Stocks Close Little Changed After Fed Holds Rates Steady as Investors Monitor News on Israel-Iran Conflict

Biggest S&P 500 Movers on Wednesday

2 hr 16 min ago

Advancers

Shares of Coinbase Global (COIN), operator of the largest U.S. cryptocurrency exchange, soared 16%, notching the S&P 500’s top daily performance. The surge for the stock came a day after the Senate passed the GENIUS Act, providing a regulatory framework for companies issuing stablecoins. The legislation would require stablecoin creators to hold dollars, Treasury securities, or other assets considered safe with a value equivalent to the coins they’ve issued, providing a guardrail against the collapse of the digital assets.
TKO Group Holdings (TKO) shares rose 4.8% after several investment research firms expressed positive views on the Ultimate Fighting Championship and World Wrestling Entertainment parent. Citi analysts lifted their price target on the sports and entertainment company’s stock, noting an upbeat outlook for TKO’s media rights renewal process. Analysts at Bernstein agreed, predicting that UFC broadcasting rights would continue to grow in value and saying that TKO’s moves to “festivilize” its live events could drive other growth opportunities related.
Shares of solar microinverter manufacturer Enphase Energy (ENPH) bounced 4.2%, clawing back a portion of the heavy losses posted in the previous session after the Senate’s proposed reconciliation bill included cuts to key clean-energy tax credits. Enphase has been seeing some success in some European markets with the launch of its latest home battery solution.

Decliners

The crypto-friendly legislation that passed the Senate pressured shares of credit card companies. The stablecoin rules laid out in the bill could provide merchants with a path for bypassing card-based payment systems. Mastercard (MA) shares dropped 5.4%, losing the most of any S&P 500 stock on Wednesday, while shares of rival card giant Visa (V) were down 4.9%.
Beyond the major credit card names, the potential for stablecoin-driven disruptions to the payment ecosystem also weighed on payment processors’ stocks. Shares of business payments specialist Corpay (CPAY) sank 4%, while shares of payroll technology firm Paycom Software (PAYC) were down 3.7%.
Shares of Zoetis (ZTS), a provider of veterinary medicines and other animal health products, slipped 4.1% after Stifel downgraded the stock to “hold” from “buy.” Analysts pointed to slowing growth in the company’s key dermatology and parasiticide segments, noting that increasing competition across numerous product categories could make it difficult for Zoetis to match revenue growth expectations over the coming years.

-Michael Bromberg

IBM Keeps Hitting New Highs. BofA Sees More Room for Gains

3 hr 29 min ago

International Business Machines (IBM) shares closed at record high for the third straight session on Wednesday, as Bank of America lifted its price target for the stock even higher.

“IBM, despite trading at all-time highs, remains interesting,” BofA analysts wrote in a note to clients Wednesday, pointing to the company’s growth potential in generative AI, as well as quantum computing.

The company represents a “defensive investment” with improving revenue growth, BofA said, “which in turn can drive higher cash flow.” The analysts lifted their target to $320 from $290, well above the $261 mean of analysts surveyed by Visible Alpha.

The new target comes as IBM launched new software Wednesday it says could help clients keep their AI agent systems “responsible at scale.” Earlier this month, IBM also said it believes it has a “viable path” to building the world’s first large-scale, “fault-tolerant” quantum computer by the end of the decade.

IBM shares rose 0.1% to finish Wednesday’s session at $283.21, an all-time closing high. The stock has gained nearly 30% since the start of 2025.

-Andrew Kessel

US Steel Had the Ticker “X” for a Century. Who Gets it Now?

4 hours ago

U.S. Steel has been acquired. That raises the inevitable question: Who gets the X?

The deal, which makes the American company part of Nippon Steel, has closed, the companies confirmed Wednesday.

 The merger is significant for plenty of reasons, among them the protracted “will it happen or won’t it” soap opera that culminated in President Donald Trump’s approval of the deal and the creation of a “golden share” that gives the U.S. government a range of rights regarding the company’s future.

But there’s a less significant, but nevertheless interesting, aspect of the deal: The company traded on the New York Stock Exchange with the ticker “X,” making it one of six single-letter symbols now not in use. (The others are I, N, P, Q and Y.) Now that symbol is available for the first time in more than a century.

Meanwhile, the other 20 single-letter stocks chug along. Some are widely, or at least reasonably, known, with Citigroup (C), Ford (F) and Macy’s (M) among them. Others, like Jacobs Solutions (J) and Realty Income (O), are perhaps more obscure. 

Will someone claim the X? The NYSE on its site says symbols can be requested online—in fact, it requires a formal request and “a reasonable basis to believe that the symbol will be used within 24 months.” The organization didn’t respond to Investopedia’s question about what might be next for the X in time for publication. 

As for candidates to take on the symbol: There are perhaps-obvious candidates in xAI, the artificial intelligence and social-media company run by Elon Musk, or even perhaps SpaceX, another company he controls. (Musk has a son named “X” and runs an EV maker, Tesla, that sells a Model X but already uses “TSLA.”) 

