Stock market today: Dow rises, S&P 500, Nasdaq slide as tech stocks slip again amid rate-cut uncertainty

Yahoo Finance’s Laura Bratton reports:

Tech stocks fell for a second day on Wednesday as investors sold off a slew of tech names amid concerns over the sustainability of the AI boom and a recent market rotation away from some of this year’s biggest winners.

Among the Magnificent Seven Big Tech stocks, Nvidia (NVDA) was down about 0.3%, and Alphabet (GOOGL, GOOG) stock fell more than 1%. Amazon (AMZN) and Apple (AAPL), shares fell over 1%.

Chip stocks Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) and Broadcom (AVGO) both fell less than 1%; Micron (MU) shares plummeted nearly 4%.

Read more here.

Palantir (PLTR) shares dropped another 1% on Wednesday following a sharp 9% slide on Tuesday. But retail investors saw the drop as a buying opportunity.

According to data provided to Yahoo Finance from Vanda Research, small investors poured over $59 million into Palantir during Tuesday’s sell-off, marking the biggest single-day retail inflow in a week. That came on top of another $40 million in inflows the day before.

The surge in retail demand highlights a classic “buy the dip” mentality that has dominated markets since the April bottom. In the days leading up to the sell-off, retail flows had been steady but more modest, averaging in the $20 to $30 million range, according to Vanda. The jump in activity suggests everyday traders were not scared off by the stock’s sudden slide. Instead, they leaned in.

But even with retail piling in, the stock still fell hard. That divergence underscores a familiar market reality: while retail can be a powerful force, institutional selling pressure often sets the tone.

“Retail has gotten to be such a huge percentage of the market in terms of day-to-day trading,” Interactive Brokers chief strategist Steve Sosnick told Yahoo Finance on Wednesday. “But if a series of institutions decide to reallocate their portfolio holdings, you’re standing in the way of a much larger piece of momentum.”

“Collectively, a whole lot of small traders can push back, but if [institutions] are relentless about the selling, that’s going to move the market lower.”

Sosnick called Palantir’s 9% plunge a “shocking move down,” but also pointed out that the stock’s meteoric rise has left it trading at “about as expensive of a stock as we’ve seen.”

Yahoo Finance’s Ines Ferre reports:

James Hardie (JHX) stock tumbled 35% on Wednesday as the maker of high-end home siding pointed to a weak US housing market and homeowners reluctant to spend on big projects.

The stock, listed in the US and Australia, saw its biggest one-day drop since 1973, according to Bloomberg data. The company’s profit declined 28% year over year during its fiscal first quarter. Net sales tumbled 9% over the same period.

“Uncertainty is a common thread throughout conversations with customer and contractor partners,” CEO Aaron Erter said during the company’s earnings call.

James Hardie pointed to “softer demand,” citing a slowdown in single-family construction activity, especially in the southern part of the US.

Read more here.

Minutes from the Federal Reserve’s July meeting showed the “majority” of officials were more concerned about the upside risk to inflation than downside risks to the Fed’s mandate for maximum employment.

“Regarding upside risks to inflation, participants pointed to the uncertain effects of tariffs and the possibility of inflation expectations becoming unanchored,” the minutes read. “In addition to tariff-induced risks, potential downside risks to employment mentioned by participants included a possible tightening of financial conditions due to a rise in risk premiums, a more substantial deterioration in the housing market, and the risk that the increased use of AI in the workplace may lower employment.”

Read more about the Fed minutes here.

Citi head of US equity trading strategy Stuart Kaiser noted on Tuesday that the recent pain the stock market has “remained localized.”

And that’s holding true on Wednesday too despite a roughly 1% decline in the Nasdaq Composite. The pain is mostly in technology and other related areas of the market with eight of 11 sectors in the S&P 500 (^GSPC)outperforming the benchmark index.

While the size of tech in the index is pulling down the overall S&P 500 there are actually still 265 stocks in positive territory with a little over two hours left in the trading session.

For now the rotation in the market isn’t shaking a bullish stance from Kaiser who remains positive on US equities with a “quality preference.”

Below is a look at the sector action thus far in Wednesday’s trade.

Yahoo Finance’s Dan Howley reports:

Google (GOOG, GOOGL) announced its latest line of Pixel smartphones on Wednesday as part of its Made By Google event in New York City on Wednesday.

The Pixel 10 lineup includes four phones: the Pixel 10, Pixel 10 Pro, Pixel 10 Pro XL, and Pixel 10 Pro Fold. The company also showed off its newest smartwatch, the Pixel Watch 4.

The devices get Google’s latest Gemini AI capabilities, including the company’s new Magic Cue for its smartphones and enhanced smart replies for the watch.

Starting at $799, the entry-level Pixel 10 now comes with three rear cameras, up from two. That includes a 5x telephoto camera. Inside, the 6.3-inch phone gets Google’s latest Tensor G5 processor, 12GB of RAM, and upwards of 256GB of storage.

