U.S. equities finished Wednesday's session in positive territory.

The S&P 500 gained 1.08% to end the day at 7,432.97, while the Nasdaq Composite advanced 1.54% to 26,270.36. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 645.47 points, or 1.31%, to 50,009.35.

— Sean Conlon

Piper Sandler is bullish on Warby Parker after the eyeglass company announced its upcoming launch of artificial-intelligence glasses. In fact, Warby Parker remains its "favorite consumer AI play," analyst Anna Andreeva said in a note on Tuesday.

The glasses, in partnership with Google and Samsung, will launch this fall and will include a range of prescription and lens options, Andreeva pointed out.

"We view the Fall rollout of multiple styles (as opposed to one) as a positive, with the item in time to catch both back to school and Holiday demand," she wrote.

The stock fell 11% on the news given the lack of clarity around pricing, exact launch date and additional styles that may be offered, she added.

Andreeva reiterated her overweight rating and $32 price target, which implies 25% upside from Tuesday's close.

— Michelle Fox

The U.S. dollar has formed a golden cross pattern that suggests the greenback is in for a summer rally, according to Bank of America Securities.

A golden cross signal is a bullish pattern that occurs when a short-term moving average crosses above its long-term moving average. It was triggered in the U.S. Dollar Index, which measures the strength of the dollar against a basket of six currencies, on April 7 when it closed at 99.86.

"Historically, these signals carry a bullish trend bias," Paul Ciana, technical strategist at Bank of America Securities, wrote on Wednesday.

A golden cross signal has happened 39 times since 1971, Ciana wrote. He added that the dollar index has been higher 20-70 trading days later 66-79% of the time, which would be in May through July.

— Sarah Min

UBS is bullish on Packaging Corporation of America, expecting the $50/ton June price hike to stick due to improved demand, tight supply and higher costs.

UBS raised the stock to buy from neutral. They also raised the price target to $248, representing 22% upside from shares traded on Tuesday.

PKG's volumes have steadily outperformed, with margins reaching industry highs. As the third-largest producer of containerboard packaging solutions in North America, PKG's own bookings grew 4.5% in April, and recent conversations with private producers have only provided a more positive outlook.

UBS research shows that any downside risk from a prolonged Iran war remains limited.

— Deena Zaidi

AI hardware maker Nvidia is reporting earnings on Wednesday afternoon, and analysts at William Blair are keeping an eye on performance related to CPUs, accelerators and optics, among other factors.

On CPUs, investors want information on rack revenues, specifically regarding the "multibillion opportunity" in the segment referenced at the GTC conference in March, analyst Sebastien Naji at Blair said.

On accelerators, following the acquisition of Groq in December, LPX attach rates will be in focus. "With management pointing to potential attach rate of 25% for LPX chips, investors will look for progress on that front," Naji said.

On optics, it's about how fast these systems are being integrated into Nvidia's product lines to relieve congestion. "We expect that the timeline for [co-packaged optics] adoption will match what was presented in March," Naji said.

He also mentioned networking, storage and China sales as other factors in the mix.

— Tobias Burns

A majority of Federal Reserve officials see interest rate increases as a necessity if the Iran war continues to drive inflation, according to meeting minutes released Wednesday.

"A majority of participants highlighted, however, that some policy firming would likely become appropriate if inflation were to continue to run persistently above 2 percent," the minutes read.

— Alex Harring and Jeff Cox

The Wall Street Journal, citing people familiar with the matter, reported ChatGPT-maker OpenAI has been working with bankers to prepare to file for an initial public offering in the coming days or weeks.

Shares of Microsoft did not respond to the news. Microsoft has a sizable stake in the for-profit arm of the AI firm that's valued at $135 billion, or roughly 27% of the company on an as-converted diluted basis.

— Sarah Min

Here are the companies making headlines in midday trading:

• Intuit – The maker of TurboTax software saw shares tumble more than 3% after Reuters reported that Intuit will be slashing about 17% of its workforce, or roughly 3,000 employees.
• Hasbro – The toy company and maker of the "Magic: The Gathering" game saw shares drop more than 8%. Hasbro reaffirmed its call for full-year adjusted EBITDA of $1.40 billion to $1.45 billion, versus the FactSet consensus estimate of $1.44 billion. The company also said that during the second quarter of 2026, it began incurring costs related to a cybersecurity breach.
• AMC Entertainment – The movie theater stock and former meme darling jumped 13% after CEO Adam Aron disclosed the purchase of 250,000 shares, valued at about $344,000. He also took to social media platform X to post, "I have great confidence in AMC's future."

Read the full list here.

— Davis Giangiulio

GameStop has increased its stake in eBay to 6.55% from about 5% amid CEO Ryan Cohen's shocking push to take over the online marketplace, according to a regulatory filing.

The move to hike its stake came after eBay rejected the $56 billion takeover proposal, calling the unsolicited bid "neither credible nor attractive."

