Nasdaq closes 1% higher Wednesday after inflation data is cooler than anticipated: Live updates

The Nasdaq Composite notched a 1.04% gain on Wednesday following a cooler-than-expected consumer price index report. The index closed at 12,306.44.

The S&P 500 added 0.45%, ending at 4,137.64. The 30-stock Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 0.09%, or 30.48 points, to close at 33,531.33.

-Darla Mercado

Shares of Google-parent company Alphabet gained more than 4% as the search giant unveiled new gadgets and details on its generative artificial intelligence tools.

Among the announcements at its I/O developer conference in Mountain View, California, Google showed off the Pixel 7a Android phone. The company also removed the waiting list for its conversational chatbot Bard and revealed new AI offerings for its Search business and online office suite.

— Samantha Subin

Shares of First Citizens BancShares rose 8% on Wednesday after the North Carolina-based bank released its first quarterly report since it purchased assets from the failed Silicon Valley Bank in March.

First Citizens acquired roughly $107 billion worth of of SVB's assets at a discount out of receivership. The bank booked a preliminary gain of $9.82 billion after taxes on the acquisitions.

That gave the bank a massive jump in profits, at least for one quarter. First Citizens said its first quarter net income was $9.52 billion, up from $257 million in the fourth quarter.

"Building on the considerable strengths Silicon Valley Bank brings to the business, including exceptional talent and expertise, significant scale, geographic diversity, and meaningful solutions for customers, we are confident we will continue to deliver long-term value for our shareholders," First Citizens CEO Frank Holding said in a press release.

— Jesse Pound

Bank stocks are underperforming on Wednesday as the market has given up its early gains.

Shares of Goldman Sachs are down 1.7%, while Bank of America is off by 2.2%. The SPDR S&P Regional Banking ETF is down 2.1%, with PacWest Bancorp shedding more than 5%.

— Jesse Pound

It's getting busier for Wall Street after the consumer price index reading that came before the bell.

More than 43 million shares of the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (SPY), which tracks the broad S&P 500 index, have been traded as of around 1:30 ET Wednesday, with two-and-a-half hours of trading left. By comparison, the trust saw just 49.2 million shares traded in the entire trading day on Tuesday.

To be sure, it's still been a relatively quiet week on Wall Street. More shares were exchanged on March 16 —in the thick of the fallout from the Silicon Valley Bank closure — alone than have been in total so far this trading week.

— Alex Harring

The WisdomTree Cloud Computing Fund (WCLD) is on track to post its best daily performance since March.

The fund has added 2.5% so far in Wednesday's session. That's the best day since March 31, when it finished 4.1% higher.

RingCentral and Q2 led the fund higher, up more than 19% and 13%, respectively.

— Alex Harring, Gina Francolla

Icahn Enterprises, Carl Icahn's conglomerate, saw its stock drop as much as 20% Wednesday after a regulatory filing revealed the U.S. Attorney's office for the Southern District of New York contacted the company seeking information about corporate governance, capitalization, securities offerings, dividends, valuation, marketing materials, due diligence and other materials.

Regulators sought information a day after notable short seller Hindenburg Research took a short position against Icahn's company. Hindenburg alleged "inflated" asset valuations last Tuesday, among other reasons, for what it says is an unusually high net asset value premium in shares of the publicly traded holding company.

The stock is down more than 38% year to date.

— Yun Li

The percentage of bullish financial newsletter editors (44.6%, down from 45.8% last week) topped the numbers of bears (24.3%, up from 23.6%) for a 25th consecutive week, according to the Investors Intelligence survey.

"That confirms an overall rising market," II said.

The number of editors anticipating a short-term pullback in stocks, or "correction," rose again, to 31.1% from 30.6%. "This group usually increases as markets rally. When that occurs it may signal a trading top. At present they are doing the opposite – increasing as markets decline. That could portend a surprise rally," II said.

— Scott Schnipper

Another new ETF with real estate flavor is hitting the market on Wednesday, but with a twist that could attract investors who want to ride government spending trends.

The IQ CBRE Real Assets ETF (IQRA) will begin trading on Wednesday, with holdings in both real estate and infrastructure.

The holdings of the actively managed fund will be split roughly 50-50 between those two groups, said Jeremy Anagnos, the chief investment officer for listed infrastructure at CBRE Investment Management. The fund may hold preferred shares in additional to common equity, Anagnos said.

The IQRA will have an expense ratio of 0.65%.

—Jesse Pound

TD Cowen is moving to the sidelines on shares of Nikola.

Analyst Jeffrey Osborne downgraded the electric heavy truck maker to market perform, citing concerns of a continued "liquidity overhang" despite conviction in the company's strategy.

