The three major averages closed in the green on Wednesday.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 305.43 points, or 0.66%, to end at 46,429.49, while the S&P 500 climbed 0.54% to 6,591.90. The Nasdaq Composite increased 0.77% to 21,929.83.

— Sean Conlon

Micron Technology shares lost almost 4% in afternoon trading on Wednesday, putting the stock on track for its fifth consecutive day of losses.

Shares have been under pressure on the heels of the company's stellar earnings results last week as investors weigh its growing capital expenditure profile and its gross margins.

Week to date, shares have fallen 10%. However, stock has still seen an impressive run over the past year, surging more than 300% in that period.

— Sean Conlon and Lola Murti

JetBlue shares popped 18%, shortly after Semafor reported that the airline has engaged with advisors to explore a potential merger with a competitor.

The unprofitable airline is speaking with consultants to understand the anti-trust scrutiny it could face if it attempts to strike a deal with United Airlines, Alaska Air Group or Southwest Airlines, Semafor reported, citing people familiar with the matter.

The M&A planning is in its early stages, and Jet Blue may decide not to pursue a deal, sources told the publication.

— Liz Napolitano

Retail investors aren't getting off the sidelines as the stock's market bounce continues.

Everyday investors net sold $5.5 million of U.S.-listed single stocks in the first two hours of Wednesday trading, according to VandaTrack analyst Ruta Prieskienyte. That matches up with trading activity seen on Monday, Prieskienyte said.

"The retail bid is notably absent today," Prieskienyte wrote to clients Wednesday.

Nvidia has been the most sold stock by mom-and-pop traders on Wednesday despite being a top pick more broadly over the last two weeks, Prieskienyte said. That's despite the artificial intelligence giant's shares rising more than 2% on Wednesday.

"Retail is not chasing the ceasefire hope driven bounce and is instead trimming exposure in its most crowded AI winner," Prieskienyte said.

— Alex Harring

While stocks were higher on Wednesday, investors should still brace for potential volatility as further developments regarding the Iran war ensue.

The market is "begging for some clarity on the direction the war is heading in," Keith Buchanan, senior portfolio manager at Globalt Investments, said, noting that the interest rate outlook for the Federal Reserve is "most vulnerable" if the war drags on.

"If oil is higher for longer, then I think it comes all back to inflation expectations and the Fed, and if restrictive policy is in place for a very long time, that's the underpinnings of a lot of optimism that was built into the market coming into this year," he continued.

— Sean Conlon

On Wednesday, eight stocks in the S&P 500 traded at new 52-week highs.

Tickers that hit this milestone included:

• Halliburton trading at levels not seen since April 2024
• GE Vernova trading at all-time highs back to its spin-off from GE in April 2024
• Akamai Technologies trading at levels not seen since February 2024
• Ciena Corp trading at levels not seen since May 2001
• Dell Technologies trading at all-time highs back to its relisting in December 2018
• Jabil trading at all-time highs back to its IPO in April 1993
• Corteva trading at all-time highs back to its spin-off from DowDuPont in May 2019
• Dow Inc trading at levels not seen since February 2025 

21 stocks in the index traded at new 52-week lows including DoorDash, Domino's Pizza, General Mills, Fiserv, Automatic Data Processing, Cintas, Adobe, Gen Digital and CoStar Group.

— Lisa Kailai Han and Christopher Hayes

Iran rejected a U.S. ceasefire offer and has laid out its own list of conditions for ending the war, Iranian state media reported Wednesday.

State broadcaster Press TV, citing a senior political-security official with knowledge of the details of the proposal, reported that Iran's five-point counteroffer would give Tehran control over the Strait of Hormuz.

That may be a nonstarter for the U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday floated the possibility that the crucial oil-shipping route could be controlled jointly by "me and the ayatollah."

Iran also seeks war-related reparations, the official told the state news outlet. Read more.

— Dan Mangan and Kevin Breuninger

Biotech company Thermo Fisher Scientific completed an acquisition of Clario Holdings on Tuesday that "reinforces" it as a beneficiary of artificial intelligence, according to Bank of America.

Analyst Michael Ryskin reiterated a buy rating and maintained price target of $700 on Thermo Fisher Scientific. This implies a 42% increase from Tuesday's close.

