S&P 500, Nasdaq close at records and extend postelection rally as Fed cuts rates: Live updates

The S&P 500 and Nasdaq rose Thursday, extending Wall Street's rally in the wake of President-elect Donald Trump's victory, as traders weighed the latest rate cut from the Federal Reserve.

The S&P 500 gained 0.74% to close at a record high of 5,973.10. The Nasdaq Composite advanced 1.51% to reach 19,269.46, its first close above 19,000. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was little changed, ticking down less than one point to 43,729.34. All three indexes hit intraday record highs during the session.

The moves built on a surge in stocks Wednesday after Trump's win, which included a 1,500-point gain for the Dow. The S&P 500 jumped 2.53% for its best postelection day in history.

The bond market has also been volatile since the election, with Treasury yields falling Thursday after spiking in the previous session.

Those big swings were the backdrop for the Federal Reserve's interest rate cut Thursday afternoon. The central bank's quarter-point cut was widely expected, but the move was smaller than September's half-point reduction.

Fed Chair Jerome Powell said the central bank was "feeling good" about the state of the economy, and the Fed seems likely to stick to the small moves going forward.

"The balance of risks gives the Fed ample room to lower the Fed Funds rate well into 2025. Markets should not expect supersized rate cuts unless the economy turns south and [that] doesn't look at all likely for a while," said Jamie Cox, managing partner for Harris Financial Group.

Wall Street generally expects that the second Trump administration will be good for risk assets such as stocks, due in part to his proposed tax cuts. However, the prospect of continued large government deficits and higher tariffs has raised some worries about a rebound in inflation.

Until the extent and effect of Trump's plans become clear, investors can expect volatile trading and a stock market that is moving generally higher, said Tony Roth, chief investment officer at Wilmington Trust.

"At some point, given the stretched multiples on equities and the higher income levels of bonds, we could very much have a very compressed equity risk premium and little opportunity left in the equity market. We're not there yet. I think that we've got six months before we have to have a serious conversation about being there," Roth said.

Big Tech stocks moved higher on Thursday to bolster the market, with Apple and Nvidia gaining 2.1% and 2.3%, respectively. Meta Platforms rose 3.4%.

Financial stocks, which surged on Wednesday, gave back some of those gains on Thursday. Shares of JPMorgan Chase fell 4.3% and American Express dipped 2.8%, weighing on the Dow.

S&P 500, Nasdaq close at record

The Nasdaq and S&P 500 both closed at record highs, but the Dow slumped in the final minutes of trading and finished just a hair lower on the day.

— Jesse Pound

Stock indexes on track for record closes

With 10 minutes to go in Thursday's trading session, the three major averages are on track for another round of record closes.

— Jesse Pound

Retail investors' market participation surged following U.S. election, JPMorgan says

The participation of retail investors after the U.S. election was approximately 5% higher than levels during the 2020 cycle, JPMorgan wrote in a Thursday note to clients.

"Demand for broad market ETFs, leveraged bull tech and Bitcoin ETFs are at multi sigma highs (SPY +15z, TQQQ +11z, IBIT +15z). On the other hand, they sold GLD aggressively (-16z) amid gold's tumbling on dollar strength. In singles, they chased the rally in TSLA (+2z) and PLTR (+6.6z) while selling some Financial names at the peak (CCNE -14z)," strategist Emma Wu added.

Sector wise, Wu said it was apparent retail investors had been continuing to position toward consumer staples and health-care names and away from tech-exposed stocks.

— Lisa Kailai Han

Powell says he would not resign if Trump asked him to

During a press conference Thursday afternoon, Powell said he would not step down from his position as Fed chief even if President-elect Donald Trump asked him to.

"No," he said in response to a reporter's question on whether or not he would leave if Trump asked him to resign.

Later on, another reporter asked Powell if the president had the power to fire or demote him from his position. The Fed chair responded that such an action was "not permitted under the law."

— Lisa Kailai Han, Spencer Kimball

Powell press conference ends

Powell's press conference ended shortly after 3 p.m. The stock market averages were stable throughout his remarks.

Powell did say he would not resign from his position if he was asked to by Trump when the administration changes.

— Jesse Pound

Wednesday's rally may have pushed some portfolios 'out of whack'

Wednesday's big rally for stocks could cause some investors and advisors to shuffle their portfolios in the coming weeks.

