Stock Market Live September 23: OECD Predicts Faster Growth, But S&P 500 (VOO) Starts Flat
Key Points
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OECD raises estimates for global economic growth in 2025, but still predicts slowdown from 2024.
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U.S. Department of Health and Human Services warns against Tylenol use during pregnancy.
Live Updates
Tuesday Wrap-up
General Motors Hits the Gas
Mizuho raised its price target on General Motors (NYSE: GM | GM Price Prediction) stock to $67 with an outperform rating this morning. Mizuho says tariffs aren’t having much effect on the new vehicle prices GM can charge. Moreover, the company may benefit from a short-term 17% surge in EV sales as consumers rush to capture the last of the Inflation Reduction Act credits before they go away.
GM stock is up 0.3%. The Voo, however, is now down 0.1%.
Will Oklo Stock Melt Down?
Seaport Global Securities analyst Jeff Campbell downgraded shares of red hot nuclear power startup Oklo (NYSE: OKLO) to neutral this morning, citing valuation.
“While we continue to see a number of positives in OKLO’s business development,” conceded the analyst, “we are stepping to the sidelines for now based on the current stock valuation.”
Oklo stock has no profit, and no revenue, but is valued in excess of $20 billion. The stock is down 2% today.
Johnson & Johnson Looks Healthy
Speaking of Johnson & Johnson, Guggenheim analyst Vamil Divan upgraded the medical products giant to buy this morning with a price target of $206.
Divan predicts that Johnson & Johnson’s “Innovative Medicine business [will] drive the company’s next era of growth. This includes products that have already been on the market for many years but where we see meaningfully more upside (e.g., Tremfya, Darzalex, Spravato, Caplyta), as well as newer assets that we believe the Street is not yet properly appreciating (e.g., Inlexzo [TAR-200], TAR-210, Rybrevant, icotrokirra, JNJ-4804).”
Divan says 18x 2026 earnings per share is a “reasonable” valuation for Johnson & Johnson stock, which is now up more than 1%.
The Voo is still flat, up less than 0.1%.
This article will be updated throughout the day, so check back often for more daily updates.
The Vanguard S&P 500 ETF (NYSEMKT: VOO) looks pretty flat this morning, up at most 0.02% premarket, as investors consider a new forecast from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.
According to the OECD, the global economy will slow only slightly this year, growing 3.2% versus 3.3% in 2024. This is considered good news because as recently as June, the OECD was forecasting even slower growth of 2.9% this year.
The forecast for 2026 stands at 2.9%. So while today’s updated growth predictions are stronger than what we were looking at previously, the long term trend is still down, with 2025 growth weaker than 2024, and 2026 weaker than 2025.
In more micro-economic news, consumer medical products maker Kenvue (NYSE: KVUE), which spun off from Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ) in 2023, sank 7.5% yesterday after the Trump Administration Department of Health and Human Services warned that taking Tylenol during pregnancy may be linked with autism. Today the Tylenol manufacturer is winning back most of its losses and up 6.5% premarket.
Finally, Nvidia (Nasdaq: NVDA) stock is down nearly 1%, one day after jumping 4% on news that the maker of artificial intelligence semiconductors is investing $100 billion in OpenAI, the country’s leading AI provider and the company behind ChatGPT.
Earnings
Automotive parts store chain AutoZone (NYSE: AZO) missed earnings badly this morning, reporting a Q4 profit of only $48.71 per share, $2.22 worse than Wall Street had predicted. Revenue for the quarter, however, matched forecasts exactly at $6.24 billion.
AutoZone stock is down about 2.2% premarket.
Joel South covers large-cap stocks, dividend investing, and major market trends, with a focus on earnings analysis, valuation, and turning complex data into actionable insights for investors.
He brings more than 15 years of experience as an investor and financial journalist, including 12 years at The Motley Fool, where he served as an investment analyst, Bureau Chief, and later led the Fool.com investing news desk. He has also co-hosted an investing podcast and appeared across TV and radio discussing market trends.
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