Dow closes more than 200 points higher, S&P 500 rises as traders look past Iran war: Live updates

U.S. equities closed out Wednesday’s session in positive territory.

The S&P 500 rose 0.78% to end at 6,869.50, while the Nasdaq Composite gained 1.29% to 22,807.48. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 238.14 points, or 0.49%, to 48,739.41.

— Sean Conlon

Consumer discretionary stocks popped 2% on Wednesday, putting the sector on pace for its best day since Oct. 31, when it popped nearly 4.1%.

The sector was led higher by Ross Stores, which advanced about 7% and was the sector’s best performer. Expedia Group rose 3%, while Amazon, Airbnb, Booking Holdings and Tesla all added 3%.

Consumer discretionaries 5D chart

Old guard tech stock Oracle was a new March addition to Mizuho’s top picks list, which reflects its U.S. analyst’s highest conviction, catalyst-driven ideas.

Analyst Siti Panigrahi currently has an outperform rating and $400 price target on the stock, implying upside of 168% from Oracle’s Tuesday close of $149.01. Shares of Oracle have slipped 22% this year.

ORCL YTD chart

As growth drivers, Panigrahi cited artificial intelligence workflows and demand for Oracle Cloud Infrastructure. The analyst believes Oracle will cement its position as the fourth hyperscaler, with a focus on enterprise clients.

“Oracle’s early traction with Gen AI workloads is driven by the company’s attractive pricing and performance capabilities (and outsized capacity given the relationship with Nvidia). This is driving a massive inflection in growth and $30B+ annual revenue stream from Open AI coming live in FY28,” Panigrahi wrote. “OCI should continue to deliver impressive growth as it 1) migrates on-prem workloads to the cloud, 2) attracts more multi-cloud customers, and 3) wins more cloud-native customers.”

— Lisa Kailai Han

Laser manufacturer nLIGHT is a “One of One Company,” says Baird.

The investment firm gave nLIGHT an outperform rating and set a price target of $95. This implies upsides of 38%.

NLIGHT has over 450 patents for everything from semiconductor chips to high-power lasers. Analyst Peter Arment thinks the company get a boost “as market tailwinds and robust funding positions support favorable growth which is further enhanced by [the company’s] vertical integration and technology stock.”

Shares were up 6% as the stock reached a 52-week high.

LASR 5-day chart

The U.S. economy grew at a “slight to moderate” price over the past seven weeks while many areas have seen price increases related to tariffs, according to the Federal Reserve’s latest economic check-up.

In the central bank’s periodic Beige Book, businesses reported that prices rose “moderately,” with three-quarters of the Fed’s 12 districts reporting a contribution from tariffs.

On the labor market, the report noted that employment looked “relatively stable” with more than half the districts reporting no change in hiring.

— Jeff Cox

Budrul Chukrut | Lightrocket | Getty Images

Moderna shares headed for their best day since January after resolving patent litigation.

The drugmaker on Tuesday announced an agreement with Arbutus Biopharma and Genevant Sciences that resolved all of their litigation globally. Shares jumped more than 15% in afternoon trading Wednesday.

Wednesday’s rally drove the stock up more than 95% in 2026, putting it on track to snap a four-year losing streak.

— Alex Harring

Here are some of the stocks making the biggest moves in midday trading:

• CoreWeave — The cloud company’s stock popped 8% after it announced a multiyear agreement with Perplexity. The AI company will power its next-generation inference workloads on CoreWeave’s platform.
• Broadcom — Shares moved 2% higher ahead of the chipmaker’s fiscal first-quarter earnings report, expected after the bell. Analysts polled by LSEG are calling for earnings of $2.03 per share on revenue of $19.18 billion.
• Dow Inc — KeyBanc upgraded the stock to overweight from sector weight, saying that higher oil prices will benefit U.S. ethylene producers such as Dow. Its stock rose 4% after the call. According to FactSet, the firm said about 11% to 15% of global ethylene capacity is directly tied to the Iran conflict, and U.S. and European inventories are low.

Read here for the full list.

— Liz Napolitano

Kevin Warsh, former governor of the US Federal Reserve, speaks with CNBC on July 17, 2025.

CNBC

The iShares MSCI South Korea ETF, the tracker of South Korean equities, traded more than 2% higher on Wednesday after falling 14% on Tuesday.

The ETF remains up 40% year to date, due to a strong demand for semiconductors manufactured by Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix.

This comes after Kospi, South Korea’s wider stock market index, plunged 12% overnight.

EWY and KOSPI 1-month chart

Shares of the “Magnificent Seven” were all higher in late morning trading Wednesday.

Leading the way were Tesla and Amazon, both up more than 3%. Tesla’s jump came after an upgrade by Bank of America, declaring its robotaxi services could propel the company’s growth.

The two were followed by gains in Meta and Nvidia, which rose more than 2% and more than 1%, respectively. Shares of Apple and Microsoft only marginally advanced, both up just around 0.2%.

.MAG7 year-to-date chart.

Tesla signage at the company’s store in Colma, California, US, on Friday, Jan. 23, 2026.

