Nasdaq gains as Musk’s SpaceX and Tesla revive tech rally: Live updates

Greg Abel, CEO of Berkshire Hathaway, speaks with CNBC from the Berkshire Hathaway Annual Shareholders Meeting in Omaha Nebraska on May 1, 2026.

David A. Grogan | CNBC

Berkshire Hathaway Class A and B shares both made 52-week highs Wednesday.

Class B stock advanced 0.5% to $543 per share while Class A stock ticked 0.6% higher to $814,594 apiece.

The conglomerate’s shares have been bucking the broader market’s volatility, logging 10 consecutive days of gains, ending last week.

Berkshire Hathaway shares closed Friday at their highest level since Warren Buffett said at the firm’s annual meeting in May 2025 that he planned to step down as CEO by the end of the year.

BRK.A, 1-year

Oppenheimer says that Zoom Communications’ AI platform is “working better than expected,” and it’s changing the outlook for the stock. 

The bank upgraded the stock to outperform from perform, and placed a $130 price target on the stock. That implies a 33% gain from Tuesday’s close. Analyst Timothy Horan wrote in a Wednesday note that Oppenheimer is gaining confidence in Zoom’s transition from a video meeting platform to a larger AI communications and workflow one. 

“Its AI platform is enjoying strong uptake, growing ARPU,” average revenue per user, “and retention,” Horan said in the note. “Integrating communications with AI applications should deepen customer relationships and raise the growth rate to double digits, all on stable margins.”

Horan also raised his long-term revenue estimates. Shares of Zoom were higher by more than 2% on Wednesday. 

Zoom Communications year-to-date.

A United Airlines plane approaches the runway at Denver International Airport on March 23, 2026.

Al Drago | Getty Images

Shares of United Airlines up more than 4% on Wednesday.

The carrier provided a weaker-than-expected fourth-quarter profit outlook as rising fuel costs weighed on profitability but reported revenue of a record $17.9 billion, which is a 17% increase year over year.

“Our employees met the challenge of our ever-changing environment and our results prove the resilience of focusing on building a brand-loyal airline for customers,” United CEO Scott Kirby said in an earnings release.

United expects adjusted earnings of 50 cents to $1.50 per share in the fourth quarter, below the $1.76 analysts expected.

UAL stock price

The airline reported third-quarter adjusted earnings of $2.54 per share, missing estimates of $2.57.

Fuel expenses surged 62% from a year earlier, even as premium cabin and corporate travel revenue climbed 17% and 26%, respectively. The carrier expects to pay an average of $4.80 a gallon for fuel in the fourth quarter, up from an average price of $3.90 a gallon in the third. 

— Deena Zaidi

Brad Gerstner, Altimeter founder and CEO, speaking at the Delivering Alpha conference in New York City on Sept. 28, 2023.

Adam Jeffery | CNBC

Asked about embattled neocloud CoreWeave, Altimeter Capital CEO and vociferous AI bull Brad Gerstner acknowledged the uncertainty in future demand levels for computing power.

“The reality is, nobody knows what the demand is going to be in 12 months,” he told CNBC on Wednesday. “Most of us who are in the game are saying this is accelerating. We’re forecasting that demand is going to accelerate. But of course there’s a distribution of future unknown probabilities.”

Gerstner told CNBC earlier this month that he had taken his exposure to the AI trade down, though he didn’t get into specifics during the interview.

He reconciled his professed bullishness on AI with his diminished exposure by saying that he lives in “two simultaneous but different worlds,” distinguishing between his hedge fund investments and his other investments.

“One world is I manage money for people in a hedge fund, and so my job is to make sure I avoid some of that drawdown. In my long-only fund and in my growth funds and venture funds, we’re investing in the next five to ten years,” he said.

Profitability concerns have rattled the AI trade in recent weeks as revenues coming in from frontier models Anthropic and OpenAI have disappointed analysts.

Some on Wall Street think that AI, which is quickly becoming more of a base-level commodity than a premium product due in part to the proliferation of open-source models, is not profitable enough to substantiate trillions in capital expenditures from equipment builders.

“We have more compute capacity than we have demand, and we have a lot of the tokens and processing power being given away in freemium solutions,” John Lovelock at Gartner told CNBC on Monday. “Everyone in the AI race is running for a last-man standing position. Pretty much every market that Gartner is tracking in our AI race is likely to collapse down to a duopoly.”

