Stocks End Mixed After Federal Reserve Cuts Interest Rates; Dow Rises, Nasdaq, S&P 500 Slip

Biggest S&P 500 Movers on Wednesday

13 hr 14 min ago

Decliners

• Stocks with exposure to the home building sector lost ground. Although the Fed’s interest-rate cut and outlook promoted expectations that declining mortgage rates could bolster the housing market, the latest data from the The National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index showed that home builder confidence in September remained mired at at its lowest level since December 2022. Shares of residential construction material provider Builders FirstSource (BLDR) lost 5.6%, the most of any S&P 500 stock, while flooring specialist Mohawk Industries (MHK) sank 4%.
• Uber Technologies (UBER) shares dropped 5%. The downshift for the ridesharing and food delivery giant came after Waymo, the self-driving technology subsidiary of Google parent Alphabet (GOOG, GOOGL), said it would partner with Lyft (LYFT) to offer fully autonomous rides starting next year. Lyft shares surged more than 13% following the announcement.
• Insulet (PODD) shares fell 3%. The maker of wearable insulin delivery devices said that Ana Maria Chadwick would step down from her role as chief financial officer at the end of the month, set to be replaced by a former Charles River Laboratories (CRL) executive. The company said it now expects third-quarter revenue growth to exceed prior expectations, citing strong customer additions in the U.S. and other markets.

Advancers

• Shares of Hologic (HOLX), a medical technology company focused on women’s health, jumped 7.7% to notch Wednesday’s top performance in the S&P 500. The push higher followed reports that investment firms Blackstone and TPG have reinitiated conversations with Hologic’s board about a potential acquisition.
• Workday (WDAY) stock surged 7.3% after activist investor Elliott Investment Management said that it has accumulated a stake worth more than $2 billion in the enterprise resource software provider. Elliott expressed a positive view of Workday’s management team and the multi-year plan for operational and capital improvements the company outlined at its recent analyst day.
• Fox Corp. (FOXA, FOX) shares gained around 3%, staging a partial recovery from a decline posted last week following the announcement that the Murdoch family had reached a settlement over who would control the media empire. As Lachlan Murdoch firms up his leadership over the company, reports have suggested that he will continue to explore options for attracting younger audiences, including initiatives like the Fox One streaming service that launched last month.

–Michael Bromberg

Lyft Jumps on JV With Waymo for Nashville Robotaxi Service

13 hr 24 min ago

Lyft (LYFT) shares soared Wednesday after the ridesharing firm and Google’s Waymo announced a partnership to launch a robotaxi service in Nashville starting next year.

Waymo said it will use Lyft’s fleet-management services, including “vehicle maintenance, infrastructure and depot operations.” Lyft will build an AV fleet management facility with charging and vehicle service capabilities as part of the deal. The robotaxis will be first available on the Waymo app, then on the Lyft app later next year, the companies said.

Waymo has struck deals with Uber in the past as well, launching robotaxi services in Atlanta and Austin this year. The robotaxi space has also become more crowded, with Tesla (TSLA) launching its autonomous driving service in Austin in June.

Shares of Lyft finished the day up 13%, while those of rival Uber (UBER) dropped 5%.

With Wednesday’s rise, Lyft shares have gained over three-quarters of their value in 2025, while Uber shares have climbed more than 50%.

American Express Stock Paces Dow Industrials

15 hr 7 min ago

Some of the best-performing stocks Wednesday were credit-card issuers.

The top-performing stock in the Dow Jones Industrial Average was American Express (AXP), which ended up 2.7%.

Credit-card rivals Mastercard (MA) and Visa (V) also rose Wednesday, closing 2.1% and 1.8% higher.

Tech, Discretionary Stocks Decline After Fed Decision

16 hr 11 min ago

Tech and discretionary shares were leading the way lower in late-Wednesday trading, weighing on the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite indexes after the Fed’s latest rate-cut move.

The S&P 500’s information technology and consumer discretionary sectors were the benchmark index’s top two decliners, both recently off more than 1%.

Companies including recent high-fliers—including Broadcom, Nvidia, Oracle and Palantir—were among the top tech decliners. Uber Technologies was recently the top decliner on the S&P 500, down nearly 5%.

Fed Cuts Interest Rate for First Time Since December

17 hr 1 min ago

The Federal Reserve has cut its key interest rate, reducing borrowing costs in an effort to boost hiring and prevent a surge of unemployment.

The central bank’s policy committee voted Wednesday to lower the fed funds rate by a quarter-point to a range of 4% to 4.25%, the first cut since December and its lowest level since December 2022.

 Fed officials predicted two more such reductions are likely for the remainder of the year, to a range of 3.5% to 3.75%, according to a set of quarterly economic projections released alongside the interest rate decision. That was one more quarter-point cut than officials expected in June, the last time they made economic projections.

