Stock market today Dow 40,000: Live updates

The Dow Jones Industrial Average crossing above 40,000 for the first time on Thursday could add fuel to the flames for the current bull rally, according to Independent Advisor Alliance Chief Investment Officer Chris Zaccarelli.

“Breaking the 40,000 barrier is a big psychological boost for the bulls as round numbers hold special significance in people’s hearts and minds,” he said in an email. “We are in a Bull Market and people are showing some irrational exuberance (meme stocks) and dismissing bad news (slowing retail sales) and focusing on good news (slightly slowing inflation).”

Zaccarelli adding a warning that the market is now heading into “overvalued territory,” making it even more important for investors to become especially discerning when investing in equities.

— Lisa Kailai Han

All three major stock averages ripped to new intraday highs on Thursday morning, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average crossing over 40,000 for the first time in history.

Baird analyst Ross Mayfield attributed the strong earnings season as providing another leg for the market rally to stand on in recent weeks.

“This has all the signs of a cyclical bull market and it’s not running out of steam as far as we can tell,” he told CNBC in an interview.

— Lisa Kailai Han

The 30-stock Dow reached a fresh milestone Thursday morning, surpassing the 40,000 threshold.

At its high of the session, the average touched 40,002.75, climbing about 0.2%.

Walmart shares helped lift the price-weighted index to its fresh high, as the big-box retailer jumped more than 6% following a fiscal first-quarter beat on the top and bottom lines.

The Dow’s new high follows a day after the three major averages closed at fresh records.

— Darla Mercado

Wolfe Research replaced Nvidia with AMD in its Alpha List, saying the decision was a “tactical shift” after Nvidia’s outperformance this year.

“We make a tactical shift in priority to AMD, adding it to the Wolfe Alpha List, replacing NVDA given the relative move in shares YTD,” Chris Caso wrote to clients on Thursday. “We expect more significant catalysts for NVDA later this year, and expect numbers to move higher for both NVDA and AMD.”

The decision comes ahead of Nvidia’s earnings results next week in which the artificial intelligence chipmaker will have a high hurdle to clear after its exorbitant run. Nvidia shares have nearly doubled this year, up roughly 91%. In comparison, AMD shares are up just 8%. Meanwhile, the S&P 500 is up more than 11%.

Walmart, Under Armour and Canada Goose all reported better-than-expected profits. But the retailers’ outlooks ranged from somewhat cautious to downright disappointing.

• Walmart expects second-quarter earnings per share of 62 cents to 65 cents, roughly in line with the consensus estimate of 64 cents, despite just posting its biggest earnings beat in three years.
• Under Armour’s fiscal fourth-quarter earnings beat by 3 cents, but its profit forecast of 18 cents to 21 cents in the new fiscal year is a fraction of the 59 cents the Street has been expecting. The athletic gear firm also sees a shocking low double-digit decline in revenue, while analysts were expecting a 2% rise. The company blames “lower wholesale channel demand and inconsistent execution across our business” for the weak guidance.
• Canada Goose’s fiscal fourth-quarter earnings were three times greater than the Street’s expectations. But its outlook for the new fiscal year was far more tempered as it expects “global consumer spending will continue to be pressured.” The outdoor apparel maker projects mid-teens earnings growth versus Wall Street’s expectation of 20.6% growth, and revenue growth of low single digits versus an estimate of 8.1%. An even bigger problem, though, is the company has withdrawn its long-term financial targets amid the “more challenging consumer spending environment” that has caused its direct-to-consumer and wholesales businesses to “have not performed according to our expectations.”

— Robert Hum

Import prices jumped 0.9% in April on rising food and fuel prices, indicating that pipeline inflation pressures are still at play, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported.

The increase topped the Wall Street consensus estimate of 0.3% and came after an upwardly revised 0.6% acceleration in March. It was the largest one-month gain since March 2022. On a 12-month basis, import prices increased 1.1%, the biggest move higher since December 2022.

Fuel prices rose 2.4% while foods, feeds and beverages posted a 1.7% increase, the largest since July 2023. Nonfuel import prices jumped 0.7%, the highest since March 2022.

— Jeff Cox

Initial claims for unemployment benefits drifted back lower last week after showing a spike in the previous period, the Labor Department reported Thursday.

First-time filings totaled 222,000 for the week ended May 11, just 1,000 above the Dow Jones estimate and a 10,000 decline from the previous week’s upwardly revised total, which was the highest since late August.

Continuing claims rose to 1.794 million, up 13,000 from the previous week and a bit above the FactSet estimate.

In other economic data Thursday, the Commerce Department reported that building permits fell to 1.44 million, below the 1.48 million estimate, while housing starts rose to 1.36 million, but well below the 1.4 million estimate.

— Jeff Cox

Check out some of the companies making headlines in premarket trading.

• Under Armour — The sportswear maker’s Class A shares slumped 11% and its Class C stock fell 9% after it issued lower-than-expected full-year earnings guidance. Under Armour now expects earnings in the range of 18 cents to 21 cents while analysts polled by FactSet had forecast 59 cents.