— Tobias Burns

Sopa Images | Lightrocket | Getty Images

Shares of CME Group were almost 1% higher on Wednesday after the exchange’s earnings and revenue for the third quarter surpassed Wall Street’s expectations.

CME reported adjusted earnings of $3.02 per share and revenue of $1.74 billion, while analysts polled by FactSet had called for $2.99 in earnings per share and $1.71 billion in revenue.

CME, 1-day

Thermo Fisher Scientific shares rose more than 1% in morning trading on Wednesday, marking a turnaround from its more than 2% decline in premarket trading.

The move comes after the company’s results for the third quarter were better than expected.

TMO, 1-day

The three major averages opened Wednesday’s session in the green.

The S&P 500 rose 0.3% just after 9:30 a.m. ET, while the Nasdaq Composite gained 0.7%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average advanced 90 points, or 0.2%.

— Sean Conlon

Thermo Fisher Scientific sign outside office building with trees and glass windows in background, South San Francisco, California, October 16, 2025.

Smith Collection | Gado | Archive Photos | Getty Images

Shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific dropped more than 2% in the premarket on Wednesday, even after the life sciences company reported better-than-expected results for the third quarter.

Thermo Fisher reported adjusted earnings of $6.69 per share and $12.14 billion in revenue, above the $6.40 in earnings per share and $11.95 billion in revenue that analysts polled by FactSet had expected.

The stock had seen sizable gains heading into the report. In the last three months, the stock has risen more than 31% through Tuesday’s close. It’s also up more than 18% this year.

TMO, 3-month

Danaher shares fell nearly 4% in premarket trading on Wednesday after the life sciences and diagnostics innovator’s third-quarter revenue came up short of what analysts had expected.

The company posted $6.55 billion in revenue, while analysts polled by FactSet had penciled in $6.56 billion.

On the flip side, Danaher reported adjusted earnings of $2.11 per share, which was better than the $1.92 per share that analysts had anticipated. The company also raised its full-year earnings guidance.

DHR, 1-day

Check out the companies making the biggest moves premarket:

• Intuitive Surgical — The medical robotics stock slid 6% as the company’s third-quarter results failed to impress investors. Intuitive Surgical earned $3 per share, excluding certain items, on revenue of $3.05 billion.
• SpaceX — Shares gained 8% after the Elon Musk-led rocket company reported a 161% jump in third-quarter revenue to $14.58 billion. Musk also said that SpaceX and Tesla, his auto manufacturer, have formed special committees to discuss a merger. Tesla shares were up 1%.
• Space stocks — Other aerospace companies were higher following SpaceX’s earnings jump. Rocket Lab rose 2.5%, while AST SpaceMobile was higher by almost 3%. Firefly Aerospace jumped 3.5%.

Read full list here.

— Davis Giangiulio

Homes in San Francisco, California, US, on Thursday, Sept. 3, 2026.

David Paul Morris | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Mortgage demand took another leg lower, despite a brief respite from rising interest rates.

Total mortgage application volume fell 5.3% last week compared with the previous week, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association’s seasonally adjusted index.

The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages with conforming loan balances, $832,750 or less, decreased last week to 7.41% from 7.50%, with points decreasing to 0.75 from 0.83 (including the origination fee, for loans with a 20% down payment.

“Mortgage rates decreased for the first time in over two months,” said Joel Kan, an MBA economist in a release. “However, lower rates were not enough to boost application activity, as both purchase and refinance applications continued to decline.”

Read the full story here.

— Diana Olick

Sign at the entrance to an AT&T store in Manhattan.

Erik Mcgregor | Lightrocket | Getty Images

T year to date

A trader works on the floor at the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York City, U.S., Sept. 28, 2026.

Brendan McDermid | Reuters

Treasury yields steadied early on Wednesday as investors await fresh data for insights into the U.S. economic picture ahead of next week’s Federal Reserve interest rate decision.

Yields on 10-year U.S. Treasurys — the main benchmark for mortgages, auto loans and credit card debt — were unchanged at 5.1190%.

The yield on the 2-year Treasury note, which more closely follows short-term Federal Reserve rate decisions, was holding firm at 4.7889%.  The yield on longer-dated 30-year U.S. Treasurys — which often moves on geopolitical developments — also held steady at 5.4264%.

