Stock market live Wednesday: Stocks rise, 5-month win streak snapped, no stimulus deal yet

Stocks finished Wednesday's session higher, but the major averages posted losses in September, snapping a five-month win streak.

With the month and quarter over, here's a review of how markets performed:

September:

• The Dow fell 2.28% for its first negative month since March
• The S&P 500 lost 3.92% for its first negative month since March
• The Nasdaq Composite slid 5.16% for its first negative month since March
• Nine out of 11 S&P sectors were negative, led to the downside by energy, which fell 14.64%

Third quarter:

• The Dow gained 7.63% for its sixth positive quarter in seven
• The Nasdaq Composite gained 11.02% for its third positive quarter in four
• The S&P gained 8.47% for its sixth positive quarter in seven
• Ten out of 11 sectors were positive, led by consumer discretionary, which gained 14.86%. Energy was the only negative sector for the quarter, shedding 20.86%. - Gina Francolla, Pippa Stevens

Stocks climbed on the final day of September, but closed off their highest levels of the day after Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi failed to reach a deal on additional stimulus measures, although they said discussion would continue.

The Dow advanced 328 points for a gain of 1.2%. Earlier in the session it had been up 573 points. The S&P 500 climbed 0.8%, while the Nasdaq Composite finished the session 0.7% higher.

All three indexes finished the month lower, however, for their first negative month since March. - Pippa Stevens

Stocks cut their gains in the final hour of trading after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin failed to reach an agreement on a new relief deal. The leaders did say that they expected talks to continue. The Dow, once up more than 500 points at session highs, saw its gain shrink below 170 points for the day. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite were holding onto gains of 0.3%. — Jesse Pound

Solar stocks surged, adding to steep gains, as traders viewed former vice president Joe Biden as at least holding his own in the presidential debate.

Biden's energy plan includes increased use of solar and wind energy. Invesco Solar ETF was up 5% at an all-time high and the Invesco WilderHill Clean Energy ETF was also up 2.2%.

"If there was a winner of the debate, it was him," said Art Hogan, chief market strategist at National Securities. Hogan noted that Biden mentioned clean energy during the debate.

Individual solar stocks have been rallying, and after the debate, they took another leg higher. Sunpower jumped 11% and is now up 158% this year. Solaredge was up 4.4%, and it set a new high Wednesday, gaining about 160% for the year. Sunrun, already up 457% for the year, gained another 7.3%. -- Patti Domm 

Palantir opened at $10 a share at its market debut Wednesday afternoon, above its reference price of $7.25 a share. The software and data analytics services company went public via a direct listing instead of a traditional IPO, meaning the company isn't issuing new shares and is instead allowing existing shareholders to sell stock to new investors. — Yun Li

Discussions are underway between Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi as they attempt to reach an agreement on additional stimulus measures. Ahead of the meeting, Mnuchin said he was "hopeful" that a deal could still be reached.

"I say we're going to give it one more serious try to get this done and I think we're hopeful that we can get something done," he said during the Delivering Alpha conference presented by CNBC and Institutional Investor. "I think there is a reasonable compromise here."

Pelosi has called for a $2.2 trillion aid package, which Republican leaders have said is too high. - Pippa Stevens, Jacob Pramuk

The S&P 500 has been trying to recapture its 50-day moving average, and it may close above it, setting up a bullish start for October.

The S&P has tried to take back the 50-day in the previous two sessions but failed and now looks set to close above it. The 50-day is 3,357, and the S&P was up 1.4% at 3,381 in afternoon trading.  

The S&P was down 3.5% for September as of Wednesday, after recovering a big chunk of its recent losses. At its worst, the S&P was down 10% since Sept. 3, before rallying back. The 50-day is a significant line for the S&P to cross. If it trades convincingly above it, it's a positive sign for the market. The 50-day is the average of the last 50 closes.

October is typically a better month for the market than September,  which is on average the worst month. — Patti Domm 

Canada Goose — Shares jumped 6% after Cowen upgraded the outerwear maker to outperform from market perform.

Micron — The semiconductor stock lost more than 4% despite the company beating Wall Street expectations for its fiscal fourth quarter.

Nikola — Nikola soared 11% after the embattled electric truck start-up reconfirmed its business plans and production targets. The rebound followed founder and former Executive Chairman Trevor Milton's resignation last week amid two women's sexual assault allegations against him. 

Datadog — Shares of Datadog popped more than 11% after the cloud security platform announced a new strategic partnership with Microsoft's cloud computing service Azure.

Click here to read more companies making the biggest moves.— Yun Li

Starwood's Barry Sternlicht said high flying technology stocks will fall if Former Vice President Joe Biden wins the 2020 election and Democrats control both chamber of Congress. 

 "Maybe long term, two, three years out the Democratic sweep would be OK but short term, with the change in capital gains taxes, I think you'd see a pretty significant correction in high flying stocks in November, whenever they announce the winner," Starwood Capital Group Chairman and CEO Barry Sternlicht said at the Delivering Alpha conference presented by CNBC and Institutional Investor on Wednesday. 

"I'd expect you'd see some selling in the tech stocks which have risen so far because of the significant, huge proposed change in capital gains taxes," said Sternlicht. "I think short term its going to be bad for the equity markets." 