SpaceX and xAI, however, haven’t disclosed plans to list shares in the near future; representatives of both companies, as well as Tesla, didn’t respond to Investopedia’s request for comment in time for publication. 

For now, it seems, X remains unknown. 

-David Marino-Nachison

Oppenheimer Raises Roblox Price Target

5 hr 17 min ago

One of Wall Street’s biggest Roblox bulls sees its shares hitting highs not seen in years.

Oppenheimer on Wednesday raised its price target for Roblox Corp. (RBLX) stock from $80 to $125, a level the shares haven’t hit since late 2021. The online gaming platform has “a better solution to user growth and user retention than most game publishers,” Oppenheimer wrote.

Roblox is unlikely to discover another Grow a Garden, a blockbuster, agricultural-themed game that Roblox bought a stake in when it had a promising number of players, analysts said. At one point, 16.4 million users were simultaneously playing Grow a Garden, surpassing Fortnite’s peak concurrent player count, according to The New York Times.

But Roblox’s recommendation algorithm will likely give it an edge in the TikTok era, where gaming “trends emerge organically” and studios must “play catch-up,” Oppenheimer said. Studios are moving toward “a game publisher model, where they spend more time on identifying trends and scouting and investing in promising creators, than developing inhouse games,” the analysts said.

Oppenheimer’s price is well above the $85.31 average of analysts who follow the online gaming platform and who were polled by Visible Alpha.

Roblox was recently up more than 1% to $102.50 in recent trding, having gained more than 75% so far this year.

-Sarina Trangle

Fed Holds Key Rate Steady, Says Uncertainty Still Elevated

5 hr 51 min ago

The Federal Reserve held its key interest rate steady Wednesday, keeping downward pressure on inflation out of concern that President Donald Trump’s tariffs could push up prices.

As widely expected, the Federal Open Market Committee voted unanimously to hold the fed funds rate at a range of 4.25% to 4.5%, the same level it’s been since December. Fed officials have held off on cutting rates out of concern merchants will pass along the cost of Trump’s tariffs to customers, possibly reigniting inflation as soon as the second half of the year.1

However, Fed officials expect to make two quarter-point rate cuts at some point this year, according to quarterly economic projections released alongside the interest rate decision. That’s the same number of cuts projected in March before Trump announced his sweeping “Liberation Day” tariffs that have shaken up the economic outlook.

Notably, Fed officials said the uncertainty that has kept the Fed in a holding pattern—a major theme of recent speeches by officials—has lessened since their last meeting in May.

“Uncertainty about the economic outlook has diminished but remains elevated,” the FOMC said in a statement.

Read the full article here.

-Diccon Hyatt

TKO Group Stock Jumps On Bullish Analyst Views

6 hr 59 min ago

TKO Group Holdings (TKO) stock was among the biggest gainers in the S&P 500 Wednesday, as the Ultimate Fighting Championship and World Wrestling Entertainment parent received some new bullish comments from analysts.

Analysts from Bernstein on Wednesday rated the company’s stock as “overweight” with a $190 price target, and called it “an attractive investment in unique, owned & operated live sports entertainment with a clear strategy for sustained growth.”

The Bernstein analysts said they expect the broadcasting rights for UFC will continue to gain value and generate more revenue for TKO Group, which was one of four companies added to the S&P 500 in the first quarter. “As TKO continues to ‘festivilize’ its live events, we also see a compelling growth opportunity around site fees,” they added.

Citi analysts late Tuesday affirmed their “buy” rating and lifted their price target on TKO Group to $200 from $170 “to better reflect our media rights renewal expectations.” Eight analysts tracked by Visible Alpha rate TKO Group as a “buy,” while one calls it a “hold,” with the average price target of $191.11.

TKO Group shares were up more than 5% in recent trading to roughly $177, approaching the intraday record high of $179.09 set on Feb. 13.

-Aaron McDade

Marvell Jumps Amid Optimism About AI Growth Pipeline

7 hr 52 min ago

Shares of Marvell Technology (MRVL) popped Wednesday as analysts said the chipmaker’s Custom AI event revealed an expanded growth opportunity.

Bank of America raised its price target to $90 from $80 following the Tuesday event, which it said highlighted a “[s]tronger, more diverse pipeline” that could help Marvell stock “catch up to its AI peers.” Marvell shares were up more than 7% in recent trading to about $75. 

At the event, Marvell said its total addressable data-center market is expected to reach $94 billion by 2028, up from its prior estimate of $75 billion, according to a transcript made available by AlphaSense. The company also announced two new clients for its next-generation AI accelerator chips, on top of three existing major customers. BofA said Big Tech investing heavily in AI infrastructure is a “rising tide” that can drive potential upside for Marvell. 

Deutsche Bank analysts said Marvell is “one of the very few companies capable of addressing the rapidly growing custom data center silicon market.” The bank holds a price target of $85 for Marvell stock. Meanwhile, Citi and Morgan Stanley maintained targets of $96 and $73, respectively.

