Stock futures point to more gains
U.S. stock futures pointed to more gains for Wall Street on Wednesday, in spite of the on-going demonstrations and civil unrest in major cities across the country as well as escalating tensions between the Washington and Beijing.
By 5:40 a.m. ET, futures for the Dow rose 196 points, or 0.76% to 25,897. S&P 500 futures were trading 16.88 points, or 0.55% higher to 3,093.88 while the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 futures were up 1.58% to 37.39.
Yesterday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average ended the session with a gain of 267.63 points, or 1.1%, to 25,742.65, its best day since March 6. The S&P 500 index added 25.09 points, or 0.8%, to close at 3,080.82 while the Nasdaq Composite Index rose 56.33 points, or 0.6%, to end at 9,608.37.
Warner Music prices IPO at $25 a share
Warner Music Group has priced its initial public offering at $25 per share, giving it a valuation of $12.75 billion. The company, which had set a price range of $23 to $26 per share, also increased the offering to 77 million class shares from the previous 70 million shares.
Warner Music, the third-largest global music label, raised $1.925 billion from the IPO. Shares are set to begin trading today under the ticker symbol “WMG” on the Nasdaq.
The offering was pushed off until today after the company asked its bankers to pause pricing on Tuesday to show solidarity with the demonstrators taking a stand following the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis last week.
Warner Music represents artists like Ed Sheeran, Cardi B, Katy Perry, and Bruno Mars.
ADP employment report eyed
On the economic data front, the ADP employment report on private sector hiring is due out at 8:15 a.m. ET. The numbers will provide a key data point on the damage that the COVID-19 pandemic has brought on the private sector.
Economists on average expect the report to show private-sector employment for May dropped by 9 million, compared to the record 20.236 million jobs that were lost in April.
The report comes ahead the much-anticipated Labor Department’s May jobs report, which will be published on Friday morning.
Zoom beats on earnings and revenue
Meanwhile, Zoom Video Communications (NASDAQ: ZM) reported better-than-expected Q1 earnings and revenue after markets closed on Tuesday. The video conferencing group also provided an upbeat guidance for the current quarter and year.
Adjusted earnings came in at $0.20 per share, well above analysts’ forecast of $0.09 cents per share. Revenues grew 169% from the same period last year to $328.2 million. Analysts polled by Refinitiv had called for revenue of $202.7 million.
For the current quarter, Zoom expects to post revenue of $495 million to $500 million and earnings of $0.44-$0.46 per share. Analysts expect the company to report revenue of $224.4 million and earnings of $0.11 per share.
As of writing, the stock was up $2.71, or 1.3% to $210.79 a share in the premarket trading session Wednesday.
