S&P 500, small-cap Russell close at all-time highs a day after Fed rate cut

U.S. equities notched record highs across the board on Thursday.

The S&P 500 added 0.48% to close at 6,631.96. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 124.1 points, or 0.27%, ending at 46,142.42. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite jumped 0.94% to settle the session at 22,470.73

The small-cap Russell 2000 index closed at 2,464.70.

— Pia Singh

Well's Fargo's Investment Institute hiked its outlook for the S&P 500, citing changes to the economic outlook and earnings trends.

The institute said it now expects the benchmark to finish this year between 6,600 and 6,800, up from a prior forecast of between 6,300 and 6,500. That's an increase of more than 4% between the midpoints of each range.

For 2026, Wells Fargo said the S&P 500 should end within a range of 7,400 and 7,600. Previously, the team anticipated closing the year between 6,900 and 7,100. Looking at the midpoints of each range, the bank lifted its outlook by more than 7%.

CNBC Pro subscribers can click here to see all the major stock market outlooks calls.

— Alex Harring

Nvidia unveiled Thursday its plan to invest $5 billion into Intel as part of a broader partnership under which the firms will develop chips for personal computers and data centers, according to the chipmaker's statement.

Here's what Wall Street shops had to say about the deal: 

• Bank of America: "For NVDA we believe this moves the ball in its position as industry leader,  1) INTC has better presence in enterprise who are used to its x86 CPU, so partnership could help enterprise AI deployments."
• Piper Sandler: "We think  this initiative protects NVDA against a core competency that AMD currently holds, as AMD has been steadily gaining share and highlighting the role of its server CPUs in AI infrastructure."
• Loop Capital: "To put it succinctly, Lip-Bu Tan seems to be pulling all the right strings
• to help INTC climb to higher ground."
• Gordon Haskett: "Upon seeing today's news, our first thought is $5bn is nothing for NVDA and a small price to pay to bolster its standing with Trump. It could, after all, use his help as China cracks down on NVDA sales to Chinese companies."

— Liz Napolitano

Main Street told the American Association of Individual Investors it is now the most bullish on the short-term outlook for stocks since the first week of July, the AAII's weekly poll showed.

Bullish sentiment among individual investors jumped to 41.7% in the week ended Wednesday, up from just 28% the week before and the highest since July 2. Bullish sentiment rose above its historic average of 37.5% for the first time in seven weeks.

Bearish sentiment dropped to 42.4% from 49.5% last week, which was the highest since early May. The degree of gloom remains "unusually high," the AAII said, and above an historic average of just 31.0% for the 42nd time in 44 weeks.

Only 16% of investors described themselves as neutral on the six-month outlook for stocks, the fewest since April 10, the week after the Trump administration hiked tariffs on imported goods.

— Scott Schnipper

Steve Eisman, the investor who called the subprime mortgage crisis, said the biggest story for the markets and economy remains to be artificial intelligence even after the Federal Reserve began its new easing cycle.

"It's still very early," Eisman said on CNBC's "Squawk Box" Thursday. "The big part of the story is the hardware and the question is how much they will hurt the software companies."

"The Real Eisman Playbook" podcast host and former Neuberger Berman senior portfolio manager believes what the Fed does has little impact on the market, except for giving the housing market a marginal boost.

"The most they will cut is 100 basis points," he said. "It will help the housing market on the margin."

— Yun Li

Check out the companies making the biggest moves in midday trading:

• FactSet Research Systems — Disappointing earnings and full-year guidance sent shares 6% lower. The company's adjusted-fourth quarter earnings came in at $4.05 per share, lower than the $4.13 a share expected from analysts polled by FactSet. It guided for adjusted earnings between $16.90 and $17.60 for the full year, versus the $18.25 consensus estimate. However, fourth-quarter revenue topped expectations.
• Wynn Resorts — The casino operator rose 2% after Stifel raised its price target to $145 due to international gaming market tailwinds. The new forecast signals upside of more than 17% from Wednesday's close.
• Allstate — The insurance giant gained 4.8% after it reported that catastrophe losses for July and August came in at $397 million, well below a FactSet consensus of $1.379 billion for the third quarter.
• Intel — The semiconductor maker soared 28% after Nvidia said it will invest $5 billion in Intel to co-develop data center and PC products. Nvidia added 3.5%.

For the full list, read here.

— Pia Singh

The Federal Reserve may be too late in cutting to avert a slowdown, according to Stifel.

