- The S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite Index hit new records on Wednesday.
- Nvidia’s market capitalization has topped $3 trillion.
- Walmart will be offering new training programs and certifications to fill high-demand positions.
Here are five important things investors should know before starting the trading day.
Just a few more milestones to come. On Wednesday, the S&P 500 set a new record, closing at 5,354.03, up 1.18%. The index also hit an intraday high of 5,354.16 during the trading session. The Nasdaq Composite Index also set a new record, rising 1.96% to 17,187.90. Meanwhile, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fared a little worse, closing at 38,807.33, up 0.25%. Follow our live market updates.
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang delivered the keynote address ahead of Computex 2024, which takes place in Taipei on June 2, 2024.
Sam Yeh | AFP | Getty Images
Things are only getting better for Nvidia. The chipmaker’s shares surpassed the $3 trillion market cap mark during Wednesday’s trading session, reaching $3.19 trillion at the close. The company also overtook Apple, which closed at $2.99 ​​trillion, to become the second-most valuable publicly traded company in the U.S. Nvidia sits atop the podium as the biggest beneficiary of the artificial intelligence boom that has been driving up its stock price since 2023. Just a few weeks after the company reported its latest earnings results, its shares have risen more than 24%.
Walmart employee Rosing Spicer helps transport some of the roughly 400 bikes for the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office’s annual Operation Blue Elf Bikes and Badges event, Friday, Dec. 8, 2023, in Conroe.
Jason Vogtman | Houston Chronicle | Hearst Newspapers | Getty Images
A notice to all Walmart store and warehouse associates: The company will be offering new training programs and certifications to fill high-demand positions across its business, including roles such as HVAC technicians, opticians and software engineers. Walmart will also be offering hourly store associates annual bonuses of up to $1,000. This isn’t the first time this year that the company has announced monetary rewards for employees. Earlier this year, Walmart announced that store managers could earn more than $400,000 a year through stock grants worth $20,000.
A worker operates a forklift inside a warehouse at the Southern Glazer’s Wine & Spirits LLC distribution center in Louisville, Kentucky on September 28, 2018.
Luke Charette | Bloomberg | Getty Images
The largest alcohol distributor in the United States may soon be sued. According to CNBC sources, the Federal Trade Commission is preparing an antitrust lawsuit against Southern Glazer’s Wine & Spirits, a Florida-based company that sells more than 7,000 brands of alcohol in 44 states, for offering “secret kickbacks” to major retail customers, violating the antitrust law known as the Robinson-Patman Act of 1936. The lawsuit the FTC is preparing has not yet been finalized and could be filed within the next few weeks. According to Forbes, the company is reporting revenue of $26 billion in 2023.
The United Launch Alliance’s Atlas V rocket will launch with two astronauts aboard Boeing’s Starliner 1 Crew Flight Test (CFT) for a mission to the International Space Station, Cape Canaveral, Florida, USA, on June 5, 2024.
Joe Skipper | Reuters
HOUSTON, it’s liftoff. Boeing launched the first crewed flight of its long-delayed Starliner spacecraft on Wednesday at 10:52 a.m. ET from Cape Canaveral, Florida. The flight, carrying two NASA astronauts, Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, is scheduled to spend about 25 hours in space before docking with the International Space Station around noon Thursday. The astronauts will then spend about a week on the station before returning to Earth. Meanwhile, back on Earth, Boeing CEO Dave Calhoun is scheduled to testify at a Senate hearing on June 18 about whistleblower safety allegations and quality control of Boeing’s aircraft.
— CNBC’s Brian Evans, Alex Harring and Kif Leswing Melissa Repko Rebecca Picciotto, Michael Sheets and Leslie Josephs contributed to this report.
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