Wall Street Today | S&P 500 Dips as Investors Temper Rate Cut Bets

The $S&P 500 Index(.SPX.US)$ slipped 0.6% while the $Nasdaq Composite Index(.IXIC.US)$ also declined 0.6%. The $Dow Jones Industrial Average(.DJI.US)$ fell 0.3%.

Most of the Fed's districts "indicated that expectations of their firms for future growth were positive, had improved, or both," according to the Beige book, which is based on the central bank's recurring surveys of businesses, households and community organizations. While the districts noted that high borrowing costs were limiting auto sales and real estate sales, "the prospect of falling interest rates was cited by numerous contacts in various sectors as a source of optimism," the Beige book read.

Meanwhile, the Atlanta Fed's GDPNow model now estimates the seasonally adjusted fourth quarter 2023 economic growth in the US at 2.4% Wednesday, up from 2.2% a week earlier. The Atlanta Fed now sees fourth- quarter real personal consumption expenditures growth at 2.8%, up from 2.6% last week, according to its website. Fourth quarter real gross private domestic investment growth is now at -0.7%, better than last week's -0.5% a week earlier.

$Tesla(TSLA.US)$ shares fell as the company led by billionaire Elon Musk go through "growing pains." Wells Fargo analyst Colin Langan said the electric vehicle maker could see its deliveries expand by just 13% next year, slower than the company's 50% long-term target, amid macroeconomic headwinds around elevated interest rates and flattening EV adoption."  

$Spirit Airlines(SAVE.US)$ tumbled another 22% as analysts downgraded the stock after a federal judge blocked $JetBlue Airways(JBLU.US)$ planned acquisition of the low-cost airline. The collapse of the deal fueled concerns over Spirit Airlines' financial viability, fanning speculations that the company may consider filing for bankruptcy, according to a Reuters report.

$Boeing(BA.US)$ shares closed higher after the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said on Wednesday that inspections of an initial group of 40 Boeing 737 MAX 9 airplanes have been completed, raising hopes that the company could overcome a key hurdle to eventually ungrounding the planes after a cabin panel blew off an Alaska Airlines jet.

$Instacart(Maplebear)(CART.US)$ stock surged 7.5% Wednesday after an analyst speculated that the ride-sharing platform $Uber Technologies(UBER.US)$ may take over the grocery delivery company to gain access to a $1 trillion grocery market.

$Digital World Acquisition Corp(DWAC.US)$ closed 3.1% higher after climbing as much as 28% earlier. The surge came after the special purposes acquisition company said it had begun discussions with potential investors for an alternative funding proposal to take the parent of the Truth Social app, Trump Media & Technology Group, public following the collapse of a private investment in a public entity deal.