Dow closes more than 300 points higher, securing 7th winning day: Live updates

The nation's largest banks submitted plans for the potential impact they faced from climate-related events, finding the process challenging but stating that they will continue their work.

In a long-awaited report released Thursday, JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, Citigroup, Wells Fargo, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley all submitted potential impacts from disruptive events. The Federal Reserve released a broad overview of the plans, which are distinct from the stress tests the institutions perform regularly, but did not grade the submissions.

Banks reported issues with "data gaps" and modeling problems for the two scenarios, one involving a major hurricane in the Northeast U.S. and the other an event of the banks' choice.

"Participants intend to incorporate climate scenario analysis into their risk-management processes over time," the report stated, adding that the institutions plan on investing more in the future to better assess potential climate-related issues.

—Jeff Cox

Here is how the major indexes closed on Thursday:

• The Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 331.37 points, or 0.85%, to settle at 39,387.76.
• The S&P 500 closed 0.51% higher to finish at 5,214.08.
• The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite added 0.27% to close at 16,346.26.

— Pia Singh

Stocks have come under pressure this quarter after a string of hotter inflation reports spurred investor concerns the Federal Reserve will stay higher for longer, with rate cut expectations coming down to just two for the year starting in September.

However, UBS anticipates upcoming inflation data will start to trend lower, starting with the April's Consumer Price Index (CPI) that's set for release next week. The firm cited recent data indicating moderating housing costs, and lower consumer spending going forward.

"We expect a renewed fall in U.S. inflation in the coming months," UBS' Solita Marcelli wrote on Thursday. "Investors are expecting April's Consumer Price Index (CPI) to show that the trend toward slowing inflation—which was interrupted in the first quarter of the year—is resuming."

"Our view is that inflation will start heading back to the Fed's 2% target in the coming months," Marcelli said.

— Sarah Min

While China's electric vehicle volumes remain robust, the U.S. remains in an "EV winter," according to Barclays.

Analyst Dan Levy pointed out in a Thursday note that California's EV penetration declined for the second consecutive quarter, and that early U.S. data indicates 9.3% EV penetration in April, which is lower month-over-month but slightly above 2023 at 9.1%. California is the leader of U.S. EV uptake, he added, making it a significant indicator of trends in the rest of the country.

China, meanwhile, continues to dominate global EV share, the analyst said, as it accounts for 58% of EV unit sales volume in 2024 while the U.S. accounts for just 10%.

Based on the challenging EV environment, Levy estimated lower volume for General Motors, even though the company reiterated its EV production volume guide of between 200,000 and 300,000 units. He expects the automaker, which has seen shares jump more than 25% this year, to eventually cut its guide.

— Pia Singh

Precious metal mining stocks are presently consolidating "after big runs earlier this year," and ETFs such as the VanEck Gold Miners ETF "look particularly attractive to us here," BTIG's chief market technician Jonathan Krinsky wrote to clients Thursday.

The gold miners' ETF rallied nearly 40% in the short span from early March to mid-April, "breaking out above a one-year base," Krinsky said. "It now looks poised to resume its uptrend with a measured move towards $38-$40." Compared to the S&P 500 in 2024, the GDX ETF is outperforming some 3.5 percentage points, BTIG said.

The Materials Select Sector SPDR Fund, comprised of other minerals minerds and chemical makers, among ohers, hasn't performed as well as GDX lately, Krinsky said, although he said individual stocks such as Dow Inc. have "a very constructive [price] chart."

— Scott Schnipper

Papa John's is the latest restaurant to report sluggish sales. The pizza chain saw a weaker-than-expected 1.8% same-store-sales decline. That was a contrast to what one of its competitors said a couple weeks ago. A stronger-than-expected 5.6% same-store sales increase from Domino's was an industry outlier thanks to the successful revamp of its loyalty program.

But even as the restaurant industry has widely struggled to start the year, another bright spot surfaced this morning. People are buying up doughnuts. Krispy Kreme saw a nearly 7% jump in organic sales as revenues came in higher than expected. It cited "increased digital sales and strong consumer demand" amid successful event-centric campaigns surrounding the Valentine's Day and St. Patrick's Day holidays.

— Robert Hum

Broadcast TV company Sinclair is looking to sell more than 30% of its stations, people familiar with the matter told CNBC.

The company has already hired an investment bank, and a sale could include about 60 of Sinclair's stations, the people said. This includes a variety of network affiliate stations in markets across the country.

Shares of Sinclair were up 12% in afternoon trading.

— Jesse Pound

Equinix's stock moved nearly 12% higher Thursday after the company beat earnings estimates postmarket Wednesday.