David Paul Morris | Bloomberg | Getty Images

In a Wednesday note, Bank of America initiated Tesla at a buy rating following a pause in coverage. Prior to this pause, the bank had designated the electric vehicle maker at a hold rating.

Analyst Alexander Perry’s $460 price objective implies upside of 17% for the stock, which is down 13% this year.

In the note, Perry wrote that he views Tesla as the current leader in autonomous driving.

“We expect TSLA to quickly become a leader in robotaxi services, given its ability to scale more profitably than competitors. We see autonomous vehicles spurring the next era of mobility and as the most significant change agent in the Auto 2.0 landscape, offering consumers the prospect of saving time, safer travel, and more accessible transportation,” he wrote.

The analyst also sees tailwinds for Tesla coming from its Optimus humanoid segment.

CNBC Pro subscribers can read the full story here.

— Lisa Kailai Han

The nonmanufacturing sector of the U.S. economy showed strong growth in February, the Institute for Supply Manufacturing reported Wednesday.

The ISM services index jumped to 56.1, up 2.3 points from January and better than the Dow Jones consensus estimate for 53.5. The index measures the percentage of companies reporting growth against contraction, so anything above 50 is positive.

Internally, the subindexes for inventories and orders all posted strong gains. Importantly, one of the only measures that showed a decline was prices, which fell 3.6 points to 63. Earlier in the week, the ISM manufacturing prices index surged 11.5 points to 70.5, sparking inflation concerns.

— Jeff Cox

The three major averages began Wednesday’s session higher.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 180 points, or 0.4%. The S&P 500 traded up 0.3%, while the Nasdaq Composite moved 0.5% higher.

— Sean Conlon

Jonathan raa | Nurphoto | Getty Images

Bitcoin rose above $70,000 on Wednesday, marking its first time above the critical level in more than two weeks.

The token was last trading at $71,399, up nearly 5% on the day.

Investors are flocking to the cryptocurrency amid an intensifying geopolitical conflict in the Middle East, with spot Bitcoin ETFs making major gains in recent days. The activity has revived questions of whether bitcoin might serve as a decentralized “safe haven” of sorts, particularly as an alternative to more traditional assets such as gold.

However, the digital asset is still off more than 40% its record high of about $126,000 hit last October.

— Liz Napolitano

A Ross store in San Francisco, California, US, on Thursday, Feb. 26, 2026.

Bloomberg | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Check out the companies making headlines before the bell:

• Moderna — The biotechnology firm’s stock rose nearly 11% after it said it agreed to pay up to $2.25 billion to settle with Biopharma Corporation and Genevant Sciences GmbH a lawsuit over a Covid vaccine patent dispute.
• Ross Stores — Shares popped 7% after the off-price retailer reported better-than-expected fourth quarter financial results that showed its sales are rising. The company’s earnings came in at $2.00 per share, topping analysts’ consensus estimate of $1.9, per FactSet. It also brought in $6.64 billion in revenue, well above the $6.42 billion expected by analysts polled by FactSet. Ross Stores’ sales rose 12.2% to $6.64 billion year over year.
• CrowdStrike Holdings — Shares rose roughly 1% after the cybersecurity firm issued strong forward guidance for the first quarter and full year. The company expects to notch earnings of between $1.06 and $1.07 per share excluding some items on revenue of $1.36 – $1.364 billion in the first quarter. That’s largely above analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.35 billion in revenue and $1.06 earnings per share, per FactSet. For the full year, CrowdStrike expects to bring in earnings of $4.78 – $4.90 per share excluding some items versus a consensus of $4.80.

Read here for the full list.

— Liz Napolitano

Shares of software company Box jumped more than 6% in premarket trading Wednesday after a better-than-expected fourth-quarter earnings report delivered Tuesday.

The company reported earnings per share of $0.49 and $305.9 million in revenue, above expectations for earnings per share of $0.34 and $304.3 million in revenue, according to FactSet. Box also gave above-consensus current quarter and full-year guidance. 

In a press release, co-founder and CFO of Box Dylan Smith said, “Our strong results in fiscal 2026 demonstrate the success of our Intelligent Content Management platform strategy as we drove a significant improvement in our net retention rate,” referencing one of its AI-supported products.

Fears of AI disrupting software have sent stocks in the sector tumbling in 2026, with Box down 20% for the year as of Tuesday’s close. 

BOX year-to-date chart.

Private sector hiring was a bit better than expected in February, though most of the job creation came from just two sectors, ADP reported Wednesday.

Companies added a seasonally adjusted 63,000 workers during the month, an improvement from the downwardly revised 11,000 in January and better than the Dow Jones consensus estimate for 48,000, according to the payrolls processing firm’s latest update. Read more.

— Jeff Cox

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent speaking on CNBC’s Squawk Box at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland on Jan. 20th, 2026.

Oscar Molina | CNBC

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Wednesday said President Donald Trump’s recently announced 15% global tariff will be implemented sometime this week.

Bessent, in an interview on CNBC’s “Squawk Box,” also predicted that U.S. tariff rates would soon effectively return to where they stood before the Supreme Court struck down Trump’s most expansive duties. Read more.

— Kevin Breuninger

Shares of GitLab tumbled 8% in premarket trading after the software company’s guidance disappointed investors.

