S&P 500 falls, heads for first loss in nine sessions: Live updates

BlackRock appears to be preparing for an ether ETF, with the website for Delaware’s Division of Corporations showing that an iShares Ethereum Trust was registered on Thursday.

A similar registration was made in June, about a week before the initial filing for a BlackRock bitcoin ETF. That fund has not yet been approved by regulators. BlackRock declined to comment on the matter.

Ether rose more than 5% on Thursday, topping $2,000 for the first time since April.

— Jesse Pound

TransDigm Group, Hilton Worldwide were among the 13 S&P 500 names trading at fresh highs on Thursday.

Aerospace and defense company TransDigm Group on Thursday posted fourth-quarter earnings and revenue that topped estimates. It posted adjusted per-share earnings of $8.03, greater than the consensus estimate of $7.55, according to FactSet. It issued revenue of $1.85 billion, slightly higher than the forecasted $1.84 billion.

TransDigm shares were higher by more than 9% in midday trading. Hilton shares were up by nearly 1%.

Here are some of the other S&P 500 names.

• Hilton Worldwide trading at levels not seen since May, 2022
• Arthur J Gallagher trading at all-time high levels back to its IPO in June, 1984
• Progressive trading at all-time highs back to its IPO in 1971
• TransDigm Group trading at all-time high levels since its IPO in March, 2006
• Cadence Design Systems trading at all-time high levels back to when ECAD, Inc went public 1987
• Motorola Solutions trading at all-time highs back to its when it began trading as a separate entity post the Motorola Mobility split
• Synopsys trading at all-time high levels back to its IPO in Feb, 1992

— Sarah Min, Chris Hayes

Stocks have bounced back the past week, with all three major indexes notching record-breaking winning streaks.

Besides the “awful lot of good news priced into stocks,” Wolfe Research’s Chris Senyek also noted that investors seem to already be counting on four rate cuts next year.

“At the same time, consensus widely expects Fed cuts and solid consumer spending to allow the U.S. economy to glide down for a ‘soft landing,'” the analyst wrote. That’s despite the Federal Reserve’s muted signaling from its last FOMC meeting.

But Senyek believes that investors swept away by the current rally are bound to be disappointed.

“Despite the market’s sanguine outlook, we continue to believe that expectations for both a ‘soft landing’ and -100bps of Fed cuts next year are internally inconsistent,” he said.

— Lisa Kailai Han, Michael Bloom

Federal Reserve Governor Michelle Bowman said Thursday she still expects interest rates to rise but supported the decision earlier this month to hold.

“There is an unusually high level of uncertainty regarding the economy and my own economic outlook, especially considering recent surprises in the data, data revisions, and ongoing geopolitical risks,” Bowman said in prepared remarks for a speech to bankers in Florida. “Currently, the federal funds rate appears to be restrictive, and financial conditions have tightened since September,” she added.

Separately, Richmond Fed President Thomas Barkin said he expects “some sort of a slowdown” in the economy ahead but sees inflation as still too high. After 11 rate hikes totaling 5.25 percentage points, Fed officials are in a place where they can observe how policy impacts the economy and decide from there, he said.

“Whether a slowdown that settles inflation requires more from us remains to be seen, which is why I supported our decision to hold rates at our last meeting. With rates restrictive and financial conditions tightened, we have time to reconcile competing narratives on demand and to test different views on the trajectory of inflation,” Barkin said.

As a governor, Bowman is a voting member of the rate-setting Federal Open Market Committee. Barkin does not vote this year but will in 2024.

—Jeff Cox

Shares of Amylyx Pharmaceuticals tumbled an eye-popping 26% to a low not seen in more than a year on the back of a weak earnings report.

Amylyx shares were trading at their lowest point since June 2022 amid the selloff. The stock’s slide came after the company reported 30 cents earned per share and $102.7 million in revenue in the third quarter, while analysts polled by FactSet had anticipated 44 cents per share and revenue at $113.7 million.

Thursday’s move worsened what has already been a difficult year for the commercial-stage biopharmaceutical company’s stock, with shares down 64% since 2023 began.

— Alex Harring

Oil edged up slightly Thursday but was stilling trading near three-month lows amid concerns that a global economic slowdown will hit demand as crude production increases.