The digital infrastructure company, a beneficiary of artificial intelligence, reported adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization of $992 million for the first quarter. Analysts polled by FactSet were anticipating $981.3 million.

"The rapidly evolving AI landscape continues to serve as a catalyst for economic expansion, creating immense potential for Equinix as our customers recognize the importance of digital initiatives in driving long-term revenue growth and operational efficiency," Equinix president and CEO Charles Meyers said in a statement.

Shares are down more than 4% this year.

— Michelle Fox

These are some of the names making notable moves on Thursday:

• Yeti — The drinkware maker popped 9.7% on the back of strong first-quarter financials.
• AMC Entertainment — The movie theater chain dropped 4.6% after saying first-quarter revenue and attendance declined from the same period a year earlier. 
• Roblox – The video game developer sank more than 21% after cutting its annual bookings guidance amid a decline in engagement. 

See the full list here.

— Alex Harring

SiTime shares popped more than 30% in early afternoon trading after the California-based fabless chipmaker posted a beat on quarterly results.

The company posted a loss of 8 cents per share for the period, while analysts polled by FactSet had called for a loss of 15 cents per share. Revenue came out at $33 million, higher than the $32 million expected by analysts. As of the end of the first quarter, SiTime had $517.3 million in total cash, cash equivalents and short-term investments.

The stock is up more than 3% for the year and has jumped roughly 47% over the past month.

— Pia Singh

A soft landing is still plausible despite some hiccups along the way, according to Goldman Sachs president and COO John Waldron.

"We're still subscribers to, generally speaking, a soft landing scenario," Waldron told CNBC on Thursday.

"I would say soft landing doesn't mean everything is perfect and it lands on a nice soft pillow," he added. "Sometimes you have fits and starts in a soft landing. I think that's what we're seeing right now."

— Brian Evans

Software engineering company Epam Systems declined 23.8% Thursday. Although the company posted a first-quarter earnings beat and revenue in-line with consensus estimates, shares tumbled on weak guidance for the second quarter.

Management also lowered its full-year guidance. The company cited a "challenging demand environment, which we now believe is unlikely to improve this year to the degree we expected one quarter ago."

— Hakyung Kim

The Dow Jones Industrial Average opened 45 points lower, or roughly 0.1%. The S&P 500 and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite gained nearly 0.1% and 0.2%, respectively.

— Pia Singh

Las Vegas-based PlayAGS, a maker of online casino games, agreed to be bought by Brightstar Capital Partners, a middle market private equity firm, for $12.50 a share in cash, a 40% premium to Wednesday's close. The deal values PlayAGS at $1.1 billion and is expected to close sometime in the second half.

— Scott Schnipper

Costco Wholesale shares edged up by 0.6% after the big box retailer posted April sales of $19.80 billion, a 7.1% rise from the $18.48 billion that were registered last year.

— Sarah Min

Here are some of the names making moves before the bell:

• Planet Fitness — Shares were down 2.8% after the gym franchise reported a revenue miss for its first quarter and issued disappointing guidance for the year.
• Tapestry  — The Coach parent lost nearly 3% after reporting a revenue miss for its third quarter. It also cut its full-year revenue estimate to over $6.6 billion from about $6.7 billion — and shy of the $6.74 billion expected from analysts polled by FactSet.
• Warner Bros. Discovery — The stock dropped 3.6% after the media company reported a 40 cents loss per share for its first quarter, greater than the LSEG consensus estimate of a 24 cent loss. Revenue also came in weaker than expected.

To see the full list, read here.

— Michelle Fox

Roblox shares plummeted nearly 29% after the video game developer slashed its guidance for the full year.

Roblox said it now expects bookings to range between $4 billion and $4.10 billion, versus a FactSet estimate of $4.23 billion. That's also below previous guidance of $4.14 to $4.28 billion.

Bookings rose 19% in the first quarter from a year ago, coming in at $923.8 million. That fell short of a FactSet estimate of $930.4 million.

— Samantha Subin

The Bank of England on Thursday kept its benchmark bank rate steady but indicated that much-anticipated interest rate cuts are on the horizon.

BOE Governor Andrew Bailey said inflation indicators "are moving in the right direction" though the bank's post-meeting statement noted that indicators "remain elevated" and upside risks remain. Bailey cautioned that a June cut is not certain.

The decision holds the benchmark Bank Rate at 5.25%, around the level where the U.S. Federal Reserve keeps its funds rate.

