Welcome to Seeking Alpha's Wall Street Lunch, our afternoon update on today's market action, news and analysis.

Good afternoon. Today is Wednesday, September 25th, and I'm your host Kim Khan. Our top story so far.

Chinese government-linked hackers have gained access to a handful of U.S. Internet service providers in recent months trying to gather sensitive

information. The Wall Street Journal said a new group called Salt Typhoon was

behind the hacking campaign. providers that would allow them to access data stored by telecom companies or launch a damaging cyber attack.

On the economic front, U.S. new home sales dipped 4.7% to 716,000 in August, stronger than the 699,000 expected and fewer than July 751,000.

Sales of new single-family homes climbed 9.8%. Well, Fargo economists said, despite the dip, the pace of new

home sales continues to be relatively sturdy on account of builder pricing incentives

and a scarcity of available homes in the existing market.

Looking ahead, lower mortgage rates should eventually provide a boost to new home sales,

but affordability challenges in a softer labor market will likely limit the rebound.

Looking to stocks, Goldman Sachs Equity strategist David Kosten isn't expecting much of the way of equity return next year,

with an S&P target of around 6,000 for the end of 2025.

That would be just 5% higher from current levels.

Kostin says he sees near-term pressure on equities going into the election with some rallying

after that but is still looking for the SMP to be down around 5600 when we wrap up

2024. Among active stocks today Morgan Stanley downgraded the entire US auto industry view to an inline rating after having the broad sector set it attractive.

Influential analyst Adam Jonas said,

at a high level, our downgrade is driven by a combination

of international, domestic, and strategic factors

that we believe may not be fully appreciated by investors.

He also highlighted that China's two-decade long growth

...