Dow closes 270 points higher, Nasdaq slips as investors rotate out of tech: Live updates

The Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P 500 finished in the green on Thursday.

The blue-chip index jumped 270.03 points, or 0.55%, to end the day at 49,266.11, while the broad-based S&P 500 inched up 0.01% to 6,921.46. The Nasdaq Composite, on the other hand, dropped 0.44% to finish at 23,480.02.

— Sean Conlon

In a Thursday note, Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of biopharmaceutical stock Nurix Therapeutics to an overweight rating from equal weight.

The bank also hiked its price target to $36 from $15, implying that shares could rally nearly 95% from here. The stock has slipped 5% in the last 12 months.

As a catalyst, analyst Terence Flynn pointed to a higher probability of success for bexobrutideg in combating chronic lymphocytic leukemia. The bank now forecasts a 60% probability of success versus 20% prior, given advancement into pivotal development. It also pulled forward its projected launch timing to 2028 from 2030.

Flynn also applauded Nurix's growing pipeline, including its development of NX-3911 together with Sanofi. NX-3911 is an oral degrader targeting STAT6, a protein that is important within immunologic diseases. The success of NX-3911 could represent a potential source of upside to Flynn's Nurix estimates, he wrote.

Meanwhile, another catalyst could come as the company expects data from an ongoing phase 1 trial of GS-6791, a degrader for IRAK4 that could be useful in immunology, including rheumatoid arthritis, Flynn added.

— Lisa Kailai Han

Several auto stocks rose after Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the department is implementing President Donald Trump's "No Tax on American Car Loan Interest," a tax deductible for interest paid on vehicle loans. 

Paid interest on new U.S.-built vehicles purchased from 2025 to 2028 is eligible for up to $10,000 annually in tax deductions, Bessent noted in an X post.

Ford and General Motors were up 5% and 3% respectively. Both car manufactures reached new 52 week highs. Honda, Stellantis and Toyota had modest gains.

"This deduction helps lower monthly costs and makes car ownership more affordable when families need it most," Bessent wrote. "The tax cut also supports American workers by applying solely to U.S.-assembled vehicles, strengthening domestic manufacturing."

— Itzel Franco

Value stocks outperformed growth on Thursday, as traders rotated out of tech. The iShares S&P 500 Value ETF (IVE) rallied 1%, while the iShares S&P 500 Growth ETF (IVW) slid 1%.

— Sarah Min

Citi Research upgraded Generac on Thursday, arguing that an unusually quiet year for natural disasters should not cast doubt on the power generator manufacturer's opportunities to grow.

The investment firm upgraded Generac to a buy rating. It has a $207 price target on shares, implying 46% upside.

"We would argue that an unusual year with no major hurricanes should not change the intrinsic value of that business," Citi analysts wrote in a note to clients dated January 8.

The analysts noted that Generac shares have declined about 25% since the third quarter of 2025, largely due to investor skepticism about the firm's opportunities in Washington D.C., in addition to weak power outage activity over the past 12 months.

— Liz Napolitano

Oppenheimer expects shares of Walmart to continue moving higher. The firm reiterated its overweight rating and raised its price target to $125 from $115, suggesting 11% upside from Wednesday's close.

"We believe management remains well positioned to deliver on the company's longer-term algorithm of ~4% sales growth and 4-8% operating income growth," analyst Rupesh Parikh said in a note Thursday. "Following significant multiple expansion in recent years, we would characterize the bull run as more in the middle to later innings."

Near term, the retailer could guide below Wall Street's estimates when it introduces its fiscal-year 2026 targets in mid-February, he said.

"We would take advantage of any dips associated with a likely initial "only" algorithm guide," Parikh wrote.

Walmart gained 23% in 2025 and is up about 1% so far this year.

— Michelle Fox

BMO Capital Markets analyst Andrew Strelzik upgraded Tyson to outperform from market perform, saying the food company is a buying opportunity on an improving margins outlook for beef.

"Our upgrade reflects our view that improving US industry beef margins driven by capacity rationalization will combine with solid chicken/pork fundamentals and operational improvements to create stronger earnings that is not reflected in shares," Strelzik wrote.

Key to the analyst's outlook is the potential for an earlier-than-expected recovery from losses of the last two years, as reductions in processing capacity drive industry margins higher, the note read. These include the upcoming closure of Tyson's Lexington, Nebraska beef plant.

The analyst's $67 target implies roughly 20% upside from Wednesday's close of $56.20 per share.

— Sarah Min

A number of factors are prompting Needham to step to the sidelines on Nike.

On Thursday, analyst Tom Nikic downgraded the name to hold from buy, citing weakness in China as one of the catalysts for more pressure on the stock.

This comes after shares plummeted more than 10% last month on the heels of the company saying that revenue in Greater China declined 17% in the second quarter to $1.42 billion.

