The three major averages finished with gains on Thursday.

The S&P 500 rose 0.62% to close at 6,824.66, while the Nasdaq Composite advanced 0.83% to end at 22,822.42. The Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 275.88 points, or 0.58%, to 48,185.80.

— Sean Conlon

RBC is bullish on BridgeBio Pharma, initiating coverage on the stock with an outperform rating on Wednesday.

While the stock has tripled since the approval of its heart disease drug Attruby in November 2022, the firm believes it has more room to run. Its $100 price target suggests about 35% upside from Wednesday's close.

"Attruby is off to a fantastic start (annualizing ~$600m just a year post approval, and we are seeing a recent 'second wave' of acceleration in scripts) and our proprietary survey of 40 cardiologists clearly suggests that we are still in the early innings of uptake," analyst Luca Issi said in a note to clients.

RBC's intellectual property lawyer also thinks it is unlikely a generic will enter the market any time soon. Even when it happens, the ultimate impact may end up being more manageable than feared, Issi said.

In addition, BridgeBio's pipeline is largely underappreciated and could add another $2 billion in peak revenue, he said.

— Michelle Fox

After the release of sticky inflation data Thursday, more attention will be placed by investors on a couple of aspects of the U.S. economy, according to Bret Kenwell, eToro U.S. investment and options analyst.

"In the weeks and months ahead, investors really need to see stability in the labor market and some reassurance from corporate earnings," he said. "If management teams tell a constructive story about resilient consumers and steady demand, investors may breathe a sigh of relief and refocus on the fundamentals. That is, of course, assuming we avoid a major setback on the geopolitical front."

— Sean Conlon

Short sellers betting against CoreWeave are racking up steep losses as a recent rally squeezes bearish positions.

About 59 million shares remain sold short, or roughly 18.4% of the float, even after a reduction of about 1 million shares month-to-date, according to S3 Partners. The stock's gains in recent days have pushed mark-to-market losses for short sellers to roughly $955 million so far this year, data from S3 showed.

Shares of CoreWeave have climbed more than 18% this month, bringing its 2026 gains to 28%.

Meta Platforms deepens its commitment to AI infrastructure, agreeing to spend an additional $21 billion with CoreWeave on top of a prior $14.2 billion deal. CoreWeave also said Thursday it plans to raise $3 billion in fresh debt.

— Yun Li

Carlyle's flagship private-credit fund was hit with a surge of redemption requests at a rate of 15.7%, The Wall Street Journal reported.

The Carlyle Tactical Private Credit Fund, with $7 billion in assets, has a redemption request limit of 5%. This is three times below current redemption request levels.

This is just one of the private credit funds hit by fears around AI and software sectors. Alternative asset management firm Blue Owl also experienced high redemption requests on its primary fund. It announced on April 2 that its OCIC fund hit redemption levels of 29.1% and limited rates to 5%.

Shares of Carlyle shed 1%.

— Itzel Franco

Correction: An earlier version of this blog post misstated the size of CTAC relative to the rest of Carlyle's portfolio.

The stock market is near its bottom, according to Jenny Harrington, the CEO of Gilman Hill Asset Management, and Josh Brown, CEO of Ritholtz Wealth Management.

The investors on CNBC's Halftime Report cited an improved backdrop and strong consumer sentiment as signs of a market correction.

"I wouldn't suggest to you the bottom is definitely in. But if I had to bet one way or the other, I would bet we have substantially digested a lot of the negatives," Brown said.

Harrington also said that market conditions have improved. "I agree with Josh [Brown] that the bottom may not be in but I also think that our worst case scenario is a lot less bad than it used to be," Harrington noted.

— Itzel Franco

After more than doubling already in 2026, Truist thinks it might be time to hold off on buying more Tronox. 

The bank downgraded the titanium product producer to hold from buy, though hiked its price target to $9, which indicates a 1% fall from Wednesday's close. While higher commodity pricing has helped lead the 20% higher since the start of the U.S.-Iran war, analyst Peter Osterland wrote in a Thursday note investors may be ignoring risks for the company.

"We do see elevated risk that cost pressure and less favorable geographic mix has the potential to impact TROX earnings and cash flows near-term," Osterland wrote. "While we view TROX' higher degree of vertical integration as an advantage under "normalized" conditions we do see potential for this to represent a relative disadvantage near-term due to higher freight and logistics costs."