Sternlicht implied he is voting for Biden but said the former vice president is "not strong on the economy."  — Maggie Fitzgerald 

The market rally strengthened throughout Wednesday morning. Near midday, the Dow was up 430 points, or about 1.6%. The S&P 500 rose 1.3%, while the Nasdaq Composite gained 1.6%. — Jesse Pound

JPMorgan said on Wednesday morning that  Nikola's partnership model  "is a compelling strategy" and that while "execution risk remains very elevated" the firm believes the "current storm of negative headlines" will pass. "We think the GM partnership deal is the most important near-term catalyst," analyst Paul Coster said. The firm also reiterated its overweight rating and $41 price target. — Michael Bloom

Shares of Datadog popped more than 5% on Wednesday after the cloud security platform announced a new strategic partnership with Microsoft's cloud computing service Azure. Datadog will now be available in the Azure console as a first class service, the company said.— Yun Li

Pending home sales in August rose 8.8% compared with July and more than 24% relative to August 2019, according to the National Association of Realtors. The monthly gain puts the metric at its highest pace on record, going back to January 2001. The median price of a sold home rose 11% year over year, according to the trade group. — Jesse Pound, Diana Olick

The major indexes and airline stocks continued to rise in the opening minutes of trading. The Dow was up 220 points, or 0.8%. Shares of American, Delta and United all gained at least 3%. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq rose 0.4% and 0.3%, respectively. — Jesse Pound

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said at Delivering Alpha that he sees a path toward a new stimulus deal.

"I say we're going to give it one more serious try to get this done and I think we're hopeful that we can get something done. I think there is a reasonable compromise here," Mnuchin said. The Secretary also said there will not be a standalone aid package for airlines but he hoped for there to be an "understanding" of the deal some time on Thursday that would convince the airlines to delay planned layoffs. — Jesse Pound

The major indexes were marginally higher at Wednesday's open as political officials signaled optimism about a potential relief deal. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 70 points, while the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite rose 0.2% and 0.1%, respectively. — Jesse Pound

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Wednesday she is "hopeful" to reach a coronavirus aid deal with the White House this week, according to a Reuters report. The comments came after a 50-minute discussion with Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin on Tuesday and further talks are scheduled on Wednesday.— Yun Li

• Stifel upgraded Hasbro to buy from hold.
• JPMorgan upgraded Extended Stay to overweight from equal weight.
• Atlantic Equities initiated Thermo Fisher as overweight.
• Berenberg initiated World Wrestling as buy.
• Rosenblatt raised its price target on Penn to $90 from $80.
• JPMorgan added L Brands to the focus list.
• MKM initiated Zynga as buy.
• Bank of America reinstated coverage of Lululemon as buy.
• Cowen upgraded Starbucks to outperform from market perform.
• Cowen upgraded Canada Goose to outperform from market perform.
• Wedbush upgraded Shopify to outperform from neutral.
• Longbow upgraded Polaris to buy from neutral.
• Bank of America added Goldman Sachs to the US 1 list

Pro Subscribers can read more here.- Michael Bloom

An ADP survey showed a gain of 749,000 jobs for private payrolls for September. Economists surveyed by Dow Jones projected a gain of 600,000 jobs. ADP also revised its August reading upward by 53,000 jobs. — Jesse Pound

Shares of cruise operators gained in premarket trading on Wednesday after Axios reported that a "no-sail order" from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention was overruled, citing two sources with direct knowledge of the matter. Robert Redfield, the director of CDC, previously banned passenger cruising from U.S. ports into 2021 on concerns about the coronavirus pandemic. Carnival rose 1.5% in premarket, while Norwegian Cruise rose 1.2% and Royal Caribbean climbed 0.9%.— Yun Li

Shares of Regeneron Pharmaceuticals advanced more than 1% during premarket trading on Wednesday after the company said its experimental Covid-19 treatment reduced virus levels and improved symptoms in non-hospitalized patients. The results are based on the first 275 trial patients. - Pippa Stevens

The first debate between President Donald Trump and Democratic nominee Joe Biden turned out to be particularly vicious with constant interruptions and insults. The duo sparred on a number of issues, including their qualifications to manage the U.S. economy, the nomination of Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court as well as the U.S.' handling of the coronavirus pandemic.

The chaotic debate did little to ease investors' concerns that the election uncertainty will continue to be a major headwind for markets into the year-end. CNBC's Jim Cramer said it's "obvious" that the debate did not inspire confidence in markets. — Yun Li

With one more day of trading left, the major averages are set to end September with losses, the first month of declines since March. The Dow Jones Industrial Average has lost nearly 3.5% in September, a typically weak month for equities. The S&P 500 is down 4.7% this month. The technology heavy Nasdaq Composite dropped 5.9% since September 1, dragged down by weakness is technology stocks. —Maggie Fitzgerald 

Disney is laying off 28,000 employees across its parks due to the limited capacity and closures created by the coronavirus pandemic, the company said in a memo to employees. About two-thirds of those laid off were part time employees. Shares of Disney were down 1.7% in light premarket trading. — Jesse Pound, Sarah Whitten

Futures tied to major U.S. equity benchmarks pointed to losses for Wednesday's session, the day after the first U.S. presidential debate. Dow Jones Industrial Average futures lost 160 points, indicating a drop of about 90 points at the open. S&P 500 futures fell 0.4%, while Nasdaq 100 futures lost about 0.5%. All three indexes are on pace to post their first negative month since March.— Yun Li