"The consensus expects a perfect Fed 'soft landing' and major easing cycle," Barry B. Bannister, chief equity strategist at Stifel, wrote on Wednesday. "But we expect Core Real GDP to slow sharply, perhaps so much that the Fed may already be 'too late.'"

— Sarah Min

Hedge fund billionaire David Tepper warned that too much easing action from the Federal Reserve could backfire, reigniting inflation and creating asset bubbles potentially.

"If they go too much more on interest rates, depending what happens with the economy ... it gets into the danger territory," Tepper said Thursday on CNBC's "Squawk Box." "You've got to be careful not to make things too hot."

The founder and president of Appaloosa Management noted stock valuations are high, but he wouldn't bet against stocks yet while the Fed is still in easing mode.

"I don't love the multiples, but how do I not own it?" Tepper said. "I'm not ever fighting this Fed..."

— Yun Li

Shares of cryptocurrency exchange Bullish jumped around 12% in midday trading on Thursday after the company released its first earnings report since making its debut on the New York Stock Exchange last month.

For the second quarter, Bullish earned 93 cents per diluted share on adjusted revenue of $57 million. Its adjusted EBITDA also came in at $8.1 million.

Citi analyst Peter Christiansen, who has a buy rating on the name, grew more bullish on the stock in the wake of those results, raising his price target to $70 from $66. That implies almost 29% upside from Wednesday's closing price.

"2Q'25 results were a touch better than our expectations, topping our net revenue/EBITDA estimates by ~$1.5m-$2.0m," the analyst wrote in a note dated Thursday.

Christiansen also cheered the company's Subscription, Services, and Other (SS&O) revenue during the quarter, as it increased to $32.9 million. That marks a year-over-year gain of 27.4%.

"Ramping SS&O growth expectations/pipeline was likely the biggest surprise – the company is seeing accelerating momentum in part aided by its highly successful IPO," he wrote. "We continue to see upsides to growth with highly attractive operating leverage."

Beyond that, the analyst said that the company's U.S. digital asset trading and custody business securing a BitLicense and Money Transmission License from the New York State Department of Financial Services removes some hangover on the stock.

— Sean Conlon

The Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in the major case challenging Trump's "reciprocal" tariffs on Nov. 5 at 10 a.m. ET.

The notice came less than two weeks after the court granted the Trump administration's request for it to quickly take up the case, which could result in some of the president's biggest tariffs being scrapped.

Those include Trump's country-specific tariffs ranging from 10%, the baseline slapped on U.S. imports coming from nearly anywhere on earth, up to as high as 50% for some nations such as Brazil.

The tariffs Trump slapped on Canada, China and Mexico over alleged failures to curb the flow drugs like fentanyl into the U.S., are also on the chopping block.

The high court said earlier this month that it would schedule oral arguments in the tariffs case during the first week of November. They will hear arguments related to two consolidated cases challenging Trump's tariffs.

— Kevin Breuninger

The Russell 2000 small-cap index is higher in midday trading Thursday and on pace for a record close after the Federal Reserve lowered rates by 25 basis points. It hit an intraday high of 2,453.36, topping the prior record closing high of 2,442.74 from Nov. 8, 2021. The intraday all-time high remains 2,466.49 from Nov. 25, 2024.

Investors broadly expected a quarter-point cut heading into this week's meeting. One unusual feature of this cycle is the lengthy pause since the last cut. In the four similar setups since 1980, the Russell 2000 has returned an average 35% after the post-pause cut, versus 23% for the S&P 500, according to Canaccord Genuity.

Names like 89bio Inc, Ramaco Resources, Acuren Corp, Radian Group and Rigetti Computing were among the Russell leaders Thursday.

— Nick Wells

Alphabet shares jumped more than 1% early Thursday on a report from the Financial Times that China's State Administration for Market Regulation is dropping its antitrust investigation into Google.

The probe, which was opened in February, centered on the company's dominance of the Android operating system and its impact on Chinese phonemakers that use the software, the FT report said, citing two people briefed on the matter. The decision to close the investigation comes after two days of talks between U.S. and Chinese officials earlier this week.

Shares of Alphabet are up more than 32% year to date. Investors have poured into the stock in recent weeks after the company's favorable antitrust ruling, increasing Gemini popularity and buzz around its other AI products and investments.

— Pia Singh

Shortly after 9:30 a.m. ET on Thursday, the S&P 500 was 0.4% higher, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite added nearly 0.8%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average edged lower by 18 points, or less than 0.1%.

