Stocks slipped on Wednesday as investors parsed the latest earnings reports and Federal Reserve meeting minutes while awaiting Nvidia's quarterly figures.

The S&P 500 slid 0.56% to end at 5,888.55, while the Nasdaq Composite shed 0.51% and settled at 19,100.94. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 244.95 points, or 0.58%, and closed at 42,098.70.

Okta shares plunged more than 16% after the identity management software company kept its guidance steady despite a better-than-expected quarter due to macroeconomic uncertainty. On the other hand, Abercrombie & Fitch and Dick's Sporting Goods climbed more than 14% and nearly 2%, respectively, following quarterly reports.

Nvidia is set to report earnings after the bell. Investors will be paying close attention to what China restrictions will mean for the artificial intelligence chipmaker, which sees no slowing in demand for its graphics processors. Shares closed marginally lower ahead of the report.

"The big drivers of the economy that's kind of keeping it out of a recession and keeping corporate profits positive is consumer spending and business investment," said Tom Hainlin, senior investment strategist at U.S. Bank. "Nvidia's a key indicator of: Did businesses accelerate their investments?"

The Fed released minutes from its May meeting Wednesday afternoon. They showed that participants found a cautious monetary policy approach to be appropriate amid a period of economic uncertainty and that it could face "difficult tradeoffs" if inflation rises.

Traders also monitored rising bond yields. Notably, the 30-year Treasury yield briefly reached the 5% level in Wednesday's session.

Investors were coming off a strong session. On Tuesday, the 30-stock Dow rallied more than 700 points, or about 1.8%, while the S&P 500 rose 2%, each ending a four-day losing streak. The Nasdaq Composite advanced roughly 2.5%.

Those moves come after President Donald Trump on Sunday said that he would delay a 50% tariff on the European Union to July 9, after initially saying Friday that he was "not looking for a deal." This added to investors' hopes the stock market can leave the worst of the tariff chaos behind.

Stocks finish lower

The three major indexes concluded Wednesday's session in the red.

The Dow and S&P 500 each finished around 0.6% lower. The Nasdaq Composite ended down 0.5%.

— Alex Harring

Bank of America clients sold equities last week

Bank of America clients were not buying the dip during last week's stock market slump, according to a note from Jill Carey Hall, the firm's equity and quant strategist.

"Last week (S&P 500 -2.6%), clients were net sellers of US equities (-$0.3bn) for the first time in five weeks. Selling was chiefly in single stocks (first outflows in six weeks); muted ETF inflows were driven by fixed income/other ETFs while equity ETFs saw outflows for the first time in five weeks," the note said.

On a sector basis, clients sold tech and health care stocks but bought energy stocks.

— Jesse Pound

UBS sees 'limited' upside for equities in 2025, with rally to resume next year

Trade deal volatility will likely be the market theme this year, curbing upside for the stock market, according to UBS.

"Given the U.S. President's willingness to use forceful rhetoric in trade negotiations, further episodes of volatility most likely lie ahead as talks continue between the U.S. and its top trading partners, most notably China and the EU," the bank wrote in a Tuesday note. "We do not expect a smooth path to agreement, and with the S&P 500 now just 4% from its record high in February, we believe further gains this year are likely to be relatively limited."

But the bank's base case is that "pragmatism will ultimately prevail over confrontation."

Under the scenario of easing trade tensions, UBS believes that the equity market rally could resume into 2026, with the S&P 500 reaching around 6,400 by June. That is roughly 8% above the index's Tuesday close.

— Lisa Kailai Han

Nvidia rises ahead of earnings

Nvidia shares popped more than 1% in Wednesday's session as investors anxiously awaited the megacap technology titan's earnings report coming after the bell.

With that gain, Nvidia has risen more than 4% so far this week.

— Alex Harring

Stocks see little movement following Fed meeting minutes

Stocks were little changed after the Federal Reserve released minutes from its May meeting Wednesday afternoon.

he minutes showed that participants found a cautious monetary policy approach to be appropriate amid a period of economic uncertainty. They also indicated that the central bank could face "difficult tradeoffs" if inflation rises.

— Alex Harring

FHFA director Pulte says FICO price increases did not have a 'legitimate basis'

Federal Housing Finance Agency director William Pulte told CNBC's "Money Movers" that housing industry participants are "very upset" with Fair Isaac over a recent price increase for credit scores that, in his view, did not have a "legitimate basis."

