Stock futures were rising Wednesday with Wall Street's focus on the latest tariff developments from President Donald Trump.
These stocks were poised to make moves Wednesday:
AES Corp. jumped 11% after Bloomberg, citing people familiar with the matter, reported the renewable power company was exploring its options, including a possible sale, amid potential takeover interest from large investment firms. Several major private-equity firms and infrastructure investors have been studying AES after the stock lost about half its value over the past two years, the people said. Coming into Wednesday, AES has declined 37% over the past 12 months.
Freeport-McMoRan rose 2.5% on Tuesday and was up another 2% in premarket trading, rising after copper prices jumped 13% to all-time highs following comments from President Donald Trump that he would be slapping a 50% tariff on copper imports.
Apple's Chief Operating Officer Jeff Williams plans to retire later this year and will transition his role this month to Sabih Khan, Apple's senior vice president of operations. Williams was named operating chief in late 2015 and has served since as the iPhone maker's No. 2 under CEO Tim Cook. Kahn has worked at Apple for 30 years and joined the executive team as senior vice president of operations in 2019, the company said. He has been in charge of Apple's global supply chain for the past six years. Apple shares rose 0.2%.
Mobileye Global was down 1%. The maker of sensors and software for driver-assistance features and self-driving cars announced that a subsidiary of Intel would be selling 45 million shares of the company in an underwritten secondary public offering. Mobileye also said it expects second-quarter revenue of $502 million to $506 million, better than analysts' consensus of $466.4 million.
Chip maker Intel, meanwhile, fell 0.2% in the premarket session. The stock closed Tuesday with a gain of 7.2% on what was little fresh news. "Nothing new or fundamental," said Jordan Klein, Mizuho managing director and technology specialist, adding there has been a rotation into semiconductor stocks, which could give Intel a boost considering it has declined 32% over the past 12 months.
Nvidia, the leading maker of AI chips, was up slightly ahead of the opening of trading after rising 1.1% and closing at a record high Tuesday of $160.
Aehr Test Systems, a maker of test systems for sensors and semiconductors, was tumbling 20% after saying it was maintaining its "cautious approach" and wasn't "reinstating specific guidance beyond what we have already stated" because it continues to see some timing-related delays in order placements "due to tariff-related uncertainty," particularly in the current first quarter.
Penguin Solutions, the artificial-intelligence infrastructure company, fell 6.1% after posting fiscal third-quarter adjusted earnings that beat Wall Street forecasts but revenue of $324.3 million that missed consensus. The company also raised its fiscal-year adjusted earnings outlook.
AZZ Inc., the provider of hot-dip galvanizing and coil coating solutions, is scheduled to report quarterly earnings Wednesday.