— Pia Singh

Initial unemployment claims settled down last week after a brief spike raised concerns that layoffs are on the rise.

Initial filings for unemployment insurance totaled a seasonally adjusted 231,000 for the week ending Sept. 13, down 33,000 from the previous week's upwardly revised level and below the Dow Jones consensus estimate for 240,000, the Labor Department reported Thursday. A spike last week from Texas that drove much of the prior week's increase eased, with claims down more than 5,000, according to unadjusted data.

Continuing claims, which run a week behind, also edged lower, down to 1.92 million.

— Jeff Cox

Check out the companies making the biggest moves in premarket trading:

• Intel — The semiconductor maker soared 30% after Nvidia said it will invest $5 billion in Intel to co-develop data center and PC products. Nvidia added 3%, one day after it lost 2.6%
• Novo Nordisk — The Danish drugmaker jumped 7.6% after late-stage results for its once-daily obesity pill showed "significant" weight reduction in line with its Wegovy injectable weight-loss drug.
• Bullish — The cryptocurrency exchange popped 7.3% after issuing its first earnings report since going public in August. Bullish earned 93 cents per diluted share in its fiscal second quarter on adjusted revenue of $57 million.
• Cracker Barrel — The restaurant chain earned an adjusted 74 cents per share in its fiscal fourth quarter, less than the 80 cents analysts polled by LSEG had estimated, sending its stock 7.2% lower. Cracker Barrel revenue of $868 million topped a consensus forecast for $855 million.

For the full list, read here.

— Pia Singh

Darden Restaurants on Thursday reported mixed quarterly results, leading shares to fall about 7% in premarket trading. Olive Garden and LongHorn Steakhouse helped offset weakness in its fine-dining business.

The company reported adjusted earnings of $1.97 per share, while analysts polled by LSEG expected $2 per share. Its revenue of $3.04 billion came out in line with expectations, meanwhile. Darden's same-store sales rose 4.7% in the quarter.

The company raised its full-year forecast for revenue growth, although it only reiterated its projections for its earnings. For fiscal 2026, Darden is projecting revenue growth of 7.5% to 8.5%, up from its prior forecast of 7% to 8% growth.

— Amelia Lucas, Pia Singh

The Bank of England voted 7-2 to keep rates steady at 4%.

"The Committee remains focused on squeezing out any existing or emerging persistent inflationary pressures, to return inflation sustainably to its 2% target in the medium term," the BOE said in a statement.

Yet the British pound gave up an initial gain and was last trading just below the flatline. The FTSE 100 index, however, remained 0.3% higher on the day.

— Fred Imbert

Intel shares rallied more than 30% in the premarket after Nvidia said it would invest $5 billion in the chipmaker as part of a deal to jointly develop data center and PC products.

— Fred Imbert

Market bulls appear to be back in control after a choppy session following the Fed cutting its overnight rate by a quarter percentage point, according to Adam Crisafulli of Vital Knowledge.

"The FOMC decision Wed afternoon created a lot of volatility and mixed reactions/takeaways among investors, but as the dust settles, bulls are back in control of both stocks and bonds, with prices of each heading higher," he said in a note.

— Fred Imbert

Shares of Cracker Barrel Old Country Store slid more than 9% in extended trading Wednesday after the company's fourth-quarter earnings missed analyst estimates.

The restaurant chain reported adjusted earnings of 74 cents per share, below the 80 cents per share that analysts surveyed by LSEG were expecting for the quarter. However, the company's revenue of $868 million came in better than the consensus estimate of $855 million.

Cracker Barrel's full-year guidance disappointed investors as well, as the company expects revenue for the period of between $3.35 billion and $3.45 billion. Analysts had anticipated $3.52 billion, per LSEG. On top of that, it sees same-store traffic declining between 4% and 7%.

The move lower in shares comes after they came under pressure last month following the Cracker Barrel's rebranding announcement, which brings its one-month fall to more than 20%. While shares later saw a boost in the wake of the chain's decision to scrap the new logo and go back to the original, they're still in the red on the year, having fallen more than 6%.

— Sean Conlon

U.S. stock futures opened in positive territory on Wednesday evening.

Shortly after 6 p.m. ET, futures tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Average advanced 34 points, or 0.1%. S&P 500 futures inched up 0.1%, while Nasdaq 100 futures gained 0.2%.

— Sean Conlon