Despite Wednesday’s share gains, Marvell stock has lost roughly a third of its value this year after hitting a record high in January. Last month, Marvell offered a narrowed quarterly revenue forecast that failed to impress investors amid an uncertain macroenvironment, and a decision then to delay its investor day raised additional concerns.

-Andrew Kessel

Korn Ferry Surges as Higher Fees Boost Earnings

8 hr 50 min ago

Korn Ferry (KFY) shares jumped Wednesday after the consulting firm reported better-than-expected results, boosted by higher fees.

The company posted fiscal 2025 fourth-quarter adjusted earnings per share (EPS) of $1.32 on revenue that increased 3% year-over-year to $719.8 million. Analysts surveyed by Visible Alpha had expected $1.26 and $699.0 million, respectively. 

Fee revenue increased 3% to $712.0 million, driven by executive search revenue, which jumped 14% to $227.0 million. 

CEO Gary Burnison said that even though Korn Ferry faced “ever-changing global economic and political dynamics,” it continued to deliver on its financial and strategic objectives.

The company anticipates current-quarter adjusted EPS in the range of $1.18 to $1.26, and fee revenue of $675 million to $695 million. The Visible Alpha outlook was for $1.21 and $682.7 million, respectively.

Korn Ferry shares were up about 10% in midday trading, putting the stock back into positive territory for the year.

-Bill McColl

Circle Stock Jumps on Senate Passage of Stablecoin Legislation

9 hr 59 min ago

Shares of USDC stablecoin issuer Circle Internet Group (CRCL) surged Wednesday morning after the Senate passed the GENIUS Act, which provides a federal government framework for use of the cryptocurrency whose value is tied to the U.S. dollar.

The legislation would open the door for use of stablecoins by banks, financial tech companies, retailers, and others, and was the first major legislation approved by Congress dealing with the digital currency industry. 

New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, a Democrat and one of the co-sponsors of the act, said it would “enable U.S. businesses and consumers to take advantage of the next generation of financial innovation” and “protect consumers, enable responsible innovation, and safeguard the dominance of the U.S. dollar.”

The bill now moves on to the House, which has its own version of stablecoin legislation known as the STABLE Act and has some differences from the GENIUS Act.3

Circle shares were up 10% at around $164 in recent trading. The stock only began trading June 5, when they nearly tripled their IPO price of $31.

-Bill McColl

Nucor Rises as Steelmaker Issues Rosy Profit Forecast

10 hr 55 min ago

Nucor (NUE) shares rose in early trading Wednesday after the steelmaker outlined better second-quarter profit projections than analysts had forecast.

The company said Wednesday morning that it expects second-quarter earnings per share to come in between $2.55 to $2.65, well above the current analyst consensus compiled by Visible Alpha of $2.21. In its first-quarter report in April, Nucor said it expected earnings to increase from the $0.67 per share it posted at the time, with improving profits across all three of its segments.

Nucor’s steel mills had a higher average selling price in the second quarter, while its division selling steel products is projected to report higher profits “due to a combination of stable overall pricing, higher volumes and lower average costs per ton.”

Nucor said it will release its second-quarter results after the bell on July 28, and hold an earnings call the next morning.

Analysts have grown more bullish on American steelmakers this year, expecting the Trump administration’s tariffs to raise prices in the industry and lead to higher profits in the sector.

Nucor shares were up more than 5% in recent trading, boosting its year-to-date gain to 10%.

-Aaron McDade

SunRun Levels to Watch After Yesterday’s Sell-Off

11 hr 44 min ago

SunRun (RUN) shares continued losing ground in premarket trading Wednesday after plunging 40% yesterday to lead a steep sell-off in solar energy stocks following news the Senate maintained the full removal of clean-energy tax credits in its version of the budget bill.

The stock has lost three-quarters of its value since hitting its 52-week high last August, weighed down by uncertainty surrounding the sector caused be policy changes, a clouded regulatory outlook and reduced demand.

Since topping out in early 2021, SunRun shares have remained entrenched in a steady downtrend, with losses in the stock accelerating after the 50-week moving average (MA) crossed below the 200-week MA in September 2022 to form a death cross.

More recently, a chart pattern that closely resembles a falling three methods has emerged, signaling a continuation of the stock’s long-term move lower. What’s more, the relative strength index has fallen back below its neutral threshold, confirming a resumption of selling momentum.

It’s also worth noting that trading volume has increased in recent weeks, indicating growing interest in the stock from both retail and institutional investors.

Investors should watch key support levels on SunRun’s chart around $4.75 and $4.33, while also monitoring important overhead areas near $8.50 and $13.25.

SunRun shares were down 2% at $5.66 in recent premarket trading.

Read the full technical analysis piece here.

-Timothy Smith

Major Index Futures Little Changed Wednesday

12 hr 22 min ago

Futures tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Average were up 0.1%.

S&P 500 futures were also up 0.1%.

Nasdaq 100 futures added 0.2%.