Dow closes lower Wednesday as stocks' comeback attempt fails: Live updates

The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed lower on Wednesday afternoon after a volatile trading session.

The 30-stock index shed 68.61 points, or 0.20%, to land at 33,550.27. On the other hand, the S&P 500 inched up by 0.02% and settled at 4,274.51. Meanwhile, the Nasdaq Composite added 0.22% to end at 13,092.85.

— Lisa Kailai Han, Sarah Min

More than 40% of adults in the U.S. are obese. That makes the group a force to be reckoned with if their habits change suddenly. That's why we've seen so many Wall Street analysts exploring the fallout from new weight loss medications like Wegovy and Ozempic on industries from real estate to medical devices to food and beverage. Many of these exercises have been theoretical and have come with warnings that it might take a while for the trends to play out.

Walmart's CFO John David Rainey met with Bank of America on Tuesday and touched on how GLP-1 medicines are changing people's purchasing habits. Read more about what he said on CNBC Pro.

The retailer's comments come as more than 9 million prescriptions have been written for these drugs, which also treat type 2 diabetes, according to Trilliant Health.

Walmart shares are down less than 1% in trading on Wednesday.

—Christina Cheddar Berk

September has so far lived up to its reputation as a historically weak month for stocks. However, AXS Investments' Greg Bassuk expects the market is paving the way forward for "select buying opportunities" from October into the year end.

The CEO of AXS Investments said this month's pullback has created good entry points for investors to buy stocks. He recommends focusing on alternative investments in commodities as he expects continued turbulence in the markets.

"Companies with strong fundamentals that were overly beaten down represent good opportunities going forward," he added.

— Lisa Kailai Han

Dell's durable competitive advantages, cheap valuation, artificial intelligence backlog and potential for revenue growth will push its stock price up, according to Alliance Bernstein.

Shares of the computer manufacturer have rallied over 70% year to date. Despite this, analyst Toni Sacconaghi believes that the company still has rooms to rise, raising his price target to $80 from $70 in a Tuesday note. That implies a 16% upside from the stock's closing price of $68.93 on Tuesday afternoon.

"On the positive side, we believe that Dell is a best-in-class operator and should grow faster (mid to high single digit EPS and FCF) than its peers, warranting a better multiple," Sacconaghi wrote. "We also acknowledge potential catalysts in index inclusion and incremental capital return."

— Lisa Kailai Han

A government shutdown would create significant uncertainty for the defense companies that rely on federal dollars, but that doesn't mean investors have to bail on the stocks, according to Morgan Stanley analyst Kristine Liwag.

"The potential impact of a shutdown, in our view, hinges heavily on duration. While a short-term shutdown may cause minimal disruption to Defense Primes, the longer a shutdown persists, the more risk builds," Liwag said in a note to clients on Tuesday night.

If the shutdown is resolved quickly, defense stocks could outperform tine broader market in the weeks following the resolution, as happened in 2013.

"Shutdown-induced weakness could present a tactical buying opportunity, in our view," Liwag said.

— Jesse Pound

UBS analyst Peter Grom initiated coverage of e.l.f. Beauty on Wednesday with a buy rating and price target of $138.

"We believe ELF can drive +47%/+20% org. growth in FY24 and FY25 driven by innovation-led share gains across the mass beauty industry," Grom wrote in a note. "We believe this greater flow through will allow ELF to maintain it's current premium valuation, thereby rewarding shareholders with stronger earnings growth."

Grom pointed to the company's faster-growing skin care category, which now accounts for roughly 18% of its sales, and an "underappreciated runway" of international growth as fuel for e.l.f. Beauty's top-line potential.

Shares are trading 0.8% higher on Wednesday. The stock has popped more than 99% this year.

— Pia Singh

Shares of Meta fell 3.6% in Wednesday trading. Earlier in the afternoon, the company announced the release of its newest Quest 3 VR headset.

