Post-Bell | Nasdaq, S&P 500 End Lower. Intel Drops 7%; Micron Slides 4%; Palantir Sinks 1%; Figma up 7%; SBET, Bullish up 6%

The Nasdaq and S&P 500 fell on Wednesday as investors sold tech stocks and moved into less highly valued sectors, as they also awaited remarks from Federal Reserve officials at their Jackson Hole symposium this week.

Market Snapshot

The S&P 500 lost 15.59 points, or 0.24%, to end at 6,395.78 points, while the Nasdaq Composite lost 142.09 points, or 0.67%, to 21,172.86. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 16.04 points, or 0.04%, to 44,928.31. Figma up 7%, Opendoor Technologies Inc fell 11%, SoundHound AI Inc fell 6%, Micron Technology fell 4%.

Market Movers

Target posted stronger-than-expected second-quarter earnings but the stock declined 6.4% after the retailer announced that company veteran and current Chief Operating Officer Michael Fiddelke will succeed CEO Brian Cornell on Feb. 1. The news disappointed investors who were hoping for an external hire to bring in a fresh perspective.

Palantir fell 1.1%, extending declines into a sixth-straight session. Palantir, which trades at more than 200 times projected earnings, has fallen as investors unloaded expensive AI shares. Coming into Wednesday, Palantir had risen 109% so far this year.

Crypto stocks jumped on Wednesday. Upexi rose 12%; SBET, TeraWulf, Bullish rose 6%; BTCS, BMNR rose 5%; Strategy, Circle rose 2%.

Intel was down 7% after the chip maker rose nearly 7% on Tuesday to $25.31, its highest close since March 18. Driving the stock higher was a $2 billion investment from Japan's SoftBank. Coming into Wednesday's trading session, Intel had gained almost 28% in August, according to Dow Jones Market Data.

Nvidia was down 0.1%, falling along with the broader tech sector, ahead of earnings next week from the leading maker of AI chips. Nvidia shares were headed for their first two-week losing streak since April.

TJX Companies was up 2.7% as the retailer, which operates stores including T.J. Maxx and HomeGoods, posted better-than-expected second-quarter earnings and boosted its outlook for the rest of the fiscal year.

Estee Lauder's fiscal fourth-quarter earnings matched analysts' expectations but the stock was down 3.6% after the cosmetics company issued a fiscal-year sales forecast that missed estimates.

Analog Devices was up 6.3% after the semiconductor company posted fiscal third-quarter earnings that beat Wall Street expectations and offered an upbeat outlook for its current quarter.

Dayforce gained 3% to $67.40 after the company confirmed reports that it was in talks to be acquired by private-equity firm Thoma Bravo. The company, which sells human resources software, said the pair were engaged in advanced discussions over a buyout at $70 a share.

Alcon Inc. shares fell 10%. The eye-care company's second-quarter revenue of $2.58 billion missed consensus expectations. Management trimmed its fiscal-year revenue guidance, saying it anticipates $10.3 billion to $10.4 billion, while it said earlier it expected $10.4 billion to $10.5 billion.

Hertz Global Holdings, Inc. jumped 6% after the car-rental company said it would start selling used vehicles on Amazon Autos. Hertz said the collaboration initially will begin in Dallas, Houston, Los Angeles, and Seattle, with plans to expand to 45 locations nationwide. Carvana, which sells used cars online, declined 1.7%.

Market News

CoreWeave Climbs After Jane Street Acquires 5.4% Stake

CoreWeave, Inc. shares climbed during early post-market trading on Wednesday after it was revealed Jane Street had purchased a 5.4% stake in the artificial intelligence hyperscaler.

The quantitative trading firm now holds a total of 19.99M shares of CoreWeave, according to a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Wednesday.

According to recent filings, Jane Street is now the fourth-largest shareholder of CoreWeave, which recently launched its initial public offering in late March. The only entities holding more shares include Magnetar Financial at 25%, FMR at 6.75% and Nvidia (NVDA) with 6.55%.

Alibaba-Backed Banma Network Plans Hong Kong Listing

Alibaba said on Thursday that autonomous-driving software firm Banma Network Technology is planning a separate listing on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.

Alibaba will retain a 30% stake in Banma after listing, down from its current holding of 44.72%.

Nvidia-Backed FieldAI Raises $405M to Boost Robotics Prowess

FieldAI, the robotics startup that is backed by NVIDIA and others, announced on Wednesday that it has raised $405M in two consecutive funding rounds to boost its capabilities of building robots.

Included in the funding rounds are Nvidia's venture arm, Intel Capital, BHP Ventures, Jeff Bezos's Bezos Expeditions and others. Previous investors include Bill Gates' Gates Frontier firm and Samsung.

The new funding would value the company at less than $2B, CNBC reported.