S&P 500 eases a bit from record as traders await big Fed rate decision: Live updates

Investors took in profits from record gains seen in recent sessions.

The S&P 500 dropped 0.13% to close at 6,606.76. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 125.55 points, or 0.27%, ending at 45,757.90. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite shed 0.07% to settle the session at 22,333.96.

— Pia Singh

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company has notched a higher price target from Barclays.

The bank raised its price target for the semiconductor chip manufacturer to $325 from $275, according to a Barclays note to clients dated Tuesday.

"We continue to see TSMC well placed to benefit from continued AI strength and see little
competitive threat materialising any time soon despite developments at Samsung (OW) and Intel," the analysts said in the note.

The elevated price target comes as surging interest in artificial-intelligence, or technologies that rely on high-performance computing workloads, fuels demand for specialized semiconductor chips.

That "continued AI strength suggests TSMC is seeing no shortage of demand," Barclays analysts said, even as the U.S.' ongoing trade negotiations continue to pose a threat to Taiwan Semiconductors' business. Taiwan Semiconductor is also likely to post strong earnings in its upcoming reports, aided by foreign exchange tailwinds on the margin side, according to Barclays.

— Liz Napolitano

Recent stock market euphoria could signal the U.S. is headed for another recession, but investors shouldn't rush to pull their money out of equities, Ritholtz Wealth Management CEO Josh Brown said on CNBC's Halftime Report. 

"You never have a bull market that doesn't have these little sideshows going on, and historically, those have not been reasons to just abandon your investments," Brown said. 

U.S. markets are poised to continue their bull run, despite signs the labor marketing is weakening and inflation is accelerating, Brown said, adding that stocks will likely rise following the Federal Reserve's expected rate cut on Wednesday.

"The S&P 500 should be higher as monetary policy is more accommodative," Brown said.

The CEO added that investors should make decisions based on data rather than their "gut feelings," adding that consumer spending in the U.S. has remained strong.

— Liz Napolitano

Wells Fargo analyst Mike Mayo is bullish on the five big banks, with Citi remaining his "Dominant #1 favorite." He raised his price target on Citi to $125 from $115, implying 25% upside from Monday's close.

"Stay on course with 'Goliath is Winning,'" Mayo said in a note Tuesday.

JPMorgan, Goldman Sachs, Bank of America, Morgan Stanley and Citi all "benefit from scale, deregulation, and esp. capital markets that seem stronger than previously expected," he wrote.

There has been pent-up demand and pull-forward activity such as mergers, as well as profitability, he added.

Mayo also hiked his price targets on the remaining big banks. For instance, he raised Bank of America's price target to $60 from $56, suggesting it can move nearly 19% higher. His price target on JPMorgan is now $345 from $325, implying 12% upside.

— Michelle Fox

Shares of Eli Lilly jumped more than 2% on Tuesday after the company it will spend $5 billion to build a manufacturing facility in Goochland County, Virginia, to boost production capacity for targeted cancer drugs and other treatments. It's the first in a string of new planned U.S. investments by the drugmaker. 

The company announced in February that it would spend at least $27 billion to build four new domestic manufacturing plants, adding to $23 billion in previous investments since 2020. Eli Lilly said it will announce the three remaining U.S. sites this year and expects to begin making medicines at all four facilities within five years. More here.

— Annika Kim Constantino, Pia Singh

Paul McCulley, former managing director at PIMCO, expects the Federal Reserve to announce a 25 basis point cut this week with signs of more to come.

As central bankers navigate what he sees as the "most intense" political noise he has observed in decades, McCulley expects Fed Chair Jerome Powell to take a more dovish stance. Still, the economist said he sees a clear path to a 100 basis point cut given clear signs of disinflation.

"I don't think that we would get a hawkish 50, 'cause that doesn't make any damn sense in the context that this is a cumulative 100 basis points or so to go. So that's my expectation tomorrow, is 25, but with a warm and fuzzy tone to what's going to happen at the next two meetings," McCulley said Tuesday on CNBC's "The Exchange."

"Quite frankly, I don't know how I would explain [a 50 basis point cut] in the current context without saying the labor market really is worrying me intensely, and I don't think that's the message that Chair Powell wants to communicate — at least not now," he added.

