Here are five key things investors need to know to start the trading day:
1. New heights
The S&P 500 rose 0.24% Tuesday to close at a new record high of 6,129.58. The index also notched a new intraday all-time high, climbing to 6,129.63 when the stock rally picked up its pace just before the closing bell. The Nasdaq Composite, meanwhile, gained 0.07% and the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 10 points, or 0.02%. Stock futures were little changed Wednesday morning. Follow live market updates.
2. Cost concerns
Homes under construction in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey on Nov. 19th, 2024.
Adam Jeffery | CNBC
The latest casualty of tariff uncertainty appears to be homebuilder sentiment, which fell in February to its lowest level in five months among the nation’s single-family homebuilders. The drop was largely traced back to President Donald Trump‘s trade policies, which are expected to increase costs. “With 32% of appliances and 30% of softwood lumber coming from international trade, uncertainty over the scale and scope of tariffs has builders further concerned about costs,” said Robert Dietz, chief economist at the National Association of Home Builders.
3. Love triangle
4. Rewriting the rules
Elon Musk leaves after a meeting with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi at Blair House, in Washington, D.C., U.S., February 13, 2025.
Nathan Howard | Reuters
A law firm that represents Tesla and its CEO Elon Musk is proposing new legislation in Delaware that could help Musk regain his voided 2018 pay package. A judge blocked the $56 billion compensation plan — the largest CEO pack package in public corporate history — in January 2024, but the new bill would amend Delaware General Corporation Law, potentially paving the way for Musk to salvage the massive pay plan. A spokesperson for Richards, Layton & Finger, the law firm behind the legislation, said the firm’s involvement was not done on behalf of any specific client.
5. ‘Modern-day Berkshire’
Bill Ackman, Pershing Square Capital Management CEO, speaking at the Delivering Alpha conference in NYC on Sept. 28th, 2023.
Adam Jeffery | CNBC
Billionaire investor Bill Ackman raised his takeover bid for real estate developer Howard Hughes Holdings on Tuesday, saying the proposal aims to create “a modern-day Berkshire Hathaway.” Ackman, the CEO of Pershing Square Capital Management, said his firm submitted a proposal to acquire 10 million newly issued shares of the developer at $90 per share. That’s up from the $85 a share Ackman offered current holders in January when he proposed forming a new subsidiary of Pershing to merge with Howard Hughes.
— CNBC’s Brian Evans, Sarah Min, Pia Singh, Diana Olick, Samantha Subin, Lora Kolodny and Yun Li contributed to this report.