"Longer term we see the company evolving into a more broad-based energy technology company as hydrogen fueling infrastructure is slowly built out," he wrote. "However, we see the continued need to raise capital for the next couple of years remaining an overhang for the shares."

— Samantha Subin

Consumer spending weakened in the first week of May, possibly because of a shift in the timing of Mother's Day, according to Citi.

Total spending across 16 subsectors dropped 11.5% in the week ending May 6, Citi's Paul Lejuez wrote in a Wednesday note. That's compared to an 8.6% decline the prior week in April. Excluding food, spending actually fell 11.4% last week, compared to a 9.6% drop the previous week.

"At best this would indicate that spending trends (in the sub-sectors we track) have been generally consistent (and remain weak)," Lejuez wrote. "However, on the surface, spending has deteriorated, so we look to next week's report to see if we get an acceleration this week leading up to Mother's Day."

— Sarah Min

Shares of Rivian Automotive surged 12% after reporting a smaller-than-expected loss for the recent quarter and reaffirming its 50,000-vehicle production target for the year.

Other electric vehicle stocks moved higher, with Tesla last up more than 2%. China-based Xpeng gained more than 1%.

— Samantha Subin

Barclays analyst Tom O'Malley downgraded Lumentum after its latest earnings results, saying the company has had "one too many resets" after posting a weaker-than-expected outlook.

"Another reset, but this time across all segments," O'Malley wrote on Wednesday. "We move to Equal Weight as we struggle to find a compelling reason to support the stock with no imminent positive catalyst and further risk to Telecom."

— Sarah Min

Rivian Automotive's stronger-than-expected results could mean "accelerating growth" from here, though concerns remain for the electric vehicle maker, according to some Wall Street analysts. 

Shares popped 7% Wednesday after the company posted a narrower-than-expected first-quarter loss and said it's on pace to produce 50,000 vehicles in 2023. 

For some analysts, the results were encouraging. Rivian, which made its initial public debut in 2021, has cratered in the years since as it deals with rising interest rates that dimmed its growth prospects, as well as supply chain issues. On its first day on the Nasdaq, Rivian was valued at $86 billion. Today, it has a market cap of $13 billion. It fell 82% in 2022, and it's down by 24% this year. 

Canaccord Genuity's George Gianarikas said "that may now be changing," maintaining his buy rating on the stock. He also kept a $40 price target, implying the stock can jump 188% from Tuesday's close. 

CNBC Pro subscribers can read the full report here.

— Sarah Min

The Dow traded more than 100 points higher, while the Nasdaq Composite jumped 1%. The S&P 500 gained 0.8%.

— Fred Imbert

Bitcoin and gold prices moved higher Wednesday morning after the latest CPI report showed inflation rose in April but the increase was slightly smaller than expected.

Bitcoin rose 2% to $28,241.30, according to Coin Metrics, while gold futures hit a session high of $2,056.

Meanwhile, the U.S. dollar index fell to as low as 101.305 and is in jeopardy of going negative for the week – which would make it its third negative week in a row.

Bitcoin's correlation to gold has been sitting at historic highs. The cryptocurrency has an inverse relationship with the dollar index.

— Tanaya Macheel, Gina Francolla

Roblox shares declined 8.1% after the company reported higher-than-expected losses per share.

Roblox posted losses of 44 cents per share in the first quarter. Meanwhile, analysts had estimated losses of 40 cents per share, according to Refinitiv data. The company's average bookings per daily active user remained flat year-over-year despite reporting a 23% increase in hours engaged over the same period.

The company's management said that it is now looking to "moderate our rate of investment in headcount and infrastructure thereby generating operating leverage," adding that it also expects to see more bookings processed through credit cards and prepaid cards, "which will also have a positive impact on margins."

— Hakyung Kim

The U.S. consumer price index rose 4.9% in April from the year-earlier period, the Labor Department said Wednesday. Economists polled by Dow Jones expected a 5% year-over-year increase.

— Jeff Cox

Rockwell Automation slid 2.8% in premarket trading on Wednesday following a report that the Biden administration is investing if the infrastructure technology company exposed assets.

The Wall Street Journal reported that the administration is investigating whether the industrial technology company has exposed U.S. military, infrastructure and government assets in a possible cyberattack through one of its facilities in China. The probe is focused on a facility in in Dalian, China, according to the report. But the report noted that there were not any current suggestions of vulnerabilities.

A company spokesperson said there has been no report or indication that practices or protocols have been breached or any products have been intentionally compromised.

The representative also said Rockwell Automation has not been notified by a U.S. agency of any investigation into the company's work in China, adding it would "fully cooperate" if there is one.

