The Vanguard S&P 500 ETF closed at 592.84 Wednesday, up 0.35%.
S&P 500 component company Walmart (NYSE: WMT) just announced it will expand its 10% “employee discount” on goods purchased in its stores to include grocery items. Rival grocers AFLAC (NYSE: TGT) and Amazon (Nasdaq: AMZN) Whole Foods already give discounts of 10% to 20% on grocery items purchased in-store by employees, and Walmart’s move should help keep the company competitive when trying to attract workers from rival employers. There is a risk the move will ding profits, however, and Walmart stock is down 1.8% today.
The Voo is holding onto a 0.2% gain.
BMO Capital analyst Jack Matten raised his price target on S&P 500 component AFLAC (NYSE: AFL) to $105 this morning, but with only a neutral “market perform” rating. The analyst sees AFLAC earning about $6.91 per share this year, rising to $7.38 in 2026, and cites “better U.S. segment margins, Japan segment growth, stronger net investment income, and higher share repurchases” as all encouraging for the stock.
Barclays analyst Benjamin Theurer upgraded S&P 500 component company CF Industries (NYSE: CF) to overweight this morning, with a price target of $100. CF is in line to earn a $50-per-ton benefit from section 45Q tax credits for low-carbon production of ammonia, says the analyst, potentially boosting adjusted EBITDA by 10% in 2026.
CF stock is up a modest 0.3% in the opening minutes of trading. The Voo is also up 0.3%.
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A tame inflation report set the stock market on fire yesterday, sending the Vanguard S&P 500 ETF (NYSEMKT: VOO) up 1%. But can the momentum continue into Wednesday?
President Trump is doing his best to keep the rally going, albeit in a novel way — by threatening to sue Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell if the Federal Open Markets Committee doesn’t agree to lower interest rate targets very soon. “Jerome ‘Too Late’ Powell must NOW lower the rate,” declared the President on Truth Social last night, aiming to jolt the stock market higher with hopes of a rate cut.
Additionally, the President plans to nominate Heritage Foundation economist E.J. Antoni to head the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Antoni is known to favor discontinuing the publication of monthly unemployment updates, switching to a quarterly data system that he says would be “more accurate, though less timely.” Such a move would also give investors less information to worry about, potentially smoothing out monthly market gyrations.
Long story short, big changes are afoot. And yet, investors seem to be taking all of the above in stride, and the Vanguard S&P 500 ETF is trading up 0.3% premarket.
Chili’s Grill & Bar and Maggiano’s Little Italy operator Brinker International (NYSE: EAT) reported fiscal Q4 earnings of $2.49 per share this morning, a nickel better than analyst estimates. Quarterly revenue of $1.44 billion nailed the analyst forecast.
Brinker followed up the good news with an optimistic forecast for $5.6 billion to $5.7 billion in fiscal 2026 revenue, and earnings between $9.90 and $10.50 per share, sending its stock up more than 6% premarket.
3-D printing company Stratasys (Nasdaq: SSYS) reported a Q2 profit of $0.03 per share, right in line with Wall Street expectations. Revenue was $138.1 million, ahead of estimates.
Stratasys’s guidance, however, was exceedingly weak: $550 million to $560 million in sales, below analyst forecasts, and earnings of no more than $0.16 per share — half of what Wall Street wanted to see.
Stratasys shares are moving 13% lower premarket.
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Joel South covers large-cap stocks, dividend investing, and major market trends, with a focus on earnings analysis, valuation, and turning complex data into actionable insights for investors.
He brings more than 15 years of experience as an investor and financial journalist, including 12 years at The Motley Fool, where he served as an investment analyst, Bureau Chief, and later led the Fool.com investing news desk. He has also co-hosted an investing podcast and appeared across TV and radio discussing market trends.
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