The jump for stocks, along with the decline in bond prices, likely pushed portfolios away from their target allocations in certain types of client accounts, said Greg Halter, director of research at Carnegie Investment Counsel, a registered investment advisory firm.

"When you have accounts, clients, that have a mandate to be 60% equities, or 70% or 80%, whatever the number is, and you had a big move like yesterday … that can take things out of whack. And so you do have to bring that back in line. Of course, you have to try to manage that around taxes, too," Halter told CNBC.

— Jesse Pound

Election will not change Fed policy in the near term, Powell says

Fed Chair Powell said during his press conference that the results of the election will have "no effect" on Fed policy in the near term.

Watch and follow along with CNBC's coverage of the presser here.

— Jesse Pound

GEO Group trading 10% higher following massive 42% advance on Wednesday

Private prison stock GEO Group was up for the third day in a row following Donald Trump's election victory.

Trump has repeatedly promised a mass deportation of illegal immigrants, sending GEO Group and peer stock CoreCivic up. Shares of GEO Group were last trading 10% higher Thursday afternoon, after gaining 7% on Tuesday and surging 42% on Wednesday.

GEO Group stock is now 118% higher on the year.

— Lisa Kailai Han

Fed cuts rates by a quarter-percentage point, as expected

The Federal Reserve cut interest rates by a quarter-percentage point on Thursday to a range of 4.5% to 4.75%.

The move was largely expected by investors. The statement reflected a few changes in how the central bank sees the economy. Among the changes was language on how it assesses bringing inflation lower and supporting the labor market.

"The Committee judges that the risks to achieving its employment and inflation goals are roughly in balance," the document stated, a change from September when it noted "greater confidence" in the process.

— Fred Imbert

Fed cuts benchmark rate by 0.25 percentage points

The U.S. central bank cut its target for the federal funds rate by 0.25 percentage points to a range of 4.50% to 4.75%. Follow CNBC's live coverage of the Fed decision here.

— Jesse Pound

Financial stocks dip on Thursday

In a reversal of Wednesday's move, financial stocks are declining during Thursday's trading session as some election bets slightly unwind.

Wells Fargo dropped 2.9%, while Goldman Sachs and Bank of America shed 2% and 1.5%, respectively. Blackstone edged 0.4% lower.

Financials had jumped in the previous session on the hope that President-elect Donald Trump will have policies that are more friendly with regulation and deal-making.

— Pia Singh

Tesla jumps again following Trump’s White House win

Tesla shares rose nearly 3% during Thursday's trading session, hitting a new 52-week high and extending the almost 15% gains seen in the previous session.

The electric vehicle maker's gains come in the wake of President-elect Donald Trump beating out Democratic rival Kamala Harris on Wednesday, per NBC News' projection. The move also comes despite Trump being considered as unfriendly to clean energy stocks, which includes EV manufacturers such as Tesla.

Shares have also been up around 20% this year and more than 55% over the past three months.

— Sean Conlon

Warner Bros. Discovery, AppLovin among stocks making biggest midday moves

Check out the companies making headlines in midday trading:

• Warner Bros. Discovery — Shares of the streaming platform jumped 9.9% after Warner Bros. Discovery reported third-quarter earnings that reflected its biggest quarterly subscription growth since inception. Warner Bros. Discovery added 7.2 million global subscribers during the quarterly period and had 110.5 million subscribers as of Sept. 30.
• AppLovin — The software publisher's stock price skyrocketed 44% after its third-quarter results beat analysts' expectations. AppLovin also guided its fourth-quarter EBITDA of $740 million to $760 million, higher than the $667 million StreetAccount forecast.
• Dutch Bros — The stock popped more than 32% following the coffee chain's better-than-expected third-quarter results. Dutch Bros earned 16 cents per share on revenue of $338 million for the period, while analysts surveyed by LSEG had penciled in 12 cents in earnings per share and $325 million in revenue.

For the full list, read here.

— Pia Singh

'Trump trade' stocks pull back

Individual stocks considered part of the so-called Trump trade struggled in Thursday's session.

Along with Trump Media & Technology, Phunware also dove into the red. Shares of the stock, which is the company behind Trump's election app, dropped more than 17% in afternoon trading.

