The S&P 500 ended little changed on Wednesday, with technology shares gaining but investors nervous about Middle East tensions and more U.S. labor data due this week.
Market Snapshot
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 39.55 points, or 0.09%, to 42,196.52. The S&P 500 gained 0.79 points, or 0.01%, at 5,709.54 and the Nasdaq Composite edged up 14.76 points, or 0.08%, to 17,925.12.
Market Movers
Tesla - Tesla was down 3.5%. The electric-vehicle maker reportedthird-quarter deliveriesof 462,890 cars and trucks, up about 6% from a year earlier. Wall Street had expected deliveries of about 462,000 vehicles. Coming into Wednesday, the stock had risen about 4% in 2024, staging a remarkable comeback from losses earlier in the year.
Chinese ADRs - Chinese ADRs jumped again. Alibaba rose 2.2%; NIO rose 2.6%; PDD Holdings rose 4.9%; JD.com and Baidu rose 4.4%; NetEase rose 7.9%; Li Auto rose 4.6%; XPeng rose 3.8%; Bilibili rose 11%; Trip.com rose 7.1%; iQiyi rose 6%; Tencent Music rose 7.7%; Tiger Brokers rose 29.4%.
Nike - Nike fell 6.8% after the athletic apparel and gear maker withdrew its financial guidance for fiscal 2025 and postponed its first investor day in seven years. The aim is to give recently appointed CEO Elliott Hill time to evaluate the company’s strategies. Nike reported fiscal first-quarter earnings of 70 cents a share, beating analysts’ estimates of 52 cents. Revenue of $11.6 billion fell 10% from a year earlier and was roughly in line with expectations. Sales in North America dropped 11% as footwear sales sank 14%.
Humana - Humana was down 11.8% after the health insurance and Medicare services company said in a securities filing the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Servicescut the quality rating of its largest Medicare Advantage plan, which accounts for 45% of the company’s Medicare Advantage members. The move could have a major impact on the rebates and quality payments that CMS pays Humana in 2026.
Joby Aviation - Joby Aviation surged 27.9% after Toyota said itwould invest an additional $500 millionin the aerospace start-up. The money is intended to support the certification and commercial production of Joby’s electric air taxi.
Caesars Entertainment - Caesars Entertainment rose 5.3% and wasthe top-performing stockin the S&P 500 on Wednesday. The casino-entertainment company announced a $1 billion note offering and its board authorized a new repurchase program for up to $500 million of common stock.
Lamb Weston - Lamb Weston, the frozen-potatoes supplier, posted fiscal first-quarter profit of $127 million, down 46% from a year earlier, and announced a restructuring plan, saying that restaurant traffic and frozen potato demand, relative to supply, “continue to be soft, and we believe it will remain soft through the remainder of fiscal 2025.” The restructuring includes, among other actions, reducing the company’s global workforce by about 4%, and closing a processing facility. Shares rose 2.6% after trading lower earlier in the session.
ConAgra - Conagra Brands fell 8.1% after the packaged-food company reportedquarterly earningsthat missed analysts’ estimates.
Harley-Davidson - Harley-Davidson declined 4.1% to $36.46. Baird lowered its rating on the motorcycle makerto Hold from Buyand cut its target for the stock price to $40 from $44.
Market News
Tesla's Quarterly Deliveries Disappoint Ahead of Robotaxi Unveiling
Tesla reported a smaller-than-expected rise in third-quarter deliveries on Wednesday as incentives and financing deals failed to lure enough customers for its aging electric vehicles, sending shares down more than 3%.
Tesla handed over 462,890 vehicles in the July-September period, up 6.4% from a year earlier, marking its first quarterly growth after two straight quarters of falling sales. But that fell short of 469,828 deliveries expected on average by 12 analysts polled by LSEG.
Tesla now needs a record-breaking 516,344 vehicle deliveries in the fourth quarter to prevent a drop in 2024 sales.
OpenAI Closes $6.6 Billion Funding Haul with Investment from Microsoft and Nvidia
OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT, has raised $6.6 billion from investors, which could value the company at $157 billion and cement its position as one of the most valuable private companies in the world.
The funding has attracted returning venture capital investors including Thrive Capital and Khosla Ventures, as well as OpenAI's biggest corporate backer Microsoft, and new participation from Nvidia.
Altimeter Capital, Fidelity, SoftBank, and Abu Dhabi's state-backed investment firm MGX also participated in the round.