Stock market today: Live updates

Check out the companies making headlines in midday trading.

For the full list, read here.

— Pia Singh

Meta Platforms gained more than 3% after updating Meta AI, its AI-powered assistant. The company launched a partnership with Google to include its search results when answering prompts.

The company also released a new open source AI model, Llama 3.

The extremely volatile Trump Media stock spiked more than 20% early Thursday morning, before falling back down. The stock was last trading around 14% higher.

Since launching on the stock exchange, shares of Trump Media have whiplashed. The stock fell 20% last week and dropped 18% and 14% respectively on Monday and Tuesday but closed 15% higher on Wednedsay.

— Lisa Kailai Han

Tesla shares slipped nearly 3% on Thursday, hitting a 52-week low of $148.70 just after the day’s market open.

Earlier Thursday morning, Deutsche Bank’s longtime bullish analyst Emmanuel Rosner downgraded the electric vehicle manufacturer to a hold rating from buy. He also slashed his price target to $123 from $189, with this updated forecast implying 20.9% downside in the next year.

As a reason for the downgrade, Rosner pointed to a report from Reuters that said Tesla had canceled plans to build its inexpensive Model 2 car.

“The delay of Model 2 efforts creates the risk of no new vehicle in Tesla’s consumer lineup for the foreseeable future, which would put continued downward pressure on its volume and pricing for many more years, requiring downward earnings estimate revisions for 2026+,” Rosner wrote.

Faced with a series of obstacles this year including a factory fire and waning China sales, Tesla stock has slid 39% this year.

— Lisa Kailai Han

The Conference Board’s index of leading economic indicators declined more than expected in March, reversing the previous month’s gain.

The index posted a drop of 0.3% on the month, down from a 0.2% increase in February and below the Dow Jones estimate for a -0.1% reading. The index measures 10 indicators including stocks, housing statistics, employment data and various credit and bond market measures.

“Overall, the Index points to a fragile—even if not recessionary—outlook for the U.S. economy. Indeed, rising consumer debt, elevated interest rates, and persistent inflation pressures continue to pose risks to economic activity in 2024,” said Justyna Zabinska-La Monica, senior manager of business cycle indicators at The Conference Board.

—Jeff Cox

Small cap stocks appear to be on the verge of a negative technical trend, Wolfe Research analyst Rob Ginsberg said in an overnight note to clients.

“There’s a breakout on the horizon within small caps. Unfortunately, its not in price though, its within volatility,” the note said.

The Cboe Russell 2000 Volatility Index is nearing a resistance level that has held firm in recent uptrends, but this time might be different, Ginsberg said.

“Momentum for the RVX is just turning positive and implies there’s further room to run. Should this get out like we think, expect the Russell 2000 to take out $1900 and start eyeing $1800,” the note said.

The small cap index itself has struggled in recent weeks and is now down nearly 4% year to date. The Russell 2000 closed just below the 1,950 level on Wednesday.

Existing home sales declined less than expected in March as prices set a new record, the National Association of Realtors reported Thursday.

Sales fell 4.3% on the month to a seasonally adjusted rate of 4.19 million, compared to the Dow Jones estimate for a decline of 4.8% and a total level of 4.17 million.

At the same time, the median existing home price jumped to $393,500, a 4.8% increase and the highest ever for the month. Inventory also increased, rising by 1.11 million to the equivalent of 3.2 months of supply.

—Jeff Cox

The Russell 2000 is on track to notch its worst monthly performance since 2022 as small caps face pressure.

The small-cap index has dropped more than 8% so far in April. If that holds through the month’s conclusion, it would mark the biggest monthly loss going back to September of 2022, when it tumbled more than 9%.

Stocks kicked off Thursday’s session higher.

The Dow traded 0.3% higher shortly after 9:30 a.m. ET. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite each added around 0.2%.

— Alex Harring

These are some of the companies making headlines before the bell.

• Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing — U.S.-traded shares of the Taiwanese chipmaker fell 2.4% despite beating revenue and profit expectations in the first quarter. The company reported no structural damage from the earthquake in Taiwan earlier in April, but noted some wafers “had to be scrapped.” Most of the lost production will be recovered in the second quarter, according to management. TSMC forecasts healthy growth in 2024 and guided second-quarter revenue to a range between $19.6 billion and $20.4 billion.
• Tesla — Shares of the electric vehicle maker were down more than 2% after a Deutsche Bank downgrade to hold from buy. “The delay of Model 2 efforts creates the risk of no new vehicle in Tesla’s consumer lineup for the foreseeable future, which would put continued downward pressure on its volume and pricing for many more years,” the bank said.
• D.R. Horton — Shares jumped 3.3% after the homebuilder topped expectations in its fiscal second quarter. D.R. Horton earned $3.52 per share and revenue of $9.11 billion. Analysts polled by LSEG had forecasted $3.06 per share and $8.27 billion in revenue.