The Fed has held the rate steady so far this year to push down inflation, which is still running over the Fed’s target of a 2% annual rate. However, officials have recently grown more concerned that President Donald Trump’s trade wars are slowing down the economy and risk causing a wave of unemployment. The fed funds rate sets the rate at which banks lend money to one another, and influences borrowing costs on credit cards, car loans, and many other kinds of debt.

“The Committee is attentive to the risks to both sides of its dual mandate and judges that downside risks to employment have risen,” The committee said in a statement.

Read the full article here.

–Diccon Hyatt

Uber Stock Sinks as Rival Lyft Partners With Waymo for Autonomous Ride-Hailing in Nashville

17 hr 16 min ago

The worst-performing stock in the S&P 500 Wednesday afternoon was Uber Technologies (UBER), whose shares were recently down 5%.

The decline appeared to be because rival ride-hailing firm Lyft (LYFT) announced it was partnering with Waymo on robotaxi service in Nashville beginning next year.

Lyft shares recently were up more than 12%.

What the Fed’s Rate Call Could Mean for the Stock Market

18 hr 12 min ago

Wall Street is pretty confident that stock market will get a boost from a rate cut on Wednesday.

Traders expect the S&P 500 to move about 0.6% in either direction on today, according to options pricing data. That would be the S&P 500’s biggest post-Fed-Meeting move since March, when the benchmark index finished up 1.1% after policymakers left their full-year interest rate forecasts despite increasing economic uncertainty. 

The Federal Reserve is widely expected to cut rates for the first time this year, with federal funds futures trading data putting the odds of a 25 basis point cut at about 94% Wednesday morning. Traders see a 6% chance the Fed lowers rates by 50 bps, the same amount with which it kicked off last year’s rate-cutting cycle in September.

The difference between a 25- and 50-point cut could be significant for markets. According to a Deutsche Bank survey conducted between Sept. 9 and 11, respondents expect the S&P 500 to rise 1% in the event of a 50-point cut, compared with about 0.4% on a smaller one. “Risk-takers”—respondents who identify as portfolio managers or traders—forecast a 1.3% rally on a jumbo cut.

Stocks were at record highs heading into this week’s meeting, buoyed by anticipation of lower borrowing costs, resilient corporate earnings, and enthusiasm for artificial intelligence. The major indexes were mixed in intraday trading Wednesday, with the Dow rising as the S&P 500 and tech-heavy Nasdaq traded lower.

Read the full article here.

–Colin Laidley

Homeowners Aren’t Waiting for a Rate Cut to Refinance

18 hr 55 min ago

Homeowners buried under high borrowing costs aren’t waiting around for an interest rate cut. 

Mortgage rates dipped to the lowest level since October last week, and applications for refinancing loans surged by nearly 60%, according to new data from the Mortgage Bankers Association.

“Homeowners with larger loans jumped first, as the average loan size on refinances reached its highest level in the 35-year history of our survey,” Mike Fratantoni, chief economist at the Mortgage Bankers Association, said in a release.

The MBA report showed that heightened interest in refinancing helped push up overall demand for mortgages by nearly 30% in the week ending Sept. 12 compared with the prior week. 

Read the full article here.

–Terry Lane

China Bans Top Tech Firms From Buying Nvidia Chips, Report Says

20 hr 1 min ago

China has reportedly banned its largest tech firms from buying Nvidia (NVDA) AI chips, adding pressure on the U.S. chipmaker’s sales in the country.

Shares of Nvidia, which entered Wednesday’s session up roughly a third this year, fell about 3% in recent trading following the news.

The Cyberspace Administration of China, the country’s internet regulator, told firms including TikTok owner ByteDance and e-commerce giant Alibaba (BABA) this week to end their testing and orders of the RTX Pro 6000D—the chip Nvidia introduced in July for the Chinese market, according to the Financial Times. Beijing had concluded that homegrown chips are now performing on par with the Nvidia chips allowed in China under export controls, the FT said, citing people familiar with the matter. ByteDance and Alibaba did not respond to a request for comment in time for publication.

The FT report said the companies that started testing and verification work on the chip with Nvidia’s server suppliers have since told their suppliers to stop the work. The new ban is stronger than prior guidance from regulators that focused on curbing use of the H20, an earlier version of Nvidia’s China-tailored AI chip, and comes after China recently accused Nvidia of antitrust violations.

Read the full article here.

–Nisha Gopalan

Layoffs Might Be Worse Than Economists Say

20 hr 22 min ago

Many economists have described today’s labor market as one of little hiring and little firing, but the second half of that equation may not be as true as it was a few months ago.

Recent data suggests the job market may still be facing lower hiring, but is now shifting to a trend of at least medium-level layoffs. Recent red flags include a surge of unemployment claims to their highest level in four years, and an uptick of layoff announcements, which were 13% higher in August than a year before, according to consulting firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas.