EBay flagged multiple issues with GameStop's bid, citing concerns around the uncertainty of the proposed financing structure, as well as potential operational challenges and the debt burden the deal could create.

EBay is significantly larger than the video game retailer, carrying a market value of more than $51 billion compared with roughly $10 billion for GameStop. Cohen said GameStop could also raise additional capital through stock issuance to help finance the acquisition.

— Yun Li

With consumers paying more at the pump ever since the start of the U.S.-Iran war, Five Below is likely to benefit, according to Loop Capital.

Analyst Anthony Chukumba in a Tuesday note said that two competing pressures weigh on discount retailers when gas prices rise: downward risk as their core consumer faces higher costs across the board, and upside risk as higher-income consumers trade down to cheaper products to save money. 

Chukumba did an analysis looking for correlations between quarterly average U.S. gasoline prices and comparable sales growth for retailers. "Gasoline prices are undoubtedly correlated with deep discount retailers' comparable store sales growth," he wrote about the findings. "Five Below and National Vision's," a discount optical retailer, "comparable sales appear to have the strongest positive correlations with gasoline prices, including relatively high correlation coefficients."

On the opposite side, Chukumba found that Ollie's Bargain Outlet and Grocery Outlets' sales growth have the strongest negative correlation with higher gas prices.

— Davis Giangiulio

The S&P 500 rose on Wednesday morning.

The broad market index increased 0.3%, while the Nasdaq Composite added 0.5%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 98 points, or 0.2%.

— Sean Conlon

C.H. Robinson is likely to rebound as it undergoes a broad business transformation, according to Jefferies.

The investment firm upgraded the transport name to buy from hold. It also hiked its price target on shares to $200 from $195, suggesting 16% upside from Tuesday's close.

"We came away … with higher conviction in CHRW's technology and productivity transformation," analyst Stephanie Moore said Wednesday in a note to clients. "The company's investment-grade balance sheet and strong [free cash flow] generation give it the financial flexibility to pursue M&A opportunistically while continuing to invest in technology and return capital to shareholders."

C.H. Robinson has declined nearly 9% over the past three months, largely due to higher truckload spot rates that have pressured margins. That has led the stock to underperform its transport peers over the past several months, "creating what we see as an attractive entry point and a valuation setup that is hard to ignore," Moore wrote.

CNBC Pro subscribers can read more here.

— Liz Napolitano

Cava shares jumped more than 7% in the premarket on Wednesday after the company posted and earnings and revenue beat for the first quarter and raised its full-year guidance.

The company earned 20 cents per share on revenue of $438 million for the quarter, while analysts surveyed by LSEG were expecting 18 cents in earnings per share and $411 million in revenue.

For the full year, Cava now forecasts its adjusted EBITDA to come in between $181 million and $191 million, up from the $176 million to $184 million that the company previously anticipated.

— Sean Conlon

Check out the companies making the biggest moves premarket:

• Analog Devices — The semiconductor company fell 1.5% despite reporting better-than-expected adjusted earnings of $3.09 per share in its fiscal second quarter. Analysts polled by FactSet estimated earnings of $2.88 per share. Analog Devices also delivered revenue above estimates too.
• Chipmakers — After a breather following a rapid rally higher, semiconductor stocks rebounded with the iShares Semiconductor ETF (SOXX) up more than 2%. Marvell Technology was up more than 5%, while Intel rose more than 4%. Micron Technology and Qualcomm were both higher by more than 3%.
• TJX Companies — The retailer jumped 4% after it reported better-than-expected results in its first-quarter financial report. TJX delivered $1.19 in earnings per share and $14.32 billion in revenue. Analysts polled by FactSet expected earnings of $1.02 per share and revenue of $14.02 billion. The company, though, gave slightly weaker guidance for the current quarter.

Read the full list here.

— Davis Giangiulio

Target shares climbed nearly 2% after the retailer reported a beat on first-quarter numbers and hiked its full-year sales outlook.

The company earned $1.71 per share on revenue of $25.44 billion. Analysts expected a profit of $1.46 per share on revenue of $24.64 billion, per LSEG. Target added it sees net sales growth of 4% for the year, up 2 percentage points from a prior forecast.

— Fred Imbert

Lowe's reported first-quarter results that beat analyst expectations. The company also reaffirmed its full-year outlook.

The home improvement retailer earned an adjusted $3.03 per share on revenue of $23.08 billion. Analysts polled by LSEG expected a profit of $2.97 per share on revenue of $22.97 billion.

However, the numbers left investors underwhelmed, with shares losing more than 2% before the bell.

— Fred Imbert

European stocks struggled to gain momentum on Wednesday, as global markets keep a close eye on elevated bond yields and a lower-than-expected U.K. inflation print.

By 8:55 a.m. in London (3:55 a.m. ET), the pan-European Stoxx 600 was marginally lower, with sectors and regional bourses in mixed territory. The index oscillated around the flatline after initially opening in negative territory.

