U.S. stock futures rose Wednesday as investors awaited the latest inflation numbers and the minutes from the Federal Reserve’s latest meeting.
Market Snapshot
At 7:50 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis were up 142 points, or 0.49%, S&P 500 e-minis were up 23.5 points, or 0.65%, and Nasdaq 100 e-minis were up 93.25 points, or 0.86%.
Pre-Market Movers
Pepsi – The snack and beverage maker reported an adjusted quarterly profit of $1.97 per share, 13 cents above estimates, with revenue also topping forecasts. PepsiCo was able to successfully raise prices on its products and raised its guidance for the year. The stock gained 2.4% in the premarket.
Intel – Intel added 1% in premarket trading following a Bloomberg report that the chip maker was planning to cut thousands of jobs to deal with a slumping personal computer market. Intel had 113,700 employees as of July.
Royal Philips NV – Philips shares slumped 8.1% in the premarket after the Dutch health technology company said its third-quarter core profit would be down about 60% from a year ago. The company also said it would take a nearly $1.3 billion charge against the value of its troubled respiratory care business.
Cameco – The uranium producer and power plant operator Brookfield Renewable Partners(BEP) will buy nuclear power equipment maker Westinghouse Electric in a deal worth $7.9 billion, including debt. Cameco tumbled 11.5% in premarket action, while Brookfield was unchanged.
Diamondback – Diamondback Energy announced a deal to buy energy producer FireBird Energy for $1.6 billion in cash and stock. Diamondback fell 1% in the premarket.
El Pollo Loco – El Pollo Loco shares rallied 15.2% in premarket action after the restaurant operator announced a $1.50 per share special dividend and a stock repurchase program worth up to $20 million.
CME Group Inc – The exchange operator’s stock was upgraded to buy from hold at Deutsche Bank, citing an attractive valuation after shares fell 33% from March’s 52-week high. CME added 1.2% in premarket action.
Lyft, Inc. – Lyft gained 4.3% in the premarket after Gordon Haskett upgraded the stock to buy from hold. The firm said the ride-hailing service’s stock is now attractively valued and an improving driver supply and other factors should help Lyft’s results. The stock tumbled yesterday after the Labor Department issued a new proposal that may classify drivers as employees rather than contractors.
Norwegian Cruise Line – Norwegian jumped 3.5% in premarket trading after being upgraded to buy from neutral at UBS, which noted a significant improvement in bookings for the cruise line.
KnowBe4, Inc. – The cybersecurity firm is close to finalizing a deal to be bought by private equity firm Vista Equity Partners for about $4.5 billion, according to people familiar with the matter who spoke to the Wall Street Journal. KnowBe4 stock surged 12.3% in premarket action.
AMTD Digital Inc. – It surged over 31% in premarket trading after jumping 35.27% yesterday, it is a "one-stop digital solutions platform that operates four main business lines including digital financial services, SpiderNet ecosystem solutions, digital media, content and marketing.
Market News
Meta Platforms, Inc. unveiled its newest virtual-reality headset on Tuesday, a foray into the world of high-end VR devices designed to entice creators and working professionals to adopt Mark Zuckerberg’s vision for an immersive digital future.
Cisco will add Microsoft's Teams messaging app to its meeting devices, the two firms said on Wednesday, offering users an alternative to its own Webex video conferencing app.
Pepsi notched $21.97B in revenue alongside $1.97 in core earnings per share. A core EPS forecast of approximately $6.73 was raised $0.10 from the previous guidance despite raising the negative impact expectation for foreign exchange.
Intel is planning to announce a major headcount reduction, running into thousands, as early as this month,citing people with knowledge of the matter.
XPeng Aeroht, an affiliate of XPeng Inc., conducted the first flight of its electric flying car, the XPENG X2, at Skydive Dubai.
Royal Philips NV’s Q3 core profit would drop around 60% as supply chain problems would continue to hit sales throughout the year. It expected to take a charge of 1.3 billion euros ($1.26 billion) on the goodwill of its sleep and respiratory care business, which has been plagued by the fallout of a massive recall of machines used to treat sleep apnea.
The Justice Department is investigating whether Credit Suisse Group AG continued to help US clients hide assets from authorities, eight years after the bank paid a $2.6 billion tax-evasion settlement and pledged to tackle the issue.
Toyota has started operations at a new plant in Myanmar after a hiatus following the military coup. The Myanmar plant operations were paused, Reuters reported, for over nineteen months due to the coup and the coronavirus pandemic.
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