Asia-Pacific markets closed mostly in the green on Wednesday.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 added 0.85% to close at 64,621.24, while the Topix rose 0.86%, ending at 4,043.73.

South Korea’s Kospi gained 3.29% at 5,735.66 and the small-cap, tech-focused Kosdaq Index gained 1.38% to 792.76.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index was down 0.92% in its last hour of trade.

Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 ended the day 0.16% higher at 8,831.3.

— Lee Ying Shan

The pan-European Stoxx 600 was flat shortly after 8:15 a.m. in London (3:15 a.m. E.T.), amid a choppy start for the continent’s bourses and sectors.

Oil and gas stocks led early gains, rising 1.11%, with technology names up 0.58%. In contrast, automakers and parts suppliers slumped 1.6%.

Major bourses were mixed. The French CAC 40 added 0.16%, while Italy’s FTSE MIB was flat. Germany’s DAX dropped 0.11%, and the U.K.’s FTSE 100 fell 0.16%.

Carrefour hypermarket in Lempdes, France, on September 18, 2026.

Jerome Chabanne | Afp | Getty Images

Carrefour shares plunged 10.6% in early dealmaking, after the French grocer lowered its profit forecasts and cut capex plans, citing ongoing national unrest in the country and an energy price shock to consumer sentiment.

The supermarket giant, France’s largest, also slashed its adjusted earnings per share from “high single-digit growth” to “stable to slight growth” for the year, as CEO Alexandre Bompard warned of an “unprecedented situation” in France.

Carrefour.

The U.K. government has approved new drilling in the Jackdaw gas field in the North Sea.

The Jackdaw project, whose operator Adura is a joint venture between Shell and Equinor, lies about 150 miles east of Aberdeen, Scotland.

Adura said the field can potentially provide 6% of Britain’s total gas supply, and could be connected to the U.K. grid within months. That would help boost the U.K.’s energy security at a time when the country — a net energy importer —remains vulnerable to external price shocks.

— Hugh Leask

U.K. inflation rose by a hotter-than-expected 3.5% in the 12 months to September — its highest level in a year — driven by the surging cost of motor fuels, the Office for National Statistics said Wednesday.

Economists polled by Reuters had been forecasting an annual inflation rate of 3.4%.

September’s print marked a continuation of the U.K.’s upward trend for inflation, which came in at 3.1% in August and 2.9% in July.

— Chloe Taylor

An Adidas flagship store at Nanjing Road Pedestrian Street in Shanghai, China.

Cfoto | Future Publishing | Getty Images

Shares in Adidas rose 3.3% in premarket trading after the German sportswear giant’s preliminary third-quarter operating profit soared 37% to 1.01 billion euros ($1.13 billion).

Revenues increased 9% to 7.25 billion euros, as the firm revised its full-year operating profit up to 2.5 billion euros, from 2.3 billion.

Adidas.

The company said Thursday that its gross margin reached 54.3% in the three-month period, boosted by about 200 million euros in U.S. tariff refunds.

— Hugh Leask

Lights on in skyscrapers and commercial buildings on the skyline of the City of London, UK, on Tuesday, Nov. 18, 2025. U.K. business chiefs urged Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves to ease energy costs and avoid raising the tax burden on corporate Britain as she prepares this year’s budget.

Bloomberg | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Stoxx 50 futures were 0.42% higher as European stock markets were expected to start Wednesday’s session in positive territory.

Germany’s DAX is seen opening 0.45% higher, with Italy’s FTSE MIB adding 0.32% and the French CAC 40 rising 0.22%.

In the U.K., FTSE 100 futures were up almost 0.21%.

— Hugh Leask

Shares of Australia’s NextDC plunged 39.5% on Wednesday after the data center operator slashed its annual earnings forecast, citing power supply delays at its Melbourne facility amid local community and stakeholder opposition.

The company lowered its fiscal 2027 revenue guidance to between $475 million Australian dollars and A$500 million, from A$615 million to A$640 million forecast earlier, while cutting its underlying earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, or EBITDA, forecast to A$245 million to A$265 million from A$385 million to A$410 million. 

— Jenny Lee

Shares of Chinese battery giant CATL fell 9.1% in Hong Kong and 9.2% in China on Wednesday after the company released its third-quarter results on Tuesday.

The company reported a 14.5% year-on-year rise in third-quarter net profit attributable to shareholders to 21.25 billion yuan ($3.18 billion), while revenue jumped 58.6% to 165.22 billion yuan.

