5 Things to Know Before the Stock Market Opens

Stock futures are slightly lower this morning after three straight days of gains for the benchmark S&P 500; Walmart stock is losing ground after the retail giant issued an outlook that came in short of Wall Street expectations; OpenAI is reportedly in talks to raise a new funding round of up to $100 billion from the likes of Nvidia, Microsoft and others; Carvana shares are tumbling after some of the used car seller’s profit metrics missed analysts’ estimates; and DoorDash stock is surging after the food delivery app operator forecast higher-than-anticipated order value growth. Here’s what you need to know today.

Stocks Point Lower After 3 Days of Gains for S&P 500

Stock futures are slightly lower this morning as investors digest a steady flow of earnings reports and prepare for key economic data that’s scheduled for release Friday. Futures tied to the S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average, which are riding three-day winning streaks, were down 0.3% recently, while those linked to the tech-heavy Nasdaq slipped 0.4%. The major indexes rose on Wednesday but finished the session well off their earlier highs as investors reacted to the minutes of last month’s Federal Reserve policy meeting, which showed that officials are concerned that further interest-rate cuts could stall progress in taming inflation. Gold futures were little changed this morning at just over $5,000 an ounce, while crude oil futures rose 1.5% to $66.20 per barrel, trading at their highest levels since last summer, as concerns over a potential U.S. military strike in Iran grew. Bitcoin was down slightly at around $68,000, while the yield on the 10-year Treasury note, which affects the rates charged on an array of consumer loans, ticked higher to 4.10%.

Walmart Stock Slips as Outlook Disappoints

Walmart (WMT) shares are moving lower after the retail giant issued a soft outlook, offsetting better-than-expected quarterly results. The country’s largest retailer said Thursday that it earned an adjusted $0.74 per share on $190.7 billion in revenue, each narrowly topping the analyst consensus compiled by Visible Alpha. For the first quarter, Walmart said it expects sales growth of 3.5% to 4.5% and adjusted EPS of $0.63 to $0.65, each range coming in below what analysts currently forecast. Analysts and investors will be listening to the company’s earnings call to get a sense of Walmart’s direction under new CEO John Furner, who took over the top job at the start of the month. Walmart shares were down more than 2% in recent premarket trading.

OpenAI Set for New Funding of Up to $100B, Report Says

OpenAI is on track to secure the first portion of a new round of funding, _Bloomberg _reported late Wednesday. The new round could reach $100 billion and value the ChatGPT maker at around $850 billion, with the first part of the round coming from current investors including Nvidia (NVDA), Amazon (AMZN), Microsoft (MSFT) and SoftBank, per Bloomberg. OpenAI needs to continue raising money to pay the hundreds of billions in commitments it has with hardware and cloud computing providers, as its AI products are still years away from generating a profit. _Bloomberg _reported that the funding will likely come in tranches over the course of the year, and said the round will be opened up to other investors including venture capital and sovereign wealth funds later. Concerns about OpenAI’s big funding needs and the massive sums that Big Tech companies are spending amid the AI boom have weighed on market sentiment in recent months.

Carvana Stock Slides After Mixed Results

Carvana (CVNA) shares are tumbling ahead of the opening bell after the online used car marketplace reported solid fourth-quarter sales but weakness in some key profitability metrics. Gross profit per vehicle declined year-over-year and came in below analysts’ expectations. Carvana said it expects to see “significant” growth in vehicle sales volume and adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) this year, with both metrics projected to rise quarter-over-quarter in the first three months of the year. Carvana shares were down 9% recently

DoorDash Surges Despite Weak Earnings

Shares of DoorDash (DASH) are surging after the food and grocery delivery service issued an outlook for order value growth that offset weaker-than-anticipated revenue and profit in the fourth quarter. The platform’s gross order value of $29.7 billion and its outlook for that metric in the current quarter each came in above the analyst consensus. Some of the company’s tech efforts have hampered its profits recently. DoorDash said it plans to continue spending on integrating the three delivery services it operates around the globe—DoorDash, Wolt, and Deliveroo—into a single platform to make its development process more efficient. DoorDash shares were up more than 6% in recent premarket trading.

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