"FICO was great, and I'm sure it still is a great company, but in the age of automation and AI, credit scores — we need to just make sure that they are as low-cost as possible," Pulte said.

The director indicated that FHFA was exploring ways to potentially work around FICO or push for change at the company.

"I'm just focused as the regulator on reducing costs," Pulte said.

Shares of FICO have seen several steep selloffs over the past two weeks and are down 26% since May 19. Some of those drops coincide with posts on X from Pulte about the rising cost of credit checks, though he pushed back against the idea that his social media commentary was responsible for the moves. The stock was higher by more than 7% on Wednesday.

— Jesse Pound

Abercrombie & Fitch, Okta, Vail Resorts among the stocks making moves in midday trading

Some stocks are making big moves in midday trading Wednesday:

• Abercrombie & Fitch – Shares of the retailer climbed 19% after Abercrombie & Fitch first-quarter earnings and revenue topped Street estimates, led by results at Hollister. Investors looked past A&F cutting its profit guidance and operating margin forecast due to tariffs, which the company said will hit its business by $50 million.
• Okta – Shares of the identity management software firm declined more than 14% after it left its guidance un changed, citing macroeconomic uncertainty. The company's first-quarter earnings and revenue came in better than expected.
• Vail Resorts – The ski resort operator surged more than 12% after Rob Katz returned as CEO, replacing Kirsten Lynch. Katz, the executive chair, served as CEO from 2006 to 2021.

Read here for the full list.

— Sean Conlon

GameStop drops 10% despite initiating bitcoin buying plan

Shares of GameStop tumbled 10% in volatile trading Wednesday after the video game retailer said it has officially bought 4,710 bitcoins, worth more than half a billion dollars.

GameStop, which had amassed a $4.76 billion cash pile as of February, began its crypto purchasing plan in a similar move made famous by MicroStrategy. The purchase came as bitcoin just hit a record high near $112,000.

— Yun Li

30-year Treasury yield surpasses 5%

The 30-year U.S. Treasury yield rose back above the closely followed 5% level on Wednesday. Click here to read more about what's moving the bond market.

— Alex Harring

Small caps underperform

Small cap stocks underperformed on Wednesday.

The small cap-focused Russell 2000 slid 0.7%. The S&P 500, by comparison, ticked 0.2% lower.

— Alex Harring

Honeywell adds Elliott's Marc Steinberg to board of directors

Honeywell has appointed Elliott Investment Management's Marc Steinberg to its board of directors ahead of its split into three independently listed companies, the company announced Wednesday.

Steinberg, a partner at activist investor Elliott, will join the board as an independent director and audit committee member, effective May 31.

The move comes after Elliott disclosed that it took a $5 billion-plus stake in Honeywell last year.

— Sean Conlon

Bank of America sees 15% upside ahead for Seagate Technology

Bank of America lifted its price objective for buy-rated data storage firm Seagate Technology following a series of meetings with the company's CFO, Gianluca Romano.

Shares of Seagate have surged 36% this year. Analyst Wamsi Mohan's new price target of $135, up from $125, implies another potential 15% upside ahead for the stock.

Mohan reiterated his buy rating, citing secular demand trends from cloud storage, alongside revenue and margin recovery from trough levels. Meanwhile, Mohan sees significant opportunities ahead from heat-assisted magnetic recording, or HAMR, a magnetic storage technology that can increase the amount of data storage available.

"We believe STX could sell 40TB HAMR at an 18-20% $/TB discount compared to 30TB for the same margin rate," the analyst wrote. "However, we expect cost/TB declines will be shared between STX and the customer, driving upside to STX margins as mix shifts to HAMR."

— Lisa Kailai Han

Stocks are little changed

Stocks are little changed as Wednesday's trading day kicks off.

The Dow added 0.1% shortly after 9:30 a.m. ET. The S&P 500 also rose 0.1%, while the Nasdaq Composite ticked 0.2% higher.

— Alex Harring

Stocks making the biggest moves premarket

Check out some of the companies making headlines in premarket trading:

• Macy's — The department store added more than 2% after the company reported earnings that beat estimates. Macy's also slashed its profit outlook as a result of higher tariffs and more aggressive company promotions.