The full list can be found here.

— Hakyung Kim

A gauge measuring manufacturing activity in the Philadelphia region posted an unexpectedly sharp gain in April, due in good part to a jump in an inflation measure.

The Philadelphia Federal Reserve’s manufacturing index rose to 15.5 for the month, up more than 12 points from March and better than the Dow Jones estimate for 2.5. The index measures the percentage difference between companies reporting expansion and contraction, so anything above zero is positive.

Most of the gain came from three categories: prices paid, which saw a nearly 20-point surge to 23; new orders, which increased nearly 7 points to 12.2, and shipments, which posted a nearly 8-point gain to 19.1. The employment index edged lower to -10.7 and the average work week plunged to -18.7, a drop of 18.5 points.

—Jeff Cox

Initial filings for unemployment claims held steady at 212,000 for the week ended April 13, indicating that companies remain reluctant to lay off workers, the Labor Department reported Thursday.

The claims number was slightly below the Dow Jones estimate for 215,000 and reflected a still-tight labor market despite the Federal Reserve holding its benchmark interest rate at the highest level in 23 years.

Continuing claims, which run a week behind, were little changed, rising 2,000 to 1.81 million, meeting the FactSet estimate.

—Jeff Cox

Stocks appear to have lost some momentum in recent weeks, with the S&P 500 on pace for its third straight week of losses. But Wolfe Research said it remains bullish on equities.

“Over the near term, our sense is that U.S. equity markets are likely to experience some additional downward pressure,” Chris Senyek wrote on Thursday. “However, over the intermediate-term, we continue to believe that the Market Cycle will have the biggest impact on overall equity market returns, sector rotation, and thematic performance.”

In fact, Senyek said markets remain in what the firm calls the early acceleration phase, a period when equity returns have “historically been robust and it’s paid to be cyclically-positioned.” He added traders should remain in short-cycle industrials, which are especially sensitive to the economy in the near term, as well as analog semiconductors and energy services.

— Sarah Min

Blackstone slid nearly 2% after shrinking its dividend.

The alternative asset manager said it would offer a dividend of 83 cents per common share payable on May 6. That’s smaller than the per-share payout of 94 cents last seen.

That announcement overshadowed expectation-beating earnings per share for the first quarter.

— Alex Harring

D.R. Horton jumped nearly 3% in premarket trading after the homebuilder topped expectations in its fiscal second quarter.

The company earned $3.52 per share on revenue at $9.11 billion in the three-month period. That came ahead of the $3.06 per share and $8.27 billion revenue estimates from analysts polled by LSEG.

Shares have slipped more than 4% so far in 2024, giving up some gains after soaring more than 70% in the prior year.

— Alex Harring

European stocks were cautiously higher early Thursday, with the Stoxx 600 index up 0.26% at 9:20 a.m. in London and sectors trading mixed.

Major bourses climbed, with France’s CAC 40 and the U.K.’s FTSE 100 both up 0.5%, while Germany’s DAX was up 0.1%.

Airline stocks in Asia soared as oil prices sunk more than 3%, due to higher-than-expected U.S. inventory.

South Korean carrier Asiana Airlines led Asian airlines, up almost 4%, while counterpart Korean Air posted a 3.23% gain.

Australian flag carrier Qantas was up almost 3.8%, while Japan’s ANA and Japan Airlines climbed 1.53% and 2.8%, respectively.

Other airlines posted smaller gains, such as Cathay Pacific and Singapore Airlines, which were up 1% and 0.48%, respectively.

The U.S. acknowledged Japan and South Korea’s “serious concerns” over the recent sharp depreciation in both the yen and the won. All three sides agreed to “consult closely on foreign exchange market developments.”

This comes after the first trilateral meeting between the top finance officials of the three countries.

The Japanese yen recently reached its weakest level against the U.S. dollar in 34 years, and is currently trading at 154.26.

The South Korean won has also reached its weakest level against the greenback in about 18 months, currently trading at 1,377.11.

— Lim Hui Jie

Morgan Stanley and HSBC are cutting dozens of investment banking jobs in the Asia-Pacific region this week, according to a Reuters report.

Citing sources, Reuters said this comes as the two banks ramp up cost-cutting, with weaker deal-making and sluggish markets in China and Hong Kong weighing on business prospects.

Morgan Stanley is cutting at least 50 investment banking jobs in the region starting this week, according to the report, affecting around 13% of its Asia investment banking workforce of 400.

HSBC reportedly started layoffs on Tuesday, and around 30 dealmakers are expected to leave the company.

— Lim Hui Jie