While more expensive than Meta's previous iteration of the product, the headset includes newer features such as better screens, a more powerful chip and an emphasis on passthrough. The passthrough function emphasizes device immersion by allowing users to blend their digital display with their outside real-world surroundings.

Meta stock is up over 139% since the start of the year.

— Lisa Kailai Han

Levi Strauss & Co. advanced more than 0.7% after a bullish call on the clothing maker from TD Cowen.

Analyst Oliver Chen initiated coverage of the stock with an outperform rating on Wednesday. He cited its strong brand and trends that should work in the company's favor, as well as noting the company can grow its direct-to-consumer business and international presence.

"We believe Levi's is in the early innings of a favorable denim cycle of new fits and styles driven by younger, fashion-forward consumers," he said in a note to clients. "Its 'icon' status as a heritage brand is evident."

Chen's target price for shares indicates that he believes the stock could rally about 23.8% from where it finished Tuesday.

— Alex Harring

Three energy companies comprise the S&P 500's top four gainers week to date.

Medical devices company Resmed has risen the most since the start of the week, up 7.5% as of Wednesday afternoon.

Energy stocks were the next biggest winners as oil prices continue to rise. APA Corp has rallied 5.5% for the week, followed by EOG Resources and Pioneer Natural, which are both higher by more than 5%.

— Hakyung Kim

The Dow took the biggest leg down in Wednesday's session of the three major indexes, weighed on by slides in Johnson & Johnson and Walgreens.

Both stocks fell about 2% in the session. Verizon, Merck and McDonald's were also among the worst performers, down more than 1.5%.

The index as a whole fell about 0.5%. Chevron, Intel and Caterpillar were among those in the 30-stock index bucking the trend, with all three up more than 1%.

— Alex Harring

Utilities was the biggest laggard in the S&P 500, with the sector down by 1.4% during midday trading.

NextEra Energy was the worst-performing stock in the sector, dropping by more than 6%. American Water Works Company was lower by more than 1%.

— Sarah Min

The S&P 500 could soon test the 4,200 level as elevated yields, rising oil prices and a stronger dollar continue to weigh on equities, according to BTIG.

"Of the three, we think bonds are the closest to a reversal, but things are likely to remain messy into quarter-end," BTIG's Jonathan Krinsky said in a Wednesday note. "All of this continues to suggest SPX tests ~4200."

The broader index was last trading above the 4,250 level.

— Sarah Min

These are the stocks making the biggest moves during midday trading:

• Media stocks — A handful of media and studio stocks rose Wednesday after the nearly 150-day writers strike ended. Shares of Warner Bros. Discovery and Paramount Global jumped more than 2.5%.
• MillerKnoll — The furniture stock soared more than 27% after posting fiscal 2024 first-quarter earnings that topped Wall Street's expectation and upped its earnings guidance for the full year.
• Costco — Shares of the wholesale superstore added 2.1% on the heels of a fourth-quarter earnings beat. Costco executives noted higher store traffic and an 8% uptick in memberships year-over-year.

Here's the full list of stocks moving midday.

— Samantha Subin

Bank of America named Occidental Petroleum a top idea, seeing shares of the Houston-based energy producer rising 30%.

"Of our oil weighted coverage we see OXY best positioned to capitalize on near term oil strength while capital efficiency, a deep drilling backlog and the Berkshire 'put' can help mitigate downside risk," the Wall Street firm said in a note.

Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway kept buying the dip in Occidental this year, now owning a quarter of the oil giant.

— Yun Li

Electric-vehicle charging stations provider ChargePoint could make a massive recovery, according to UBS.

Analyst Robert Jamieson initiated the stock with a buy rating, saying the worsened sentiment around ChargePoint has created an "attractive risk/reward" profile for investors. Shares climbed 4% in Wednesday morning trading.

CNBC Pro subscribers can read more here.

— Pia Singh

Energy stocks are holding on to their gains on Wednesday even as the broader market struggles.