— Pia Singh

Check out the companies making the biggest moves Tuesday afternoon:

• Webtoon Entertainment — Shares rallied 31% after the company reached a deal to create a digital comic platform for Disney. Webtoon also agreed to sell a 2% equity stake to the media giant.
• Emerson Electric — The engineering company fell 4.5%. Its management told a JPMorgan conference that fourth-quarter orders are likely to come in at the end of its guidance range, citing weakness in Europe and China.
• Hims & Hers Health — The telehealth name dipped about 7% after it received a warning letter from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, which said the company's claims on its website regarding compounded semaglutide products are "false or misleading."
• SolarEdge Technologies — The solar storage stock climbed 5.7%. While a driver for the move wasn't clear, Tuesday's gain put the stock up more than 11% for the week.

For the full list, read here.

— Pia Singh

Cryptocurrency prices were flat as investors awaited the Fed's next policy decision at the conclusion of its meeting on Wednesday. Network data shows mixed signals from different coins, however, according to CryptoQuant.

Bitcoin and ether were each trading flat, according to Coin Metrics. Public blockchain data shows their inflows into exchanges have fallen to multi-month lows, suggesting reduced selling pressure and investor hesitation to exit positions, according to CryptoQuant.

Stablecoin deposits, led by USDT, have increased sharply, indicating that investors are preparing for potential buying opportunities following the Fed's announcement on Wednesday. The central bank is widely expected to implement a rate cut for the first time since December.

Meanwhile, altcoin inflows into exchanges are picking up, which suggests a potential rotation from these assets, CryptoQuant said. The Solana token, XRP, Binance Coin and litecoin all ticked higher by more than 1%.

— Tanaya Macheel

Chinese electric vehicle company Nio's stock jumped more than 2% Tuesday after UBS upgraded the shares to a buy rating from neutral.

The Wall Street firm said the company's latest products could further attract consumers after the $1 billion equity offerings strengthened visibility on its healthy operations.

"With upward consensus revisions to its revenue and bottom-line estimates, Nio's valuation discount with its closest peer XPeng should also narrow, in our view," UBS said.

— Yun Li

Spot gold surged to a new record high on Tuesday, as investors anticipated a 25-basis-point rate cut from the Federal Reserve the following day.

Spot gold hit a record high of $3,699.37 earlier in the session. It was last trading around 0.2% higher at $3,685.57. U.S. gold futures for December delivery rose 0.1% to $3,724.2.

"Global growth uncertainty and geopolitical risk continue to keep haven demand high but the gold rally is being driven largely by anticipation of aggressive rate cuts from the Federal Reserve," Zain Vawda, analyst at MarketPulse by OANDA, said to Reuters.

"If the dot plot shows a shift to two rate cuts in 2025, this could fuel the gold rally and push it beyond the $3,700/oz mark with $3,800/oz a real possibility."

Read the full story here.

— Lisa Kailai Han

Just in time for this week's policy meeting, economist Stephen I. Miran has been sworn in as the newest member of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors.

Miran took office Tuesday morning after the Senate confirmed his nomination Tuesday evening. Prior to the move to the central bank, Miran was chair of the Council of Economic Advisers, a position from which he will take leave until his Fed term expires in January 2026.

The Fed's policy meeting concludes Wednesday with a vote on the overnight funds interest rate.

—Jeff Cox

Bank of America is moving to a more bullish stance on Prologis as demand for industrial real estate begins to trend upward.

In a Tuesday note, the bank upgraded shares of the real estate investment trust to a buy rating from neutral. Prologis owns and manages the largest global portfolio of industrial real estate, with 80% concentration in the Americas, 10% in Europe and the rest in Asia.

"We have been cautious on the Industrial sector, as slow corporate decision making has weighed on leasing. That conversion of new lease proposals into signed leases during 3Q is occurring at a better rates than during 2Q is a positive," wrote analyst Samir Khanal. "Given decisions are starting to be made, albeit slowly, as confirmed by our channel checks, we expect PLD will convert more of this pent-up demand into signed leases."

Khanal accompanied the upgrade by lifting his price target on the stock to $130 from $118. This updated forecast is approximately 15% above where shares of Prologis ended on Monday.

Prologis stock has popped 8% this year.

— Lisa Kailai Han

Shortly after 9:30 a.m. ET on Tuesday, the S&P 500 was 0.1% higher, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite added nearly 0.2%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 30 points, or nearly 0.1%.

— Pia Singh

Consumers spent at a faster-than-expected clip in August, defying worries that a weakening labor market might impact demand.

Retail sales rose 0.6% for the month, the same pace as the upwardly revised level for July and better than the Dow Jones estimate for a gain of 0.3%, according to numbers adjusted for seasonality but not inflation. The consumer price index increased 0.4% on the month, indicating that consumers kept ahead of inflation.

Excluding autos, sales increased 0.7%, better than the 0.4% forecast and well ahead of the 0.4% pace in July.