— Chloe Taylor and Holly Ellyatt

Asia-Pacific markets fell on Wednesday as investors weighed elevated bond yields and renewed geopolitical tensions.

Japan's super-long government bond yields eased slightly on Wednesday, with the 30-year JGB yield falling more than 9 basis points to 4.065% after hitting record highs on Monday.

Meanwhile, shorter-dated Japanese debt continued to come under pressure, with the 5-year JGB yield climbing to a record 2.041%.

State Street's Masahiko Loo said record-high Japanese government bond yields are feeding into a broader global "duration reset," though he stressed the move should tighten global financial conditions only gradually rather than trigger systemic stress.

While higher JGB yields could weigh on duration-sensitive assets and raise global borrowing costs, Loo said the repricing remains part of a broader adjustment in bond markets rather than a Japan-specific funding shock. He noted that Japan's debt market is still largely domestically financed and underpinned by massive household savings buffers.

Japan's Nikkei 225 lost 1.23% to 59,804.41 while the Topix declined 1.53% to 3,791.65. South Korea's Kospi fell 0.86% to 7,208.95 while the small-cap Kosdaq dropped 2.61% to 1,056.07. Shares of Samsung Electronics edged 0.18% higher even as wage talks between the company and the workers broke down, with more than 47,000 employees now set to go on strike Thursday.

In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 lost 1.26% to 8,496.6.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng index slid 0.57%, and the mainland's CSI 300 closed flat.

— Lee Ying Shan

U.S. Treasurys have entered a "danger zone" as surging long-term yields raise fears that sticky inflation and hawkish rate expectations could begin spilling over into equities and broader risk assets, said HSBC.

Further moves may also start to affect stocks, according to BMO Capital Markets strategist Ian Lyngen.

Read the full story here.

— Lee Ying Shan

Global stock markets have been on a tear in 2026, extending last year's rally as traders look through geopolitical turmoil and inflation fears.

But bond markets are painting a different picture — and the growing divergence is ringing alarm bells for some investors.

Read more here.

— Chloe Taylor

Asia-Pacific markets fell Wednesday as investors weighed elevated bond yields and renewed geopolitical tensions, as the risk of an escalation in the Iran conflict looms large.

U.S. President Donald Trump's said Tuesday that he was "an hour away" from deciding to attack Iran, before being persuaded to postpone the strike for a few days.

Yields on U.S. Treasurys advanced as investors continued to dump bonds on fears inflation is reigniting. The longer-dated 30-year Treasury bond yield was last trading almost 1 basis point lower at 5.174%. It briefly hit 5.197% during the session, marking its highest level since July 2007.

Japan's super-long government bond yields eased slightly on Wednesday, with the 30-year JGB yield falling over 3 basis points to 4.122% after hitting record highs on Monday.

Meanwhile, shorter-dated Japanese debt continued to come under pressure, with the 5-year JGB yield climbing to a record 2.041%.

Japan's Nikkei 225 lost 1.29%, while the Topix declined 1.45%. South Korea's Kospi fell 0.69%, while the small-cap Kosdaq dropped 2.23%.

In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 lost 0.85%.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng index slid 0.55%, and the mainland's CSI 300 was down 0.3%.

During Tuesday's trading session, five of the 11 GICS sectors ended the day higher.

Gains were led by the health care sector, up 1.09%. The energy and utilities sectors followed, rising 1.03% and 0.99% on the day, respectively.

On the other hand, materials stocks fell 2.28% and were the day's biggest laggards. The communication services, consumer discretionary, financials and industrials sectors also all fell more than 1%.

— Lisa Kailai Han

These are the stocks moving the most in extended-hours trading:

• Toll Brothers — The homebuilder added 2% after reporting fiscal second-quarter earnings of $2.72 per share, beating the $2.57 analysts polled by LSEG had expected. Toll Brothers' $2.51 billion revenue also came in above the forecast $2.42 billion.
• Cava — Shares popped almost 7% after the Mediterranean fast-casual chain hiked its adjusted EBITDA guidance for the full year to between $181 million to $191 million, versus its prior outlook of $176 million to $184 million. The company also reported first-quarter earnings of 20 cents per share on $438 million in revenue, beating the earnings of 18 cents and revenue of $411 million analysts had expected, per LSEG.
• Red Robin Gourmet Burgers — The burger chain surged 14% after posting first-quarter adjusted earnings of 13 cents per share, while analyst polled by FactSet were expecting Red Robin to break even. The company's $378.3 million revenue also beat the anticipated $362.1 million.
• Keysight Technologies — Shares rose 2% after the provider of electronic design, emulation and test solutions guided for current-quarter revenue and adjusted earnings per share above what analysts polled by LSEG were expecting. The company also raised its full-year guidance, and posted a second-quarter beat on both the top and bottom lines.

— Lisa Kailai Han

Stock futures opened little changed on Tuesday night.

Shortly after 6 p.m. ET, futures tied to all three major averages were trading around the flatline.

— Lisa Kailai Han