Brent crude contracts for January ticked up 84 cents, or 1.06% %, to trade at $80.38 per barrel, while West Texas Intermediate contracts for December edged up 84 cents, or 1.12%, to trade at $76.17 per barrel.

Oil prices fell more than 6% this week to the lowest point since late July, after China reported a faster than expected drop in its total exports. Beijing’s exports have dropped six months in a row, suggesting a global economic slowdown may be afoot.

And the U.S. Energy Information Agency forecast that U.S. oil consumption will decline by 300,000 barrels per day this year. On the supply side, global liquid fuels production is expected to increase by 1 million bpd in 2024, as OPEC+ production cuts are offset by production growth from non-OPEC producers.

Upward pressure on oil prices has also eased as markets dismiss fears that the Israel-Hamas war could erupt into a regional conflict that disrupts supply. Prices had spiked in mid-October in the immediate aftermath the Hamas’ terrorist attacks.

— Spencer Kimball

Shares of theater chain AMC Entertainment dropped 14% after the company announced another plan to sell more stock.

The new plan calls for AMC to sell up to $350 million worth of shares in an at-the-market offering.

This offering comes after AMC sold 40 million shares in September, raising gross proceeds of about $325.5 million. AMC has sold stock regularly since becoming a meme stock in 2021, and increased their available shares to sell after a court case about the company’s APE preferred shares.

The company reported about $730 million in cash on hand at the end of the third quarter.

— Jesse Pound

Semiconductor technology stock Arm Holdings dropped nearly 7% before the bell after posting its first quarterly print since its initial public offering in September.

Revenue for the period came in ahead of the $744.3 million expected by analysts polled by LSEG at $806 million.

For its fiscal third quarter the company said it expects revenue to range between $720 million and $800 million, the midpoint of which comes in slightly shy of the $776.2 million expected by analysts, per Street Account.

The company’s royalty revenue came in at $418 million, showing a 5% decline from the same period last year. Licensing sales were $388 million, up 106% from the same period last year.

— Kif Leswing, Samantha Subin

Initial filings for jobless benefits declined slightly last week and were just below the Wall Street estimate.

Jobless claims for the week ended Nov. 4 totaled 217,000, a drop of 3,000 from the previous period and a touch under the Dow Jones consensus forecast for 220,000, the Labor Department reported Thursday.

Continuing claims, which run a week behind, totaled 1.834 million, an increase of 22,000 and above the FactSet estimate for 1.819 million.

—Jeff Cox

Check out the companies making headlines before the bell.

• Virgin Galactic — Shares rose nearly 9% after the space tourism company beat third-quarter expectations. Virgin Galactic posted a loss of 28 cents per share, versus the 43 cents per share loss expected by analysts polled by LSEG. Revenue came in at $1.7 million, also beating the $1.1 million analyst consensus. The company posted strong fourth-quarter guidance, expecting revenue of $3 million versus $1.5 million. Virgin Galactic also said it plans to pause spaceflight operations next year to focus on developing its next-generation Delta-class spacecraft.
• Disney — Shares of the media conglomerate jumped 4.4% after Disney posted higher-than-expected earnings, thanks ESPN+ and growth at theme parks. Disney’s revenue for the quarter came up short, however, due to a decline in ad revenue.
• Target — Shares gained 1% after Evercore ISI added the company to its tactical outperform list ahead of its earnings report next week. The firm said Target’s current share price, which is down about 28% year to date, reflects a softer consumer environment.   

For the full list, read here.

— Pia Singh

Stocks that give investors exposure to the crypto market got a lift in premarket trading Thursday as the bitcoin price rose to a new high for 2023.

Shares of the crypto services provider Coinbase rose 3.8%, while bitcoin proxy Microstrategy gained 4.3%. Block and Robinhood, which both offer crypto trading services, were higher by more than 1% each.

Meanwhile, shares of bitcoin miners enjoyed bigger boosts. Marathon and Riot, the largest of the mining stocks, rose 10% and 6%, respectively. CleanSpark advanced 7% and Cipher Mining added 6%. Mining stocks generally benefit from bitcoin price increases because they translate into higher mining revenue for the companies.

— Tanaya Macheel

Disney rose more than 4% before the bell after the entertainment giant reported earnings fiscal fourth-quarter expectations that topped Wall Street’s expectations. and shared plans to boost its cost-cutting plan by an additional $2 billion to $7.5 billion as it looks to “aggressively manage” its cost base.