Shares of Rumble, a video platform popular among conservatives, slipped 1.5% in the session.

— Alex Harring

Small caps inch down Thursday

The Russell 2000 inched down 0.05% on Thursday. The pullback comes a day after the benchmark small-cap index rallied 5.8% on Wednesday, its best day since Nov. 10, 2022, after Donald Trump won the U.S. presidential election.

Week to date, the Russell 2000 remains 8.1% higher. Year to date, the index has gained nearly 18%.

— Hakyung Kim

Coinbase shares are flat Thursday following a 30% pop

Coinbase Global, the crypto exchange that is believed to be a Trump beneficiary, traded flat on Thursday.

The stock soared 31% in the previous session following Trump's election victory. Bitcoin jumped to a record high above $76,000 on Wednesday on the belief that the crypto industry could benefit from looser regulations under the Republican president-elect.

— Yun Li

Zillow climbs 20% after third-quarter revenue tops estimates

The c-class shares of real estate tech company Zillow jumped more than 20% after third-quarter results showed stronger-than-expected sales.

Zillow said it generated $581 million of revenue for the quarter, above the $555.5 million expected by analysts, according to FactSet.

Zillow CEO Jeremy Wacksman told "Squawk on the Street" that affordability is the main issue in the housing market currently, and that growth for real estate overall would be helped by mortgage rates coming down.

— Jesse Pound

Warner Bros. Discovery pops 15% after earnings report

Warner Bros. Discovery was the top performer in the S&P 500 on Thursday morning, surging 15%.

The moves came after the media company reported earnings of 5 cents per share for the third quarter. Analysts surveyed by LSEG were expecting a loss of 9 cents per share.

Warner Bros. Discovery also said its Max streaming service added 7.2 million subscribers during the quarter.

— Jesse Pound

Trump Media shares give up Election Day gain

Shares of Trump Media & Technology Group, President-elect Donald Trump's media company, plunged on Thursday, giving back the rally in the previous session triggered by his election victory.

The stock dropped more than 16% to below $30 per share in morning trading, following a 5.9% pop on Wednesday after the Republican was elected the 47th president of the U.S.

— Yun Li

Tech stocks lead in early trading

Technology stocks were a bright spot Thursday morning, as the Nasdaq Composite rose more than 1%.

Chip stocks in particular were performing well, with the VanEck Semiconductor ETF (SMH) climbing more than 2%. Arm Holdings rose more than 6.5% and Intel gained 3.4%.

Chip giant Nvidia, meanwhile, added nearly 2%.

— Jesse Pound

Financials slip in early trading

Financial stocks gave back some of their recent gains on Thursday, with the Financial Select Sector SPDR Fund (XLF) down 0.8% in early trading.

Among Dow components, JPMorgan Chase dropped more than 2%, while American Express and Goldman Sachs dipped 1.7% and 0.7%, respectively.

Regional banks also declined, with the SPDR S&P Regional Banking ETF (KRE) down 2%.

— Jesse Pound

Stocks rise slightly at the open

Stocks opened slightly higher on Thursday. The Dow, S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite all hit intraday record highs in the opening moments.

— Jesse Pound

The best postelection rally ever

The election rally in the stock market is one for the history books.

The S&P 500 jumped 2.5% on Wednesday to hit its 48th record high of the year, and the advance marked the best postelection gain in the benchmark's history, according to Deutsche Bank's Jim Reid, head of global economics and thematic research.

Trump's agenda of lower corporate tax rates, deregulation and policies that favor domestic growth are believed to boost the U.S. economy and benefit risk assets.

The large-cap benchmark is up 24.3% this year.

— Yun Li

Stocks making the biggest moves premarket

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

• Lyft — The ride-sharing stock advanced more than 23% after a stronger-than-expected fourth-quarter outlook. Lyft expects bookings in the current quarter of $4.28 billion to $4.35 billion, while analysts polled by FactSet expected $4.23 billion.
• Arm Holdings — Shares of the semiconductor company slipped about 7% despite second-quarter results surpassing Wall Street estimates. Arm reported adjusted earnings per share of 30 cents on revenue of $844 million, while analysts polled by LSEG forecast a profit of 26 cents per share and revenue of $808 million.
• Wolfspeed — Stock in the semiconductor manufacturer plummeted more than 25% after a revenue miss and a lower-than-expected outlook. Wolfspeed forecasts fiscal second-quarter revenue in the range of $160 million to $200 million, while analysts surveyed by LSEG were looking for $215 million.

