5 things to know before the stock market opens Thursday

Here are five key things investors need to know to start the trading day:

The Fed held, an economic report was cooler than expected, and for the most part, the markets rallied. Investors were optimistic after the Federal Reserve said “modest further progress” had been made toward its 2% inflation target, despite no change in interest rates. The S&P 500 climbed 0.85% Wednesday to close above 5,400 for the first time. The Nasdaq Composite gained 1.53% and also reached a record high. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was the outlier, slipping 0.09%. for the day. Follow live market updates

It was a double day Wednesday for economy news. The Federal Reserve signaled that it’s expecting just one rate cut before the end of the year. That’s down from three rate cuts the Federal Open Market Committee had indicated in March. The central bank also kept its key interest rate unchanged, at a range of 5.25% to 5.5%. Meanwhile, the consumer price index released early Wednesday showed no increase in May, though it rose 3.3% from a year ago. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell noted at a press conference that the CPI report showed progress but added “We don’t see ourselves as having the confidence that would warrant beginning to loosen policy at this time.”

Broadcom beat earnings estimates for the second fiscal quarter and increased its sales forecast for the year on Wednesday. The chipmaker also announced a 10-for-1 stock split, set to begin trading on a split-adjusted basis on July 15. Shares jumped 13% in premarket trading Thursday as a result. The company has benefitted from the artificial intelligence boom, noting that $3.1 billion in sales during the quarter could be attributed to revenue from AI products.

Lights, camera and screens. For the first time in more than 75 years, a major Hollywood studio will own a movie theater chain. Sony Pictures announced Wednesday that it had acquired dine-in movie theater chain Alamo Drafthouse. Studios were prohibited from owning cinema chains from 1948 to 2020, and Sony is the first to invest in a theatrical company since the restriction was lifted. The Alamo Drafthouse is the seventh-largest movie theater chain in North America. It filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in 2021 after the pandemic and was rescued by a private equity firm.

Has the game stopped? A sell-off in GameStop shares intensified in afternoon trading on Wednesday. That coincided with a spike in trading volume for the call options that meme stock leader Keith Gill — aka “Roaring Kitty” and “Deep——-Value” on social media — has been holding. It’s unclear if Gill is behind it, but he last disclosed his position on Monday, and some speculated he could be selling early. GameStop calls with the exact strike price and expiration traded a whopping 93,266 contracts for the day. Many suspect that Gill, who has said he isn’t working with institutional backers, won’t have the capital to exercise the options when they’re set to expire on June 21. Meanwhile, GameStop’s annual meeting is set for Thursday morning.

— CNBC’s Lisa Kailai Han, Sarah Min, Jeff Cox, Darla Mercado, Kif Leswing, Sarah Whitten and Yun Li contributed to this report.

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