The company reported adjusted earnings of 82 cents per share, topping the 70 cents expected by analysts surveyed by LSEG. Revenue came in at $21.24 billion and slightly behind the $21.33 billion expected.

Disney also said it gained 7 million new Disney+ subscribers from the previous quarter, upping its total users to $150.2 million. Wall Street analysts polled by StreetAccount had anticipated a total of 148.15 million subscribers for the period.

— Sarah Whitten, Samantha Subin

China’s consumer prices fell in October as the world’s second-largest economy struggled with an uneven post-Covid recovery.

Data from China’s National Bureau of Statistics showed the consumer price index slipped 0.2% year-on-year, more than the 0.1% decline expected by economists polled by Reuters.

This comes after China’s CPI was unexpectedly flat in September, highlighting the need for further policy support.

Producer prices declined 2.6%, slightly smaller than an expected decline of 2.7% and marking the 13th straight month of declines.

Read the full story here.

— Shreyashi Sanyal

Hong Kong listed shares of one of China’s biggest property developers Country Garden plunged over 6% in volatile trading.

On Wednesday, Reuters reported China’s State Council instructed the local government of Guangdong province to help arrange a rescue of Country Garden by Ping An Insurance Group.

Ping An denied the report in a statement later Wednesday, saying “the Reuters story is untrue, and that it has not received such requests from any relevant government departments/agencies.”

Hong Kong shares of Ping An fell 1.43%, while the broader Hang Seng index dropped 0.32%.

China’s CSI 300 was flat.

— Shreyashi Sanyal

The bond bear market is the worst in more than 200 years, according to BNP Paribas’ global chief investment officer.

But, he said, one corner of the bond market is an opportunity for investors: U.S. “fallen angels” in the high-yield credit segment.

CNBC Pro takes a look at some of the top-rated funds and exchange-traded funds, according to Morningstar.

Subscribers can read more here.

— Weizhen Tan

Now is a good time to buy gold stocks, according to Morgan Stanley.

Tensions in the Middle East, brought on by the Israel-Hamas war, had triggered a gold “safe-haven” rally as investments in the precious metal picked up. The rally has since fizzled and gold spot prices have moved up some 0.05% in the year to date.

Notably, however, gold stocks underperformed gold prices by about 20% in the last three months, the investment bank’s analysts said, naming several stocks to play the “golden opportunity.”

CNBC Pro subscribers can read more here.

— Amala Balakrishner

Stocks suffered in October, but large-cap active funds managed to deliver a strong performance, according to Bank of America’s Savita Subramanian.

Last month, 68% of large cap active managers beat their benchmark, the firm’s head of U.S. equity and quantitative strategy said in a recent report. The average fund beat its benchmark by 34 basis points, she said.

To put things into perspective, the S&P 500 dropped 2.2% in October and the Russell 1000 shed 2.5%, capping a three-month stretch of losses for both indexes as bond yields popped and stocks swooned.

Funds’ focus on large cap names helped them manage last month. “Cracks started to form within the Magnificent 7, but the largest quintile of the Russell 1000 outperformed the smallest quintile by 5 [percentage points] (-1.7% vs. -6.7%),” Subramanian said.

–Darla Mercado, Michael Bloom

With Wednesday’s session finished, the trading week is more than halfway done. All three of the major indexes are on track for winning weeks, but some have far more narrow gains than others.

Here’s where the three major indexes stand on the week:

— Alex Harring

These are some of the stocks making the biggest moves in extended trading on Wednesday:

• Disney — Shares climbed more than 3% after the media giant exceeded expectations of analysts polled by LSEG for profit in the fiscal fourth quarter. Disney+ subscriber numbers also came in strong.
• Arm — Shares dropped around 7% as investors focused in on weak guidance from the semiconductor company.
• Lyft — The rideshare platform slipped nearly 2% after reporting worse-than-anticipated bookings and offering weak current-quarter guidance on the measure.

See the full list here.

— Alex Harring

Stock futures inched down Wednesday night shortly after 6 p.m. ET.

Futures tied to the Dow lost 0.1%, while S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 futures slipped 0.2% and 0.3%, respectively.

— Alex Harring