Read the full list here.

— Brian Evans

Productivity missed forecast while labor costs rose

U.S. workers produced at a lower rate than expected while labor costs were above forecasts in the third quarter, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Thursday.

Nonfarm labor productivity, a measure of output compared to hours worked, increased 2.2% for the July through September period, below the Dow Jones estimate for 2.5%.

At the same time, unit labor costs, a measure of hourly compensation to productivity, jumped 1.9%, well above the 1.1% forecast.

— Jeff Cox

KeyBanc downgrades Five Below and Dollar Tree on Trump tariff risk

KeyBanc Capital Markets thinks shares of Five Below and Dollar Tree could see pullback following President-elect Donald Trump's White House win.

The firm downgraded the stocks to sector weight from overweight, seeing Trump possibly imposing tariffs of 60% to 100% on Chinese goods as a threat to both names given their exposure. In fact, it noted that China is the "most important" country for Dollar Tree's imports, and 60% of Five Below's products come from China.

As a result, analyst Bradley Thomas sees tariffs as posing a possible multiyear risk to their fundamentals and sentiment. That is despite the fact that he still sees "underappreciated" turnaround opportunities for both names.

"Both companies were fairly effective at mitigating tariffs in 2018-2019, but we believe the current potential is for higher tariffs and operationally both companies are not performing as well," he wrote in a note to clients on Wednesday. "As such, we move to the sidelines as we await further evidence of improved fundamentals and greater clarity on potential tariffs and the ability to offset them."

Bank of America also downgraded Five Below earlier this week in the wake of Trump's victory. The bank cited his hardline tariff strategy as a threat to shares as well.

This year, shares of Five Below and Dollar Tree have struggled, falling more than 60% and around 56% year to date.

— Sean Conlon

Jobless claims come in at 221,000, near expectations

Initial jobless claims data came in roughly in line with estimates on Thursday morning at 221,000. Economists surveyed by Dow Jones were expecting 220,000 claims for the week ending Nov. 2.

The four-week moving average for initial claims is now 227,250, according to the Department of Labor.

Continued jobless claims came in at 1,642,554 for the week ending Oct. 19, down a little more than 9,000 from the previous reading.

— Jesse Pound

Lyft shares rally on strong guidance

Shares of Lyft popped nearly 24% in premarket trading Thursday. The company posted a revenue beat for the third quarter and forward guidance that exceeded analysts' expectations.

The ride-hailing company is now forecasting bookings of $4.28 billion to $4.35 billion in the fourth quarter, while FactSet consensus estimates called for $4.23 billion.

Bank of America reiterated its buy rating on the stock following Lyft's better-than-expected earnings and highlighted the stock's discounted valuation relative to Uber shares.

— Hakyung Kim

There's 'not a ton of room left' for small caps, RBC's Calvasina says

Futures for the small-cap benchmark Russell 2000 were up 0.6% in morning trading, pointing to a solidly higher opening for the group. Those gains would come on top of a more than 5% surge on Wednesday.

Lori Calvasina, head of U.S. equity strategy at RBC Capital Markets, said in a note that clients were asking if small caps still had room to run after the big postelection move.

"Positioning/sentiment already looks a bit stretched, with Russell 2000 futures positioning per data from CFTC already close to the 2016, 2017, and 2018 highs in last week's update," Calvasina said.

"We suggested that the best way to gauge how much more room this trade has to run is by looking at the Russell 2000's market cap weighted median [price-to-earnings ratio], which was 16.7x as of Tuesday's close, but peaked at 18.9x in 2016, 19.7x in 2017, and 17.6x in 2018. There's not a ton of room left, but likely some even after Wednesday's big move," she continued.

RBC also pointed out that small caps had relatively short-lived outperformances after the 2016 and 2020 elections.

— Jesse Pound

Bank of America downgrades SolarEdge Technologies, cites greater risk to clean energy industry after Trump win

SolarEdge Technologies could face some downside after President-elect Donald Trump's defeat of Vice President Kamala Harris, according to Bank of America.