The Energy Select Sector SPDR Fund (XLE) rose more than 2%, hitting new session highs shortly after the Dow turned negative. Exxon Mobil gained 2%, while Diamondback Energy climbed nearly 3%.

The price of oil was also moving higher, with futures for U.S. benchmark West Texas Intermediate crude hovering just under $93 per barrel.

— Jesse Pound

Stocks slipped to session lows as the market grappled with rising oil prices and bond yields.

Shortly before 11 a.m. ET, the three major indexes traded at their worst levels so far in Wednesday's session. The Dow fell more than 100 points, or 0.3%. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite both slipped around 0.1%.

— Alex Harring

Oil prices climbed by more than $1 a barrel Wednesday, boosting energy stocks and adding pressure to the broader stock market.

Brent crude futures were up $1.77, or 1.9%, to $95.73 a barrel. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures climbed $2.62 or 2.9%, to $92.98.

Energy stocks got a boost from the move higher, with the S&P 500 sector last advancing by 1.8% in midday trading. Occidental Petroleum and Halliburton shares each rose by more than 3%.

However, stocks came off their highs. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell by more than 100 points, or 0.3%. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq fell by 0.1%.

— Sarah Min

Toymaker Mattel can shine even as the environment for consumer companies looks shaky, according to Morgan Stanley.

Analyst Megan Alexander initiated Mattel on Wednesday with an overweight rating, calling it a top pick. Shares are trading 4% higher.

"MAT is trading well below historical levels, and we expect the stock to re-rate on both an absolute and relative basis as (1) revisions turn positive, (2) it proves resilient in a deteriorating macro, and (3) it monetizes its strong IP in the wake of the Barbie movie." Alexander wrote.

CNBC Pro subscribers can read more here.

— Pia Singh

Energy was the best-performing sector in the S&P 500 on Wednesday, last up by more than 1%.

Shares of Occidental Petroleum gained more than 2%. Marathon Oil and Devon Energy rose about 2% each.

— Sarah Min

All three major stock indexes opened higher on Wednesday morning.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 112 points, or 0.33%. The S&P 500 edged higher by 0.3%, while the Nasdaq Composite added over 0.4%.

— Lisa Kailai Han

Shares of Micron were up 1% in premarket trading, ahead of the semiconductor producer's anticipated release of its fiscal fourth-quarter earnings results after today's market close. Investors will be waiting to hear if global demand for semiconductors can offset Chinese bans against the export of chipmaking metals.

Analysts polled by the StreetAccount expect revenue of $3.95 billion, slightly above the midpoint of guidance for revenue at $3.90 billion. Analysts also forecast a loss of $1.15 per share. That would be smaller than the company guidance for a loss of $1.19 per share.

Year to date, shares of Micron are up nearly 36%.

— Lisa Kailai Han

Orders for long-lasting goods unexpected increased in August, thanks largely to a boost in defense aircraft and machinery, the Commerce Department reported Wednesday.

Durable goods, which include such items as airplanes, appliances and computers, rose 0.2% on the month, reversing a 5.6% slide in July and better than the Dow Jones consensus for a decline of 0.5%.

Excluding transportation, orders increased 0.4% but fell 0.7% when excluding defense.

—Jeff Cox

The U.S. dollar index was near session highs at 106.349 in early trading Wednesday. That's the highest level of the year going back to Nov. 30, 2022 when the index reached a high of 107.195.

The dollar index is up 2.6% this month, headed for its best month since May when it gained 2.62%. If it closes the month up by more than 2.62%, it will be the best month since February when the index rose 2.72%.

The dollar index is up 3.33% this quarter, or its best since the third quarter of 2022 when the index climbed 7.1%.

— Sarah Min, Gina Francolla

Popular media stocks inched up before the bell Wednesday as Hollywood writers and studios approved a labor contract that brings an end to a nearly 150-day labor strike.

The deal — valid until May 2026 — includes a minimum 5% pay increase, with additional bumps pay bumps in 2024 and 2025. Under the contract, artificial intelligence material won't qualify as source, or literary material.

