The early rally in US stocks ran out of steam as government shutdown looms
Stocks still ended the day in the green, pulled higher by tech.
The early morning market rally ran out of steam throughout the session as the threat of a US government shutdown weighed on US stocks on Wednesday.
The S&P 500 ended the day up 0.3% and the Nasdaq 100 enjoyed a 0.4% gain, while the Russell 2000 eked 0.1% higher.
Every S&P 500 sector ETF finished in the green except for energy.
Stocks that moved higher:
Weed stocks Tilray, Canopy Growth, SNDL Inc., and Cronos Group soared after President Trump reposted a video touting CBD products as the “most important senior health initiative of the century.”
Alibaba rose after analysts upped their price targets based on a strong cloud outlook and synergies in its rapid-delivery model of e-commerce.
Nuclear power stock Oklo rose as Barclays analysts initiated coverage of the stock with an “overweight” rating.
Shopify and Etsy jumped after OpenAI said ChatGPT users can now turn searches into instant purchases.
Western Digital and Seagate Technology Holdings — makers of the affordable data storage devices known as hard disk drives — surged amid a general upswing in the AI data center trade and after a specific shout-out to the sector by Morgan Stanley IT analysts.
Electronic Arts continued its rise on confirmation of Friday’s reports that it’s being taken private for $55 billion by Saudi Arabia’s PIF, Silver Lake, and Jared Kushner’s Affinity Partners.
Snap moved higher after the social media company announced that it would be charging users for its Memories features after they reach 5 gigabytes of storage.
Robinhood Markets jumped to an all-time high on growing optimism about the brokerage’s prediction markets business both on Wall Street and within the company’s own executive suite. (Robinhood Markets Inc. is the parent company of Sherwood Media, an independently operated media company subject to certain legal and regulatory restrictions.)
Nvidia’s stock was buoyed by Jefferies analyst Blayne Curtis hiking his price target on the $4 trillion chip designer to $220 from $205 thanks to the recent announcement of its $100 million investment in OpenAI.
Cancer startup Merus surged after Danish biotech Genmab announced that it will acquire Merus in an all-cash deal worth about $8 billion.
Stocks that moved lower:
Despite beating earnings expectations, raising its outlook for the third time this year, and posting record revenue, Carnival shares sank.
Cava, headquartered in Washington, DC, fell as the Mediterranean chain could be an unlikely victim of a potential US government shutdown if federal employees aren’t around to buy its fast-casual lunches.
Aurinia Pharmaceuticals dropped after a Food and Drug Administration official criticized a method of evaluating drugs that was used to approve the company’s flagship lupus medication.
