The Dow Jones Industrial Average ended Wednesday modestly lower following the Federal Reserve’s latest policy update, where the central bank kept interest rates steady and Chair Jerome Powell signaled it would wait to see the impact of President Donald Trump’s tariffs on inflation before proceeding on rates.
The 30-stock Dow lost 44.14 points, or 0.10%, and ended at 42,171.66. The S&P 500 slipped 0.03% to close at 5,980.87, and the Nasdaq Composite inched up 0.13% to settle at 19,546.27.
The Fed left its key rate unchanged Wednesday in a range of 4.25% to 4.5%, as markets expected. Nevertheless, it turned out to be a mixed bag of news for investors, as the central bank still signaled two rate cuts this year while simultaneously hinting at a stagflationary threat. The policymakers lowered the 2025 forecast for economic growth to just 1.4% and raised the core inflation outlook to 3.1%.
While Powell said in a press conference following the decision that “we’re beginning to see some effects” of tariffs on inflation, he also said that the policymakers are “well positioned to wait” before making any adjustments to rates.
“The size of the tariff effects, their duration and the time it will take are all highly uncertain,” Powell said. “That is why we think the appropriate thing to do is to hold where we are as we learn more.”
Israel-Iran conflict
Trump told reporters outside the White House Wednesday that the Iranians had reached out and signaled that they would send a delegation to Washington for negotiations.
“They want to negotiate,” the president said. “They even suggested that they come to the White House. That’s courageous. It’s like not easy for them to do.”
Stocks were downbeat earlier this week as the conflict between Israel and Iran mounted, raising oil prices.
The attacks between the two countries entered their sixth day Wednesday as Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said that Iran won’t surrender and warned that the U.S. will “undoubtedly be met with irreparable damage” if it enters the conflict.
“The market just seems very keen to fade geopolitical risk,” Zachary Hill, head of portfolio management at Horizon Investments, said to CNBC. “That has been historically the right thing to do, so I think that’s kind of what’s driving us so far today.”
Stocks close little changed
The three leading indexes finished little changed on Wednesday.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 44.14 points, or 0.1%, to settle at 42,171.66. The S&P 500 ticked 0.03% lower to end at 5,980.87, while the Nasdaq Composite rose 0.13%, closing at 19,546.27.
— Sean Conlon
Gundlach sees gold hitting $4,000
DoubleLine Capital CEO Jeffrey Gundlach said Wednesday that gold could hit $4,000 soon as institutions step up their buying amid heightened geopolitical uncertainty.
“It’s a clear beneficiary of everything that’s been going on. And it’s the one asset class that’s really doing well this year,” Gundlach said on CNBC’s “Closing Bell.” “I think the demand for gold is for real.”
Spot gold traded around $3,392.08 an ounce Wednesday, while U.S. gold futures rose slightly to $3,412.5.
— Yun Li
Oil prices steady after Trump says Iran wants to negotiate
Crude oil futures were little changed on Wednesday, after President Donald Trump said Iran wants to negotiate over its nuclear program in the wake of six days of Israeli airstrikes.
U.S. crude oil futures rose 30 cents, or 0.4%, to close at $75.14 a barrel, while global benchmark Brent gained 25 cents, or 0.25%, to settle at $76.70 per barrel. Prices had jumped more than 4% on Tuesday after Trump called for Iran’s unconditional surrender.
The president told reporters outside the White House Wednesday that the Iranians had reached out to him and suggested that they send a delegation to the White House to negotiate.
“They want to negotiate,” Trump said. “They even suggested that they come to the White House. That’s courageous. It’s like not easy for them to do.”
— Spencer Kimball
Buy the dip in Cava stock, says Stifel
Investors should buy the dip in shares of Cava, according to Stifel.
The firm reiterated a buy rating on the fast casual restaurant stock, but trimmed its price target to $125 per share from $175. Stifel’s forecast implies more than 67% upside from Tuesday’s $74.71 close.
“In the near term, we reduced our 2Q SRS projection to 5.5% (Street 6.9%) to reflect difficult laps following the launch of Grilled Steak last year,” analyst Chris O’Cull wrote in a Tuesday note. “Of the three key factors to the longer-term valuation (AUV [average unit volume] growth, margin expansion, and unit growth), we believe AUVs will likely expand at a faster rate than anticipated, similar to other growth concepts in the industry that have seen new unit performance improve as brand awareness grows.”
Shares have pulled back more than 33% so far in 2025.
— Brian Evans
9 stocks in the S&P 500 trade at new all-time highs
11 stocks in the S&P 500 traded at new 52-week highs on Wednesday.