The $8.875 billion all-cash transaction means Thermo Fisher Scientific will integrate Clario's AI-powered data collection to expedite the trial process required for drug approvals. "Clario's addition positions [Thermo Fisher Scientific] among the platforms structurally aligned with where AI-enabled value is emerging," Ryskin wrote.

"Clario's digital endpoint infrastructure and curated evidence datasets enhance [Thermo Fisher Scientific's] ability to capture AI‑driven productivity gains, placing the company on the advantaged side of the narrative."

— Itzel Franco

Investors should scoop up shares of Arm Holdings after the company unveiled its first in-house central processing unit chip amid the artificial intelligence data center boom, according to Raymond James. 

The investment firm upgraded Arm to outperform from market perform. It also set a $166 price target on shares, suggesting 23% upside.

"We upgrade Arm to Outperform following the company's announced business model shift to include a fabless semiconductor element," analyst Simon Leopold said Wednesday in a note. "In our assumption of coverage, we advocated for Arm to go down this path because it would yield strong operating profit, aid growth and add a new dimension to the strategy."

CNBC Pro subscribers can read more here.

— Liz Napolitano

U.S. equities began Wednesday's session solidly in positive territory.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 548 points, or 1.2%. The S&P 500 rose 1%, while the Nasdaq Composite jumped 1.1%.

— Sean Conlon

Paychex shares rose about 4% in premarket trading on Wednesday after the company's fiscal third-quarter results came in better than expected.

The company posted adjusted earnings of $1.71 per share on revenue of $1.81 billion for the period, while analysts polled by FactSet had penciled in $1.67 in earnings per share and $1.78 billion in revenue.

Paychex also reaffirmed its earnings and revenue growth for the full year.

— Sean Conlon

Import prices rose 1.3% in February, more than expected and the biggest monthly gain in nearly four years as a notable increase in nonfuel goods costs suggested underlying pressures were building ahead of the energy spike, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Wednesday.

Along with the spike in import costs, export prices jumped 1.5%, well ahead of the 0.6% increase in January. Economists had been looking for import prices to rise just 0.6%. Together the data points to pipeline inflation ahead as Federal Reserve officials contemplate their next move on interest rates.

Import prices were last this high in March 2022, just a few months before the consumer price index annual inflation rate peaked above 9% as the Fed was raising benchmark interest rates.

— Jeff Cox

Shares of Chewy jumped more than 7% in the premarket on Wednesday after the company's adjusted EBITDA for the fourth quarter came in better than expected and its net sales guidance for the first quarter and full year were upbeat.

In the fourth quarter, Chewy posted adjusted EBITDA of $162.3 million, above the $161 million that analysts polled by FactSet were expecting. Revenue for the period, however, came up short, as the company recorded $3.26 billion compared to the consensus estimate of $3.27 billion.

Looking ahead, the company sees net sales coming in between $3.33 billion and $3.36 billion for the first quarter, while analysts anticipated $3.27 billion, per FactSet. Net sales for the full year is expected to be between $13.60 billion and $13.75 billion, above the $13.58 billion expected.

— Sean Conlon

Check out the companies making the biggest moves premarket:

• Arm — The chipmaker popped 13% after it unveiled its first in-house chip, saying it would generate $15 billion in revenue by 2031.
• EchoStar — Shares jumped nearly 7% after The Information reported that SpaceX could file for an IPO as soon as this week. The satellite communications provider has about a 3% stake in the Elon Musk-led company.
• Chewy — The pet product and service company jumped nearly 7% after delivering its fourth quarter report. It reported adjusted EBITDA that beat a FactSet consensus estimate but revenue that was slightly under expectations.

Read here for the full list.

— Davis Giangiulio

Merck agreed to buy Terns Pharmaceuticals for $53 per share in cash, valuing the biopharma company at $6.7 billion. The deal is expected to close in the second quarter and represents a 6% premium to Terns' closing level on Tuesday.

Terns shares gained 5%, while Merck climbed 0.4%.

— Fred Imbert

In recent days, economists have pulled up their risk assessments of a U.S. contraction amid heightened uncertainty over geopolitical risk and a labor market that for the past year has shown strains over the past year.

Moody's Analytics' model has raised its recession outlook for the next 12 months to 48.6%. Goldman Sachs boosted its estimate to 30%. Wilmington Trust has the odds at 45%, while EY Parthenon has it at 40%, with the caveat that "those odds could rapidly rise in the event of a more prolonged or severe Middle East conflict."

