Check out the companies making headlines in premarket trading. Ralph Lauren — The fashion stock added 2.8% following an upgrade at Goldman Sachs to buy from neutral. The bank said Ralph Lauren has limited exposure to tariffs versus its peers. Duolingo — The language learning application climbed 1.5% following an upgrade to outperform from Citizens JMP Securities. Analyst Andrew Boone noted that Duolingo’s Max subscriptions could be a boon for the stock moving forward, and also cited an attractive valuation as a bullish catalyst. Peabody Energy — Shares of the coal mining company gained 4.8% after President Donald Trump on Truth Social said he is authorizing energy production using coal. Eastman Kodak — Shares of the film and chemicals manufacturer rose more than 4% after the company reported a jump in net income for the fourth quarter. Kodak said it generated $26 million in net income for the quarter, up from $5 million in the year ago period. Lucid — Shares gained 2.8%. Morgan Stanley’s Adam Jonas upgraded stock in the electric vehicle company to equal weight, noting that the firm’s artificial intelligence strategy could be a positive catalyst for Lucid. Hallador Energy — The energy provider dropped 6% after its fourth-quarter revenue missed expectations. The firm reported revenue of $94.2 million, while analysts polled by FactSet were looking for $95.5 million. Baidu — Shares climbed 2% after the Chinese technology company released two new artificial intelligence models. Sarepta Therapeutics — The biotech stock dropped more than 25% after the company disclosed the death of a man with Duchenne muscular dystrophy after treatments with Elevidys. “Acute liver injury is a known possible side effect of ELEVIDYS,” the company said in a statement . Tesla — The electric vehicle maker shed 3% in the premarket as its volatile ride continues. Earlier, analysts at RBC Capital Markets cut their price target on the stock, citing increasing competition . — CNBC’s Sarah Min, Michelle Fox and Jesse Pound contributed reporting
Individual investors, whose assets are more tied to the stock market than ever, have abandoned their tried-and-true dip-buying mentality as the S&P 500 recently fell into a painful, 10% correction.
Retail outflows from U.S. equities rose to about $4 billion over the past two weeks as tariff chaos and mounting economic concerns caused a three-week pullback in the S&P 500, according to data from Barclays. During March’s sell-off, 401(k) holders have been aggressively trading their investments, to the tune of four times the average level, according to Alight Solutions’ data going back to the late 1990s.
“If people were trying to buy the dip and get their stocks on sale, maybe you would see people actually buying large-cap equities. But instead we see people selling from large cap-equities,” said Rob Austin, director of research at Alight Solutions. “So this does appear to be a bit of a reactionary trading activity.”
The increased selling came as American households are more sensitive than ever to the turbulence in the stock market. U.S. household ownership of equities has reached a record level, amounting to nearly half of their financial assets, according to Federal Reserve data.
Dip-buying had served investors well over the past two years as Main Street rode the artificial intelligence-inspired bull market to record highs. At one point, the S&P 500 went more than 370 days without even a 2.1% sell-off, the longest such stretch since the global financial crisis of 2008-2009.
Nut lately, markets began to sour as President Donald Trump’s aggressive tariffs and sudden changes in policy stirred up volatility, stoking fears of dampened consumer spending, slower economic growth, weaker profits and maybe even a recession. The S&P 500 officially entered a correction late last week, and is now sitting some 8.7% below its February all-time high.
S&P 500
Still, retail traders are far from throwing in the towel. For example, the net debit of margin accounts, a “popular proxy for retail investors’ sentiment,” continues to stay elevated, according to Barclays data.
“There is plenty of room for retail investors to further disengage from the equity market,” analysts led by Venu Krishna, Barclays head of U.S. equity strategy, said in a note Tuesday to clients. “We are of the view that retail investors have in no way capitulated.”
Barclays’ proprietary euphoria indicator shows sentiment has been brought down to levels similar to where it was around the time of the U.S. presidential election in November, but is still high by historic standards.
“It’s not like everybody is going out there saying the sky is falling. Most people, it looks like, are not making any sort of reactions,” Austin said.
Check out the companies making headlines in midday trading. Tesla — Elon Musk’s EV company saw shares sliding another 3.9%, bringing month-to-date losses to a whopping 23%. The sell-off came after Tesla’s China rival Zeekr said it is rolling out advanced driver assistance-system for free . Meanwhile, RBC Capital Markets lowered its price target on Tesla amid lowered expectations around pricing for the the company’s self-driving capabilities. Alphabet — Shares of the Google parent slid 2.7%. Google said on Tuesday that it signed a definitive agreement to acquire cloud security startup Wiz for $32 billion in an all-cash deal. This deal is slated to be Google’s largest-ever acquisition. Palantir — Shares slid 2.4%, putting their month-to-date losses at around 6%. Jefferies also reiterated the defense technology stock as underperform , saying valuation remains a concern. Nvidia — The chipmaker retreated 1.7% ahead of the CEO Jensen Huang’s keynote speech at the company’s GTC AI Conference. Lucid — The electric vehicle stock climbed 14% following Morgan Stanley’s upgrade to equal weight from underweight. Morgan Stanley said Lucid has an emerging bull case tied to artificial intelligence. Sarepta Therapeutics — The biotechnology company plunged 20% after disclosing the death of a man who was treated with its Elevidys gene therapy. Sarepta said in a statement that acute liver injury is a known potential side effect. Eastman Kodak — Shares of the film and chemicals manufacturer fell 4.6% after the company reported mixed fourth-quarter results. Eastman Kodak posted consolidated revenues of $266 million, compared with $275 million for the fourth quarter of 2023, reflecting a 3% decrease. The company reported a jump in net income for the fourth quarter, however, generating $26 million in net income for the quarter. That’s up from $5 million in the year-ago period. Peabody Energy — The coal mining company advanced 3.7% after President Donald Trump, writing on his social media platform Truth Social , said he is authorizing energy production using coal. Willis Tower Watson — The commercial insurance stock climbed 2% on the heels of UBS’ upgrade to buy from neutral. UBS said the company has seen faster improvement on operating and free cash flow margins than peers. Millrose Properties — The residential land developer popped nearly 10% after the company declared a dividend and issued new guidance. Millrose will pay shareholders 38 cents per share. It added that it sees fiscal second-quarter earnings per share between 65 cents per share and 68 cents. Hims & Hers Health — The digital health stock tumbled 8% after the Food and Drug Administration shared concerns around unapproved GLP-1 drugs used for weight loss, including compounded versions. Hims & Hers began prescribing compounded semaglutide last year. — CNBC’s Brian Evans, Pia Singh, Yun Li and Fred Imbert contributed reporting.