Here’s what we’re watching before Wednesday’s opening bell.
–US stock futures fell, while investors waited for a day filled with important earnings reports and a meeting of the Federal Reserve.
S&P 500 futures fell 1%, while those linked to the high-tech Nasdaq-100 fell 0.8%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average futures fell 1%.
What’s coming
–Expected earnings updates: Tesla,
TSLA 0.26%
Apple AAPL 0.17%
and Facebook FB 1.45%
expire after closing. The electric car maker is expected to record its first profit for the entire year.
The Federal Reserve launches a policy statement at 2 pm and President Jerome Powell gives a press conference at 2:30 pm
Market movers to watch
–And then there’s GameStop. Its shares jumped again before the bell, rising 55% in highly volatile trades. CNBC reported that Melvin Capital, a hedge fund that has made huge losses so far this year in part because of a bet against the video game retailer’s stock, closed its short position on Tuesday afternoon. The report caused a stir on the online platform Reddit – popular with day traders who fight short sellers of hedge funds – where some members wrote that it was an attempt to pull the GameStop GME 92.71%
the stock price back down. And Elon Musk weighed in on the stock again last night with a tweet, “Gamestonk !!“
–The show has to continue: Another heavily shorted stock, movie operator AMC Entertainment Holdings, saw its shares rise more than 220% before the market.
—Koss KOSS headset manufacturer 66.67%
also joined the party, and its shares jumped 97% in the pre-market.
– Bed Bath & Beyond BBBY 20.18%
resumed the upward trend, with an increase of 11% before the bell. Online traders point to a change in management in early 2020 and the fact that the company is repurchasing shares as signs that the stock price will continue to rise.
– Microsoft MSFT 1.22%
shares rose 1.9% before the market. The software giant’s profit and sales increased, driven by demand fueled by a video game pandemic and accelerated adoption of its cloud computing services.
– Boeing BA -0.64%
shares fell 3.4% in the premarket after the aircraft maker reported its biggest annual loss and suffered a huge financial blow to its new 777X jet, reflecting the worsening pandemic.
– Abbott Laboratories ABT 0.01%
stocks rose 1.1% in the premarket after posting strong profit growth in the last quarter, as an increase in demand for its Covid-19 diagnostic services contributed to higher revenue.
– Starbucks SBUX 1.20%
fell 2.9% in the pre-market after the coffee chain reported that sales fell during the holiday quarter, but showed signs of recovery, especially in China. Its chief operating officer, Roz Brewer, is leaving to become CEO of Walgreens WBA 2.86%
Boots Alliance, where she will be the only black woman leading a Fortune 500 company. Walgreens’ shares are up 5%.
A Walgreens store in Tomball, Texas, January 16, 2021.
Photograph:
Jeff Lautenberger for The Wall Street Journal
– AT&T T 2.20%
the shares fell 0.4% in the premarket after it reported a loss in the fourth quarter, recording a $ 15.5 billion charge in its pay TV business.
—Chip Maker Texas Instruments TXN -0.84%
The company’s shares fell 2.6% before the market, although quarterly results and outlook outperformed Wall Street estimates after Tuesday’s close.
Market Fact
Retail order flows reached 20% of the total US stock market, according to the UBS survey, double what they were in 2010.
Map of the Day
GameStop’s shares have become a favorite of online traders looking to make money from call options.
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