In normal times, the risk for a recession in any given 12-months span is around 20%. So while the current predictions are hardly certainties, they signify elevated risk.

Read more here.

— Jeff Cox

Asia-Pacific markets closed higher on Wednesday after U.S. President Donald Trump suggested potential talks with Iran, lifting investor sentiment, even as Tehran denies any direct negotiations with Washington.

Speaking at the Oval Office on Tuesday, Trump said the U.S. and Iran were "in negotiations right now" and suggested Tehran was keen to strike a peace deal, adding he had stepped back from threats to target Iranian energy infrastructure "based on the fact we're negotiating."

South Korea's Kospi jumped 1.59% to end at 5,642.21 while the small-cap Kosdaq was 3.40% higher, ending the trading day at 1,159.55.

Australia's S&P/ASX 200 rose 1.85% to close at 8,534.3.

Japan's Nikkei 225 gained 2.87% to 53,749.61, while the Topix added 2.57% to 3,650.99.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng index added 1.09%, while the CSI 300 gained 1.4% to 4,537.47.

— Lee Ying Shan

South Korea stocks led regional gains Wednesday as comments from U.S. President Donald Trump pointing to potential talks with Iran lifted sentiment, even as Tehran has denied any direct negotiations with Washington.

Speaking at the Oval Office on Tuesday, Trump said the U.S. and Iran were "in negotiations right now" and suggested Tehran was keen to strike a peace deal, adding he had stepped back from threats to target Iranian energy infrastructure "based on the fact we're negotiating."

South Korea's Kospi jumped 3%, while the small-cap Kosdaq was 3.18% higher.

Australia's S&P/ASX 200 rose 2%.

Japan's Nikkei 225 gained 2.88%, while the Topix added 2.4%.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng index added 1.14%, while the CSI 300 rose 0.67%.

Oil prices were lower in early Asia trading hours.

International benchmark Brent crude futures fell around 6% to $98.31 per barrel, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate futures were also down 5% at $87.65 per barrel.

— Lee Ying Shan

ConocoPhillips has no plans to immediately return to Venezuela, said CEO Ryan Lance, speaking at S&P Global's CERAWeek conference in Houston, Texas.

"They have a long ways to go to make make the country competitive globally to attract the kinds of billions of dollars of investments that are going to be required," Lance said.

Among the concerns he cited are the need for physical security and contract guarantees as well as policy durablity in both Venezuela and the U.S.

"You need need policy durability — not only the Venezuelan side but the U.S. side," Lance said. "What happens when another administration comes in? How are they going to view Venezuela?"

Conoco was among the companies that had their assets seized by President Hugo Chavez in 2007, and the company would want to recover some the $12 billion it is owed from the expropriation of its assets.

— Spencer Kimball

On Tuesday, seven of the 11 GICS sectors ended the session higher.

The energy sector, up 2.05%, led the gains.

On the other hand, communication services stocks were the laggard. The sector lost 2.50%, posting its worst daily performance since April 10, 2025, when it fell 4.13%.

— Lisa Kailai Han and Christopher Hayes

These are the stocks making the biggest moves in after-hours trading:

• KB Home — Shares fell nearly 5% after the homebuilder reported fiscal first-quarter earnings of 52 cents per share, coming below the 55 cents per share analysts polled by LSEG had anticipated. The company's $1.08 billion revenue also fell below the consensus estimate of $1.10 billion. Additionally, KB Home forecast current-quarter housing revenue and deliveries that missed StreetAccount estimates.
• GameStop — The video game retailer was last trading marginally lower after reporting fiscal fourth-quarter revenue of $1.10 billion versus $1.28 billion from a year ago. Its adjusted earnings of 49 cents exceeded the 30 cents it had earned this time one year ago.
• Braze — Shares surged 19% after the cloud-based software company reported fourth-quarter revenue of $205.2 million, while analysts polled by FactSet had expected $198.2 million. Braze also called for current quarter revenue that exceeded the Street's estimate. However, its fourth-quarter adjusted earnings of 10 cents per share came in below the consensus expectation of 14 cents per share.

— Lisa Kailai Han

Stock futures opened higher on Tuesday night.

Dow futures added 317 points, or 0.7%, shortly after 6 p.m. ET. S&P 500 futures rose 0.7%, while Nasdaq 100 futures climbed 0.9%.

— Lisa Kailai Han