The S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite scaled to record highs Wednesday, with tech shares leading the charge following strong reports from Salesforce and Marvell Technology.

The broad market index gained 0.61%, closing at 6,086.49, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq advanced 1.3% to 19,735.12. The Dow Jones Industrial Average advanced 308.51 points, or 0.69%, to 45,014.04. All three major averages hit all-time highs during the session and closed at records, with the 30-stock Dow ending above the 45,000 threshold for the first time.

Salesforce climbed nearly 11% after the company posted fiscal third-quarter revenue that beat estimates. Chipmaker Marvell also beat earnings expectations and issued strong fourth-quarter guidance, surging 23%. The stock posted its best daily performance since May 26, 2023.

Those moves powered the Technology Select Sector SPDR Fund (XLK) to its first all-time high since July. It ended the day higher by 1.8%.

"People have come out and said, the tech trade's over. If you look at sector performance, the stocks have lagged since July — but that doesn't mean that they can't reaccelerate," Nancy Tengler, CEO of Laffer Tengler Investments, told CNBC. "You could argue that it's good the market's broadening out. But that doesn't mean it has to be a zero-sum game, that technology cannot outperform."

Wednesday's moves come as investors await new U.S. employment data due Friday. Economists polled by Dow Jones expect the U.S. economy added 214,000 jobs in November.

A report released on Wednesday from ADP revealed that private payrolls grew less than expected in November. Companies added just 146,000 on the month, while economists polled by Dow Jones had estimated growth of 163,000 positions.

The data could give investors insight into the Federal Reserve's next policy moves. Markets showed little reaction on Wednesday after Fed Chair Jerome Powell said the economy was strong enough for the central bank to proceed cautiously on rate cuts.

"The labor market is better, and the downside risks appear to be less in the labor market. Growth is definitely stronger than we thought, and inflation is coming [out] a little higher. So the good news is that we can afford to be a little more cautious as we try to find neutral," he said in a moderated discussion in New York.

S&P 500, Nasdaq notch new closing highs

The S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite ended Wednesday's session by cinching new closing highs.

The broad market index added 0.61%, finishing at 6,086.49. The tech-heavy Nasdaq rose 1.3% to 19,735.12. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 308.51 points, or 0.69%, and closed at 45,014.04 — marking the first time the 30-stock index ended the day above 45,000.

— Lisa Kailai Han

Farmer sentiment reaches highest level since May 2021, well-known barometer shows

Farmer sentiment jumped in November in the aftermath of the U.S. presidential election, reaching its highest point since May 2021, according to the latest reading from the Purdue University/CME Group Ag Economy Barometer.

The barometer increased 30 points to 145 in the period, the report revealed, pointing to expectations for a more favorable future regulatory and tax environment for the agricultural sector as a reason behind the move. In fact, the November survey showed that only 9% of farmers said they expect a more restrictive regulatory environment over the next five years. That contrasts the 41% of respondents in the October survey that said they expected a more restrictive environment ahead.

This also comes after farmer sentiment rebounded in October just before the election. That month saw the index move 27 points higher than September's reading, which marked its lowest point in nearly a decade amid weakening income expectations.

— Sean Conlon

Tech titans could soon 'punch through' their July highs, Wolfe Research says

It may be time for high-flying technology stocks to take back their leadership amid the broadening of the current market rally, according to Wolfe Research.

In a Tuesday note, strategist Rob Ginsberg wrote that there seems to be more upside ahead for tech titans.

"The relative performance of the MAG 7 looks ready to punch through its July high. We discussed MSFT yesterday, but others such as AAPL, META and AMZN are coming alive as well," he wrote.

— Lisa Kailai Han

Black Friday traffic came in above expectations this year, UBS says

More shoppers than expected showed up to brick-and-mortar retail stores this Thanksgiving, according to UBS.

"We caught up with the National Retail Federation (NRF) on 2024 holiday consumer shopping trends, with an overall takeaway that Black Friday traffic came in above expectations at down -2% YOY vs. NRF's initial estimates of down -8%," the bank wrote in a note from Wednesday.