Shares of Tronox were down more than 5% in early afternoon trading Thursday.

— Davis Giangiulio

Shares of Hormel Foods were more than 2% lower in midday trading Thursday after JPMorgan lowered its rating on the stock, citing "mounting" cost pressures.

The firm downgraded Hormel Foods to neutral from overweight and lowered its price target to $23 from $28. That implies just more than 6% upside from its previous closing price.

This comes as the stock has fallen more than 11% in the last month and more than 28% in the past year.

"Relative to most of its lower growth large cap peers, we see a clearer path to earnings growth for HRL and believe the stock's premium valuation on P/E and EV/EBITDA is justified by its superior balance sheet," analyst Thomas Palmer wrote in a note.

"That said, we think earnings growth could face pressure from persistently higher pork prices (due to supply constraints), rising freight costs, continued volume declines (partially in response to price increases), and the recent divestiture of the whole turkey business (which could impact FY27)," the analyst continued.

— Sean Conlon

March sales suggest Costco's share gains may be accelerating, according to Evercore ISI.

The warehouse club is increasing its sales and traffic growth, maintaining competitive membership fees despite rivals like Sam's Club increasing theirs, and delivering strong earnings with potential special dividends over the next 18 months, analyst Greg Melich pointed out in a Thursday note.

"Costco continues to differentiate via its share gaining results month after month," he said. "Credit Costco for solid supply chain/in store execution and compelling merchandising to differentiate and win profitable share for the long term as mega cap defensive growth is a rarity amidst a choppy U.S. retail sales backdrop. The multiple is recovering from recent pullback, yet remains below the top of its S&P premium band."

— Tanaya Macheel

MSBT registered about $34 million in trading volume on Wednesday, its market debut.

The Morgan Stanley Bitcoin Trust is entering a crowded market but it sets the stage for new distribution and fee competition, given its ability to leverage its large network of financial advisors, plus lower pricing, to challenge incumbents. The fund carries a 0.14% fee, which is the lowest of its peers. BlackRock's iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT), by comparison, charges 0.25%.

IBIT logged $1 billion in volume on its first day of trading in 2024, benefitting from pent-up demand after a decade of waiting for SEC approval of spot bitcoin ETFs – and at a time of peak hype – that drove heavy inflows. The fund, which holds about $56 billion in assets today, faces pressure from MSBT's entry.

Investors will be looking for sustained flows from MSBT in the coming weeks as well as advisor adoption and signs of it gaining share from rival funds.

— Tanaya Macheel

Oil prices rose Thursday as the market realized Iran was still controlling access to the Strait of Hormuz despite a two-week ceasefire agreement with the U.S.

U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures for May rose more than 6% to $100.27 per barrel by 9:51 a.m. ET. International benchmark Brent crude futures for June delivery added nearly 4% to $98.26. Read more.

— Lee Ying Shan and Sam Meredith

The three major averages moved lower on Thursday morning.

The S&P 500 dropped 0.2% shortly after the opening bell, while the Nasdaq Composite hovered around the flatline. The Dow Jones Industrial Average shed 204 points, or 0.4%.

— Sean Conlon

The core personal consumption expenditures price index showed a 3% expansion for February, matching expectations. The headline inflation measure increased 2.8%, also matching a Dow Jones consensus.

— Fred Imbert

Shares of CoreWeave rose more than 3% in premarket trading on Thursday after the AI cloud computing company announced an expanded infrastructure deal with Meta Platforms, in which it will provide Meta $21 billion in cloud capacity through 2032.

"The dedicated capacity will be deployed across multiple locations and will include some of the initial deployments of the NVIDIA Vera Rubin platform. This distributed approach is designed to optimize performance, resilience, and scalability for Meta's AI operations," CoreWeave said in a release.

— Fred Imbert

Check out the companies making the biggest moves in premarket trading:

• Datadog — The software company rose 2.3% following an upgrade to buy from neutral at Guggenheim. The firm said it believes Datadog is the primarily beneficiary of artificial intelligence-driven growth in data volumes and information technology complexity.
• Constellation Brands — The Modelo and Corona maker slipped less than 1% after it withdrew its 2028 guidance due to uncertainty and reported "subdued" demand. Its full-year earnings guidance fell short of expectations, while its fourth-quarter results came in above the Street's estimates.
• Airlines — Rising oil price sent shares of airliners lower. Alaska Air dropped roughly 2%, while United Airlines, American Airlines and Delta Air Lines shed 1%.

