JPMorgan added Abercrombie & Fitch to its ‘Analyst Focus List’ as a growth idea, citing the clothing retailer’s strong earnings and same-store-sales growth during the second quarter and potential for that momentum to continue into the next one.

Analyst Matthew Boss maintained his overweight rating and December 2025 price target of $194, which suggests the company’s shares can jump 40.3%. The stock is up 59.6% this year even after its steep post-earnings pullback on Wednesday.

“Following marketing & merchandising improvements over the last few years, the Abercrombie brand has successfully expanded its customer reach… with strong new customer acquisition globally supporting broad- based topline results, in addition to greater full price selling,” Boss said in a Wednesday note. “We also see brand momentum building internationally, noting ~$400M revenue recapture opportunity remaining relative to pre-pandemic.”

Boss added that Abercrombie’s Hollister brand inflection is only in the “middle innings” with opportunities for its Mens and Tops businesses to gain further upside. He also expects the company to see annual modest EBIT margin expansion in the long run supported by occupancy expense savings.

— Pia Singh

Dollar General plummeted nearly 30% during afternoon trading, putting shares of the discount retailer on pace for their worst session ever.

The declines came after the company cut its full-year sales and profit guidance as lower-income customers come under pressure. Dollar General also fell short of Wall Street’s earnings and revenue estimates for the fiscal second quarter.

Shares have shed 36% since the start of the year.

One of the top performers among ITA’s major holdings was Boeing, which rose more than 2%. Boeing has fallen in the three previous trading sessions this week.

TransDigm Group was another standout in the ITA on Thursday, rising nearly 3% and hitting its own record high.

— Jesse Pound

Here are the stocks on the move midday:

Dollar General – The discount retailer’s shares tumbled nearly 30% after the company slashed its sales and profit guidance for the full year. Dollar General CEO Todd Vasos said the softer sales trends are partially attributable to a core customer who feels “financially constrained.” The retailer also reported disappointing results for the fiscal second quarter. Shares of competitor Dollar Tree fell more than 9% in sympathy.

Affirm – Shares surged 34% on the buy now, pay later company’s stronger-than-expected revenue outlook for the fiscal first quarter. Affirm expects revenue for the period to come in between $640 million and $670 million, above the $625 million expected from analysts surveyed by LSEG.

Best Buy – Shares jumped 15%. Best Buy raised its earnings outlook for the fiscal year. The company now expects an adjusted earnings range of $6.10 to $6.35 per share. That’s higher than the prior range of between $5.75 and $6.20 per share. Results for the fiscal second-quarter were also better than expected.

Read the full list here.

— Sean Conlon

Shares of Birkenstock plunged more than 16% after the company missed earnings estimates, putting it on pace for its worst day on record.

If the stock closes around this level, this would mark the biggest percentage drop since the German sandal maker went public on the New York Stock Exchange on Oct. 11, 2023, when shares fell more than 12%.

Berkshire Hathaway‘s Class A shares gained 0,6% Thursday to trade above the $700,000 threshold, marking another milestone for Warren Buffett’s conglomerate.

Just on Wednesday, Berkshire reached a $1 trillion market capitalization, the first nontechnology company in the U.S. to score the coveted milestone. The string of good news takes place during the birthday week of the Oracle of Omaha as he turns 94 on Friday.

Shares of the Omaha, Nebraska-based conglomerate have rallied more than 29% in 2024, far above the S&P 500′s 18% gain. A technical glitch at the New York Stock Exchange in early June caused the stock to surge abnormally, trading above &700,000 for a brief period.

— Yun Li

During Thursday’s session, consumer staples and real estate were the only two sectors trading lower in the S&P 500. The sectors respectively pulled back by 0.5% and 0.7%.

On the other hand, the industrials, communications services and consumer discretionary sectors led the index higher, with all three categories gaining above 1% by noon.

— Lisa Kailai Han

The Dow Jones Industrial Average was last trading around 228 points, or 0.6%, higher on Thursday to claw back some of its Wednesday losses.

Shares of Intel, Apple and Microsoft led the 30-stock index higher, with the technology names respectively climbing 3.7%, 2.6% and 2.3%.