Markets are fully pricing in a quarter percentage point rate cut at the August meeting and an additional reduction later in the year. That comes as U.K. inflation is expected to plummet in April because of declining energy costs.

— Jeff Cox

Warner Bros. Discovery shares fell more than 7% in the premarket after the media giant posted weaker-than-expected results for the first quarter. The company lost 40 cents per share on revenue of $9.96 billion. Analysts polled by LSEG expected a loss of 24 cents per share on revenue of $10.23 billion.

The misses came even as Warner Bros. Discovery reported growth in its streaming services.

— Fred Imbert

Sony Pictures Entertainment and private-equity firm Apollo Global Management's plan to acquire Paramount Global including auctioning off the entertainment giant's different segments, according to the New York Times, citing three people familiar with the matter.

The plan to take over Paramount for $26 billion would include auctioning off CBS, cable channels and the Paramount Plus streaming service, the NYT reported. The movie studio Paramount Pictures would be combined with Sony's business.

Paramount's shares rose 1.3% in premarket trading.

Click here to read the original story.

— Yun Li

European equity markets were mixed early Thursday, as the recent flurry of earnings slowed and markets braced themselves for new messaging on the path of interest rates from the Bank of England.

The regional Stoxx 600 was down 0.06%, though major bourses were in the green, with Germany's DAX up 0.3%. The U.K.'s FTSE 100 and France's CAC 40 were slightly above the flatline.

— Jenni Reid

Mainland China's CSI 300 index rose nearly 1%, extending gains after opening 0.2% higher, as the country's customs agency released upbeat trade data.

While April imports topped estimates, exports rose in line with expectations.

China's imports climbed 8.4% in April, compared with Reuters poll estimate of a 4.8% year-on-year rise. Exports rose 1.5% year on year in April in U.S. dollar terms, meeting expectations.

Exports and imports had both declined year on year in March.

— Shreyashi Sanyal, Evelyn Cheng

Bank of Japan could raise interest rates faster than what the market expects, according to the summary of opinions from the central bank's monetary policy meeting in April.

The bank said that there was "high uncertainty" about economic activity and prices that were forecast in April.

The bank in April raised its inflation for fiscal 2024, forecasting inflation between 2.5% and 3%, up from 2.2% to 2.5% forecast in January.

The BOJ said "if this outlook will be realized, then in about two years, the price stability target of 2% will be achieved in a sustainable and stable manner," resulting in a future policy rate higher than what is being factored in by the market.

— Lim Hui Jie

Real wages in Japan fell 2.5% year on year in March, marking its 24th straight month of decline.

The 2.5% drop in March was faster than the 1.8% recorded in February, as rising costs outpaced nominal wages.

Nominal wages rose 0.6% compared to the same period last year, coming in at 301,193 yen ($1,938.66) and slowing from the 1.4% rise seen in February.

— Lim Hui Jie

Mitsubishi Motors Corp shares fell 5% in early trading after the Japanese automaker forecast lower earnings for the current fiscal year.

Mitsubishi on Wednesday said it expected a net profit of 144 billion yen ($926,784.06) in the fiscal year ending March 2025, which is about 7% lower than its 154.71 billion yen net profit last year.

Toyota Motor Corp on Wednesday forecast lower operating profit for its current financial year as well.

The broader Topix index was 0.4% higher on the day.

— Shreyashi Sanyal

Disney and Warner Bros. Discovery are teaming up to offer their streaming services in a bundle, the entertainment giants announced on Wednesday evening.

The bundle will bring together the companies' streaming services — Disney+, Hulu and Max — in one package this summer. The offering will be available on the ad-supported and commercial-free tiers.

Shares of WBD inched higher in after-hours trading, while Disney was little changed.

CNBC's Lillian Rizzo and Alex Sherman share the details on the new bundle here.

-Darla Mercado

Airbnb reported strong quarterly results and was very optimistic for the summer travel season. A big reason why – people are eagerly traveling for special events.

A large number —500,000 — guests booked Airbnb stays during the North American total eclipse last month. During the upcoming Summer Olympics, bookings in Paris are five times higher than the year-ago period. Meanwhile, cities in Germany are also seeing double the Airbnb bookings during the Euro Cup soccer tournament this summer.

This is more evidence that consumers are still spending strongly on travel and entertainment experiences despite ongoing concerns about the economy.

— Robert Hum

Stock futures were little changed on Wednesday, after the Dow Jones Industrial Average earned its sixth straight positive session.

Futures tied to the 30-stock Dow ticked down 6 points, or 0.02%. S&P 500 futures slipped 0.06% while Nasdaq 100 futures were 0.1% lower.

— Brian Evans