— Alex Harring

These are some of the stocks making the biggest premarket moves:

• Rivian Automotive — The electric vehicle maker jumped more than 6% after the company reported a first-quarter loss that was narrower than expected. Rivian also said it's still on track to meet its 2023 production target.
• Airbnb — The vacation booking platform lost 13.3% after gaving a weak outlook for the second quarter and saying the company could have a tough time meeting year-over-year comparables. Airbnb still beat expectations on both lines for quarterly earnings.
• Twilio — The software company slid 16% in premarket trading after Twilio's revenue forecast came in weaker than expected. The company said it was expecting between $980 million and $990 million in revenue for the second quarter, while analysts surveyed by Refinitiv expected $1.05 billion.

See the full list here.

— Alex Harring

Data compiled by Bespoke Investment Group shows that the S&P 500 fares reasonably well on days when the Consumer Price Index inflation clip is reported.

Over the past six months, the key index has gained as much as 6%, which the S&P 500 reached on the December CPI numbers reported in January. The index gained roughly 1% and 0.5% as well in February and March, respectively.

Futures tied to the S&P 500 were about 0.08% lower in premarket trading on Wednesday. Economists polled by Dow Jones expected month-over-month inflation to have increased 0.4% in April, and 5% year-over year.

Reuters reported on Wednesday that U.S. prosecutors are taking a look at short selling in bank shares.

The trading activity around the regional banking crisis is an "area of interest" for the Justice Department, a person familiar with the matter told Reuters. The department is looking for potential market manipulation. Steep drops for some stocks this month after banks reported rebounded deposits led to speculation that short-sellers were having a large impact on the market.

During the global financial crisis, regulators briefly banned short-selling on bank stocks. However, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen told CNBC on Monday that the bar was high to implement another short-selling ban, which would be under the authority of the Securities and Exchange Commission.

—Jesse Pound

The latest reading on the U.S. consumer price index is slated for release Wednesday, with economists polled by Dow Jones expecting a year-over-year gain of 5% for April.

JPMorgan's sales and trading team broke down five possible scenarios for how the stock market might react. Here's two of them:

• 50% chance — CPI between 5% and 5.2%: This is the most-likely scenario, per JPMorgan, and will give "comfort that disinflation can continue but this is not enough to reprice yields higher." The S&P 500 would rise between 0.5% and 0.75% under this outcome, JPMorgan expects.
• 25% chance — CPI between 5.3% and 5.5%: "This scenario would be a shock to the markets, but it seems unlikely that we experience a significant sell off since the spike in yields is likely muted given the bond market's fears surrounding bank contagion and the debt ceiling," JPMorgan said. The S&P 500 would lose 0.75%-1.25% under this outcome, the traders said.

— Fred Imbert

European markets opened muted as investors look ahead to the latest U.S. inflation data and how it could affect the U.S. Federal Reserve's monetary policy.

The pan-European Stoxx 600 index was up 0.1% around market open, led by a 0.9% uptick in bank stocks. Sectors were a mix of gains and losses, with health care down 0.4%.

— Hannah Ward-Glenton

China's inflation for April is expected to fall further to 0.3%, according to a Reuters poll of 37 economists. The country will release its consumer price index Thursday.

Should the forecast prove accurate, that would mark the third-straight month of decline in the inflation rate, and the lowest reading since February 2021, when inflation was at -0.2%.

China's inflation stood at 0.7% in March after coming down from a peak of 2.1% in January.

— Lim Hui Jie

South Korea's ministry for small- and medium-sized enterprises and startups is pushing a few measures to uplift the country's declining venture capital sector.

In an exclusive interview with CNBC, Lee Young, South Korea's minister for SMEs and startups, said the measures include injecting 1 trillion Korean won ($748.43 million) into a government-owned fund, which it estimates will create 2 trillion won in venture capital investments.

Venture capital investment in South Korea plummeted 60.3% during the first quarter compared with a year ago, ministry data showed. The ministry attributed the decline to factors such as a slowdown in the economy and high interest rates which resulted in more expensive capital.

"Secondly, we will provide comprehensive support for fundraising of innovative startups. And we are offering lots of incentive programs to private capital to move actively in this difficult situation," Lee told CNBC's Chery Kang.

"Finally, we have continuously tried to make a joint global fund. For example, President Yoon visited New York last year to discuss the making of a joint fund. And now we are talking with the Saudi Arabia government. And I'm confident that we will announce this soon," said Lee.

Saudi Arabia has been making a series of investments into South Korean firms such as Kakao and petrochemicals companies.