Taken together, the recent data suggest hiring has been slowing while layoffs have been running at or above normal levels. Economists at UBS said last week that the economy could be at greater risk of falling into a recession than widely believed.

“The prevailing narrative that firms are not laying off workers is incorrect,” economists led by Jonathan Pingle wrote in a commentary. “Thus, with layoffs running at a normal clip, if hiring slows much further, the labor market would tip into contraction.”

To be sure, some data about the job market, including the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ widely watched report on job openings and labor turnover, indicates layoffs remained near historically low rates at least through July. However, Pingle wrote that the BLS data “has difficulty accurately capturing separation” and is not a reliable real-time indicator of job losses.

Pingle’s analysis did not delve into the causes of the job market’s labor ailments, but many economists have pointed the finger at President Donald Trump’s economic policies, especially his far-reaching campaign of raising tariffs on trading partners. The trade wars have stoked uncertainty among business leaders, increased costs, and pinched household budgets, all of which have discouraged spending.

–Diccon Hyatt

The ‘Jerry’ in Ben & Jerry’s Is Quitting

21 hr 9 min ago

Ben & Jerry’s ice cream will go on without the “Jerry.” 

In a letter shared by co-founder Ben Cohen, Jerry Greenfield wrote that he was resigning after 47 years because parent company Unilever (UL) has not lived up to promises regarding social justice the company made when it purchased the brand.

The news marks the latest conflict between the company and the pair of founders since the deal in 2000.Greenfield said the “unique merger Ben and I negotiated with Unilever” 20 years ago “enshrined our social mission and values in the company’s government structure in perpetuity,” and their right to independently speak out about that. He argued that the independence Unilever agreed to “is gone.”

The business, Greenfield said, was “always about more than ice cream,” and he and Ben always believed “our values and pursuit of justice were more important than the company itself.”

Greenfield’s “legacy deserves to be true to our values,” Cohen wrote.

Unilever’s Magnum Ice Cream Co., which Ben & Jerry’s is a part of, said in a statement to Investopedia that it was “forever grateful” to Greenfield for co-founding the ice cream company and addressing social causes. The company said it disagrees with his perspective and has “sought to engage both co-founders in a constructive conversation on how to strengthen Ben & Jerry’s powerful values-based position in the world.”

The company will remain focused on “carrying forward the legacy of peace, love, and ice cream” of Ben & Jerry’s, Magnum said.

The co-founders have butted heads several times with Unilever over statements on social issues, including filing a lawsuit against the company last year for allegedly silencing the ice cream maker for supporting Palestinians in the war in Gaza.

–Bill McColl

Workday Stock Jumps as Activist Investor Elliott Takes $2B Stake

21 hr 24 min ago

Workday (WDAY) shares jumped in early trading Wednesday after activist investor Elliott Investment Management reported it had taken a more than $2 billion stake in the human resources software provider.

Unlike most examples of activist investors calling for major changes in companies they invest in, Elliott has instead praised the leadership of Workday. It said in a statement that CEO Carl Eschenbach, CFO Zane Rowe and the entire Workday team “have made substantial progress in recent years, positioning Workday as a unique software franchise with industry-leading growth potential, best-in-class customer retention and a proven management team.” 

Elliott added that it was “pleased with our dialogue with the team,” and the strategy spelled out by the company at yesterday’s Financial Analyst Day. It noted that the plan will provide a “significant enhancement of Workday’s operating model and capital allocation framework.” In that presentation, Workday explained how it would be boosting the use of artificial intelligence to help customers become more efficient.

Workday shares were up 8% in the opening minutes of Wednesday’s session. Entering the day, the stock had lost 15% so far in 2025.

–Bill McColl

StubHub Stock Set to Debut Today

21 hr 48 min ago

StubHub has raised $800 million from its initial public offering after pricing the deal at the midpoint of a marketed range, as the online ticketing reseller succeeds in its third attempt at going public.

The company sold 34 million shares for $23.50 each after setting a price range at between $22 and $25 apiece. The pricing values StubHub at around $8.8 billion, based on in its Form S-1 filing where it disclosed it would have 373 million shares outstanding after the IPO, assuming an overallotment option is fully exercised.

The San Francisco-based company co-founded by CEO Eric Baker said it plans to start trading Wednesday on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol “STUB.”

StubHub’s last attempt to go public was in April, before President Donald Trump’s “Liberation Day” tariffs roiled markets and led the online ticketing platform to pull its listing plan along with others like Klarna (KLAR), which went public earlier this month. The IPO market has since picked up, with funds raised so far in 2025 already the most since 2021, a record year.

The track record of recent listings has been less buoyant, however, than a few months ago, when shares of design software platform Figma (FIG) more than tripled on their debut. Shares of buy now, pay later firm Klarna and those in the crypto exchange owned by the Winklevoss twins, Gemini (GEMI), rose around 15% on their market debuts this month.