"The turnaround is progressing slower than we expected, we're concerned about the recent level of sell-in to the North America wholesale channel, China appears highly problematic, and Street numbers for the next 12-24 months look too high to us," he wrote.

— Sean Conlon

Check out some of the stocks posting the biggest moves in midday trading:

• Alphabet – Shares of the Google parent jumped more than 1% and hit a new all-time high. Cantor Fitzgerald upgraded the Google and YouTube parent to overweight from neutral, citing the company's artificial intelligence capabilities. Google also announced the addition of more Gemini AI features to Gmail on Thursday.
• Costco — The warehouse retailer rose 5% after it posted higher year-over-year sales for December. The company reported net sales of $29.9 billion compared to $27.5 billion last year, an 8.5% increase.
• Karman – Shares of the aerospace company popped 10%. Karman will acquire maritime defense tech companies Seemann Composites and Materials Sciences in a deal worth about $220 million.

Read here for the full list.

— Michelle Fox, Darla Mercado

The iShares US Aerospace & Defense ETF sailed to a record high on Thursday, hitting 235.94 at the open.

The fund hit 235.94 at Thursday's open, marking its fifth intraday high in a row. That puts ITA on track for its best day since April 9, 2025, when the fund gained 9%.

ITA is up 5.7% since the start of the week. It's on pace for its fifth straight weekly gain.

— Liz Napolitano

Sandisk shares pulled back sharply on Thursday following a runaway rally.

Shares of the flash memory company slid more than 8% midday, on track for its worst day in close to a month. Still, Sandisk has surged more than 35% this year and is up around 800% since its spin off from Western Digital in February.

— Alex Harring

Roku shares were marginally higher in midday trading Thursday after Evercore ISI moved off the sidelines.

Analyst Robert Coolbrith upgraded shares to outperform from in line. Coolbrith hiked his price target by $40 to $140, which suggests 31.5% upside over Wednesday's close.

"We've underappreciated the company's fundamental momentum and rerating potential," Coolbrith wrote to clients "Assuming the macro and ad spend backdrop hold up (a view supported by our recent channel checks), our sensitivity analysis suggests fundamentals can remain robust even before catalysts layer in."

Roku can be aided by company-specific tailwinds such as the buildout of its ad manager and the creation of premium subscription channels. On top of that, he said significant TV industry events such as the Winter Olympics, World Cup and start of the U.S. midterm political cycle bode well.

— Alex Harring

Shares of Serve Robotics popped more than 17% on Thursday, bringing its gains so far this year to nearly 52%.

Wall Street has taken greater interest in the stock as a leader in "physical AI," particularly after Serve Robotics announced last month that it had successfully deployed over 2,000 autonomous delivery robots, forming the largest sidewalk delivery fleet in the U.S. Moreover, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang highlighted the company's food delivery robot during his keynote presentation at the CES 2026 show on Monday, pointing to an image of the Serve Robotics robot and stating, "I love those guys."

Although sentiment on Serve Robotics has improved on the Street, the stock's history has been volatile, partly because of Nvidia's on-and-off history with the company. The stock has more than tripled since going public in April 2024, but has been beaten down over the past year.

More on what top analysts forecast for the stock here.

— Pia Singh

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Thursday pressed the administration's desire for lower interest rates, saying they are the key to future economic growth.

In a speech he will deliver before the Economic Club of Minnesota, Bessent backed President Donald Trump's economic agenda and said easier monetary policy will help pave the way for gains ahead.

"Cutting interest rates will have a tangible impact on the lives of every Minnesotan," he said, according to excerpts obtained from a source in the administration. "It is the only ingredient missing for even stronger economic growth. Which is why the Fed should not delay." Read more.

— Jeff Cox

The Russell 2000 small-cap index rose 0.8% and reached a new all-time high in morning trading, its first since Dec. 12.

The move was led by Neogen, Serve Robotics, Kratos, Red Cat and Bloom Energy, all of which were up double digits on the day.

— Nick Wells, Sean Conlon

The U.S. trade deficit six months into President Donald Trump's tariffs tumbled to its lowest level since mid-2009, the Commerce Department reported Thursday.

With exports rising and imports falling, the trade shortfall was just $29.4 billion for October, down 39% from the prior month. Exports increased 2.6% while imports slipped 3.2%.

The total was the lowest since the second quarter of 2009 as the U.S. was just coming out of the financial crisis and the Great Recession.

To be sure, the year-to-date deficit still was 7.7% higher than the same period in 2024.

— Jeff Cox

U.S. equities began Thursday's session in negative territory.

The S&P 500 dropped 0.1% just after the opening bell, while the Nasdaq Composite declined 0.2%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average slid 154 points, or 0.3%.