On the other hand, Salesforce stock was a laggard after rising earlier in the day on the back of an earnings beat. Verizon Communications and Home Depot also each climbed by 0.8% and 0.5%, respectively.

— Lisa Kailai Han

History shows that investors who are worried about the U.S. economy falling into a recession don’t need to rush into a defensive position, according to Ned Davis Research.

Ed Clissold, the firm’s chief U.S. strategist, said in a note to clients that the risk of an imminent recession is low and that investors can stay the course for now.

“While it is always good to do ones’ homework and have a plan for the next recession, our conclusion is that it is too soon to turn defensive on equities,” the note said.

The S&P 500 typically peaks about 6 months before a recession starts, according to NDR. The index hit its most recent record high in mid-July.

And even if that July high water mark does prove to be the peak for this cycle, there’s a decent chance that any losses over the next few months are modest, according to Clissold.

“Absent a bubble or secular bear market, the declines during the six months before recession
start dates have tended to be less than 6%,” the note said, while the worst of the pre-recession damage happened in the two months before the recession start date.

—Jesse Pound

With a potential economic recovery on the horizon in early 2025, Wells Fargo’s Investment Institute believes that investors should begin broadening their portfolio exposures.

“We want to be ready to broaden equity-sector exposure in large caps as well as potentially increase allocations to other equity asset classes, including small-caps but also in large-cap sectors that we believes should benefit from the economic cycle’s upturn, including financials,” strategist Scott Wren wrote.

Wren also recommended investors consider buying into what he called the “building blocks of growth,” which includes stocks in the industrials, materials and energy sectors.

“The rapid growth in generative artificial intelligence is driving investment in electrical-grid upgrades and data-center buildouts that are needed to expand this new technology and greatly enhance productivity in a broad swath of industries outside of the traditional information technology sector,” he added.

— Lisa Kailai Han

Affirm’s CEO called it a “killer quarter,” and investors seem to agree, with shares popping nearly 25% before the market’s open. The company, which provides buy now, pay later services, expects to hit a major milestone by the fourth quarter of fiscal 2025: reporting an operating profit on a GAAP basis. What’s more, it said it plans to make this a sustainable trend.

Mizuho analyst Dan Dolev expects the stock could more than double from Wednesday’s closing price, as he has a $65 price target. Dolev said interest rate cuts aren’t baked into the company’s forecast, which means there could be upside to Affirm’s estimates. Additionally, Affirm’s Apple partnership could provide a further boost to the business.

“We view the premium [in Affirm’s stock price] as warranted given AFRM’s position as the market leader, not just in [buy now, pay later space] but payments as well, and it continues to improve on adjusted profitability prospects,” Dolev wrote in a research note.

— Christina Cheddar Berk

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

• Salesforce — Shares jumped 5% on the back of second-quarter earnings and revenue that beat analyst expectations. The customer relationship management software maker also raised its full-year outlook and announced CFO Amy Weaver will step down from her post.
• Salesforce — Shares jumped 5% on the back of second-quarter earnings and revenue that beat analyst expectations. The customer relationship management software maker also raised its full-year outlook and announced CFO Amy Weaver will step down from her post.
• CrowdStrike — The cloud security company fell about 2% after its third-quarter outlook missed analyst expectations. CrowdStrike sees earnings in the current quarter of 80-81 cents per share, while analysts surveyed by FactSet had estimated 96 cents. CrowdStrike also cut its full-year guidance to a range of $3.61 to $3.65 per share, compared to a previous $3.93 to $4.03 and a consensus estimate of $3.90 from analysts.

Read the full list here.

— Brian Evans

Initial filings for unemployment insurance moved slightly lower for the week ended Aug. 24, the Labor Department reported Thursday.

First-time claims totaled 231,000 for the period, down 2,000 from the previous week and slightly above the 230,000 Dow Jones estimate.

Continuing claims, which run a week behind, totaled 1.868 million, an increase of 13,000 but slightly below the 1.87 million FactSet estimate.

— Jeff Cox

Economic growth was stronger than initially estimated in the second quarter due largely to an upward revision in consumer spending, the Commerce Department reported Thursday.

