U.S. stock index futures flattened on Thursday, with investors awaiting Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell's comments to gauge whether the central bank is leaning more towards preventing inflation or protecting the labor market.

Market Snapshot

At 07:40 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis were up 29 points, or 0.06%, U.S. S&P 500 E-minis were up 3.25 points, or 0.05%, and Nasdaq 100 E-minis were up 2.5 points, or 0.01%.

Pre-Market Movers

Advanced Micro Devices rose 0.9% in premarket trading after the chip maker finished up 11% Wednesday at $235.56, a record high. Shares of AMD have jumped more than 43% over a three-session winning streak, boosted by a deal with OpenAI to power 6 gigawatts of AI infrastructure with its graphics processing units and with OpenAI receiving a warrant to buy up to 160 million AMD shares.

Ferrari NV shares slumped 14% premarket after new long-term profitability targets missed expectations.

Novo Nordisk said on Thursday it had agreed to buy Akero Therapeutics for up to $5.2 billion, giving the Danish drugmaker access to the U.S.-based company's experimental liver disease drug. Shares of Akero Therapeutics rocketed over 19% on the news while Novo Nordisk slid about 2%.

Tilray Brands (TLRY) reported Thursday a breakeven in fiscal Q1, compared with an adjusted loss of $0.01 per diluted share a year earlier. Analysts' estimates were unavailable for comparison. Shares of Tilray Brands were up 18% in recent premarket activity Thursday.

Shares of Delta Air Lines rose 5.7% in premarket trading after third-quarter earnings from the carrier beat Wall Street estimates. Delta reported adjusted earnings of $1.71 a share on revenue of $16.67 billion. Delta also firmed up its full-year guidance, saying it expects earnings of $6 a share, up from a range between $5.25 and $6.25. Analysts had been expecting $5.80.

Pepsi rose 1.4% after the beverages and snacks company posted third-quarter adjusted earnings of $2.29 a share, topping analysts' estimates of $2.26. Revenue of $23.94 billion also beat forecasts. The company also named Steve Schmitt as chief financial officer. Schmitt joins PepsiCo from Walmart, where he currently serves as executive vice president and chief financial officer for Walmart U.S.

Dell Technologies Inc. fell 0.6%. Shares of the maker of computers and artificial-intelligence servers closed up 9.1% on Wednesday to a 52-week high of $164.53, extending gains from the day before when the stock rose 3.5% after Dell boosted its long-term financial targets, citing strong AI demand. Dell shares have risen for three consecutive days, gaining 16.9% over the span, according to Dow Jones Market Data.

Jefferies Financial Group Inc. rose 4.9% after shares dropped 7.9% Wednesday. The company disclosed it could take a multimillion-dollar hit from bankrupt auto parts supplier First Brands. Jefferies said that one of its asset management units had invested about $715 million in assets tied to First Brands -- about a quarter of its trade finance portfolio.

Costco Wholesale gained 1.3% after the membership warehouse retailer reported sales rose 8% to $26.6 billion in the five weeks ended Oct. 5. Comparable-store sales rose 5.7% overall, with U.S. sales up 5.1%. Costco said digitally-enabled comparable sales, previously referred to as e-commerce sales, rose 26%.

MP Materials Corp. rose 4.8%. Shares of the rare-earth excavator rose after China tightened its control over critical minerals used to make high-tech products including electric vehicles and jet fighters, The Wall Street Journal reported. The U.S. Department of Defense recently acquired a stake of $400 million in MP Materials.

Freeport-McMoRan rose 3.4% and was on track to build on a 5.3% gain in the previous session. The moves came after two Wall Street analysts issued positive calls on shares of the copper miner. Citi upgraded the stock to Buy and Well Fargo initiated coverage with a Buy rating, both citing expectations for higher copper prices.

Coinbase Global fell 1.1% in premarket trading as the price of Bitcoin slipped further from record highs earlier this week. Shares of Coinbase, a cryptocurrency trading platform, tend to react to fluctuations in crypto prices and sentiment. Bitcoin hit an all-time high of $126,064 on Monday, according to CoinDesk, but has fallen about 3% since then. Coming into Thursday, Coinbase stock has risen 56% this year and has closed higher in eight out of the past nine trading sessions.

AZZ Inc., the metal coatings and welding services company, fell 6.2% after reporting second-quarter adjusted earnings and revenue that were below analysts' estimates. AZZ reiterated fiscal-year guidance for adjusted earnings per share of $6 on sales of $1.675 billion at the midpoint.

Market News

Fed's Williams backs more rate cuts this year due to labor market slowdown risks, he tells NYT

Federal Reserve Bank of New York President John Williams backs more interest rate cuts this year given the risk of a further slowdown in the labor market, he said in an interview published by the New York Times on Thursday.

However, Williams, who serves as the vice chair and a permanent voting member of the rate-setting Federal Open Market Committee, added that the slowing of the labor market did not point to an imminent recession.

Tesla Faces New NHTSA Probe Over Vehicles Violating Traffic Laws

US auto safety regulators opened a probe into Tesla Inc. over incidents in which its vehicles ran through red lights and violated other traffic laws while using the driver-assistance system known as Full Self-Driving.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said it’s aware of 58 examples, including instances in which vehicles drove in the wrong direction on a road. The so-called preliminary evaluation involves an estimated 2.9 million vehicles, according to a filing posted on the agency’s website.