Stock futures pointed to further declines Wednesday after the S&P 500 recorded its first back-to-back losing trading days since early September as Wall Street bets on less aggressive interest-rate cuts from the Federal Reserve.
These stocks were poised to make moves Wednesday:
Shares of McDonald's dropped 6% in premarket trading after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and other federal agencies said it was investigating an E. coli outbreak linked to the fast-food giant's Quarter-Pounder hamburgers that has caused one death. The CDC said so far there has been 49 reported cases, and 10 hospitalizations. Illnesses have been reported in 10 states, with the most cases in Colorado and Nebraska. McDonald's said it was "temporarily removing" the Quarter Pounder from restaurants in the impacted areas.
Starbucks tumbled 5.4% in premarket trading after issuing preliminary fiscal fourth-quarter results that missed analysts' estimates and suspending guidance for its next fiscal year. The coffee chain said adjusted earnings would be 80 cents a share in the fourth quarter, same-store sales fell 7% from a year earlier, and revenue declined 3% to $9.1 billion. Starbucks said the results were "primarily driven by softness in North America's revenues in the quarter." CEO Brian Niccol, who joined Starbucks in August, said the company's "fourth-quarter performance makes it clear that we need to fundamentally change our strategy so we can get back to growth."
Texas Instruments reported third-quarter earnings and revenue that beat Wall Street expectations and the semiconductor company issued guidance for the fourth quarter was lower than estimates. Texas Instruments said it expects current-quarter earnings of $1.07 to $1.29 a share, below predictions of $1.34 a share, on revenue of $3.7 billion to $4 billion, below consensus of $4.06 billion. Chief Executive Haviv Ilan said revenue at the company's industrial segment "continued to decline sequentially, while all other end markets grew." Overall revenue rose 9% to $4.15 billion. The stock was rising 4%.
Third-quarter earnings at Enphase Energy widely missed analysts' estimates and the company's forecast for fourth-quarter revenue came in well under expectations. U.S. revenue in the third quarter rose 43% from the second quarter but revenue in Europe declined 15%. The solar and battery-system supplier said it expects fourth-quarter revenue of $360 million to $400 million, below consensus of $$434 million. The stock fell 12.6%.
Qualcomm was down 5% after a report from Bloomberg said Arm Holdings was canceling a license that allowed Qualcomm to use Arm intellectual property to design chips, escalating a feud between the two companies.
Seagate Technology PLC was falling 4.6% after the data storage company reported fiscal first-quarter earnings and revenue that topped analysts' expectations, and said it expects fiscal second-quarter revenue of $2.3 billion, roughly in line with expectations.
Earnings reports are expected Wednesday from Tesla Motors, Coca-Cola, AT&T Inc, Boeing, IBM, T-Mobile US, ServiceNow, NextEra, Lam Research, GE Vernova Inc., and Newmont Mining.
Tesla Motors slipped 0.7% in premarket trading. The electric-vehicle maker is expected by Wall Street to report third-quarter adjusted earnings of 60 cents a share on revenue of $25.47 billion, up from $23.35 billion a year earlier. Analysts expect third-quarter operating profit margins of about 8%, up from 6.3% in the second quarter and about 7.6% in the third quarter of 2023. Tesla's report is scheduled for after the close of trading Wednesday.
Shares of Boeing fell 0.1% ahead of third-quarter earnings from the aerospace company. But the earnings will be of less importance to investors than a strike that has crippled production since mid-September. Workers of the company's striking machinists union will vote Wednesday on a new contract offer from Boeing. The stock has declined 39% this year.
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