Stocks @ Night is a daily newsletter delivered after hours, giving you a first look at tomorrow and last look at today. Sign up for free to receive it directly in your inbox. Here’s what CNBC TV’s producers were watching as stocks finished the first half on a strong note, and what’s on the radar for the next session. As our English soccer friends say: “On Halftime” As the first six months of 2026 come to an end, the small-cap Russell 2000 is the top performer among the major indexes, up nearly 22%. The Nasdaq 100 was up almost 20%, while the Nasdaq Composite gained nearly 13%. The Dow Industrials advanced 8.9% in the first half. The NYSE Composite is up about 8% so far in 2026. Industrials and Tech are the top S & P Sectors, up roughly 19% each year to date. Energy is up around 18% in the same period. .RUT YTD mountain The Russell 2000 year to date Some big calls after the first half At the beginning of the year, Morgan Stanley made the call to buy Applied Materials . The stock is up 180% in 2026. Bank of America said to buy Lam Research . Shares are up 153% in 2026. Hut8 was a call by Needham. The stock is up 151% in 2026. The company designs and leases large data centers. Palo Alto Networks is up 85% so far this year. That’s a Jefferies pick. It’s also a Jim Cramer pick, and it has gained 86% since his November 2025 call to buy the stock. Jefferies also picked CrowdStrike at the right time. It is up almost 63% year to date. That’s also another great call by Cramer who encouraged investors to buy as the stock began to rise. Alex Karp live on ‘Squawk Box’ The Palantir Technologies co-founder and CEO joins the team live at 8:30 a.m. ET. The stock is down 43% from the November high. Shares closed Tuesday at $116.67. In June, shares fell 25%. In all, 21 analysts have a buy or overweight rating on the stock, according to FactSet. Eleven rate it hold, and two say it’s a sell. The average price target is $189.87 a share, more than 60% higher than Tuesday’s close. On Monday, Palantir announced a partnership with Nvidia “to deliver an intelligent engine for running NVIDIA AI and Nemotron open models in sovereign environments, with a focus on United States government agencies and U.S. critical infrastructure.” PLTR YTD mountain Palantir in 2026 Big data on ‘Squawk Box’ The ADP jobs report comes out at 8:15 a.m. The Dow Jones consensus calls for 110,000 new jobs. Last month, the number was 122,000. General Mills The maker of Golden Grahams, Cinnamon Toast Crunch, Bisquick, Cheerios and more reports Wednesday morning. The stock is down 6% in three months and down about 33% in a year. General Mills pays a 61 cent per share dividend and has a current dividend yield of 7%. Mad Money’s Jim Cramer sometimes calls the company “Generous Mills” based on the dividend. According to FactSet, 13 analysts have a hold rating on the stock. Five say it’s a buy, and four say it’s sell or underweight. The stock ended the session at $34.80, and the average price target is $35.53 a share. GIS 1Y mountain General Mills in the past year Gasoline in the U.S. CNBC TV’s Pippa Stevens will go through the numbers and report on President Donald Trump’s desire to get gasoline down to $2.50 a gallon. Right now, the national average is at $3.8470 a gallon, according to AAA . She will explain the challenges and how long it could realistically take to get the price down, if the conditions allow. Shares of Chevron are down 23% from the May high. Shares of Exxon Mobil are also off 23% from the high hit back in March. Gasoline futures are down almost 20% in two months. Brent and Crude oil are both down more than 30% in the last two months. The S & P Energy Sector is off 16% from the March high. Q2 auto sales CNBC TV’s Phil LeBeau will run through the numbers as they come in Shares of General Motors are up around 6% in the last three months. The stock is off 12% from the February high. Shares of Stellantis are down 15% in three months. The stock is down 52% from the December high. Shares of Toyota are down 17% in the last three months. The stock is off 32% from the February high. Ford is up 24% in three months. The stock is off 22% from the May high. Tesla is up 18% in three months. Shares are 16% off from the December high.
Wednesday’s big stock stories: What’s likely to move the market in the next trading session
Jul 1, 2026
