To The Moon

U.S. stock futures were flat Thursday morning as investors considered what the latest data suggested about the health of the broader economy.

Market Snapshot

At 7:40 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis were up 16 points, or 0.05%, S&P 500 e-minis were up 1 point, or 0.02%, and Nasdaq 100 e-minis were down 24 points, or 0.18%.

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Pre-Market Movers

$AMC Entertainment(AMC)$, $AMC Entertainment Preferred(APE)$ —​ The former rose over 11% while the latter crashed over 12% in premarket trading as the court denied a proposed settlement.

$Bed Bath & Beyond(BBBY)$ —​ Stocks rose over 3% in premarket trading as it called for a shareholder vote on a potential reverse stock split at a special meeting set for May 9.

$Virgin Orbit Holdings Inc.(VORB)$ —​ Stocks rose over 20% in premarket trading and surged over 60% in 2 days as a potential emergency cash injection appears to be on the table. 

$Costco(COST)$ —​ Stocks fell nearly 3% in premarket trading after its same-store sales in March fell 1.1%, down from an increase of 3.5% in February. It also said the average size of transactions in March fell 5.8% from February.

$Tesla Motors(TSLA)$ —​ Stocks stayed flat; Elon Musk’s brother, Kimbal Musk, on Monday, sold 100,000 shares of the electric vehicle maker in a series of transactions.

$Lumentum(LITE)$ —​ Its fiscal third-quarter revenue would come in under the low end of the company’s prior guidance range and it projected third-quarter sales of $380 million to $384 million. Stocks tumbled nearly 15%.

$AbbVie(ABBV)$ —​ It declined over 1% in premarket trading after lowering fiscal-year adjusted earnings expectations to $10.62 to $11.02 a share, down from guidance the company issued in February of between $10.70 and $11.10.

$FedEx(FDX)$ —​ It rose over 1% in premarket trading. The stock was upgraded to Outperform from Market Perform at Raymond James with a price target of $285. On Wednesday, the shipping giant hiked its annual dividend and announced changes to its corporate structure.

Market News

$Amazon.com(AMZN)$ is trimming the number of shares it plans to give employees as part of their compensation, a move tied to a potentially broader effort to adjust the company's approach to pay in the midst of economic uncertainty.

$Tesla Motors(TSLA)$’s sprawling manufacturing hub in Austin, Texas, more than tripled its employee ranks last year, the company told county officials. 

Delaware's Court of Chancery denied a proposed settlement between $AMC Entertainment(AMC)$ and shareholders designed to allow a series of transactions leading to a capital raise.

Warren Buffett's $Berkshire Hathaway(BRK.B)$ is preparing another issue of yen-denominated bonds, BofA Japan Securities and Mizuho Securities have been chosen to underwrite the bonds.

US comparable sales eked out only a 0.9% gain in March after excluding the impact of changes in gasoline prices, $Costco(COST)$ said in a statement Wednesday. That’s the smallest advance since April 2020.

$Blackstone Group LP(BX)$ was hired as an adviser to help the US government arrange the sale of $114 billion in securities that were held by failed lenders Signature Bank and Silicon Valley Bank.

$Ford(F)$ plans "dramatic reductions" in the complexity of its product lineup starting in the 2024 model year, Jim Baumbick, the automaker's product development chief, said Wednesday at a conference hosted by Bank of America.

"$Virgin Orbit Holdings Inc.(VORB)$ and its lawyers are trying to agree [on] an emergency cash injection, or debtor in possession financing, of around $31m, with the court, "a tweet from a Telegraph reporter Matt Field said Wednesday afternoon.