soared more than 7% in premarket after the telemedicine company reported a revenue beat for the latest quarter. The company also raised the low end of its revenue and adjusted EBITDA guidance. DA Davidson cited stability and increasing confidence after Teladoc's earnings. The firm did post a wider than expected loss for the quarter, however.

— Yun Li

Shares of Caterpillar moved into the red in premarket trading despite initially popping following earnings results.

The stock was last down about 1.5% in extended trading.

— Alex Harring

Shares of Comcast advanced more than 3% in extended trading after the company topped Wall Street expectations for the first quarter.

The company reported 92 cents in adjusted earnings per share, 10 cents higher than expected by analysts polled by Refinitiv. Revenue came in at $29.69 billion, above the consensus estimate of $29.3 billion.

Disclosure: Comcast owns NBCUniversal, the parent company of CNBC.

— Lillian Rizzo, Alex Harring

Global economy barometer Caterpillar reported much better than expected first-quarter results Thursday morning. The Dow Jones Industrial Average member earned an adjusted $4.91 a share last quarter on revenue of $15.862 billion. Analysts had expected earnings per share of $3.78 on revenue of $15.255 billion, according to the consensus figures from Refinitiv. Revenue increased 17% from the same quarter a year ago.

The construction-equipment maker said operating profit margin was 17.2% in the period, up from 13.7% a year earlier.

Caterpillar shares gained 3.5% in early trading. After the results hit, Dow futures extended their gain to 183 points.

— John Melloy

Deutsche Bank shares climbed 1.7% after the company reported net profit of 1.158 billion euros ($1.28 billion) for the first quarter, ahead of a consensus estimate of 864.54 million euros.

"It was an interesting market environment in March, for sure. We were tested, and I think the silver lining of the test is we passed, and I think we passed with flying colors," Deutsche Bank CFO James von Moltke told CNBC.

"The market was looking for vulnerabilities in banks with this surprise out of the U.S. regional banking sector. It was looking for securities losses, interest rate mismanagement issues, commercial real estate exposures, and many other sort of features."

The bank was briefly swept up in the volatility after the emergency rescue of Credit Suisse by UBS. Its stock plunged and its credit default swaps — a form of insurance for a company's bondholders against its default — soared.

"Across the various dimensions, when the market took a good look at us, what they saw was a stable, well-run, well-risk managed bank," von Moltke said.

— Jenni Reid, Elliot Smith

Europe's Stoxx 600 index moved between narrow losses and gains in early trade, with stronger-than-expected earnings from Barclays and Deutsche Bank boosting the banking sector.

France's CAC 40 was 0.3% higher at 10:15 a.m. Paris time, while Germany's DAX was flat and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 was 0.05% lower.

— Jenni Reid

The S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite are on pace to end April in the red.

The S&P 500 is down 1.3% since the start of the month, on track for its second negative month in three months. The Nasdaq Composite has shed 3% month to date, and is thus far headed toward its worst month in 2023. Meanwhile, the Dow is up just 0.08% in April.

— Hakyung Kim, Chris Hayes

Check out the companies making headlines after the bell.

Meta Platforms — The Facebook parent popped 9% after announcing better-than-expected top-line results. Meta posted $28.65 billion in revenue, topping analysts' $27.66 billion estimate, according to Refinitiv data. Meanwhile, the company's metaverse venture Reality Lab recorded almost $4 billion in operating losses. 

Roku — The TV streaming platform rose 2% after mixed first-quarter earnings. Roku lost $1.38 per share, while analysts had expected per-share losses of $1.37. Revenue topped estimates, coming in at $741 million versus analysts' estimate of $708.5 million. Roku also raised its outlook for its current-quarter revenue to $770 million, coming in higher than Wall Street's estimate of $768 million. 

Ebay — The e-commerce platform jumped 5.1% after first-quarter earnings and revenue beat estimates. Ebay earned an adjusted $1.11 per share, better than $1.07 estimate, and revenue of $2.51 billion, against a $2.48 billion estimate, according to Refinitiv data. Ebay said it sees second-quarter per share earnings between 96 cents to $1.01, while analysts had estimated 99 cents per share. Ebay's estimated current-quarter revenue of $2.47 billion to $2.54 billion topped analysts' consensus projection of $2.43 billion. 

The full list can be found here.

— Hakyung Kim

U.S. stock futures opened higher Wednesday night, led by the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100.

Nasdaq 100 futures rose 0.62%. S&P 500 futures were up 0.24%, while Dow Jones futures ticked up just 0.03%.

— Hakyung Kim