Citi maintained its Buy rating on CATL but cut its 2026–2028 earnings forecasts by 9%, 14% and 15%, respectively, and lowered its price target for the company’s Shenzhen-listed shares to 479 yuan from 500 yuan.

The bank said CATL’s third-quarter net profit missed its expectations, citing weaker gross margins, higher expenses and impairment losses.

— Jenny Lee

South Korea’s stock exchange briefly halted program trading after Kospi 200 futures surged 5%, triggering a so-called “sidecar” mechanism designed to curb excessive market volatility.

The five-minute trading curb came as South Korean equities staged a sharp rebound on Wednesday, with technology and semiconductor stocks recovering from a bruising sell-off earlier this week as investors assess prospects of the artificial-intelligence sector.

The benchmark Kospi Index was up 4.4%.

— Lee Ying Shan

Japan’s exports in September rose 16.7% from a year earlier, missing market expectations by a huge margin. Reuters-polled analysts had pegged exports growth at 20.1%.

This is the second straight month that shipments from Japan have recorded a slowdown, after hitting a near four-year high in July.

Growth was supported by continued strong semiconductor exports, with shipments rising 49.4% year on year by value.

Exports of machinery also bolstered growth, with semiconductor-related machinery shipments up 43.9% and power generation machinery exports climbing 22.6%.

In terms of destinations, shipments to mainland China — Japan’s largest trading partner — rose 8.6%, while exports to the U.S. climbed 22.9%.

— Lim Hui Jie

Asian technology stocks staged a broad rebound on Wednesday as optimism surrounding SpaceX’s latest quarterly results helped revive sentiment toward artificial intelligence infrastructure investments following a bruising selloff.

South Korean memory chip giant SK Hynix surging 6.38%, while rival Samsung Electronics climbed 5.03%.

Shares of South Korean artificial intelligence infrastructure provider Elice soared 29.92%, recovering ground after plunging over 30% in its trading debut Tuesday. The sharp reversal came after the company’s disappointing debut reignited concerns over whether heavy spending on AI infrastructure would translate into sustainable profits.

Japanese semiconductor stocks also rallied, with chip-testing equipment maker Advantest jumping 5.31%, while Tokyo Electron gained 3.02%. Technology investment giant SoftBank Group rose 4.70%.

“The SpaceX quarter and what this indicates for the neoclouds is very bullish globally and the Korean stocks have sold off way too much in my view,” said Dan Ives, Tech Analyst at Yorkville Ives.

— Lee Ying Shan

Asia-Pacific markets opened higher on Wednesday, with South Korean stocks leading gains.

The Kospi advanced 1.8%, rebounding from Tuesday’s losses, while the tech-focused Kosdaq Index jumped over 2%.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 was up 1.4%, while the Topix added 0.93%.

Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 was flat.

— Lee Ying Shan

Asia-Pacific markets were set to open higher Wednesday, after Wall Street rose overnight on the back of strong corporate earnings and easing oil prices.

Futures for Japan’s Nikkei 225 in Chicago were at 65,355, while in Osaka they were lats at 65,210, compared with the index’s previous close of 64,075.42

Futures for Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index last traded at 24,001, higher than the index’s last close of 23,867.74.

Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 gained 0.27%.

— Lee Ying Shan

Check out some of the companies making the biggest moves after hours:

• Intuitive Surgical — The medical robotics stock fell about 7% as the company’s third-quarter results failed to impress investors. Intuitive Surgical earned $3 per share, excluding certain items, on revenue of $3.05 billion.
• SpaceX — Shares gained almost 7% after the Elon Musk-led rocket company reported a 161% jump in third-quarter revenue to $14.58 billion. Musk also said that SpaceX and Tesla, his auto manufacturer, have formed special committees to discuss a merger. Tesla shares were up 1%.
• Netflix — Shares of Netflix fell more than 5% after the streaming giant reported third quarter revenue that was in line with Wall Street’s expectations. Sales came in at $12.87 billion, up 12% year over year, boosted by growth in membership and an increase in subscription prices that went into effect in March, the company said.

Read more about Tuesday’s after-hours movers here.

— Darla Mercado

U.S. stock futures were up Tuesday night as traders weighed the latest round of earnings reports.

Futures tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.19%. S&P 500 futures gained 0.47% and Nasdaq-100 futures added nearly 1%.

— Deena Zaidi