• Okta — The identity management software firm pulled back about 10% after standing by its guidance, citing macroeconomic uncertainty. The company did beat fiscal first-quarter expectations on the top and bottom line, however.

• Freshpet — The pet food stock dipped nearly 2% following a downgrade to hold from buy at TD Cowen. The investment firm said Freshpet's refrigerated dog food concept is "nearing a saturation point" and sales growth could decelerate.

Read the full list here.

— Brian Evans

Abercrombie soars as earnings exceeded expectations

Abercrombie & Fitch shares surged more than 27% in Wednesday's premarket following an earnings beat for the first quarter.

The retailer earned $1.59 per share, beating the consensus forecast of $1.39 from analysts polled by LSEG. Revenue came in at $1.10 billion, also ahead of the $1.07 billion figure penciled in by the Street.

Abercrombie also whittled down its full-year guidance for earnings per share.

— Alex Harring, Gabrielle Fonrouge

Dick's maintains full-year guidance despite tariffs

Dick's Sporting Goods is upholding its guidance for the full year, even while taking the impact from tariffs into effect, the retailer said Wednesday.

Dick's anticipates earnings per share for fiscal 2025 to come in between $13.80 and $14.40 and revenue to be between $13.6 billion and $13.9 billion. Both forecasts are in line with analyst expectations, according to LSEG.

CEO Lauren Hobart said the guidance "reflects our strong start to the year and confidence in our strategies and operational strength while still acknowledging the dynamic macroeconomic environment."

Shares moved 1.3% higher in premarket trading.

—Gabrielle Fonrouge, Michelle Fox

Macy's pops on earnings beat

Macy's shares climbed about 3% before the bell on Wednesday after first-quarter earnings exceeded expectations.

The retailer earned an adjusted 16 cents per share on $4.6 billion in revenue. Analysts polled by LSEG had forecasted 14 cents and $4.5 billion, respectively.

However, the company slashed its full-year profit guidance.

— Alex Harring, Melissa Repko

Mizuho sees 6% upside for semiconductor manufacturer Broadcom

In a Tuesday note, Mizuho reiterated Broadcom as one of its top picks. The bank also raised its price target on the semiconductor manufacturer to $300 per share from $250.

Broadcom stock has added nearly 2% this year. Mizuho's updated forecast is roughly 6% above where shares closed on Tuesday.

Broadcom remains an industry leader with strong profitability, and should continue to benefit from key secular artificial intelligence drive tailwinds, wrote analyst Vijay Rakesh.

"We see AVGO well positioned with Networking and AI ramps, a strong position in Wireless, and margin-accretive software," the analyst added. "We see iPhone content remaining strong, ramping iPhone 16 with potential for further gains in 17."

— Lisa Kailai Han

Uncertainty likely to continue through at least July and August, Raymond James says

Stocks will likely remain volatile through the summer until investors get some clarity on tariffs, as well as on the U.S. budget, according to Raymond James.

"Equity and bond markets assumed near recession in early April, followed by overheating risk by mid-May," said Tavis McCourt, institutional equity strategist at Raymond James. "Uncertainty is likely to reign at least until at least July/August when 90 day tariff reprieves end and the One, Big Beautiful Bill is signed into law."

— Sarah Min

Stocks making the biggest moves after hours

Here are the stocks making the biggest moves in extended trading.

Okta — Shares of the identity management software company dropped more than 11%, after maintaining its guidance because of macroeconomic uncertainty. Otherwise, Okta beat fiscal first-quarter expectations on the top and bottom lines.

Box — Shares of the cloud storage company rallied about 10% after Box posted fiscal first quarter earnings and revenue that topped expectations, and issued better than expected second-quarter and full-year guidance, according to FactSet consensus estimates.

Vail Resorts — Shares jumped more than 9% after the ski resort company announced that Rob Katz has returned to the CEO post. Katz is the current executive chairperson of Vail Resorts, and he last served as CEO from 2006 to 2021. He replaces Kirsten Lynch, who has stepped down as CEO and a director on the board.

— Sarah Min

Stock futures open little changed Tuesday night

Stocks futures opened little changed Tuesday night.

Dow futures rose by 49 points, or 0.1%. S&P 500 futures and Nasdaq 100 futures climbed 0.07% and 0.03%, respectively.

— Sarah Min