— Sheila Chiang

The Australian government should not rest on its laurels and instead work to improve the structural position of the budget in the medium term, according to Andrew McKellar, chief executive of the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

"If you look at what's projected at the moment: within two years, we are projected to be back into a deficit of $35 billion a year, so that needs to be further addressed," ACCI chief executive McKellar told CNBC in a Wednesday interview.

Late Tuesday, Treasurer Jim Chalmers announced billions in cost-of-living relief aimed at lowering power bills and consumer prices, with defense and ties with neighboring Pacific nations another priority as Australia looks to counter China's growing strategic influence in the region, Reuters reported.

In various interviews with Australian media on Wednesday morning, Chalmers and Prime Minister Anthony Albanese rejected concerns that the budget will end up worsening inflation.

Chalmers expects domestic growth to slow to just 1.25% in 2023/24 from 3.25% this fiscal year, in large part due to the 375-basis-points of rate rises from the Reserve Bank of Australia.

"Our assessment is that it is time to pause," said ACCI chief executive McKellar. "The real test for the success of the budget: will it be seen by the Reserve Bank to take the risk off inflation. If we do see further interest rate increases in the coming months, we may see monetary and fiscal policy potentially pushing against each other. That is a situation we want to avoid."

— Clement Tan

Korean Air CEO Walter Cho expects a full recovery by the third quarter. The airline has doubled in operating profit compared with 2019, he told CNBC's "Squawk Box Asia."

Passenger demand is "very strong right now" and the airline has reached about 90% capacity in passenger traffic, Cho added.

Korean Air is seeing "very strong" demand from China but, Cho said, it is only at about 30% capacity currently. Cho said the airline expects capacity to open up fully by the second half of the third quarter.

Japan has shown strong traffic from the fourth quarter of last year and the first quarter of this year, which the airline expects will continue "all throughout this year," Cho said.

– Audrey Wan

Japanese conglomerate Mitsubishi Corp posted a record net profit of 1.18 trillion yen ($8.72 billion) for its financial year ended March, the first time net profit has crossed the 1 trillion mark.

The 1.18 trillion yen figure was 25.94% higher compared with the 2021 fiscal year, which saw a net profit of 937.5 billion yen. The earnings were led by gains in the natural gas, industrial materials and real estate segments.

However, the company said that net income for the current financial year will most likely come in lower at 920 billion yen due to high market prices for resources.

Mitsubishi also announced additional share buybacks of 200 billion yen for its 2022 fiscal year, bringing its total amount of buybacks to 370 billion yen. The company estimates 100 billion yen in share buybacks for its current fiscal year.

Shares of Mitsubishi surged 4.04% on Wednesday and was the top gainer on the Topix in terms of index points.

— Lim Hui Jie

President Joe Biden and Democratic leaders, as well as Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, all pledged that the United States will not default on its debt after a high stakes meeting at the White House.

"I made clear during the meeting that default is not an option," Biden said at a hastily called press conference.

"The United States has never defaulted on its debt and it never will," said McConnell, who attended the meeting with GOP House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, Calif., Democratic Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, both of New York.

Schumer said that McCarthy was the only attendee at the meeting who would not rule out a debt default. "We explicitly asked speaker McCarthy would he take default off the table. He refused," Schumer said.

For his part, McCarthy told reporters he did not see "any new movement" in negotiating positions. "Everybody in this meeting reiterated the positions they were at," he said.

Despite making little progress, the leaders will reconvene on Friday. In the interim, Biden said, their aides will meet every day.

— Christina Wikie

Airbnb shares lost 11% in extended trading after sharing soft guidance for the current quarter.

Despite the after-hours losses, Airbnb reported first-quarter earnings that beat analyst estimates on both the top and bottom lines.

Looking ahead, the company warned of tough comparables in the second quarter. Last year, the company benefited during the period from pent-up demand for travel following an omicron surge.

For the current period, Airbnb said it expects a decline in bookings growth and average daily rates from a year ago.

— Samantha Subin, Ashley Capoot

These are some of the names making the biggest moves after the bell:

Twilio — Twilio shares shed nearly 14% after providing a lighter-than-expected forecast for the current quarter. The company posted a slight beat on revenue.

Rivian — The electric vehicle stock gained more than 5% in extended trading. Rivian reported a narrower-than-expected loss and revenue beat Wall Street's expectations. The company also reaffirmed its EV production target.

Affirm — Shares of the buy-now-pay-later company fell more than 9% despite better-than-expected revenue. Losses for the quarter tripled from last year, but were narrower than expected.

— Samantha Subin

Stock futures opened lower in overnight trading Tuesday.

Futures tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 12 points, while S&P 500 futures and Nasdaq-100 futures inched slightly lower.

— Samantha Subin