Of these names, nine stocks reached new all-time highs. Here were the tickers that reached this milestone:
- Take-Two Interactive trading at all-time high levels since its IPO in April 1997
- Expand Energy trading at all-time highs back through our history to February 2021
- Bank of NY Mellon trading at all-time highs back to the merger between BNY (the first company listed on the NYSE) and Mellon Financial in 2007
- Cardinal Health trading at all-time highs back to its IPO in 1983
- Raytheon Technologies trading at all-time highs back to when the United Technologies name was adopted in 1975
- International Business Machines trading at all-time highs back to when it began publicly trading on the NYSE in January 1962
- Jabil trading at all-time highs back to its IPO in April 1993
- Seagate trading at all-time highs back to its IPO in December 2002
- Corteva trading at all-time highs back to its spin-off from DowDuPont on 5/24/2019
On the other hand, six stocks traded at new 52-week lows: Clorox, Campbell Soup, J.M. Smucker, Constellation Brands, Molson Coors and Thermo Fisher Scientific.
— Christopher Hayes, Lisa Kailai Han
McDonald’s on pace for 4th straight decline, underperforming market by wide margin
McDonald’s, the largest fast food chain by sales and locations, is on pace for a fourth straight daily decline, a fifth straight weekly loss and its largest monthly retreat since Sept. 2022. It’s also dropping for the 11th day out of the past 13.
Chicago-based McDonald’s on Wednesday fell to it lowest since early February, and is now trading below its 200-day moving average. The stock’s relative strength index, a measure of recent momentum, dropped 20 24, its lowest since May 2024.
McDonald’s shares are off 9% in the past month, underperforming the S&P 500 gain of nearly 1%.
McDonald’s is next scheduled to report second-quarter results on July 23. Wall Street analysts are looking for the chain to earn $3.15 per share, up from $2.97 in the year-earlier period but down from $3.17 in the 2023 second quarter, according to FactSet.
— Scott Schnipper, Nick Wells
Fed keeps rates unchanged, sees 2 more rate cuts this year
The Federal Reserve kept interest rates unchanged on Wednesday, as was expected. However, the central bank kept its outlook for two cuts this year as the threat of stagflation has risen.
“Uncertainty about the economic outlook has diminished but remains elevated. The Committee is attentive to the risks to both sides of its dual mandate,” the Fed’s policymaking committee said in a note. The Fed also lowered its GDP outlook and increased its inflation forecast.
— Fred Imbert
Small caps outperform
Small-cap stocks saw outsized gains on Tuesday.
The Russell 2000 climbed more than 1% in afternoon trading. By comparison, the S&P 500 ticked just 0.3% higher.
— Alex Harring
Consumer discretionary outperforms
Consumer discretionary stocks outperformed Wednesday. The S&P 500 sector rose 0.6%, making it the best performing sector. The broader index itself was higher by 0.3%.
Shares of Caesars Entertainment and Tesla were higher by more than 3% and 2%, respectively. Tractor Supply shares gained nearly 2%.
— Sarah Min
Caris Life Sciences opens above IPO price
Caris Life Sciences opened at $27 per share in its initial public offering on Wednesday. That is above the $21 per share the company was priced at on Tuesday.
The diagnostics stock quickly traded above the opening price and was last at $28.69 per share, or more than 36% above the IPO price. The stock’s ticker is CAI.
The lead banks on the deal were Bank of America Securities, JPMorgan and Goldman Sachs, according to a press release.
— Jesse Pound
S&P 500 tends to dive during Powell press conferences on Fed days, data shows
The S&P 500 tends to give up gains as Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell takes reporters’ questions after announcing the central bank’s monetary policy decision.
Every time the Fed holds a monetary policy meeting, it gives an official decision on interest rates at 2 p.m. ET. Powell begins speaking with reporters around 2:30 p.m. ET. These days are known informally as “Fed days.”
Data from Bespoke Investment Group shows that over the past 10 Fed days, the S&P 500 has spiked when the interest rate decision is announced. But gains tend to cool as Powell speaks and into the market’s close.
— Alex Harring
Tariff impacts are starting to hit economic data, JPMorgan economist says
Cranes at the Port of Los Angeles are empty of cargo ships as shown with a drone at in San Pedro California, U.S., May 13, 2025.
The impact of tariffs and how they are changing consumer behavior is starting to show up in economic data, according to JPMorgan.
“US data for May reinforced signals that the early-year boost to activity has started to fade. On the heels of last week’s report of a sharp drop in US imports (April) and auto sales (May), the [industrial production] and retail sales reports pulled back more than expected, with IP down 0.2% and retail sales down 0.9%. At the same time, the continued rise in import prices suggests the tax bite is being felt domestically even if price increases for consumers are likely to be more delayed and drawn out than previously anticipated,” global economist Nora Szentivanyi said in a note to clients.
