Stock market today: Live updates

Shares of Weight Watchers’ parent company have a market capitalization of only $142 million. Shares are down another 23% in trading Thursday after a 9fin report said the company is preparing for debt talks.

The stock has been under pressure for a while as weight loss drugs have soared in popularity, but the biggest blow came at the end of February when Oprah Winfrey stepped down from its board and donated her stock to charity.

D.A. Davidson analyst Linda Bolton Weiser rates the stock a buy and said she sees no bankruptcy risk or liquidity issues at this time. The analyst said WW ended 2023 with $109 million in cash on hand, plus an undrawn $175 million revolving credit facility, and noted that management has said it can operate the business with a balance sheet of as little as $40 million.

— Christina Cheddar-Berk

Everyday investors put billions of dollars into cash equities over the past week. Some of the biggest beneficiaries included lagging technology names and other well-known stocks.

CNBC Pro subscribers can click here to see the list of stocks and funds with the highest net inflows.

— Alex Harring

JPMorgan & Chase slipped more than 1% Thursday after the Federal Reserve announced the bank was fined almost $350 million.

The central bank said JPMorgan was hit with $348.2 million in fines by a pair of U.S. bank regulators. The punishments are tied to a program to analyze firm and client trading for misconduct that has been deemed inadequate.

Despite Thursday’s slide, shares of the bank have climbed more than 11% this year.

— Alex Harring, Reuters

Of the first 50 trading days of the new year, the S&P 500 has closed at record highs for 17 of them.

The last time the broad index saw more closing highs in the first 50 sessions was 1998, according to data from Bespoke Investment Group. In that year, the index finished at a record level for 20 of the 50 days.

The year 2024 has seen the fourth-highest amount when examining every year going back to 1953. The year with the most was 1964, when the index finished at a new high for 25 of the 50 trading days.

— Alex Harring

Adverse weather conditions and an onslaught of the cacao swollen shoot virus propelled cocoa prices to a new record high this morning.

On Thursday, Cocoa’s May-dated futures hit a new record of $7,489 per metric ton. Cocoa is now up more than 16% on the week, on pace for its 10th weekly gain in 11 weeks. The commodity is also on track for its best week since Feb. 23, when cocoa gained 17.13%.

Rising cocoa prices have hurt chocolate confectioners such as Hershey, which is down nearly 20% in the past 12 months versus the S&P 500’s 31.5% gain. Hershey stock slipped 0.8% today and is on pace for its second negative week in three.

— Lisa Kailai Han, Gina Francolla

The S&P 500 opened little changed on Thursday, with fresh inflation data showing wholesale prices increased more than expected in February.

The broad market index hovered near the flatline. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 107 points, or 0.2%. The Nasdaq Composite climbed 0.1%.

— Brian Evans

Check out the companies making headlines before the bell.

• Under Armour — Shares dropped 5.3% on news that founder Kevin Plank is returning as CEO to the sportswear company. Plank’s return is a clear signal that Under Armour’s strategy is not working, Evercore ISI said, which downgraded shares to underperform from in line.
• Fisker — Shares fell to as little as 19 cents a share after The Wall Street Journal reported that the electric vehicle developer, which has long struggled to grow its sales, has hired restructuring advisors to assist with a potential bankruptcy filing, according to individuals familiar with the matter.
• Robinhood — The financial services platform said on Thursday that its equity trading volumes in February rose 41% from a year ago, leading shares to climb nearly 12%.

For the full list, read here.

— Pia Singh

The producer price index rose 0.6% in February. Core PPI, which strips out food and energy, gained 0.3%. Economists polled by Dow Jones expected an increase of 0.3% for the headline number and a 0.2% advance for core PPI.

It marks the last major data release before the Fed’s meeting on March 19-20.

— Fred Imbert

Big returns in 2024 will likely lead to hefty taxes when you file next spring, but investors can take a few steps now to minimize the hit.

Do a checkup on your investment portfolio to see how you can enhance its tax efficiency, said Jared Woodard, an investment and ETF strategist at Bank of America.

For starters, consider switching some of your existing mutual funds for exchange-traded funds. Mutual funds can spin out hefty year-end capital gains distributions, as managers sell holdings to cash out departing investors.

You can also rethink your asset allocation — and location. Treasurys, money market funds and other fixed income assets spin out interest that’s taxable as ordinary income on the federal level. They may be better held in a tax-deferred account.

Click here for other tax efficiency tips.

— Darla Mercado

On Wednesday, the House of Representatives passed a bill that gave Chinese company ByteDance roughly six months to sell TikTok before it was banned from U.S. app stores.

The bill now moves to the Senate. In the event that the bill passes through Congress, it could have major ramifications on the broader technology sector, according to Jay Woods, chief global strategist of Freedom Capital Markets.

“If you want ByteDance to divest and sell TikTok, well, who’s big enough to buy? It’s probably one of the megacap names — it’s the Alphabets, the Metas, maybe Microsoft. We have seen so many regulatory hurdles with smaller deals,” he said, citing the blocked JetBlue and Spirit Airlines merger.

Besides the political posturing, this bill could also have an effect on stocks with Chinese exposure, which include names such as Apple and Tesla. Shares of the two “Magnificent Seven” members have already slipped in recent weeks, as sales in the China market have weakened.

“If China is going to retaliate, they probably won’t go after some of the consumer staples with a lot of exposure there, but it could happen,” he added.

— Lisa Kailai Han

These are the stocks moving the most in extended trading.

• Robinhood — The fintech stock added 8% after reporting its selected monthly operating data for February 2024.
• SentinelOne — The cybersecurity stock slipped 10% despite posting fourth-quarter earnings and revenue that came above LSEG, formerly Refinitiv, estimates.
• Under Armour — The stock added less than 1% after the sportswear company announced that CEO Stephanie Linnartz would be stepping out.

Read the full list of stocks moving here.

— Lisa Kailai Han