U.S. stock index futures climbed on Thursday, a day after the Federal Reserve hinted it was close to pausing its market-punishing interest rate hikes following the recent turmoil in the banking sector.
The Federal Reserve raised rates by 25 basis points, as expected, on Wednesday but its policy statement no longer said "ongoing increases" would likely be appropriate.
Market Snapshot
At 7:50 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis were up 73 points, or 0.23%, S&P 500 e-minis were up 21.25 points, or 0.54%, and Nasdaq 100 e-minis were up 118.75 points, or 0.93%.
Coinbase (COIN) - Shares of Coinbase Global Inc. dropped 11% in premarket trading Thursday after the crypto exchange disclosed a warning from regulators that it may have broken securities laws.
U.S. Regional Banks - Shares of troubled regional lender First Republic Bank (FRC) rose 10% in premarket trade after slumping on Wednesday following Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen's remark that there wasno discussionon insuring all bank deposits. Shares of PacWest Bancorp (PACW) and Western Alliance Bancorp (WAL) gained 5.6% and 5.5%, respectively.
Semiconductor Stocks - Semiconductor stocks climbed in premarket trading. Nvidia (NVDA), TSMC (TSM) and AMD (AMD) rose about 2%; ASML (ASML) rose about 3%. Nvidia unveiled a slew of new products and partnerships at its GTC conference on Tuesday that gave analysts confidence in the chipmaker’s growing AI capabilities. The firm unveiled CUDA Quantum, a platform for developers to build quantum algorithms.
AMC Entertainment (AMC) - AMC Entertainment was rising 2.6% in premarket trading to $4.48.Citiresumed coverage on shares of the movie theater chain with a Sell rating and $1.60 price target.
Chewy (CHWY) - Chewy, the online pet-products retailer, fell 5.1% after reporting a surprise profit in its fiscal fourth quarter but posting a drop of 1.2% in active customers from a year earlier to 20.41 million.
Sanofi (SNY), Regeneron Pharmaceuticals (REGN) - Sanofi and Regeneron Pharmaceuticals' Dupixent met the main goal and all key secondary goals of a phase 3 trial to treat adults who were current or former smokers with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Sanofi shares jumped 6.4% while Regeneron Pharmaceuticals jumped 7.8% in premarket trading.
Carvana (CVNA) - Carvana shares popped 5.8%, building on their 6.3% advance from the previous session. The company on Wednesday issued better-than-expected guidance for the first quarter. Carvana also plans to allow current bond holders to exchange unsecured notes at a premium price in exchange for new ones.
General Mills (GIS) - General Mills Inc raised its annual sales forecast after posting better-than-expected quarterly sales on Thursday, benefiting from price increases and resilient demand for its snack bars, breakfast cereals and pet-food products. General Mills shares rose 1.7% in premarket trading.
Accenture (ACN) - Shares of Accenture PLC surged 4.9% in premarket trading Thursday, after the management consultant reported fiscal second-quarter profit and revenue that beat expectations, while trimming its full-year outlook.
KB Home (KBH) - KB Home was rising 2.9% after reporting fiscal first-quarter earnings and sales that beat analysts’ estimates. The home builder said it began to see an increase in demand as it entered the spring selling season.
Steelcase (SCS) - Office furniture maker Steelcase posted fiscal fourth-quarter sales that beat Wall Street expectations and the stock rose 9.1% in premarket trading.
Pre-Market Movers
Nvidia (NVDA) - Nvidia was rising 10.3% in premarket trading after the chip maker reported better-than-expected adjusted fourth-quarter earnings and issued a revenue forecast for the current first quarter that topped analysts’ expectations.
Alibaba (BABA) - American depositary receipts of Alibaba rose 5.8% after fiscal third-quarter earnings at the Chinese tech giant topped analysts’ forecasts.
Lucid (LCID) - Electric-vehicle maker Lucid tumbled 14.8% after saying it expects to deliver between 10,000 and 14,000 vehicles in 2023, below Wall Street expectations of roughly 20,000 to 22,000.
Unity Software (U) - Unity Software dropped 6.1% in premarket trading after forecasting revenue for the first quarter below expectations. The company said it wasn’t expecting a recovery in the in-game ads market in 2023.
eBay(EBAY) - Shares of eBay fell 5.3%. The e-commerce marketplace company reported fourth-quarter earnings and sales that came in roughly in line with estimates but gross merchandise volume that declined 12% from a year earlier.
Etsy (ETSY) - The online marketplace for crafts and other goods, gained 3.1% after fourth-quarter revenue beat estimates and its forecast for first-quarter revenue of $600 million to $640 million was in line with analysts’ expectations of $621.6 million.
Teladoc (TDOC) - The virtual healthcare company, declined 4% after recording a large fourth-quarter loss on impairment charges and issuing first-quarter revenue and Ebitda forecasts below Wall Street estimates.
Moderna (MRNA) - The drug maker on Thursday reaffirmed annual sales forecast of $5 billion for its COVID-19 vaccines. Moderna's forecast was lower than Refinitiv estimates of $6.98 billion even though its COVID vaccine sales of $4.86 billion in the fourth quarter were slightly higher than estimates of $4.84 billion. Moderna shares fell 3% in premarket trading.
Sunrun (RUN) - Solar company Sunrun rose 1.5% in premarket trading after beating fourth-quarter earnings and sales estimates and telling Barron’s that the Inflation Reduction Act likely would benefit the company considerably in 2023.
Dollar General (DG) - Shares fell about 5% after Dollar General reported preliminary results for its fourth-quarter and fiscal year 2022 that were lower than prior guidance and weaker than consensus expectations from FactSet.
Bumble (BMBL) - The online dating site rose 5% after it reported better-than-expected fourth quarter earnings and revenue. Bumble posted revenue of $191 million, above the $186 million estimate from analysts polled by FactSet. Revenue also exceeded analysts' expectations, at $242 million versus estimates of $236 million.
Market News
Fed Hikes Rates By a Quarter Percentage Point, Indicates Increases Are Near an End
The Federal Reserve on Wednesday enacted a quarter percentage point interest rate increase, expressing caution about the recent banking crisis and indicating that hikes are nearing an end.
Along with its ninth hike since March 2022, the rate-setting Federal Open Market Committee noted that future increases are not assured and will depend largely on incoming data.
The market is getting it wrong by predicting rate cuts this year, says Powell
The market is getting it wrong if it expects rate cuts later this year, said Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell.
He highlighted the fact that the central bank's summary of economic projections published Wednesday anticipates slow growth, a gradual decline in inflation and the rebalancing of both supply and demand within the labor market.
"In that most likely case, if that happens, participants don't see rate cuts this year," he said.
Powell added that what lies ahead for the economy may be "uncertain" but rate hikes are not currently in the central bank's "baseline expectation."
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