US stock futures were rising Wednesday with Wall Street widely expecting the Federal Reserve to reduce a key interest rate by a quarter-point later in the trading session.
These stocks were poised to make moves Wednesday:
Workday jumped 5.9% after activist investor Elliott Investment Management disclosed a $2 billion stake in the HR software firm. Elliott praised Workday's CEO Carl Eschenbach and said the company was "a unique software franchise with industry-leading growth potential, best-in-class customer retention and a proven management team."
Nvidia fell 0.9% after a Financial Times report said China's internet regulator had banned the country's biggest tech companies from buying its artificial-intelligence chips. The Cyberspace Administration of China told TikTok parent ByteDance and e-commerce giant Alibaba, among others, to end testing and orders of Nvidia's tailored-made products for China, according to people familiar with the matter. The companies couldn't be immediately reached for a comment.
Tesla was down 0.6% in premarket trading after closing with a gain of 2.8% in the previous session and extending its winning streak to six consecutive days. It has risen 22% over the span, according to Dow Jones Market Data. One reason for the stock's recent gains was CEO Elon Musk's $1 billion purchase of the electric-vehicle maker's shares.
Microsoft rose 0.4% after the tech giant said would spend $30 billion on artificial-intelligence infrastructure and existing operations in the U.K. through 2028, the largest financial commitment the company has made in the country.
Chinese ETFs and ADRs shined in premarket trading. Baidu rose 8.2%; NIO Inc. rose 3.9%; Alibaba and PDD Holdings rose 2.2%; JD.com rose 1.7%.
Oracle was edging higher 0.5% in premarket trading. Shares closed up 1.5% on Tuesday after The Wall Street Journal reported that under an emerging deal TikTok's U.S. business would be controlled by an investor consortium, including Oracle, Silver Lake, and Andreessen Horowitz, with the database-software company handling user data at its facilities in Texas.
Shares of Hims were down another 2.6% in premarket trading while Novo gained 1.9%. The US Food and Drug Administration has issued a warning letter to Hims & Hers Health saying claims for the company's compounded semaglutide product on its website are misleading or false.
New Fortress Energy soared 50% in premarket trading after Puerto Rico had negotiated a $4 billion liquefied natural gas contract with New Fortress Energy, Governor Jenniffer Gonzalez said on Tuesday in a post on social media.
Rare earth stock American Resources rose 1.9% in premarket trading after a 10.6% rally in prior session.
Earnings reports are expected Wednesday from General Mills, Bullish, and Cracker Barrel Old Country Store.
General Mills, the owner of brands such as Betty Crocker and Cheerios, is scheduled to report fiscal first-quarter earnings ahead of the opening bell Wednesday. Analysts expect General Mills to post net sales of $4.52 billion in the period, down 7% from a year earlier. The stock was rising 0.6% in premarket trading ahead of the report.