GitLab said after the bell Tuesday it anticipates fiscal year revenue to come in between $1.099 billion and $1.118 billion, short of the $1.12 billion expected from analysts polled by LSEG. The company guided for adjusted earnings of 76 cents to 80 cents per share for the fiscal year, below than the consensus estimate of $1.05 per share.

However, GitLab’s fourth-quarter earnings and revenue topped expectations.

— Michelle Fox

Citi strategist Scott Chronert reiterated his year-end 2026 outlook for the U.S. stock market. However, he wrote that “we need to acknowledge that shorter-term risk is likely.”

“We need to be prepared for unintended consequences of the Iran conflict with potential implications to our broader fundamental and equity market views. In this regard, higher-than-expected oil, inflation ramification, and economic headwind on our current soft landing expectation, with negative read through to cyclicals and SMID are one example. Should this put further pressure on the labor condition influenced by AI impacts on white collar jobs then fundamentals do face a headwind,” he wrote.

— Fred Imbert

A view of Dubai Marina in Dubai on March 3, 2026.

Giuseppe Cacace | AFP | Getty Images

Stocks listed in Dubai and Abu Dhabi slid on Wednesday, as UAE exchanges reopened from a two-day closure that was implemented after Iranian drone and missile strikes on the Gulf nation.

Dubai’s benchmark index was last down 4.9% in early afternoon trading, putting it on course for its worst day since May 2022. Abu Dhabi’s main index was more than 3% lower, on track for its sharpest intraday decline since August, while the Nasdaq UAE 20 was down 4.3%.

— Chloe Taylor

South Korea’s Kospi plunged over 12% Wednesday, putting it on track for its worst day in decades, and extending a steep sell-off from the previous session amid an escalating war in the Middle East.

The Korea Exchange temporarily halted trading for the Kospi index on Wednesday. A circuit breaker was also activated on the Kosdaq, which also fell about 13%.

Kospi index heavyweights SK Hynix and Samsung Electronics fell 5% and 7%, respectively.

The South Korean market had been on a tear last year, soaring more than 75%, and extending gains into the new year as well, with the Kospi hitting new highs on the back of chip heavyweights that have seen their shares surge on strong memory chip demand.

—Lee Ying Shan

The U.S.-Iran war could push inflation substantially higher if it becomes more drawn out than expected, according to Goldman Sachs.

In a baseline scenario, the boost to energy prices raises inflation as measured by the consumer price index to 2.7% in May, from its January level of 2.4%, the firm’s economists said in a note. However, the pace then would recede and hit 2% by the end of this year, meeting the Federal Reserve’s target.

A more persistent oil shock would take headline CPI to 3% in May and would “remain elevated relative to our baseline forecast for the remainder of the year,” Goldman added.

The Fed’s preferred inflation measure, the Commerce Department’s personal consumption expenditures price index, was already at 2.9% for headline and 3% for core in December.

—Jeff Cox

The stock outlook remains favorable even with renewed fears of a prolonged conflict spurring investors to drop equities, according to a note from UBS Global Wealth Management.

“In the current conflict, we expect only minimal or a brief disruption to global energy supplies. We think President Trump’s comments today reinforce this view. We therefore stick with our base case that US equities will produce good gains this year,” read the note. “Our year-end S&P 500 price target of 7,700 remains unchanged.”

The target represents 11% upside from where the S&P 500 closed Monday at 6,881.62.

— Sarah Min

CrowdStrike logo is seen in this illustration taken July 29, 2024.

Dado Ruvic | Reuters

Check out the companies making headlines in after-hours trading.

• CrowdStrike Holdings — Shares of the beaten-down cybersecurity company slipped 1% in the extended session. CrowdStrike beat fourth-quarter expectations on top and bottom lines, but gave an underwhelming outlook for the first quarter. The company sees adjusted earnings ranging between $1.06 and $1.07 per share, while analysts polled by LSEG sought $1.06 per share.
• Box — The company, a content management provider, beat fourth-quarter earnings and revenue expectations and gave strong guidance for the current quarterly period. Box reported earnings of 49 cents per share, on an adjusted basis, and revenue of $306 million for the fourth quarter. Analysts polled by LSEG expected fourth-quarter earnings of 34 cents per share on $304 million in revenue. Shares advanced more than 2%.
• GitLab — The software stock dipped 8% after GitLab’s fiscal 2027 guidance came out lower than was expected. GitLab. The company guided its fiscal year revenue to between $1.099 billion and $1.118 billion, compared to the $1.12 billion estimate from analysts polled by LSEG. It said it sees fiscal year adjusted earnings ranging between 76 cents and 80 cents per share, falling short of the $1.05 per share estimate, per LSEG.
• Ross Stores — The off-price retailer beat Wall Street’s quarterly expectations and authorized a 10% increase in its quarterly cash dividend to about 45 cents per share. Ross reported earnings of $2 per share on revenue of $6.64 billion for its fourth quarter, exceeding analysts’ forecast of $1.90 per share in earnings and $6.41 billion in revenue, per LSEG. Shares were last up 6%.

— Pia Singh