U.S. stock index futures fell on Wednesday after weak results from retailer Target rekindled fears about the health of U.S. consumers, while growth stocks came under renewed pressure as bond yields climbed.
Market Snapshot
At 07:51 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis were down 212 points, or 0.62%, S&P 500 e-minis were down 35.75 points, or 0.83%, and Nasdaq 100 e-minis were down 133.5 points, or 0.98%.
Pre-Market Movers
Lowe’s(LOW) – Lowe’s rose 1% in the premarket after it reported quarterly earnings of $4.67 per share, 9 cents above estimates. The home improvement retailer saw both revenue and comparable store sales come in below analyst forecasts but predicted full-year earnings would come in at the top end of its guidance range.
Target(TGT) – Target fell 3.3% in premarket trading after the retailer reported quarterly earnings of 39 cents per share, well short of the 72-cent consensus estimate. Target’s revenue matched estimates, but it cut prices significantly during the quarter to reduce excess inventory. Target said the 1.2% operating margin rate during the second quarter would improve to about 6% in the back half of the year.
TJX(TJX) – The parent of the T.J. Maxx and Marshalls retail chains beat estimates by 3 cents with a quarterly profit of 69 cents per share, but revenue and comparable store sales came in less than expected. TJX cut its full-year forecast as well, saying inflation impacted the spending habits of its customers, and the stock fell 1.2% in the premarket.
Krispy Kreme(DNUT) – Krispy Kreme tumbled 14.7% in premarket action after the doughnut chain reported lower-than-expected profit and revenue for the second quarter. Krispy Kreme said it is seeing significant deceleration in commodity costs in recent weeks.
Manchester United(MANU) – Manchester United rose 4.6% in the premarket after Elon Musk tweeted that he was buying the British football team and then subsequently said he was joking.
Bed Bath & Beyond(BBBY) – Bed Bath & Beyond surged 22.8% in the pre-market after registering over 20% gains in each of the past three sessions. The retailer’s shares – which have been popular with “meme stock” investors, are up in 14 of the past 15 sessions, more than quadrupling in value over that stretch.
Agilent Technologies(A) – Agilent rallied 6.6% in premarket trading after the life sciences and diagnostics company reported better-than-expected quarterly profit and revenue. Agilent also raised its full-year forecast on strong order flow.
Southwest Gas(SWX) – Southwest Gas rose 4.7% in premarket action after investor Carl Icahn raised his stake in the utility company to 8.7% from 7.6%.
Sanofi(SNY) – Sanofi shares slid 5.4% in premarket trading after the French drug maker halted development of breast cancer treatment amcenestrant. The halt came after a trial showed no signs that the drug was effective.
Market News
OPEC Chief Sees High Risk of Oil Squeeze Amid Bullish Demand
Global oil markets face a high risk of a supply squeeze this year as demand remains resilient and spare production capacity dwindles, the new head of OPEC said.
Fears over slowing consumption in China and the wider world -- which have pushed crude prices 16% lower this month -- have been exaggerated, OPEC Secretary-General Haitham Al-Ghais said in an interview with Bloomberg Television.
Target’s Earnings Take a Huge Hit As Retailer Sells off Unwanted Inventory
Target on Wednesday said its quarterly profit fell nearly 90% from a year ago, as the retailer followed through on its warning that steep markdowns on unwanted merchandise would weigh on its bottom line.
The big-box retailer missed Wall Street’s expectations by a wide margin, even after the company itself lowered guidance twice.
Tencent Reports Its First-Ever Revenue Drop as Regulations and Covid-19 Bite
China's Tencent Holdings(0700.HK)reported on Wednesday its first ever quarterly sales fall, hurt by a lack of game approvals and regulations that limit playing time, as well as COVID-19 lockdowns and a weak economy that squeezed ad sales.
Tencent, the world's largest video game company and the operator of the WeChat messaging platform, said revenue fell 3% to 134.034 billion yuan ($19.78 billion) for the three months ended June 30.
Musk Says He Was Joking About Buying Manchester United
Elon Musk, the world's richest person, tweeted on Wednesday that he was joking when he said that he was going to buy English soccer club Manchester United Plc.
"No, this is a long-running joke on Twitter. I'm not buying any sports teams," Musk said, when asked by a user if he was serious about buying the club.
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