The drop in auto sales in May, in particular, could be a sign of the impact from consumers “front loading” purchases ahead of tariffs.
“We now forecast a 0.2% m/m decline in real consumer spending in May, though 2Q should still show a decent gain of 2.5% even if lower than our prior forecast of 3%,” Szentivanyi said.
The note was published before the weak housing starts report on Wednesday.
— Jesse Pound
Scholar Rock’s experimental drug shows evidence it can cut muscle loss from obesity drugs
One of the downsides to taking obesity drugs like Eli Lilly’s Zepbound is that patients can lose both muscle and fat as they shed pounds. An experimental drug from Scholar Rock hopes to change that.
Scholar Rock said Wednesday that a mid-stage trial of patients taking Zepbound and Scholar’s apitegromab lost 3.4 pounds of lean mass after 24 weeks versus those who took the GLP-1 drug alone and lost 7.6 pounds of lean mass. Patients in the combination group lost 18.8 pounds of fat, while those in the other group lost 17.7 pounds of fat.
Scholar Rock shares are up about 8% in premarket trading on hopes the drug will allow it to crack the lucrative obesity market. But the stock has lost nearly 28% so far this year.
Regeneron, which is working with Lilly rival Novo Nordisk, shared encouraging results in early January for its own efforts in this area. Regeneron shares are also down about 28% year to date.
Although both muscle-saving drugs are showing a positive trend, some analysts are concerned about whether the results provide enough of a benefit to patients to convince insurance companies to cover these remedies.
— Christina Cheddar Berk
Eyes on Fed after market held up ‘remarkably well’ Tuesday, says Yardini
Stocks may have closed lower on Tuesday amid concern over the conflict between Israel and Iran, but it could have been worse, suggested Ed Yardeni, president of Yardeni Research.
“The stock market held up remarkably well today considering that President Donald Trump abruptly left the Group of Seven meeting in the Canadian Rockies [Tuesday] morning,” he wrote in a note Tuesday.
Comments from Trump also suggested the United States might enter a war with Iran, which sent S&P 500 Aerospace & Defense stock price index soaring in record-high territory, he added.
“Under the circumstances, the participants of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) have lots to discuss during their two-day policy,” Yardeni wrote. “What’s not on the table is a rate cut anytime soon, in our opinion. That leaves Fed watchers focused on how Fed Chair Jerome Powell spins the range of views following the FOMC meeting at his presser [Wednesday] afternoon.”
— Michelle Fox
Trump says ‘stupid’ Powell ‘probably won’t cut’ interest rates
US President Donald Trump speaks to the press as workers install a large flag pole on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, DC on June 18, 2025.
President Donald Trump criticized Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell Wednesday, calling him “stupid” and doubting that the central bank would cut interest rates when its meeting ends later in the day.
“So we have a stupid person. Frankly, you probably won’t cut today,” the president remarked outside the White House. “Europe had 10 cuts, and we had none. And I guess he’s a political guy, I don’t know. He’s a political guy who’s not a smart person, but he’s costing the country a fortune.”
— Jeff Cox, Sean Conlon
U.S. Steel shares cease trading on the NYSE
A water tower at the U.S. Steel Corp. Edgar Thomson Works steel mill in Braddock, Pennsylvania, on Sept. 4, 2024.
Shares of U.S. Steel stopped trading on the New York Stock Exchange Wednesday after Japan’s Nippon Steel completed its acquisition of the company.
— Spencer Kimball
Stocks open little changed
Stocks were flat Wednesday morning.
The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq Composite both traded above the flatline. The Dow Jones Industrial Average, meanwhile, teetered around the flatline.
— Sean Conlon
Stocks making the biggest moves premarket
Check out the companies making headlines in premarket trading:
- Sunrun — Shares fell nearly 2% following a downgrade to sector perform from outperform by RBC Capital Markets. The stock on Tuesday recorded its biggest one-day loss in its history amid a sell-off in solar names.
- CERo Therapeutics Holdings — Stock in the immunotherapy company pulled back about 28%. On Tuesday, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration gave the company’s acute myeloid leukemia drug CER-1236 an orphan drug designation. Shares rose more than 188% on that news.
- Chemours — The chemical stock dropped about 1% after an updated second-quarter forecast showed weakness in a key profit metric. Chemours said it expects consolidated adjusted EBITDA — or earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization — of $215 million to $225 million for the period. Wall Street expectations called for $236 million, according to FactSet.
Read the full list here.