The guild also negotiated a new residual payment based on viewership and show popularity.

Shares of Warner Bros. Discovery, Disney, Comcast and Paramount inched up less than 1% before the bell. Netflix added 0.6%.

— Samantha Subin, Sarah Whitten

Disclosure: Comcast is the parent company of NBCUniversal and CNBC.

China has put Hui Ka Yan, the billionaire chairman of embattled Chinese real estate firm Evergrande, under police control, according to Bloomberg News.

The report, citing people with knowledge of the matter, said Hui is being monitored at a designated location after police took him away earlier in September.

Evergrande is seen by investors as being the epicenter of China's brewing real estate crisis. The company said that it would delay a debt restructuring meeting due Monday. Evergrande, the world's most indebted property developer, defaulted on its debts in 2021. In August, Evergrande applied for Chapter 15 bankruptcy protection in a U.S. court.

— Yun Li

Check out some of the companies making headlines in premarket trading.

Costco — Shares of the club retailer fell more than 1% even though Costco's fiscal fourth-quarter response came in better than expected. The company generated $4.86 in earnings per share on $78.9 billion of revenue. Analysts surveyed by LSEG were looking for $4.79 per share on $77.9 billion of revenue. Comparable sales were up just 0.2% in the U.S., however.

ChargePoint – The electric vehicle charging stock popped more than 4% after UBS initiated coverage of ChargePoint with a buy rating, saying that the recent stock performance creates an attractive risk-reward.

XPO — The trucking company climbed about 2% following an upgrade to outperform from Evercore ISI. Analyst Jonathan Chappell forecast greater margin expansion and pricing power from the company.

Read the full list here.

— Brian Evans

U.S. Treasury yields declined Wednesday, easing from the multiyear highs reached in recent weeks.

The 10-year Treasury yield was last trading more than 5 basis points lower at 4.501%. In the previous session, the 10-year yield climbed to 4.566%, its highest level since Oct. 18, 2007 when it yielded as high as 4.570%.

Meanwhile, the 2-year Treasury yield was last down by more than 2 basis points to 5.052%. Yields and prices have an inverted relationship and one basis point equals 0.01%.

Stocks have come under pressure recently as rising bond yields give traders an attractive alternative to equities. All three major averages are headed for a losing month.

— Sarah Min

A likely shutdown of the U.S. government drew closer despite a last-ditch attempt from the Senate to get a spending bill through.

The upper chamber on Tuesday advanced a short-term measure that would have provided funding through Nov. 17 by means of a continuing resolution.

Though the move received strong bipartisan support, it's unclear whether House Speaker Kevin McCarthy would try to push the legislation through given conservative Republican opposition to short-term spending measures.

Without further spending authority, the government is likely to shutter Oct. 1.

—Jeff Cox

Costco Wholesale shares slumped 1.5% before the bell even after the retailer topped fiscal fourth-quarter earnings expectations on the top and bottom lines.

The company reported earnings of $4.86 per share on $78.9 billion in revenue. Analysts polled by LSEG had called for EPS of $4.79 on $77.9 billion in revenue.

Shoppers frequented more stores but also trimmed spending during the period, with the average transaction amount declining 4% globally and 4.5% in the U.S. Meanwhile, traffic rose 5% in the U.S.

Chief Financial Officer Richard Galanti said on an earnings call that sales of more expensive items — besides for food — were weaker in the U.S. and that declining gas prices impacted revenue.

— Samantha Subin, Melissa Repko

Target said it will close nine stores in major cities, pointing to violence, theft and crime.

The company said Tuesday that closures will take place in New York City, Seattle, the San Francisco-Oakland area and Portland, Oregon. Impacted stores will shut down Oct. 21.

Shares of the retailer slipped 0.3% in premarket trading on Wednesday.

— Alex Harring

Problems in the housing market are starting to put pressure on stocks, Wolfe Research's Chris Senyek wrote.

