Traders work at the New York Stock Exchange on March 24, 2025.
NYSE
Stocks dipped on Wednesday due to pressure by tech shares, as traders continue to grapple with uncertainty on the tariff front.
The S&P 500 lost 0.8%, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average traded 42 points lower, or 0.1%. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite shed nearly 1.7%.
Nvidia shares tumbled more than 5.5%, while Tesla lost about 5%. Alphabet, Amazon and Meta each declined by more than 1%.
Wall Street is watching for signs that could indicate a rise in inflation and a potential economic slowdown, and investors continue to parse through President Donald Trump’s mixed messaging on tariffs ahead of his April 2 start date for reciprocal tariffs.
Stocks traded lower during midday trading after Bloomberg News reported that Trump is preparing an announcement on auto levies as soon as Wednesday ahead of his wide-ranging tariff plans set for next week, citing people familiar with the matter.
Trump on Tuesday said that tariffs will likely be more “lenient than reciprocal,” reflecting a softened stance that added onto reports from earlier this week that the duties could be more narrow in scope and that sector-specific tariffs are expected to be delayed.
Stocks closed slightly higher on Tuesday after sentiment appeared uplifted from those tariff reports, and overshadowed the release of March consumer confidence data that indicated U.S. consumers’ future outlook on income, business and job prospects dropped to their lowest reading in 12 years.
The three major indexes bounced back this week as investors scooped up shares of beaten-down stocks, taking advantage of the market’s recent sell-off. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq each climbed 1% week to date, while the 30-stock Dow added 1.3%.
Mark Hackett, chief market strategist at Nationwide, noted that the market appears to be stabilizing as the S&P 500 has gained 5% in 8 sessions, recovering almost half of what it lost over the previous month.
“The emotion of the market is calming following a tumultuous period … the collapse of technical indicators accompanying the recent market correction is showing signs of recovery,” Hackett said.
GameStop, Dollar Tree among the names making midday moves
There are some stocks making the biggest moves in midday trading:
- GameStop — The meme stock soared about 15%. On Tuesday, GameStop’s board announced it had unanimously approved a plan to buy bitcoin with a portion of its corporate cash, following a similar move by MicroStrategy.
- Dollar Tree — The discount retail chain popped more than 4% after announcing on Wednesday that it would offload its Family Dollar business to a group of private-equity investors for $1 billion.
- Playtika — The mobile gaming stock gained more than 22% after receiving a double upgrade to buy from underperform at Bank of America. The bank said the company has high profitability in a “mature” industry that is “still growing.”
Read here for the full list.
— Sean Conlon
Barclays lowers S&P 500 target to 5,900, citing extended tariff effects
Barclays lowered its 2025 S&P 500 target to 5,900 from 6,600 on concerns that U.S. tariffs could lead to a material slowdown in economic activity.
The firm’s new forecast implies upside of just 0.3% from where the benchmark began the year. It is now the lowest 2025 outlook among those in CNBC Pro’s Market Strategist Survey.
“Our earlier base case did not include a direct impact of tariffs. But now, our hand is forced. And at least for the foreseeable future, I think it would be foolhardy not to take that seriously,” strategist Venu Krishna told CNBC on Wednesday. “For the next 6 months, the tariffs are not going to be settled right away … that’s the concern.”
Krishna upgraded the financial sector to positive. The group has “decent” valuations and earnings momentum, and is the one sector that is likely to benefit from deregulation under the Trump administration, he said. The strategist also downgraded the industrials and discretionary sectors.
For more on Barclays’ call, read here.
— Pia Singh
Dollar Tree shares jump after company sells struggling Family Dollar business
People walk by a Dollar Tree store in New York City on March 13, 2024.
Liao Pan | China News Service | Getty Images
Shares of Dollar Tree rose nearly 5% around midday trading after the company said earlier Wednesday that private equity investors will buy its Family Dollar business for about $1 billion.
Dollar Tree announced it is offloading the business to Brigade Capital Management and Macellum Capital Management, ending a lengthy search for potential buyers that the company first announced in June.
Dollar Tree bought Family Dollar in 2015 for about $9 billion, but the more grocery-focused business has since faced tough competition from big-box retailers and a spending slowdown from lower-income consumers amid higher inflation.
Dollar Tree shares are down roughly 5% year to date and have lost nearly 44% over the past year, as the company continues to struggle with its sales performance despite remodeling stores and raising prices.
— Pia Singh
Nike trips again
Nike shares are down around 0.8% Wednesday, putting the athletic retailer on pace for its seventh consecutive losing session.
The stock has declined in 12 of its past 13 trading days. Month to date, Nike has fallen 16.8%, on track for its worst month since June 2025.
The company guided toward its fiscal fourth-quarter sales decline to fall at the “low end” of the “mid-teens range,” which was far worse than analysts expected, amid tariffs and falling consumer confidence.
Nike shares over the last one month
— Hakyung Kim, Adrian van Hauwermeiren
Four leading tech stocks are lowering the Dow Industrials by more than 100 points
Traders work on the floor at the New York Stock Exchange on March 26, 2025.
Brendan McDermid | Reuters
Stocks open little changed on Wednesday
Trump might impose tariffs on copper imports in coming weeks, Bloomberg reports
President Donald Trump might impose tariffs on copper imports in the next several weeks, people familiar with the matter told Bloomberg News.
