S&P 500 futures rise after major averages notch fresh closing records: Live updates

He Russel 2000 rose nearly 2% on Wednesday, its best day in more than a month, and Fundstrat Global Advisors' Tom Lee believes the small-cap benchmark has even more to come.

In terms of relative value, small caps are back to where they were in 1999, which was "a starting point for a 12-year period of outperformance," Lee, head of research at Fundstrat, said in "Last Call" from CNBC.

"I think that means that, with the Fed taking a moderate pause and CEOs becoming more confident, that means mergers and acquisitions and IPOs and people looking at other sectors; I think the Russell can go up 50% this year," he said. Indeed, the Federal Reserve held rates steady and maintained its forecast for three rate cuts in 2024 as it concluded its March meeting on Wednesday, lifting the major averages to record closes.

A number of factors could boost the Russell 2000 this year, he added, noting that money-making companies in the small-cap index trade at around 11 times earnings, "a huge PE story, coupled with a price-to-book story." . "The benchmark index also has a heavy biotech weight, and financial companies within the Russell 2000 will likely benefit once the Federal Reserve begins cutting rates, she said.

"I think the Russell 2000 represents... the best thing that happens when the Fed starts cutting," Lee said.

-Darla Mercado

reddit priced its initial public offering at $34 per share.

That number is at the top of the expected range of between $31 and $34. He values ​​the social media company at around $6.5 billion.

Reddit will make its public market debut on Thursday under the symbol "RDDT."

—Alex Harring, Leslie Picker, Jonathan Vanian

It's not just institutional and individual investors that drive up stock prices. Last week was also huge for corporate share buybacks, Bank of America equity and quantitative strategists, including Savita Subramanian, said in a note published Tuesday.

Buyback trends are "reaching multi-year highs," BofA noted, with those by the bank's own corporate clients reaching the third-highest weekly level in data dating back to 2010.

The pace of buybacks is also "above typical seasonal levels at this time" of the year for the second week in a row, the strategists wrote. So far in 2024, buybacks as a percentage of the total S&P 500 The market capitalization rose to 0.34% compared to the 2023 high at the same time of year of 0.29%.

Buybacks over the past 52 weeks as a percentage of total market value are the highest since August 2020, during the first summer of the Covid pandemic, according to BofA.

—Scott Schnipper

With more than half of the trading week in the rearview mirror, all three major indices are on track to make gains.

He Nasdaq Composite has led all three higher this week, adding 2.5%. He Dow and S&P 500 each of them increased by approximately 2.1%.

—Alex Harring

The big tech rebound may be on "borrowed time," according to UBS.

Strategist Jonathan Golub said that progress to Apple, Amazon, Alphabet, Goal, microsoft and NVIDIA It could be short-lived. While valuations aren't an issue here, he said the end of these big gains for "Big 6" stocks is becoming a question of when, not if.

"With earnings momentum for the Big 6 rapidly slowing and the overall market trend improving, continued outperformance of these stocks (and the tight market returns that it implies) becomes increasingly difficult. "Golub wrote in a note to clients on Wednesday. "While upward revisions currently support these companies, the slowdown in future earnings cannot be ignored."

Golub's call comes amid a year of strength for the sector, with the technology sector Nasdaq Composite up to more than 9%.

—Alex Harring

Here are some of the stocks seeing notable moves in extended trading:

• Micron technology – Shares rose 13% after the semiconductor company exceed expectations on income and gave strong guidelines for the measure. The company also posted earnings per share despite analysts forecasting losses.
• Five down – The value retailer fell 13% on weak fourth-quarter earnings and outlook for the current quarter and full year.

See the full list here.

—Alex Harring

Stock futures traded slightly higher shortly after 6 pm ET.

Dow futures rose 0.1%. S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 futures rose 0.2% and 0.3%, respectively.

—Alex Harring