Dow closes more than 100 points lower, snaps 3-day win streak after hot inflation report: Live updates

Stocks closed lower on Thursday, after a hotter-than-expected inflation report pressured equities and sent Treasury yields higher.

The S&P 500 fell 0.29% to close at 5,150.48. The Dow Jones Industrial Average pulled back 137.66 points, or 0.35%, to finish the session at 38,905.66, while the Nasdaq Composite slipped 0.3% to 16,128.53.

— Brian Evans

With as much as 20% of the S&P 500's rise this year solely due to Nvidia — and Apple, Alphabet and Tesla down for the year — the U.S. stock market has become even more concentrated in 2024 than it was in 2023, Barclays equity strategists led by Venu Krishna wrote to clients Thursday.

The rise of Nvidia to a $2.3 trillion market value "leaves the index more exposed than normal to gyrations from a single stock," Barclays wrote. "In other words, the number of mega-cap tech names holding up the broader index has narrowed further this year. And of course, a market that is already up sharply (the S&P has risen 25% from its October 2023 lows) does make us worry a bit more."

Still, Barclays is sanguine about the outlook for stocks for three reasons.

• "First, much of the increase in valuations is earnings driven. Even as NVDA has pole-vaulted to become a $2trn-plus company, its P/E multiple to forward earnings has come down sharply. Earnings have not only justified bullish consensus forecasts, but have exceeded them in recent quarters. The same is true collectively of Big Tech; most of the equity rally is based on better earnings, not multiple expansion, especially after last week's wobble in markets."
• "Second is the macro outlook…We expect the U.S. jobless rate to peak at just 4% and without net job losses this entire business cycle. If this is as bad as it gets, it is a very benign trough, especially when an easing cycle is not very far away."
• "And finally, when U.S. equities hit a record high, it is very rare for them to pull back for the rest of the year; the factors that drove the rally usually keep going. Further, there are sectors and geographies where the upside is yet to play out fully."

— Scott Schnipper

The Dow headed for losses, dragged down by a broad decline among its blue-chip members.

The 30-stock average was down about 0.7% in the session. Honeywell and JPMorgan led the index lower, with both down more than 2%. Amgen and IBM were the next-biggest losers as each fell nearly 2%.

Only a handful of members saw gains during Thursday's session. Microsoft and Amazon added more than 2% and 1%, respectively, while Apple and Chevron also traded higher.

— Alex Harring

Morgan Stanley is offering up some alternative ways to play artificial intelligence outside of the classic names that have dominated investors' attention.

The firm expects this expansion to play out in several phases and spread across multiple subthemes, including biotechnology, education and gaming.

"We continue to favour stocks that are early Adopters but also those where our analysts see greatest change of productivity uplift," said analyst Edward Stanley.

Read more on the stocks and themes poised to benefit here.

— Samantha Subin

Crude oil futures rose on Thursday, adding to the previous session's gains as the International Energy Agency now forecasts a supply deficit for 2024.

The West Texas Intermediate contract for April rose $1.54, or 1.93%, to settle at $81.26 a barrel in U.S. crude's highest close since Nov. 2, 2023. The Brent contract for May added $1.27, or 1.51%, to $85.30 a barrel.

The move came after the IEA forecast a slight supply deficit for the year rather than a surplus, as the organization assumes OPEC+ will keep its production cuts in place through 2024. The cartel's cuts of 2.2 million barrels per day are officially in place through at least the second quarter.

Shares of Weight Watchers' parent company have a market capitalization of only $142 million. Shares are down another 23% in trading Thursday after a 9fin report said the company is preparing for debt talks.

The stock has been under pressure for a while as weight loss drugs have soared in popularity, but the biggest blow came at the end of February when Oprah Winfrey stepped down from its board and donated her stock to charity.

D.A. Davidson analyst Linda Bolton Weiser rates the stock a buy and said she sees no bankruptcy risk or liquidity issues at this time. The analyst said WW ended 2023 with $109 million in cash on hand, plus an undrawn $175 million revolving credit facility, and noted that management has said it can operate the business with a balance sheet of as little as $40 million.

— Christina Cheddar-Berk

Check out the companies making headlines in midday trading.

• Dick's Sporting Goods — Shares jumped 14% after the sporting goods retailer posted fourth-quarter results that exceeded expectations. Dick's Sporting Goods reported earnings of $3.85 per share on revenue of $3.88 billion. Analysts surveyed by LSEG, formerly Refinitiv, had expected earnings per share of $3.35 on revenue of $3.80 billion.
• Lennar — Shares slid 5.3% after the homebuilder posted a revenue miss. In its first quarter, Lennar reported revenue of $7.31 billion, weaker than the $7.39 billion expected by analysts polled by LSEG.
• Dollar General — The discount retailer added 1.8% after fourth-quarter results came in stronger than expected. Dollar General earned $1.83 in earnings per share on $9.86 billion in revenue, beating predictions of $1.75 in earnings per share and $9.78 billion in revenue from analysts polled by LSEG.

Read the full list here.

— Sarah Min

Everyday investors put billions of dollars into cash equities over the past week. Some of the biggest beneficiaries included lagging technology names and other well-known stocks.

