Consumer stocks were edging higher pre-bell Wednesday, with the Consumer Staples Select Sector SPDR Fund (XLP) up 0.2% and the Consumer Discretionary Select Sector SPDR Fund (XLY) advancing by 0.3%.

Toyota Motor (TM) said it signed a joint development deal with Sumitomo Metal Mining for mass production of cathode materials for all-solid-state batteries for electric vehicles. Shares of Toyota Motor were down 0.9% premarket.

Bed Bath & Beyond (BBBY) filed for an offering of up to about 6.9 million common shares after issuing warrants as a special dividend to its existing stockholders, a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission showed. Bed Bath & Beyond stock was nearly 0.3% higher pre-bell.

Alibaba (BABA) has set up an in-house robotics and embodied AI group within its Qwen unit, company executive Justin Lin said. Alibaba shares were up nearly 0.1% premarket.