Real gross domestic product increased at an annualized 3% pace for the April-through-June period, up from the previous estimate of 2.8%, according to the department’s Bureau of Economic Analysis in its second of three GDP readings.

Consumer spending accelerated at a 2.9% pace for the period, even as the savings rate was revised lower to 3.3%, or 0.2 percentage point lower than the initial estimate.

On the inflation front, most numbers were revised lower. The personal consumption expenditures price index, the Federal Reserve’s preferred inflation measure, was cut to 2.5%. Core excluding food and energy saw a downward revision to 2.8%. Both were lowered by 0.1 percentage point. However, the chain-weighted price index rose 2.5%, higher than the previous 2.3% estimate.

— Jeff Cox

Ahead of the November U.S. presidential election, Bank of America found that a mixed Congress would provide the most positive outcome for large-cap internet stocks.

On the other hand, a Democratic sweep would most likely increase potential regulatory pressure and legislation, especially for Alphabet, Meta and Amazon.

A Republican sweep could increase the odds of higher tariffs, less taxes, greater chances of a TikTok ban and less anti-trust enforcement. This would be “a mixed bag, which could be considered most beneficial for Gig economy (high growth, less employment regulation),” Bank of America wrote.

— Lisa Kailai Han

Post-Nvidia earnings, UBS believes that future gains for the global technology sector will likely be more gradual versus the “quick rebound” markets have seen in August.

That’s because market volatility could rise on the back of uncertain economic data and news of semiconductor export controls. To that end, the bank advised investors to keep this market volatility in mind as they shifted their positioning.

“We recommend investors examine their AI exposure as they navigate tech volatility. Investors with low existing AI holdings should create a plan to build up long-term exposure to the theme,” UBS wrote.

— Lisa Kailai Han

Don’t dismiss Nvidia’s results based on the stock decline, said Adam Crisafulli of Vital Knowledge.

“The Nvidia results/guidance are triggering some knee-jerk ‘not good enough’ selling pressure in that name specifically, but the results were quite strong on an absolute basis,” he said.

Nvidia shares were down as much as 8% in after-hours trading before recovering most of that decline. They were last down about 2%.

European markets were higher as trading began on Thursday as investors looked to economic data from across the region and assessed the tech sector after Wednesday’s Nvidia earnings release.

The pan-European Stoxx 600 was 0.33% higher at 8:24 a.m. London time, with major regional bourses and sectors mostly trading in the green. Oil and gas and insurance stocks pulled back slightly, while tech rose 0.85%.

— Sophie Kiderlin

Powersports stocks such as Harley-Davidson and Polaris have a track record of rallying after the first interest rate cut in the cutting cycle, Bank of America said in a note from Wednesday.

“Over the past 7 rate cut cycles, HOG stock has increased 31% on average 12 months after the first cut, while PII has increased 40%, both significantly greater than 12% for the S&P 500,” the bank said.

The market has already priced in a rate cut at the FOMC’s upcoming September meeting. The CME FedWatch Tool suggests a 63.5% probability of a 25-basis-point rate cut, while the probability of a 50-basis-point cut is around 36.5%.

— Lisa Kailai Han

Check out the companies making headlines in extended trading.

• Nvidia — The artificial intelligence chipmaker dropped 5% even after Nvidia beat expectations in its fiscal second-quarter results. Adjusted earnings per share of 68 cents exceeded the LSEG consensus estimate of 64 cents per share. Revenue of $30.04 billion exceeded the anticipated $28.7 billion. In the current quarter, Nvidia expects about $32.5 billion in revenue, more than the $31.77 billion expected by analysts, according to StreetAccount.
• Salesforce — The software stock advanced 3.5% after Salesforce reported better-than-expected fiscal second-quarter results and raised its full-year profit outlook. Separately, the company said president and CFO Amy Weaver will step down.
• CrowdStrike — Shares popped 3.9% after the cybersecurity company exceeded fiscal second-quarter expectations on the top and bottom lines. CrowdStrike posted adjusted earnings of $1.04 per share, more than the LSEG consensus estimate of 97 cents earnings per share. Revenue of $963.9 million came in above the expected $959 million.

Read the full list here.

— Sarah Min