— Sean Conlon

Here are some of the names moving before the bell:

• Defense stocks — Defense stocks soared after President Donald Trump called for a $1.5 trillion defense budget of $1.5 trillion. Lockheed Martin and L3Harris Technologies rallied 8%, while Northrop Grumman jumped 8.4%. General Dynamics gained 6.6% and RTX gained rose nearly 5%.
• Applied Digital — Shares climbed about 5% following the company's earnings and revenue beat for its fiscal second quarter. Applied Digital also said it is in advanced discussion with another investment-grade hyperscaler across multiple regions.
• Gap — The retailer moved 4% higher on following an upgrade to buy at UBS, which said it expects an inflection in sales and earnings growth.
• Alcoa — The aluminum company shed 3.4% on the back of a downgrade at JPMorgan to underweight. The firm pointed to uncertainty around tariffs and the stocks' relative valuation.

To read more premarket movers, read the full story here.

— Michelle Fox

Productivity soared in the third quarter, pushing down labor costs dramatically while the level of layoffs held low, according to economic data released Thursday.

Nonfarm productivity, a measure of real output divided by numbers worked, jumped 4.9% during the July-through-September period, in line with expectations, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. However, unit labor costs, which measure productivity against compensation, tumbled 1.9%, far more than the Dow Jones consensus estimate for a 0.4% decline.

In a separate report, the Labor Department reported that initial unemployment claims for the week ended Jan. 3 totaled a seasonally adjusted 208,000, an increase of 8,000 from the prior period but just below the estimate for 210,000.

Continuing claims, which run a week behind, rose by 56,000 to 1.91 million.

— Jeff Cox

JPMorgan has valuation concerns following a sharp rally in shares of Alcoa.

The bank downgraded the aluminum producer to an underweight rating from neutral. Analyst Bill Peterson did lift his price target to $50 per share from $45, but that implies about 20% downside from Wednesday's close.

The downgrade comes following a period of outperformance for the company. Shares of Alcoa have surged 74% over the past year.

CNBC Pro subscribers can read more here.

— Lisa Kailai Han

Layoff announcements in December hit their lowest level since July 2024, according to employment consulting firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas.

U.S. employers listed 35,553 cuts for the month, the firm reported Thursday, the lowest total since July 2024 and a 50% slide from November. Even with the low number, it was the worst fourth quarter for layoffs since 2008.

— Jeff Cox

Global defense stocks rallied on Thursday, extending gains after U.S. President Donald Trump called for a $1.5 trillion defense budget in 2027.

"After the long and difficult negotiations with Senators, Congressmen, Secretaries, and other Political Representatives, I have determined that, for the Good of our Country, especially in these very troubled and dangerous times, our Military Budget for the year 2027 should not be $1 Trillion Dollars, rather $1.5 Trillion Dollars," he wrote in a TruthSocial post late Wednesday.

"This will allow us to build the "Dream Military" that we have long been entitled to, and, more importantly, that will keep us SAFE and SECURE, regardless of foe."

Northrop Grumman gained 6.8% in premarket trade on Thursday, Lockheed Martin was last seen 6.7% higher, RTX advanced 5.4%, and Kratos Defense was up 6.6%. Read more.

— Tasmin Lockwood

Crude prices rebounded Thursday after sliding in the previous session on President Donald Trump's comments that interim authorities in Venezuela will be turning over as much as 50 million barrels of oil to the U.S., prompting concerns over increasing oil supply.

West Texas Intermediate futures climbed 1.5%, or 84 cents, to $56.83 per barrel. Brent crude traded higher by 87 points, or 1.5%, to $60.83.

— Fred Imbert

Google parent Alphabet just overtook Apple's market capitalization for the first time since 2019.

Alphabet's market cap closed at $3.888 trillion on Wednesday after shares of the company rose by about 2.4% on Wednesday, closing at $321.98 per share. Apple's market cap closed Wednesday at $3.847 trillion as shares slid 0.8% in the session.

Alphabet ended last year as the best-performing stock in the "Magnificent Seven." Investors grew optimistic about the company's artificial intelligence strategy after its Gemini 3 AI model release in November and increased demand for its Tensor Processing Units. Investors have criticized Apple for taking a less head-on approach in the AI race.

— Pia Singh

U.S. President Donald Trump said Wednesday that Venezuela will purchase American products with revenue from its oil sales.

"I have just been informed that Venezuela is going to be purchasing ONLY American Made Products, with the money they receive from our new Oil Deal," Trump said in a post his social media platform Truth Social.

The president said the purchases will include agricultural products, medicine, medical devices and equipment to improve Venezuela's grid and energy facilities. Trump said Tuesday that Venezuela would turn over 30 million to 50 million barrels of oil to the U.S. after the overthrow of President Nicolas Maduro. 

Energy Secretary Chris Wright said Wednesday that the U.S. will control Venezuela's oil sales indefinitely. More on this here.

— Spencer Kimball

Shortly after 6 p.m. ET on Wednesday, futures tied to the S&P 500 and Nasdaq-100 futures each added less than 0.1%. Futures tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 10 points, or 0.02%.

— Pia Singh