To The Moon

The S&P 500 and Nasdaq futures edged higher on Wednesday as investors overwhelmingly expect the Federal Reserve to pause its monetary tightening campaign later in the day.

Market Snapshot

At 8:27 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis were down 70 points, or 0.2%, S&P 500 e-minis were up 7.5 points, or 0.17%, and Nasdaq 100 e-minis were up 26 points, or 0.17%.

Pre-Market Movers

Toyota — The Japan-based automaker’s shares jumped about 5% after shareholders re-elected chairman Akio Toyoda to the board, in a broad endorsement of the company’s governance and new electric vehicle strategy.

Logitech International — Shares of the computer accessories company fell more than 10% after Logitech said CEO Bracken Darrell is leaving for an outside opportunity. Citi downgraded the stock to neutral from buy, saying Logitech needs to provide more clarity about its long-term plans after the leadership change.

Vodafone — The cell phone network added nearly 3% in premarket trading after Vodafone and CK Hutchison agreed to merge their U.K. businesses.

AMD — The chipmaker gained 3% premarket. On Tuesday, AMD said it will start shipping its most advanced GPU for artificial intelligence to some customers later this year. Amazon Web Services is considering using the new chips, Reuters reported Wednesday.

United Health — Shares fell nearly 6% premarket following comments by United Health chief financial officer John Rex at a conference this week that there has been elevated volumes of non-urgent surgeries in the second quarter. Other managed care companies also sank, with Humana sliding 7.5% and Cigna down 3.6%.

Lumen Technologies — Share rallied about 11%, one day after gaining 16% on news of Lumen’s new network interconnection ecosystem in partnership with Google and Microsoft.

Shell — The European oil stock was up 2.3% after Shell boosted its dividend and share buybacks and said it would keep oil production steady until 2030.

SoFi Technologies — Shares added 3.25% premarket. BTIG named SoFi as a top pick in the fintech sector as student loan payments resume. The Wall Street firm’s $14 price target implies more than 46% upside from Tuesday’s close.

Market News

EU Antitrust Regulators Charge Google on Anti-Competitive Adtech Practices

Alphabet's Google was charged by EU antitrust regulators with anti-competitive practices in its digital advertising business on Wednesday and may have to sell part of this business to address their concerns.

The European Commission set out its charges in a statement of objections, two years after it opened an investigation into the case.

Logitech says CEO stepping down, shares fall

Logitech's shares fell on Wednesday after the computer accessories maker said its chief executive officer and president, Bracken Darrell, was resigning with immediate effect and would be leaving the company to pursue another opportunity.

Darrell, who became Logitech CEO in 2013, will remain with the company over the coming month to facilitate the transition while a search for a replacement is conducted, the company said late Tuesday.

Amazon's Cloud Unit Is Considering AMD's New AI Chips

Amazon Web Services, the world's largest cloud computing provider, is considering using new artificial intelligence chips from Advanced Micro Devices Inc , though it has not made a final decision, an AWS executive told Reuters.

The remarks came during an AMD event where the chip company outlined its strategy for the AI market, which is dominated by rival Nvidia Corp.

US Judge Temporarily Blocks Microsoft Acquisition of Activision

A U.S. judge late on Tuesday granted the Federal Trade Commission's request to temporarily block Microsoft Corp's acquisition of video game maker Activision Blizzard and set a hearing next week.

U.S. District Judge Edward Davila scheduled a two-day evidentiary hearing on the FTC's request for a preliminary injunction for June 22-23 in San Francisco. Without a court order, Microsoft could have closed on the $69 billion deal as early as Friday.