5 things to know before the stock market opens Wednesday, July 17

Here are five key things investors need to know to start the trading day:

The Dow Jones Industrial Average keeps on heading higher. On Tuesday, the blue-chip index reached new highs, advancing 1.85% to close at 40,954.48. Not only did the index hit an all-time high and a fresh record close, but it also saw its best session since June 2023. The other two major indexes also closed the session higher. The S&P 500 gained 0.64% to close at 5,667.20, and the Nasdaq Composite increased by 0.2% to close at 18,509.34. What’s more, the small cap-focused Russell 2000 also saw its fifth straight day of gains, rising more than 3% in the session.

Spirit Airlines is heading for a steeper-than-expected loss. The budget airline said on Tuesday that it’s expecting to post an adjusted loss between $160 million and $173 million for the quarter ended June 30. This is more than its previous estimate for a loss of no more than $145 million. In terms of sales, Spirit expects around $1.28 billion, which is lower than its prior forecast of at least $1.32 billion. The company also cited non-ticket revenue per passenger as coming in “several dollars lower than anticipated.” Shares fell about 6% in extended trading following the announcement.

The headquarters of both SpaceX and X may soon move out of California. Elon Musk – the CEO of SpaceX and owner of X – said Tuesday that he’ll move both companies to Texas in response to Gov. Gavin Newsom, D-Calif., signing a law that prevents the state’s school districts from requiring that parents be notified of a child’s gender identification change. After posting on X that SpaceX will move its HQ from Hawthorne, California, to Starbase, Texas, Musk later added that the X HQ will move from San Francisco to Austin. This comes after Musk’s recent endorsement of former President Donald Trump and planned contribution of $45 million per month to a pro-Trump super political action committee known as the America PAC. It’s anticipated that Trump will roll back transgender rights if elected in November. Musk joins venture capitalists Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz in planning to make donations to PACs supporting Trump’s campaign, CNBC has confirmed.

It looks like an interest rate cut will be coming soon, according to traders. The CME FedWatch tool, which tracks the likelihood of Fed target rate changes based on trading in fed funds futures contracts, shows that there are 93.3% odds that the Fed’s target range for the federal funds rate will be lowered to a range of 5% to 5.25% in September. This is down from its current range of 5.25% to 5.50%. The tool also shows there are 6.7% odds that the rate will be a half-percentage-point lower in September. In all, traders see 100% odds that a rate cut will happen by September. This comes as Fed Chairman Jerome Powell said earlier this week that the central bank wouldn’t wait for inflation to hit its 2% target rate before cutting rates.

San Francisco appears to be a “ghost town,” mayoral candidate Mark Farrell says. As San Francisco sees record-high commercial vacancies, the Democrat is proposing a 20-year vision to revitalize the city’s downtown. His proposal includes a new park at Embarcadero Plaza and mixed-use buildings that provide more housing options. Farrell is also proposing tax incentives for businesses that relocate to the area as well as those that mandate workers return to the office four days a week. “Right now the problem is downtown,” Farrell told CNBC. “We don’t have people working here. And it is a ghost town,” he continued. His comments come as commercial real estate vacancies in San Francisco hit a fresh high of 34.5% in the second quarter, according to a Cushman & Wakefield report last week. This is up from 5% before the pandemic.

— CNBC’s Alex Harring, Lisa Kailai Han, Leslie Josephs, Lora Kolodny, Hayden Field, John Melloy and Kate Rogers contributed to this report.

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