Trump directed the Commerce Department to launch an investigation into potential copper tariffs in February. Commerce is supposed to submit a report within 270 days, but the issue is expected to be resolved sooner, the people told Bloomberg.
Copper prices have risen about 31% this year. The metal was up 1.23% at $5.2745 per pound Wednesday morning after closing at a record in the previous session.
— Spencer Kimball
Durable goods orders were much stronger than expected in February
Washing machines are seen for sale at a home improvement store in Falls Church, Virginia, February 3, 2025, following the announcement of tariffs by US President Donald Trump on important goods from Canada and Mexico.
Saul Loeb | Afp | Getty Images
Demand for long-lasting items such as aircraft, appliances and computers unexpected surged in February, the Commerce Department reported Wednesday.
Durable goods orders increased 0.9% for the month, down from the upwardly revised 3.3% level in January but much better than the Dow Jones consensus forecast for a 1% decline. Excluding transportation, orders rose 0.7%, while the increase was 0.8% when excluding defense.
However, non-defense capital goods order, a closely watched metric of demand, saw a 0.3% decline for the month, indicating softening capital spending plans.
—Jeff Cox
Stocks making the biggest moves premarket
Check out some of the companies making headlines in premarket trading.
- GameStop — The meme stock surged 16% a day after the company’s board announced it had approved a plan to buy bitcoin and stablecoins with a portion of its corporate cash, in a move similar to that of MicroStrategy.
- Dollar Tree — The discount retailer gained 5% after the company announced plans to sell its Family Dollar business for $1 billion. Dollar Tree also reported fourth-quarter results on Wednesday, which saw the firm surpass analyst estimates on the top and bottom line.
- Playtika — Shares of the mobile gaming company jumped 13.9% following Bank of America’s double-upgrade to buy from underperform. The bank said the company has attractive features and is in an industry that is mature but still growing.
Read the full list here.
— Brian Evans
Wolfe Research says reciprocal tariffs impact will be ‘more severe than expected’
The pending reciprocal tariffs set to take place on April 2 will still likely impose duties at a highly impactful level, even as President Donald Trump said they may end up being “more lenient,” according to Wolfe Research.
“We still think the final reciprocal numbers will be high next week, and likely more severe than markets expect, especially after the Monday rally fueled by hopes of tariff moderation,” Wolfe Research head of U.S. policy and politics Tobin Marcus wrote on Wednesday.
“We also reiterate our argument from Monday morning that any country carveouts will minimally impact the scale of the reciprocal tariffs, which will likely cover 85-90%+ of total imports,” he added. “And we are not currently assuming ‘secondary tariffs’ on Venezuelan oil purchasers will end up being applied anywhere, as China and India will likely cease purchases rather than face 25% tariffs.”
— Brian Evans
GameStop shares soar nearly 17% in premarket trading
GameStop shares jumped more than 16.5% in premarket trading Wednesday, following the video game retailer’s announcement that it will invest a portion of its corporate cash into bitcoin.
GameStop’s board on Tuesday unanimously approved a plan to invest the company’s cash or future debt and equity issuances in bitcoin and U.S. dollar-denominated stablecoins. The announcement follows in the footsteps of software company MicroStrategy, now known as Strategy, which has accumulated billions worth of bitcoin in recent years to become the largest corporate holder of the cryptocurrency.
Read here for more on GameStop’s announcement.
— Pia Singh
William Blair remains bullish on Tesla
General view of a Tesla Store in Paramus, New Jersey, on March 20, 2025.
Kena Betancur | Getty Images
Amid the onslaught of recent news around Tesla, William Blair has reason for optimism on the stock.
Analyst Jed Dorsheimer noted an “endless” cycle of updates on the electric vehicle maker, which he described as containing some positive and some negative developments. Taken all together, he still has an outperform rating on the stock.
“Despite the correction in the auto business near term, we remain positive on the faster-than-expected ramp of the Megapack business and ride-sharing rolling out this year,” Dorsheimer wrote to clients.
Dorsheimer also said expectations are near a bottom. As they reset, he said shares will also hit a bottom and momentum will start rebounding.
Tesla shares have rallied more than 15% this week, putting the stock on track to snap a historic weekly losing streak. Still, the stock has plunged more than 28% in 2025.
— Alex Harring
7 out of 11 sectors end Tuesday higher
Seven of the 11 GICS sectors ended Tuesday’s session positive for the day.
The communication services sector rose 1.43%, and was the session’s biggest gainer. On the other hand, utilities stocks, down 1.61%, were the session’s laggard.
The consumer discretionary, technology and materials sectors all closed more than 10% off their 52-week highs.
— Christopher Hayes, Lisa Kailai Han
GameStop shares pop 6% in extended trading
Traders work at the post where GameStop is traded on the floor at the New York Stock Exchange on June 12, 2024.
Brendan McDermid | Reuters
Shares of meme stock darling GameStop gained 6% Tuesday afternoon, after the company’s board announced it had unanimously approved a plan to invest corporate cash in bitcoin.
GME 5D chart
GameStop’s decision echoes a similar move made by MicroStrategy.
As of Feb. 1, GameStop had nearly $4.8 billion in cash holdings. The firm has yet to announce how much bitcoin it intends to purchase.
The video game retailer also reported fourth-quarter net income of $131.3 million. This was higher than the $63.1 million figure from the year-ago period.
— Yun Li, Lisa Kailai Han