— Brian Evans
Housing starts hit five-year low; jobless claims down
New townhomes under construction in Englewood Cliffs, N.J. on June 3rd, 2025.
New housing construction hit its lowest level in five years for May in more bad news for the industry, the Commerce Department reported Wednesday.
Starts ran at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.256 million for the month, down 9.8% from April and the slowest since May 2020 as the economy was reeling from the Covid pandemic. Economists surveyed by Dow Jones had been looking for 1.35 million.
Building permits also slid more than expected, totaling 1.393 million, off 2% from the prior month and below the 1.42 million forecast.
In other economic news, initial unemployment claims for the week ending June 14 totaled a seasonally adjusted 245,000, down 5,000 from the prior week and right around the estimate for 246,000, according to a Labor Department report. Continuing claims, which run a week behind, nudged lower to 1.945 million, though the longer-term trend held around highs last seen in November 2021.
— Jeff Cox
Iran threatens ‘irreparable damage’ if U.S. enters Israel conflict
Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamanei attends an event in Tehran, Iran on May 10, 2025. (Photo by IRANIAN LEADER PRESS OFFICE/Anadolu via Getty Images)
Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Wednesday threatened the U.S. with “irreparable damage” if Washington follows through with a military strike against the Middle Eastern country.
“Any American military entry will undoubtedly be met with irreparable damage,” Khamenei said, according to NBC News reporting. “The Iranian people will firmly stand against an imposed war, just as they will stand firm against any imposed peace. This nation will never surrender to imposition from anyone,” he added. “The Iranian people are not a people who can be forced into surrender.”
Khamenei’s remarks came after Trump warned the patience of the U.S. was “wearing thin,” noting that Khamenei is an “easy target.”
— Yun Li, Ruxandra Iordache
Korn Ferry shares pop after earnings
Shares of Korn Ferry jumped nearly 7% in the premarket Wednesday after the global organizational consulting firm’s latest quarterly results beat on the top and bottom lines.
Korn Ferry posted adjusted earnings of $1.32 per share on $712 million in revenue for its fiscal fourth quarter. That’s above the $1.26 per share on $689.9 million in revenue that analysts polled by FactSet were expecting for the quarter.
This year, the stock has underperformed the S&P 500, seeing a year-to-date fall of more than 1%. The broad market index, by contrast, has risen almost 2% in 2025. Korn Ferry shares have also dropped almost 4% in the past week.
— Sean Conlon
Silver reaches highest level since February 2012
Silver futures hit a high of $37.405 on Wednesday, its highest level since Feb. 29, 2012, when silver traded as high as $37.58.
Silver prices continue to diverge from gold prices, with gold futures falling 0.2% Wednesday.
— Gina Francolla, Sean Conlon
What to expect from the Fed
U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell speaks at the Federal Reserve’s 75th Anniversary Conference for the International Finance Division on June 2, 2025, in Washington DC, United States.
The Fed is likely to keep rates unchanged after its latest policy meeting concludes Wednesday. However, the central bank will likely send signals that could reverberate through markets.
Among the signals to watch are whether the Fed maintains its outlook for two rate cuts and any reactions from Chair Jerome Powell on the White House pushing for easier monetary policy.
“The Fed’s main message at the June meeting will be that it remains comfortably in wait-and-see mode,” Bank of America economist Aditya Bhave said in a note.
— Jeff Cox
Energy was the only positive sector on Tuesday
During Tuesday’s trading session, energy was the only sector that ended the day higher.
The sector gained 1.03% on the back of rising tensions in the Middle East.
On the other hand, the health care sector fell 1.64% and was the worst-performing cohort. Health care stocks, alongside materials and consumer discretionary stocks, are now more than 10% of their 52-week highs.
— Christopher Hayes, Lisa Kailai Han
Apple weighed the S&P 500 lower on Tuesday
An iPhone 16 signage is seen on the window at the Fifth Avenue Apple Store on new products launch day on September 20, 2024 in New York City.
During Tuesday’s trading session, iPhone maker Apple weighed the S&P 500 lower.
Here were the most positive and negative components of each of the three major indexes during the session, and their respective impacts:
S&P 500
- Most Positive: Chevron, +0.06 points
- Most Negative: Apple, -0.48 points
- Most Positive: Chevron, +17 points
- Most Negative: Amgen, -34 points
— Christopher Hayes, Lisa Kailai Han
Stock futures slip marginally
Stock futures traded slightly lower on Tuesday night.
Dow futures slipped just around 0.1% shortly after 6 p.m. ET. S&P 500 futures shed more than 0.1%, as did Nasdaq 100 futures.
— Lisa Kailai Han