Read here for the full list.

— Michelle Fox

West Texas Intermediate futures popped 5.4% to around $99.50 per barrel. International Brent traded 4% higher at $98.54.

— Fred Imbert

Europe's markets hit reverse on Thursday following the previous session's gains, with the pan-European Stoxx 600 falling almost 0.8%.

Most major bourses and regional sectors were in negative territory, with Germany's DAX hit hardest, falling about 1.3%, as travel stocks including Lufthansa and Tui gave up Wednesday's gains.

Oil and gas, utilities and chemicals sectors generated positive returns in early dealmaking.

— Hugh Leask

Asia-Pacific markets fell Thursday, after Iran's parliamentary speaker charged the U.S. of breaching the terms of their two-week ceasefire agreement.

Japan's Nikkei 225 fell 0.73% to close at 55,895.32, while the Topix dropped 0.90% to 3,741.47.

South Korea's Kospi lost 1.61% to finish at 5,778.01, while the small-cap Kosdaq declined 1.27% to 1,076.

Mainland China's CSI 300 fell 0.64% to 4,566.22 and Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index was down 0.71% as of its last hour of trade.

India's Nifty 50 was 0.89% lower, and the 30-stock index BSE Sensex was down 0.96% as of 4:00 a.m. ET. On Wednesday, the country's central bank warned that the Iran war had raised inflation worries while also flagging risks to economic growth.

Australia's S&P/ASX 200 managed to buck the wider trend, closing 0.24% higher at 8,973.2.

— Vinay Dwivedi

Asia-Pacific markets traded lower Thursday, as investors fret over news that Iran's parliamentary speaker charged the U.S. with breaching the terms of the two-week ceasefire agreement.

On Wednesday, U.S. President Donald Trump announced a "double sided" ceasefire, more than a month into a war with Iran.

The ceasefire was contingent on Iran reopening the Strait of Hormuz. Tehran had said that it would stop "defensive" operations if attacks on the country were halted, according to a statement from Iran's Foreign Minister. Israel has also agreed to the ceasefire, media reports said.

Iran's parliamentary speaker, Mohammed Bagher Ghalibaf, subsequently accused the U.S. of violating the ceasefire deal. The violations are the denial of the Islamic Republic's right to enrich uranium and Israel's continued attacks on Lebanon, a drone's entry into Iranian airspace, he said.

South Korea's Kospi was down 1.41% while the small-cap Kosdaq declined 1.61%. Japan's Nikkei 225 fell by 0.76%, while the Topix was 0.75% lower. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 slipped 0.10%.

China's CSI 300 fell 0.72%, tracking broad losses among other Asian markets. Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index declined 0.63%.

Oil futures extended gains. The West Texas Intermediate futures for May rose 3.80% to $97.96 per barrel by 9:06 p.m. ET. International benchmark Brent June futures gained 2.88% to $97.48 per barrel.

— Justina Lee

The Dow Jones Transportation Average surged to fresh records Wednesday as stocks jumped on a relief rally.

The Dow Transports gained 3.23% for its best daily performance since August 2025 and its sixth straight winning day. The index hit an intraday all-time high during the session and closed at a record.

The index's constituents include Delta Air Lines, which gained almost 4% in Wednesday's trading, and Alaska Air, which posted an 8% gain.

— Darla Mercado and Chris Hayes

The energy sector was the only of the 11 GICS sectors to fall on Wednesday.

Energy stocks ended the day 3.66% lower.

On the other hand, gains were led by industrials, communication services and materials names. All three sectors rose more than 3% on Wednesday.

— Lisa Kailai Han

Shares of Constellation Brands were last trading 1% lower on Wednesday evening after the beer producer reported its fourth-quarter results.

In its last quarter, Constellation Brands reported both a top- and bottom-line beat.

But the stock fell after Constellation's forward guidance failed to meet analysts' expectations. The company expects its full-year adjusted earnings to come in between $11.20 to $11.90 per share. Analysts polled by LSEG had estimated $12.36 per share.

— Lisa Kailai Han

Stock futures traded near flat on Wednesday night.

Dow futures were trading slightly below flat shortly after 6 p.m. ET, as were S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 futures.

— Lisa Kailai Han