Kamchatka brown bears are seen during a daily life at the Kurile Lake in Kamchatka Peninsula volcanic terrain, Russia, August 28, 2017..

(Igor Ivanko/Getty Images)

Stocks sink amid escalating tensions with Iran, chips stocks’ continued slide

Oil prices rose amid retaliatory strikes between the US and Iran as President Trump encouraged Iran to sign a deal, saying the US will be attacking Iran “very hard.”

Tasha Matsumoto

The S&P 500, Nasdaq 100, and Russell 2000 all fell. Oil prices rose as the US and Iran traded retaliatory strikes, while President Trump encouraged Iran to sign a deal, saying the US will be attacking Iran “very hard.”

Apple was the only Magnificent 7 stock to close higher today as Big Tech and semiconductors continued their slide.

Inflation ticked up in May, but the key core inflation metric (which strips out volatile food and energy prices) came in cooler than economists had expected on a month-over-month basis.

The inflation report, paired with a surprisingly strong jobs report last week, seemed to solidify expectations that the Federal Reserve will keep rates steady at its meeting next week.

Stocks that moved higher:

Cracker Barrel had one of its best trading days ever after an earnings beat.
Casey’s General Stores surged on an earnings beat, thanks to widening fuel margins.
Cava climbed after receiving an upgrade from UBS.
Illumina gained after JPMorgan upgraded it to “overweight” from “neutral.”
Oscar Health ticked higher after an upgrade from Barclays.

Stocks that moved lower:

Super Micro Computer plunged after announcing $7 billion in equity and equity-linked financing plans late on Tuesday, as the company looks to raise funds to satisfy increased demand for its advanced AI servers.
SoftBank ADRs tumbled on reports of a $6 billion OpenAI margin loan snag and a broader tech slump in Asia.
Lucid fell to a fresh all-time low following the departure of its engineering and software SVP, Emad Dlala.
Freight stocks Old Dominion Freight, XPO, and Saia as well as FedEx fell as Amazon announced less-than-truckload shipping to outside businesses as part of its Supply Chain Services business announced last month.

Rani Molla3h

Belgium just became the fifth European country to approve a version of Tesla’s Full Self-Driving technology, according to a post from a transport minister there — something CEO Elon Musk said was necessary to turn around sales in the company’s “weakest market.” The country follows on the heels of Denmark, Estonia, Lithuania, and the Netherlands.

Tesla sales in Europe notably have been stabilizing without wide approval of FSD, which the company has said would be approved across the EU in the second or third quarter.

The version of FSD available in Europe, the company’s third-largest market, comes with stricter safety requirements and closer driver monitoring than in the US, where the tech has so far failed to drive notable sales growth.

Max Knoblauch3h

Lucid trading at fresh all-time low following departure of engineering and software SVP Emad Dlala

Lucid is continuing to sink to all-time lows, hitting a fresh bottom on Wednesday afternoon. The luxury EV maker is on track to close below the $5-per-share mark for the first time and is down about 54% so far this year.

All-time lows are nothing new for Lucid, which is down more than 99% from its early 2021 peak.

Dragging the stock lower Wednesday appears to be the voluntary departure of long-tenured executive Emad Dlala, Lucid’s senior vice president of engineering and software. Per analysis by industry blog EV, Dlala’s exit is the 14th by a top exec since late 2023.

In April, Lucid named Silvio Napoli, a former elevator/escalator company CEO, as its chief executive. Last month, Lucid reported a deeper-than-expected Q1 loss.

Exclusive: Top Lucid Motors executive departs amid new CEO's leadership shakeup | TechCrunch

In April, Lucid named Silvio Napoli, a former elevator/escalator company CEO, as its chief executive. Last month, Lucid reported a deeper-than-expected Q1 loss.

Max Knoblauch5h

Cracker Barrel soars, on pace for its best trading day ever after earnings beat

Country-themed restaurant chain Cracker Barrel is soaring on Wednesday, on pace for its best trading day ever following an earnings beat on Tuesday afternoon.

The chain, known for its rocking chairs, little peg games, and various memorabilia featuring the American flag/Route 66/wagon wheels, reported Q3 sales of $797.4 million, beating Wall Street expectations of $776.7 million. It posted adjusted earnings of $0.29 per share, compared to the $0.48 per-share loss expected by analysts polled by FactSet.

Cracker Barrel also hiked its fiscal year revenue forecast to between $3.27 billion and $3.3 billion, up from $3.24 billion to $3.27 billion.

Those results have propelled the stock to gains of more than 26% on Wednesday, putting the chain on track to surpass its previous highest daily market gain of 25% in November 2008. Traders are pouring into the stock, with trading volumes up more than 6x their 30-day average.

As of Wednesday morning, Cracker Barrel shares are now up more than 80% in 2026.

Helena Cheng7h

Oscar Health continues its push higher after getting Barclays upgrade

Oscar Health shares surged Wednesday, fueled by an upgrade from Barclays after the company reiterated its full-year guidance earlier this week.

The stock has rallied lately, up about 40% from its June 3 closing price and pushing to its highest levels since the hype days just after its IPO in March of 2021.

Barclays upgraded the insurer to “overweight” from “equal-weight” and raised its price target to $35 from $30, according to Investing.com. Analysts cited the company’s focused participation in the fast-growing Affordable Care Act market as an avenue for potential growth.

On Monday at a Goldman Sachs healthcare conference, Oscar reassured investors by reaffirming the company’s full-year 2026 financial guidance, according to a company filing.

The recent momentum comes after Oscar reported strong Q1 results in May. The company reported revenue of $4.65 billion, up from $3 billion for the first quarter of 2025, driven by higher membership and rate increases.

Microcap stock Paranovus whipsaws after announcing plans for $195 million equity raise

After soaring more than 2,000%, the stock crashed back down to earth on Wednesday.

J. Edward Moreno7h