Stock market news for May 22, 2024

U.S. stocks ended Wednesday’s session in the red.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell around 202 points, or 0.5%.

The S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite declined 0.3% and 0.2%, respectively.

— Hakyung Kim

Clean energy stocks are rallying as enthusiasm grows over potential demand for renewables as tech companies build out data centers at the same time they are trying to reduce carbon emissions.

The Invesco Solar ETF gained nearly 10%, while the benchmark iShares Global Clean Energy ETF was up about 4% in afternoon trading.

“It’s a combination of a rotation out of traditional energy and back to renewables with power demand increasing due to data center growth and AI,” James West, analyst at Evercore ISI, told CNBC.

First Solar surged nearly 19% to a 52-week high of $251.59. Analysts have become increasingly bullish that the solar module manufacturer will play a central role in supplying data centers with renewable energy. West said First Solar is also benefiting from the U.S. moving to impose tariffs on China.

The whole suite of solar stocks rallied. SunPower led the residential sector with a 19.8% jump. Nextracker and Array, companies that build devices for solar panels to track the sun, gained 13.6% and 16.5%, respectively.

— Spencer Kimball

The minutes from the Federal Reserve’s most recent meeting showed the central bank remains concerned about U.S. inflation.

“Participants observed that while inflation had eased over the past year, in recent months there had been a lack of further progress toward the Committee’s 2 percent objective,” the summary stated. “The recent monthly data had showed significant increases in components of both goods and services price inflation.”

“Various participants mentioned a willingness to tighten policy further should risks to inflation materialize in a way that such an action became appropriate,” the minutes added.

— Fred Imbert

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

• Target — Shares of the retailer pulled back more than 7% after a first-quarter earnings miss, underscored by a 3% year-over-year decline in sales.
• Analog Devices — Stock in the semiconductor manufacturer surged more than 8% after second-quarter results beat analysts’ estimates. Massachusetts-based Analog reported adjusted earnings per share of $1.40 on revenue of $2.16 billion, compared to a consensus estimate from analysts polled by FactSet that forecast $1.26 in earnings per share and $2.11 billion in revenue.
• Shopify — Shares climbed more than 3% on the heels of an upgrade to buy from Goldman Sachs, with the investment bank noting Shopify’s current share price gives investors an attractive entry point.

Read the full list here.

— Brian Evans

Semiconductor exchange-traded funds ticked up Wednesday ahead of chipmaking giant Nvidia’s quarterly earnings announcement after the bell.

The VanEck Semiconductor ETF (SMH) added 0.9%. Meanwhile, the iShares Semiconductor ETF and Invesco PHLX Semiconductor ETF added 1.3% and 1.1.%, respectively .

— Hakyung Kim

Nvidia’s highly anticipated earnings report hits this afternoon. There is no disputing how important the chipmaker’s numbers are to the broader earnings picture. S&P 500 earnings are on pace to rise 7.6% this season. Nvidia alone is responsible for one-third of the entire…