"Holiday shopping has further shifted to October with 45% of shoppers starting to shop before November, up from 43% last year and up significantly from 39% in 2019. We believe this has been driven by early promotions and a shorter holiday shopping period this year," analyst Arpine Kocharyan added.

Barbie continued to be the top toy for girls in 2024. For boys, LEGO toys continued to dominate.

— Lisa Kailai Han

Robinhood CEO says brokerage is exploring sports betting

Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev said Wednesday that the company is looking at getting into sports betting, possibly in the form of event contracts.

"We're keenly looking into that space. Nothing to announce just yet, but it's so important to our customers and in culture that we're excited about it," Tenev said at Robinhood's inaugural investor day event.

Shares of sports betting stocks like Draft Kings and Flutter moved modestly lower after Tenev's comments. Shares of Robinhood were up more than 2% in afternoon trading.

— Jesse Pound

Korean won inches higher against the dollar

The South Korean won strengthened slightly 0.2% against the dollar on Wednesday. The dollar was last trading at 1,412.80 won.

The move higher comes a day after South Korea President Yoon Suk Yeol issued a martial law decree in a move that shocked the country and rattled financial markets. The won fell as low as the 1,442 won level Tuesday before the National Assembly had voted to lift the martial law declaration.

— Hakyung Kim

Tech sector leads the S&P 500 higher on Wednesday

The technology sector, up 1.5%, led the S&P 500 higher on Wednesday.

Consumer discretionary and communication services stocks were the next highest performers.

On the other hand, energy was by far the biggest laggard sector on Wednesday, with a 2.6% decline. Materials and financials were respectively 0.8% and 0.5% lower.

— Lisa Kailai Han

JetBlue, Eli Lilly among stocks making biggest midday moves

Check out the companies making headlines in midday trading.

• JetBlue Airways — The airline said it sees a smaller decline in its full-year revenue guidance than it originally expected, according to a regulatory filing. Higher-than-anticipated bookings in November and December resulted in JetBlue boosting its forecast. Shares surged 8%.
• Eli Lilly — Shares rose nearly 3%. Eli Lilly's Zepbound obesity drug led to more weight loss than its Novo Nordisk's Wegovy, its main competitor, in the first head-to-head clinical trial on both of the injections.
• Roku — Shares jumped 11% after Needham analyst Laura Martin said the streaming company will likely be bought for a "large premium" over the next year as Republicans take control of regulatory agencies.

For the full list, read here.

— Pia Singh

A strong jobs report unlikely to stop the Fed from cutting rates in December, Bank of America says

The Federal Reserve is unlikely to pause rate cuts in December even if the November jobs report comes in stronger than expected this Friday, according to Bank of America.

"Fed Governor Waller expressed a very similar view on Monday. Waller argued, as many other Fed speakers have done of late, that policy is still restrictive. We think this means that the risks around Friday's Nov jobs report are asymmetric: soft data would strengthen the case for a cut, but a robust report would not prevent a cut," the bank wrote in a Wednesday note.

Bank of America's base case is that the U.S. central bank will lower interest rates by a quarter-percentage point at its next meeting later this month.

— Lisa Kailai Han

Shift4 Payments drops after Trump taps CEO as NASA head

Shares of Shift4 Payments fell around 5% on the heels of President-elect Donald Trump picking the company's chairman and CEO, Jared Isaacman, to lead NASA.

"I am delighted to nominate Jared Isaacman, an accomplished business leader, philanthropist, pilot, and astronaut, as Administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)," the former president said in a post on Truth Social on Wednesday. "Jared will drive NASA's mission of discovery and inspiration, paving the way for groundbreaking achievements in Space science, technology, and exploration."

Meanwhile, the stock has been solidly in the green this year, rallying about 46% year to date and more than 20% in the past month.

— Sean Conlon

21 stocks in the S&P 500 trade at new 52-week highs

During Wednesday's trading session, 21 stocks in the S&P 500 reached new 52-week highs.