"Our sense is that the recent equity market drawdown has caused the "virtuous mini-cycle" to start reversing course. In our view, extreme housing unaffordability is also going to start weighing heavily on sentiment," the firm's strategist wrote.

Senyek's comments come a day after the Commerce Department reported new home sales data that missed economist expectations.

— Fred Imbert, Michael Bloom

European markets opened mixed Wednesday as investors continue to assess inflation, interest rates and the health of the global economy.

The pan-European Stoxx 600 index was down 0.1% in early trade, with sectors spread across marginally negative and positive territory. Utilities stocks dropped 0.6% to lead minor losses, while tech and oil and gas stocks each saw a 0.2% uptick.

— Hannah Ward-Glenton

For the first eight months of the year, profits at China's industrial firms extended a double-digit drop, but the pace of declines eased slightly in August.

Profits fell 11.7% year on year as of August, a smaller contraction than the 15.5% drop for the first seven months.

China's National Bureau of Statistics said the profits of industrial enterprises climbed 17.2% year on year in August, which is the first monthly growth since the second half of 2022.

— Lim Hui Jie

Japan's central bank board was split over when should the Bank of Japan should start to raise interest rates, according to minutes from its monetary policy meeting in July.

This was in light of inflation then hitting 15 straight months above the BOJ's 2% inflation target.

A member said that there is a "still a significantly long way to go before revising the negative interest rate policy, and the framework of yield curve control needed to be maintained."

However, a different member noted that achievement of the 2% "in a sustainable and stable manner" seemed to have "clearly come in sight" and that it would be possible to assess if the BOJ would achieve this target around January to March next year.

— Lim Hui Jie

Hong Kong's trade declined at a slower rate in August, with imports and exports falling by 0.3% and 3.7% year on year respectively.

This is compared to July's drop of 7.9% for imports and 9.1% for exports.

Total trade for August came in at 742.18 million Hong Kong dollars, a 2% fall year on year.

— Lim Hui Jie

Despite the Nasdaq Composite and S&P 500's strong year to date gains, corporate earnings need to recover for the market rally to broaden out, according to Landsberg Bennett Private Wealth Management chief investment officer Michael Landsberg.

"Earnings must improve in order to see any kind of broader stock market gains, as the S&P 500 has had three quarters in a row of year-over-year decelerating earnings," Landsberg said.

"The markets have had a nice run, particularly in tech, and they needed time to cool off, which is partly why we have seen broader market declines over the past two months. Higher interest and money market rates create more competition for stocks, which adds to the pressure on the market," he added.

According to Landsberg, the firm rebalanced its client portfolios in the summer to reduce tech exposure given its dramatic rally over a six-month period.

"This is a normal cycle activity where some sectors heat up and others cool off," Landsberg said.

— Hakyung Kim

Here are some of the stocks making the biggest moves in extended trading.

Costco — Shares fell nearly 2% despite the company posting an earnings and revenue beat in the previous quarter. The company posted $4.86 earnings per share on $78.94 billion in revenue. Analysts had estimated per-share earnings of $4.79 on $77.09 billion in revenue, according to LSEG. Meanwhile, e-commerce sales slipped 0.8% compared to the same period in the previous year.

MillerKnoll — The furniture company's shares rallied 16.2% after it reported its 2024 fiscal first-quarter earnings. MillerKnoll topped analysts' estimates for earning and revenue in the previous quarter, its second-quarter revenue guidance came in softer than expected.

AAR Corp — Shares of the aircraft services company gained 2.4% after beating analyst forecasts on earnings and revenue in the first quarter of the 2024 fiscal year. The company reported $550 million in quarterly sales, up 23% from the prior year.

— Hakyung Kim

U.S. stock futures ticked up Tuesday.

Futures tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 46 points, or 0.13%. Meanwhile, S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 futures inched up 0.13% and 0.06%, respectively.

— Hakyung Kim