–Nisha Gopalan

Apple Stock’s Not-So-Magnificent Year

23 hr 3 min ago

The Magnificent Seven is living up to its name this year, with one glaring exception. 

Apple (AAPL) shares have stalled out, with the iPhone maker’s stock down 5% in 2025 as of Tuesday’s close. Tesla (TSLA) and Amazon (AMZN), the Mag 7’s next-worst performers, are up single digits, and the remainder of the group—Microsoft (MSFT), Nvidia (NVDA), Alphabet (GOOGL) and Meta Platforms (META)—has gained between 20% and 33%. The Roundhill Magnificent Seven ETF (MAGS) is up 18% for the year, compared with the S&P 500’s 12% gain.

Artificial intelligence, the technology that’s sent so many stocks soaring, is the main reason Apple has struggled. The consensus on Wall Street is that Apple was slow out of the gate in the AI race, and has failed to deliver with the AI features released so far. 

While other tech giants quickly pivoted to all things AI when ChatGPT took off in late 2022, it took Apple two years to launch its first major AI tool, Apple Intelligence. In the year since, Apple has delayed new features, raising concerns that the company lacks a clear strategy to deploy the increasingly ubiquitous technology.

The Trump administration’s efforts to revive U.S. manufacturing haven’t helped matters. Apple makes the vast majority of its products in China and neighboring countries that may face high tariff rates. While Apple products are currently exempt from tariffs, the White House has repeatedly caught industry off guard with sudden and dramatic changes to trade policy.

Read the full article here.

–Colin Laidley

Meta Wants AI-Powered Smart Glasses to Drive New Growth

23 hr 3 min ago

Meta Platforms is looking to AI-powered glasses to drive growth, which some Wall Street analysts said could help position the tech giant as an early leader in a new category of devices.

CEO Mark Zuckerberg is widely expected to showcase Meta’s (META) latest AI glasses, called “Hypernova,” at its “Connect” developer conference Wednesday and Thursday.(The keynote address is set to start at 8 p.m. ET Wednesday, Register for the livestream here.) Meta’s existing glasses have shown some signs of success, with sales of its Ray-Ban AI glasses more than tripling in the first half of the year from a year ago.

The Hypernova glasses, developed with Ray-Ban and Oakley owner EssilorLuxottica, are viewed as a shift in Meta’s AI product strategy away from virtual reality headsets. They come with more smart glasses expected from competitors: Apple (AAPL), South Korea’s Samsung, and Amazon (AMZN) plan to launch their own versions next year and beyond, HSBC analysts wrote Tuesday.

Zuckerberg during a conference call in July said he sees the AI glasses becoming a major opportunity for the company and the “main way that we integrate superintelligence into our day-to-day lives,” according to a transcript provided by AlphaSense.

Read the full article here.

–Nisha Gopalan

Fed Drama May Come From ‘Dot Plot,’ Powell Remarks

23 hr 20 min ago

With a Federal Reserve interest-rate cut a near certainty, intrigue is likely to come from elsewhere at the central bank today.

Traders are pricing in a 96.1% chance that the Fed will cut its benchmark interest rate by 25 basis points and the remaining 3.9% are expecting a 50-basis-point cut, according to the CME Group’s FedWatch tool.

When the Federal Open Market Committee wraps up its two-day meeting, members may divided on the decision and the course of monetary policy to come. The lineup itself isn’t exactly stable, with the Senate voting just Monday to confirm President Donald Trump’s newest appointee, White House economist Stephen Miran, while that night an appeals court ruled against President Trump in his efforts to oust Fed Governor Lisa Cook for allegedly falsifying mortgage documents.

Miran and two other Trump appointees to the Fed, Governors Christopher Waller and Michelle Bowman, may vote for a more aggressive rate cut, which could result in an unusually divided FOMC. Fed watchers also will be paying attention to the so-called “dot plot,” which shows officials’ forecasts for where they think their benchmark rate should be in the coming years. Markets are pricing in a “substantial loosening,” Samuel Tombs, chief U.S. economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics, wrote in a note to clients.

Investors also will be monitoring comments from Fed chair Jerome Powell at 2:30 p.m. ET, 30 minutes after the release of the central bank’s decision on rates. Powell could face a “challenging press conference” as he tries to summarize the FOMC’s debate, Deutsche Bank Chief U.S. Economist Matthew Luzzetti wrote in a research note.

US Stock Futures Tick Lower Ahead of Fed Decision

September 17, 2025 07:20 AM EDT

Futures contracts connected to the Dow Jones Industrial Average were fractionally lower early Wednesday.

S&P 500 futures were down about 0.1%.

Nasdaq 100 contracts also were down roughly 0.1%.