Names that hit this milestone included:

• Meta Platforms trading at all-time high levels back to its IPO in May, 2012
• Netflix trading at all-time high levels back to its IPO in May, 2002
• Amazon.com trading at all-time high levels since back to its IPO in May, 1997
• Apple Inc. trading at all-time high levels back to its IPO in Dec, 1980
• Walmart Stores trading at all-time high levels back to when it first began trading on the NYSE in Aug, 1972
• Salesforce.com trading at all-time high levels back to its IPO in Jun, 2004
• ServiceNow trading at all-time high levels back to its IPO in June, 2012
• GoDaddy trading at all-time high levels back to its IPO in Apr, 2015
• Howmet Aerospace trading at all-time highs back to its Alcoa spinoff in Nov, 2016

On the other hand, just five names were trading at new 52-week lows: Mondelez, Devon Energy, Celanese, Dow and LyondellBasell.

— Lisa Kailai Han

Materials, consumer discretionary sectors set to be most impacted by Trump tariffs, says Barclays

President-elect Donald Trump's plans to impose 25% tariffs on goods from Mexico and Canada as well as an additional 10% tariff on Chinese goods may hit the materials and consumer discretionary sectors if fully enacted, according to Barclays.

"Materials and Discretionary sectors are particularly at risk of double-digit negative EPS impact, due to their significant supply and production presence in Mexico and Canada," analyst Venu Krishna said in a Wednesday note.

The analyst added that, in all, the tariff threats against the three countries could result in a drag of 2.8% on the S&P 500's EPS. Having said that, he still believes the threats are more of a negotiating tactic and thinks the tariffs have a low likelihood of being enacted.

"However, our economists are also of the view that the 25% tariff on Mexico and Canada will ultimately not be implemented, and instead used as a bargaining chip to renegotiate select parts of the USMCA, which comes up for review in mid-2026," the analyst continued.

Both sectors have seen decent gains this year, with the S&P 500 Consumer Discretionary Index outperforming the broader market by posting year-to-date gains of more than 28%. The S&P 500 Materials Index has also risen more than 8% year to date.

— Sean Conlon

Goldman sees nearly 20% upside ahead for AT&T

AT&T's investor day Tuesday should drive more investor confidence in the sustainability of the wireless carrier's growth, according to Goldman Sachs.

Goldman, which recently predicted a "multi-year case of double-digit annualized returns" for the stock, upped its price target to $28 per share from $25 a share on Wednesday. The new target suggests about 18% upside from Tuesday's close.

At the event, AT&T outlined its plan to expand its fiber network to more than 50 million total locations and modernize its wireless networks. It also expects to return more than $40 billion to shareholders over the next three years through dividends and buybacks. The stock currently has a 4.68% dividend yield.

While AT&T's financial targets for 2025 were largely in line with investor expectations, its targets for 2026 and 2027 represent upside to expectations, analyst James Schneider said in a note to clients.

"We believe the fact that the company provided multi-year targets through 2027 (we had anticipated that only 2025 guidance might be given) reflects management's improving visibility and control over the business, as well as a healthier industry backdrop in wireless," he wrote.

Shares of AT&T have gained more than 41% so far this year.

— Michelle Fox

Buy the dip in AI stocks amid upcoming volatility, UBS says

UBS predicts short-term volatility for AI assets to rise, but still believes that investors can opportunistically add to their positions.

"We expect tech volatility to pick up in the near term, especially in the event of disruption in the artificial intelligence (AI) supply chain. But we also think the near-term headwinds appear to be manageable at this stage, and that sound fundamentals should continue to support our positive outlook on the AI growth story," the firm wrote in a Wednesday note.

Despite this, UBS said that investors can still "consider utilizing structured strategies or buying the dips in quality global AI stocks."

"To ride the AI wave in the long term, and without taking any single-name views, we like semiconductors given their exposure to capex spending, and software due to increasing AI monetization," UBS wrote, adding that it remains cautions on smartphones, PCs and consumer electronics — or industries found in traditional tech segments.

— Lisa Kailai Han

UnitedHealth’s investor day canceled after reports of executive shooting

UnitedHealth Group canceled its investor day on Wednesday following reports that Brian Thompson – the CEO of its insurance unit, UnitedHealthcare – was fatally shot in Manhattan.

Shares of the company were around 2% higher in morning trading.