The bank downgraded the stock to underperform from neutral and slashed its price target. Its updated target now reflects more than 4% downside from Wednesday's close. Shares have already fallen more than 84% this year.

Analyst Dimple Gosai said that the former president's plans to amend the Inflation Reduction Act and raise tariffs could increase risk to the clean energy industry, even though his policies would take time to actualize.

"We think inverter companies (ENPH and SEDG, U/P rated) could be adversely affected in a scenario where we see risk to the domestic content bonuses and reduced residential ITC credits, diminishing the appeal of rooftop solar," the analyst wrote.

"Solar trackers could also face significant challenges on potentially softer demand from U.S. utility-scale solar developers, especially if tariffs and the loss of domestic content adders inflate project costs," he continued.

— Sean Conlon

Moderna shares pop on earnings beat

Moderna shares were up 10% in the premarket after the vaccine maker reported a surprise profit for the third quarter along with a revenue beat.

The company earned an adjusted 3 cents per share on revenue of $1.86 billion. Analysts polled by LSEG expected a loss of $1.90 per share on revenue of $1.25 billion.

The results were driven by higher-than-expected Covid vaccine sales.

— Fred Imbert

China's CSI 300 leads gains in Asia markets after stronger-than-expected exports data

Asia-Pacific markets mostly rose in choppy trading on Thursday after former President Donald Trump won the White House, defeating Vice President Kamala Harris in the 2024 presidential election.

Mainland China's CSI 300 reversed losses, leading gains in Asia with a 3.02% rise and closing at 4,145.7. Hong Kong's Hang Seng index initially fell, but also reversed course to climb 2% as of its final hour of trade.

China reported October exports data that sharply beat market expectations.

Japan's Nikkei 225 was the only major index in negative territory, losing 0.43% to close at 39,381.41, but the broad-based Topix rose 1% to 2,743.08.

South Korea's Kospi rose marginally to 2,564.63, but the small-cap Kosdaq lost 1.32% to end at 733.52.

— Lim Hui Jie

Expectations fall toward a January rate cut

With Treasury yields rising on the back of a Trump election victory, expectations have fallen as to how aggressive the Federal Reserve will be in cutting interest rates this winter.

The fed funds rate, which determines what banks charge one another for overnight lending, currently ranges between a targeted 4.75% to 5.0%. At this point, it is pretty much a foregone conclusion that the U.S. central bank will decide on a quarter-percentage point cut, which equals 25 basis points, at Thursday's meeting.

Market pricing currently points toward a 71% chance of another quarter-point cut in December, according to the CME FedWatch Tool. This probability compares to 77% on Wednesday, and 72% a week ago. Future rate probabilities found in the CME FedWatch Tool are derived from trading in 30-day fed funds futures contracts.

On the other hand, expectations for a January rate cut have shifted as a result of Wednesday's election. The CME FedWatch Tool points to market pricing currently favoring an interest rate pause in January.

Indeed, the probability of an additional quarter-point cut in January following a November and December cut has fallen to 29% from 41% on Wednesday and 45% a week ago. Meanwhile, the odds that the Federal Reserve keeps rates the same in January have climbed to 54%, up from 48% on Wednesday and 44% this time last week.

— Lisa Kailai Han

See the stocks moving after hours

These are some of the stocks making big movers in extended trading:

• Lyft — The ride-hailing company popped nearly 20%. Third-quarter revenue came in at $1.52 billion, topping consensus estimates for $1.44 billion, per LSEG. Guidance for the fourth quarter topped the Street's expectations, with Lyft forecasting bookings of $4.28 billion to $4.35 billion, despite FactSet consensus estimates calling for just $4.23 billion.
• SolarEdge Technologies — The maker of residential solar power inverters dove 18% after third-quarter revenue missed the Street's expectations.
• E.l.f Beauty — The cosmetics retail stock jumped 11% after a stronger-than-expected quarterly report and a guidance hike.

See the full list here.

— Alex Harring

Stock futures are little changed

Stock futures are near flat shortly after 6 p.m. ET.

Futures tied to the Dow, S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 all traded marginally above flat. It comes after the preceding session brought a huge postelection rally for stocks.

— Alex Harring