Stock market today: Live updates

These are some of the stocks moving in midday trading on Wednesday:

• Nvidia – Nvidia shares popped more than 4%, reversing earlier week-to-date losses that pushed the stock briefly into correction territory.
• General Mills — The consumer products maker slid 2.6% after telling investors to expect a weaker outlook than previously expected.
• Jabil — The electronics components stock surged 9.5% after earnings and guidance surpassed Wall Street expectations.

Click here for the full list.

— Alex Harring

MSCI could have more upside potential heading into 2025, according to Goldman Sachs.

Shares traded marginally higher on Wednesday on the heels of analyst George Tong upgrading the stock to buy from neutral. His updated price target now reflects more than 18% upside potential, as of Tuesday’s close.

“We believe conditions on the buy-side, which generates approximately 80% of total revenue at MSCI, are improving following 4-6 quarters of underperformance marked by fund closures, restructurings and consolidations caused by macro uncertainty, market volatility and elevated AUM outflows from active managers,” the analyst wrote in a recent note to clients.

Moving into next year, Tong added that he expects momentum to continue due to a broadening of returns beyond the large-cap tech sector under the administration of President-elect Donald Trump. He also anticipates that organic revenue growth related to environmental, social and governance will see a reacceleration.

“We expect ESG organic revenue growth to reaccelerate in 2025, as well, driven by increased ESG visibility in the US post-election allowing fund managers to lean into strategies that will still see tailwinds in a Trump policy environment, and by regulatory tailwinds from SFDR in the EU that has already prompted sizable ESG equity inflows,” he continued.

MSCI shares have had a positive run this year, posting year-to-date gains of more than 9%. The stock has also gained nearly 12% in the past three months.

— Sean Conlon

Nvidia‘s rally on Wednesday pulled the megacap technology stock out of a correction.

Shares of the artificial intelligence darling surged more than 4% in morning trading. If that holds, it would mark the stock’s biggest one-day gain in around one month.

Wednesday’s advance also propelled the stock outside of correction territory. That generally refers to a share price range that’s at least 10% off of the stock’s all-time closing high.

Nvidia was the best performer in the Dow and fourth-biggest gainer in the S&P 500 as of late Wednesday morning.

— Alex Harring, Adrian van Hauwermeiren

Building permits rose in November even as both housing starts and completions declined, the Census Bureau reported Wednesday.

Privately owned units authorized for construction totaled a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.505 million, up 6.1% from October and better than the Dow Jones consensus estimate for 1.43 million.

On starts, though, the total of 1.289 was off 1.8% from the month before and below the forecast for 1.34 million. Completions totaled 1.6 million, down 1.9%. However, single-family completions came to 1.038 million, better by 3,3% from October.

—Jeff Cox

The Dow Jones Industrial Average inched higher shortly after the opening bell on Wednesday, as Wall Street awaits the final Federal Reserve decision of 2024.

The 30-stock Dow gained 83 points, or 0.1%. The Nasdaq Composite ticked down 0.1%, while the S&P 500 pulled back 0.08%.

— Brian Evans

Nissan shares moved higher while Honda Motor stock slipped in the premarket, following media reports that the two Japanese automakers are considering a potential merger. Nissan shares gained 23.7% in the previous session, notching the firm’s best day since at least 1985.

A report in the Nikkei newspaper said Honda and Nissan are considering operating under a holding company and will soon sign a memorandum of understanding. 

Vivek Vaidya, global client leader for mobility at research firm Frost & Sullivan, told CNBC the merger was triggered by Nissan’s financial underperformance. Nissan in November had posted disappointing second-quarter results and cut its full year revenue and operating outlook. 

For more on the merger talks, read here.

— Pia Singh

These are the stocks making the biggest moves before the bell:

• General Mills — The maker of consumer food products such as Cheerios and Cocoa Puffs sank 4% after trimming its outlook for 2025.
• Jabil — The electronics components stock surged nearly 10% on stronger-than-expected fiscal first quarter earnings and guidance. The company lifted its full-year revenue and EPS guidance.
• Nvidia — Shares rose nearly 3% after four straight losing sessions. The chipmaker entered correction territory after falling 10% from its all-time high earlier in the week.

Read the full list of stocks here.

— Samantha Subin

Mortgage rates moved markedly higher last week, causing overall mortgage demand to drop.

Total application volume fell 0.7% compared with the previous week, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association’s seasonally adjusted index. That was the first decline in five weeks.

The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages with conforming loan balances ($766,550 or less) increased to 6.75% from 6.67%, with points remaining unchanged at 0.66 (including the origination fee) for loans with a 20% down payment. That rate was just 8 basis points higher the same week one year ago.

The driver of the drop was refinance demand. It fell 3% for the week but was still 41% higher than the same week one year ago. While mortgage rates aren’t that much lower now than they were a year ago, it may be that refinance volume is so low in general that any slight move makes for a large comparison.

— Diana Olick

Market performance on Fed days has been weakest during Powell’s tenure as chair, as compared to the three other Fed chairs coming before him, according to a tweet from Bespoke Investment Group. The tweet added that this statistic was especially true in the last trading hour of the day.

On average, the S&P 500 rose just 0.11% under Powell. Under Yellen, the S&P 500 averaged a 0.16% rise, while this rose to 0.26% under Greenspan’s tenure. Market performance on Fed days was at its highest under Bernanke’s tenure, averaging a 0.50% advance.

— Lisa Kailai Han

Ten of the 11 GICS sectors ended Tuesday in the red, led to the downside by industrials, which slipped 0.9%.

On the other hand, the consumer discretionary sector was the only one to end the day higher and gained 0.28%.

All sectors are still positive for the year, led by communication services, up 44.08%. Health care, which has added just 1.73%, is the laggard.

— Lisa Kailai Han, Christopher Hayes

Stock futures traded near flat Tuesday night.

Futures tied to the Dow Jones, S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 were all marginally below the flatline shortly after 6 p.m. ET.

— Lisa Kailai Han