Stock futures traded higher Wednesday as Wall Street prepared for a decision from the Federal Reserve on interest rates. Economists and investors alike widely expect Jerome Powell and his colleagues at the central bank to hold the benchmark federal funds rate steady.
These stocks were poised to make moves Wednesday:
Instacart
(ticker: CART) was falling 3.2% to $32.63 in premarket trading after the online grocery-delivery company closed Tuesday with a gain of 12% to $33.70 in its trading debut. The stock had opened 40% above its initial public offering price of $30 and peaked at $42.95 before paring gains into the close.
Ford Motor
(F) was up 0.3% after Unifor, the union representing Ford’s Canadian autoworkers, reached a tentative deal with the U.S. auto maker with just hours to go before an 11:59 p.m. ET Tuesday strike deadline. The agreement covers 5,600 workers at Ford’s Canadian plants. American auto workers at Ford,
General Motors
(GM), and
Stellantis
(STLA) remain on strike with the United Auto Workers union threatening to broaden the strike if negotiating progress isn’t made by Friday.
Pinterest
(PINS) rose 3.7% to $27.19 after executives, speaking at the social-media company’s first investor day, said they expect a compound annual growth rate over the next three to five years in the mid- to high teens, compared with guidance in the high single digits for the third quarter. The stock was upgraded to Buy from Neutral at D.A. Davidson and the price target was boosted to $35 from $25. Citi analysts also upgraded their recommendation on
Pinterest
to Buy.
Intel
(INTC) rose 0.2% in premarket trading after slumping 4.3% in the previous session. The stock was the worst performer in the
Dow Jones Industrial Average
on Tuesday after the chip maker issued some cautionary comments on data center chip demand in a meeting with analysts connected with the Intel Innovation customer event. Chief Financial Officer David Zinsner said channel inventory of data center processors was taking longer to clear than it did for the company’s PC processor business. He said Intel was finding the recovery in the data center business to be “a little bit more delayed.”
Coty
(COTY) gained 5.8% after the beauty product company lifted its outlook for the first half and full year fiscal 2024, citing “strong beauty demand, particularly in prestige fragrances.”
Shares of
nCino
(NCNO) fell 4.2% to $31.69 after
Morgan Stanley
downgraded the financial-technology company to Underweight from Equal Weight with an unchanged price target of $24.
Zebra Technologies
(ZBRA) was down 3.1% to $244.39 after it also was downgraded to Underweight from Equal Weight at Morgan Stanley.
Steelcase
(
SCS
) rose 3.3% after the furniture company said it expects “significantly improved” adjusted fiscal-year earnings as more companies issue return-to-office mandates, adding that it sees demand levels improving “as customers seek our help to evolve their workplaces to engage, connect and work better for their employees.”
Western Digital
(WDC), a provider of disk drives and flash-memory chips, rose 2.9% after being upgraded to Outperform from Neutral at Exane BNP Paribas.
Dollar General
(DG) declined 1.8% to $113.06 after shares of the discount retailer were downgraded to Underweight from Neutral at
J.P. Morgan.
The price target was reduced to $116 from $132.
General Mills
(GIS) edged 0.5% higher in premarket trading after the cereal maker reported fiscal first-quarter earnings and sales that slightly beat analysts’ estimates and reiterated fiscal-year guidance.
Write to Joe Woelfel at joseph.woelfel@barrons.com
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