On an annual basis sales, sales were up 5%, well ahead of the CPI gain of 2.9%.

Online sales increased 2% for the month while bars and restaurants saw a 0.7% increase. Gas station receipts grew by 0.5% as prices rose, while clothing saw a 1% increase as tariffs fed higher prices there as well.

—Jeff Cox

Check out the companies making headlines before the bell:

• Oracle — The cloud infrastructure company jumped 5% after CBS News reported, citing sources, that Oracle is among a consortium of firms that would enable TikTok to continue operations in the United States if a framework deal is finalized between the U.S. and China.
• Dave & Buster's Entertainment — The entertainment company's second-quarter earnings fell short of expectations, sending shares tumbling nearly 16%. Adjusted earnings came in at 40 cents per share, missing the 91 cents expected from analysts polled by FactSet. Revenue was $557.4 million, versus the $562.8 million consensus estimate.
• Novo Nordisk — Shares rose 3% after Novo Nordisk said its experimental once-weekly weight-loss drug Cagrilintide monotherapy injection helped patients reduce their weight by 11.8% after 68 weeks.
• Chipotle Mexican Grill — The Mexican fast-casual chain added 2% after authorizing an additional $500 million for share repurchases. This additional authorization means that the company has a total of around $750 million available for share repurchases, as of Sept. 15.

For the full list, read here.

— Pia Singh

Novo Nordisk on Wednesday flagged promising late-stage trial results for its new Cagrilinitide obesity treatment, leading shares about 3% higher in early morning trading. Cagrilintide is a long-acting amylin analogue, a nascent form of weight loss treatment which differs existing GLP-1s.

Early analysis from a phase 3 REDEFINE 1 trial showed the once-weekly Cagrilintide monotherapy injection helped patients reduce their weight by 11.8% on average after 68 weeks, compared to 2.3% for those on placebo, the company said.

The Danish pharmaceutical giant is seeking a next-generation obesity treatment after the runaway success of its Ozempic diabetes and Wegovy obesity treatments have lately come under pressure from supply constraints and increased competition from copycat compounded drug makers. More here.

— Karen Gilchrist, Pia Singh

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Tuesday that President Donald Trump was willing to let social media platform TikTok go dark, and it was "what turned the tide" in the deal framework with China.

"President Trump made it clear that he would have been willing to let Tiktok go dark, that we were not going to give up national security in favor of the deal," Bessent told CNBC's "Squawk Box."

TikTok parent company ByteDance is still looking at a Sept. 17 deadline to divest the app's U.S. operations or potentially be shut down in the country. Bessent said on Monday that the U.S. and China reached a "framework" deal for TikTok.

— Pia Singh

Shares of Oracle rose nearly 5% before the market open after CBS News reported, citing sources, that the company is among several firms that would enable TikTok to continue operations in the United States if a framework deal between the U.S. and China is finalized.

Oracle shares are up about 81% this year and 33% month to date. The stock rallied last week after Oracle called for cloud infrastructure revenue to expand 14-fold by 2030, but excitement was tempered after it was reported that most of Oracle's upcoming growth is expected to come from one client, OpenAI.

— Pia Singh

Vital Knowledge's Adam Crisafulli noted that while traders are mostly bullish, "people are nervous about the Fed decision triggering a quick 'sell the news' response."

"This is our concern too, although the most 'painful' outcome will be a dovish surprise that catalyzes an aggressive pro-value/cyclical, anti-tech/momentum rotation," he said.

— Fred Imbert

The S&P 500 ended above 6,600 for the first time in history on Monday.

Seagate Technology led the index higher with a jump of more than 7%. Albemarle followed, rising more than 6%.

The communication services sector also helped propel the benchmark up, with the group gaining more than 2% in the session.

— Alex Harring

These are some of the stocks moving after the closing bell on Monday:

• Dave & Buster's — Shares fell 14% as the entertainment company reported $557.4 million in revenue for the second quarter, slightly below analysts' consensus expectation for $562.8 million, per FactSet. Dave & Busters also posted 40 cents, excluding items, missing Wall Street's forecast for 91 cents.
• Rocket Lab — Shares fell roughly 4% after the aerospace manufacturer announced it had entered into a stock purchase agreement worth up to $750 million.
• Oscar Health — The health insurance stock dropped 6% lower after the company announced a $350 million private offering of senior convertible notes. The company is aiming to use the sales' proceeds to advance its artificial intelligence initiatives and lower its customers' care costs, among other things.

— Liz Napolitano

Futures tied to the Dow, S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 were all near flat shortly after 6 p.m. ET.

— Alex Harring