• Canada Goose — The coat maker jumped more than 12% after beating Wall Street estimates for sales and earnings in its fiscal fourth quarter. Canada Goose said one key profit margin metric “will expand by approximately 100 basis points compared to fiscal 2024” this year.

• Walmart — The big-box retailer popped 4.7% after reporting adjusted first-quarter earnings of 60 cents per sharer, topping the 52 cents expected from analysts polled by LSEG. Revenue was $161.5 billion, beating the $159.5 billion consensus estimate. Walmart said it made big gains in e-commerce and won over more high-income shoppers.

Read the full list here.

— Brian Evans

While Walmart posted its 17^th consecutive revenue beat, adjusted earnings per share of 60 cents was an impressive 15% above the consensus estimate and handily topped every single forecast on the Street. The highest analyst estimate was for a profit of 55 cents. Operating income rose 9.6% from the prior year’s quarter. That was well above the 3.0% to 4.5% growth forecast the company had previously expected.

The strong first-quarter performance came amid successful advertising efforts and the retailer’s ability to win over more high-income shoppers. Same-store sales at its Walmart U.S. stores grew 3.8% — with all the growth coming from higher transactions.

— Robert Hum & Melissa Repko

Shares of Zurich-based Chubb Ltd. climbed 8.2% premarket Thursday after Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway disclosed it was the conglomerate’s previously undisclosed, $6.7 billion “confidential” investment.

Chubb’s advance was the largest among all stocks in the S&P Composite 1500 Index Thursday, comprised of the S&P 500, the MidCap 400 and SmallCap 600, according to FactSet data.

Berkshire’s first-quarter 13F released Wednesday showed it owned a 6.39% stake in Chubb, making it the second-largest institutional investor after Vanguard’s 9.08%.

Berkshire had kept the Chubb purchase secret for two quarters, having applied for Securities and Exchange Commission treatment to keep the details of one or more of its stock holdings confidential.

— Scott Schnipper

The so-called meme stocks are poised for a second day of decline following a speculative rally in the beginning of the week. GameStop and AMC both fell more than 10% in premarket trading Thursday.

While the swift rally earlier this week turned heads on Wall Street, the retail interest in these meme names pales in comparison with the epic mania three years ago.

The speculative run was reignited Monday by a rare social media update from “Roaring Kitty.” The man, whose legal name is Keith Gill, posted a picture on the X social media platform of a video gamer sitting forward on their chair — a meme used by gamers to indicate they are taking the game seriously.

GameStop is still up 126% week to date, while AMC has gained 88%.

The European Union brought a major investigation for Meta Platforms that will look into alleged breaches of the region’s online content law regarding child safety. In a statement, the European Commission said it was looking into whether Facebook and Instagram “may stimulate behavioural addictions in children, as well as create so-called ‘rabbit-hole effects.'”

Meta shares were down slightly in the premarket.

— Fred Imbert

Deere shares were down more than 6% in the premarket after the tractor maker cut its full-year earnings outlook. The company expects net income of roughly $7 billion for the year, versus a previous forecast of $7.5 billion to $7.75 billion. The guidance cut overshadowed better-than-expected quarterly results.

— Fred Imbert

Baidu reported first-quarter revenue that beat expectations, sending shares of the Chinese tech company up by 2% in the premarket. The company’s top line came in at 31.51 billion yuan, exceeding an LSEG estimate of 31.21 billion yuan.

“Baidu Core’s online marketing revenue remained stable, while the end-to-end optimization of our AI technology stack continued to propel the growth of our AI Cloud revenue during the quarter,” said co-founder and CEO Robin Li in a statement.

European markets opened mixed Thursday as a slew of earnings weighed on a relief rally for global markets following softer-than-expected U.S. inflation data.

The U.K.’s FTSE 100 index was down 0.3% at 8,416, Germany’s DAX 0.02% lower at 18,864, France’s CAC 0.2% lower at 8,221 and Italy’s FTSE MIB up 0.03% at 35,366.

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company said there was no damage to its facilities at its Arizona factory construction site, according to Reuters, following a report of an explosion at the plant.

A worker at TSMC’s Arizona plant was taken to a hospital with serious injuries following an explosion, the Arizona Republic reported earlier, citing authorities.

The Arizona Republic reported that firefighters from multiple departments responded to a hazardous materials call on Wednesday afternoon.

The chipmaker said in a statement that none of its employees or onsite construction workers had reported any injuries, according to Reuters.

— Shreyashi Sanyal, Reuters

Tencent’s Hong Kong-listed shares rose 4.5% after the Chinese tech giant beat analysts’ estimates for revenue and profit in the first quarter.

The company reported slightly better sales in its core gaming business and improved profitability in its advertising and business services division late on Tuesday.

Revenue of 159.5 billion Chinese yuan ($22 billion) in the first quarter topped analysts’ expectations of 158.4 billion yuan. Profit attributable to shareholders came in at 41.9 billion yuan versus expectations of 36.64 billion yuan.

The company’s adjusted net profit grew 62% year on year, the fastest growth since the March quarter of 2021, according to LSEG data.

Markets in Hong Kong resumed trading Thursday after a holiday.  

— Shreyashi Sanyal, Arjun Kharpal