The Pixel 10 Pro starts at $999 and gets a sharper 6.3-inch display and more-advanced triple-camera setup. And while the phone packs the same Tensor G5 processor as the standard Pixel 10, the Pro sports 16GB of RAM rather than 12GB and offers up to 512GB of storage.

Read more here.

Yahoo Finance’s Pras Subramanian reports:

Rental car firm Hertz (HTZ) struck a deal with Amazon Autos (AMZN) on Wednesday to sell some of its used car inventory. The company said this will make it easier for customers to purchase cars from its fleet.

Starting today, customers can search Amazon Autos to browse, finance, and purchase from thousands of used Hertz fleet vehicles from brands like Ford, Toyota, Chevrolet, Nissan, and others. Hertz Car Sales, the rental car firm’s used car sales arm, will be the first fleet dealer on Amazon Autos.

Hertz said sales will begin in the Dallas, Houston, Los Angeles, and Seattle metro areas, with plans to expand to Hertz Car Sales’ 45 locations nationwide. After customers complete their purchase online, they can pick up the vehicles at Hertz locations in those cities.

Read more here.

Yahoo Finance’s Francisco Velasquez reports:

Read more here.

Tuesday’s market action was all about isolated selling in some of the market’s biggest winners.

Wednesday’s early session has brought more of the same, as Big Tech is clearly leading the selling action once more.

After a nearly 10% drop on Tuesday, Palantir (PLTR) fell another 7% in early trade. Meanwhile, AI chip leaders Nvidia (NVDA) and Broadcom (AVGO) each dropped more than 3%.

President Trump on Wednesday called on Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook to resign as the public pressure on the central bank continues to build.

“Cook must resign, now!!!” Trump wrote on his social media platform Truth Social Wednesday morning with a link to a Bloomberg report on a letter sent by Bill Pulte. The Federal Housing Finance Agency head has reportedly urged Attorney General Pam Bondi to investigate Cook over a pair of mortgages.

Pulte wrote in a letter dated Aug. 15 that Cook “falsified bank documents and property records to acquire more favorable loan terms, potentially committing mortgage fraud under the criminal statute.”

The President’s call for Cook to resign comes as pressure on the Fed continues amid ongoing changes on the Fed’s Board of Governors.

Read more here.

US stocks were mixed on Wednesday after a bruising day for tech stocks, as investors weighed the latest retail earnings and waited for Federal Reserve minutes to provide clues to interest rate cuts.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) was up about 0.1%, while the S&P 500 (^GSPC) slipped about 0.2%. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) fell roughly 0.4%, after weakness in the likes of Palantir (PLTR) and Nvidia (NVDA) dragged on the broader market on Tuesday.

Target (TGT) is tapping a homegrown talent as its next CEO at one of the most pivotal moments in its 63-year history.

The discounter announced that longtime CEO Brian Cornell’s heavily groomed No. 2, Michael Fiddelke, will take over as CEO on Feb. 1, 2026. Cornell, who has been CEO of Target since August 2014, will slide into the executive chair position for an undetermined period of time. Fiddelke joined Target in 2003 as an intern and rose through the ranks to CFO and then COO.

“I’ve had this conversation with the board for a number of years, and I’ve been in the role for 11 years. I’m going into my 12th now. I will actually turn 67 early next year, and I think it’s time for me to step back, recharge, spend a lot more time with my family, a lot fewer nights in hotels, and be a great supporter of Michael and the team for the rest of my life,” Cornell told me by video call while sitting next to Fiddelke at the company’s Minneapolis headquarters.

Fiddelke added, “I bleed Target red after 20 years here, and there’s nothing more important to me than working with the incredible team that we have to chart the next chapter for Target. I mean, I’ve seen us in that 20 years at our best. I’ve seen us not at our best. When we’re at our best, we are pretty darn tough to beat.”

To students of Target history such as myself, this decision isn’t a surprise. For one, Fiddelke has been Cornell’s right-hand man for several years now. It has become quite apparent over the past year that he was grooming Fiddelke to take over while also working behind the scenes to get board buy-in. I have gotten to know Fiddelke in recent years. He is a nice fella and has indeed earned the opportunity to sit in the CEO seat.

If this was any other time for Target, the decision would probably be celebrated. It’s not often an intern at a company becomes its CEO. The only comparable story I can think of is Walmart (WMT) CEO Doug McMillon going from truck loader at the retailer to CEO.

But Fiddelke will unlikely have a honeymoon period, seeing as he has been there at Target during its past 24 months of struggles (which includes a weak second quarter). People I have talked to wanted an outsider as Target’s next CEO, fresh eyes to come in and fix what is wrong (not unlike when Cornell was brought in back in 2014 — his career was mostly spent at Walmart and PepsiCo (PEP)). Fiddelke will be seen as a continuation of a strategy that hasn’t been working.

I asked him on the call how candid he plans to be in the early going on the strategy review, which is what all new leaders do. He sounded like he was ready to divert from Cornell’s playbook and shake things up. He will have to do just that, and quickly, to win over a likely skeptical Wall Street.