CNBC Pro subscribers can click here to see the list of stocks and funds with the highest net inflows.

— Alex Harring

JPMorgan & Chase slipped more than 1% Thursday after the Federal Reserve announced the bank was fined almost $350 million.

The central bank said JPMorgan was hit with $348.2 million in fines by a pair of U.S. bank regulators. The punishments are tied to a program to analyze firm and client trading for misconduct that has been deemed inadequate.

Despite Thursday's slide, shares of the bank have climbed more than 11% this year.

— Alex Harring, Reuters

Of the first 50 trading days of the new year, the S&P 500 has closed at record highs for 17 of them.

The last time the broad index saw more closing highs in the first 50 sessions was 1998, according to data from Bespoke Investment Group. In that year, the index finished at a record level for 20 of the 50 days.

The year 2024 has seen the fourth-highest amount when examining every year going back to 1953. The year with the most was 1964, when the index finished at a new high for 25 of the 50 trading days.

— Alex Harring

Adverse weather conditions and an onslaught of the cacao swollen shoot virus propelled cocoa prices to a new record high this morning.

On Thursday, Cocoa's May-dated futures hit a new record of $7,489 per metric ton. Cocoa is now up more than 16% on the week, on pace for its 10th weekly gain in 11 weeks. The commodity is also on track for its best week since Feb. 23, when cocoa gained 17.13%.

Rising cocoa prices have hurt chocolate confectioners such as Hershey, which is down nearly 20% in the past 12 months versus the S&P 500's 31.5% gain. Hershey stock slipped 0.8% today and is on pace for its second negative week in three.

— Lisa Kailai Han, Gina Francolla

The S&P 500 opened little changed on Thursday, with fresh inflation data showing wholesale prices increased more than expected in February.

The broad market index hovered near the flatline. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 107 points, or 0.2%. The Nasdaq Composite climbed 0.1%.

— Brian Evans

Check out the companies making headlines before the bell.

• Under Armour — Shares dropped 5.3% on news that founder Kevin Plank is returning as CEO to the sportswear company. Plank's return is a clear signal that Under Armour's strategy is not working, Evercore ISI said, which downgraded shares to underperform from in line.
• Fisker — Shares fell to as little as 19 cents a share after The Wall Street Journal reported that the electric vehicle developer, which has long struggled to grow its sales, has hired restructuring advisors to assist with a potential bankruptcy filing, according to individuals familiar with the matter.
• Robinhood — The financial services platform said on Thursday that its equity trading volumes in February rose 41% from a year ago, leading shares to climb nearly 12%.

For the full list, read here.

— Pia Singh

The producer price index rose 0.6% in February. Core PPI, which strips out food and energy, gained 0.3%. Economists polled by Dow Jones expected an increase of 0.3% for the headline number and a 0.2% advance for core PPI.

It marks the last major data release before the Fed's meeting on March 19-20.

— Fred Imbert

Big returns in 2024 will likely lead to hefty taxes when you file next spring, but investors can take a few steps now to minimize the hit.

Do a checkup on your investment portfolio to see how you can enhance its tax efficiency, said Jared Woodard, an investment and ETF strategist at Bank of America.

For starters, consider switching some of your existing mutual funds for exchange-traded funds. Mutual funds can spin out hefty year-end capital gains distributions, as managers sell holdings to cash out departing investors.

You can also rethink your asset allocation — and location. Treasurys, money market funds and other fixed income assets spin out interest that's taxable as ordinary income on the federal level. They may be better held in a tax-deferred account.

Click here for other tax efficiency tips.

— Darla Mercado

On Wednesday, the House of Representatives passed a bill that gave Chinese company ByteDance roughly six months to sell TikTok before it was banned from U.S. app stores.

The bill now moves to the Senate. In the event that the bill passes through Congress, it could have major ramifications on the broader technology sector, according to Jay Woods, chief global strategist of Freedom Capital Markets.

"If you want ByteDance to divest and sell TikTok, well, who's big enough to buy? It's probably one of the megacap names — it's the Alphabets, the Metas, maybe Microsoft. We have seen so many regulatory hurdles with smaller deals," he said, citing the blocked JetBlue and Spirit Airlines merger.

Besides the political posturing, this bill could also have an effect on stocks with Chinese exposure, which include names such as Apple and Tesla. Shares of the two "Magnificent Seven" members have already slipped in recent weeks, as sales in the China market have weakened.

"If China is going to retaliate, they probably won't go after some of the consumer staples with a lot of exposure there, but it could happen," he added.

— Lisa Kailai Han

These are the stocks moving the most in extended trading.

• Robinhood — The fintech stock added 8% after reporting its selected monthly operating data for February 2024.
• SentinelOne — The cybersecurity stock slipped 10% despite posting fourth-quarter earnings and revenue that came above LSEG, formerly Refinitiv, estimates.
• Under Armour — The stock added less than 1% after the sportswear company announced that CEO Stephanie Linnartz would be stepping out.

Read the full list of stocks moving here.

— Lisa Kailai Han

U.S. stock futures opened fractionally higher Wednesday evening.

Futures linked to the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 39 points, or 0.1%. S&P 500 futures and Nasdaq 100 futures both inched less than 0.1% higher.

— Lisa Kailai Han