— Annika Kim Constantino, Sean Conlon

Stocks open higher on Wednesday

The major averages opened higher to start Wednesday's trading session.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average surged 204 points, or 0.4%. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite respectively added 0.3% and 0.6%.

— Lisa Kailai Han

Stocks making the biggest moves premarket

Check out the companies making headlines before the bell:

Pure Storage — Shares surged 21% after Pure Storage beat fiscal third-quarter estimates and highlighted it won a contract with a major tech company. CEO Charles Giancarlo told CNBC's "Closing Bell: Overtime" said he expects the company could replace 90% of the customer's storage to the company's direct flash technology. Following the results, Piper Sandler upgraded Pure Storage to overweight from neutral. 

Foot Locker — The stock sank nearly 15% after the sneaker giant posted an earnings and revenue miss. Foot Locker also slashed its full-year sales and earnings guidance. The company cited a more promotional environment and softer demand outside of key selling periods.

Read the full list here.

— Sarah Min

PSQ Holdings down 30% after Donald Trump Jr.- triggered rally

PSQ Holdings, the owner of online marketplace PublicSquare, saw shares tumbling 30% in premarket trading Wednesday after the firm announced a $36.2 million registered direct offering in common stock. 

The stock surged 270.4% to $7.63 on Tuesday after the company announced that Donald Trump Jr., the eldest son of president-elect, is joining PSQ's board. 

PublicSquare is a commerce and payments company with a focus on "life, family, and liberty." PSQ is a microcap stock with a market capitalization of only $72 million as of Monday's close.

— Yun Li

Dollar Tree jumps following earnings beat

Shares of Dollar Tree rose more than 4% in the premarket after its third-quarter results topped Wall Street's expectations.

In the period, the discounter earned $1.12 per share on $7.56 billion in revenue, above the $1.07 per share on $7.44 billion in revenue that analysts surveyed by LSEG were expecting. The company also said that CFO Jeff Davis will step down from his role.

The move comes amid a rough year for the stock, with shares falling about 49% year to date.

— Sean Conlon

Chewy slides 5% on disappointing fourth-quarter earnings

Pet supplies retailer Chewy slid 5% on Wednesday morning after posting disappointing third-quarter earnings.

Chewy's earnings for the past quarter came in at 1 cent per share, while analysts had expected 8 cents, according to LSEG. Chewy's revenue came in at $2.88 billion, which was in line with expectations.

For both its fourth-quarter and full-year outlook, Chewy guided for revenues that were higher than FactSet consensus.

— Lisa Kailai Han

Foot Locker falls on earnings miss, disappointing outlook

Shares of Foot Locker tumbled more than 14% in premarket trading after the sneaker giant reported a quarterly earnings miss and cut its full-year guidance.

Foot Locker's adjusted earnings came in at 33 cents per share for its third fiscal quarter, well below the 41 cents expected from analysts polled by LSEG. Revenue was $1.96 billion versus the $2.01 billion consensus estimate.

The company now expects full-year sales to decline between 1% and 1.5%, compared to previous guidance of down 1% to up 1%. Analysts were expecting a decline of 0.4%, per LSEG. It also lowered its full-year adjusted earnings per share guidance to between $1.20 and $1.30, from between $1.50 and $1.70 per share. Analysts were expecting $1.54 per share.

Foot Locker CEO Mary Dillon said in a release that it expects a more promotional environment and softer demand outside of key selling periods.

— Gabrielle Fonrouge, Michelle Fox

HSBC upgrades Merck to a buy

HSBC anticipates a better year ahead for shares of Merck.

The firm upgraded the pharmaceutical giant to a buy rating, citing opportunities for a recovery in China Gardasil vaccine revenues and its Keytruda combination clinical trials.

"We think that the current valuation leaves a significant margin of safety in valuation for Merck, especially given its strategy to extend its oncology portfolio's earning potential in the medium term," wrote Rajesh Kumar.

The analyst retained the firm's $130 price target, implying 28% upside from Tuesday's close. The stocks is down 6.6% this year.

— Samantha Subin

GM falls on China venture restructuring

General Motors shares were down more than 1% after the automaker said it expects the restructuring of a joint China venture with SAIC Motor to cost more than $5 billion.

"As we have consistently said, we are focused on capital efficiency and cost discipline and have been working with SGM to turn around the business in China in order to be sustainable and profitable in the market.  We are close to finalizing our restructuring plan with our partner, and we expect our results in China in 2025 to show year-over-year improvement," GM said in an emailed statement.

— Fred Imbert, Michael Wayland

JPMorgan downgrades M&T Bank

JPMorgan is moving to the sidelines on shares of M&T Bank, citing its recent outperformance.

"We view MTB's earnings outlook as solid, with large benefit in 2025 from roll off of receive fixed swaps driving sizable uplift to net interest income (NII)," wrote analyst Andrew Dietrich. "However, we expect its office [commercial real estate] exposure and relatively lower loan loss reserves to remain a headwind."

Shares of the regional bank stock have rallied more than 56% this year, outperforming the firm's coverage by 21%. This, and a lack of a near-term catalyst, warrants a breather, Dietrich said. Trades also currently trade slightly above their historical average.

— Samantha Subin

European markets open higher

European markets edged slightly higher at the opening bell on Wednesday, with the Stoxx 600 index climbing into positive territory during early trades.

Investors in the region are awaiting the outcome of a vote by French lawmakers on whether to topple Prime Minister Michel Barnier's government. The motion is widely expected to pass.

Read the latest on European markets here.

— Chloe Taylor

South Korea stocks drop as opposition parties move to impeach President Yoon

South Korean markets fell Wednesday as pressure mounted on President Yoon Suk Yeol to step down after he imposed and then lifted a martial law decree within hours.

The country's Kospi index dropped 1.44% to end at 2,464, and the Kosdaq fell 1.98% to 677.15, recovering some losses after dropping over 2% earlier in the day.

A coalition of lawmakers from South Korea's opposition parties put forward a bill to impeach Yoon on Wednesday afternoon, according to the spokesperson's office of the main opposition Democracy Party.

Japan's Nikkei 225 ended nearly flat at 39,276.39, while the Topix dropped 0.47% to 2,740.6. Mainland China's CSI 300 fell 0.54% to end trading at 3,930.56. Hong Kong's Hang Seng index was trading down 0.1% to 19,730 in its final hour of trade.

Australia's S&P/ASX 200 fell 0.38% to end the trading day at 8,462.6 after the country's economic growth came in slower than expected for the third quarter.

— Dylan Butts

Stocks making the biggest moves after hours

Check out the companies making headlines in extended trading.

Salesforce — The software stock advanced 6% after the company posted a revenue beat in the third quarter. Revenue of $9.44 billion topped consensus forecasts calling for $9.35 billion, according to LSEG. Meanwhile, adjusted earnings of $2.41 per share slightly missed estimates for $2.44 per share. 

Marvell Technology – The developer of integrated circuits jumped 10% after issuing rosy guidance for the current quarter. The company sees fourth-quarter revenue coming in at $1.80 billion, compared to Wall Street's estimate of $1.65 billion, per LSEG. Adjusted earnings and revenue in the third quarter also topped expectations.

The full list can be found here.

— Hakyung Kim

Individual Investors are skeptical of continued market strength in December, BofA says

Individual investors are skeptical that this year's rally in the S&P 500 will continue in December, Bank of America said, citing data from the American Association of Individual Investors.

The latest weekly AAII poll showed the percentage of investors who think stock prices will rise over the next six months fell to 41.3% from 49.9% the week before. Bearish opinion — that prices will fall between now and next May — grew to 33.2% from 28.3%.

With bears growing and bulls shrinking and the S&P 500 above 6,000, the market is climbing a "wall of worry," said Stephen Suttmeier, BofA's technical research strategist. "Individual investors are not raging bulls on last week's rally to SPX 6000," he wrote Monday. Survey results suggest "that individual investors are not convinced that the SPX will continue its 2024 rally in December, but if the SPX does rally into yearend, these investors may be forced into a catch-up trade that fuels the rally" further, he added.

— Scott Schnipper

Stock futures open flat

U.S. stock futures were little changed Tuesday night.

The S&P 500 added 0.05%. Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 83 points, or 0.2%. Nasdaq 100 futures gained 0.1%.

— Hakyung Kim